Wednesday, October 31, 2007

i like...



i want. the momo bag from jerome dreyfuss. unfortunately, these bags won't be stocked anywhere in HK til 2008...i asked.

http://www.refinery29.com/object_lesson/brown_bag_it.php

Sunday, October 28, 2007

barney is kinda cool now

jen sent me this link...funny...

another weekend goes by...

eug came back from malaysia on friday so we got to spend some quality time before he headed out again today...a wee depressing...

we headed east to northpoint to find an antique watch store and discovered along the way electric rd. we walked along it for most of the way back to happy valley. it was really nice. the weather was great. and the neighborhoods we passed were quieter and more local. there were some really cute boutiques on that street, but i didn't get a chance to go in most of them. though we did stop in this antiques/second hand store called hong kong treasure on merlin street, and we got the porcelein rabbits pictured below (our camera sux in low light). i love them so...i'm finally starting to scratch my itch for buying and filling our home with old stuff. these rabbits are just kinda cool looking, they're not cutesy, and in fact, look slightly evil, or hypnotized, or on drugs or something.



some paper clothing - including shoes and watches - that's sold to burn for your ancestors and deceased loved ones i'm assuming...every now and then you see people on the streest burning stuff - fake money and all that...



we stopped by another street food place and had a hong kong staple - out-of-the-bag ramen noodles. pretty yummy.





later in the evening we went to chesa, a swiss resto at the peninsula for an early bday dinner. it was yummy. big shout out to the suhs and the some-day-soon moons for the gift certificate that made it super easy on our wallets.

today, we went to world wide center, which is pretty much filipina central - it's kah-razy (the true spelling doesn't do it justice). we got some good eats for only $20 HK (about $2.5 USD). what a deal...


Thursday, October 25, 2007

a funny

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

antique roadshow...

in my head...

the focus on this picture is off....



but this bottle of bols, with a little ballerina inside, has been in my family for at least 20 years. i'm not sure where it came from, but when i left home to move to ny i took it with me because it was one of the things i remembered always being around from my childhood. which, means a lot to me because i have a very vague memory of my early years for some reason (i never understood ppl who remembered things from when they were 3!). and being in ny, quite far away from tx, i wanted something to make me feel...closer to home. or something like that...anyhow, eug always hated it. he's threatened to throw it away quite a few times, including this last time when we were packing up for hong kong. i almost succumbed, but stuck to my guns...and then when i unpacked it, i discovered that some of the liquid had leaked. i couldn't figure out from where and was pretty sad about it...i took it as a sign to say goodbye...but couldn't. i cleaned it up and it was fine. the leak must be pretty minor...

so anyways...last week we went to visit amours antique and lo and behold there is the little ballerina in her little red tutu, with her little dangly legs in the bols bottle sitting in the window...and while it is not worth a fortune, it was going for about $300 USD. of course, i just had to point it out to eug....

a new crush

...which reminds me, right quick - ira glass is married...he's not gay... :)

so...anyways, recently discovered this blog through designsponge...it saves you lots of money on interior design mags (and it saves me from secretly tearing out pages from wallpaper at starbucks - yes, i do that. but only sometimes. very rarely. i swear. fer reals.) ...i've started saving some pics for future ideas for when eug and i finally buy our very own pad...

http://desiretoinspire.blogspot.com/

something that caught my eye... i love fireplaces. and wood. my ideal space right now is a mix between a log cabin feel, and what i think is an old french indochine look...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

shouts & murmurs

i forgot how much i love this section of the new yorker (it was pretty much the only section i read during the one year i subscribed, and was my pathetic way of balancing my newsless reading habit - fashion mags, gossips sites, etc. so while it isn't exactly news, it made me feel a little smarter)...my sister-in-law, nina sent me this article the other day. it's a little long, but definitely worth the time. hilarious...

4 Crushes

Well, well, well.

Just look at you, walking into this dreary bar and lighting the place up like the noonday sun at midnight, twirling a lock of your long auburn hair pensively as you search the room˜for what?

For a soul mate, perhaps?

(I know, I know˜I hate that phrase, too. Maybe that will end up being one of those things we both hate.) Maybe a few weeks from now, lying in your bed on a Sunday morning, I'll ask you, "What's your least favorite word or phrase?," and you'll say, " 'Soul mate,' " and I'll laugh till you say, "What? Tell me!," and I'll tell you how I knew that from the moment I first laid eyes on you, and then we'll have sex again.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. You haven't even noticed me yet. That's O.K. I can wait.

Maybe when your gaze settles on me, and we lock eyes in that mutual Hitchcockian tunnel-vision effect where the camera is, like, pushing in at the same time it zooms out, or however they do that, you'll come sit down next to me and we'll˜

Now you've spotted the friends you came to meet. They look like good friends.

Maybe they'll be my friends, too.

Our friends.

Your eyes just came to life like emeralds lit by subterranean torches, and as you move across the room toward your friends you
shriek at them, "What the fuck is up, yo?," in a voice so piercing that the entire bar goes silent for a moment, and I have to check my glasses to make sure the lenses didn't crack. You continue to bellow your every utterance (including the lines "Jägermeister is the bomb, dawg!" and "Just 'cause I'm a white girl don't mean I don't got some serious junk in the trunk!" and "Random! Random! Random!"), and the bartender leans in and whispers something to his bar back, and they
look at you and laugh.

You must be a regular here.

(Duration of crush: seventeen seconds.)


Oh my. What have we here? A rainy night in the city has cleared the sidewalks of all but the most intrepid pedestrians, and those who didn't brave the elements have no idea what they're missing.

Because there you are, gliding along on your bicycle, just a few feet ahead of me.

You're obviously not one of those tedious hard-core cycling enthusiasts˜no skin-tight black spandex for you. No, just a simple white T-shirt (soaked through to the skin, clinging to the small of your back) and a long blond ponytail, whipping back and forth like the tail of a cartoon pony, as those long legs of yours pump the
pedals and you raise your face to the sky, letting the raindrops freckle your cheeks with sweet diamonds of moisture.

Dare I try to catch up to you? I'm on foot, carrying a bunch of shopping bags, but you've paused at a red light, and˜what the heck? I don't know what I'll say to you, but even the clumsiest of introductions on these glistening nighttime streets will give us a romantic how-we-met anecdote that we'll love telling for years to come.

Caught you! Here I am! And there you are. I see now that you're a dude. My mistake. It was the ponytail that threw me off.

(Duration of crush: thirty-three seconds.)


Another restaurant dinner with my boring girlfriend, another lecture about how I never really listen to whatever she's yammering on about.

But how can I listen˜how could anyone?˜when across the room, alone at a table, reading the newspaper and nursing a glass of white wine, is a silent confection like you?

You, with your jet-black hair (like a latter-day Veronica from "Archie") and your skin so pale that the bubble-gummy pinkness of your pouty lips seems almost obscene, especially when you scrunch them up the way you do every time you lick your forefinger and turn the page.

And I know you see me, too. Your first glance betrayed a glimmer of recognition˜as if you knew me but couldn't remember from where˜followed by puzzlement, your eyes entreating me to silently remind you, which I couldn't do at the time because my current girlfriend was staring across the table at me, apparently waiting for my answer to some kind of relationship question that I thought was rhetorical.

And so it goes. For an eternity, it seems˜through the entire meal, until I watch you ask for the check, and pay it, and get up to walk out of the restaurant, and my life, forever.

But what's this? You're crossing the room toward me? So brazen˜just as I knew you'd be. Are you going to surreptitiously slip me your number, written on a sugar packet, perhaps dropping it in my pocket as you fake-jostle me, like a spy handing off microfilm?

My heart beats like underwater thunder in my ears, until you tap my girlfriend on the shoulder, and she sees you and says, "Hey!," and you say, "I thought that was you!," and I realize that you are one of my girlfriend's college roommates.

After you leave, my girlfriend tells me a hilarious story about how one time in college some guy broke up with you, so you found some photos of him nude with the word "Patriarchy" written on his chest in Magic Marker which you took for an art class, and you sent them to his parents and then posted them on your blog, where you apparently like to write incredibly detailed confessionals about the asshole guys you always end up dating, and also, while you don't use the guys' real names, everyone knows that the guy you immortalized as Pencil Dick is actually a guy I used to work with.

(Duration of crush: forty-five minutes.)


So silly does my impatience now seem, stuck as I am in the Starbucks line during the morning rush. But that was before I noticed you in line ahead of me.

And now that I've seen you with your gossamer hair still damp from the shower, with your well-moisturized ankles strapped and buckled into high heels that make you wobble and sway like a young colt just finding her stride, with your scent of lilacs and Dial, and, most of all, with your infectious sense of calmness and serenity, which makes me wish that the world itself would stop spinning, so that gravity would cease and we two could float into the sky and kiss in the clouds, giddy with love and vertigo.

Now you're at the register, and the dreaded moment when we part without meeting rushes toward me like a slow-motion car crash in a dream.

You've been at the register without saying anything for, like, fifteen seconds now, still scanning the menu board with those almond-shaped eyes that would make Nefertiti herself weep with envy.

Seriously, you've been to a Starbucks before, right? I mean, it seems like there are a lot of choices, but most people find a drink they like and stick with it. And order it quickly.

But maybe I've caught you on a day when you've decided to make a fresh start. To make a fresh start, to try a new drink, to walk a different way to work, to finally dump that boyfriend who doesn't appreciate you.

O.K., even if that were the case you could have picked out your new drink while you were waiting in line, right? I mean, come on.

Well, you've won me back, my future Mrs. Me by turning to me and mouthing, "Sorry," after you finally noticed me tapping my foot, looking at my watch, and exhaling loudly. Sensitivity like that can be neither learned nor taught, and it's a rare thing indeed. The rarest of all possible˜

Jesus Christ, you've ordered your drink and paid; do I really have to stand here for another forty-five seconds while you repack your purse, the contents of which you've spilled out on the counter like you're setting up a fucking yard sale or something?

That's right, the bills go in the billfold, the coins go in the little coin purse, the billfold and the coin purse go back in the Pocketbook, no, in a side pocket of the pocketbook, which seems to have a clasp whose design incorporates some proprietary technology that you haven't yet mastered.

I think I hate you now.




Monday, October 22, 2007

the 'rents

eug's parents ("mom and dad" - weird, still...) came to visit for 4 days. we mostly ate and just sat around...but it was very nice. they're very sweet people. so cute...he still teases her and she still playfully hits him. and they still hold hands...

eug had to do a bit of work on saturday so i took them shopping. i now see that he has actually inherited his crazy salesperson-interrogating-skills. he also gets his guilt-free-walk-away from them. after spending at least 15 minutes testing out a leg and foot massager and grilling the salesgirl on such things as warranties and even delivery, they leave without buying...but because the girl is very nice, and they're very cute and funny, there are no hard feelings...

we then stop to enquire about a carry-on piece of luggage. again, after having the salesperson open it and close it and open it and close it, and testing the handle several times - mom just found it too difficult and could not accept the jamming (another 15-20 mins)...there is no sale. but, unlike when eug does this, the salespeople are always left smiling still. i think when you get old, you've earned the privilege of asking a dozen questions and not buying.

but, the real comedy comes in at the last stop we made in the beds and linens dept...i know we spent at least an hour with the saleslady (prob more like 1.5)...not that anyone seemed to mind - i didn't. i was having fun watching them feel the material. compare the weights of various comforters. ask which one was from which country. which was 80% down and which was 100%. and then forget 10 mins later and then ask again. and then again. it was funny when mom laid down so she could truly test the weight of each comforter. it was funnier when i laid down next and gave them my honest opinion. i felt torn when i had to decide which was the smarter buy (one was much more expensive)- i tried my best to be diplomatic - while one was heaviER, it was not necessarily heavy...though, the other is very light and soft...and of course, eventually the negotiating started...but, somehow they managed to keep everything quite light. i guess all this comes with age. they did finally buy. the saleperson's patience paid off. and in the end mom won out. i was pleased to see that whining still works in your 60s.

yesterday we discovered a cool dog park in our neighborhood...a really nice park - just happens it's for dogs...not just an enclosed grassy area for dogs to poop and sniff each other's butts...it was nice, like college campus-nice. i think eug and i will be pretend walking our pretend dog there frequently.





i'm in love with the way the vines are growing along this wall...i think it's completely natural and not designed in any way....

great idea

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

monday night

I went to the billionaire boys club/ice cream party last nite with jamie. Pharrell was there and we got a pic with him ☺ jamie’s friend fed got us into his room…hahah…and we were just dancing, like literally, a foot away from him for a while. He looked bored at times. The other guy from neptunes, chad, was there as well. We got a pic with him, too. But I look bad in it. It was a fun night - lots of dancing!





hk goodies

Eug and I had another great weekend. Besides going out and getting some dancing in on Saturday we made a few hk discoveries. We found this pretty good roadside restaurant in yau ma tei at temple street market. It was pretty good for the money. Had some snails! Mmmm. Earlier in the day we stopped by the bestest ever bun place in hk. Hands down. Soooo freakin good. It’s like no other bun place I’ve been to.
Sunday we found a few second hand shops in soho/noho area. Happy day! We got a great lamp for a pretty good price. And there were bunches of other things I wanted but unfortunately, didn’t get. we really liked the noho area. It’s older and quiet. and close enough to everything.

We also saw michael clayton. It was really good. George clooney can really pick his movies. Tilda swinton was awesome. And tom wilkinson was great as always. Check it.

Oh yes, the second hand stores are amours antiques on staunton and select 18 on bridges street








eug thought it would be funny to get a pic of me with a piece of rice on my nose (i didn't know it was there). it is actually pretty funny...

Sunday, October 14, 2007

elaine

remember when i said the scene here was tiny? and how you see the same people everywhere you go? and there's like 1 degree of separation. well, it got even smaller this weekend when we ran into our friend elaine at a party on friday. she was visiting from cali. and it was a yacht party. of about 20 people. then we ran into her again at IFC mall. And we met up with her for someone's birfday party last night.

the yacht party was very nice. there was food and booze and it was just really relaxing to sit on the water, under the night sky. the temperature was perfect, the wind just breezy enough. but sadly, there was not a single star to be found. the pollution here is awful.

here are some pics from last night at prive. the music was good and we were able to get in right away because apparently elaine's friends go there all the time. otherwise it wouldn't be worth the trouble. those places never really are. having to wait in line and all that. it's such a sad thing to just stand and wait in anticipation. a friend's friend actually has a membership there! i forgot how much it costs but it gets you in right away. it's not all bad i guess since he gets to use that money towards drinks. but still. man, everything here is about membership and exclusivity. hk is very similar to ny's meatpacking district, except more amplified and dense.

...something's wrong with blogger, will post pics later...




Thursday, October 11, 2007

an email to my friend sherri

"something last night made me think of you...remember when you asked us what age you could pass for? i don't remember the exact age range i gave but you weren't happy with it and wouldn't let it go...remember? well, last night i was having a conversation with eugene and a male friend. i was kinda tipsy (what's new) so i don't remember what we were talking about really. all i know is that it had something to do with the age 18. i made some sorta remark about myself i'm assuming and both looked at me like i was nuts and the guy said "i'm sorry, but you do not look 18" and he was very emphatic. ugh! i remember feeling a twinge of hurt then, but this morning when i remembered it, it was even worse! so depressed...and the thing is, i don't really expect to look 18 but when you say it the way he said it, sounds like i look 50 or something! is this the beginning of the end? :) "

i hate HK vendors

after lunch just now i went to get a fruitcup which is a pretty popular thing to do here. i asked the lady how much and because i didn't understand what she said and it was busy and loud, i asked two more times very politely; on the third she screamed "ELEVEN!", rolled her eyes and did that "tcheh" thing asians do with their tongue. i said the first thing that came to my head which was just "YOU DON'T HAVE TO FUCKING YELL." and walked away. i'm still fuming. why are people like that? why are they such miserable human beings? i was telling eug that i think lots of people here are just mean-spirited. in the states, they're rude. here, they're just mean.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

you know you're getting old when...

a lot of the music you love is the stuff from your youth...i was in the middle of making my gym playlist "jane fonda" when i came across these songs i downloaded a while back...both one hit wonders, but aren't those the ones that conjure up the most memories sometimes?? nostalgia is awesome.

i can't figure out if you can upload audio, so here the videos i've just looked up on youtube...so enjoy ya old farts :)



Monday, October 8, 2007

sundays

this picture is super blurry because it's taken from a moving bus (stupid, slow me), but i'm putting it up because i've been wanting to capture this phenomenon but didn't want to be rude by being so in your face. so instead, i'm being sneaky about it. every sunday swarms of overseas workers, mostly filipinas i believe, congregate in parts of central and hang out. while you can't really see people's faces in the pic, you can at least see how large the numbers are. and this is just one area. they also meet in underpasses, along walkways, and on sidewalks of closed down streets (which i think might be closed specifically for them). they mostly sit around and play cards, probably gossip and chat. they also play with eachother's hair while listening to music. some read. the first time eug and i experienced this, we walked through a courtyard to get to this restaurant, there were some small groups practicing choreographed dance numbers. i wondered if it was something they did for fun to pass the time or whether they would be eventually performing somewhere.

these women, on their day off, basically have no where to just hang out freely. their rooms are usually very, very small - narrow enough for just a bed smaller than a twin-sized. and i hear they don't get air con either so it's not exactly a place they can bring even one friend to chill comfortably. jamie and i wondered why there wasn't a place - some sort of rec center - where they could go, but i guess that would actually require planning, and time and money...

Sunday, October 7, 2007

oct 5,6,7

(i'm not feeling too creative about my title today)

eug and i enjoyed a lovely weekend together. friday we didn't do much...i went out for drinks with some ppl at work and waited for eug...we then went and had some yummy dumplings, came home, and feel asleep watching old ab fab episodes.

saturday we had dinner with a few friends at yellow door, one of many private kitchens in HK. we're on a mission to test them all out. it was szichuan, but could've been spicier for sure. overall, it was good but not sure if it was worth the price. it wasn't terribly expensive but we've been to some that are better that cost less. we then went to some bar called lotus that was way too loud. though, the great thing about hong kong is that you can bring your drinks outside and hang out there, which makes having conversation possible, even enjoyable. then i was able to convince eug, with sarah's help, to go dancing! it ended up being just me, sarah, eug and his friend han (sp?) - everyone else who i didn't really know went elsewhere. i took them to the only place i knew was easy to get into that played hip hop. ran into some ppl from work and drank and danced. the place itself was not so hot, but i always have fun when i'm shaking my bootay...

sunday, we slept in and then met up with our friend phoebe and her fiancee for brunch and then headed out to yung shue wan island. it was so nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of hk. it's quite bohemian there and everyone is nice - someone actually told us to enjoy our day...we found a cheesecake place and read for about two hours then had some seafood for dinner. anytime i see deep-fried squid, with chili and salt i have a great urge to order it. and that i did. i'm on a forever search for something as good as a dong's (in houston), which is no more. but, alas, i am always disappointed.

here are some pics...

i took this picture from the pier in HK because the tarp looks like a pair pajamas belonging to a giant 5 year-old.













Thursday, October 4, 2007

balance

i was going to balance my two complaints from tuesday's post (thus my clever title) with a few props for HK, but i'm tips and i'm sleepys so here are two photos instead.

one from this morning...three compltely different acts and expressions as if this were a photoshoot. it's all au naturel, i promise.



and one from this eve...this on the other hand, is quite posed. outside of jubilee, a bar we frequent frequently.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

2 big annoyances

1) "umm..nooo...sorry, can not"
each time i hear these words, it's like a subtle screech of the proverbial nails on the chalkboard. it drives me insane. while i love the orderliness of everything, people here follow the rules too the t, never straying from them, not knowing how to improvise, go with the flow. there's this strange unwillingness to think outside the box. and sometimes, things just don't make fucking sense.

example: me and jamie shopping around. ooh, look, an item on sale. cute! cheap!
me: hi, can i try this on please?
salesperson: umm...nooo...sorry, can not
me: um, why not?
salesperson: umm...nooo...sorry, can not. item on final sale. 70% off.
me: um, exactly, which is why i need to try it on. because i can't return it.
salesperson: umm...nooo...sorry, can not (all the while with an annoyingly, apologetic smile, slowly walking away)

example: me at mcdonald's (yes, i still got to mcdonalds. and yes, by myself.)
me: hi, can i get the cheeseburger happy meal please? what size is the coke? oh. can i get a larger size? no? i'll pay more for it. can i supersize it?
salesperson: umm...nooo...sorry, can not.

example: eugene and i many times have walked into the wrong location (streets and #s here suck) and asked to be directed to the right place. what's the answer?
"ummm...nooo...sorry, can not."

sure, sometimes it is the language barrier thing. but most times, they just don't want to be agreeable.


2) the rude/ultra hard sale salesperson
i'll go over the hard sale first since i experienced it in a big way over the weekend. eug and i walked into california fitness because i wanted to check on the membership, maybe take a tour. the sales guy goes over very quickly the hours and differences in the two types of membership, and then i'm whisked away on a tour with a trainer.

when i get back to the esk, i'm ready to talk numbers. but, that proves to be tougher than i anticipated.
me: do you have discounts for ogilvy/wpp employees?
him: (he checks) yes, we do. a good one. (doesn't tell me how much) so, do you think you will sign today?
me: um, well, maybe. what's the pricing?
him: today is last day of promotion (points to a deflated balloon with the promotion). last day of month.
me: well, i need to know what it costs first.
him: tomorrow all rates increase. today is good deal. so will you sign today?
me: i need to know what the rates are. what are they today? and what will they be tomorrow?
him: today is very good deal. this pen (he picks up a pen from his desk) - today this pen one dollar, tomorrow it is 5 dollars (like straight outta a russell peters standup! fer reals...)
me: ok...sure. still, i can't make any decisions until i know what the pricing is.

at this point we're both getting frustrated. what? right? he finally leaves comes back with some numbers for the two types of memberships, crosses numbers out, writes in smaller numbers, circles a few, writes down what the initiation fees are, crosses them out, writes down numbers for the application fee, crosses them out, tells me what the first month will cost vs. the other 11 months. suddenly, he's bombarding me with numbers. as if to say, you want numbers? i'll give you fucking numbers.

he then lays out weekly plans that are cheaper (tues, thurs, sat vs. monday, wed, fri) not sure what happened to sunday. i'm sure it was there somewhere. i tell him i want to be able to go any day of the week. he lets out a small sigh. i ask him if the gym has a pool and/or steamroom. he smirks, shakes his head and says no, like i'm crazy for asking. what?? i want to punch him. walk out at least. but i don't.

him: so you sign today?
me: so what exactly is the corporate discount?
him: well, tomorrow no more. everything increase.
me: wait, tomorrow, there's no more corporate discount? hmmm...
him: you sign for three months?
me: well, if i want to sign today, i'll give you a call. if i miss the promotion by calling tomorrow, i understand it's my fault. it's ok.
him: you want to come in for one day pass?
me: (phew, something i can give into) sure, great. i'll do that.

the rude salesperson is someone we've all encountered. but it's quite prevalent here and it's almost always the same type of treatment. i won't go into detail or talk about any specific examples, but if you don't buy then they essentially shoo you away with a flick of the wrist. the smile immediately turns to an almost scowl and they quietly curse you under their breath for wasting their precious time. of course, it is not always this harsh. sometimes, it is just a very curt ok, thank you. smile drops. and they turn away as if you never even existed...

Monday, October 1, 2007

booooo

eug and i stopped into a vietnamese restaurant today called coconut forest vietnamse restaurant. we noticed the misspelling and still ventured in. it was my fault. my craving got the best of me. it was like a scene out of a horror flick. like, why couldn't those dumb kids take a hint. needless to say the food was awful. bleh. i wish i had my camera.

it was cheap though, about $9 US for two drinks, two bowls of lemongrass chicken/pork vermicelli, and two disgustingly greasy side dishes of springrolls and something else.