Prangster in Chicago

This is cute

Hand me the nunchaks

"I have invented a new way of fighting with NO fixed positions!" -- Bruce Lee, The Bruce Lee Story.

Photos from HK

These are the only photos you need to see from my weekend in HK:

1) Relaxing in the hotel room with comfy slippers on.
2) Out and about: Hong Kong harbourside.
3) Back in the hotel room, inspecting the day's shopping. Right there, I'm holding some new shoes.
4) Eating at a random restaurant within eyesight because we were just too freaking tired from the heat.
5) Saturday night at the bar area, Lan Kwai Fong.

Thanks to Lien and her well-timed corporate training, HK was a great (and much needed) escape!

The plot thickens...

Last Friday, the 16th, I hit one year at my job. So what do I have to show for the last 52 weeks? These are the highlights:
- Three corporate profiles
- Three new company/brand names
- One new beer name (for Taiwan Beer, yet to be launched)
- Two company slogans
- One advertisement that's appeared at Taipei and HK airports
- Packaging for electronics products that can be found on store shelves in Taipei
- A kickass Bookmarks directory of blogs and other links

And that's one year passed.

Of course, I couldn't possibly have gone through this year alone. I need to give credit to my silent writing partners, Thesaurus.com and The Synonym Finder. They have been my vocabulary plungers this past year, helping me get unblocked during moments of creative constipation. Thank you Big Red Book. Thank you Yellow Website...

Uncutting Simone

People, sitting on the left in the above photo is a person called Simone. She of the ample cleavage and silky straight hair. On Monday, it was Simone's birthday and yet I -- normally so considerate and a top quality friend -- did not mark the occasion on this blog. Due to that omission, she wrote me this message upon her return to work this morning:

dude, im totally cut that i wasnt important enough to warrant a "happy birthday simone!" on your blog like all your other friends were...sob sob.

Because of her email, I am writing this post in a formal tone of voice to amplify it's importance and indicate to her that I take her sobbing very seriously. Never mind that I've written her scrolls of emails already, enquiring about her birthday celebrations over the weekend. Or sent her a gift which I wrapped carefully and paid postage to be sent over vast waters and straight into her ample cleavage. Or that I wrote a cute card on fancy stationary by hand, going through three drafts  -- and thereby wasting valuable fancy stationary papers -- so I would get it just right and make her smile. Never mind all that excess. All Simone wanted was three words on this blog, and yet I will probably overwhelm her with my over-consideration. Why must I smother her? What screw is loose in my mind? Or indeed, do I have some kind of dire psychological condition that requires professional attention? I do not know, perhaps because I am unqualified to make neurological diagnoses, despite having watched two complete seasons of the television series, House. So here I am, unnecessarily verbose and wishing Simone a belated happy birthday on this blog, because she was totally cut.

Oh, and on the right is Priya. Her birthday is at the end of December. Happy birthday for December, Priya!

It's okay

1. It's okay I complained about the luxurious 5-star hotel bed making my neck sore because my spoilt spine is used to the spongey space pillow I have at home.
2. It's okay I spent money like Kimora Lee Simmons this weekend even though my financial situation is more on par with Nick Lachey. (It was my first time in HK, dammit.)
3. It's totally okay I was ordering french fries from room service in my sleep and was caught by Lien sleep-talking to the imaginary hotel server because he forgot to bring me tomato sauce.
4. It's okay to admit that my hands are a bit cut up from all the hard-core shopping we did.
5. I suppose it's okay that I cannot be crapped writing up a proper recap of Hong Kong at the moment.

Maybe it's time to go

Taipei must be trying to tell me something because as I was walking home from the bus stop tonight, I got hit with flying cement gunk. Express delivery from the bulldozer on the construction site straight to my collarbone.

But gee, what could Taipei be trying to tell me? Maybe Taipei's saying, "Take that, bitch! This dump is damn polluted and no stupid anti-bacterial facemask is going to save you. HA!"

Or if my powers of interpretation are still with me, Taipei could have been communicating, "You know, you might want to consider leaving your job and moving back to Sydney where cement gunk stays on the ground and doesn't land on people's collarbones. Just a thought."

I'm heading to Hong Kong for the weekend. First time ever. Looking forward to walking around, eating some real yum cha and meeting up with an old friend.