Baking analogy at work. The cake is due tomorrow so of course anything that can go wrong, did. The oven broke down. The cherries meant to decorate the cake went bad. And most absurdly, the customer had no time to eat the cake. Instead, they've offered the baker a chance to eat it first. Urgh.

This morning I met a new caucasian neighbour and my cantonese-speaking German neighbour in the lift. I thought it would be fun to stun the new neighbour by giving the german neighbour some street cred, so I started chatting with the german in Cantonese. I didn't slow down my words in an exaggerated manner the way people do when they wish to be understood. I simply rattled on and I realise he picked up the key words in my sentences in order to reply in Cantonese.

If only I could have seen the look on the new neighbour's face. lol.

We are 13.7 billion light years from the edge of the observable universe, that's a good estimate, with well defined error bars, and with the available information I predict that I will always be with you.
- Katie Melua, Nine Million Bicycles

The song which was re-recorded in order to be scientifically accurate. lol.

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.
- Abraham Joshua Heschel

Thought of the day: Some women are parcels marked "Fragile", while I am simply Federal Express. Quick, precise, unwavering in my end destination, and not likely to stay.

This morning I ran 6km to Spoon's "I Summon You" on auto-repeat. There's a line that goes: "Remember the weight of the world/ It's a sound that we used to buy/ On cassette and 45".

Have you ever wondered, if you listen to a song looping forever, won't that song change you somehow?
In that case, everytime I run, I undergo a metamorphosis.

On the other hand, Kate Bush's latest album includes a song titled "Pi". On it, she recited decimal places, and I laughed because I could cross-check these numbers in my head while listening to the song. I wonder if she has learnt to sing this song without looking at the lyrics? Do Kate Bush and I have something in common now? Is this my song or what?

Today at work. During a teleconference, my users decided to switch to discuss in cantonese so I had to do instantaneous translation via MSN Messenger for my team member in Malaysia who didn't understand at all. Next career option as an instantaneous translator?

My bro and sis-in-law came and left Hong Kong, taking with them snapshots of my apartment to put my mum's mind at ease about my living conditions. It's lucky they didn't think of taking a picture inside my fridge.

Monday again. Wasn't that quick?

Recently I've developed the habit of multi-tasking while watching TV. Yup, you've heard right. I didn't watch TV back home but now I've started. I'm following all sorts of TV serials like "Point Pleasant", "OC" and "Medium", as well as reality shows like "The Apprentice" and "Project Runway". What I do is curl up with a magazine or my Sudoku puzzle book in front of the TV and split my attention 50-50 between the TV and whatever else I'm doing.

I think I may have inherited this bad habit from mum, who's a even more hardcore multi-tasker. My mum may be the only person I know who can watch TV and listen to the radio at the same time.

How long can a country go without rain? It seems a long time since it last rained here, and I can't reconcile this to news of constant rain back home. I don't miss the rain. I just feel disconnected from home.

I'm in love with disco Madonna. On auto-repeat now is her song "Sorry". The first time I heard it I know I've got to run listening to it looping without end. If only I can load it into my iPod now.

How could I have forgotten to mention that I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger as he strolled beaming through the supermarket behind my place last Saturday? It seemed that he was making an appearance at Victoria Park, so he made a detour to visit the supermarket (to promote Californian food products probably). It didn't occur to me I would be clutching a huge pack of toilet rolls in the presence of the Terminator but there you go.

My iPod has been reset and it's now working! Thanks to my bro for forwarding reset instructions, but I actually reset it last night. I didn't realise that the reset steps for my old 2nd generation iPod and the present one are different (you press different buttons on the dial).

Started reading Wim Wenders' photo journal.
What he wrote that stuck in my head:
- every photo can be the opening shot of a movie
- the subject matter of each photo is both the photographed and the photographer

We are presented with a photo and seldom wonder about the motivation and thoughts of the photographer who shot it. But looking at Wim Wenders' photos, his films made more sense to me as I could see a bit more of his own character. How he's humble in the presence of other directors though he himself is no small fish. How he kept shooting pictures of fallen planes with broken wings.

It's sunny today at 17 degrees celsius. Sounds odd but true. Last night I went on a shopping spree as I was speared on by the cold to buy warmer clothing. I bought 3 long sleeve tops and another jacket, and panicked momentarily about lugging all this home next year.

Did I mention? My stint here has been extended another 2 months. For now.

Oh, and I also bought the white version of this Nooka watch. It's the only one of two pieces they brought in to sell here. :D Woohoo!

The greatest masterpiece in literature is only a dictionary out of order.
- Jean Cocteau

From what I can see, I'm possibly the only straight person at the screenings I've caught from the Gay and Lesbian Film & Video Festival over the weekend. Director Bruce LaBruce did a Q&A after the screening of his "Raspberry Reich" (which revolves round gay porn and fascism). The most memorable line was "The revolution is my boyfriend!", and this film was incidentally banned from this year's Singapore International Film Festival. I can tell why. Even the DVD release of this in Britain warranted 17 cuts. Though I'm not a big fan, I'm gratified to know that Hong Kong passed this film uncut.

My iPod is kaputt. It's stuck playing one song on auto-repeat, so I've got to find the Hong Kong Apple Service Centre or resign myself to listening to the Wrens' "Everyone Chooses Sides" every single day.

Went to an outdoor bookfair at Victoria Park and walked away with 3 Chinese books, one of which is a photo collection of Wim Wenders (unfortunately translated into Mandarin). Selection there is small but I feel inclined to go again, just cos it's so near my place.

Lots of nice meals with my US travelmate and her parents. We even had dim sum at a restaurant which she found out later was the location of 2 underworld assassinations. lol.

Weekend is over too soon again.

Last night I had dinner at a sushi restaurant near my place. The queue outside is often very long but since I was alone, I got a seat pretty quickly. Ended up sitting next to someone who ordered 5 identical plates of salmon sushi for himself. When he saw my stunned look, he explained that he wasn't Norwegian, if that's what I was thinking. lol. I've also added conveyor belt sushi next to dim sum as one of those places it doesn't make sense to eat alone at.

1 movie tonight and 3 tomorrow, and an outdoors book fair at Victoria Park too. Will be spending time with visiting folks and boy, is this week over quickly.

During dinner with visiting friends, someone blurted out that there is one thing he couldn't understand about Singaporean women.. they're either moving out of Singapore or too focused on work. And then everyone swiveled their heads in my direction cos I seemed guilty on both counts. Sigh.

Not that I want to be a god or a hero. Just to change into a tree, grow for ages, not hurt anyone.
- Czeslaw Milosz

Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, or a new country.
- Anais Nin

What intrigues about sudoku is not how to solve it. Given time, anyone can improve their pattern recognition skills and shorten the time to complete sudoku. What fascinates me is how many numbers (or hints) must be displayed in each sudoku puzzle before the number combination for that puzzle can be considered unique; how to reduce the number of hints by strategically planning their placements in the sudoku puzzle; and how to classify the difficulty of each puzzle (how on earth do they derive the estimated solution time?).

I guess what amazes me are the people who draw up the sudoku puzzles in the first place.

When I phone mum, she never tells me to come home cos she misses me. Instead, she tells me I need to come home to read my mail. Well, mail will have to wait till next month when I'm home for good. :)

What I'm lusting for now is a Nooka watch. It challenges you to think everytime you need to read the time.

Some people believe we should run without music in order to listen to our bodies. But I'm listening to my body and it wants music when I'm running. Not running more than 3 days in a row is what I consider listening to my body.

The wait is over. I finally found my first white hair. It was a strange random strand half white and black, but it was unmistakable and undeniable.

I felt first amused and then relieved.
It was such a non-event.

Last weekend I brought visiting film buff friends to dinner at the Goldfinch restaurant at Causeway Bay. They were excited as Wong Kar Wai shot parts of "In the Mood for Love" and "2046" at this place, so we did the tourist gawking bit and embarrassed ourselves thoroughly. lol.

Didn't do much except vege out at the Rockit music festival at Victoria Park on both Saturday and Sunday. The plus point was I stayed so near Victoria Park that I went back to my apartment instead of queue up for the portaloo. The low points were a) Brian Jonestown Massacre didn't make it, and b) a drunk angmo girl spilt beer on me and snarled at me after that. Imbecile.

Brought along my sudoku puzzle book to occupy time during the Rockit festival. Though I'm game enough to do things on my own, I admit I still need props like a book or puzzles to establish a barrier around myself from other people. Didn't work this time though. The first day I was at the music festival, a caucasian guy walking alongside me told me he bet he would beat me at sudoku (but ran off before he could prove himself). The second day I turned up, a passing caucasian guy called out to me, "Hey look, it's sudoku girl! We were observing you solve puzzles yesterday!". Odd how it's only the caucasians who are compelled to talk to me about sudoku.

I've thought about my obsession with sudoku and it boils down to my fascination for numbers and pattern recognition. I'm surprised I caught on to it so late.

I'm getting addicted to sudoku.

Last night I visited a bookstore and bought 2 identical copies of advanced level sudoku puzzle books, and gave a copy to the security guard who taught me how to play it. We're going to see who completes all the puzzles in the book first (and there are 280 puzzles!). lol. I stayed up till 2am this morning so I could finish a few. Today while working on a sudoku puzzle in the MTR subway train, an Australian beside me started a conversation because he was working on a sudoku puzzle too.

Can't wait to polish off a few more this weekend!

Animation Nation.
What I wish I could have the chance to watch back home.

Last night one of the security guards explained to me what sudoku is and I solved my first puzzle. :) I can imagine myself at the rock concert this weekend, lying on the grass listening to music while solving puzzle after puzzle. lol. I'm such a geek.

This morning, I went downstairs to pick up the gym key from the security guard for my early morning run. To my surprise, he was already holding out the key to me when the lift door opened. He grinned at my stunned look and said he spotted me in the lift security camera.

I'll really miss this place when I leave.

Weekend.

Had lunch at Queen's Cafe, where Wong Kar Wai shot parts of "Days of Being Wild". Except it was not the original site, but the new site in Causeway Bay they've moved to. Darn. So I gazed upon the autographed poster they hung there of "Days of Being Wild" (circa '95) and ate my lunch special.

Also bought the DVD of "DiG!", a documentary on Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dandy Warhols. Incidentally, this won the Jury Prize at Sundance. Can't watch it till I return to Singapore but at least I'll watch BJM perform this coming weekend (yes I bought my weekend pass to the Rockit Festival).

Caught 4 film screenings over the weekend, 2 of which were Japanese movies. Amongst them were "Nana", which was based on a punk musician manga, and "Way of Blue Sky", a coming-of-age movie.

Glow mentioned that he's recently read a book which he thought was about me. It's Keith Ferrazzi's "Never Eat Alone", about building relationships (like a "fast and meaningful slice of intimacy"). Haven't read it before but I'm curious to check it out.

What I did finish reading was Anne Tyler's "The Amateur Marriage".

When asked about his childhood ambition, a co-worker told me he wanted to be a bus driver when he was young. Why? Cos bus drivers seem to go everywhere.

Found out Paulo Coelho's novel "Veronika Decides to Die" has been made into a Japanese film which was just screened in the Tokyo Film Festival. Can't wait to watch that.

Stayed at the Central Library yesterday to finish read through 2 Belgian comics. One of them was Schuiten & Peeters' "Cities of the Fantastic: The Invisible Frontier". Won't look at maps the same way now.

I succumbed and bought ice-cream again. 2 tubs of vanilla chocolate sundae. Help.

Friday. Weekends are always full of possibilities aren't they?

Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
- Ernest Hemingway

So instead of testing someone's IQ, maybe we can test their Happiness Quotient? :)

When you think about it, department stores are kind of like museums.
- Andy Warhol

So most of my girlfriends are avid museum-goers then. lol.

Did you know undecimal means 11 fingers?

Upcoming events in Hong Kong I'm interested in:

This weekend's Art of Commercials Festival, showcasing Best of Commercials including the Clio Award winners.

Rock It Music Festival, if only to check out Brian Jonestown Massacre. Besides, this may be the only time a rock concert is within 5 minutes walk of where I stay.

Hong Kong Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival, because I can't really picture it happening in Singapore.

Tonight I'll be checking out the Belgian comics exhibition at the Central Library (remember Tin Tin?) and perhaps picking up early weekend morning tickets for some commerical movie screenings.

I'm enjoying what I can before I head home finally.. time here seems shorter than I think.

A new acquaintance told me he finished reading an entire set of encyclopaedia when he was 6 yrs old. At first, the natural inclination is to assume he's boasting, because it seemed too removed from our own experiences at that age.

Then he added, "When you're dying at the hospital, there isn't much else to do."

Don't assume.

What I haven't had a chance to post:
There's a german staying on my floor who dislikes being spoken to in English. He speaks fluent Cantonese and has spent a few years previously in Japan. My US travelmate and I discovered this in the span of a lift ride from my floor to the ground floor, during which I thought my US travelmate would start conversing in German to my neighbour, and I would have to chime in with my rusty German as well. Luckily, we controlled ourselves and didn't freak him out.

I met a girl recently who hadn't dreamt in years. She mentioned that in the last dream she could remember, she was flying happily. Not high over buildings, but low heights, at waist level. She concluded that it was during that time when she really picked up swimming, and it felt like flying to her. I wish she'll be able to dream again.

More on the dance documentary I've mentioned previously:
The 19 year old boy was so disinclined for people to turn up at his performance that he either misinformed them of the venue or the time. Then in the end, he got impulsive and phoned his mum to tell her about his performance. That was nice.

Now listening to a new Depeche Mode song entitled "Precious" on auto-repeat, feeling everything will happen in its own time.