Here's a sneak preview at my workstation!! Many say that I have the best spot in the office. I have no one sitting behind me so I have this enormous space to myself. Though the only downside to this spot is that EVERYONE that walks into our section can see straight through to my desk. I love that giant Octopus Card. That's a keeper!!!
Plus I got up close and personal with singer Joey Yung!!! Now THAT's something I didn't think I would be doing when I first arrived in Hong Kong as a fob. No bitching about her just in case I get tracked down by her fans!!
Steak with 1 Vege
This piece of steak is always standing out near my house handing out pamphlets. I've always wanted a photo of it, but then they introduced the Corn Cob!! I just could not resist. It's gotta be the funniest outfit on earth! I love corn!!!
Here's my first movie review as a xanga entry. Well I guess this isn't so much of a review as it is my thoughts about the idea of the movie. Firstly for those who don't know this is a Jim Carrey film where he's moved out of his comfort zone in a comedy role, into a romance/drama film, about a couple in a relationship where Clementine (Kate Winslet) decides to erase Joel (Jim Carrey) out of her memory after a big fight. Joel discovers that he no longer exists in her memory and decides to undergo the procedure as well. But as he the procedure is in process, he realises that he doesn't want to erase his memory of her afterall.
This movie won an Academy Award for best original screenplay and Kate Winslet was also nominated for best actress. It's a definite recommendation for those who loves to indulge in a little bit of romance. But what I love most about the film, is that it makes you realise how important memories are to you. I cannot imagine having any memories, good or bad, to be erased, because it makes me who I am. People change from what they have experienced, and your actions are almost always, triggered by your experience and what has happened in the past.
I give it: (out of 5 's - there are no star icons so I had to use hearts)
The end of an era
Having witnessed the merge of KCR and MTR, was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. But you also learn how much these two companies are a part of every Honkie's life. Railway fans were mad for any KCR logo items, and luckily I was involved in selling off a lot of these products. Here's a sneak peek at what was involved:
This was a staff sale I have organised, as a charity online auction to raise money for the Community Chest. I was in charge of creating and managing the display, with the introduction panel designed by contractors (but instructed by me!). It was my first official job and I was so excited to see this result!
Some items that were sold, includes a Tail Lamp from at least 20 years ago, bus displays, staff rule books dating back to 1946, and a ticket stamping machine. This was my second major project, the charity sale of logo items held at the East Tsim Sha Tsui station. On the first day there were people queuing up hours prior to the shop opening, and people were spending up to thousands of dollars. I was also in charge in the design of the store and the items board. Another one of my babies! If only I could take the posters home and stick it on my wall!
Me and my team during a bit of spare time (the man is my boss) - the photo was taken by a customer lining up before the shop opened. He wanted to borrow my top to wear so he can take a photo -_-
Some quick facts about the merged MTR: 1. There are now a total of 82 stations (not including Light Rail - which follows the same system as trams in Melbourne. I was asked my colleagues what is Melbourne famous for. I didn't even know what to answer, and someone said our trams. I must say I'm not overly proud of our trains but there you go) 2. There are a total of 9 lines, not including the Airport Express line, the Light Rail line and intercity train to China.
Now that I think about it, I need to create a new map to cross out which stations I've been!
3. The new MTR ad, sung by Joey Yung, has brought back the long neglected use of ad jingles. See below for the ad.
Also, for those who want to commemorate KCR and watch the news coverage of the merger day.
With my colleagues at the merger day ceremony
And since that day, I haven't received any other work... Zzzzzzzzz.......................
Random memories
Visit from Mr & Mrs Julian... I'm sorry, I've forgotten your surname...?? We had a big feast at Hong Kong Airport T2, firstly shanghai dumplings then sushi train at Itamae Sushi courtesy of Mr Julian. So very generous and veli delicious (the food)!!
My Obsession: "Mini egg" and "Checked biscuit" - it's just flour, egg and milk but it's so yummy!! Especially the waffle, they put butter, peanut butter, condensed milk and sugar inside. Yes I know it's going to give me a heartache but I think it might be worth it?!
haha... this is one of the three Ant Baits that I've put around my room/house. I had a real problem with ants even though I don't have any food in the place. When I spray insect repellent it kills me before it kills anything else, so I've put them around the place, and it works!! How it works is that the ant is somehow attracted into the house, but then some sort of poison is stuck on their body, in which they bring back to the nest and kills them all. You have to refrain from killing them because then it won't bring the poison to their home and eliminate them totally.
It was quite funny watching it (I mean the ants, not the bait), because after all, it doesn't lie flat totally on the floor, there's still some sort of a 'step' for the ant to crawl onto. But the ants, being stupid as they are, wants to go in, but keeps bumping into the edge, so it cannot go onto the platform. It takes them ages to work out how to get on... I spent lots of time just watching and laughing at them. Well, more in my head, not aloud.
Took my nieces, Valerie and Vanessa out for a belated birthday dinner at Spaghetti House, Taikoo City Plaza
Karaoke @ CEO for my last day of work at Mott Connell
Hot pot dinner with ex-colleagues for a few of their last day of work
Me, Kary & her friends
Hehe these are a bit outdated plus I've got them on facebook, but it's more for mummy to see - Halloween at Disneyland. The decorations probably aren't as well done as Ocean Park to suit the theme, but nonetheless it's still quite pretty and the atmosphere aren't as bad as they say.
Funny photo on the Space Mountain ride and me posing as Buzz Lightyear
The Dumbo ride - who says we're too young for these rides
I only got to take photos with the 'billains' like Jafar and Hook. Some kids did get quite scared of them.
Fireworks above the Sleeping Beauty castle
A big Mickey balloon from the parade *wink wink*
Housewarming at Natalie's newly renovated home - featuring the 'hairdresser' lamp!
And last but not least... a little Siu Kam gallery for all to enjoy! She has got to be the cutest baby girl ever!
I didn’t notice
any of these problems in my previous workplace, an engineering company, which of
course consisted of mainly men who didn’t care less what you do or don’t do. But
now, in the Public Relations department, men are out-numbered by women, and you
look crazy when you don’t follow the ‘trends’.
1.No hand bags
please
Ladies lunching
likes to carry a tiny little bag (ideally a draw string bag with your favourite
cartoon character or something of the like) containing only your wallet, mobile phone and perhaps a
packet of tissue. If you don’t follow this habit, it becomes extremely
noticeable. For example:
I went to lunch
with the whole department once, and I carried my handbag (note: my extremely
large handbag).
Colleague: Are you
leaving work?
Me: No…?
Colleague: Then
why are you carrying your handbag?
Me (in my head):
Because we want to! Because we want to!
Me (from my
mouth): Because I like to carry everything with
me……..?
I then looked
around and notices that everyone carries a tiny little bag with them. And there
I am the crazy bag woman with this enormous bag. Jessica Kwan (yes, you!!)
despises people who carry the little bag, and chooses to carry only her wallet
and her phone in her hand during lunch hours. I have chosen to leave my smallest
handbag at work and use that instead to avoid further questions.
2.Toilet locker
One of the
secretaries was handing out keys to lockers that are made available to staff in
the ladies toilet. Because of the lack of lockers available, she asked if I
would like to share one with another girl. I said I don’t really need it, then
started questioning other girls the real use of these lockers. They looked at me
as if I was stupid and said:
Colleagues: TAKE A
WILD GUESS!!!
Me: I don’t know….
Spare pair of shoes maybe?
Colleagues:
NO!!!!! It’s for… you know!!! Ladies products!!!
Me:
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh……. But why??????
Colleagues: Well
you don’t want to carry it with you around, and other people will
see!!!
Me: But…. We don’t
have that in Australia!!!
3.Mirror mirror on the
desk
Another
observation is that people like to place a tiny mirror on their desk near their
computer monitor. My guess is so they can see if the big boss or someone is
coming up behind them so they can make sure they are pretending to do work. I
have now tried to see if this really works, but my mirror is crap and it refuses
to stay at the correct angle, so I spend most of the time looking at a
reflection of the ceiling.
Santa Claus is
coming to town
Hong Kong without
a doubt has already transformed into Christmas town. All buildings are fully
decorated ready for this festive season, and every shop is playing Christmas
carols. This will be my first Christmas in Hong Kong since god knows when, which
is sad because I won’t get to spend it with my family with our tradition
Christmas party and gift-swapping, but also exciting because it’s going to be a
brand new experience. I am even hoping to go to the Pussycat Dolls New Years Eve
concert which will be held at the Macau Venetian Hotel, if it is at all
plausible!! Oh, and it will also be Siu Kam’s first
Christmas!!!!!!!!!
Let's skip all the boring explanation and take a look at what I've been doing shall we???
..... It's a girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ladies and gentleman, let's welcome a new addition to the Lee family!!!! Who had a baby you might ask? Well, once upon a time, a girl and a boy met and they fell in love and BAM! Now we have a baby girl!!! But I'm talking about a boy dog and girl dog that made baby girl Siu Kam!!!
Siu Kam = Little Gold, like Siu Bak (Little White), she is also brown. Seems like the lack of ability to identify colours runs in the family. Siu Kam is Kevin's new puppy dog. I think she has been called too many different names so she doesn't really know what her name is (I kept calling her Siu Bak). She was sick the last time I went to visit so today was the first time I really played with her. She likes to bite everything at the moment, so it was lucky her new toy, a Gingerbread Man soft toy, came just in time to keep her itching teeth happy.
She is a smart little dog too!! She has been taught to pee/poo on this sheet of paper, which works like a nappy. She learnt over 3 days and now she knows to go there when she needs to go to toilet!!
Well, don't think I've forgotten about Siu Bak. Let's take a look at him too. These were taken from my last visit to Melbourne.
Doesn't he look like the Sphinx???
I don't think he realises that he's not a cat....???
He's not very good with the camera. This was like the only photo out of about 20 that he actually looked towards the camera (Note the use of the word 'towards', not 'at'). He looks like a perverted old man compared to Siu Kam!!! He is a lot cuter after a good haircut.
TA-DA!!!
For those who don't know, I've recently start a new job with KCRC (Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation) as an Assistant Promotions Officer. In short, my duty is to implement publicity programmes and organise events. KCRC is a public corporation and provides mainly train services, with the most important route running from Kowloon all the way past New Terroritories and into China, providing a convenient and efficient service to the community. The company will be merging with MTR, which is the mass-transit train system in Hong Kong.
I have been working every weekend since I have started with this job, but I must say it's been a hell lot of fun. I've been involved in a charity walk in which part it includes a train ride; a VIP tour of the train's control centre and depot; MC for an internal function; and am also in preparation for an internal auction/sale of KCRC items as well as a public sale of KCRC items and a book launch - which I have to be MC for again!!
Being an MC was a definite experience. I am still trying to land myself some photos and perhaps a video of the day so I can let everyone have a laugh. I was practically forced into doing this task because there's no one else to do it, and the girl I replaced has always been THE MC. I've got zero experience and I hate public speaking. Although I did muck up a line or two, I think I did pretty good overall. My hands were shaking so hard though that I could barely read the script. Lucky I had a partner and he helped a lot and made life easier for me.
As for the VIP tour, I took some people round to the train's control room and depot. That was another experience of its own. Seeing what's behind the scene of a train service makes you realise that it's not an easy job to run everything so smoothly. I think you ride on the train/whatever everyday and you don't realise or think about everything that's behind it and you take advantage of all the work involved. Here's a quick tour for all of you:
This is one of our trains during service, just thought I'd take a photo with no one on it seeing that it's a rare opportunity!
This is the Cab Sim as you can see on the screen
The people who we took round for a tour was kind enough to let me have a go at the train cab simulator. Apparently this is almost a once in a lifetime opportunity because there's people who's worked in the company for over 10 years and have always wanted a go but never had the chance. Guess it's one of those things that you don't really get to try unless you're actually training to be a driver.
The video on the screen is actually from a real movie clip of train line, and they updated it using graphics programs blah blah blah, but you can still see buildings as you would see if you were to go by certain spots. The program can then also add incidents to your training - like a dog lying on the train tracks or person jumping onto the tracks. When I had a go, I forgot to hold on to the control and the train came into an emergency stop. I then could not control the speed and failed to slow down and went into an emergency stop AGAIN. I think I've pretty much failed the test.
This is a real train!! but the train is in the depot...
....and the front of the train
This is the train Control Room. Like they had on Money Train!!! Very fancy shmancy
Okay it's way past bed time!! Gotta work tomorrow... well today (Sunday) :(
My visit back to Melbourne was short but very sweet. Two and a half weeks flew by so quickly and I didn't want to leave :(
Luckily I had one thing to look forward to - the Ocean Park Halloween Bash!
One thing I admire about Honkies are that they can truly celebrate ANY occasion. Halloween is barely celebrated in Australia (I think I'm the only person that ever considered trick or treating, if only I'm not 25 years old...), but they have decorations and events all month to celebrate Halloween.
The Ocean Park Halloween Bash is one of them - the park was fully decorated, with pumpkins and skeletons scattered all around the park. Each area of the park has been transformed with a specific theme, like 'The Last Stop' (referring to the Chinese funeral procession and paper offerings) or the 'Mad Doctor's Lab' which follows the crazy doctor theme with corpses and crazy doctors hacking at you with all sorts of tools. There's about 6 or 7 ghost houses in total, with actors dressed up in the ghost houses, as well as walking around the park, scaring the crap out of everyone. Funny that you still get scared even though you know they're not real???
Me & Kevin - the aspiring actor/ghost for Halloween next year
Some of the decorations around the park, very creepy!!
Didn't go on the ferris wheel, but the devil is a toy that I (well, my brother did) won throwing coins onto a dish.
The ghost & me
Kary & me with Mr Pumpkinhead that's scattered around the park
Old lady at the 'meat' shop - I reckon she was the scariest!!
This guy is a 'fart see'..... haha I don't know how to describe it in English.
Fat chick whom I think is really a guy... okay she's not fat... just big boned.
Overall, the night was great fun. Highly recommended!!! I am tempted to go to the Disneyland Halloween too now...!!!
