Changing for the worse

Everyone seems to be moving on, going forward and embracing new challenges, new experiences.  Mortgages, parenthood, marriage...  Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one who hasn't grown up with the rest of them.  Left behind in a different dimension as the world continues its daily struggles with life itself.  It is not such a bad thing to grow up slowly.  There are times where I look back and regret the eagerness to embrace adulthood.  In the end, perhaps my blog was more accurately named than I could have perceived.


Today, I walked a path many tourists walk in my city and found that it is no longer the path I once walked when I was a child.  The landscape, while still recognizable, has changed with time: new buildings, new signboards, new skyline...  As Sam Ewing puts it - "When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood."  Z and I discussed this topic during our walk and realized that we both felt the same in that what had started with the enhancing of the skyline changed our community as a whole.  As a result, our city's people culture has evolved and regrettably, not for the good.  It shames me to admit that we are slowly but surely mimicking some of the cruder mannerisms of our bordering neighbours and it saddens me that one day I might have to leave this city - the beloved city which I grew up in - if only to save myself from being sucked into this impostor, this shadow of a greatness our people used to be.  

Never give in

"Never give in - never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force, never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."
~ Sir Winston Churchill

I confess, this really is one of my favorite quotes.

A Heavy Heart

In passing conversation, a friend asked a remarkable question. He asked me why the lives of those in the Manila hostage incident were more valuable than those which were lost in Haiti, Iraq or even Pakistan. My response was this: We never associate tragedies of others until they happen close to home. This is perhaps a harsh reality to accept but no less true.

We never associate the catastrophes we see on the news until it the reality of it happens to a place or a people we consider as familiar. My sincere condolences to the families of the victims of the hostage situation in Manila yesterday. There are no words to describe the grief or express the pain which we, as a community, feel in its wake. Hong Kong has always been seen as one of the safest cities in the world. Too small to cause ripples in the international scene, we are like a mini Switzerland – neutral in all things surrounding our little haven be they politics or art. A diminutive city with an astounding population, Hong Kongers have often mistakenly been disparaged as a distant and unsympathetic people. It is true that we are not as warm as the Malaysians nor can we claim that we are as hospitable as the Thai but today, as our grief unites us, the world will awaken to the fact that regardless of what they believe, we are always there for each other. Our government has stepped up to charter a plane not only to bring back the traumatized, the grieving and the dead but also to carry our very own doctors, psychologists and social workers to those in need. The message is clear; we take care of our own.

Lea's rant of the day

I just can't spend my life fucking sitting down. That's just pure laziness. I'm happy for other people to do it but as the famous quote from Warren Zevon (1947-2003) goes: I'll sleep when I'm dead. After all, I'll have plenty of time to rest/sit down/whatever then.

Wondrous Wonderland

We went to see Alice in Wonderland today. If there ever was a movie made to encourage one to regain their ability to dream again, this is it. As adults, we are all far too jaded and cynical to be able to think freely in the environment of which our child self would have happily flourished under. Reality comes crashing back to disturb such dreams and we all end up remembering that we have bills to pay and responsibilities to uphold. Isn't it strange that when we are young, we dream about growing up while those who have reached the enviable grown up age, in turn look back in envy at those who have yet to feel the burden of reality upon their shoulders. Perhaps this is the reason why we all, whether we know it or not, try to protect the children. As they are absent in ourselves, where else is it possible to protect our dreams?

The movie was nothing like I expected it to be. I enjoyed the 3D aspect of it and the idea which propelled the entire plot but not the story itself. To be honest, the plot wasn't particularly well written. There was no sense of intrigue, no feeling of being swept up with the whole story. The characters lacked a certain depth to them which made us, as an audience, less attached to their fates. I do give them credit for finding "Alice" though. She was the perfect "Alice." Down to her pale English Rose complexion. :) And I absolutely adored the decor and the costumes. Those were utterly magnificent. Admittedly, while the Red Queen is evil, her castle was superior and by far more tastefully decorated than the austere White Queen's palace. More importantly, the White Queen was starting to irritate me with her hand gestures - can't you stand like a normal person rather than someone who looks like their being hanged by their arms?!?!

There was one moment, where Alice battered the Jabberwocky, which had my heart rate speeding up a bit but other than that... It was a little bland. Its a shame, really. I would have liked to love this movie.

It is always darkest before dawn

I believe that now.  I wrote this on Monday when I was having a blue day...

Today is the first day I’ve felt really down since coming back to the UK. My professor finally got back to me with an email and to be honest, I should be utterly ecstatic to have setup this appointment with him. Nonetheless, I’m finding myself feeling rather blue. I guess you can call it homesickness but to be fair, I’m missing the life that I’d built around me in the last three years in HK more than I’m actually missing HK itself. Goddess, I miss having friends!! Not the whole ‘make an appointment 5 days in advance’ crap that people subscribe to here just to setup a casual dinner. That’s madness. Where is the spontaneity in that? Where’s the fun?


Guess I’m back to my regular complaint about things being too slow here. It’s driving me nuts. Hopefully, by the end of next week, I’ll actually have access to the internet at home! What an inconvenience! Most of the time, I find myself doing inane house chores and watching cable when I’m in. It’s so sad. Someone get me out of here please!!
Poor DR has been trying his best to help me out. He’s just absolutely out of ideas and entertaining me can be a full time job. Tran used to exclaim how hard it was to entertain me. I miss Monsieur Tran! Wonder how life is in Australia…

And today, I received an offer to the masters course I applied for in RBS London.  I couldn't have had a better day!