Kay

Ever since becoming Mom to Hazel, I have had less time to surf random sites and mainly get my information from facebook feeds. Which is a pity as more and more posts on facebook are commercials.

But this weekend I saw from Henry’s facebook that he had just seen Lea Salonga in Concert with the HK Philharmonic orchestra. OMG! I usually find out about these things, but not sure why I had missed it. It was just not advertised at all!

When I found out, both the main concerts in the Cultural Center in TST were over. There was a 1-hour concert in Tsuen Wan on Sunday. Only 50 dollars, limited tickets still available! However, it was labeled as Lea Salonga singing Phillippino and English Songs. Not knowing what to expect, I journeyed into the unfamiliar territory of West Tsuen Wan, made convenient by the west rail line so close to my house. The concert hall in Tsuen Wan Town Center seated approximately 2000 people.

Many philippino fans. I am grateful that she did this concert, not only because it meant I had the opportunity to watch her live, but also because it seems that she didn’t do it solely for the money. At 50 dollars a ticket and 2000 tickets, the revenue would have been 200K but that seems low considering the entire philharmonic needed to be hired.

To my delight, she basically sang most of the songs that I wanted to hear. Reflection and Let it go gave me goosebumps. On my own and I dreamed a dream were a delight. She also sang Miss Saigon and Brave. Yay! The phillippino songs I didn’t understand but nevertheless a delight to listen to her live vocals at the bargain price of $50!

 

<3 <3 <3. Hope she comes to HK again soon and that I dont miss it the next time!

 

 

Recently, I have been working for extended periods of time in a bad posture and non-ergonomic office seat. The result? A super knotted back/neck that I haven’t had since my pre-maternity days. I was so desperate to get some work done that I went after work in-between off-work time and my dinner appointment. The place is on the slope on wellington street, a mere 2 minute walk from where I work, which made it a very viable off-work/ lunchtime massage place. The price was also very agreeable, and I thought that I would be a potential repeat customer. The environment was not bad. Once I got out of the lift, I was greeted with a pleasant smell and 3-4 people standing at the counter. I was the only booking at 6pm on a Monday evening. Soon, I was escorted into a room near the reception and hence I did not get a chance to view the main area. They bought me a change of clothes which were pleasant and clean, and I was already thinking that the environment was not bad for the price compared to a much dodgier place I had tried in Tsim Sha Tsui a couple days prior. The massage itself was not an enjoyable experience. A certain thought was looping in my head “Are massages supposed to hurt?”. I have a pretty good pain tolerance, and have enjoyed deep tissue massages in the past with elbows and strong kneeds. I have had painful deep tissue massages in the past, but none that were QUITE this painful… I remember flinching a number of times and telling the masseuse that it hurt, to which he replied that yes, my neck was very knotted. After googling about the experience after the fact, I think I should have voiced out and asked to lower the intensity, but shouldn’t good bodyworkers should be able to sense my body language and adjust appropriately? Additionally, they did not ask if I had a preference for male or female masseuses. As reminded by my husband later, there are certain potential risks with letting a man into a private massage room and I am not sure if I mind. A good parlour should ask for preference/limitations before sending someone in. After the massage as I was paying, I noticed they had a special “opening offer” going on and massage packages were buy 5 get 1 free. This would make each massage only about 220 each but they didn’t make any attempt to sell me this offer (not that I would have likely obliged, but good customer service/sales are supposed to tell clients about deals, right?)   The Verdict: I will probably not return again in a short while for body massage. The price is cheap for the environment and a prime location like central, but it was too painful to be enjoyable. Likelihood of return (Scale of 1-5): 2 Address: ZEN Body Massage & Foot Massage 6/F Jade Center
98 Wellington Street 
Central

10 cool things I did:

1. Took every underground/overground line on the central London tube map including the emirates air line, DLR and Waterloo and City Line
2. London pass whirlwind London tour! 3 days of attractions worth 170 pounds individually! Including a evensong service at the St.Paul’s cathedral at the first day of advent.
3. Road trip to bath and Stonehenge and experiencing a hostel truly in the middle of nowhere! (YHA Cholderton)
4. Overnight train from Cologne to Copenhagen!
5. Northern lights viewing in Iceland!
6. Rooming with 3 wonderful girls April, Devi, Sharon!  🙂
7. Visiting world famous markets! Portobello road, Brick Lane, Camden Market,  Covent Garden, Greenwich Market, Southwark Christmas Market, Hyde Park Winter Wonderland.
8. West end musical classic…Phantom of the Opera!
9. Potlucking with friends from all around the world…world class cuisine!
10. Attending classes at a world class institution the London Business school with MBAs, exchange students, EMBAs, Sloan fellows!

During the past week I allocated some time to really tour London. This involves waking up at 8 (a miracle considering that it is SOOO COLDD and that I didn’t have class or any true responsibilities to get me to get out of bed) and making the most of my London Pass, a card that you pay for in advance and could get you into most of the attractions in London for no extra charge.

In total, I visited the following attractions in 3 days:

Day 1 St.Paul’s Cathedral, Westminister Abbey, Tower of London, Tower Bridge Exhibition, City Cruises Thames Cruise, Day 2 Wimbledon grounds tour, Hampton’s court Palace, Day 3 Kensington Palace, Royal Albert Hall guided tour, Household Cavalry Museum, where a very helpful guide called Nick gave me a practically private tour, and the Churchill War Rooms. Finally, I ended with a movie at the Curzon Cinema in Soho.

My pass cost me £66 and that got me into £171 worth of attractions! Being the “si lai” that I am, that is the part that makes me most happy haha but I thoroughly enjoyed all of the attractions! Apart from these fee-paying attractions, I also fit in visits to 2 Xmas markets, the one at Southwark and the one at Hyde Park Corner, to bask in the Xmas Spirit. Hohoho! Wishing everyone a joyeous holiday season!!!!! =D

Personal favourites were:

The Wimbledon tour, for the extreme efforts they take in upkeeping the grass for the yearly tournaments. The grass is sooo green! It would be awesome to come here to watch the proper games one day. Maybe I will submit an application for the ticket ballot next year, hehehe

Hampton’s Court Palace – This is how a castle should be! I loved the architecture and all the stories about the past kings and queens of England fit right into the scenary

Movie: Amour – The first French Language film that I’ve watched in a cinema. It is a poignant story about an elderly, loving couple, both retired music teachers, dealt with the wife’s deteriorating health, strokes and dementia. Winner of the Palme d’Or this year. I figured that I would see this movie because it wasn’t something I could watch in Hong Kong or just download easily, without really understanding what it was about before I went in. The movie wasn’t so sad that it made me cry, but it was very realistic (notice the bold AND italics). It deals with love and death as inevitable parts of life but in a way that encourages you to be strong and embrace both with an equal lack of fear. I’ve realized I quite enjoy these ‘arthouse’ movies…perhaps I will try to be more active in going to film festival selection pieces in Hong Kong when I get back.

…with Google Doodles!

I love how google takes the effort to pay tribute to the society. Some of the doodles are so exquistly made! Which prompts me to click on it. Sometimes I don’t much about the subject of the doodle but after clicking on the banner and reading the wiki, !Viola! my general knowledge has increased once again.

Some of my favorite doodles recently: Roger Hargreaves’ 76th Birthday; Royal Wedding April 29th 2011, Li Bai’s Birthday, Jules Verde’s Birthday…

And the Doodle that inspired me to write this post: Martha Graham! Frankly I had no idea who she was until I saw this impressive doodle and clicked on it: to find that she is the pioneer of modern dance. The doodle does not look so good here, because its a still – unfortunately I could not seem to find the animated version to copy here, but the moves are truly elegant and animated to perfection to pay tribute to a wonderful dancer.

 

One of the better things that spanned from the Sammi/Andy reunite (apart from my being estactically happy for a whole week) is my exercise habits. It stemmed from me wanting to “release” that estactic energy so I began going to run downstairs while listening to their sweet sweet songs.

So far this running pattern has lasted for a week and I hope it can continue for at least a month or 2. But interestingly, this has also stemmed me desire to diet – I am running not because i am dietting/want to lose weight; but I am dieting/want to lose weight because I don’t want to “waste” the running.

Is that weird? Don’t worry, I have convinced myself that this the absolute truth; so I guess even if I do not make any goals (not that I have set myself any, I didn’t even know how much I weighed before I started..) then at least that i can feel better that the dieting was only to complement the running.

So the days of calorie counting has returned. However, it is not easy because I do love to go eat lunch with my colleagues. How to find low-cal and healthy food choices at different restaurants? For example, today we are going to Yum-Cha to “farewell” to Carrie, a tab manager who is visiting Asia to “train” us on tab services, and to “welcome” Christina, who is back for a while Japan recovers a bit from the catastrophic quake and nuclear leak situations. Hope she gets to stay for a while and not have to go back and make her family worry.

Anyhow, here is an article to remind myself: 飲茶低卡食品:

養師Cherie Cheng則補充，雖然中式點心一般脂肪及鈉含量較高，但只要選擇點心時謹記守則，配搭得宜仍可食得健康均衡。
健選要訣

　　1. 應以包點和蒸腸粉類為主食。

　　2. 每人應進食約半碟灼菜，以不加醬油為佳。

　　3. 進食適量的鹹蒸點。

　　4. 別選吃過多的煎炸點心。

　　5. 進食湯飯或湯粉麵時，避免飲用湯汁。

五大高脂元兇

　　 熱量（卡路里） 脂肪總量（克）

　　鮮竹卷1件 140 12

　　煎腐皮卷1件 130 11

　　麻香拌海蜇1碟 230 18

　　山竹牛肉1粒 90 6.9

　　豉汁蒸魚雲1碟 180 13

四款低脂點心

　　 熱量（卡路里） 脂肪總量（克）

　　番薯糖水1碗 200 0.5

　　鮮蝦腸粉1條 75 1.6

　　雞包仔1個 120 3.1

　　蒸素粉果1件 46 1.5

Chicken bun bun here I comers!

*update* so much for THAT resolution… I was in charge of ordering the dimsum and ordered too much. Being the responsible person that I am, I finished the leftovers. Good for the environment but bad for my fat… Doh!

等了７(or maybe 20)年，我們終於等到了.

猶記得半年前我們看到那個感人的僅餘的一小片天空.  

那時，世界都深深感到那份情，奈何天時地利人和的關係，他倆驚動不起那份情。不過，世人都目睹，其實雙方都對這情感念念不忘。

終於，今年，他們決定重新開始。三月三號，他們到佐敦太平官吃下午茶（實際上，應該是午飯來的，藝人的時間都是混亂的）。四號，蘋果日報A1，標提寫著：SAMMI安仔復合斷正。A1 的重視，可想港人對這對分了合了廿多年的戀人是多麼關注，多麼熟悉。看到了那相片，從他們倆的眼神和身體語言，我覺得這次應該係真嘅。

FAST FORWARD星期一，男女主角避了一個週末，最終因為男的要開演唱會記者會而打破沈默。11：30查小欣節目中，他說：我們有了共識，我們決定重新開始！

這時，我瘋狂了。等了那麼多年的確認，雖要經果分離，但最終等到了。而女主角亦放下大女人身份，寫了一篇小鳥依人但是不失幽默的回應去確認了這關係。我感動了。

我相信愛情，祝福他們永遠開心快樂！