UK again and self reflection

A big part of me felt having only left UK 6 months ago to come back so soon was actually too early. I didn't feel like I miss everyone enough to come back yet, but since it was I just quit my job, being my Dad's Birthday plus my mate's wedding I had to come back.

It wasn't until I got back to UK did I realised exactly how much i missed  everyone and everything. The smile on my parents face, the banter I would have with my mates, the sound of the tube, the silly things I would do or say when I'm with certain friends. It was GREAT to see so many friends and family even if it was only a short time and hell of a rush. My mum hugged me for the first time since god knows when :) and the sensation of being able to walk around all these streets I once wandered alone with Pauline was rather pleasant. I even managed to pretend I know where I'm going most of the time. I tried my hardest to look at London as a tourist but after living there for so many years it was almost impossible.

When I was my friends it was almost like everything clicked and it felt great to be around them, I knew what I was giving up when I left UK but that joy of seeing them again is ALMOST worth leaving for so many months for.

During the days leading up to my trip back to the UK, I noticed I was looking at myself to see what had changed about me. As I know people would be asking me "How you been?" and "What are you doing these days?" I really wanted to be able to tell everyone I had already done this and achieved that, found a great job and now have a steady life in HK with tons of friends, but since I was still working for the same old company as a freelancer working from home, my life was rather limited to sitting at home and working through the day. The only thing that had changed was I now have a steady girlfriend Pauline who came with me to the "Fridge" that is UK and that I hadstarted doing parkour, it excites me and I'm dead proud of being a part of HKPA, I also know it'll excite some of my friends but to most of them I know would think "how old are you? why are you still jumping around and what's the point?" So in a way I really felt I had nothing to tell anyone apart from the fact that the weather for the first 4 months was rather unbearable, I really did not like that feeling. Deep inside I just wasn't willing to be the same person I was 6 months ago, maybe I was asking too much from myself, but i really wanted to proof to everyone that this had been a positive change for me that this is the right decision and it wasn't an as stupid move as some of them had thought.

Six months isn't a particularly long time compare to the various stages of my life - 5 years in high school, 3 years at Uni, 3 years in London...etc. Slightly disappointed how little everything had changed, never did I imagine I would have been freelancing for my old company for so long. I can't quit workout whether it's the job that stop me from doing more with myself, or if it's myself that couldn't let go of the security and stability of letting that job go... which ever it is, it doesn't matter now because that is finally over. Being at university was such a great experience the 3 years felt like it lasted only 1 year but this job felt like I've been doing it for 10 years!

Oh well at least now I have a plan for the next 6 months.  which goes a little something like this. Finish the 4 major projects I current have by mid of Feb and be working in a proper office at a design agency by end of Feb! Maybe when I finally have a full time job I would be able to meet my own expectation of life in HK and stop being so stressed :) not to forget the added bonus I would have proof of income and be able to get a credit card and even a mortgage!

No more

I've finally did it, after 4 years plus some months, I've finally quit my job! it's been a long process! waiting for this and that to happen! patience never been my best virtue so for me to last this long has been nothing short of a miracle! I stumbled across some old emails recently and it looks like I had planned to leave since working there for a year... maybe it was the security of it all that made it so hard to leave.

The idea of finally being rid of my time consuming is highly liberating. This video is highly worth watching for anyone wanting to work out of the box and remain creative instead of turning into just another drone The Power Of Taking Time Off by Stefan Sagmeister.  My original plan (which changed about 20 times so far) were to start look for work ASAP but after reading an article by Jason Cass which lead me to the video above, I think I'll take some time off before working full time again - December I'm going back to UK for 2 weeks visiting family and friends, after that I'm gonna work on my own portfolio website then through out jan There's at least 3 paid projects to keep me busy. Hopefully after all that i'll be as fresh as a daisy ready for the manic working world in HK :)

Here's to relaxing as a creative and unblocking my creativity - To FREEDOM

work work work

This little thing call work is starting to over take my life (again).. 14 hours in front of the computer working with no one to talk to is no fun! Talk about a way to kill you creativity which is why I'm getting ready for some change!

Watch this space, I'm about to do the dumbest / smartest move in my life

Loving it

It's been a while, i've been rather busy lately. Now the wearther is much more bearable I'm loving it!

I have a group of friends that i can train with now and really enjoy having a laugh with. My weekends are actually busy now. Even have a few BBQs lined up with some of mine and Pauline's friends :) Still haven't been to a beach in HK yet... have to do that soon, before the locals start finding it too cold.. wimps!

Even this working from home as a freelancer thing is working better because i can actually work comfortably and concetrate much better, still I'm still planning to chuck it in at the end of the month and hopefully have something new in 2010 after a 2 weeks trip to UK in Decemeber with Pauline, really looking forward to showing her what being REALLY cold means.

Can't believe time had gone so fast already! Been doing parkour for a few months and what a thrill it can be - there's been a few injuries here and there, bits of my palm ripped off and bruised knees but it's well worth it. It was strange to be helping out on the workshop for new members.  it's not working out as well for capoeira... not really feeling it to be honest and i might stop it for a while and concentrate on parkour....

Standing up and delivering punches

For once this has nothing to do with my love of of martial arts and apparent aggression which i still insist I'm not... 99% of the time. Im actually talking about stand up comedy

A few Saturdays ago i went to a stand up comedy class. Ive always knew the cleverest people are those that can make us happy and laugh. I loved the show, it was really good. At the end of the show, we were told about a class on stand up comedy, slightly intrigued i sat up a little, but thought "Nah that's not me i don't really wanna be in the spot light, sure like most i enjoyed the attention but on stage like that. No freaking way". But over the next few days that idea kept on creeping up in my mind.. Its only a class right? Its not like ill be on stage, just sit there and listen to the ins and outs of being funny. So i emailed the organiser and said i want in, in return i was given some homework, ten things i truely hate and ten faults my friends see in me. That pretty much meant i would have to speak up at some stage, a little nervous i got emailing and writing.

Fast forward a little and there i was sitting in class being asked if i want to give it a go. Knowing fully well i haven't wrote the best or most suitable stuff i forced myself to put my hand up. A few people went before me and i was thinking they're good, very good for beginners at least, am i gonna be their level with what i wrote... I've always been able to make my friends laugh, spotting perverted situations faster then most, how bad could i be? I found that out when i stood under those million watt bulbs feeling like i was standing on a tiny platform 10m above the ground, i read out what i had in mind from the shit loads of notes i've made and boy did i crash! I don't mean badly here and there either i meant from beginning to the end, not so much as a chuckle, the silence felt incredible painful, ironically one of the things i hate the most is noise! (Ring tones, people talking loud, construction sites 10m from my window) I knew i was doing badly about 90 seconds in... so I cut my loses and got off the stage with my ego the size of a penny.

We were warned there's nothing that would get us going for comedy but the real thing and getting on stage, I'm glad I got on that stage even though I sucked (Thank you for the class and opportunity Jami)... A very stubborn part of me is still thinking, no freaking way can i leave it like this... but the other 99.995% of me is thinking, don't you even think about doing that again. it was an interesting experience and I really would love to be better at this... maybe once I've settled in HK a bit more without working 13 hour days I would give this another go, at least now I know what a punch is. Meanwhile I'll keep on taking notes on what's going on around me and go to as many shows as I can despite the 2 hour journey to get there!

I'll post my "10 things I hate in life" & "10 faults my friends see in me" later when I get around to scanning it.

Anyone in HK should check out TakeOut Comedy they do shows both in Chinese and English!

Thailand - Koh Samui

What a brilliant place, Thailand was brilliant! Ned and Abi's wedding was really really gorgeous!

Sun, Sea, Beach, Girlfriend, Good Friends, Cocktails, Jet Ski, Water Skiing, Snorkling, chased by lightening storms, Wrestle Masks, Custom Suit, Flips and Sommies and 3 massages! what a beautiful holiday

Construction Site

Since I've moved back to HK working as a freelance designer, i've had the luxury of working my own hours, I can crawl out of bed whenever I like,even noon if i like.....but it all changed 2 weeks ago.

So what happened a fortnight ago? well the answer is power tools! the construction site that's less then 10 meters from my room window had started working on a lot of exterior work for that house. They start work around 8am most mornings, 5 days a week with only Sunday and Tuesdays off... The noise for a construction site as you can imagine can be rather loud but that i can deal with, if i blast my speaks on loud I can drowl them out.. but not when they started using power tools, digging parts of the wall and ground up! Just imagine it's 8am, you intending to sleep for at least 2 more hours! The dreadful sound of power tools suddenly fill your room to a shocking waking!


Fine, I admit it's just me not being more disciplined to be sleeping that late, so i try make peace with that working as a freelancer mean i work from home and working under these conditions are very difficult, every now and then the tremendous roar of a circular saw or deafening thunder of a power drill does wonders for ones concentration.

I am mighty annoyed about it all, but the truth is, I really am not mad at the workers. In fact I rather admire their hard work, I literally saw them add a tile at a time onto the wall, painstakingly remove all the old pipes using drills, hammers, chisels and brute strength. I personally already find the weather here unbearable while sitting of a 20" fan. How these 40 - 50 yr olds climb up the bamboo scaffolding like 10 year olds on a monkey frame for hours at a time, in blistering sun with temperature reaching 32C is beyond me!

I respect them so much for their professionalism and craftsmanship for their job. now i know they're only doing it as a job for the money, a case of if they stop, they stop getting paid, but it still require a shit lot of will power to motivate themselves not to just call it quits and live on benefits. I have to also admit i've been fascinated by how things are put together.

Saying that, i can only pray they finish their job SOON and that they do not move on to the next house... now that would really drive me crazy!

HKPA 飛躍道 Workshop

Steve, Louis you should be happy to hear, i finally had my first Parkour session, it's such a shame i never had a chance to train with you two, but my first experience was damn GOOOOD!

I ache all over today and man does it feel good! It's been more then a month since i last had a proper training session and the guys at Hong Kong Parkour Association does not mess about! I admit, my lack of training meant I'm not as strong as I was in London, but i didn't expect my legs to be shaking so badly from exhaustion at the end of the 2 hour session!

I've known about Parkour for quit a few years now and I have always been interested. I remember looking around a few years ago for a place to start Parkour but unfortunately that's when i fractured my right foot, taking me out of training for 9 months. Once i was fit enough to train i focused on TKD and gymnastics and didn't really have enough time and fully functioning limbs to try Parkour. Now I'm finally in HK, I'm so glad i can finally try this out for my self.

I've seen countless videos on Parkour over the years and I've certainly known about HKPA, I know what's it about and the kinda things they do but i never really looked into the believes behind it. Fung our main instructor on Saturday explained Parkour was more about improving oneself then to compete with others... to progress at your own rate and not get overly worked out on others progress, afterall we are all different with different strengths and weaknesses.

Another point they made was the sharing of knowledge, to help each other advance. When i left London, some of my good friends got me a really good book and it said:

Don't Covet your ideas
Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you

It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be by PAUL ARDEN

I was reading the book from a designer's perspective, so to see this being adapted in physical training was a nice surprise to me.... guess i have a lot to learn.

Can't wait for my next class! Need to get stronger!!!!

Herbal stuff

I've lost count how many doctors, osteopaths, podiatrist, chiropractor and physiotherapist I've seen to try to fix my feet.

For those that don't know I've been suffering from pins and needles on the sole of my feet for around 2 years. I walk for 5 mins, they start hurting, i stand for 5 mins they start hurting. Its really annoying when i'm trying to enjoy TKD and gymnastics. Before someone suggest i should try resting, I HAVE! I've rested months at a time, but it doesn't work!

So now that i'm in HK, i thought i'll give the eastern medicine a go. So last friday I went to see "Synthetic Manual Physiotherapist". As I was waiting in the already packed room on a Saturday afternoon, i noticed there's a woman in the room currntly under going acupture, the left side of her arm, leg and face were covered with needles... I'm man enough to admit panic a little. it didn't look very painful and the fact that she didn't seem entirely comfortable didn't help.... it was my turn and luckily I was told i won't need acupuncture, that he would like me to start on some herbal medicine, he also gave me some exercise to do. All fine, until i got home and actually cooked the stuff!

Chinese medicine is suppose to work by tracing back to the root of the problem and fixing that as oppose to just blocking out the issue itself, sounds good in theory but does it taste NASTY, i miss my sugar coated ibuprofen! Drug me up baby! I'm going back tomorrow, let see what happens

Yum

Anyone been to HK would know how good the food is here. There's so much to choose from and so convenient to just go out to grab a bite to eat. Within the last week, I've had Japanese, Italian, Chinese (old - Yum Cha and new - Cha Chan Ten style), stakehouse and Thai food! I have to admit, not all of them were brilliant, but the majority were very nice!



There's also all the lovely road side snack I used to have as a kiddie, Its hard to resist a 雞蛋仔 (wuffle like snack) when you can smell the gorgeous aroma!



Everyone reading this should know me well enough to know I tend to eat more or less non-stop throughout the day (and the sandwich i just had at 1am would re-enforce that), and since I live a good few miles from civilisation (I mark this by where I can get milk, bread and a flithy McD) It's just all too easy to eat out all the time, amazingly it's often much cheaper to eat out then to make your own food, which sounds pretty good until I start noticing my weight.... When i was in London I used to train up to 6 times a week, which is safe to say I burn a lot of calories justifying why i eat so much. Since I STILL don't have a bank account to join the gym with, I'm hardly exercising as much as before... with so much food, that makes a very bad combination. I've already noticed how weak and sluggish my body is :( The heat makes it hard to train much at home without the risk of drowning in my own sweat



Whenever I'm home, I do try to eat good, but eating good the way I did at UK is fairly difficult here. For a start it's hard to find the same food, I had to walk around 4 shops in 3 towns before I found a bag of cous cous! Then there's the slight problem of price "western" food are like 3 times the price here! little pot of rosemary - £3, red pepper £1.50 each! For the sake of my wallet and my jeans that might or might not be on a cargo ship right now, I really need to find how i can eat healthy with all the local food.

Jen: it took me 3 shops to find some tinned tomatoes at £1.2 a can for the chili I'm planning to try to make this weekend.

All suggestions on how i may healthy here are welcomed!

From London to HK

It’s been just over 1 week since I’ve arrived in HK. This strange place which once I called home and now seem all so alien to me.

The last time I was living here I was 8 years old, all that was important to me were cartoons, transformers and comic books! All I knew is I was going to be living with my parents in UK after not seeing them for 2 years and that they have lots of fancy sweet and chocolate there (because my parents often sent fancy sweet and chocolate to me and my brother) I knew they speak English there, but never really comprehend just how difficult it would be to communicate. For the first year or 2, I used to cry nearly everyday because I didn’t know what the hell was going on around me. Fast forward 17 years, there I was at the airport saying good bye to my parents with my mum's eyes red to the very place they left 20 years ago to provide a better standard of living for us. Even when I bought the tickets some what 2 months ago the actual day came much faster then I thought it would.

I’ve been preparing for live here for some time now and even so, I think I was still very ill prepared. I knew about the inhuman heat and humidity, the insect bites, the rudeness and even the tropical thunder storms. Even though all those things still bother me a lot, SPECIALLY the heat. The hardest part is going from how well I knew London to how little I know this place that was once home. Living in London for almost 4 years, I’ve grew to know it reasonably well (I might have got lost a few times recently). I knew the transport system can be a pain and had to plan ahead just in case there’s more engineering work! I knew where to go if I want to eat or buy something, I knew to stay away from Lewisham if Its past 1am. But in HK I don’t have the comfort of all those local knowledge yet. There’s no TFL I can look up to plan my! The hardest part to adjust to it’s the life style so far. I no longer have the luxury of being able to see all my good friends. They say You never know what you've got until it's gone. Even though I knew what I was leaving behind, not being able to see any of you in the near future still pains me.

On a more positive note the food is FANTASTIC! so much to choose from but unfortunately in this part of the HK most of the menu are in Chinese using ingredients I’ve never heard of and because of that I have no idea what’s healthy and what’s not! As a result I’ve managed to put on a fair bit of weight in just 1 week! Since I’m “Fresh of the boat” here, they won’t let me open a bank account until I have proof of address and until I get a bank account I can’t join any gyms and that’s driving me nuts, is so hot in my room already I’m struggling to do the little bit of exercise I force myself to do. Chances are, if you’re reading this you would know how much I used to train in various sports. I miss it all so much!!!!!!

I’m now together with my girlfriend Pauline, and I can not thank her enough for all the help and support she’s been giving me. Without her help I really don’t think I would be able to start work so early, After a very painful sleepless flight to HK I knew I had to sort out internet connection ASAP so I can start work, if she weren’t there to help me translate what the sales person was saying(from super sonic sales pitch to normal chinese), I might have just sign my life away without knowing about it. It’s amazing how they can explain the same thing in different but just as confusing ways! The sales person really tried, my brain just wasn’t getting into gear in the heat. Oh well, at least I'm finally up and running now!

I’ve already done my first week as a freelance designer for Cashcade. It’s difficult working as a freelancer. In this house with my Grandad and his carer. Most of the time there’s not really anyone to talk to, have banters with or play pranks on, when you’re working by yourself in a all too hot and humid surrounding, having a construction site 10m from your window can also make it hard to concentrate. I also worry my office might not believe I’ve put in the full amount of work hours I’ve promised as a result I’ve put in more hours here then I would in UK, but that is also partly because I don’t really have a social life here yet. I’ve booked in intro classes to Parkour and Capoeira so hopefully I’ll be able to make some friends there while getting some training in!

I really do miss uk. Today on my way home there was an English chap sitting behind me and as he spoke on the phone with a cockney accent, I realise just how much I miss London. Part of me still having trouble adjusting to the fact that I no longer living in London, I still consider that my home and HK to me feels like a place I come for a holiday. Guess I'm not really ready to let it go just yet. I know it’ll take me a few more weeks to get used to how things work here and hopefully I’ll be able to settle in to call this my home one day.