Revelation

I had a revelation today while on the roads coming home... what did I spot driving on the roads today: none other than an ORANGE version of my precious car!
Have been missing my car quite alot recently, especially since I have to share the car with my mother now that I'm back. And when i saw that orange EG (Honda pundits will understand the term) on the road it was like being 'struck by lightning' - as the cliche phrase we used to employ in our primary school composition assignments goes - and I swear I will own one of those some day.... soon. I was told Honda doesn't sell cars in orange (it is no surprise) so that car was spray painted... it even had cool blue glow-in-the-dark nozzle lights on the front bonnet... just like mine, except mine is blue but not glow-in-the-dark (sadly). The car was lowered and it's rims were simply beautiful... if i were driving, and not just on the passenger seat, i would have swung my car around to chase it and persuade the guy to sell his car to me. okay, maybe not that entirely dramatic... but I just may have done it. I have often been told orange is not a good colour to have on a car - unless it's something 'cute-sy'.. like the Beetle, or a Mini... so never did I imagine my car would look so good in orange. it was just that right shade of orange, as well. I am so impressed.

Okay, shall stop ranting about what I now officially call my 'attainable-dream car' (my unattainable-dream car being an orange lamborghini) and move on. I lament the lack of blogging-conducive hours - due to the recent travelling hype... and now, my recently started job.

My Hong Kong adventure was a fruitful one with fantastic shopping and eating - one of my happiest moments being when i stepped into HMV (in Hong Kong) and realised they had a summer sale that was selling some relatively decent titles at dirt cheap prices. Another one of my happier moments, probably my happiest, is discovering this delightful and lovely pair of shoes which cost me 1000 HK dollars initially and thank goodness after that, i realised it was on half price discount so it cost me 500 dollars in the end instead. I should have never walked into Lane Crawford along the streets of Central in HK and saw that pair of shoes - coz once i did, i couldn't let it go. It was just the softest, loveliest pair ever - and it looked exactly like ballet shoes, just that it was with a slight heel. And made from an even softer leather. I still have my old ballet shoes (I know, it is with embarrassment I am revealing this) and even though I've stopped ballet dancing agess ago (thank goodness - i swear the ballet was just a teenage thing all girls go through at some point), I've always felt sentimental for it. I have now officially declared that pair of shoes my most prized pair, definitely the most expensive i've had to date, and of course, the prettiest in the world.

Moving on from frivolous discussions of shoes, I have decided that I don't really like Hong Kong. I don't mean it in a bad way, as in, it's a horrible place or anything to that effect. In fact, it is a lovely place, with picturesque hills and deep harbours surrounding the city. But it is a place I would definitely not live in. It's like a greyer, dustier, oriental version of london that's less organised. or a greyer version of San Fran (loads of hills, inclines and declines). It looks much prettier at night, the beauty of which I absorbed when I took the Star Ferry across the sea to Kowloon island from HK island and saw the nightline dazzling with bright lights, juxtaposed with the calm sea. (pictures coming up) In the day, it was too hot, the people spoke too loudly and the streets were too dusty. I have not actually used my Mandarin speaking skills for the last three years of my life at least, but I have spoken more Chinese in those few days I were there than in the past three years of my life. And I don't think i've ever heard so much Chinese, in all its myriad of dialects, surrounding me in such intensity; it was a cacophony almost too much for me to bear. People generally talked too loud and had a low sense of hygiene... but I have probably been spoilt by the obsessive state of cleanliness many countries strive to achieve.

I had just got back on Sunday night, and started work once again as a journalist, immediately on Monday. Because of last summer's stint at ST's Channel i as a broadcast journalist, it has been two long years since I have done print journalism (then, for 7 months). My scribbling skills will now have to be called into question: can I conduct interviews and coherently take down notes at a speed sufficient not to be lost.. and also, I wonder if I am still capable of competently coming up with interesting questions and refreshing angles again? I guess I will find out tomorrow when I attend the press conference - my first assignment for The Business Times and that is also the reason why this post cannot continue longer. I have to get my rest... have a busy day (finally, thankfully!) tomorrow at work.