Newb cheese among big cheeses

On your first day at work, hop on a flight to Tokyo please.

A rather atypical start to a new journey.

I was forewarned about this "baptism of fire" by my boss-to-be before I started..now I'm in day 4 in Tokyo / job and it all went by like a dream involving a rather noisy and fast-moving freight train.

In the last four days, I met about twelve dozen people, learned and forgotten many names, sat in meetings and taxis with managers and senior managers and directors and chief somethings and vice president of somethings, ate too much and drank more than usual with the boss and boss's boss and boss's boss's boss, as well as all their partner-airlines counterparts... To say "it was intense" would be rather an understatement.

Tomorrow morning I fly home.

And Sunday night I'm off to London for a week of education at the much talked about Waterside - HQ - as well as to meet a few dozen more people and collect another stack of name cards.

Can't complain though - I get paid even at this learning stage, I get to fly business class and expense all my overseas expenses, and I get to travel.

The only regret is not doing more shopping while here in Tokyo. But at least I'll be getting my St Marc chococro for breakfast tomorrow. #joysofjapan

Free pains

I signed up for the 7-day free trial at Pure Fitness & Yoga.

But I know I won't be signing up to their gym at the end 'cause I'm moving out of HK. But they don't know that and I plan on booking at least 2 classes a day.

Am I a bad person?

At least I'll "pay" for it when I wake up tomorrow morning with pain in 99% of my body from the TRX class today.

I also did the hot yoga class with a couple friends today. I suspect the teacher was in the army before becoming a yogi. "Lift that leg higher! Stronger! Butt further down! Hold it! Hold it! HOLD IT!!!!" 

Pondering: Singapore

(Absolutely everyone who's been to both cities compares Hong Kong to Singapore, there are a million articles out there that already does it.. This is just my personal two cents, from what I had observed during my short weekend trip there.) 

We were in Singapore for less than 48 hours. It was a superficial glimpse, at most, of the city state (mostly of restaurants, streets, mrt and hotel), and maybe it's the "greener grass" mindset, but there is quite a few things that I think) lthe Singaporeans  do better than Hong Kongers - at least in terms of city planning, urban development and heritage preservation. We did walk a lot (between restaurants), and noticed that there is much more greenery pretty much everywhere, even in the city centre. Most streets are lined with trees, grass or shrub boxes, and highways had greens crawling up its columns. Streets are also cleaner too, less crowded, has less traffic.

Orchard Road, supposedly the most popular shopping street in Singapore, was spacious, clean, wasn't crowded, and wasn't noisy with human or vehicular traffic.

There are still a lot of old colonial buildings and the old style Asian shophouses lining its streets, except for in the CBD. I don't know why but I love old architecture. Even just the shutters and the different colours of the shophouses. Makes me feel nostalgic for a generation I never really knew. But it made walking around Singapore (which we did a lot) quite pleasant, as the shophouses offered shade from the sun and rain. Even walking on the pavements was pleasant without needing to squeeze through gushing waves of human traffic (actually there was hardly any on the streets...Singaporeans don't walk?) or risk getting butchered by cars as a result of narrow pavements and being pushed out by the gushing waves of human traffic.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about Singapore is its hawker centres. There might be a few "cooked food centres" and foodcourts in Hong Kong but Singapore has a lot more hawker centres and the variety and quality of food is, I think, much better than what you get in Hong Kong, and much cheaper too.

And even though there isn't an awful lot to do apart from eat, Singapore at least TRIES to offer something for you to do in between meals - such as the Singapore Zoo, the Night Safari, Gardens by the Bay (which we went to - was quite interesting. But COLD), Universal Studios...

Having said all that, I'm not in a hurry to move to Singapore. It probably would be quite pleasant to live here for about half a year or so. Then I'd probably get bored. (Basically after I've tried most of the hawker centre and reputable eating houses).

Gardens by the bay, with Marina Bay Sands as the backdrop. 

Farewells and thank yous and cupcakes

It was a long list of recipients in my goodbye email. I actually really liked how I got to work with so many people, despite only having worked in one department and one team over the last 3 years. But it's been an amazing 3 years. I've travelled like I've never done before. I've learned a whole lot about a lot of stuff. I've made some really genuine and longlasting friendships. I'm really gonna miss this place. I'm really gonna miss the people. Thankfully, I'm still in the industry, I won't be far, and I'll probably be seeing some of these guys soon in Japan anyway.

Thank you, cx. You ARE the best airline in the world. Cos you have the best people running the show.

Those winning smiles

Clay pot rice - a dinner for winners

Ps. I gave out cupcakes (from Kisses Cupcakes) as my farewell cakes - they went down well and we didn't have any leftovers. Win. So much win.

The Finale

IT'S HERE.

Tomorrow is my last day of work at CX. Three years and two and a half months. And tomorrow is the end. 

Of course I've learned a lot, experienced a lot, travelled a lot, met a lot of weirdly wonderful and wonderfully weird people, and hopefully grown a bit. 

I constantly wonder (and occasionally worry) if this next move is a good move, a right move. I also wonder if I'm ready for the next step, if I'm competent enough, if I'm mature and experienced enough. The days of wondering are getting shorter. Reality is creeping up fast like a comet, and it's going to hit this clueless soul and I'll either burn or shine. Let's hope I survive.

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. - Hebrews 4:16

The countdown

6 more working days left at CX.

How did this happen??

Tomorrow we're going on our first and last batch trip to Singapore. I hope we all get on the flight. I need my kaya toast and teh tarik and nasi lamek and kuey teow and a new mustafa watch.

One more set of FOCs.... What to do with them? Will I even have time to use them?

... Am I ready for all this change?

The feed of gold and death

If one were to tally up how much time I spend on Facebook each day, versus how much time I spend talking to family, or reading the (real) news, or even eating, it should be reason enough to give the damn thing up.

But how else am I going to share my photographs and travel experiences with people, or know about other people's relationship/engagement/job/life/baby updates?

But then again, comparing the amount of "useful" (?) information versus utter crap that people post (links to "the 15 ugliest sleeping cats faces", or "18 ways to waste your time even more before you die") (and the worst, "this guy just proposed to his gf, you won't believe what his gf did next"..."how this cat pissed his owner off real bad" etc), not to mention the "too much information" status updates by some of those Facebook friends... I think the quit-Facebook camp is gaining ground.

I also don't like the air of "deception" that hangs around everything about Facebook like a faint but unmistakable smog.. I'm not sure if I can call some of these people "friends" when I've never actually spoken to or even met them. Often people only post the positives, the pretty pictures, the dishes that turned out well, the good news, the good moods... It paints a false picture that life is all good with them. Facebook gives you a feeling of faux human connection.

Also let's not even think about the slightly terrifying concept that Facebook actually knows you much better than you think you do, that ads and article recommendations and group posts can sometimes be so tailored to you and your interests/culture.

But I guess the final step, for me, is willpower. That might be a bit hard to muster.

The typing/writing fairy

I mentioned such fairy in my previous post, but since no such creature actually exists (sadly), I guess I'll just have to do it myself - I've resolved to write more and blog more, not just about trips or on special life events such as adopting of pets, but (try to) actually just write about thoughts, miscellaneous quotes or conversations, observations...however random and maybe even meaningless they are. It's 11:41pm, ie way past my bed time but I'm still writing - means I'm determined! (somewhat)

So.. What have I learned or observed or thought about today?

A lot actually. I went to the Vine's first Manna Bites tonight - a one-night only manna-type seminar. Today's was on the biblical responses to Zionism and Modern Israel. It was very enlightening and very interesting. Since reading The Lemon Tree, I've been meaning to learn more about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Took notes, not gonna elaborate now.

Our church is doing a corporate 21-day fast and I've decided to fast Facebook, Instagram, and set aside 20 mins or so each night after dinner for devotionals and reading and prayer, something I really don't do often enough. It basically just means spending time with God, chatting to Him and reading His word. A bit tricky when I go out for dinner and come home late (like tonight).

Facebook - such a time waster, and I actually really want to give that up, but some things keep holding me back. More on why I hate Facebook later.

Too tired to go on.

Should start this earlier tomorrow.