Videos for Abigail: #1 "Uncle Steve's first bits of advice to Abigail. Uncle Steve also pretends to read Chinese."

The Year of the Rabbit

February 3 will mark the beginning of the Chinese New Year. This will be the year of the rabbit. I have to say, though, that I've never really understood what all these animals are all about.

There are twelve animals in the Chinese zodiac. They are the rat, the cow, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig. Apparently, a long time ago, the Jade Emperor was having a party or something, and those twelve animals were the first ones to show up, so they're the ones in the Chinese zodiac. Seems kind of arbitrary to me, but whatever.

Now, for people in the west, you might just think it's a cute little thing they do for Chinese New Year, like Santa Claus is for Christmas. However, you would be wrong. While it is kind of cute, many people in Chinese society take this zodiac thing seriously. Some people would even not marry a particular person just because they are "incompatible" animals. In fact, the whole fortune-telling thing is a huge industry in Chinese society.

Anyway, at least rabbits are cute. Sure beats the year of the rat anyway ... ewww!

Cheers!

New Year's Resolution

My New Year's resolution this year is to build a time machine this year and then come back in time to tell myself to make my resolution this year to build a time machine.

New jacket

Now if only I could remember where I left the keys to my Harley ...

Do they know it's Christmas in Hong Kong?

It's Christmas time in Hong Kong and, honestly, I feel like I'm living in a parallel universe at times. It all just feels a little bit ... off.

Everywhere I go, I hear people saying 'Merry Christmas'. (I suppose the whole PC happy holidays crap hasn't infested Hong Kong yet). Everywhere I go, I see Christmas lights. Yet, there's still something a bit different. What is it? Oh yeah, in Hong Kong, Christmas is really just an excuse to party. I don't think many people know the song 'Silent Night' over here. It's 11:30 pm on Christmas Eve, I just got back from walking my dogs, and it's the busiest night I've ever seen in Sai Kung. It's not just kids either, whole families are out and about - going to barbecues, wearing flashing lights and blowing Christmas horns.

Now, I'm not having a go at them. It's just, for me, it feels weird. Honestly, the most 'authentic' Christmas feeling I've had over here was at Christmas mass with Steph tonight (and I couldn't understand a single word).

Anyway, I'm going to watch 'Elf' now.

Merry Christmas!

A cold flat and a crazy man

Got really cold and rainy today. I was out running on the track when it started to rain cats and dogs. I just kept going though. Some old dudes were sitting up in the stands. I must have looked like a crazy person to them.

Some folks might just look at the temperatures in Hong Kong and think that it's never really cold, but that's not true. The buildings here don't really hold heat very well (except in the summer), so it can feel really cold on winter nights. I also only have a small space heater, so it can't really keep the flat too warm. The heater also makes my eyes water and leaves my skin dry. I bought a humidifier today though so hopefully that will help.

Cheers!

The soundtrack to my life

Woke up at the crack of dawn today (7 am). I had to go for a work photo shoot in China. It took us about 45 minutes just to have everyone stand in a straight line. Blah.

I was listening to some tunes on my iPod as I travelled this morning. Then I had a thought that an iPod is like a soundtrack for your life. I mean, I can totally see a movie starting out with a guy going through a train station, riding the train for a bit, getting off, and then the movie starts. Then I started to think that my life would make a really boring movie. Who wants to watch a guy play video games and watch TV all day anyway?

Cheers!