Getting around the system

Christmas is coming up and everyone will be going home for the holidays. Do you live in the EU region (UK especially)? Will you be traveling out of the EU region for Christmas?
If your answer is yes to both of the questions above, then I have a good suggestion for you. If not, you can go back to living your life.

Student Discount + Tax Refund. UK has this amazing thing called student discount where students get a nice 10% discount for every purchase they made at most of the shops. What you dont know is that you can also get a 15% tax refund (starting 3 months prior to your departure date) for your purchases. That is 25% off of all items you buy! Crazy right?

I am a huge sucker for Yohgi Yamamoto (used to be CdG too but they got way too expensive) and guess what? I got a nice 15% discount off the pair of pants i bought and it was a nice 100 pound refund. (I was trying REALLY hard to avoid directly showing the price of the pair of pants here) This is essentially a buy 6 get 1 free scheme that us international kids can use. ON TOP OF THAT, you can also give your tax free receipts to your friends who comes to visit as well (works especially well with XXX <--> EU flight attendants). This is pretty much a year round 15% discount for all items that we can get around.

(PS - the 10+15% combo is available at top shop)


Happy shopaholics!

Winter and Fashion

Phewwwwwwwwwwww

It is hitting zero and the negatives here in london... yes the stupid weather report says its 5C, but the 14mph wind takes it to like -10C, which brings me to another point - why cant those weather people just tell us how cold it is AFTER the wind here in UK? Windchill was a nice thing to have in US. Anyway, so weather is getting cold and everyone is looking for that thick jacket and scarf inside their closet. The problem is, everyone's thick jacket is either black or dark brown. How do you get fashionable when everyone is wearing the same thing?

My dad once told me "when its fxxking freezing, you shouldnt think about how you look but how warm you are"

No fashion advice is the answer. Get warm silly.

I was originally going to write about something else... but its been a while since I have felt such crappy in a long while today so I would just like to reflect on that a little.

I don't know how but I have this special ability to let negative stuff bounce off of me rather easier and I get happy again easily. Exceptions are things that keep coming back to haunt me, for example - me being in London and not being able to fix anything bad that is happening in Hong Kong.

(there is a lot of "I" in this entry)

I sometimes (i guess) over criticize myself too much for being in London while everything I really love is in HK. It's just a crappy feeling to have something bad going on back home and not be able to do anything about it.

I will drink myself to death tonight and when I wake, its a brand new day!

...oh for fxxk sake...

Conventional Wisdom

I think everyone pretty much can tell that I go to the gym rather frequently. I would walk past this pub every time I go home from the gym and they have this giant Plasma or LCD TV (i am sorry, I really cant tell the difference between LCD and Plasma) showing the latest news and every time I see the same damn headline - "FINANCIAL CRISIS". I seriously thought the owner of the pub was just playing a DVD or VCR over and over again, but then I realized the date is different and that headline everyday for SKY NEWS / BBC / etc is really FINANCIAL CRISIS. Are you burnt out from all the financial crisis news yet? I am.

At a time when even my 12 year old cousin can tell me something about financial crisis, do i really need to be reminded of it every hour? On top of that, we have the pirates robbing an oil ship in middle east, news of companies laying off people, unemployment rates rising, suicides at all time high (soon), and yea, FINANCIAL CRISIS. Is there any good news? I brought this up as a comment once to the hkdad and he said that people are never interested in good news. But thats not the point now, its more like, there is nothing good coming out. Neo had Agent Smith to balance him out so where are our good news to balance our lives? To quote Jack Johnson, "Where all the good people go"

However, in light of some optimism, conventional wisdom tells us that in 20 years, we will be ok again... that is, if you are not 70 or above now...

Killing Joke

"See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... and one night... one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they’re going to escape! So like they get up on to the roof, and there, just across the narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in moon light... stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see he's afraid of falling... So then the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey! I have my flash light with me. I will shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me." But, the second guy just shakes his head. He says... he says "What do you think I am, crazy? You would turn it off when I was half way across." - The Clown

Idiot's guide to losing weight

So yea Obama won. I am a bit disappointed but I kind of knew it was going to happen. Went hiding for a bit and now I am back, and I am back with an interesting topic that all females are interested in - weight loss. (umm... wasnt trying to say all women i met are fat but... hahah yea)

I weigh about 175-185 pounds now, the deviation is caused by the amount I eat and drink, so it averages out to be 180 pounds. Little do you know, I used to weigh at a big 285 pounds (during the end of my university days). Waist size 42 (now 34), and I was huge. I was the asian Shaquille O'Neal.

I wasnt trying to lose weight on purpose to beging with. It all started when I see my parents and my friends' parents' health all deteriorating from age and lack of exercise, it was then when I decided to start moving that flab and start exercising for my healthiness's sake. 2 years later, I have lost 120 pounds and I was at 160 pounds for a good time (until I decided that food was too good to turn down and I am now back at 180, which I am happy about).

People who knew me before the weight loss always ask me "whats your secret?" / "How the Fxxk did you do it?" The answer is simple. Stay off the greasy shxt and exercise! It really is that simple. Do you ever see any athlete being fat? No! And it is THAT simple. Start doing some cardio exercise, stay off the greasy food and BAM! weight loss! There really is no secret formula other than determination. All the dietary pills and programs all have the same requirements - exercise and eat well. They put that little "*" next to their product and tell you that "in order for this drug to work, you must accompany with healthy diet and exercise".

Sometimes, hard work is what you really need.

Vote for McCain

Wow. 3 posts in 3 days. And i am writing again immediately after a very emotional blog that I really like too. Normally I would let my last blog sit and marinate for a good 3-4 days but given that today is US election day. I want to give my 2 cents on it.

Its not so much about why I like McCain that I am telling you guys to vote for him but i am just not sure about Obama. I just think people expect too much from Obama, especially from his "change" slogan. I firmly believe that if he gets voted in, he wont "change" anything - people will realize that he is just another politician doing the similar things. He will just do the same things, listen to the same people, and nothing will be "changed". Both Obama and McCain cant save the financial shxthole we are in now but at least people dont have any expectations from McCain. Do we really need someone who is going to underachieve (because we expect too much) when the entire world's confidence is already so low? My answer is no.

On top of that, McCain does have more experience. And if for some silly health reasons he cant continue, Sarah Palin is actually NOT THAT BAD OF A CHOICE. It is pretty much due to the same expectation reason I gave above. She is so fxxking dumb that people have zero expectations for her and chances are that she will overachieve and surprise people, and if she doesn't, at least you will have some good youtube videos to laugh at.

At the end of the day, its your vote. I am just trying to convince you to vote for McCain.

Thank You

It is very rare for me to do posts in consecutive days but there is something I really want to get off my chest right now.

hkgirl sends me packages with letters and small gifts every other week. I am sure you read this blog also but I was rather sad when I got your first mail. I was pretty much guilt tripping myself a lot for leaving you alone in hong kong during the entire month of september. Why am I the reason that we cant see each other face to face. I mean, after all, I am the cause of this 1-year long distance relationship. Well, time has passed and I received another one of your packages today. I think after that first package, I have smiled genuinely from my heart each time I receive your package. I appreciate every moment you spent writing those letters, cutting out new clips, picking gifts. I read your letter with a big smile and hope you write them with one too.

In a time when we can only see each other through skype, your package is the only thing I can touch to feel your presence.

My friend L7 once told me that "life is too short to be unhappy all the time" and it's true. Life is brighter if we can appreciate all the good things around us. It is time for everyone to step back, look at the person next to you, and say...

Thank You.

WTF is going on

What an ambiguous topic. "WTF is going on" can pretty much be applied to anything that is going on around us now, from the economy to hockey mom running for vice president, but I am just going to share a personal experience from today.

I couldnt be bothered to cook tonight after gym earlier so i decided to go buy takeaway instead. Sunday night was rather quiet for the restaurant, there were just 2 other guys waiting for their takeaway with me and the owner had her 2 kids running around the restaurant like its a playground. So the older brother (about 6) asked me some advice on his drawing homework (i typed assignment first but then realized how un-preschool the word "assignment" is) and I helped him a bit with his coloring. Then the young brother (around 4) saw us giggling, ran over, and demanded my attention. So i picked up the younger brother's toy gun on the ground and started shooting him.

Here is a million dollar question, what was the reaction i got?

A - "Fxxk you"
B - "Fxxk you" + 1-5 punches
C - "Fxxk you" + 5-10 punches
D - "Fxxk you" + 11+ punches

LOL. I actually dont remember the exact punches but he was definitely machine gun punching me for a good 2 seconds. Oh yea, did i mention? He dropped an F-bomb on me also.

I have fxxk'd a lot of people and got fxxk'd (both verbally) probably more times by others. But by a kid who just stopped sucking his thumb? WTF IS GOING ON?

hkgirl said people in UK are like this. WHAT? i am sure there are more kids like him. WHAT? Seriously, if hockey mom becomes vice president in 48 hours, then everyone should do an AP news search for "man from HK struck by lightning".

Until next time.