Sandy's life as a small potato in Hong Kong (Sept, 2002)

This is a quiet month for me. I got a hair cut (Yeah, a small 'potato' does have hair, but no one noticed my hair cut); I attended a wedding at church knowing no one except the bridegroom and a friend who accompanied me (again, we got unnoticed!); I had a quiet Mid-Autumn Festival at home (I didn't want to play with candles, which is what children like to do, because I didn't want to bake myself); I got my shoes wear out in a rainy weather but 'fortunately' no one noticed that and I finally made it back home with a pair of soaked broken shoes; I got an extra half day-off, thanks to the typhoon which reminded me of the gales in Britain; My supervisor bought me and another colleague of mine lunch.

Is this a typical life of a 'small potato'? Nothing special, no surprises, everything is quiet...

Just click on any of the following underlined dates and you can get to know what's going on with me that day.

Sept 7, 2002 (Sat)

A female version of Beckham

I watched a morning show again on the weekend. It was 'Bend it like Beckham', a story about a girl who loves playing football and joins a team. I wouldn't deny that I chose this film partly because of the title which seems to suggest any relation with Beckham but indeed Beckham didn't show up in the film (except for his poster). But still I think the story was good and a bit funny.

Sept 11, 2002 (Wed)

An extra day-off

I had to thank Mr. Typhoon for giving me an extra day-off today. The 'small potato' could sleep a bit longer this morning and so, sorry, a day-off for today's diary as well!!  :)

Sept 12, 2002 (Thur)

Concert tickets

I do have times when I become kind of crazy for something or someone.

A few months ago a local Canton singer songwriter (Chris Wong) who had left the HK showbiz some years ago came back to Hong Kong to be a guest in his friend's concert.  I am a fan of his.  He was a DJ of a local radio station when I was studying at secondary school. I often had to rush back home from school to listen to his radio programme in the afternoon or stay up late when his programme was shifted to the night-time slot.  He wasn't a kind of pop idol, though when he released his first few albums he drew a lot of attention and was considered as one of the big hits for a moment. I did what a fan would normally do then, e.g. cutting all the newspaper clips and photos of him on the newspaper, trying to buy every one of his albums with my limited pocket money. I was so obsessed with him then that I chose to study the same subject in the same college of the same university as he had done.

He was then invited to hold his own concerts and now it has been confirmed that he'll have his first concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum on the 10th of October. This morning I decided to buy the tickets to see his concert and asked a friend of mine to accompany me then. Can't wait to see the concert as soon as possible...

Sept 14, 2002 (Sat)

A TV addict

I became a couch potato today by staying at home all day long doing nothing but watching TV.  My elder brother found it hard to understand why I could sit in front of the TV all day long, "What TV programmes can be so appealing?" he asked. Hey, brother, I have no chance to watch the English channel in the evenings of weekdays and so the daytime of weekends is the only time I can watch those English-speaking TV drama series or programmes I ha

Sept 16, 2002 (Mon)

Embarrassing shoes

I have a pair of shoes that I like most. But after years of rain and sun, it's time for them to get retired...

The weather wasn't good today. It rained heavily when I got off from my work but I still went to a big music shop in order to buy the magazine of Manchester United. Poor my shoes, they were not strong enough to fight against the rainy weather and finally wore out to such an extent I had difficulty walking further!  I finally made it back home but I could no longer wear my favourite shoes.

Sept 19, 2002 (Thur)

A new image??

I got a new hair cut by my cousin who was an apprentice at a hair salon.  The hair style remained unchanged. I just had my hair cut shorter. Whenever I have a hair cut, I always feel fresh and think I look differently; but the people around me seemed not to agree with me this time as they didn't find me look any different until I told them I had got a hair cut. Maybe I should consider having a big change to my appearance.

Sept 20, 2002 (Fri)

Supervisor's treat

I didn't have a lot of chance to talk with my supervisor, not to mention having lunch together. But today he bought me and another colleague of mine lunch. There was no particular reason for him doing so. Just a treat for the people who work for him. Hope more is to come! Hehe...

Sept 21, 2002 (Sat)

A quiet Mid-Autumn Festival

Life's so dull; the weather's not so good; I was so sleepy; my first Mid-Autumn Festival I had in HK since my return was nothing special and passed quietly (silence) ...

Sept 22, 2002 (Sun)

A church wedding

Today I attended a wedding ceremony of a friend of mine whom I had got to know in my undergraduate study in Hong Kong (Congratulations!!). It was not the first time I attended a wedding ceremony but I hadn't attended one held at church before.  I used to go to those ceremonies in a traditional Chinese style. The Chinese have a different way of holding a wedding ceremony and procedure. My university friend and I were wondering what a wedding ceremony at church would be like.  Would it be just similar to what we had seen in those TV drama series or films?  Would it be all just about saying 'I do'?

We didn't have to wait long to get the answer. When we entered the primary school where the church was situated, I almost couldn't recognize the bridegroom, who had earlier said to us in his email that he got a weight gain of 20 pounds.  Was it because he was so happy and excited about his wedding that he had eaten too much?  Anyway, it was good to see him again after our graduation.  After giving the bridegroom the gift we had bought for him and the bride (to be honest, it's really hard to choose what to buy for a newly wed couple!), we tried to find out with our big, beautiful (!) eyes if there were anyone else we knew there. "No", "No", "No"... My friend was better than me, at least she knew some of the people who were her former teachers at secondary school. I only knew her and the bridegroom.

A wedding ceremony at church in a TV series or film usually shows only two most important parts - when the wedding couple say "I do" and when the bride, accompanied by her dad, walks slowly toward the bridegroom and the priest.  Usually at that moment a man goes in, expressing his objection to this marriage, taking the bride's hand and running out of the church with her... The ceremony I attended today includes the first two but not the last of the above.

The ceremony was followed by a photo-taking session. Since neither were we the couple's family members or relatives, nor were we their classmates, it was within our expectation that we were the last group to take a photo with the newly wed (you know the last one is always the most important!).

Sept 25, 2002 (Wed)

A regret of life?

It was announced Chris would have one more concert held on the 11th of Oct.  This morning I went to buy the tickets, which turned out to be an unpleasant experience, mainly because of an impolite, impatient counter staff. I was nervous about which seats to be chosen and I tried to ask her questions but her facial expression and voice suggested that she was not willing to answer any of my questions. Anyway, finally I got the tickets I wanted, which is the most important thing.

What'll the concerts be like in two weeks' time?

Sometimes I'm wondering if I'm as enthusiastic about anything related to him as I did when I was still very young, although I do love to see him back and his concerts. For example, this evening I decided to keep my promise to dine with my friend and thus missed out on a chance to see him in person at a local radio station. 

Sept 27 & Sept 28, 2002 (Fri - Sat)

Pre-seminal

Some of the people in my office are research students.  Today there was a pre-seminal organized for them, although students of other institutions were encouraged to participate. It was held on two consecutive days and there were different sessions and in each session a student would present his/her findings or ideas. To be honest, their presentations were not my research area (though somehow related to my current work) but it was still good to attend this kind of activities as I could get to know how people presented their ideas and you could see different people have different styles.

It was last updated on Friday, 17 October 2003.

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