retail therapy

I felt a little stressed at work today, so on the way home decided to indulge in the ultimate retail therapy experience -- buying a pair of fun, completely impractical shoes. I love the color and style, and the fact that they were on sale and one third of their original price. But I'm not sure how I'll manage with the heels. I usually try to avoid buying high-heeled shoes... mainly because they're impractical for me to wear in walk-everywhere HK, but also because (not to strengthen any pre-existing stereotypes but...) in HK I often feel like some kind of freakish giant anyway, so don't really yearn to add inches. And then of course, there's the fact that since I don't wear heels much, I become very awkward and clumsy when I do. But oh well, let's throw caution to the wind on this one.


I got them at Marks and Spencer, which is incidentally about the only store in HK that carries [womens] shoes in my size. After many years of shoe-buying difficulties (I've worn a women's 10 since I was about 11), a few years back I think that something finally clicked in my brain. No matter how many pairs of shoes I amass, deep down in my subconscious lurks the fear that I will run out of shoes and have nothing left to put on my feet. It tells me to buy what I can now, for who knows when the next shoe-drought will be. I should say that I know this fear is completely irrational, especially seeing as my parents are returning from California tomorrow, and I know for a fact that their luggage contains at least two pairs of footwear for yours truly.

But I do like the shoes, and will make a concerted effort to wear them...and hopefully my next post will not contain any news about blisters or a broken ankle.

iPod first aid

This morning I noticed my iPod sitting on my side table, gathering dust after months of disuse. And the sight made me sad. See, sometime in April or May, after multiple failed recharge attempts, I had resigned myself to the idea of my beloved mp3 player being broken or needing a battery replacement. And being the go-getter that I am, I did nothing about it. Well, this morning, on a whim, I plugged it in. And lo and behold, it started recharging! This is not my iPod's first near-death experience, and though the whole thing perplexes me greatly, my confusion has quickly been replaced by musical ecstasy! Not that the lack of iPod was stopping me from listening to music altogether, but I guess I'd become so overly dependent on its convenience, that I found it hard to go back to my CD player on any permanent basis. Aside from a few albums bought and listened to over the past few months, I'd pretty much allowed myself to be music-starved. So now it feels like I'm feasting! Even playlists that had grown somewhat stale for me, now seem new and fresh! How exciting!

Oh, and after this evening, I am first-aid qualified, which hopefully, in some abstract way ties this whole post together. I didn't take any pictures of dummies this evening, mainly because we didn't practice on them. I guess I could have gotten some shots of my table-mates decked out with slings and magazine-splints, but somehow, that thought slipped my mind.

"are you ok? are you ok?"

I am now a very safe person to be around. After a 3-hour course this evening -- stand back!-- I know CPR!
Some highlights:

1. The three C's -- Check, Call, Care.

2. The phrase in the title -- "Are you OK? Are you OK?" -- repeated multiple times in monotone by a video-taped demonstrator.

3. ABC -- Airway, Breathing, Circulation... although we weren't taught how to test circulation...

4. Acing the multiple choice test at the end. Test-taking is one thing that I'm good at (and something that has occasionally been mistaken for intelligence), and it was pleasant to take an easy one with near instant gratification.

5. The interesting plastic mouth barrier that kept me from really having to perform mouth-to-mouth on my dummy.

photo phun

Spot the differences (on the T-shirts, not the people wearing them...)
Salome with two of her favorite porker friends -- McDull and McMug (not sure which is which... you'll have to help me with this one, Sal...)
Sticky pictures with Athania. Flash back to over a year ago when we took our last ones... Unfortunately, we had a little disagreement with one of the machines after it automatically chose some photos for us (i.e. the two bottom center ones) and we lost a couple that we really liked (one of which involved some trick photography -- large, close-up Athania trying to eat small, far-away Michelle).

no search parties needed

You may have noticed that my posts have quite suddenly dropped off from once a day to *fingers crossed* once a week. So to ensure that no search parties are sent out (allusion to one of Jon's recent posts), I thought I would take this opportunity to assure any concerned readers out there that I am alive, and actually doing quite well.

I started orientation for my new job about two weeks ago, and in that time have kept quite busy sitting in meetings, sorting through things in the ESL room, and generally figuring out what my job entails. Since I'll have a support role at the school, I will be working closely with 9 different elementary teachers and classes, and also under the new administrative umbrella of "Student Services." That means that there are quite a few people that I need to keep up with, so a lot of my energy so far has been spent trying to figure out how to do that most efficiently and effectively. Everyone has been really helpful so far though, and I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what was done last year, and what will be expected of me when school starts on Monday. I also think any anxiety that I do have will quickly dissipate once I meet the kids, get to know them, and get a better idea of how I can help them out.

I'm looking forward to school starting, but am thinking that for a while at least, it will mean less time for blogging.

mom's tote

Here's my latest tote. I had my mom in mind while making this one -- I think she'll like the colors. And there's a ribbon tie in the center to keep it closed.
I also think she'll like all the pockets inside. My personal favorite is the water bottle pocket (actually requested by Mom).
Mom, I hope you like it. If not, no worries -- I enjoyed making it, and wouldn't mind making another. Enjoy your last few weeks in California!

business meeting

A few idle moments on Youtube and I found this SNL clip:



It's under 2 minutes, and if you haven't seen it already, definitely worth a watch.

I love the progression... hehe.

bamboo and circle bag

I went to Sham Shui Po today with Salome, Athania, and Gloria. We were on the look-out for a variety of craft supplies, and in our wanderings happened to stop by two of my favorite shops: the wonderful fabric store, and the cat/jewelery-supply store (I've blogged about both before...).

I excused myself from the earring-hook hunt to spend some quality time with these kitten siblings.
Sal bought some cool green and white fabric for a door curtain (which I hope she blogs about soon, so I can put a link here!), and came over to my place to sew it. I attempted (rather futilely -- is that a word?) to busy myself with other things, but before long was involved in a sewing project of my own.

I had some bamboo bag handles, some fun fabric (that I've had for years, but never used!), and some lining from another bag that I recently took apart. Put them together and viola -- a new bag!
One good thing about using lining from another bag is that this new bag now has a zipper, but I didn't have to do the work of putting it in! The bag also has some gathers at the bottom which make it more expandable.