Coldest day since 1957

It's cold; 3° C cold. Just like London isn't built for the heat, Hong Kong isn't built for the cold. The high humidity and the lack of heating have led to an increase in the sale of Uniqlo Down Jackets.

My apartment is freezing, condensation billows from my mouth as I breath. I'm wearing everything I own and have my duvet draped over me. I futilely scrunch my toes up under my socks to no avail.

My oven is on and I'm not baking anything. Why is Hong Kong so extreme?

Currently reading: "Bird By Bird"

PAYG Tax, not here?

I just paid my 2015/2016 Tax Bill, not feeling particularly wealthy right now. It's a vicious cycle, always at the end of the year I think to myself "Hey, I saved a decent amount of money this year". Then I pay my tax and I re-think "Hey, I really didn't save that much money this year".

The funny part is, it's only 15%. I really should not be complaining. Time for a month of austerity until bonus time.

48 hour water and tea fast

The apartment still smells. My housemates have left yet the smell insidiously lingers. Is this the offensive smell that my mother complained about when I lived in Sydney?

I wonder what the effect of this noisome would have on prepubescent females; they would gush and swoon leaving me with unexplainable pile of teenage bodies. Anyway. The first four days of the new year have been excess: Oolaa, Cha Cha Wan, Yung Kee, Tsim Chai Kee, Emacks and Bolio, Fu Sing, San Xi Lou, Carbone, Flaming Frangos and Tai Cheong. Non-stop eating.

Out of guilt and as an attempt to level out the volume of food I attempt my first 48 hour fast. Just water and green tea. Noticeable drop in body temperature and keto-breath that would also leave me with an unexplainable pile of bodies. All in all, aside from some jitters and the occasional lapse in focus I'm feeling pretty good.

I mentally put together my list of 2016 resolutions and prepare break fast at Island Tang with my uncle and auntie.

Currently reading: "Look Who's Back" - Timur Vermes

Two thousand and sixteen!

I struggle to open my bedroom door. The handle is jammed, the desultory jangle of the handle turning back and forth goes on for a few more seconds. I hear laughter on the other side of the door. I'm not alone in the apartment. I prise the door open, unconcerned as to why it took so much effort.

Two friends from lie sprawled in my tiny 120 square foot living room. One lies on the carpet wrapped in a duvet, the other awkwardly folded on my couch (he's > 6", my couch is  < 6"). Familiar faces from Sydney uprooted and temporarily living in my apartment. I take a deep breath and rub my eyes, the living room smells like dude, it's an olfactory shock. Like the inside of a mens locker room. I light a candle, it does little to dissipate the smell. My nose soon forgets what I was smelling as my other senses refocus.

Forgot how much fun these guys are and I'm stoked that they're staying over, only wish I could offer them more comfortable board. We play monopoly deal, watch TV (UFC, Making a Murderer, Seinfeld), laugh and chat; feels like only yesterday.

It's the 1st of January - Last night is what they call a doozy. Black out intoxication. Volar. Later interviews would include descriptions such as "Oh yeah, I saw you twice last night, once in LKF, the other in Volar, don't you remember?" supplemented with "you weren't really talking, it was more like barking littered with the occasional slur". My head confirms that all stories can probably be believed.

Time to make some changes this year. My attempts to complete my 2015 resolutions all but failed, except one 'to read more'; currently reading "The Martian". Time to roll last year's incomplete resolutions over to 2016, probably should break the tasks down into more quantifiable milestones.

Bring on the New Year!