Home stuff

It has been a busy couple of months, not too sure where the time has gone. Slowly making my way through all the admin, dental check ups, health check ups. It feels like it's never ending.

Put together some almond butter and sauerkraut. Also, obsessed with these pickled beets.

Sydney

 Long weekend in Sydney. Birthdays and visitors

Happy Mooncake Festival

 

The luxury mooncake business in Hong Kong is big business. There's also more awareness being brought to the millions of mooncakes and mooncake packaging that ends up in landfill. In my efforts not to waste mooncakes, I've managed to eat two so far.

Blur

I know I say this A LOT, but since returning to Hong Kong, time has felt like it's motoring by at an unenjoyable rate. I think it's the combination of being at work, being busy at work, and not really having many holidays to look forward to. As a result, my weeks feel like they go by so fast. The same monotony. Wake up at 6, go to the gym, sit in the sauna, head into the office before 8. Remember to take a breath, have some water, go for a walk, maybe buy some groceries. Actually, work isn't bad at all, the lack of mobile phones and Red Zones in the office definitely makes it feel like it's more intense than it really is. Leave the office by 6:30, try to make it home by 7:30. Friday comes along, the weekends pass in the blink of an eye and it's Sunday evening. A lot of my weekends results in being admin, life admin, so much life admin. Visiting the bank, trying to see medical specialist, laundry, doing things I can't be bothered doing during the week.

That being said, I have been reconnecting with a lot of friends. The interactions are different, they're less about being out at 10 pm having your fifth drink of the evening. It's more about casual lunches, home cooking, and just general chit-chat. We're getting older. 

Also, had some visitors in town which was nice. Relatives visiting the Jordan, Kowloon side which was nice, as well as a certain somebody else passing through. I wonder if that's why the weeks feel like they move by so fast. I have a new rule, no more than events after 3 during the week. 

Here's some screenshots of a recent 24-hour holter monitor. Some interesting stats from this all, looks like my heart rhythm has changed in the last 12 months. It also could still be changing.

 

The Twins

Hong Kong, the home of many hikes, non more intimidating than the Hong Kong Island "Twins". 

Bali

Being invited, or not invited to a wedding works both ways. Sometimes you may be surprised at being invited to a wedding. Sometimes you're not invited to a wedding, maybe it isn't a case of being surprised or disappointed. The challenges of keeping a short guest list is not lost on me. There was a time in my younger years where I would see an invitation and say "Oh, that's nice, they're getting married, I did not expect getting an invite"; I found myself selectively declining invites. Not to say that I had the luxury of picking and choosing weddings to attend, but that was when the social circles were larger and people at our age were getting married. Being based in London also meant that a lot of weddings were back in Sydney and the cost of travel was something that I had to think twice about. 

Fast forward now, most of the friends are married, the frequency of weddings in my social circle has slowed down (we're in our 40s) and now that I think about it, there's not too many more invites or wedding that I really expect. With that in mind, I was truly a surprise when I was invited to a friend's wedding earlier this year. I knew that he had gotten engaged but we'd lost touch over the last couple of years. The wedding would turn out to be a small wedding of 60 people. The groom shared that he really  appreciated our friendship during the early stages when he moved to Hong Kong. What did this look like, it meant emailing him on his work phone during a time of whatsapp to keep him abreast of weekend/social activities. It's interesting to see how little gestures can mean so much to others.

Weddings do feel more special as you get older. So here I am heading to Bali with negative annual leave. Lots of highlights here, the pre-wedding Stag party on the Saturday. I didn't really know many people in attendance, bar a handful of old friends. It was nice catching up with old friends, meeting all the guests, the upside to a smaller wedding, a lot more intimate (duh) but fuller conversations and maybe some new friends. Plenty of relaxation which was also nice.

 

Dry July

 Pretty self-explanatory.