New York Summer

Summer finally hit this weekend with some glorious weather. It was great just to walk around, soak up the rays and enjoy New York. Things on the hit it list:

- Play some pickup basketball
- Go to Hamptons, need to get on the party list of a friend who has a timeshare of a condo there
- Go to upstate New York, apparently there is some apple picking thing to do.
- Kayak on the Hudson river
- Check out another Jones Beach concert
- Play some beach volleyball at Long Island city
- More public theatre shows. If I can score a Shakespeare in the Park ticket, I would definitely go
- Back on the exercise routine, surely there are enough days left in summer to get ripped and then still have time to show it off :)

Other activities that have occurred / already booked in:
- Watched Kenny "Babyface" Edmonds. I am impressed at the energy of that guy (given he is late forties?), as well as the number of hit songs that he has written. One thing was that when he did sing those songs together, it was noticeable that they all have a very similar beat and style. Highlight was some of the classic Boyz to Men songs
- Seeing Bei and Reenie in consecutive weeks. Always fantastic to have friends come and visit, I once again marvel at how easily we can travel globally. See you guys in November and thanks Reenie for the present!
- Seeing some relos come from Kingston in Canada for the weekend.
- Late night funky Jazz at Blue Note. Makes me wish I could play a saxophone, or any musical instrument, for that matter.
- I cooked! Steamed fish and choi sum! And amazingly, no one got sick!

I've taken to saying "yes" to pretty much anything, and it's been good fun. One thing that I have refused to do is to start any form of long distance running. That, to me, is just no fun, plain and simple!

Sydney, Singapore and Hong Kong

Photos are up.

Sydney

Ben & Syl's Wedding

Singas & HK

La-La Land

I think weekend trips are brutal, leaving Friday, taking the red-eye back on Monday and straight back to work.

That being said, Los Angeles was great fun. It had all the makings of a good trip:

1. Key events ie NBA finals game 2 (go Lakers in OT!)
   
2. Stoopid photo opportunities at every turn
   
3. Travelling companion willing to go out, hitting random Korean clubs. Perhaps 2 people attempting to share one bottle of vodka was a bit too ambitious.
   

I think LA is too much car travelling. The pavements are empty, everything feels far away, it's not something I'm used to. Of course, if I did live there I would get some awesome car to cruise around in! It has this ecclectic mix of architecture, from spanish to modern to old school chateaus. This actually makes the neigbourhoods such as Beverly Hills quite fun to drive around.

Definitely need locals or friends of locals that can tell you where to go out at night, but that "close at 2pm, no more alcohol" rule is ridiculous. Remember, unlike New York, start early!

Would I live there? Nah, not my thing. Good to visit though.

Asia Trip

I believe that going to Asia (Singapore and Hong Kong) is like going to an alternate universe where clubs are easy to get in, sleep is an option, and work is something people do on the side of living it up.

I didn't think that my body could handle four days where:
- 2 nights I had 4 hours sleep
- 1 night I had 1 hour sleep
- 1 night I had no sleep as I got home at 6am, packed and went to the airport to go to Hong Kong (thanks for having me at your place Anton!)

Not surprisingly, I slept 14 of the 15 hours on the plane, and then another 12 hours when I got back home. I read somewhere that you can make up for lost sleep if it is done within the week of when the lack of sleep occurred :)

It was great fun. Both more livable than I had previously thought (maybe I'm easily influenced) and offering more than just the standard party / shop / eat combo. I was surprised to hear of hiking trails around Hong Kong, and we went out on a boat cruise to Clearwater Bay, which was a very relaxing experience.

Of course, the best part was catching up with friends, both local and overseas visitors, as well as my family there. My grandma (my mom's mom) is as sprightly as ever. Best conversation of the trip:

Me: "So you have to tell mom that I've been good here in Hong Kong" (this was after my grandma sees me coming home at 10am)
Grandma: "You know that I can't lie!"
My Aunty: "Well, you could say that Kev was good during the times that you were awake."

Indeed!