SELFISH Nat

I have been too busy to post.
I have been too self involved to post.
Mostly I have been too drunk to post!

Oh well the world goes on, with or without my posts.
Minus miss Ebby, I don't think any1 missed my blog. (Of course for part of that time my mum was in town, so that would explain her lack of complaint).

It has been a long long time since I last update and too much has happened that I am far too lazy to write about. Perhaps some point soon I will update the photos at least.

Short highlights -
* I completed 1 year in HK, and had a great night out to celebrate! (any excuse for a night out!)
* HK Rugby 7's - AMAZING! Lots of fun, Lots of hot boys, and I even like Rugby when its in 7 minute tasters
* Little Sis Visits - Boz came to town and it was amazingly painless, and even fun. Oh and she hardly drinks, so I was almost sober for the wk!
* Big Hike - We did a mega big hike in the Sai Kung area and swam in beautiful clear water (which is a rare thing in HK) - photos to come.
* Mum visits - mum came to town, and it was just like old times. Mum being mum, Nat being moody. Oh well it was worth it (for the food) - and the other bits ;) Love Ya Mum. (oh and Sharon misses u Im sure!)
* Another work Singapore trip - only notable as I had a terrible cold, felt like Shit, and they put me in a second class hotel, instead of my fullerton.
* Manager no 3 - Got another new manager at work (who is based in Oz). She sounds far too enthusiastic (and american!). Shame I'll be leaving.
* My work nemesis resigned - My arch nemesis has resigned, she's based in Oz so it wont change my life much, but she finishes next week and I'll be happy. (Also I feel like I've won - who knows what - but I''ve beat her ;)

That's about it I think (I may have missed out huge bits but I cant remember).

Now more recently, this wkend I wrote a letter to my landlord giving my 2 months notice. I had decided for a while that I would head back to Oz for my 30th in August, and given my hatred of my job I would quit. But I guess giving notice made it final. Saying that, I'm not regretting my decision, and in fact I'm very much looking forward to giving notice at work! But it has highlighted the fact that I have no idea what I want to do post my party and august celebrations. I thought I wanted to go travelling again (I mean, I always do). I went to Singapore airlines and Qantas yesterday ( I had to do something in between my webex training to cheer up my day). And do you know what my first thought was?
"Shit thats expensive!"

Now for those who don't know me so well, my standard response is "Oooooh, how many places can I go to? How long can I not work?"

There could be a few reasons for this. Some may say I obviously haven't earnt enough in HK (possibly, compared to London), others have responded that maybe I'm growing up. Mandy and I seem to agree that HK is too much like a holiday. I just don't feel like I've worked hard enough here to need a holiday yet. This was my thought last night, and since then I've gained confidence with the decision - so no travelling for me.

Which really leaves me at a loose end. It''s what I always do. So what other options are there?

A. Get a Job
This brings up the whole question of where do I want to get a job, or what kind of job do I want. Neither which I know the answer to. I look through Uk/Aus/HK/Tokyo job boards and none of the jobs appeal to me. I look at IT jobs, I look at training jobs, I look at random other jobs - none of it appeals. So lets agree on no to a job. Im just a bit over jobs, they dont challenge me, they dont appreciate me and they bore the shit out of me.

Ok maybe Ive never found the right job but I think its time I take my career (or lack of it) into my own hands. I think I wanna start my own business (sound certain dont i).

WHY?

Why not ;) I haven't done it before, while many of my friends have. I am intelligent, opinionated, impatient and organised (among other things), and I've always wanted to leave something behind before I vanish from this world, and webex is not doing it for me.

And FUCK IT - im willing to throw $$ away bumming around the world, why not set myself a real challenge. If it screws up I can always get a crap IT job to pay the bills.

WHAT?

No clue.

Seriously No idea.

If you know me, you know what I've always wanted is a cafe type joint. But unfortunately I'm far too much of a realist to believe it has any chance of success. There are far too many in Oz! Yep maybe HK or UK could do with a couple more, but it;d be super expensive and far too hard without mummy and daddy.

So what else?

Please email or post your suggestions here.

Any other comments on my life welcome...

Oh and for those in oz, Nats 30th Birthday on Friday 17th August, keep it free (in sydney - Benny I expect u there!) And accomodation supplied for those I love

Ooops I was about to end off, and realise I haven't really explained the title. Basically I have been wrapped up in all this, this wk, and avoiding the family. Jen will recognise it for what it is, once I know im leaving I have a bit of a habit to give up on it. Did it in London, and doing it here again. Who knows, maybe it will pass when I get over my post teenage angst.

Alright now Im done - bedtime for Nat - it sounds like I need it right?

The Family

The family is the reason I have no time to write my blog.

The family is the reason I spent my entire weekends partying and forgetting to sleep.

The family is the reason I stay sane in HK.

So who are they?

And how did it begin?

To answer the second question first.....

It began on a sunday night at the end of Jan (pictured above).

English Chris (who is in fact Aussie) had a work colleague moving to HK. I agreed to meet him for lunch and impart my wisdom of the town. He turned out to be so amusing that I invited him to Saturday night drinks. (And that was how I met Darren.)

I was hanging out with Darren a bit, and Mandy had yet to meet him. So I decided to have a little dinner party with Mandy and Darren. And I figured I'd invite Sharon cause she's always good fun and washes up ;) Of course then I had to invite Mark, because Sharon wanted Mark and I to have a cook off. I was not planning a cook off, but instead a little mexican meal. Darren declared he was bringing a bottle of tequilla, Mandy some beer, Mark oranges and Sharon the game of Cranium.

It was just one of those perfect nights, where you expect a simple dinner, and instead it becomes a fun filled night of yummy food, loads of laughs, cranium, and tequilla shots with cinnamon and orange - yummo!


Who would have thought we'd all get on so well?

Mandy

It's rather amusing given my oldest friend in Oz is Mandy, and now one of my closest friends in HK is Mandy too. This Mandy is scottish and crazy! (in a good way)

She was my flatmate for a while last year, and we had a great time drinking wine, and perving on the neighbour. (Who by the way is moving out this week - very upsetting!)

She can always make you laugh, has a great accent, and crazy slang to go with it. Oh and she has sexual tourettes!



Sharon


Sharon's birthday junk is how I came to meet Mandy and Hayley, but I didn't really get to know Shaz until about 6 months later. (What a wasted 6 months!) I first knew Sharon from going out and partying, and later learnt that she lives in a church and teaches Sunday school. I couldn't quite work out how that all fit together (given most everyone I know is atheist). She is always smiling and is the best person I know. Now that I know Darren I can't work out which of the 2 are the friendliest, but its damn close. Shaz knows people all over Hong Kong, we were out wandering on Saturday and she knew a guy selling clothes at the markets, and then a couple of girls at Krispe Kreme where we stopped for coffee, donuts and a goss ;)

Mark

Like Shaz, I knew Mark for a while before we became friends. He is the tallest person I know in HK, not that this is an achievement given most people are short, but its still amusing to watch him squash into HK sized things. He also has the voice of Alan Rickman (from Die Hard and Robin Hood -Prince of Theives), oh and he does occasionally cook a decent meal ;) Like the others he's pretty damn funny, but I think we're only friends with him as he knows every capital city in the world. (Yep he has too much free time).

Darren


When I first met Darren I was pretty sure he was gay. It turns out he's just camp as hell. Oh and now that he's got his mojo back, he seems to be picking up chicks left, right and centre. He also seems to have had every job possible, he now works in IT, but previously did all sorts of things (non of which I can remember at the moment). So now his biggest contribution to the fam, is his bus licence and a kick ass roof (with bbq). Oh and he's slightly older and wiser so good for occasional advice.

Conclusion

I am sure I have done no credit to my friends, but I love them all and hopefully haven't offended anyone too much. Individually they're all great, but together they are priceless!

This weekend was another jam packed one - and full of fun. Friday night drinks with the gang plus Kitty, Amy & her boy. I was in a foul mood but managed to socialise til 11.

Saturday morn I caught up on sleep and then had a great afternoon with Shaz walking about town, and buying green wigs for St Paddy's Day Party. And yes a Krispy Kreme too.

Saturday night turned into a huge one, starting off at a house party (with open bar) before continuing on to Lan Kwai Fong and then Wan Chai. Wan Chai is kinda like Kings X, you only go after midnight and the later the better. Seedy as hell, but very fun when you''re in the right mood. Met a cute aussie boy who's all of 19 (isn't that scarily young!) and managed to get home after 7am (alone though). But I was up at 11am to meet Mandy for our massage. She was recovering from flu and I had no sleep and hangover - but yep the sauna and massage was brilliant. Not to mention the chatter.

Then we were off to the pub to meet the family for lunch. Great lunch but after the relaxing massage and my crazy night I wasn''t much for conversation. I did manage a 2 hr nana nap before heading to Sarah's for dinner and dvds.

Needless to say I felt like shit today. (Although the 19 yr old texted me so that was amusing - new photos of friends and snogs on the side link).

Gonna try and not drink at least until friday. Wish me luck.

Time to upload photos and then bed!

Forever, I know!

Wedding Photos HERE!!!
Apologies to all those who have been missing my blog entries (ie. mum, ebby, and zeina) but I will try to do better in the future. The truth is, somewhere between christmas and January I managed to develop a social life. Not one that involves a hot straight boy, but a pretty fun existance never the less... I will do my best to get you up to speed, mainly giving you highlights!

Hmmm where should I start? At the moment I am sitting in the Qantas Club Lounge in the Perth Airport, having just said good bye to Will, and spent a lovely long weekend in the Margaret River region celebrating Jason & Hales wedding. Photos to follow. I am on my way back to HK, going an indirect route through Singapore (due to the cheapness of flights) and will probably get home about midnight tonight. Bet I'm going to be cheery tomorrow when I have to teach these 2 stupid girls, who don't seem to talk.

I've had a lovely week in WA, and want to come back for a proper holiday. It is such an extreme change from Hong Kong. Lots of open spaces, fresh air, blue skies, clear water and the most stars I have seen in a long time.

I arrived in Perth Wednesday afternoon, and spent a lovely night with Will heading down to the local yuppy pub for a very yummy fish meal. Pretty much all I've eaten this week has been fresh fish and meat pies. Yummo! (oh and lots of beer, wine and aussie chocolate.)
Thursday Eden picked me up and we were to drive down to Dunsborough together, but first she had to pick up a few things from home. We were about to leave, after selecting a few CDs from the boot of her car, and managed to lock the keys in the car! We then had to wait for the RAA (or whatever its called in WA) to open up the car and get us on the way. Very amusing start.

Eden had organised an amazing house in Dunsborough, 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 kitchens, huge balconies - it was amazing. So 11 of us spent the weekend there, and after an afternoon of winery touring on Thursday afternoon, we all headed back for a big group bbq on the balcony. Friday and Saturday involved lots of lazing around the house, swimming on empty beaches (beautiful) and drinking cocktails and eating meat pies. Very relaxing.

As most of you know, I am basically anti social. The one point I forgot about, is that when it is a wedding, the groom and bride have no time to hang out. So I basically spent the whole weekend with a bunch of strangers (and Eden - thankfully!). They are a lovely bunch of strangers, very friendly and have known Hales and Jason forever - but it was a bit of an effort at times, and I found myself wishing that the family had joined me on this trip (or at least Mandy!).

The wedding on Saturday night proved far more fun than I imagined, with gorgeous food (more yummy fish), delicious wine and a kicking band. I was on a table with a couple of HK coppers, and some outward bound people, so yep they were all crazy. We had a great time, and ended up back at our house for the afterparty - I made some punch that went down well!

I will upload some photos soon, and talk more about how gorgeous they both looked etc ;)

Got back to Perth last night and stayed with Will again. Had dinner with his mum and bro, which was funny as they call me Grace (as if it's my real name). Actually didn't have fish or meat pie, but beautiful fillet steak with pepper sauce (and a gin and tonic on the side) perfect. Then we stayed up too late watching "5 Straight with Will & Grace" - rather appropriate I feel.

Boz is heading to HK in a few weeks, and then I believe my mum is coming the end of April, so lots of family time coming up. Guess I should get Lida in again to clean ;)

Other highlights of the last couple of months -
* Went to UK for Chris & Char's wedding celebrations. Very fun, great to see them . They are so settled now, great friends, charming village and a beautiful house with the most amazing oven I have ever seen. So far the best reason I have known for getting married ;)
* Had another trip to Singapore for work. Was good, work was boring, but they put me up in the Fullerton yet again, so I slept well and had bubble baths - which is a nice change from the drunken mess of my life in HK ;)
* Trudi visited just before I headed off to Perth. It was great to see her and she had a great time, even though it was only a couple of days. She managed to get off the plane and party til 1am! I stayed out and Trudi headed home alone. She found the flat OK and had my spare keys.
Let me describe my door for you - it is a normal standard door, with 2 locks on it. Then in front of that, is a stupid iron grill gate that slides open (very "in" in HK). Before we left, Trudi asked if there was any trick to the door. "Nope" and off we went.
Well she got home at 1am, and couldn't work out how to open the gate. I was drunk (as is standard) and saw her text, something along the lines of "How do you open the door", to which I probably replied - "Use the key". I believe before going any further she then went to get assistance from the doorman.
For those of you who have not been to my flat, I have a few doormen. None speak english, but the morning one is pretty friendly and smiley. The afternoon one is not bad, and the night one is rude and moody and without any appealing features. Well Trudi attempted to get the night doorman to come and help her. Firstly, Trudi doesn't speak cantonese or mandarin. He doesn't speak English (or smile). So Trudi, being a resourceful gal, started miming. (Her re-enactment the next day was damn funny). Finally he followed her upstairs and half assed tried opening the door, and then left again.
Trudi decided to try texting me again - this time "How do you open the gate?"
"Press the button" - drunk Nat
"What button" - Trudi after searching for the button
"The one at the bottom" - drunk Nat with probably not the most helpful instructions, but thankfully Trudi's higher intellect won out.
Of course I then woke her for a chat, when I got home at 3am. The important thing is Trudi assures me that she had fun (oh and the night doorman is scared of her!).
Alright that's probably enough for the moment. I've still got a couple more hours to kill so I may write more later. I still need to tell you about the "Family".

It's 12:16am and I have hiccups!

Why, you may ask, am I awake? WEll in an ideal world it would be to update my blog, but in reality it is because BA will allow me to online check in 24 hrs before, and I am 24 mins short that deadline. So I could either sleep and miss the chance at a lovely perfect sleep on my economy flight, or stay awake 24 mins and get a long leg room sleep (of course I could stay awake 24 mins and miss out on the legroom seat and end up with nothing!).

So work is terrible, mindless, boring, monotonous etc - but hey friends are cool, fun, entertaining, verbose and generally kick ass. I've finally got to the point were I love my HK friends. About f-ing time, some of you are saying.

<20 mins to go> So for those who dont keep up with every second of my life (ie. everyone but my mum) I am going to london this wkend, for Chris' wedding (sorta). In 24 hrs and 20 mins I will fly to london, so in 24 hrs and 0 mins I can online checkin. And after my big long wkend of drinking, I once again took advantage of ladies nights in HK.

An Introduction to Ladies Nights In Hong Kong
Certain pubs/bars on a particular day of the week will have free drinks for ladies. Sometimes its a particular drink (such as tonight, it was bubbly) or sometimes its all spirits. The ladies drink for free all night, and about 11pm a number of drunk guys rock up to try and pick up the very drunk ladies. Its a very fun past time that enables me to snog random boys - a new fancy of mine.

Oh sidenote - I have made peace with my gay boy (Will) so maybe he's reading this. His question was why aren't I bringing these boys/men home? I can't remember my answer, but the important thing mum is I'm not (well not the ones I've met lately anyway).

Oh other fun news -my little sis is coming to HK over easter. She's finally excited b/c H&M are opening in March so it will give her something to do when she's pissed at me!

When I get back from London I may finally update photos, and tell about my lovely friends, and drunken wkends, but for now I'm gonna try and get a decent seat on my plane. Especially given its landing in snow - bet u'd love that Boz!

Better Now!

Yep Im better - still not drinking but pretty good. I am sitting in a lovely clean flat, having eaten a yummy meal and watched this great show - Australian Story

I did a one off and got a lovely phillipino lady to clean my flat while I was at work today, so came home to a lovely clean home! Made myself meatloaf last night so just ate a meatloaf sandwich!

Oh and I think I've worked out a cheaper way to get to Perth for the wedding in March. Fly via Singapore...

OOoh a strange kiwi show is starting - I better go ;)

Living alone sux when you're sick...

Or Being sick sux when you live alone....
Or Both....

Now before I continue - I would like to add a warning - particularly for my mother- I am fine, Im sitting on the couch updating my blog so I'm obviously fine now.

Let me tell you about my last 24 hrs - I left after lunch from work yesterday and slept most of yesterday afternoon and night. I didnt feel like food but forced myself to eat toast and flat lemonade. I woke up this morning still feeling bad (and temperature ridden) so took more drugs and slept more.

After midday I woke up and made it to the couch. After a while I felt alive enought to wander up to the chemist (not far at all and the escalator takes me up the block). I take the walk very slow and make it to the chemist. I wander around looking for the right drugs and was talking to the pharmacist when i suddenly saw dots in front of my eyes. Before I fainted (see mum I didnt faint) she sat me down and started feeding me crackers and water. She was very helpful and nice and I spent quite a while sitting in the corner of the chemist.
Oh let me explain what i was wearing. Baseball Cap (to cover my hair) tracky pants, long tshirt and tracky jumper - oh and did I mention Ugg boots. Yes Pppl (particulary Chris) I did the unthinkable I went out in Uggs. That should tell you how ill I am.

So finally after sitting, and being fed crackers and drinking water, i was able to walk, and made it home without incident. I have now drugged myself up on panodol to get rid of the temp, and have been eating crackers, water and am now drinking some really gross rehydration salts - yukko.

Oh and I have to go to work tomororw and fri as im teaching. Oh and I have work party on fri night and i wont be able to drink. That sux badly!!
Alright nothing on TV might go back to bed. Being sick sux....