Flip flops in February

The overcast weather continues, but who cares? I had a little spate earlier this week (meaning last week; I know it’s Monday now but I was out of town and it’s still my weekend so there) when it was chilly and necessitated socks, but for the most part, the weather here is fabulous. At least temperature-wise, I mean. Yes, I can’t see the top of my tower, but I can wear flip flops in February. That is so much a bonus.

I skipped town again this weekend to go to Hong Kong. The onus, like last time, was an appointment with the podiatrist to pick up my insoles, which, BTW, Blue Cross Blue Shield did NOT consider important enough to cover. Grr.

Last time, the getting there was harder than it should have been, so this time I just got up and did my thing on Saturday, which included doing my taxes, and then took the subway up to the train station. I didn’t buy my ticket in advance because I didn’t want to pay the service charge and corner myself into a particular time and fortunately, had no problems getting on an earlier train than I’d done last time. And since, once there, I already knew the drill, I got to the hostel – same as before – a bit earlier.

My original plan had been to do Disney, but based on the overcast weather and slight chill, I drew up a Plan B, which involved movies. I obsessed over the times and strategized to figure out how many I could see on Sunday, thinking I could knock down my Netflix list.

Neflix does deliver here, but it takes a single movie six weeks to get from there to here and back. I’m only paying $5 a month, so it’s worth it, I guess, but I will not see the movies in my queue for many moons. So any attempts to see current films are welcome.

We have theaters here, but reading the listings is a problem. I think some of them are in English with subtitles, but I can’t figure out what’s showing where and when. That’s a problem.

Anyway, after deciding on three, figuring it out and being me, I totally changed my mind again. When I’d ruled out Disney, I had pondered going to Macau and forget why the movies moved up in the lineup, but somehow they did.

But when I realized “Frozen” was only offered in 3D (“Bring your own glasses or buy a pair!”) and I didn’t think I wanted to sit for a three-hour movie, I decided to just see “American Hustle” and then hope the ferry to Macau, which is what I did.

Honestly, I’d heard Macau was a Vegas, and it is but I spent very little time in that part. I went to the older city and could have sworn I was in Lisbon. It was so cool. I really thought an afternoon in Macau would suit me for the two years I’m here, but nope. That was too cool, and I will be back.

I will post photos of Macau, but since that was my second trip to Hong Kong, I’m posting those pictures first.

It’s a lot of malls. It’s a lot more than that, but so far that’s what I’ve seen.

I got a kick out of the “I Should’ve Been a Cowboy” sign in the store and wondered if there’s a little copyright infringement going on there.

Macau is only an hour by ferry from Hong Kong. I can take a train there, too, but I figured it was right there and I might as well. Again, I’ll be here two years so I figure I’ll have ample opportunity to do them both again.

The next time I go to either, I really hope it’s just a straight weekend off and not in conjunction with a doctor’s appointment.

And now it’s back to work tomorrow. Last week was pretty rough and this week is going to be fairly intense, too. My Motown presentation is Thursday evening and I’m really freaked out over it. The PowerPoint is totally kick-butt – I’ve spent over 20 hours on it – but I do have to speak in front of about 20 people so I am just freaked.

If I can make it through Thursday – and the thing won’t end until about 10 p.m., so when I say Thursday, I mean all of Thursday – I’m fine.

And we have an office field trip on Saturday. It’s not really a field trip but a road trip we were invited to. I don’t know the name of the city, but it’s a UNESCO site about three hours southwest-ish from me.

I’m really excited about going. First, if I make it there, it means I got through the week, which is no small thing. Second, I really, really want to explore China. I have ZERO language skills and am a little intimidated to travel to smaller towns – real China – alone and unable to communicate.

So this trip, which small and close to home, is a cool opportunity and I am looking forward to it.