Marriage, babies, changing jobs, and divorce are some of the most stressful moments in life. I usually get an urgent call from a friend when she is seriously considering a career change. Luckily it doesn’t happen very often.
Last week, she started a job and decided to expand her expertise to a wider spectrum with better pay.
Job matching can be frustrating yet interesting. The interview panel examines the strengths and weaknesses of candidates. As manpower is tight on the market, candidates have more job choices than ever. However, the employment package may not be very favourable.
“How is it that our job location cannot be swapped? We could have saved a lot of time traveling,” but job nature and remuneration play a more important role than location alone. No job is flawless in the real world. We always take into account the criteria we may have when evaluating job offers.
I’m recently flattered to have been invited by a small non-profit organisation to its newly opened senior position and have an honest conversation with their representative throughout the week. I must say, a genuine conversation is quite unusual and rare during the hiring process.
I had a million questions in my head when I considered the post; therefore I drafted a proposal to test the waters and give myself more time to think through what I want to do next. It is obvious that every organization has already established its yearly plan before anyone joins. I would like to make a change.
However, it seems like there are numerous things to do before I can negotiate further on the number of suggestions I want to implement. Nevertheless, I am impressed by the potential employer’s sincerity. The conversation enabled me to gather critical facts for serious thoughts. I like the idea of this upcoming challenge, but I still feel uncertain whether any of my suggestions will be taken into consideration seriously in the near future.
Work is part of my life and I always strive for more – sports I love, learning, new experience, pleasant environment and interactions with people, etc. Despite that I let go of a golden opportunity, I felt relieved eventually like a heavy stone lifted out of my chest.
Yes, I can do more, but I would like to seek to understand their community more before I am ready to stand tall and fight for their rights.
I usually feel refreshed after getting plenty of sleep the next day. This morning, I struggled a bit. Waking up, I felt stiffness in my entire body. My scalp needs scratching and a massage to feel relieved. My throat is suffocating, and it’s a little hard to breathe. My spines are locked and need my full attention to release the tension.
Is it because of insufficient sleep? Or am I just a bit stressed? Do I need more serotonin?
Hiking yesterday morning probably left my muscles sore. My muscles tightened and the teacher wanted us to work on our core muscles in my yoga class last night. I tried to stretch and loosen my muscles between tightening exercises. It was a great feeling to have such a long stretch. I always wanted to regain my flexibility and aim to do the split again one day. My muscles are still strained. My racing thoughts are still with me.
How can I work through my day when I do not feel fit to have a more productive writing day? I simply practise breathing exercises, have a warm shower, lie on the sofa, and indulge in my favourite fruits, desserts, and drinks. Self-care is a necessity as well as interactions with familiar faces.
It is joyous to meet familiar faces on the community farm. I am disappointed with my winter harvest. Sunshine is insufficient. But my farm mates are generous to share some of their harvest and plants with me – lettuce, basil, and peppers.
Our farming session will end soon, and we need to take a break before another farm session comes.
By listening to music and watching movies, I can refocus my drifting mind on something else entirely. I must say today was not my usual Sunday morning, I hate my body limits what I can do. But I told myself the weird feeling will be gone soon and I decide not to push myself too much. Tomorrow will be a better day.
From late March to April, people in Hong Kong turn on their AC and fans at home. Heat may not be the culprit, but humid heat is. The air is stuffy, and even with the wind, we still feel damp.
It is quite common to find corridor floors wet all day when humidity reaches 90 – 100%. We cannot do much unless air conditioners are installed to keep humidity low, but they are not environmentally friendly.
Laundry can be difficult as many of us hardly have space to dry our clothes. Dehumidifiers and fans are must-buy items in Hong Kong.
Styling hair is difficult on a humid day. I wash it and blow it dry in the morning. By the time I return to the office, my thin hair sticks to my face and becomes frizzy. I simply call it a “bad hair day”, or even a “worst hair day”. The young girl sitting next to me has an electric device to style her hair at work on a wet day. This is not once, but twice. “It is so imperative to ensure my hair looks gorgeous no matter what the weather is like.” That’s what she probably thinks.
On such a hair-unfriendly day, I prefer a passive approach to managing my hair as it naturally turns into an Omega style. I have to embrace it or tie my hair in a bun.
To be more aggressive, I’ll get a haircut, making it short and neat. Then it will stay well for a while.
I’m wishing the humidity this year is within hair bearable limits.
這套Netflix的西葡小品Até Que a Vida Nos Separe （Until life do us apart）道盡多角色的愛情故事。女主角Vanessa於美術課堂上作人像模特兒，年青不羈的藝術系學生Vasco迷戀她，游說她派對及美國之旅。結果，這個足球派對全男班，俊朗而口才極佳的Vasco未能留住她； Vanessa反而愛上他的好友Daniel。Daniel猶如Vasco的相反照，就如平淡的海水，好好先生的形象，但沒給人太多驚喜。
A therapist once suggested taking care of feelings instead of seeking a solution to certain problems. Our minds have emotional needs. My brain started to “digest” what it meant – Listen to your body instead of overthinking to save brain power.
Just follow your gut, just do it without thinking, especially before you go to sleep.
You write an address on an envelope. You need not think, it’s just your procedural memory that helps you do the task. You have breakfast. You need not think as you just take that into your mouth and your body automatically digests the food. You get to bed, it’s supposed to be programmed to sleep. If you think too much, it interferes with the original plan and leads to a lot of worries and interference.
Let the mind wander, stay still, close your eyes, imagine you’re resting and relaxing deep, slow down the breathing like when you’re sleeping. Then a visual will appear. Let it wander. You will realise “I just slept a bit?!”, follow these steps and enjoy a peaceful night’s sleep.
Thanks to the comic artists who gave us such valuable tips.
That’s something I have to keep in mind. Let it rest.
A few more tips from a sleep specialist:
Change your thoughts – It’s fine to function the next day even if you do not sleep well tonight.
Accept the fact – the less you struggle with insomnia, the better your chances are of falling asleep.
Learn to relax – worry less, see what happens
Nervous about our class/meeting – tell yourself worrying is normal, try to accept
Sleep hygiene; sleep early instead of having too many worries
Mindfulness in a pleasant environment, feeling the beautiful environment, minimising negative thought
Do what is of importance to you – look at the big picture; care about what you want to do, and forget those minor things
Not to cancel meeting your friends; normal routine
Immerse less in social media, and focus on what you like to do, e.g. hiking, swimming, heading to the beach
What do autistic people really feel? I always imagined a small kid playing in a corner of the room until I watched the BBC documentary – inside our autistic minds.
Two young adults showed the world how they felt when encountering the world in a 2-minute video. I could see two normal human young minds pursuing their own dreams.
Ethan is a 19-year-old student and rapper. He demonstrated in his video that he is hypersensitive to sounds and noises, as well as to many visual stimulations. Anton, a football lover, lets his friends and family know in a video that routines are super significant to him. Having many things planned ahead of time is super critical to him. If his precise schedule gets disrupted, he feels lost. He can only have fun when he feels safe and secure by sticking to the routine.
I cannot differentiate Anton’s case from that of an anxious adult. If you know the difference, tell me more.
Since Apple introduced the Mac, and later the iPhone and iPad, the brand has been a global leader in the market. I later realised how influential Steve Jobs was on Pixar when visiting the Pixar exhibition in Hong Kong.
It surprised me that Steve Jobs was actually involved in Pixar’s success story and sold the company to Disney in 2006. My friend told me their company hired a senior executive whose annual salary is HK$400 million. She considered that salary high, and not reasonable. I disagreed.
If that executive does a brilliant job like those global leaders who moved the brand to the next level, why not pay them a handsome amount of money? They deserve it!
I also grasped the concept of “continuous improvement” in the Pixar exhibition. Take an in-depth look at the stretches of how “Woody” looked at Toy Story or how “Kevin” looked in the movie Up! You would lose excitement if they really looked like that! Fortunately, those are the only stretches. As the team worked on the concept, they improved it bit by bit. They even outlined detailed movement of ears, eye brows, hands and body parts, indicating how those intricate details should look like when the characters were in action. A clay model was also made to allow the creative team to understand the characters in multiple dimensions.
How many hours and manpower went into a single character? Imagine how many characters were in a single Pixar movie? The result was an ” impressive accomplishment”.
While shopping at the supermarket, my friend kept lecturing me about carbon footprints. Hong Kong is such a business city that we rarely have local produce at a reasonable price. Imported food is natural for us.
Though many vegetables come from Mainland China, Hongkongers love produce imported from Japan, Europe, Australia and the US. We do not feel guilty for buying goods that have travelled a long way to the shops. Almost no local farms supply enough fresh pak chop, choy sham, or potatoes for our daily consumption.
Several years ago, a concept store opened called Greenprice that sells near-expired products or canned goods that have passed their best-before dates. I do my regular grocery shopping there.
The stores do not include expired products like meat and dairy, which means that these foods are safe to consume.
I even found it a fun experience to “seek and hunt” interesting and different brands and snacks at an affordable price. Yes, they are imported and create carbon footprints, but by buying these food items, we prevent gigantic food waste that harms the universe.
This month, I purchased chunky peanut butter, chocolates, whole wheat pasta, body cream, and potato chips. They are yet to expire and are a deal. The most important is that I couldn’t find some of these goodies in other stores.
Despite that these items might have travelled a long way, I still advocate green shopping, as these products will be sent to landfill if everyone gives them up.
Hiking in Hong Kong always ends with a happy meal with friends or hikers. It can also be a fun barbecue time in a country park as many hiking tracks are close to the city.
I brought my buddies to join a few visually impaired friendly people for an easy hike today.
The track is home to monkeys, starting at the Shek Lei Pui Reservoir bus stop. Most of the track is flat, wide cement roads, so non-trained volunteers can take visually impaired individuals along the track.
Then we passed through the Golden Hill Country Park by the Kowloon Reservoir, and ended up at the BBQ site at Shing Mun Reservoir. We’re so excited to find the sizzling BBQ smell was back after the public BBQ sites were closed for almost 3 years.
Of course, hiking is not complete without great food, and today, we sat down together at a long table, trying Korean pizzas and fried chicken. Don’t argue with us that Asian pizzas are not authentic or ruin Italian traditions.
Asians are creative and embrace diverse food cultures. We are not satisfied with plain pasta without meat or vegetable ingredients. A pizza with just mozzarella and herbs looked sad to us, so we tried different ways to make our pizzas yummy.
I first tried frozen Korean pizzas 5 years ago. They do not have many ingredients because of competitive pricing, so I add chopped tomatoes and beef or cold cuts on top of my meal.
Korean pizzas, in general, are crispy with a thin crust and usually well decorated with tomatoes, meats, seafood, or even kimchi toppings. If you want extra cheese, order a thick crust filled with cheese. The pizza we ordered at Pizza Maru today looks like a work of art, making our lunch gathering more fun and pleasant.
The chicken comes in so many flavours. The honey garlic ones and beef tasty sauce ones taste fantastic. The meal was definitely a happy ending for everyone who hiked together today.
What happens if different family members have divergent political views? The movie Jojo Rabbit tells a good story about such a situation.
The movie characters advocated for their ideals without conflict. Mom let her son join youth propaganda training, but she supported a propaganda campaign to free Germany. The son discovered his mom’s secret, but didn’t report it to the authorities; instead, he gradually embraced it and even became a Jewish girl’s friend.
In real life, people join a political party and switch to another after a few years. It might reflect how their mindsets have changed or mean that they are seeking another path that fits with their goals and career development.
Is that a harmonious choice? Not necessary. We compromise to make life happier.
Is Jojo Rabbit a war movie? Not exactly, the ending with David Bowie’s music makes it happier and edgier.
Without true love and patience, parents and teachers cannot encourage children to learn and grow. I spent two hours at an activity session organised by a non-profit organisation on Saturday afternoon.
Half of the children at 3 seem like normal pupils. They pay close attention in classes, enjoy making crafts, following teachers’ directions, and doing fun activities with other children.
Half of them have very short attention spans. They find watching a video very boring and want to walk around or explore new things in the classroom.
The Indian boy I looked after on Saturday was smart. He constantly looked for creative things to play with in the room, for example, the swirling chair, or the buttons of a fan. He knows the way to grasp a teacher’s attention and makes the teacher let him do something he likes to do. For the first 45 minutes, he was fine sitting down and drawing, but then he lost patience and began to jump around corners. It was like a physical challenge for me to stop his explorations. I did not want him to get hurt.
For the second half hour, I observed how he interacted with the teacher he knew. He was still restless and did not want to calm down. The teacher asked him to count from one to twenty, which kept me focused for 2 minutes. Eventually, the teacher had to take him for a walk in another room before returning to the small classroom.
The boy knows the name of transport means in Cantonese. Intellectually he appears to be a normal child.
Through the volunteering experience, I have empathy with the parents who raise a hyperactive child. I am still unable to convince myself why doctors prescribe more ADHD drugs to children. Psychiatric drugs require long-term or lifelong use. Why do doctors give 8 – 10 pills to 11-year-old boys and girls whose physical and mental development is not yet complete?
Maybe simply giving them space to jump around, like young puppies, can benefit their well-being. Maybe we can set a boundary for the stimuli we expose ourselves to. Managing expectations for ourselves and our children will help maintain mental wellness.
These crispy crackers made of chia seeds, flax seed powder, sesame seeds, and assorted nuts are perfect for a mid-morning snack.
To make this thin crisp, all your ingredients need to be mixed with water, then add honey or salt and bake it for half an hour. I usually don’t have the patience to spend hours baking dough, but this recipe takes just a few minutes. It’s ready to serve and delicious.
Honestly, I do not feel guilty about eating these protein-rich and fibre-rich crackers during a mid-day break. I simply enjoy those anti-oxidant content and nuts.
現代人思想演變，對不同性取向和自我性別的界定，已採取較包容的態度，香港則沒有走得這麼前。十多年前，Hong Kong Magazine是不少熱愛西方文化的香港讀物，雜誌每星期出版一次，轉載了Dan Savage的情愛專欄。這欄目於不少國家也十分知名，內容吸引，作者也十分幽默。我精讀了許多年頭，對他給予同性或異性情侶關係和性需求的疑問可謂大開眼界。其實許多年前不少人要有多一點愛的需要，但不懂得如何探索。紀錄片訪問了Dan Savage 對單一愛情觀的看法。
After a three-year lockdown, several international art events are finally back in Hong Kong, namely Art Central and Art Basel. I am so grateful to be able to see European paintings in an art museum without much fuss. No vaccination passes, no QR codes.
The debut of our “comeback” featured artist is Spanish painter, sculptor, and ceramicist Joan Miro. He chose art over business at a young age. His works are playful with the frequent use of symbols, shapes, and colours.
He always used black to create shapes or core subjects. Yellow, blue, and red are some of his favourite colours. The combination of these vibrant colours is so Spanish. My friend considered him sad when looking at his paintings. Specifically, she described his paintings as having gray or dark backgrounds and black strokes.
What caught my attention the most was the use of cardboard and knitted strings as his canvas. I just thought these media were always dark in colour. He even picked up paintings and incorporated his wild imagination of shapes and symbols and letter-like creations on top.
I do not find black strokes indicative of low mood as people always use black pens or paint. To my surprise, Miro experienced nervous breakdowns at age 18. He also had several depressive episodes throughout his life. Some paintings place curved lines, objects, faces, and symbols chaotically. His paintings often featured ladders as symbols of his struggle with mental state and escaping from chaos.
While some people write to channel their emotions, Miro felt calm when painting. Like Picasso, he lived a long life, survived the Spanish political movement and World War I and II, and died at 90.
In his paintings, he associated blue with calmness, serenity, and spirituality.
Red represents passion, energy, and vitality and may be associated with violence or danger in some of his works.
Miro’s yellow is the colour of celebration, joy, and movement. Black creates depth and darkness within a composition, or even death or mourning. Green was occasionally used in his works to represent nature, growth, and renewal.
It is said that creativity may be related to depression. No matter what, do not undermine your creativity in the arts, writing, or any other form of creation. History shows that mental state does not hinder us from excelling at what we do best.
There is a small path close to Sha Tin subway station leading up to the hiking track to Tao Fong Shan. Starting with narrow steps in a village, my brother and I were already surrounded by trees overlooking the city and the railway.
This track is suitable for a novice hiker as all the steps are cemented.
After 20 minutes’ walk, there was a roundabout and a sign for Tao Fong Shan Road. On our left were a few residential building blocks that look upper middle class. Despite being a weekday, we saw a few hikers. We soon reached a group of low white houses belonging to Tao Fong Shan Christian Centre. More and more worshippers arrived by chartered transport.
Situated in the high mountains, the Christian Centre offers a diverse range of workshops and spiritual activities.
The temple is in Chinese architectural style with Christian symbols. The labyrinth is constructed in a corner with a fun design. It is ideal for taking group photos or spending a solo moment in this tranquil environment.
A very large cross is located at the far end among these white houses, standing tall on top of a bare mountain, exposed in a wide space. Backlights will be switched on to ensure that people from the city can see the cross from a distance at night time.
For Christian believers, it surely gives them spiritual support when spending time at home during COVID. For non-believers, they won’t feel that isolated seeing some lights on the mountains.
Tao Fong Shan is also accessible from Shing Mun Reservoir or Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery where it takes 2 to 3 hours to complete.
Our trip took 1 and a half hours, and was refreshing in the morning before heading to lunch.
experience today 