Shenzhen is nice

we ate hotpot & dim sum @ 33yuan/person (6.5sgd).
we each had a 2 hour full body massage @ 70yuan (16sgd).
i bought 2 pairs of socks + ski cap + hairband for 15yuan (3sgd)
we ate din tai fung's xiao long baos @ 19yuan (4sgd).

i was pleasantly surprised that i didn't get robbed, raped, murdered like the hk people said i would.
and that it was cleaner than hk even.
and that everyone spoke normal volume cantonese and not deafening chinese.
and that we can smoke in restaurants.
it's like bangkok in terms of money value and entertainment options but much cleaner, more fashionable and more chinese.
i will definitely go there a few more times before i leave hk.
and i definitely do like shenzhen quite alot.

*all (thousands of) photos for shenzhen/hk/2008 are on facebook only because i'm too lazy to upload twice so be my facebook friend if you really want to pry.

I love this world i'm in

i may have already told you but i'll tell you again.
i love this world i'm in.
i love how i can dress like its winter.
i love how i am hidden by people everywhere.
i love how i feel tiny looking up at skyscrapers.
i love how easy the classes are here.
i love how everything is a new experience.
i love how i live so near my friends.
i love how i've been going out every night.
i love how i can smoke in clubs.
i love how i am surrounded by chinese.
i love how i've met so many new people.
i love how i am chemically buzzing and excited again.
i love how i have to live where someone just died.
i love how cute and naughty my toiletmate is.
i love not living with him anymore.
i love this world i'm in.
and i want it to be forever.

Now i'm getting scared

when it was happening i didn't feel anything other than immense curiosity.
but that night while trying to sleep in the dark i began to worry about seeing his broken bloody ghost.
the next day i avoided walking through the shortcut because that was where his body had been.
2 days past i am still walking in huge circles just to avoid the shortcut where his body had been.
now i don't dare to do laundry because it is on the rooftop.
now i feel worried when the lift goes past the 9th floor to mine on the 10th.
now i don't dare to be alone in the common room at night because it looks down to the place he died.
and it's not just me.
we walk in huge circles just to avoid the shortcut.
we don't dare to do laundry because it is on the rooftop.
they refuse to hang out at my hall anymore because somebody died here.
she refuses to visit my level because it passes the 9th floor.
they keep their doors open and shout to each other all night to feel assurance.
she keeps blasting music and no longer dares to be alone.
they all moved home and haven't come back since.
she refuses to live on the side of the building that looks down to where he died.
i guess we are all scaredish. whether we show it or not.
i won't move because i'm not that sort.
but i guess it'll be some time before i get used to living in a building which recently had a freshly broken dead body at the entrance.
and heath ledger is dead.
and mc king died.
this is cliche but really : do what you really want to while you can.
and i will too.

Somebody died

he was a french exchange student that checked into the cityu residence today and moved into room 906A of my hall. by 9pm he was the french exchange student that had fallen/suicided from the 9thstorey/rooftop of my hall, crashed into the glass roof of the student residence office, toppled to the ground at the entrance of my hall, died. because of his corpse we couldn't enter our hall till 2 hours later. because of his death we can live at any hall we like tonight and don't need to go for classes tomorrow. because of his injuries we can now see a smashed glass roof and a smattering of blood from our windows. because they had to investigate why he died his dead body was just there for hours. at the entrance of my hall. i don't know that guy. i had never met him before. i wasn't home when he fell. i didn't hear the loud crash and bang. i didn't hear him scream. i didn't see his exposed body. i only know the story from my hallmates who heard who saw. i only saw the tent that covered his corpse. i only walked past the tent that covered his corpse. so i don't really feel anything. nothing. not even when there is a real dead body at the foot of my building as i speak.

his name was vincent godignon.
and he's not here anymore.

Classes at City University Hong Kong

this semester i'm taking :
1. art of the moving image
2. introduction to contemporary art
3. digital visual effects
4. introduction to game design
5. storytelling advanced narrative techniques
6. emotional intelligence
7. tai chi quan (24forms)
8. tai chi sword (32forms)

how are classes at cityu hk different from ntu sg?
one of my classes is completely in cantonese. (despite being labeled medium of instruction: english)
discussions are in cantonese and my hk classmates are hilarious.
my other 5 classes are in english because there are obvious caucasians in the class.
discussions are in english and my hk classmates give mostly yes/no answers, hyper simplistic arguments, plenty of complete silences, waves of cantonese murmurings, or (eventually) very deep cantonese answers that will immediately be translated by the professor for the benefit of the caucasians who would have already turned to any asian looking person to ask what?
thankfully though, the professors are coherent in english. the powerpoint slides are in english. the notes are in english. and i can speak cantonese.

so : i think cityu is a pretty good university.
there are more subjects to choose from here.
subject contents are juicy, fabulous and more interesting than any of the ntu subjects i've been in.
building is gazillion times easier to navigate than ntu. (but what building isn't?)
more perks here (eg. rental of dvds banned in sg, rental of table tennis bats, a climbing wall, tai chi quan classes etc)
students dress up and look damn good.
so : i don't feel bad about missing a semester of ntu.

On the 8th day of hong kong

i finally have time to blog about it.
my life has been one big fuzzy since i got here.
i've met a hundred new people whose names i will never remember.
i've been to goodness knows how many gatherings/places the details of which i will also never remember.
and i've turned down 4 sg jobs.
and i've not done the jobs i promised to do for sg people in hk.
i haven't lived like this in 3 whole years.
this being aimless, spendthrift and not-working.
i miss the old me.
hasty, mercenary, mammon/magic/power-loving me.
so tomorrow i'm snapping out of my fuzziness.
i'm not going to float about like the rest of them kids anymore.
i'm going back to being the old me.
hasty, mercenary, mammon/magic/power-loving me.

Shots of earliest 2008

The first 10 days of 2008

have been madness!!!!
in these 10 days i
1. cut an entire short film
2. went to a lot of goodbye meetings
3. moved to hk
which is a simple summary of lots and lots of not sleeping and not bathing and not wasting time.
and now i'm living in hk.
i do want to talk about it but i'm just too sleepy.