[Burp]

So apparently I'm still kind of stressed. Because I'm still hoovering down food like a crazed llama.

It's a little better than it was, and I think that's partly a function of being less angry & frustrated, and partly a function of being home (as revoltingly messy as it is -- one thing about staying in that teeny studio apartment [with daily maid service] was that I became quite tidy; well, and I also had only about 5% of my possessions with me). Being home includes being able to wear my fuzzy robe and fuzzy slippers while using my non-Pentium III laptop & lounging on my beloved Green Monster, which by the way, would not even fit INTO most apartments in HK. (Come to think of it, my living room, though insanely cluttered, still feels bigger than the roughly equivalently sized studio in HK, possibly because there's no bed in my field of vision.) And oh yes, being at work, away from the kitchen cupboards...until this morning, that is.

In honor of this semi-compulsive eating, I have posted photos of some of the pastries I bought from Maxim's Bakery. The yummy round tart in the lower left of MY photo is an egg custard tart (drool) which I have loved since I was a kid. The odd lattice-covered bun contains chicken and mushrooms in cream sauce (I blame the odd British culinary heritage HK has absorbed from their colonial oppressors ;-P). The bun with chocolate chips on top was supposed to be a Hokkaido bun (with chocolate cream inside) but turned out to be some other variant, with no cream. The combined cost of that entire sack of pastries: US$4. (For some really amusing photos of the wild variety of wacky buns available in Chinese-style bakeries, check out this person's blog )

Oh yeah, the red car on the curving street to the left is one of the classic HK Island taxis (there are different colors for the different islands in HK: Kowloon, New Territories, etc. -- HK is a city the way that Hawai'i is actually a collection of islands with the largest one bearing the famous name) And ALL streets in HK Island are curving, due to the topography.

I think I'm somewhat calmer also because I've talked to my possible future boss, and he has indicated that the transfer is not a binary choice: it's not yes-now or no-forever. Rather, it's seems to have mutated into if-not-right-now, then maybe-early-next-year, after he may have relocated from Beijing to HK and various other administrative changes have occurred.

This option has made me feel a lot better because I would like to take the transfer, as there is just a whole cr*pload of mess to fix over there, and I actually AM the best person for the task, but not at the expense of my sanity. I've come to the conclusion that there appear to be several fundamentally incompatible views of work and personnel between East and West which were making my head want to explode in frustration. For example:

• West: Work-life balance is important, or at least should be acknowledged.
  
• East: What is this thing you call work-life balance?
• West: Skilled staff are important and should be developed.
• East: Who the hell cares? There are 1.3 billion more where they came from.
• West: Specific skills are important for specific jobs
  
• East: All people are interchangeable. (see above)
  
• West: Work smarter, not harder.
• East: Just throw more people at the problem, but whatever you do, don't spend money. (see above)
• West: What I'm saying may be appallingly blunt, but it's what I mean (generally).
• East: This is what I'm saying, but it's not what I actually mean (almost always).

If my future boss is on location, and since he is sufficiently senior, I would have support for any changes suggested. Otherwise, I'd just be pounding my head against the wall, while at the same time being tasked by corporate HQ in NY with the charge fix the mess. Clearly, that would just be the foundation for the makings of a medical leave where I'd go stare at the padded walls in a sanitarium.

Speaking of frustration, time to go get ready to see a cheap US$6 matinee of Iron Man (woohoo!) with my friend Sam. I'm looking forward to some Robert Downey, Jr.-fueled flippancy, and lots of rockets and rock music. Yee-haw! Catharsis be fun, homey!

And now, I leave with a shot of Hennessy Road at night, the main drag in the Wan Chai district. It can give perhaps just a hint of the frenetic pace of life in HK.