Yes indeed, I dodged a bullet b/c the woman I would have been working with in HK is so not my cup of jasmine tea. Just plain inappropriate & inconsistent. Never mind that she was wondering if I'd move there permanently after all "if my mother were to die during the first year of transfer" (I mean, HOW can you explain it to someone if they just DON'T GET why this would be a comment that would piss me off?) but then, once I am back in NYC, she also turns around and does exactly the opposite of what we had agreed to while I was in HK!
(Oh, have I mentioned previously that she called me at midnight Eastern time to tell me this? And yes, she knows the time difference. And no, she didn't understand why I was less than pleased to receive a call at that hour.)
So this week I had the final post-mortem meeting with my boss' boss' boss' as to why I declined their offer. The answers boiled down to (a) responsibility w/o authority = short trip a long stay @ a sanitarium, and (b) my mom was freaking out about my being away: she counted down the number of days left before my return during every phone call (which is odd, because she was not this anxious when I went to mainland China for a month in 2006). It made me feel like a space shuttle astronaut on the launchpad in Houston: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... you're back!
A good thing I had that meeting with L** because the next day, HK lady flipped out after reading my (very neutral, non-fingerpointing, pre-vetted by her boss & mine) trip report. Not only did she highlight various vitriolic comments in red, but then she cc'ed people up the food chain to the Asst. to the Chmn. of Asia (some of whome had never even seen said report to begin with), all the while calling people names. In writing. I didn't even have to reply because she basically came off as completely unprofessional, somewhat deranged, and pretty much managed to piss everyone off. (Notice a trend with her?)
That doesn't mean, however, that I can't appreciate the beautiful scenery of Hong Kong, such as the photo up at the top of this post (sorry about the double negative there). It was taken on Lamma Island, which is also part of HK, and this particular shot overlooks the SW coast of HK Island, the "HQ" of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).
And there's the bauhinia flower just above, which is the official flower of the SAR, and used in their government inisgnia.
And I've also realized that I can go back to HK... as a pure vacation (!!!) using the frequent flier miles I've earned over the years, enough for business class. Hell, I never even made it to Macau, dammit! I imagine that it'd be a whole different experience to go there: Just. For. Fun.
Speaking of fun, last night's first date was fun indeed: we met for drinks @ Tir Na Nog,* [hi, Margaret!] which is near his office, and finally left when we realized it was 10:30pm. (Whoops!) While I don't know if I'll ever hear from this guy again, it was a fun evening (he's funny and smart and an engineer) and reminded me that there are indeed sane people out there in the dating world.
'Cos honestly, I'm just plain irritated by most of the guys out there. Either they are SO DAMN NEEDY that I understand why Greta Garbo became a recluse (another guy -- not Mr. Needy from last week -- sent me FIVE text messages in less than half an hour. I mean, WTF?!?!) or they have the conversational skills of a gnat ("Hi. How are you?" does not constitute a conversation, if that is your ENTIRE message!)
Perhaps I am just not ready to date again yet. Perhaps my 3 month estimate of when I would pull the plug was wildly overoptimistic. Perhaps I am just supercranky these days because I'm finally starting to deal with the fact that 2 of my best friends have moved away -- far, far away -- permanently. Perhaps I just need to meet someone sane!
My PoW said something tonight that made me crack up. Let's see if I can remember it... something along the lines of my not being comfortable with guys who need to have things spelled out (e.g., don't text message me 5 times in 30 minutes) because I am still not yet comfortable spelling things out without feeling guilty (e.g., I need some space, so back off).
And on that goofy note, I leave you all with a photo from the Causeway Bay area in HK. If the middle portion is a bit blurry (sorry) it's because I stitched 2 shots together and of course, the people have moved, the neons signs have changed, etc. etc.
* By the way, the Tir Na Nog page also has a run down on brewpubs in Manhattan & Brooklyn, for those of you into such beverages. Me, I had a half pint of cider on draft.
(Oh, have I mentioned previously that she called me at midnight Eastern time to tell me this? And yes, she knows the time difference. And no, she didn't understand why I was less than pleased to receive a call at that hour.)
So this week I had the final post-mortem meeting with my boss' boss' boss' as to why I declined their offer. The answers boiled down to (a) responsibility w/o authority = short trip a long stay @ a sanitarium, and (b) my mom was freaking out about my being away: she counted down the number of days left before my return during every phone call (which is odd, because she was not this anxious when I went to mainland China for a month in 2006). It made me feel like a space shuttle astronaut on the launchpad in Houston: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1... you're back!
A good thing I had that meeting with L** because the next day, HK lady flipped out after reading my (very neutral, non-fingerpointing, pre-vetted by her boss & mine) trip report. Not only did she highlight various vitriolic comments in red, but then she cc'ed people up the food chain to the Asst. to the Chmn. of Asia (some of whome had never even seen said report to begin with), all the while calling people names. In writing. I didn't even have to reply because she basically came off as completely unprofessional, somewhat deranged, and pretty much managed to piss everyone off. (Notice a trend with her?)
That doesn't mean, however, that I can't appreciate the beautiful scenery of Hong Kong, such as the photo up at the top of this post (sorry about the double negative there). It was taken on Lamma Island, which is also part of HK, and this particular shot overlooks the SW coast of HK Island, the "HQ" of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).And there's the bauhinia flower just above, which is the official flower of the SAR, and used in their government inisgnia.
And I've also realized that I can go back to HK... as a pure vacation (!!!) using the frequent flier miles I've earned over the years, enough for business class. Hell, I never even made it to Macau, dammit! I imagine that it'd be a whole different experience to go there: Just. For. Fun.
Speaking of fun, last night's first date was fun indeed: we met for drinks @ Tir Na Nog,* [hi, Margaret!] which is near his office, and finally left when we realized it was 10:30pm. (Whoops!) While I don't know if I'll ever hear from this guy again, it was a fun evening (he's funny and smart and an engineer) and reminded me that there are indeed sane people out there in the dating world.
'Cos honestly, I'm just plain irritated by most of the guys out there. Either they are SO DAMN NEEDY that I understand why Greta Garbo became a recluse (another guy -- not Mr. Needy from last week -- sent me FIVE text messages in less than half an hour. I mean, WTF?!?!) or they have the conversational skills of a gnat ("Hi. How are you?" does not constitute a conversation, if that is your ENTIRE message!)
Perhaps I am just not ready to date again yet. Perhaps my 3 month estimate of when I would pull the plug was wildly overoptimistic. Perhaps I am just supercranky these days because I'm finally starting to deal with the fact that 2 of my best friends have moved away -- far, far away -- permanently. Perhaps I just need to meet someone sane!
My PoW said something tonight that made me crack up. Let's see if I can remember it... something along the lines of my not being comfortable with guys who need to have things spelled out (e.g., don't text message me 5 times in 30 minutes) because I am still not yet comfortable spelling things out without feeling guilty (e.g., I need some space, so back off).
And on that goofy note, I leave you all with a photo from the Causeway Bay area in HK. If the middle portion is a bit blurry (sorry) it's because I stitched 2 shots together and of course, the people have moved, the neons signs have changed, etc. etc.
* By the way, the Tir Na Nog page also has a run down on brewpubs in Manhattan & Brooklyn, for those of you into such beverages. Me, I had a half pint of cider on draft.
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