Goddess, I Am.

Chin once told me that she envied my portable life. That was back in 2007 when I packed up and left for Thailand.

Everything I owned could fit in a single suitcase. I was free to come and go whenever I pleased. Those were among the best days of my life, and like Chin then, I envy my portable life now.

These days, I’m feeling that all too familiar restlessness again, that itch go someplace far and exotic – not for a few days’ holiday, but to stay for a while, to stay indefinitely. And in theory, I could. After all, that’s the beauty of working online. I don’t have to worry about how I’m going to feed and shelter myself in some exciting foreign land.

But a theory is all it is for me now, now that I’m married and can never think solely for myself ever again. My life is still fairly portable (or I can make it so in a heartbeat because I don’t exactly go crazy on wholesale appliances). Why, I can give away most of my clothing and my shoes and my books and I won’t even bat an eyelash. All I need are a few t-shirts, some underwear, a few pairs of pants, my laptop, my iPad, and my camera, and I’m a happy camper. The Husband, however, is another story.

You see, he gets very attached to things, like his huge-ass TV and home theater system, his hundreds of Blu-Ray movies, his electric couch, and even the goddamned refrigerator. Most of these things traveled all the way from England to Thailand when he moved to Bangkok in 2006, and again from Thailand to the Philippines in 2008. When we do move again, he’s going to insist on taking all of these with us, plus everything else we’ve bought since.

And if you’ve ever had to go through the ordeal of moving furniture and appliances from one country to another, you’ll know it’s not a walk in the park. So it goes without saying that moving from one country to another on a whim is out of the question, and when we do move again, it’ll have to be a big one (read: for good) to make the most out of the time, money, and gargantuan effort that transporting his stuff will demand.

Heavens, why do material things have to make life so complicated?

- Posted using BlogPress on Agrippa, the iPad

I figured out a long time ago that I want to write for the rest of my life. And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. I earn a very good living out of it, too, so I really can’t complain.

But writing hundreds – if not, thousands – of online content for subjects you really do not care a thing about . . . well, it just gets to you. Every once in a while, I find myself wondering what the hell I’m doing writing about constipation (among others) when I ought to be writing a novel, or a memoir, or something that may very well win a Pulitzer (who knows?), or at least something that would reach out and touch people, bowel problems notwithstanding. Then I go through the whole litany of reasons why I’m settling for what I am doing, and I end up forcing myself to be grateful for the chance to even write at all and get paid for it to boot!

Still, this doesn’t stop me from wishing I was a more ‘serious’ writer. I would love to be respected, to be revered, to have a cult following. I would love to see my name in print, preferably under the words “#1 New York Times Bestseller.” It’s all fanciful thinking, I know. But does it really have to be?

Every day, I’m getting to know myself more. I’m starting to figure out what I want out of life beyond the next 6 months. And I’m starting to make the plans that would make me the person – and by extension, the writer – that I want to be.

First thing’s first – I need formal training in writing. I don’t have one, you know, not even a humble certificate from a writing workshop. I’d like to go back to school and get an MA in Creative Writing. And I’m not talking about an Online College, either. I’ve found that there are universities and colleges in London and the U.S. and Canada that would take on post-graduate students for their writing programs, even without a writing-related undergraduate degree. Of course, one will have to prove one’s aptitude in writing in a 5000-word essay to be considered, and even then, one will have to be prepared to spend thousands of dollars (or even pounds sterling!) to take the course. Unless, of course, one somehow lands a scholarship, which is already the most fanciful of all fanciful thinking.

Well, I don’t think I’ll be landing a scholarship anywhere anytime soon (or even ever), nor do I have thousands of dollars (or pounds) to spare. But I will write that 5000-word essay, anyway, in between constipation [articles]. Just in case.

- Posted using BlogPress on Agrippa, the iPad

I’ve decided that Polyvore is the bane of my existence. I’ve known of it for ages, but I have never really gotten around to using it until the fabulous Meream of Bored and Crafty asked me to contribute to her Book Style series. Two Thorn Birds-inspired concepts later, I was addicted. And the rest, as they say, is history. (Articles on Hinkley lighting and canker sores be damned!)

Now, for the longest time, my sister has been trying to get me to create my own vision board. She’s a huge believer of The Secret (I know, right?), and she thinks I’m hopeless enough to actually need a huge billboard-type thingy to remind me of the things that I want in my life. (She, of course, is content with chanting in the shower. But that’s beside the point.)

And so it was that I conceived this idea of using Polyvore as my personal vision board. (What an excuse to use it more often than I should, huh?) The thing I want most is to gallivant all over the world – Europe, especially – so why not plan what I’m going to wear as early as now? Never mind that little, old, practical me won’t be caught dead in 4-inch ankle boots on a trip to Paris packed with a gazillion activities, but, hey, a girl can dream, right?

So without further ado, this is me in Paris:

And Rome (I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted to go in a toga):

And Venice:

And I’m definitely not done yet! I made an entire collection out of this concept, so I daresay I’ll be Polyvore-ing more ‘travel’ outfits in the days to come. Man, oh man, what did I just get myself into?

Oh, and if you want to see the Book Style I made for Meream, you can find it here. I just love The Thorn Birds!

And no, The Husband is NOT a priest. Though he probably would’ve made a damned good one, in my opinion, because he certainly can preach! But don’t tell him I said that!

I know, I know. I still owe everyone (especially my friend, Ann) a Hong Kong post, plus an introduction to my new baby, Agrippa the iPad. I haven’t forgotten, and I’ll get those done if they’re the last thing I do!

It’s just that once again, I’ve got projects right up to my eyeballs. First, my boss decided to expand and throw a few (okay, a lot) more responsibilities my way. But who’s complaining? I love my job!

Then I helped my sister launch her new clothing label, Innuendo SWAGGER. Check out the FRESH collection here, if you haven’t already. The dresses and tops we launched this week are gorgeous! And because we don’t mass produce, you really won’t have to worry about running into someone wearing the same thing. That’s a good enough incentive, don’t you think?

And finally, we also launched another new project together, strictly for fun. We started a fashion blog, whoop-dee-doo! Check us out at Sistahs Stylistahs! Oh, and do be nice! I know we probably need a fat burner diet pill or two, but hey, we’re not half bad. Even if I do say so myself, tee hee.

So that (and spending endless hours tinkering with my new toy) is what I’ve been up to these days. Missed me? I hope so because I’ve definitely missed blogging!

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We got back from Hong Kong early this morning, and I’ve been spending the whole day recuperating. I think my poor feet are now on strike! They’re certainly refusing to walk more than a few meters at a time right now. I’ll blog about what we were up to the 3 days we were in HK that got my feet in such sorry shape, but for now, I just want to write a quick review of the fabulous hostel we stayed in.

When we first visited HK in 2007, we had the misfortune of staying at the Travellers Friendship Hostel in the famous (and grubby) Mirador Mansions. On our first night, we were ‘upgraded’ to a deluxe room at the USA Hostel (they’re the same company, apparently) because our room at Travellers Friendship was still occupied. We were supposed to move in the morning – quite inconvenient, but we didn’t bother complaining about something so trivial. The room looked fine, though, so were expecting our ‘real’ room to be okay, at the very least.

How wrong we were! It was actually more of a closet than a room. It was just wide enough to fit a filthy double bed. The only way on or off the bed was via the bottom, where we had about no more than 2 feet of floor space before we reached the bathroom door.

And don’t get me started on the bathroom. It was beyond icky with cracked and yellowing tiles and the grubbiest grout imaginable. Cold water just trickled out of the shower, so we had to spend more time in the bathroom than was necessary. And the toilet . . . ugh! We had to pull a chain dangling from the ceiling to flush it, imagine that.

It was bad. No, scratch that. It was BEYOND bad! And when we tried to complain about it, the really rude staff actually had the nerve to tell us to move elsewhere while refusing to give us a refund on the same breath!

We vowed never to stay there again, which was why I spent the last few months looking for more suitable accommodation for our second visit without ruining the budget we’ve set aside for accommodation. As a rule, we make it a point not to spend more than US$200 total on accommodation, and since HK is an expensive city, our choices were limited to hostels. I did consider staying in yet another hostel in Mirador Mansions (Cosmic Guesthouse), but I just couldn’t forget our last trip, so I kept looking.

Thankfully, I stumbled over the Hop Inn on Trip Advisor. It was only a tad pricier than Cosmic, but a hell of a lot prettier and better recommended. I figured the US$60 (or so) difference was worth it – and it was!

Like all HK hostels, the Hop Inn had small rooms, yes. But one could really see the love and care put in to the venture. It’s run by two brothers, Simon and Wilson, and they did a fantastic job of making the best out of the available space by commissioning local artists to paint pretty murals on the walls. This made the rooms cozier and seem a lot larger.

Photo Taken from the Hop Inn Site

I especially loved the uber cool glass bathrooms, the LCD HDTV, the hot and cold shower, and the very modern toilet. Also, the location was absolute perfection. It’s no more than a few blocks’ walk from Victoria Harbour, the Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station, the Star Ferry terminal, and all the best that Tsim Sha Tsui could offer. There was even a huge HMV right across the street, and as far as The Husband was concerned, he was in Blu-ray heaven.

The View from Our Window

They also had free wifi. And if you didn’t have a laptop, you could borrow one from reception – FREE! There’s free drinking water in the common room, and you could refill your water bottles all you want. There’s also a tiny but comfy reception area where you could read books and magazines, or chat with whoever’s tinkering with the iMac behind the reception desk.

My only gripe about the whole Hop Inn experience is probably the lack of sufficient surface space. We really could’ve used maybe a small table in the room to put odds and ends on. Instead, we ended up putting things on the windowsill or the floor. But no biggie; we made do with what was available, and we were still perfectly comfortable.

Our 3-day stay at the Landscape of the Traveler’s Palm room worked out just a little over US$180 at US$62 a night. It was worth every penny. In fact, we’ve already decided to stay at the Hop Inn next time we’re in HK. Which will be, what, early next year?

I honestly can’t wait to be back. And to think I’ve only just left! God, I ♥ Hong Kong!