Rosary Church

This weekend, like last weekend, was a pretty uneventful one. Friday night, I went to Hong Kong's Ikea for some reason (I still don't know why) and last night I went to an Indian restaurant with a classmate and had curry. It was good, but a little bit expensive; and I'm still not sure it was worth the price! Today was looking to be another lazy Sunday of relaxing, napping, video games and music-- especially since, once again, my friends are all busy-- but I decided to do something different and went to church. There were a couple of Catholic churches near by, but I decided to go to one in Tsim Sha Shui due to its proximity to shopping and the fact that Tsim Sha Shui is an all-around decent place to spend a Sunday.



Mass was nice. The priest who does the English mass, Reverend Sheridan, is from (and was ordained in)Ireland. I talked to him briefly after mass, and he seems nice. He invited me to come more often, and I think I will. I think it'll be nice to get involved in a church-- or, any community outside school, that is. It's always good to have a life that consists more than wasting time on the internet and one's current school-job.

After mass, I walked around shops and eventually bought this CD. It's good; not quite as good as the Arcade Fire album I purchased recently or Jose Gonzalez's solo stuff, but still really good. And, it sounds good played on my new speakers which came (along with a bunch of scholarly books) in the mail this week.

This weekend was bad for productivity. But what are weekends for? Thankfully, Fallout New Vegas has glitched out so much I can no longer enjoy it, so I probably won't be playing that next weekend. Of course, I get paid this weekend, and I've got a decent hunch I'm also going to be purchasing Dragon Age: Origins :)

Will update again next week. Possibly after church :P

Well, not much to say...

This week was a pretty standard week. The semester begins tomorrow, so I just relaxed this weekend. The friends I'd normally see on weekends were all busy this week with various things, so I've just been keeping to myself.

My adviser gave me some readings materials, which I'm pretty excited about. Two books about early Chinese literature (in English), two books about Script Writing and Classical Chinese (in Chinese), and finally one book about the history of Chinese literature (also in Chinese.) I'm averaging about 1 page per hour. That's up from one paragraph per hour, which is where I was when I got here!

Classes begin this week. Monday I'm taking a class on "The Literary Theory of Carving Dragons" （文心雕龍）. Then Tuesday I'm taking a language class. Finally, friday I'm sitting in Dr. Chen's Classical Chinese course. Looks like this semester will have me back in the classroom, rather than the office. Honestly, I like that better!

Oh, and the New York Jets are going to the AFC Championship!!!

Back in Hong Kong

Hey everyone. Sorry that I haven't updated in like a month! I usually wait until Sunday night to update, but I forgot. And then I was on a plane. And then I was home, and since I didn't bring my computer with me there was no reason to update. And now that I'm back in Hong Kong, I'm ready to get back into the swing of weekly blogging.

For this first update, I guess I'll write about being home. I arrived at JFK airport Christmas Day and was able to stay until January 4th. Originally, I feared that the break would be too short (and, of course, there was no way it could be long enough) but it was just fine. It was a nice, relaxing chance to recharge and see the people who I love. And now I'm back in HK, quite ready to take on whatever this city and M.Phil program throw at me.

When I was home, it snowed. In fact, it snowed less than one day after I arrived home. Thinking about the fact that I was only 20 hours or so away from being on the tarmac'd Cathay Pacific flight really does give me the creeps. Next time I go home for Christmas, I won't schedule a Christmas Day flight. I'll schedule a few days or a week earlier, so there's no risk of missing the holiday. Man, what a bummer missing Christmas would have been.

This time, I lucked out. Instead of being stuck in an airport, I got to play in the snow with Casey:



My mom said that I should start planning my next trip as soon as possible. I'd like to, but I can't. I can only keep it in the back of my mind. I know I'll be coming up again in the summer, but there are just too many variables right now so I can't say when. There will be a conference in early spring, for example. And then, at some point, I have my mid-term review. I'm assuming I'll be prepared, but something tells me I'll be better off waiting until that mid-term review is over before coming home.

For now, all I can do is work hard and take the opportunity to go home next time it comes to me. And this upcoming week-- the one that starts tomorrow-- is my first "true" week back, working on things without the obstacle of Jetlag. Speaking of which, I've recently read some scholarly articles which inspired me to begin new readings of the Classic of Poetry. What I'm finding so far, even though I've just begun, is that I can get to a place where I really am able to appreciate these poems from a literary-- rather than historical or linguistic-- point of view.

Can't wait to dive back in tomorrow.