Four Seasons in one day…

View from the top looking down at the pools

weather: one of our better days!

I had lunch with the media rep from the Four Seasons yesterday. To be honest, I enjoy these things, not just because of the lunch, but because I get the opportunity to check the place out at my leisure. Try walking up to the front desk of a hotel and telling them you want to inspect their rooms, without having booked one for yourself! The Four Seasons is the newest kid on the block here and one of the smallest. It’s certainly dwarfed by the mammoth construction that is the Venetian but it has a calm relaxing vibe that makes people want to stay there. Whenever I’m at the Venetian, I usually want to get the hell out! It’s a bloody circus (and no media in sight!) The rooms at the Four Seasons make me think of someone’s home (at least the 18,000 patacas a night ones did!) And since that could easily be someone’s monthly wage here, it’s nothing to sneeze at. Nice warm tones, very mediterranean with cool blues added. I liked it. Of course they’re only softly opened with the rest of the place, particularly their eating venues, but here in Macau, nothing ever gets done immediately which must piss the hell out of the bigger corporations where time is money! So the only hiccup to my nice relaxing day yesterday was finding out two hours later, that something I’d eaten for lunch had resulted in an allergic reaction on my face. Such is life…

Are you here to party?!?!

The sunrise from my balcony

weather: sunny but cooler than usual

We had a massive housewarming/one of my flamates is leaving for Beijing party on the weekend and boy was it fun. It began at 10pm but by the time it finished and the last guest had departed, we’d seen the sun rise! Yup, it lasted eight hours! And someone ended up breaking our kitchen door off its hinge, so that should tell you something…then there’s the visit my the local police because our neighbour two floors up, (who must have had a glass pressed to her ear down on the floor!) had complained about the level of noise. Yes, we did lower it down a notch (hardly noticeable). Thankfully our neighbours were away/the apartment was inhabited so it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I’d imagined. A friend of ours took it onto himself to create the most potent buckets of sangria he could think up (we’re talking whiskey, wine and vodka!) so my half a cup was enough to get me very tipsy! Thankfully I learnt the errors of my ways at an early stage. I just felt rather sorry for the poor chump himself who at some stage, must have forgotten what he’d put in the mix and was one of the drunkest of the lot! Then there was the guy who, at 6am couldn’t even stand up straight, he was swaying like a pole in high winds! I got a little concerned when he proceeded to carry, somewhat precariously, the bucket of sangria into the living room. I had visions of the lot being poured onto our wooden floors! Guess he thought the bucket was the easiest way to go…the day after, what with only a couple of hours of sleep, we proceeded (three of us) to clean up the place, at least enough until our maid arrived the next day. The sight of it pre-cleanse would have surely been enough to have her running in the opposite direction…thankfully it was my day off, at least until that evening when I had to do some work!

Karma chameleon…

A souvenir from the show!

weather: clear but hot as hell!

No, I never said the selective process was going to start today! Anyway, I couldn’t resist putting this up. I’ve always believed in karma and last night’s incident just reinforced the concept in my mind. Our team had been sent an invitation to suppsoedly stay overnight at a luxury hotel that was about to celebrate its opening and also attend the world premiere of an amazing circus show. Well, when the invite came through, my boss decided he was going to go without even checking to see who would also like to attend (the invite was extended to a maxmimum of five people, for the show at least). I tried to convince him to allow two others at my office to attend, knowing they had been keen to catch the performance. Myself, I’d been resigned to not being able to attend as, with my boss away, I had to remain in the office. Fine. Fast forward to yesterday, the day of the event and I get a call from him in the evening, furious, because the PR people had forgotten to led the locals know that their overnight invite only extended to those that weren’t from here. Ha! I had to laugh when I heard that. Whomever had been organising the event, failed to amend the itinerary they’d sent out to the locals to differentiate them from the rest of the pack. So, my boss being furious as hell at being stood up, proceeded to forgo the entire thing and asked me to take his place at the performance, as that part had not appealed to him but we still needed to report on it. So off I went, enjoyed the show and had the satisfaction of finding another colleague there as well, who’d expressed a desire to see it and ended up getting a spare ticket from his girlfriend. Ironically enough, one of the employees I’d been trying to get tickets for, wasn’t even interested! I had a ball, needless to say and had a smile on my face the rest of the night.

Ah Karma!!!

I’m going to be selective…

weather: Clear wth a few fully clouds

I’ve decided it’s probably a better idea to become a tad more selective in my posts. While I’d initially believed that having something posted on a daily basis was a good idea, I’m realising it’s causing me to write posts just for the sake of having something to say rather than anything of real importance. I doubt anyone needs to know what I had for breakfast (although I’m not that bad!) and I’ll enjoy my blogging more if what I’m writing about is relevant. So from now on, I’ll be limiting my input to about three posts a week, which can change if I’m doing something exciting (like being on safari!) I’m guessing my next post will be on Saturday (late I might add!) after our house party and hopefully I’ll have some great pics to post up as well! See you then…

I hate confrontations…

weather: cloudy and humid

I hate confrontations. I doubt there’s many people that love it but I really hate it! The reason I’m mentioning this is because I received an email from my MD yesterday that ensured I would be at loggerheads with him when I got into work. Having read the email about two hours before I actually got to work mean that I spent that entire time churning my stomach into knots and trying to keep my mind off it. It’s not that I’m incapable of standing my ground and being logical about it all. Hardly. When I got into work, the whole issue was cleared up (or at least settled) within five minutes but it was the way I built up the whole scenario in my mind that worries me sometimes. Reality is rarely as bad as what your imagination comes up with (and is usually better when it’s a good situation!) but try telling that to my nerves. It’s something I’m going to have to work on because confrontations are inevitable whether at work or home and avoiding them never helped anybody.

Next stop, entrepreneur…

It's called visualising!

weather: sucks

I’m about to dip my (nowhere near little) toe into the rippling pool that is entrepreneurship. I have come across a business idea that (I hope!) works and it’s got me very excited. Currently we’re all about the planning phase, I have no desire to rush into this as mistakes are very often detrimental when it comes to business. I guess what got me on this path was reading this article, and it was an eye-opener. I’ve never been one to rely solely on one income and since the age of 14, have been ensuring that I always have another stream coming in (even if it’s cents rather than dollars!). Add to that a thirst for ways to create passive income and well, this was bound to happen. While I know there’s no guarantee for success (despite what some authors suggest!), I’m willing to take the risk if the reward means I get to be my own boss.

I’ve started something new…

weather: clear with patches of cloud

I’ve decided on a new approach today. I came across an article that espoused the idea of early mornings and tools readers could use to ensure they made the most of this part of the day. Some of the suggestions included drinking a glass of water first thing in the morning, doing five minutes of light stretching to get the muscles moving and blood flowing, getting up straight away once your alarm goes off and listening to upbeat music that motivates you for a few minutes (perhaps during breakfast!) Well I decided to put those ideas in motion today and would you believe, they actually work! I went to bed at 1am this morning (have to maintain consistency as that’s usually when I go to sleep during the week!) and set my alarm for 9am. Yet I woke up half an hour earlier…strange. So I drank my water, did my stretching and listened to my music as I ate breakfast. An hour later, I’d completed my morning ritual of going through my usual websites, had a shower and changed. Funny thing is, I looked at my watch and it was only 10.30am. I had no idea what to do with the rest of my day! I guess that’s the next step to figure out

It’s my party…

No, it won't be this crazy...

weather: on its way to clearing up

We’re having a house party this Friday, half housewarming (15 months later!) and half bon voyage for my flatmate who’s leaving in about 10 days. It should be fun and agreat chance to catch up with all our friends. it might also be the only time I’ll get to see some of them myself before I leave because chances are, I won’t be having a separate party for my own bon voyage. At least this way, it’s better than nothing Then when the time comes, I’ll just catch up with friends individually to say goodbye, which I prefer anyway. Let’s just hope none of my friends assume the bon voyage is for me and spill the beans! I’m not ready yet to have everybody know. And I suppose we should warn our neighbours…although with the level of noise they’ve been subjecting us to via their renovations over the past few months, perhaps it’s payback time

Typhoon Nuri departs…

weather: dark and rainy

Looks like Typhoon Nuri has left our shores already. Our local weather man has decided to lower the signal to a strong wind signal No. 3 at 12.30am. Very disappointing really. We’ve had rainy weather that’s been more threatening! The rain hasn’t stopped though, yet it’s still only slight and has never become heavy such as with Typhoon Kammuri. The wind exists but only because it happens to gently rattle my glass doors every now and then. If there have been any fallen trees or damage incurred I’d be very surprised. It’s well past us now and onto the mainland. According to the SMG…

A TROPICAL CYCLONE ALERT IS NOW IN EFFECT AND THE SIGNAL NO. 3 IS HOISTED.
THIS MEANS THAT THE CENTRE OF A TROPICAL CYCLONE FOLLOWS A PATTERN OF MOVEMENT THAT WINDS TO BE EXPERIENCED IN MSAR MAY POSSIBLY RANGE FROM 41 TO 62 KM/H AND GUSTS ABOUT 110 KM/H.

AT 00:30, (0812) TROPICAL STORM “NURI” WAS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 80 KILOMETRES N OF MACAU (NEAR 22.8ºN, 113.6ºE). IT IS FORECAST TO MOVE NW AT AROUND 12KM/H.
THE GALE SIGNAL NO. 8 IS REPLACED BY STRONG WIND SIGNAL NO. 3 AT 00:30 L.T.

That’s all folks…..

Typhoon Nuri update 3…

Typhoon Nuri at 19:00

weather: humid, overcast, no wind

Well the Gale No.8 is still hoisted but for some strange reason we’re not seeing much of any evidence of it here. It’s eerily calm, with barely a breeze but somewhat muggy and some rain although far from heavy. Of course, you can forget about seeing the horizon because the mist is all around. But there’s been barely a smiggen of rain and if it weren’t for the forecast I’d think it were any other day. Most strange…I’m rather disappointed to be honest. Hong Kong seems to be getting the brunt of things as the typhoon is said to be headed straight for the SAR. According to our weather man:

AT 18:00, (0812) SEVERE TROPICAL STORM “NURI” WAS ESTIMATED TO BE ABOUT 80 KILOMETRES ENE OF MACAU (NEAR 22.4ºN, 114.2ºE). IT IS FORECAST TO MOVE NW AT AROUND 15KM/H.
THE GALE SIGNAL NO. 8 NW IS STILL HOISTED.
THERE WILL BE FLOODING IN SOME LOW-LYING AREAS.

So there we have it. I’m guessing it’s going to change dramatically in the next few hours so will keep you posted.