My take on the 7s

Was it just me, or did anyone else feel absolutely *nothing* about the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens? I know to many it's the perfect excuse to (cross)dress in crazy outfits and get absolutely sh*t-faced in public, but there's something about it that feels a bit...iunno...removed? See, I've been to other sporting events like the European Cup '08 and the 2010 Olympics where people dress up just as crazily but for something that they are actually passionate about (GO CANADA GO!!! :)). In HK however, the...

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Smog, schmog

Everyone's been going nuts about the super-high levels of pollution lately. True, Hong Kong's never seen this amount of smog before, what with the air pollution index (API) going off the charts in most of HK. But let's be honest here, when has HK air ever been fresh? I remember when I was littler, I used to tell my friends, "You know you're in Hong Kong when your boogers turn black!" TMI maybe, but you know it's true. It's no different now and it's not necessarily a bad thing. Before the API existed,...

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Support the seniors!

We're used to seeing them bulldoze through crowds and hobble around MTR exits in hopes of collecting your free used newspapers, but there's a new kind of senior that's been spotted around several MTR stations (including CWB). This time, they're the shaky, near-death seniors with goggley glasses, spotted skin, missing teeth and a bright red bag of boxed cookies slung over their sloped shoulders. "Please buy my cookies," they repeat, one after another in toad-like croaks. Although I'm usually immune to their tactics, I just couldn't walk away this time from one severely hunchbacked granny. It took me a few cries of 'por por' before she noticed...

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Being si-man

Something I tend to get called a lot in Hong Kong is '斯文' (si1 man4), and up till now I still can't figure out whether that's a good thing or not. At first, I took it as a compliment, since it means 'cultured, refined, elegant and genteel' (bwahaha, genteel!!). For instance, someone once said to me, "You're so 斯文, seeing you brings a smile to my face," (no joke) and I have also once heard, "You're so 斯文, you must not be from around here." Today though, someone said it to me with a somewhat negative connotation, as if my si-man-ness was a bad thing. That got me thinking, what is it that makes me so damn 斯文?? Is it because I don't talk at...

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