Sunday, August 21, 2011

Food and more food

It's a good thing I joined the gym because I have been (and will be) eating out a lot these days. I actually don't prefer to eat a lot for dinner but when friends want to hang out, that's usually the default thing to do.

I managed to go to the gym three times last week. I went Mon, Wed, and Fri before work. So I woke up at 6am and was at the gym by 7am. I feel like I have a lot more energy because of working out. I never really understood how exercising can make you feel more energetic but it definitely does. I have been feeling really sluggish the past few weeks and couldn't get up in the mornings. I didn't manage to go to the gym on the weekend though so we'll see if I can keep this up.

Wednesday night, I met up with a friend of a friend for dinner. We walked around TST for a while looking for a restaurant. We finally settled on Red Ant, a place that does a weird sort of fusion. We couldn't really figure out what the cuisine was but the food was really good! I had a lamb rack in yogurt curry and it was really flavorful. We got a couple of appetizers and they were really tasty. This friend does trading and his works seems stressful. But it seems like he gets paid very decently (American salary). I don't think I would last very long doing his type of work.

Friday night I met up with a middle school friend who is here visiting family. I had originally planned to take her to Gaylord, a highly rated Indian restaurant in TST. But it turned out that to use the Groupon, I was supposed to book a day in advance. So we booked for the next night and tried our luck somewhere else. TST is super crazy on Friday nights though, it turned out. There were long lines everywhere. We tried to go to another place that I had a Groupon for but the line there was long too. In the end, we got tired and just waited at a restaurant that I had been to before. We walked around the harbor afterwards and just chatted.

Saturday, I went to a basic presentation skills class offered by my company. They hired a consultant from a company that does professional coaching. The class was all day. There were 9 of us in the class and it was very hands-on. We went through a lot of material, including how to use gestures, structure your presentation, interacting with the audience, making eye-contact, etc. It was all very useful. But definitely need to practice all this. The guy even taped us and we all got a personal DVD of us making a 5 min presentation. I think it would be super embarrassing to watch. I can definitely see how this could become a weekly class where people go learn the techniques and practice them.

I meant to go to the gym Sunday morning but I didn't get up until 9:30am. I called my parents and then hung out with X and Y on Google+. Then my friend called to say that she was finished with church. So I met her in Central, where she is staying and we found the pasta place that I had been wanting to try out. I don't think she does the "wander around" type of traveling a whole lot because she seemed anxious about wanting to find the place. Or maybe she was just worried about me getting to the office afterwards...

Anyway, we went to a pasta take-out place that was featured in the HK Time-Out magazine. This place lets you choose your pasta, the sauce, cheese, and such. So you can get many different combos. It was pretty good. But I guess you can't go wrong with gnocchi in a sauce that had lots of garlic. haha. Then we walked around a bit and went into a mall to cool down. We came across a Phiten store. One of my coworkers has a necklace (very sporty and guy looking) from this place and he says it helps his neck. My neck and right arm has been feeling really tired lately so I have been meaning to go get one of these things to try out. The nice looking necklaces are very expensive so I got a cheap bracelet to try it out. And... I think it works. The guy at the store had me lift some weights with and without a bracelet (very big one) and it actually felt different. My arm has had a tingling feeling after I put on this bracelet but it doesn't hurt anymore. If this keeps working, maybe I'll invest in a necklace as well.

I went back to the office after lunch. It was sweltering hot even with all the fans on. I was falling asleep and was not very productive. A friend from the structures group texted to ask if I wanted to go for dinner so I ate out again.Meeting a friend from Stanford for lunch tomorrow. She's here for a few days to visit. Friday night, we're doing another group gathering/dinner for a guy who's leaving the company soon. So eating out like crazy these days.

3 comments:

Thymocyte said...

I never understood how working out makes people feel energetic and happier either, but it really does! Those crazy endorphins.

I didn't know there were Groupons outside the U.S.! That's pretty awesome -- the company has really expanded its territory.

Magik said...

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yalu said...

If these things really work, I may get you to get me some!! I love the graphic on the "how it works" section of their page.

Omg, I have been eating out like crazy too. Need to cleanse. Haha..