I can't believe this! I always frown on those typical TVB/TCS scripts about lovers forgetting each other's birthday or anniversary. I have been very very good with dates - after all, I am the only one who remembered and greeted Yixi on his birthday this year! (Haaa... I am rubbing more salt to his wounds).

Guess what? IT IS MY ANNIVERSARY TODAY AND I TOTALLY HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT IT! (Last year, I took a day off and brought them to Disneyland: See last year entry) Shoot me! Hang me and punish me with lots of love bites!

No excuse this year, however, I was indeed very very busy clearing those dreadful weekly deadlines. Last week, I even reminded myself about my own Anniversary on the 24th - as it will be our 16th Anniversary. Believe it or not, I even shared my 16-year love tale to my new colleagues this afternoon! 

CAN U IMAGINE I GAVE FELICIA "A WERID LOOK" WHEN SHE SERVED ME A HEART-SHAPE CAKE BY THE STROKE OF MIDNIGHT? The 1st thing that came to my mind was "Dim Ah? I thought Felicia doesn't like me to snack after midnight and she is serving me CAKE??? Must be another sampling!"

She then whispered these words (sweetly) into my ears "Happy Bobojojo Day!" - OH MY GOD! I looked at the date on my computer - SHOOT! IT IS 24th NOV! I am so so so clueless - I totally lost all concept of time/dates! Honestly, I thought today is 20th! (What happened to my 21st, 22nd and 23rd!??) Shame on you - JOE - the first and last thing you think about is ~ FOOD, FOOD & MORE FOOD ~ at midnight???!!! What should I do now??? Mmm...maybe I should show my appreciation by finishing her cake tonight.

(Photo Taken: Having Hot-Pot on a cold Sunday evening - with a couple of HK buddies! This place is really good - even celebrities like Aaron Kowk and George Lam were here! What's missing is a good oil massage in a warm steamy room...I am asking too much AGAIN... Urghhh.. my fish-eye len is making everyone look so slim!)

Thanks to Meijie's pandan leaves - Felicia made her 1st attempt and it is about 85% close! Maybe this is the colour of our next winfall in Hong Kong. The colour of a good business.

(Photo Taken: Cold Warning Sign at The Center Lobby - Temperature drops to cozy cool 11 tonight)

Nope...we didn't adopt any new kids into our household. And Tracy didn't do a Juno.

Thanks to Tracy - we played "Baby Sitters" this weekend as she brought home 2 young toddlers (15-month and 3-month old)! Felicia and I were kinda worried for her as: 1st, she never had any baby-experience. 2nd, 2 toddlers??? We just wondered how she is going to manage these kids - especially when they were sleeping OVERNIGHT. (Those kids were Tracy's friends'.)

Guess what? The experience was good... and for that spilt second - I felt like making my Number 2. Elkan handled these toddlers very well - not a slight hint of being jealous -when daddy was hugging and carrying young "Is-a-Bell-lah". These kids were great, very easy to take care. But poor Tracy, she has to sacrifice her Saturday date with her pilot BF and home-arrest with these kids. She was in and out of the kitchen making milk, clearing diapers and tugging the babies to sleep.

Straight from Tokyo, Kenneth (our 74th-75th Hong Kong Visitor) hopped in yesterday with his wife, Karen! What a perfect timing for a Friday gathering - King Bug meeting Flu Bug. (I was down with fever and was on MC yesterday - not H1N1.) His Grass-Shopper Wife was somehwere out there at Mong Kok. It was indeed a very short meeting... and they flew back today. Gotta miss them throughout winter. Sigh... I have to wait till summer before I meet this bug again.

We have a long weekend this week (Monday is a public holiday in Hong Kong). Since Felicia and Elkan haven't been to Shenzhen, I decided to bring them cross the border and visit their most famous theme-park - Window of the World "世界之窗".

Built in 1994, "Window of the World 世界之窗" was one of the 3 famous little world theme-parks in greater China. The other two are located in Taiwan (Click Link: 小人国) and Beijing (Click Link: 北京世界公园). 

 

Our last meeting with Alicia was more than 15 months ago. We came to Hong Kong last June working on an event at Lan Kwai Fong. Since then, Alicia left the company and I moved to Hong Kong. It has been a long while since we last met. And on Saturday, Alicia was in town for just 1 day. We decided to gather at Shenzhen for our long weekend vacation.

This is the weekend party that I can't afford to miss - 2 birthday parties in fact! One for Elkan (17th Oct) and the other for my dear friend Hong Fei (18th Oct)! Since their birthdays are only 1 day apart, we decided to start celebrating from 10pm 17th Oct to next morning 18th Oct 6am!  Now, that is indeed challenging! (Originally, I wanted to bring the whole gang to Shenzhen for a hot, sleazy karaoke bash for the 2 birthday boys! But I guess their mothers won't be too please about my cool concept). Anyway, we certainly had a superb 8-hour of fun! I couldn't last out as long as them - I knocked myself at 4-5am into my own symphony (of course, that turned off the gang and they decided to call off the party at about 6am).

 

(Photo Taken: Big Lighters - For really kiasu smokers and your 60th Birthday Candles!)

This is the time of the year when I miss my family and friends a lot. It was like that last year... and I felt the same "loneliness" today. Please don't get me wrong - Felicia, Elkan and me are perfectly happy... it is just that I miss the crowd back home. 

 

This year, we decided to avoid the crowd and to do our solo "lantern walk" at the 47th storey Sky Garden. The view was beautiful and the wind was so cooling. Felicia and Elkan were playing "Motion Light Arts". For the 2nd year, Elkan got his home-made WALL-E Lantern (made by Mummy!). For him, it is just pure fun exploring the darkness with those beautiful light sticks (no batteries needed!).  

We are very lucky. The moon is very big and bright tonight. Elkan isn't a big fan of the big round moon. Yesterday on the bus, he made a discovery and freaked himself out! "Mum, I think the moon is following us... When we move, the moon moves. When we stop, the moon stop! Can I not sleep alone tonight?"  (Yeah right, wait till I tell you about the werewolves!)

A couple of weeks ago, Harshad candidly asked me what is the origin of the Chinese Mid Autumn Festival. I told him 3 stories about the origin of this highly-celebrated festival. Of course, I googled on my iPhone to make sure I got my base right. Here are my versions to him (and those who forgot about our origins).

The Heavenly Archer "Houyi" (后羿) 

He may be China's only hope to win Olympic Archery Gold. Back to the time before all time, Earth was certainly in deeper shit than our current Global Warming. Mr Heavenly Jade Master had 10 sons (suns) and Earth was as hot as Hell! So, Mr Jade summoned his best shooter, Houyi (who was immortal) to take down his own flesh and blood suns (aka sons). How successful Houyi was, he took down all 9 suns. Instead of rewarding Houyi for his accomplishment, Jade regretted the death of his 9 sons. He banished Houyi and his beautiful wife, Chang-er to Earth.

The Curious Wife "Chang-er"

Back on Earth, both ex-ImMortals wanted to go back to their Heavenly Life. One day, a Fairy gave Houyi an ImMortal Pill and instructed him to share 50-50% with his wife. Houyi put the pill in a box. One day, his curious wife saw the box and opened it. She saw a pill inside. (Man, what was she thinking?) Without knowing the effect of this pill, she swallowed the entire pill! More powerful than Ectasy, the pill gave her a super high feeling. Literally, she was floating high into the air...higher and higher into the clouds and out of space!

Houyi saw his flyaway wife. He had 2 options - Shoot her down or let her moonwalk on the moon. Guess he had no choice but to let Chang-er go. There was no return for this immortal wife. (There wasn't any Apollo Flight to the Moon yet). Legend says they only get to meet each other every year on the 15th of the Eighth Month - when the moon is closest to Earth and brightest of all time. What about the bunnie? It was there on the moon even before Chang-er arrived. The Bunnie has nothing to do with this festival. It may be a retailer's decision. Imagine eating Chang-er's FaceCake or BodyCake. IT is cuter having a Bunnie Cake instead.

The Encoded Cake

The people wanted to rebel against the Mongolian kingdom. And back in those days, there is no handphone or internet. The Chinese Rebels invented a clever way of communication. Since the Mongolians don't eat mooncake, the Chinese put secret code messages inside Mooncakes and circulated around the masses. The message was simply "Kill All the Bloody Mongols on the 15th of the Eighth Month!" The movement was successful - the Rebels threw out the Mongols. What a clever move!!! Beating the horny Mongols when they were having their kinky full-moon night! (Maybe that is how Osama is able to escape the US Army everytime! Maybe he operates out of Roti-Prata!)

 

The Chinese isn't the only nationality celebrating this day. The Korean also celebrate the 15th of the Eighth Month - as it is their Autumn Harvest Festival Day (Hangawee (한가위). The Vietnamese celebrate this day, lighting up lanterns to guide another lost ImMortal "Cuội" (Man on the Moon) back to Earth. (That must be a very very big lantern for Cuội to see from the moon!)

 

For me, it is just another great holiday for us to reunite with our family and friends. And this must be a great month for the retailers! Imagine the profit margins of a mooncake and plastic lantern! Out of convenience, the world may want to coincide Earth Hour on this very day. Everyone can now carry lanterns! And Houyi can be the mascot for Green Earth. (He gave up his immortality and his curious wife to save Earth, didn't he?)