Freedom. Reigns. Floating in the soft air, clouds floating past, smiling daffodils drift, in the gentle wind, and land, gently, at my feet.

But there is no internet. All is lost.

Exams have started. Few updates planned in the following three weeks.

Update One – 11 Dec
Synthesized 10cm of double-sided A4 duplicated materials in three days. Most pages have four scaled-down pages of material.
Update Two – 20 Dec
Hair ridiculously long, haven’t shaved for too long. Can walk to the snackbar with eyes closed.
Update Three – 25 Dec
Wakes up to realise that he is the only person at home. The rest have gone to celebrate Christmas. Cliff returns to his desk to read finance journals. Its cold out there.

Cruising along the harbour palisade, the salt wind lashes kindly across my face. The air hasn’t been this clear for months and the Christmas lights pop out at me along the shoreline. The crisp, clear air beckons architectural details to shine through as if the smog had made them shy. Hong Kong is unique for its wall of Christmas lights along the harbour. Giant Santa Clauses wave from the sparky buildings and Christmas trees glitter with red and gold competing against the skyscrapers for attention. Shouldn’t the air be this clear every day?

Tip: never go out on a date with a faulty credit card (or credit, for that matter), without cash backup. You might want to check your debit / Octopus card too.
Tip: never embarrass your date, or yourself, in front of others, especially friends of either party.
Tip: no matter how big you think their bags are, they often don’t have tissue. Bring some along, especially if you’re going to dinner or some tragic theatre. Winter is a heavy consumer of tissues.