Digital Nomad
Incompetent Muppets! Apparently I filled in the wrong form to claim back the surcharge on the tax because of their error. I filled in the form THEY gave me. Anyway, now have my tax amount (ouch) and I’m going to have to wait to be paid because this ain’t an amount I can just raise out of thin air. I hate taxes…
That’s what I hate about the fucking dilbert’s that work in the Tax office in Hong Kong. Automatons every one of them. No fucking thinking. No communication from the tax office since they had the wrong address. So they’ve charged me for not paying my taxes (which I’m disputing). They DID NOT give me all the tax returns that I needed to fill in when I asked them how many tax returns did I NOT receive from their office due to their incompetence. Then when I asked for my letter of release they fobbed off some shit letter to me which wasn’t my letter of release. Lying little shits. Now it turns out I have to pay more tax which they had left out. And a day before New Year’s Eve and Day, I’m screwed to get hold of that amount of cash in such a short space of time.
So after lunch (we wouldn’t dream of disrupting their precious lunch break!) we’re off back to the tax office again. This time I’m embracing the gweilo approach and going to raise a shit storm. And once that has made me feel better, I’ll bring it back down to rationale level and talk to these fuckers like they’re children.
So it will be another couple of days before I get my salary for December. My company’s also being quite anal about it. But maybe they are liable for my taxes if I don’t pay. The amount of trust this company has in me amazes me sometimes.
And I’m not talking about those in government like Cuntoleeza Rice. Article here.
“We think that the restrictions that are being imposed should be lifted,” said Ron DeHaven, the U.S Department of Agriculture’s chief veterinarian.
“Unfortunately, with this situation, what we’ve seen internationally is again an overreaction, (with) trade restrictions imposed more out of public perception than based on the science of what we know about this particular disease,” DeHaven told reporters.
Oh, boohoo hoo. So what if all those fat Texan farmers can’t sell their meat to the rest of the world? This is just payback for the sanctions ya’ll slapped on us when we were going through the same shite. And hell, in a knee-jerk reaction sort of political world, either your beef is “safe or unsafe”. And Mr. DeHaven, your government invaded a sovereign territory based on public perception rather than the science of what you actually knew. So I don’t want your cows of [brain] mass destruction on my dinner plate, thank you very much.
Well, that was an interesting Christmas. Actually, it comprised of a frantic burst of activity and ended in a vegetating state. Of course, as some of you would have noticed, I haven’t updated my site for a while but that’s on account of me avoiding my computer like the plague for the last week (except to surf the occassional porn site!). I guess it’s cause I’ll be doing nothing but sitting in front of my computer for the next month trying to build websites so I reckon I earned a short reprise before launching into it.
Anyway, now I’m back at work after paying my taxes which is a relief for me. Technically, I can leave HK anytime now. Well, with a clear conscience at least.
Christmas Eve was spent with Greg, Carman, Freda, Derek, Anna at Freda’s new part-owned club in Lyndhurst Terrace. It just opened so it wasn’t really ready to be “officially” open. The wallpaper was still wet and cardboard could still be smelled in the wine glasses. Only one floor was open but when it does launch, there will be two floors open. Not sure how this place will be when it does open. I was told that the bottom floor will be more lively while the top floor, that my friend Freda will manage, will be more subdued and chilled out. From this evening, and not one to entirely judge it on, the number of stunning girls was higher than average.
Anyway, I got myself a little tipsey, to the point of not being quite aware of what I was doing towards the end of the night. I was playing that stupid drinking game 5-10-15 and I succeeded in holding my own respectably except to one girl (Freda’s friend). The drinks were being mixed so it wasn’t too surprising that things started to get blurry. Wandered downstairs for some reason, and I believe it was to find Derek with Greg. Anyway, we briefly found him but then lost him again. So we spent quite a bit of time looking for him but it just wasn’t happening.
We ended the night in Drop because I had an incentive to meet this lovely girl that knows Kit. Unfortunately, Drop was so packed that we nearly got into a scuffle (because of yours truly) and we could move around to find anyone. I messaged the girl in question but she only replied that she was in Drop when I finally got home about 30 mins later.
Anyway, it was an interesting night at least but it did leave me a little worse for wear the next morning.
The next morning I woke up (after several frantic attempts to gulp down litres of water at a time to quench my thirst) at about 1400. James had invited people to come over from 1100 onwards but thankfully, when I called him, he said no-one arrived. Also, I had planned ahead and did the hard work, like making the chicken and vegetable stock, the night before. All I really needed to do was to combine it, add in the potatoes and some vegetables. Only this took me a couple of hours to do since I was still feeling the effects of the night before.
The lovely Amy tried to guide me into James’ place but I just proved too difficult to handle and James was sent out to retrieve me. Apparently I wasn’t the only person to have called and asked for directions. I wasn’t the last person to arrive at the party with Eyal, Ora and Assaf beating me to it. We were later joined by Brenda, Gottfried and James’ old flatmate, Mark. It was a pleasant afternoon, although I won’t elaborate too much on it since the write-up to that event will be posted in more detail on the ,“Loop” (if it ain’t there, then I haven’t updated it yet!).
Boxing Day and Saturday were spent catching up with friends. I met up with Sharon briefly for tea at Pacific Coffee. We later went to Le Kasbah and had some shisha. Guess I would have invited her back to my place to have free shisha but it was just too much of a mess. Later on I met up with Gigi, and we went to the Bistro in Pacific Place with James and Amy for dinner. Gigi got me some chocolates for xmas which was sweet and they don’t half taste bad either. About my weight…
The next day I met up with Carman who I’d been ICQ’ing with over the last two months. She’s a nice girl if a little hyperactive and I get the impression she’s quite impatient and impulsive. But we’ll see. I like her and I think she likes me but there are some fundamental differences which could be a problem. Anyway, at least I made her laugh. I missed the opportunity to go to see a film with her, but she wasn’t feeling to well so I just ended up walking her to the ferry.
Afterwards, I spent quite an enjoyable day browsing Page One and HMV in Central for the better part of the afternoon. Managed to find the second book in the Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracey Hickman and also picked up a useful book on how some of the world’s leading logos are built. HMV was great since they clearance sections for all the major areas. So DVD’s could be had for as little as $20 bucks. Managed to pick up quite a few films and music CD’s without breaking the budget. Will be adding the DVD’s to the Movie Repository soon, so keep an eye out for them there.
Later that night I went to karaoke with the Chu cousins. Evidently a special occassion since they were hitting the whiskey (and mixing it, as is the trend here, with green tea). It deceptively gets you hammered quite quickly. Again, drinking games were the order of the day and, although I was in control by the end of the night, I was happy to be back in bed.
The next day was just pure vegetation mode. Couldn’t be arsed to do anything except sit there and watch Dune (one of the DVD’s I’d bought) and the trash they served up on cable. I did manage a brief trip to the McD’s which is quite an effort for me seeing as I have to walk up the hill to get there. And I quick burst of energy saw me actually clean my flat out. Yes, I was in shock too.
Anyway, that was my Christmas. Nothing special, nothing great since it wasn’t with family (I still believe it should be a family thing and I rarely see mates on the actual day itself). But enjoyed myself in any case. Now, with last week’s festivities over, I actually have to buckle down and work! Yep, even on the 1st.
Shit, it’s Christmas Eve and I haven’t diddly squat that I’m supposed. Stupid waking up late. Stupid having to go to the company just to “make an appearance”. Stupid stupid stupid.
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