So WTF is happening??

I have noticed I've been writing a lot of posts lately about cooking, eating and Otto.

Preferably not all three in the same sentence.

But that doesn't really cut through to any real depth, does it. As lovely as those three things are.

I go through stages when I'm all about stripping my skin bare and unleashing all sorts of honest emotions upon the world (perhaps a form of detox); and at other times I prefer to run and hide under a massive doona with cupcakes, cable TV, and my privacy.

But perhaps it's time for some deeper blogs again.

I know when I read other people's blogs, while I love a laugh now and again, I also search for something more. Something I can identify with and recognise; for as many of us know, life releases a teeny bit of pressure when it comes across something similar. It's part of that "thank god I'm not the only one" thing.

So then, on a deeper level, how is Hong Kong going? How are me and B? Are we elated? miserable? Somewhere in between?

Rather than waffle on for eternity (as you may have learned I have a habit of doing) I've made a list of bits and pieces that have gone one during the past couple of months. Because I'm slightly OCD and always love the 'nutshellness' of a list.

And I also love the nutshellness of the world nutshellness.

Yes I am a bit nuts. Especially today.

So here's what's been going on...

- My sister and her boyfriend came and went, and once again it was back to me and B in our Happy Valley apartment. Thousands of miles from family. Since they left we have both been incredibly busy with work and study, so there's been no real time to mope, but the tyranny of distance always lurks in the back corners of the mind.

Wow that last line unexpectedly came out a bit like a dark trashy novel. Perhaps I should begin a new career.

- The novelty of being in Hong Kong has finally started to wane. But while the honeymoon period is nearing its end, there is still a lot of love left. I am in no way liking Hong Kong less, but the feeling of exploration and being on a perpetual holiday is disappearing and the drudgery is starting to set in. B's lived in multiple cities and warned me that, eventually, any place starts to get that 'same old, same old' feeling. So life is a bit of a daily grind right about now. With many awesome bits in between.

- B and I have had our ups and downs in the past month or so. Don't get me wrong, I am utterly happy in this respect, but couples, well... disagree. And, as I've said before, confining yourselves to a small apartment, located in a new city, and within a new cycle, can breed all sorts of unique challenges. And as I occasionally let the pressures get to me, I tend to harden up. And B, well, he stays soft and kind. No problems there. He's still amazing, and the person I'd most like to be like in life.

- Little Otto is growing up, and is nearly 6 months. He looks more like a dog than a rat now, and has graduated to sleeping on our bed and three walks a day. Okay maybe two. Occasionally three. And sometimes only one. Shhh. He's still got an appetite that would put a pregnant woman to shame and recently became quite sick when he ate something he shouldn't off the ground. So now he walks around wearing a muzzle, which provokes distrusting stares from strangers, who eye him off as to say, "oh he may be tiny, but he's obviously very bitey". But I love Otto to bits and thank myself every day that he came into our lives. Admittedly I am utterly sick of cleaning up pee and poop, walking him every morning, finding destroyed parts of furniture, having him beg while I eat, waking up at 6am on weekends, and having to come home early when I'm out having fun. But he brings such joy to our lives and I wouldn't swap him for the world.

- Over the past month I realised that at the rate I'm going, I won't finish university studies until August 2011! And that made me feel overwhelmed and slightly depressed. Not in the 'can't get out of bed way', but just in the, 'can't see over the horizon' way. I'm not a natural studier, but I'm an enormously hard worker.

- On a happier note, we've booked a road trip through the USA this September, my mum and step-dad are coming to visit in October, and I'll likely head home to Australia in January. B is also off to Canada in July. So there's excitement to look forward to, as well as much of Hong Kong still to explore. We really have great friends here and are coming into summer; which means soaring heat, weekends on junk boats, and typhoons. My new mission is to explore Hong Kong's many islands, of which I have seen very few.

So back to... you guessed it... studies, blah!