Monster chickens, Crying out Love in the Centre of the World
Random reports in Hong Kong:
1) Public school teachers last Sunday held massive protest against too many work hours, too much stress; demand immediate review of new education reform program;
2) Two-hour blaze destroys squatter area,300 left homeless;
3) Construction workers union also hold protests against exorbitant registration fees.
Reality report:
Waste paper collector Tai Kwok-tsui, 90, confronted police officers at a dump with a cutter after they threw away her scrap paper andtrolley which were supposedly blocking the street. She lashed out at them, "How dare you treat an old lady like this?! I’m going to beat up whoever threw away my things!". Her belongings were returned, along with an additional trolley.
In random order, what I did last night after coming home (well, it’s not home-home. Home is where my husband is, sniff):
1) Watched Monk;
2) Watched Japanese soap opera/made-for-tv-movie with unbelievably cheesy title but good plot and characterization "Crying out Love in the Centre of the World" (Sekai no chusin de, a e sakebu). Since there is no cable tv and cannot watch Gulong ng Palad which I’d been following to the incredulity of my husband before I left Manila, have resorted to watching Japanese soap instead;
3) Read Irvine Walsh nihilist book "Glue" given by new friend Chi who has two adorable kids and wife Cherry waiting to give birth on Feb. 7;
4) Took a very warm bath. It’s unbearable to bathe in the mornings, nevermind that there’s a water heater;
5) Folded newly-laundered clothes with freezing hands;
6) Cut toenails at risk at slicing toes open because hands were jittery with cold;
7) Ate lemon chicken dinner.
The last item reminds me of something: the Kamei chickens here in Hong Kong are Frankenstein-type creatures. Genetically modified chickens that are the mutated descendants of at least six chicken breeds! Gaaaaaaah.
Hong Kong health trivia
The three biggest killers in Hong Kong (by deaths per year):
>Malignant neoplasm:11, 685
>Heart disease: 4,969
>Cerebrovascular disease: 3,218
Hospital beds per 1,000 people: 5
Chinese medicine practitioners per 1,000 people: 0.7
Suicide rate (women): 11.3 per 100,000 people
Suicide rate (men):13.4 per 100,000 people
Amount annually spent on weight-loss products and services: $33 billion
Doctors: 10,731
Pharmacists:1,414
Dentists, 1,907
Registered enrolled nurses:43,383
Midwives: 5,136
sources: wrongdiagnosis.com, world health organizaton, vegan family magazine
