Flying Time, Hidden Meaning

These are the blognotes from Friday and Saturday, 21 & 22 September. Friday was the first day of the International Board's annual meeting. Our room is a bit cramped and the AC was fitful, cooling then quitting. As we moved through the agenda, slower than a water buffalo plodding down a crowded street, it looked like it would take more than two and a half days to complete the business. We broke for coffee, then lunch, then coffee again. At 5pm, it was time to quit for the day and get ready for the Harbour Lights tour.

We piled into buses that took us to Victoria Harbour in the Central area. Before we boarded the boat we walked along Hong Kong's celebrity Walk of Fame, stars and handprints of the city's movie actors - Jet Li, Bruce Lee (he has a statue too), Chow Yun-Fat. The skyline is magnificent - many of the buildings have colorful designed light patterns, which we heard were going to amaze us with a show along with pulsating music. We boarded the rocking boat (hoping that it wasn't going to lead to queasiness) and continued to snap photos of the skyline. I was totally impressed and hoped that the photos would display these fantastic images.

The light show/music began and we tried to imagine how much cooperation it took among the building managers to make this show happen. Again I was impressed. The plan later was to meet some Hong Kong Mensa members at a local bar then split up for dinner. The downside was that we would have to find our own way back to the hotel because the bus ride was one way... We had a drink at Zenses, then decided to take a cab back to the hotel and grab a bite to eat there. Actually I was ready to go to bed and would have except that others were still up for more activity.

Finally got to bed after midnight.

Saturday, 22 September:

The second day of the meeting. I was the only one who changed seats - I find that kind of odd - but I had a fuller view of the 40 or so members that way. The big surprise this day was a dim sum lunch in the Chinese restaurant served atop a glass lazy susan. I practiced with chopsticks and used them throughout the meal- got to a point where I could pick up a peanut or a slippery dim sum dumpling.

Again we ended the meeting at 5pm and prepared for our gala dinner. We boarded buses and drove a loonnnggg way to th Marina Cove. It was located in an area around a boat marina. The meal again was served on a lazy susan -we, some of us anyway, ate with chopsticks. The Mensa group here had put together a banner wth all the dfferent countries' flags - very impressive. It was difficult to get wine, but finally found me a cold bottle. Entertainment consisted of a two-person lion costume and and cymbals.

Again, I was ready for bed, it seemed before anyone else - the meetings are tiring.