Winter Wonderland

People in Hong Kong have been complaining about the cold all winter. That makes sense since it is usually hot and humid in Hong Kong. This winter seemed colder than the last, but it still stayed around 15 Celsius. That is pretty cold for Hong Kong, where it usually hovers around 32C most of the year, but nothing compared to winters back home.

Minneapolis is usually below freezing from November to March. December to February regularly dip below 10F. That's -12C. It never gets anywhere close to that in Hong Kong. In fact, the lowest I have ever seen Hong Kong would be a typical October back home, around 45F/7C.

This year has been special for the United States. It has been a colder than average winter, but what everyone is talking about is the wind chill. A lot of arctic air has been coming down and freezing people's butts off. I find that funny because we get that every year in Minnesota. Cold air from the arctic hits Alberta and cuts through Minnesota before it warms up and makes its way across the eastern United States. Only this year, it is hitting most of the Midwest and East coast.

By 0F, Alberta clippers knock it down to -15F. That is unnaturally cold for places like New York, but typical winter in Minnesota. People see the -45F in Minnesota with the wind chill and get alarmed, but we are used to it. It does not stay that cold all winter. That's only for a few days. We also build our houses for the cold and have plenty of warm clothes. Cold is only cold when you are not prepared.

If it ever got to -45F in Hong Kong, there would be a state of emergency. A lot of people would die because no one here is prepared for that kind of cold. Hong Kong houses are built for the heat. Winter clothes here are mostly pretty weak, and the boots are a joke. I have never seen a true parka here. People buy big coats that they think look warm but would not help you at all in a blizzard. It makes no difference because it never gets that cold in Hong Kong.

Hongkongers always ask me how I can go outdoors in winter without a coat. The answer is simple. I don't think it's very cold. That does not make me stronger than they are. I'm simply used to much colder weather. I'm still getting used to Hong Kong summers. While everyone else is wearing sweaters at night, I'm boiling in a t-shirt and shorts. It is not even the heat, really. It's the humidity. I have been here three years and I'm still adjusting to the humidity.

Chinese Valentine’s Day

I went to see Ryan for Valentine's Day. I went to China last month, so technically it was his turn to come to me, but we gave up taking turns a long time ago. Now we just go wherever makes the most sense at the time.

Chinese Valentine's Day is actually in August. It is called Qixi and 7/7 because it is on the 7th day of the 7th month on the Chinese calendar. There is also White Day in March, but I don't think that one is as popular in China.

Our Valentine's Day is not a big deal in China, but all the hotels were still booked. I assumed it would be easy to get a hotel at the last minute in Fuzhou because it always is. Since the Chinese New Year is over, I thought everyone would go back to their usual routines. I don't know if the hotels were full because of Valentine's Day or for some other reason, but I had to stay at Ryan's house. That is never the ideal situation. He lives with too many guys, and all of their Chinese girlfriends were there for Valentine's Day. It is a big enough house for five people, but when you add all the girlfriends, it gets a little crowded.

It was still a good trip. By staying at Ryan's house, I saved some money. Fuzhou hotels are not that expensive, but free is still less than cheap. It is colder in Fuzhou than Hong Kong, but it never got below zero. 10-15 is very cold to the locals, but we are from Minnesota, so it was pretty mild to us. It rained a little on Saturday, but it was nothing serious. The weather overall was decent.

The main thing is that we got to spend time together. For Valentine's Day that's all that really matters.

Philip Seymour Hoffman

Unbelievabow, as the Chinese say.

This was the most surprising celebrity death in a long time. Nelson Mandela was almost 100 years old and spent a year in the hospital. No one was surprised when he died. People were mostly relieved. Peter O'Toole was 81 and looked like he was dying for years. James Gandolfini was far too young, but he was also a heavy smoker and obviously refused to take care of himself.

I did not even know Hoffman was a drug addict. I mostly don't pay attention to their personal lives, especially the better actors. I don't want to hear about what they do off the clock. I just want to see them perform. I first noticed Hoffman in his work with Paul Thomas Anderson.

I still can't believe he's gone. I can't believe he was only 46 years old. He always seemed much older.


Plays
The Skriker
written by Caryl Churchill
directed by Mark Wing-Davey
starring Jayne Atkinson, Caroline Seymour, Angie Phillips, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Defying Gravity
written by Jane Anderson
directed by Michael Wilson
starring Candy Buckley, Jonathan Hadary, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Lois Smith, Lecy Goranson

Shopping and Fucking
written by Mark Ravenhill
directed by Gemma Bodinetz
starring Torquil Campbell, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jennifer Dundas Lowe, Justin Theroux

The Author's Voice & Imagining Brad
written by Richard Greenberg
directed by Evan Yionoulis
starring Polly Draper, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan

In Arabia We'd All Be Kings
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Trevor Long, Ana Ortiz, David Zayas

True West
written by Sam Shepard
directed by Matthew Warchus
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C Reilly

Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring John Ortiz, David Zayas, Elizabeth Canavan

The Seagull
written by Anton Chekhov
directed by Mike Nichols
starring Meryl Streep, Christopher Walken, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Goodman, Marcia Gay Harden, Kevin Kline, Debra Monk, Natalie Portman

The Glory of Living
written by Rebecca Gilman
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Anna Paquin, Jeffrey Donovan, David Aaron Baker

Our Lady of 121st Street
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring David Zayas, Elizabeth Canavan, Felix Solis

Long Day's Journey into Night
written by Eugene O'Neill
directed by Robert Falls
starring Brian Dennehy, Vanessa Redgrave, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Last Days of Judas Iscariot
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Eric Bogosian, Liza Colón-Zayas, John Ortiz, Sam Rockwell, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Deborah Rush, Callie Thorne

Jack Goes Boating
written by Robert Glaudini
directed by Peter Dubois
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega

The Little Flower of East Orange
written by Stephen Adly Guirgis
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Michael Shannon, Ellen Burstyn, Elizabeth Canavan, David Zayas, Liza Colon-Zayas

Othello
written by William Shakespeare
directed by Peter Sellars
starring John Ortiz, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jessica Chastain, Liza Colon-Zayas

The Long Red Road
written by Brett Leonard
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Tom Hardy, Greta Honold, Chris McGarry, Fiona Robert, Katy Sullivan

Death of a Salesman
written by Arthur Miller
directed by Mike Nichols
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Andrew Garfield, Linda Emond, Finn Wittrock


Films
Triple Bogey on a Par Five Hole
directed & written by Amos Poe
starring Eric Mitchell, Robbie Coltrane, Philip Seymour Hoffman

My New Gun
directed & written by Stacy Cochran
starring Diane Lane, Stephen Collins, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Szuler
directed & written by Adek Drabiński
starring Alice Adair, Leonard Andrzejewski, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Leap of Faith
directed by Richard Pearce
starring Steve Martin, Debra Winger, Lolita Davidovich, Liam Neeson, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Scent of a Woman
directed & produced by Martin Brest
starring Al Pacino, Chris O'Donnell, Gabrielle Anwar, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Joey Breaker
directed & written by Steven Starr
starring Richard Edson, Cedella Marley, Gina Gershon, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Parker Posey

My Boyfriend's Back
directed by Bob Balaban
starring Andrew Lowery, Traci Lind, Edward Herrmann, Mary Beth Hurt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Cloris Leachman

Money for Nothing
directed & written by Ramón Menéndez
starring John Cusack, Benicio del Toro, James Gandolfini, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Getaway
directed by Roger Donaldson
written by Walter Hill & Amy Holden Jones
starring Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, Michael Madsen, David Morse, Philip Seymour Hoffman

When a Man Loves a Woman
directed by Luis Mandoki
written by Al Franken & Ronald Bass
starring Meg Ryan, Andy Garcia, Lauren Tom, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tina Majorino

Nobody's Fool
directed & written by Robert Benton
starring Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, Bruce Willis, Melanie Griffith, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Yearling
directed by Rod Hardy
starring Peter Strauss, Jean Smart, Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Fifteen Minute Hamlet
directed by Todd Louiso
starring Austin Pendleton, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Hard Eight
directed & written by Paul Thomas Anderson
starring Philip Baker Hall, John C Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow, Samuel L Jackson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters

Twister
directed by Jan de Bont
starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Boogie Nights
directed & written by Paul Thomas Anderson
starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, William H Macy, John C Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ricky Jay, Melora Walters, Luis Guzmán, Philip Baker Hall

Culture
directed & written by Josh Gordon & Will Speck
starring Greg Germann, Florence Stanley, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Montana
directed by Jennifer Leitzes
starring Kyra Sedgwick, Stanley Tucci, Robin Tunney, Robbie Coltrane, John Ritter, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Next Stop Wonderland
directed & written by Brad Anderson
starring Hope Davis, Alan Gelfant, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Holland Taylor

The Big Lebowski
directed, written, produced & edited by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, Steve Buscemi, John Turturro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Sam Elliott

Happiness
directed & written by Todd Solondz
starring Cynthia Stevenson, Jane Adams, Lara Flynn Boyle, Dylan Baker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Louise Lasser, Ben Gazzara, Molly Shannon, Jon Lovitz

Patch Adams
directed by Tom Shadyac
written by Steve Oedekerk
starring Robin Williams, Monica Potter, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Harold Gould, Michael Jeter, Richard Kiley, Peter Coyote

Flawless
directed & written by Joel Schumacher
produced by Joel Schumacher, Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro
starring Robert De Niro, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Chris Bauer

Magnolia
directed, written & produced by Paul Thomas Anderson
starring Philip Baker Hall, Melora Walters, John C Reilly, Melinda Dillon, Jeremy Blackman, Luis Guzmán, Felicity Huffman, Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, Philip Seymour Hoffman, April Grace, Michael Murphy, William H Macy, Alfred Molina, Henry Gibson, Ricky Jay

The Talented Mr Ripley
directed & written by Anthony Minghella
starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Cate Blanchett, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Baker Hall

State and Main
directed & written by David Mamet
starring William H Macy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Alec Baldwin, Julia Stiles, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rebecca Pidgeon, Patti LuPone, Charles Durning, Ricky Jay

Almost Famous
directed, written & produced by Cameron Crowe
starring Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Zooey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Fairuza Balk

The Party's Over
directed & produced by Rebecca Chalkin & Donovan Leitch
narrated by Philip Seymour Hoffman

Love Liza
directed by Todd Louiso
written by Gordy Hoffman
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Bates, Erika Alexander, Stephen Tobolowsky

Punch-Drunk Love
directed, written & produced by Paul Thomas Anderson
starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Luis Guzmán, Robert Smigel

Red Dragon
directed by Brett Ratner
starring Edward Norton, Anthony Hopkins, Ralph Fiennes, Emily Watson, Harvey Keitel, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Mary-Louise Parker, Anthony Heald, Frankie Faison

25th Hour
directed by Spike Lee
starring Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Barry Pepper, Rosario Dawson, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox

Owning Mahowny
directed by Richard Kwietniowski
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, John Hurt

Cold Mountain
directed & written by Anthony Minghella
starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Donald Sutherland, Melora Walters

Along Came Polly
directed & written by John Hamburg
starring Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Debra Messing, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alec Baldwin, Hank Azaria

Strangers with Candy
directed by Paul Dinello
written by Paul Dinello, Stephen Colbert, Amy Sedaris
starring Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Paul Dinello, Dan Hedaya, Deborah Rush, Allison Janney, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ian Holm

Capote
directed by Bennett Miller
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Chris Cooper, Bob Balaban, Bruce Greenwood, Amy Ryan

Empire Falls
directed by Fred Schepisi
starring Ed Harris, Helen Hunt, Paul Newman, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright, Joanne Woodward

Mission: Impossible III
directed by JJ Abrams
starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Michelle Monaghan

The Savages
directed & written by Tamara Jenkins
starring Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco, Debra Monk

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
directed by Sidney Lumet
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei, Albert Finney, Rosemary Harris, Amy Ryan

Charlie Wilson's War
directed by Mike Nichols
written by Aaron Sorkin
produced by Tom Hanks & Gary Goetzman
starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty, Emily Blunt, Om Puri

Synecdoche, New York
directed & written by Charlie Kaufman
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams, Catherine Keener, Emily Watson, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Hope Davis

Doubt
directed & written by John Patrick Shanley
starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis

Mary and Max
directed & written by Adam Elliot
starring Barry Humphries, Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Renée Geyer

The Boat That Rocked
directed & written by Richard Curtis
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson

The Invention of Lying
directed by Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson
starring Ricky Gervais, Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, Louis CK, Christopher Guest, Tina Fey, Jason Bateman, Stephen Merchant, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Edward Norton, Karl Pilkington

Jack Goes Boating
directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega

The Ides of March
directed by George Clooney
written & produced by George Clooney & Grant Heslov
starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Jennifer Ehle

Moneyball
directed by Bennett Miller
written by Steven Zaillian & Aaron Sorkin
starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright

The Master
directed & written by Paul Thomas Anderson
starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern

A Late Quartet
directed, written & produced by Yaron Zilberman
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, Anne Sofie von Otter, Madhur Jaffrey, Liraz Charhi, Wallace Shawn

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
directed by Francis Lawrence
starring Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone

God's Pocket
directed & written by John Slattery
produced by Philip Seymour Hoffman
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Joyce Van Patten

A Most Wanted Man
directed by Anton Corbijn
starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1
directed by Francis Lawrence
starring Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2
directed by Francis Lawrence
starring Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Jena Malone

新年快樂

Three Auditions part 4

I have been on what is probably the weirdest audition of my life. It was for one of the movies – the one where the character speaks English. Since it was an English speaking part, there were a lot of foreigners trying out. There were so many white faces in the room, I almost forgot I was in Hong Kong for a minute. In Hong Kong, foreigner means white, so it was all white girls. That is discrimination where I come from, but perfectly acceptable in Hong Kong.

It's not just in acting. A black American can lose out on corporate and teaching jobs for not being white. Teachers are especially hired on how they look more than how well they can teach.

That is all very normal in Hong Kong. The weird part was that they wanted all of us to read tongue twisters instead of lines. I guess they want an English speaker who sounds like Henry Higgins. That was good news for me since I can do most of them, except “the sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick”. I practiced “she sells sea shells by the sea shore” a lot when I was a child. Peter Piper and the imaginary menagerie are just naturally easy.

It was still pretty weird to see all of these actors reciting tongue twisters instead of reading lines. I don't know how that tells anyone about whether or not we can act. It was like they were only testing us to see if we could speak English, according to their definition. A bunch of white Australians, Canadians and Americans probably know their native language.

Lavender leather, yellow leather.

Weekend in Fuzhou

I just got back from Fuzhou. Ryan came to Hong Kong for my birthday and Christmas, so it was definitely my turn to go to him. I prefer it when he comes to me. Not just because it is easier for me, but also because I would rather be in Hong Kong than Fuzhou. There is nothing particularly wrong with Fuzhou. It is simply not my kind of town. Hong Kong has more to offer.

As usual, we stayed in a hotel. We picked the Ramada Plaza because it is near the lake. Ramada hotels are never the best in the world, but this one was clean enough and did not look too old. A lot of hotels in China look like they were decorated by Chairman Mao. I don't stay at a hotel based on its furniture, and I really don't care what is trendy and what is not, but if a hotel can't bother to redecorate after twenty years then you know they are not that interested in details. You definitely have to change the carpet every once in a while. Not because styles change, but because they wear out fast.

Our room was clean and not too small. The hotel had an indoor swimming pool, but we never used it. I rarely eat at hotel restaurants and this time was no exception. There is food all over the place in Fuzhou, and most of it is cheaper and better than whatever the hotel has.

My only real complaint was the cigarette smoke. I have stayed in enough Chinese hotels to know there is no such thing as a non-smoking room. At most, they will spray the room with disinfectant after a smoker checks out. Often, they will not even do that. Some rooms claim to be non-smoking and some hotels say they have non-smoking floors, but that is either to stop people from complaining or is a rule never enforced. You can smoke in any room you want. That's great for smokers. Not so great for those of us who like to breathe and think cigarettes smell like shit.

I'm all for freedom, and people have rights, of course, but where is my right to not have to breathe in poison? It's not like the lingering stink of some food I don't like. This is smoke. Smoke is not unhealthy the way cookies are unhealthy. Smoke is toxic. It will kill you. Why does someone's right to kill themselves outweigh my right to live?

We complained about the smell of the room and they sprayed the hell out of it. That does nothing to take the poison out of the room. It merely covers up one stink with another. Luckily, we could open the windows. You can't in some smoke hotels. By the end of the day, the stench was not as bad.

The room was cold with the windows open, but not really cold at all with the windows shut. Fuzhou gets cold in January, but it was ok inside the hotel.

Three Auditions part 3

My agent set up three auditions for me in November. The first one was for a TV series. I still have not heard back about that one. The other two are for movies.

I just did one of the two movie auditions I will be on this month. I think it went pretty well, but I'm up against a lot of other foreigners. Some of them looked like movie stars. Most of them did not. In Hong Kong, you never know if that is good or bad. Sometimes they want us to look however they think westerners look. That is based on whatever ideas are in their heads. One casting director once told me I did not look American enough. I don't even know what that means.

This audition was for an American who can't speak Chinese, but the movie is in Chinese, so the character speaks Chinese. They gave me lines written in Pinyin, which made it really easy to mispronounce the words. There are plenty of Chinese words that I can't read, but I know even less Pinyin. None of that was a problem since they did that on purpose. They did not give it to us in Chinese because they were worried that if any of us could read Chinese, we would say all the lines properly. With Pinyin, you are pretty much guaranteed to get mistakes. Even if you do know Pinyin, whoever typed up the lines probably does not, so it might not match whatever it is supposed to mean anyway.

New Year, New Home

We have decided to move to a bigger apartment. When Kevin & Lily first moved into my tiny apartment, it was supposed to be temporary. I did not want to live alone while Ryan was in China, so Lily came to live with me. Lily & Kevin did not want to be apart, so Kevin sometimes stayed at my apartment and sometimes stayed at their apartment. In the beginning, it was just me in my apartment full time with Kevin & Lily living there part time. That gradually changed as Lily stayed at my apartment more and more. Then Kevin started staying more often. Now we are all at my apartment full time. It just makes sense to get a bigger apartment.

So now we are looking at apartments. There are about a million options in Hong Kong. There are apartments everywhere. We just have to pick one. We obviously want two bedrooms and preferably two bathrooms. The problem is finding the right location. Lily & I work on Lantau. Kevin works in Wan Chai.

Kevin wants to get a place on Hong Kong Island. That is not only closer to his work, but also where most of the other foreigners are. Lily & I don't want to be farther away from our work. We got a taste of what it would be like to go to work in five minutes while we were at that hotel in Discovery Bay. We don't want an hour commute after that. Kowloon seems like the best compromise. As long as we are near the MTR, it should be relatively close to either of our jobs. I like our current neighborhood, but maybe it's time to move on. There are a million different neighborhoods in Hong Kong and I have yet to experienced most of them.

New Year’s Eve 2014

There were a few choices of New Year's Eve parties this year. Everybody had a party, but I could not go to most of them. I had to work on the actual New Year's Eve, so all the parties on that day were out. Kevin's office had their party on Monday. Both Lily & I were available that night, so we went to that one.

Office New Year's Eve parties are rarely that good. They are mostly a bunch of people who work together all getting a little drunk and trying not to embarrass themselves. Plus, an office is never the best place to have a party.

This party was at the Langham Hotel. I guess Kevin's company had a good year.

The Langham Hotel is a real luxury 5 star hotel. A lot of hotels claim to be 5 star, especially in places like China. I saw a hotel in China that could not possibly be more than 2 stars calling itself 5 star. The Langham really is 5 star. It looks like a luxury hotel inside and out. The same company owns the Langham Place in Mong Kok, which I could walk to from my tiny apartment, but the Langham Hotel is the original, and easy to get to by MTR.

Kevin's company also booked some rooms at the hotel. Not for an office orgy, but so people could stay the night if they got too tipsy and keep networking long after the party ended.

After the main party started to die down, some of us went up to one of the luxury suites. This was a very nice hotel room. I will never be able to afford a room like this. Even if I could, I would not want to. Even if I were a billionaire, I would have a hard time justifying a room like this when I can easily stay in a normal room.

This hotel room was bigger than my apartment. It had all the stylish decorations you would expect in a 5 star suite. Everything was in all the fashionable colors, whatever they are this week. This was the kind of room where presidents and rock stars stay. It was not the presidential suite, but in a lesser hotel, it easily could have been. We stayed in a nice hotel for Christmas, but this suite was fancier. The bathtub could easily fit four or five people, but this was not that kind of party.

We stayed up all night talking and drinking champagne. I'm not much of a champagne fan, but it was New Year's Eve, or actually New Year's Day by this point. The business people talked about business while the plus ones, or in my case, plus two, talked about everything else.

After the party, Kevin, Lily & I went back to our tiny box apartment. It was a far cry from that luxury suite.

2014

Happy New Year!