A good thing about being the only white girl

I forgot my keys at work this evening. I left my apartment at 6:30am Mon. morning and got home at 10:30pm... it was a long day with a really great yoga class this morning and then a very productive day at work... I submitted two papers to the Journal of Experimental Biology tonight!! I've never done that in one day before! Actually, I've never even done that in one month! So, it doesn't surprise me that I forgot one thing... it was a big day. However it did suck that I didn't realize until I was walking out of the train station about 100m from my apartment. Choice #1, go back to the Univ., get keys, come back home... it was already 10:30pm and I hadn't had anything substantial for dinner. Choice #2, play the white girl card... that sounds racist, but I swear it's not my intention. I may be the only white girl living in my building, and so I was hoping they'd remember me and unlock my door for me. I have two security doors and then a hallway and the door to my room, and so that all requires 2 keys for 3 locks. The positives are that I can lock my own door from the doorknob when I leave, and the security doors lock automatically. So, I knew this was a potential solution. And, it worked... they remembered me, and graciously unlocked my door and even waited for me to go in and turn on the lights! Ok, so this city doesn't quite know what to do with all of these people and perhaps raw sewage, but they have their transit system figured out and I was treated kindly tonight when I really needed it. Yay - for once - for standing out!

On another note, I think the pollution is getting to me a bit... I've been Q-tipping my nose and it's gray inside! Gross, I know! I'm going to try to figure out if it's largely from my daily routine or if it's happening when I'm sleeping. Maybe I'll wear a mask while I sleep? Thank goodness I'm not living in Beijing... I look at their air quality reports on the news and it's "dangerous" virtually every day! I don't think HK is that bad comparatively speaking, but worse than Vancouver for sure. I do chuckle inside a little bit when I see a woman dressed to the nines, Fendi, D&G, Vivienne Westwood... with shoes and purses that are even more insane... but then... the disposable face mask. I don't want to laugh, but it's such the paradox... I can't help it. Anyway... we'll see, I may get one myself, but it would actually match my outfits a bit better... closer fabric texture to Luon than a French charmeuse.