New year, a new-looking house

1) After staying in my apartment for six years, I think a few things.

a) why do I never buy a second space heater for my apartment? I only have the one tiny one, and I keep on thinking that I will never need more than one in the winter, then it gets down to single digits celsius, and I am freezing in my apartment. Then I decide it is not worth the money to buy the second, as it only is a few days. That seem to last two months. I should lear by now.

b) Would I be better moving to a new neighborhood? People here on average tend to move every year or two, and no expat I know has lived in the same place for 6 years. I will, and I'm debating whether to renew. It all comes down to searching out a new neighborhood; shaking things up may do me good; and

c) Construction. The lot behind me now is now empty, and I am trying to find info if construction is banned. A word about Hong Kong: there really is not much consumer protection when it comes to noise. Construction can start at 8am and end at 8pm, and you have not experienced sound until you have lived next to a pile-driver.

d) Then again, I do have a great bargain of a place, the property market is near an all-time high and I can keep my rent just about flat, and will rehab it if I do stay. You may not think a 6-year old apartment needs touching up, but you have not lived inside Hong Kong construction, where paint peels after a year.

2) I mentioned before about the craziness of retail rent here. The manager of the first few expat-friendly bars here in Kennedy Town is starting a new place, one that - gasp! - is on the waterfront. Why it took someone 5 years to realize that would be a great idea is a surprise to me. Now, if he only serves decent beer......

3) Speaking of, beer is on the way again. By my estimates, my previous venture with Foreign Devil will not make money; I and my two partners will lose about $2k Hong Kong, tops, per person off our initial investment of $41k (plus the $3k cost per person to incorporate.) Surprisingly, that is better than I expected considering we sold a lot just to friends.

4) It's not a resolution, but I do want to learn to love bourbon more in the year 2012. Still working on the tomatoes thing after all these years, and that may never take, so I might as well try something else.