A city of clerks?

There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in a day.  I start trying to take care of errands here and there, and before I know it, the day would often be over already.  Now I cannot imagine what it would be like trying to take care of a child, running a family etc.  Buying grocery, cooking, running to facials.. and the days are gone.

I am happy I am moving toward my goal of splitting life between Hong Kong and Shanghai.  Since coming back to Hong Kong, I bought five tickets package to Shanghai to be used before March next year.  That leaves me time to visit Shanghai almost every month as planned.  Airport express tickets, also checked. 

Now my heart can be hung in a different spot, I am noticing that I might not really stay here.  Hong Kong has a lot to offer, most of all convenience, but I just don't have the same kind of chemistry with the city and the people.  It just doesn't belong to me.  I can visit, have fun, yet it just isn't me.  

A business friend called it "a city of clerks."  I think there is some truth to that.  After all, it is what makes the city run, what make the businessmen impressed and the bosses happy.  Yet it really has less of a soul because of its expediency.  I say that as a generalization because there are always lots of exceptions.  I remember my first boss telling me as I landed here in almost ten years ago.  Relationships in Hong Kong are superficial he told me.  I could not understand him then.  I never lived in a city like this before.  I understand him now almost a decade later.  

I long to go back to somewhere else now.  I am here because of the convenience of going to work, my two-year gym membership, my facial package, and my Netflix and Hulu.  But in terms of relationships, I just don't meet any real good friends any more.  Not those one can use, but ones one can really feel for, ones that one can fall in love with...