Candy Mandible Stroke 7

I can now say I've been to China.
I can now say I've got an Ipod.
I like my apartment. Life is slowly getting a rhythm. I have to learn Mandarin. I have to go to a gym.

Surprisingly you can find good music stores in Hong Kong. There's even an independent store somewhere, I should go find it. So My ears are currently having a jamboree, thanks to some new purchases and some acquisitions a la Francois from Quebec. Having iTunes on my work computer is a bit dodgy but it will have to do until I get a laptop. It is actually really annoying at times...

I got Neutral Milk Hotel's second album "In an aeroplane over the sea." Wow. It could become my favourite album ever. It is even better than "On Avery Island." Well, actually...

and then Neil Young's "After the Goldrush." Why did I ignore my mothers Vinyls of Crosby Stills Nash and Young for so long? Maybe because they aren't as good as just Neil?
I don't know....

And my surprise purchase was Broadcast's "Tender Buttons." The title track is really cool, I'm really enjoying some of their soundscapes: They conjure up all sorts of images of films not yet written. They are nice to bug out to.

And then, courtesy of Francois, there's The Eagles of Death Metal, who I once dismissed. I have to say, I've changed my mind-some of their campy grunting and whooping nearly caused me to laugh out aloud in the office last week, NEARLY...

Actually, Francois also provided every single Fugazi album, some Smog, and plenty of Zappa and Velvet Underground(which I will tackle tonight). His brother visited him recently armed with lots of burnt CDs, and, consequently, an unusual selection is making it to my iPod as well. Goldfrapp? Air? Bruce Springsteen? Wha?...They're all nice to have...

Yesterday Francois and me went over the border to Shenzhen. I had no trouble with border control going in or out of China which was nice, considering my Tourist Visa in HK was due to expire in 2 DAYS!!! Now I have another 90, or until I finally get my work visa.
Shenzhen was definitely worthwhile visiting, to witness the character of Chinese modernity.
This metropolis wasn't there some 20 years ago, it started life as a small village that became the geographic location to stage China's freemarket experiments.

Everyone has something to sell, watches, clothing, sex, mp3 players. We actually wanted a massage, a PROPER massage thanks very much. We settled for a foot massage and a pedicure.
The place we wanted to go was being renovated.

Looks like I want to go back to China. There is alot to see...