I'm sick of being sick.
My body has been violated and now it's time for a regime change...
Let the antibodies do their work again. Allow me to think clearly again, lift the dark shroud...bla bla bla.
I didn't let my Strepalacoccus infection dampen my birthday celebration, which consisted of eating "fusion thai" cuisine at a restaurant named fashionably after its street number (39a Gough)with friends and colleagues (which in HK seem hard to differentiate between) and then hitting clubs. It was a great night (as far as I could remember...).
After a month of being sick, the second dose of antibiotics finally kicked in and I was on the road to recovery. That was until I decided to eat the expired yoghurt in my 'fridge with some fresh pawpaw. So then I got Gastro and fate decided I should be sick for a little longer.
Now, after a weeklong bland diet imposed by the doc (a nice chinese lady who insists on wearing sparkling diamond jewellery with her surgery issue labcoat) I think I am finally ok again.
Hong Kong world is so small yet for the moment it feels self-contained-everything is here that I could want or need within an easy distance. The cinema is popular. Kev(my "work colleague") and me went to see "Election," a really gritty Hong Kong film about Triads. HK cinema is such an intimate experience somehow because it surrounds you every day. You run into a film crew shooting a film scene or a commercial at least once a week somewhere in the streets of Central. Yesterday I found myself surrounded by olde worlde coca cola pedal carts.
Since my TV gave up I go to the cinema quite often. When I told a girl I met a few weeks back that my TV in my apartment didn't work she was mortified. The TV seems to be king here. "What about books?" I asked this girl-"do you read?" Again she was mortified. Then she smiled knowingly and said: "Every guy has at least four porno magazines in their apartment, of course you read." Well, I don't know if "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad or James' tattered "Sherlock Holmes Colected Stories" stirs my carnal appetites but maybe this girl has a more active imagination...
Good news magazine readers who want to know what is going on in the world uncensored by TimeWarner and CNN: "Der Spiegel," formally a German language-only magazine, is now in English. It's a really good read and presents alternative positions on wots going on. I like it. I have their special edition on globalisation. I've been after something like this for years: a chronicle of the changes globalisation brings and its impact on our lives.
I got caught in the pro-democracy protest march yesterday as I exited the MTR station in Causeway bay. I came face to face with "Longhair," the pro-democracy, anti-Beijing Legistrative Council member who wears Che t-shirts (something of a figurehead for his resolute and unbudging political convictions), standing on a granny stool chanting through a megaphone. Aparrently he had been giving out bananas all day to passersby. Check him out in my photoalbum (link coming soon).
While I was still quivering from the antibiotics, Larry invited me to a massive hotpot dinner with some of his friends. He and his friends are great fun so this hotpot became the usual broiling chaos brouhaha. I think at one stage I tried the chicken testicles (I still refuse to believe they are chicken testicles). I love the superstitions that are enshrined in chinese culture, like if you eat an animals sexual parts you automatically become more virile and fertile. One guy, Alex, gorged himself on these "delicacies" while I'd decided that yes, the pigskin was quite nice and I could handle that thanks but just don't hassle the white guy with the plate of testicles. Alex, I hate to think what will happen to you if your superstitions are true.
Ok I'm 25 now and I only just discovered the Velvet Underground. Well, just how good they are. White Light White Heat-whoah! That is some album. I particularly like a song from their recently released "Fully Loaded" compilation "Train coming round the bend." Absolute filth in the best possible way. Now I want to wear a leather jacket...
The Big Buddha is supposedly an attraction of HK. It's on Lantau Island. I went there and it was ok. It was big. There was another ho hum meal served by monks. Nothing against them, I just don't like their grub...
They unveiled a Bruce Lee statue in Tsim Tsa Tsui's half arsed "avenue of stars" after 25 years of his being unacknowledged for being the man. Interestingly, a day earlier a Bruce Lee statue was unveiled in Mostar, Bosnia. The symbolic goodness of Brucey shines worldwide, even in battle scarred balkan countries.
I think that's lovely...
I will go away over Christmas somewhere I think. Maybe Macau and Zhuhei. I want to eat salted cod. And see their much touted colonial architecture. Larry says I should go to Taiwan with him and his crew. We'll see. I should decide soon. Christmas is not far away.
So now I will get some food in Wellington Street and then scat home. I will take the giant escalator which continues up the whole of the slope of HK island. Then I will start to design a piece of furniture for my 'partment.
So much to do. Who needs TV?
Monday, November 28, 2005
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
November
It feels much better to finally be working with a work permit. It's looking very smart and snug in my passport. My ID card is on its way, they have my finger prints, my photo. No more crime sprees. One thing I CAN do, however, is finally book badminton courts. The crew of players has grown to 10, we are booking for a venerable horde!
A friend refers to the work environment in Hong Kong as a pressure cooker, and he is not wrong. Actually I've been finding work quite enjoyable lately. Since it was my birthday this week (7th), I was obliged by an unspoken office code of conduct to bring in boxes of cakes to share with anyone. It isn't actually that hard to find decent cakes in Hong Kong if you try. Owing to my laziness however, I decided to tell everyone my birthday is Monday the 14th instead and order some last minute boxes of yeasty treats. I think there's a dim sum lunch planned as well. They take birthdays seriously. We went out to celebrate on Friday, I booked a table at a little restaurant upon recommendation from Joelle. It was Thai fusion, I won't try to describe it. What I will say is that it was a good night.
Birthday celebrations have been somewhat tarnished by Clints departure. He left for Adelaide last night, after a 2-year stint here in Hong Kong. We will all miss him. I was sad. Someone even cried. He spent his last hours in HK in a bar being plied with beer and was always sporting at least two. He pretty much showed me the ropes of Hong Kong. Too bad you never found that quirky bad misspelt engrish language teeshirt you spent years searching for. I'll keep a lookout mate.
The weather here just got perfect, it isn't sticky anymore and everyone wanders around in an autumnal bliss.
I found myself in the botanic gardens the other day, and was impressed to find it was also a zoo. A leopard amongst the Bauhinias and the Ivy. The surrounding highrise competing for attention.
There is precious little public space in Hong Kong. Everything is crammed in. Something like a square in your average old european town would have been placed so as to give an urban centre a certain logic. Here, a park or square is squeezed in between the noodle shop and apartment entrance. A fence usually runs along any exposed edges, making public space more or less impermeable. You can't just go wandering about. You have to make the tacit decision that you will do something in that space and stick with that decision until you want to escape. Parks here have little or no lawns with only a few exceptions. what to do? Read a book? Sit and look at the paving? Rather than invite possibility, these places seem to entomb potential.
I mentioned exceptions. The park in Admiralty is where i am this weekend, at the Rockit Music festival, the first gasp of live music I've experienced in Hong Kong so far. There is lawn. There was meant to be The Brian Jonestown Massacre. You could say they were the only reason I bought a ticket to this otherwise Channel V-sponsored piece of excrement. Of course they pulled out owing to lead singer Anton's illness. He's a junkie for christ sakes! Why was I so naive? TBJTM were put on the bill so people would buy tickets to this turkey. The tickets are non refundable of course. I am pretty angry. There should be a class action. Then there's Feeder (...)and DJ Marky (which should be ok) to go and a host of local bands.
Unfortunately even music fans within Hong Kong think HKs homegrown is shite.
One HK artist (The Pancakes, who due to the lack of dedicated music venues plays in shopping malls instead-not such a bad notion actually haaha) has been on the ueberhip (yes this word is being used mockingly) Elefant label, which so far has not provided me with even the tiniest iota of pleasure.
Anyway, after this evening's final night of the festival I will finally succumb to the little voice that has been whispering in my ear for months now, the one that tells me "the live music is not here. Give it up, let it go..."
Shit corporatised music and personal finicky arrogance aside, my ears are squealing with pleasure. I bought a pair of little Audio Technica Headphones. So svelte, so so good. Since we're talking music here, I just want to make a recommendation and that is:
go and get Fugazi's latest album "The Argument." It is really that good. While some bands get worse, this one gets better. Maybe with this one it even became the best. Every other record they've made, there is usually one or two bad songs. This
one is flawless. I don't think it's just the new headphones...
I'm sorry to probably be missing my cousins wedding. I still might change my mind about that one in the last minute. But it looks unlikely I must confess. I feel very guilty actually. Martina is a good cousin. Coming back to Adelaide from HK for a few days doesn't seem so strange now as it did a few months ago. I don't know. I just don't know.
I have a new phone also. It has bells and whistles, like a 1.3 megapixel camera. I scoffed at first but it's actually proven really useful for filming and photographing stuff on the fly. The cat outside my window sitting on the neighbours roof for example.
My new number is 9578 5809
Should anyone wish to make an expensive international phonecall to a mobile.
A friend refers to the work environment in Hong Kong as a pressure cooker, and he is not wrong. Actually I've been finding work quite enjoyable lately. Since it was my birthday this week (7th), I was obliged by an unspoken office code of conduct to bring in boxes of cakes to share with anyone. It isn't actually that hard to find decent cakes in Hong Kong if you try. Owing to my laziness however, I decided to tell everyone my birthday is Monday the 14th instead and order some last minute boxes of yeasty treats. I think there's a dim sum lunch planned as well. They take birthdays seriously. We went out to celebrate on Friday, I booked a table at a little restaurant upon recommendation from Joelle. It was Thai fusion, I won't try to describe it. What I will say is that it was a good night.
Birthday celebrations have been somewhat tarnished by Clints departure. He left for Adelaide last night, after a 2-year stint here in Hong Kong. We will all miss him. I was sad. Someone even cried. He spent his last hours in HK in a bar being plied with beer and was always sporting at least two. He pretty much showed me the ropes of Hong Kong. Too bad you never found that quirky bad misspelt engrish language teeshirt you spent years searching for. I'll keep a lookout mate.
The weather here just got perfect, it isn't sticky anymore and everyone wanders around in an autumnal bliss.
I found myself in the botanic gardens the other day, and was impressed to find it was also a zoo. A leopard amongst the Bauhinias and the Ivy. The surrounding highrise competing for attention.
There is precious little public space in Hong Kong. Everything is crammed in. Something like a square in your average old european town would have been placed so as to give an urban centre a certain logic. Here, a park or square is squeezed in between the noodle shop and apartment entrance. A fence usually runs along any exposed edges, making public space more or less impermeable. You can't just go wandering about. You have to make the tacit decision that you will do something in that space and stick with that decision until you want to escape. Parks here have little or no lawns with only a few exceptions. what to do? Read a book? Sit and look at the paving? Rather than invite possibility, these places seem to entomb potential.
I mentioned exceptions. The park in Admiralty is where i am this weekend, at the Rockit Music festival, the first gasp of live music I've experienced in Hong Kong so far. There is lawn. There was meant to be The Brian Jonestown Massacre. You could say they were the only reason I bought a ticket to this otherwise Channel V-sponsored piece of excrement. Of course they pulled out owing to lead singer Anton's illness. He's a junkie for christ sakes! Why was I so naive? TBJTM were put on the bill so people would buy tickets to this turkey. The tickets are non refundable of course. I am pretty angry. There should be a class action. Then there's Feeder (...)and DJ Marky (which should be ok) to go and a host of local bands.
Unfortunately even music fans within Hong Kong think HKs homegrown is shite.
One HK artist (The Pancakes, who due to the lack of dedicated music venues plays in shopping malls instead-not such a bad notion actually haaha) has been on the ueberhip (yes this word is being used mockingly) Elefant label, which so far has not provided me with even the tiniest iota of pleasure.
Anyway, after this evening's final night of the festival I will finally succumb to the little voice that has been whispering in my ear for months now, the one that tells me "the live music is not here. Give it up, let it go..."
Shit corporatised music and personal finicky arrogance aside, my ears are squealing with pleasure. I bought a pair of little Audio Technica Headphones. So svelte, so so good. Since we're talking music here, I just want to make a recommendation and that is:
go and get Fugazi's latest album "The Argument." It is really that good. While some bands get worse, this one gets better. Maybe with this one it even became the best. Every other record they've made, there is usually one or two bad songs. This
one is flawless. I don't think it's just the new headphones...
I'm sorry to probably be missing my cousins wedding. I still might change my mind about that one in the last minute. But it looks unlikely I must confess. I feel very guilty actually. Martina is a good cousin. Coming back to Adelaide from HK for a few days doesn't seem so strange now as it did a few months ago. I don't know. I just don't know.
I have a new phone also. It has bells and whistles, like a 1.3 megapixel camera. I scoffed at first but it's actually proven really useful for filming and photographing stuff on the fly. The cat outside my window sitting on the neighbours roof for example.
My new number is 9578 5809
Should anyone wish to make an expensive international phonecall to a mobile.
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