A kiss on the cheek

I went out dancing with holly cee tonight. It was mo-town night tonight, and I just finished writing a controversial email regarding something that happened tonight. I love that girl. She fights for her right to party.

Right now I'm talking to the lovely Crystal. I don't know what to think about her. She's full of funk and glory.

I was thinking of a solo project name today, seeing as I have a lot of my own songs that I'd love to lay down in the studio some day. The best name so far is.....

Dead Lover Saskatchewan

I like it.

Anyway, I had a great night dancing tonight, and now I'm talking to crystal about her old dorm room in UBC and reading some random girls live journal. I've never met this girl before but I will soon enough because she's friends with alex, and I'm spending new years with Al this year.

Two years ago I was in thailand with annie shaw from ancaster. We made a fort and missed the big countdown. Last year I spend new years wandering about the streets with rod and anders.

Last year I had the best christmas and new years of my life, both in hong kong.

I really don't think new year's is a big deal. I'm just interested in spending it with a few old faces.

It's almost six in the morning at my house now, and someone's in the washroom blowing their nose very loudly.

I love my life.

Lately I've been thinking about moving out to BC for a month or so, but I'm not sure. The only thing really directing me back to hong kong is doublethinks and the prospect of a new love.

I don't want to teach forever.

Oh yeah, my parents are moving back to Ireland. They've been in canada for the past thirty years but they're ready to get the fuck out of the cold, and into the rain. I think it's a great idea for them to move on. They're not sure when the big official day is, but it's likely going to be sometime within the next six or seven months.

vote NDP

Brendan

RELEASE THE TIGERS!!!

Alright fella's, it looks like we've got some very odd competition.
I was browsing around this, "tinternet" thing and I somehow managed to find another band by the name of, doublethinks. And let me be the first to say...........WOW, lol, they are quite the odd bunch.

Check out a couple of their tunes, and a very memorable photo of the group here.
http://music.download.com/doublethink/3600-8691_32-100082425.html

I'm feeling much more focused today, though incredibly bored. This is the first time since I got home that I actually miss hong kong. I was thinking about hiring a load of the chinese international students in hamilton, and get them to walk in front of me, or push me out of the way as I'm about to step onto the bus........you know.....in the spirit of hk.

I hope you lazy doublethinks buggers have been practicing regularly, because I've been working my fingers off working on my guitar technique. I have yet to lay my hands on a bass guitar, but i've been practicing all the tastey doublethinks licks on my acoustic, the lovely, Ho Wing Ka.

I've hung out with melissa and ana (last years elta's) every so often. Last night Mel and I went down to the Underground to catch a local bands set. The hamilton, Underground, is far fucking superior to the vagabond style one in hong kong. In general the music scene here is going to be the only thing that keeps me alive.

I have to push myself to do any sort of work on my tefl programme. It's at the point now that I'm almost positive that I won't finish it all before I come back to everyone's favourite S.A.R.

My mate alex is back from uni today, so I'm going to give her a ring later and do the whole catching up bit.

I saw a band called, Bad Flirt play at the casbah last thursday and I really enjoyed their set. They weren't a really great band or anything, but they definately have a lot of potential, and some serious staying power. Seeing as the show was at the casbah and it's winter in the hammer, there weren't a tonne of people there, so I was able to hang around and talk with the band for a while afterwards. I've been plugging the doublethinks name quite a lot since I got back home, handing out our tasty little blueman cards very liberally.
Kachun, I can assure you that I'll have none left by the time I get back home to hk, and let me know if you've been getting anymore hits on the site from canada......that way I can know if i've just been wasting my time on lazy computerless buggers or not.

After talking with Bad Flirt for a bit I told them I'd meet them in toronto the next night for their gig at a place called, the bagel. I had no idea who I was going to go with, but I didn't really care. I'm used to traveling on my own, and for the most part during shows I don't talk anyway. So, any awkward moments that might come up during set changes I could just pass with the company of a book and a beer.

Sometime friday afternoon I made plans to meet my friend Holly in oakville for a few preshow drinks, and then we could make our way to TO for the nights musical festivities.
Yeah........that never happened.

Bad Flirt were playing their TO show with a band called Femme Generation, who are a lot of fun, playing a sort of indie dance rock style. I wanted to see FG quite a bit. I was definately in the mood to dance.

Alas, after hanging out at Holly's place for a bit (steadily doing away with a large bottle of red) we both felt too lazy to go anywhere, especially somewhere that we needed to take a couple of bused to get to.

I had a awesome night to oakville with holly cee, drinking wine, beer, and I even saw
two of my old friends matt and andrian. I have a lot of respect for those two jokers. They started dating in highschool and six years later they're still together. I'm not sure which that makes me feel more, frightened or amazed. Probably a healthy mix of both.

I have more to say but I don't think it's incredibly important, and the lovely alexandra just called me! I need to eat something quickly, brush my teeth, and then I'm outta here!!!

www.badflirt.com
www.femmegeneration.com/
http://www.theadambrown.com/


8000miles from my music
brendan

Too Tired to Write

too tired to write. I've been working on my tefl course......writing essays. I think there are 26 essays in total, the majority of which are about boring technical english crap.

I tried to write an email to my friend crystal today, but I haven't been able to concentrate my thoughts into more than a few cohesive sentences. I also tried to update my blog more than a few times today but obviously not much has come out of that ambition.

Earlier today I watched some horrible/awesome movie called Tekwars, that was made by everyone's favourite william shatner. lol, it was so bad.

Anyway, my head's full of a lot of useless teaching jargon now, so it's time for this lanky bastard to hit the hay.

goodnight cruel world!
mr. harrington

Oh my head...

Well, the pub crawl went off without a hitch. Now, four or five pubs later I'm left feeling pretty crappy, and I've got a job interview at the Slainte in a couple of hours. The Slainte is an irish pub downtown that gets quite busy during the winter months. I'm not looking for much really....I don't want much responsibility at all, so it would be ideal to be a bar runner for a bit.

Time to shower now.
cheers
brendan

Pub Crawl Tonight Baby!!

I'm waiting now to go out our local/massive thirft shop, where I spend much of my allowance when I was younger. Value Village is the perfect place to find random t-shirts and the funkiest and funky pants. It's the sort of place where clothing finds a home to either those who can't afford to buy new clothes, or the young and lively who choose to not where all the big brands.

Friday night was very busy at the harrington house. From what I can remember I did nothing particularily special all day......I think I just hung around relaxing, reading and playing guitar. At night, however, my sister caroline came back from sarnia for the weekend. She's being working up there doing a co-op semester with esso canada, and still has to the 23rd before her contract is up. Caroline arrived home at about half five, and I quickly helped her move her stuff in the spare room, knowing that the other two would be home shortly. Steph and Josh came home about half an hour later with a load of bags, and the house quickly got much noisier. I think the last time all of us were together must have been four or five years ago. I stayed at home for an hour until my ride knocked on the door.

I bought a ticket to see Iron and Wine and Calexico at the Docks in toronto a few days earlier. Luckly an old friend, Steph say my msn name, which announced my wanting to see Iron and Wine...and also with good chance she was coming back from kingston the same weekend of the show. The last time I met Steph was probably the staircase a couple of summers ago, but neither of us could remember for sure.

Anyway, after getting a bit lost, and a call to montreal for someone to mapquest us back on track, we finally managed to find the docks. We hadn't missed much at all, as the show must have kicked off a bit later than schedualed. The Docks, for anyone who's never been there before, is in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, when you're driving down towards it's general area the buildings fall away and you can't help but feel you just purchased a joke ticket to a show thats never going to happen. Alas, after driving into the abyss for a while you do indeed reach the Docks.

It was an alright venue, though not particularly suiting for a fairly quiet artist like Iron and Wine. I had a lovely time watching a couple of bands, including one very unexpected though delightfully entertaining mexican artist. He must have been in his late forties, had long aging dark hair tied into a pony tail, and was boyterious and flamboyant to say the least. Awesome.

Saturday was steph's birthday, and caroline and I shared a laugh when we both looked at eachother with somewhat puzzeled faces asking, "did you get her anything for her birthday?" Of course the answer was, No. haha, It didn't even cross my mind to buy anything for my big sis's birthday. Oh well. I don't think she cared or even noticed. We had a great dinner that night, with the main course being my mother's famous home made lasagne. Steph had some of her friends come over for the festivities and it was a great night, full of booze, music and food.

Lauren and her boyfriend Ryan came over as well, which was great because I hadn't seen Ms. L in ages, and Ryan for much longer. I know the both of them from highschool though I never much spoke to Ryan, he's a nice guy, and the two of them get along famously. Ryan was driving so he had a drink, whilst lauren and I plentifully filled our wine glasses again and again. We caught up as best as we could. It's always tricky answering the question, "so, what have you been up to during the past year?" giving them enough detail to satisfy their query. I never feel much like talking about what I've been doing in Hong Kong, because really, no matter where you are it's always the same sort of routine. Time keeps on kicking, and before you know it your unpacking your sweaters for a visit home.

Last night I went out with Steph and Josh to the Casbah to watch a great local talent, Caribou. It's a three piece act but I think it's mainly just the one dude, who does most of the work. There were two opening acts as well. The first was a waterloo/dundas based act called Winter Equinox. They had a big post rock mellow flavour that did them well, though I wasn't too impressed by their whole set. The first two songs involved a lot of changing of instruments that gave me an ametuer choppy feel. The other tunes were much better, but they still just followed your standard song pattern of big, quiet, big, bang! or quiet, big, bang, quiet. Up and down, up and down, up and down.
The next act called, Holy Fuck were really good. The lead fella feed off his own querky, "i've done too much crystal meth" sort of stage presents, but all in all they did make a very interesting tune.
Crap, it's time to go to the wonderful value village.
So, to shorten this one up a bit, Caribou was fucking great, and I had the pleasure of running into my friend from hong kong, anna!! It was so nice seeing her again, and she looked great with her cool new short hairdo.

Alright, time to head out.
Cheers!
brendan.

I love Nintendo

If you walk so quietly...

I arrived back in Canada on Friday night. I've been meaning to update my blog during these past two days, but I haven't been able to get myself to sit down, in front of the computer until now.

First to report......It's cold here....really cold. I'm not at all used to the harsh winter winds, or the long waits for the bus. Hong Kong has made me soft. I can only imagine how fun it's going to be to tease Josh once he and Steph get here on this coming Friday.

My plane ride from Hong Kong was actually a great one. I never thought I'd ever have a good time flying in a place for sixteen straight hours, but then again, I have never had four seats all to myself before. I was able to lay down fairly comfortably with two pillows, and a blanket to keep me extra comfortable. Kit Ming, thankfully, got a hold of some natural sleep aids, which helped me just a little bit. I can never sleep on planes (not that I sleep much now anyway). These little blue pills seemed to give me just enough of a nudge to push me into the wonderful land of sleep. I think I got about four hours of rest throughout the flight.

My father (Pop's) met me in Toronto airport, and it didn't take us too long to make it back into Hamilton. I remember experiencing a lot more culture shock when I last returned in the summer of 2004. This time the dramatic change of scenery didn't seem too odd at all. I'm surprised at how much of my local geography I've become unfamiliar with, such as street names, and in general the location of a lot of bus stops.

Right now, I'm sitting upstairs listening to the sounds of my mum doing some christmas baking, while pop's and my brother, Ian, figure out how to record tv shows on our complicated cable box, without using a tape.

Friday night I spent relaxing at home, doing nothing in particular. I sat with pop's listening to my band Doublethinks' live recording, from our show last Wednesday. It was nice to just sit back not doing much of anything.

As I was going to bed Friday night I could feel the characteristic signs of my stupid reoccurring throat problem. So, I took a few antibiotic pills from my stash and lay down in my cold, cold bed.
I didn't do anything on Saturday but stay up late, play guitar, and eat a lot of delicious home cooked food.
Sunday night I met up with two hongkongy friends, ye ol' Melissa and the ever pleasant Laura at the Snooty Fox for some karaoke. It was a very nice night.
Before I left for the snooty fox I found Annie's old phone number and hoped that she was home. She was working on a piece for her jazz harmony class that was due the next day. We spoke for maybe ten minutes, having no trouble what so ever picking up conversation as if no time at all had passed. I told her about going down to the Fox and she said that she'd pop in, as long as she finished the piece she was working on.
I didn't drink much at all that night. I think I had about four pints over four hours. Annie did show up sometime around midnight and joined myself and a few of Melissa’s mates who drove down from Bolton for the night. Everyone was friendly and there was a carefree, comfortable atmosphere throughout the night.
I stayed at Mel's place in westdale, where she lives with three other uni mates. I woke up a lot during the night, but I didn't actually rouse from bed until Mel came back from her first class at half two. We hung out in her room for a bit, and then I took the bus just down the street from her place.

I was sitting on the bus for about three stops past, when a bunch of students from Columbia International College came on. Columbia's student body is pretty much ninety percent Hong Kong based. I was way too happy to hear cantonese again. It felt like a slice of home. After listening in to bits of a conversation that two people were having in front of my seat, I build up the courage to talk to them. I tapped the young guy on the arm, looking up at him from my seat and asked, "Lei hi mm hi Heung Gong yen a?"
Let me just say....I HAVE NEVER SEEN SUCH CLASSICALY DUMBFOUNDED FACES IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! It was so good. The guy I asked the question, "are you from Hong Kong?" was just gawking at me with a half open mouth, while the girl he was previously talking to stood there with nearly the exact same expression. Once again....IT WAS SO GOOD. The girl was the first to recover enough to answer my question, which she thankfully did in cantonese. I spoke to them for about ten minutes before the bus came to their stop, and most of our conversation was in cantonese, with partial bits of english to clarify some bits of my makeshift conversational skills. I ended speaking to three people by the end of the ride, and they were all genuinely nice people. They seemed eager to help me practice my canto, and I complimented the one girl on her english speaking abilities.
Definitely the best bus ride I've ever had in Hamilton.

Last night I got a call from CJ, and though I didn't at all want to leave my lovely warm house, I really wanted to see Carla. So, we agreed to meet at King and James st downtown for half ten. Being unfamiliar with the current bus times I ended up getting the 22 ottawa far too early, which resulted in my sitting on a cold bench for twenty minutes, keeping a look out for CJ. We hit up the closest warm place we could think of that was nearby, which, not so surprisingly, turned out to be a Tim Hortons. We didn't stay too long though. We ended up going back to her fairly new apartment that she shares with a friend Darcy, and another fella whom I don't know, Mike. Neither of them were home when we got there, so she gave me a little tour, and we made ourselves comfortable in front of a game of checkers. Checkers, by the way, is a terribly uninteresting game. Checkers is Chess for Squirrels. We originally wanted to play chess, but only half the pieces were in the drawer. Boo.
Darcy came home later in the night, and hung out with us, eating peanuts and goofing around for a couple of hours, before hitting the ol' dusty trail. CJ and I both hit the hay in the early morning, and grabbed a few hours rest before waking up at eight. She had things to do, and I was happy to be up early, depriving myself of sleep....I'm hoping that such choices will make me tired enough to put me to sleep at a decent hour tonight.
Speaking of tonight, I have no plans at all. I was thinking about heading down to the Casbah for a couple of solo drinks. They used to have this gig called, "Record Geeks Unite" every Tuesday in the lounge, just off of the casbah. That was always a great gig, having different people come up and spin for a bit. I used to love the casbah. I hope it hasn't changed much during the past thirteen months. They always had some local artists' work hanging from the walls, and the people were layed back and friendly.

That's it for now though. I'll update again soon, though I can't promise anything terribly interesting.

Cheers
Brendan

Back in the great white north 

An interesting conversation

"And that's where I was found, five days after I hit the ground."
Listening to Hayden always makes me think of two things. Hamilton and my song writing.

Not twenty minutes ago I said goodbye to a new friend, whom I'll likely never see again in my life. I was meant to meet Crystal last night, forgetting that I already had a date with kit ming, to go to temple street night market, I had to cancel our plans. We managed to reschedual another meeting today for lunch, which I've just returned from.
I ate before meeting her, as I was a bit shaky, having not eaten all morning, and we weren't meant to meet in quarry bay 'til quarter past one. After a quick pasta lunch with an iced cappacino with rob, I took the train with plenty of time to spare. I found a nice spot outside to sit and read my book, Norwegian Wood, by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Murakami does an excellent job of interpretting the lives of slightly askew young adults. Being with crystal seemed like one of those slightly odd meetings that I sometimes read about in novels. Norwegian Wood is full of those encounters. I'm not sure if I was nervous. Maybe it was a combination of a lack of alcohol, and a little too much coffee.

When we met I was sitting outside reading my book, and enjoying a good loud song by, every time I die. She said that she wasn't very hungry, and asked if I wouldn't mind grabbing a coffee with her from a nearby shop.
We spoke of relationships for a short while, but we had to change to something else, as I'm not sure where I stand on the topic. And she seemed to not understand my semi developed philosophy either. She said that I sounded like a man a couple of times. I'm not sure what was meant be that. I really don't know.
I told her about my highschool graduation, and how I wound up in the hospital with a bad case of alcohol posioning. To this day, my stomach is still really sensitive when I drink. If I stick to wine, or beer then I'm alright, but anything else leaves me in pain for the next couple of days.
I had mentioned last thursday that I have a big thing for asian girls, and she seemed pretty interested in discussing the topic today. Again, I wasn't able to give her a satisfactory explanation. Maybe it's the skin colour, maybe the hair. I told her I knew for certain that it wasn't the docile, compliant, sort of nature that's highly evident in alot of asian women. I like to be challenged. I don't want someone who'll always do what I feel like doing, and relys on me for comfort and company. I need flavour in my conversations, or else my life just glides into a too comfortable state, and my mind drifts away to other matters that aren't productive to think about. I think that's why I love meeting new people so much. Every time I go out drinking with friends, I meet new people with complete ease, and have a great time getting to know someone for just one evening. I've met so many people in Hong Kong, and for one evening shared with them nothing but fun and games, through a wide array conversations.

I was on lamma yesterday visiting my sister, Steph. She really wanted to go for a walk, but I was feeling pretty fatigued because a lack of sleep, so we went down to a small beach that hardly anyone visits. We sat in the sand looking out at the water, watching the occasional fish jump out of the water, probably trying to escape a larger, hungry fish. I'm not sure when it started, but for the past several meetings with Steph we've had some really great talks, that we never had before. Maybe the opportunity just wasn't there before; maybe it's due to what we've been reading lately. My mind was mainly occupied with identity.
We have so many identities, that seem to only restrict freedoms. I'm so used to saying, "I'm a Canadian; I'm an artist; I'm a teacher; I'm a musician." But I'm not any of these things. These are just things that I happen to do, or happen to appently be part of. What does it matter if I called a Canadian, or an American? It seems strange to me to say that I belong to a certain chunk of the earth, just because I happened to be born there. I know this is pretty fucking obvious, but in all ariel views of the earth I've ever seen, not once did I notice big black lines carving up the ground according to whatever government happens to be in place. These titles don't matter.....they're useless to whatever it means to be and exist. There are so many boundries and areas around the world that don't really make much sense. Does anyone really consider Russia as being part of asia? Europe, Asia, Africa, the middle east.... it's all connected.
Anyway, I'm loosing my train of thought now.
There are so many titles and questions from childhood, like, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"......It would be great if I had the clarity, and sense of understanding that I think I have now. I would have said something like this to the teacher, "Sorry miss, I don't understand.... What do I want to be? Well, I'm me already, so why do I have to be something else when I get bigger?"
My job isn't who I am, it's just what I do. There's a great bit in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, when having been through a long series of dramatic changes in size, she's not sure what or who she is. She questions whether she's else from school, but says that she couldn't possibly be, because that other girl has such terribly long, curly hair. Anyway, it's a really funny scene.
I'd really like to continue a friendship with crystal, but I don't think she's so interested. There's something attractive about having a conversation with someone, when you really have to push to speak. I'm not sure how to express it....I didn't feel bored, tense, or awkward in any way...it was just interesting.
It was simply, different for me. Any I'd like to have the opportunity to look into it more.

This will likely be my last post in Hong Kong for a while, as I have a flight to return back to canada this friday. I should be back for about six weeks, in which time I'll complete a tefl course, and catch up with some old friends.

I look forward to seeing everyone again.

booya
brendan

See reverse side for details

The internet at my work has been down for a while, so this is the first opportunity I've had to write a new entry. I really enjoy writing, but it's easy to fall out of habit, even when concerning things I favour. So, I'm going to keep trying to update this here blog-o-mine in hopes that it keeps my fingers moving, and my pen scrawling.

Where to start?..... ah yes...
Thursday turned out to be a wonderful day. I spent the morning sleeping, because I had been up so late, and then headed to kit ming's place in ma on shan, for about five o'clock. She needed my help with a school project that her, and a few classmates had been working on. My job was to read over most of a 3000 word paper, and correct any errors should there be any. Oh yeah, there were errors alright. It took me a while but I really had fun doing homework again. For those of you who've known me since highschool, you probably remember that my grammer and spelling abilities were terrible. Well, it seems that two years of teaching english to chinese kids has done wonders for my grammer skills. I finished up at kit ming's around ten o'clock, and headed off for the train station. Whilst working on rewriting a few pages I was surprised to get several phone calls, from friends asking me if I wanted to come out for a drink. I don't usually get unexpected invitations to socialize. I ended meeting my lovely sis, steph, at c-club in lan kwai fong, but on the way there I ran into a new friend who I had only met one time previously.

I met Crystal a couple of weeks ago at the fringe club. I was there with a few others checking out my mate luke's solo act. Crystal is a friend of my mate Greg, thus we were loosely introduced. We seemed to get along really well that night, so we exchanged phone numbers under the guise of going out to do some street art. I actually didn't even notice her, though I walked right by her and her friend Bram. They were apparently waiting for someone, who turned out to be a no show, so they came along to c-club to join the gang. The gang being, the three of us plus, steph josh amra jill and her boyfriend adam. Drinks were cheap, and it wasn't too busy at all. Generally a great atmosphere. After about an hour Crystal and I both needed to go to 7-11, and by the time she finished a couple of cigs, the folks in c-club were taking off to dragon i. Crystal bram and I stood around on the street for a while, talking about music and whatever else happened to develope. Bram having an early morning meeting the next day, had to take off home, which left my new compadre and I standing about, thinking of how to entertain the evening. At that point I was inclined to cheap wine, and she to chain smoking. So, we went back down to sev's, bought the cheapest bottle of red, and a pack of marlborough lights.

Not too far off, we found a darkened niche of a closed cosmetics shop. It had comfortable enough steps, a wall to lean against, and nearby construction lights flashing out of sync provided the ambiance. It had been so long since I last bummed it out with some cheap booze, with someone I barely knew. I've always loved that sort of situation, where conversation has no end because you've anything and everything to discuss. The timeline at this point gets a little lost, as we both jabbered on (once again) about music, life direction, and a slew of authors. At some point during the night Crystal asked me if she could stain my jeans with some red wine, which surprised me a bit. Her wanting to pour wine on my pants didn't surprise me though, it was that she actually asked if she could do it. Rob and I, once upon a time, poured beer over each other's heads, and ming on a few occasions has poured champange all over my shirt. Clearly I had no objection to her request. Sadly, however, there's barely a stain on me. The only visible reminder of the act is a slightly darkened patch on my right pant leg. I was hopeing for much more.
After an unmeasurable amount of time we started wandering around towards sheung wan, looking for a more scenic place to carry out the night's festivities.
-----------------------------------------------
This is a good time to mention that I've been reading and writing more than ever, and I think the result is my dragging out every detail of an evening into the sunlight, and beating it over the head 'til it confesses it's sins.
This would also be a good time to mention an interesting little fact, that I learned from my good friend Osho, the other day. The root of the word, 'sin' means, forgetfullness, and the original meaning of the word, 'paradise' means, walled garden.
-------------------------

Realizing that no one will likely read this far into my blog, I'm going to cut the story short, and not go into every last detail.

Back to the story......
Crystal and I ended up sobering up, talking in complete honestly along the beautiful sheung wan harbour front. With our legs dangling over the water, we realized that it was nearly 6am and just about time to go home. I wasn't even tired actually. I felt obligated to sleep though, seeing as I had to work the next day.

Friday marked the beginning of the end. I finished my last friday ever at interkids, and celebrated by having a few pints at the whiskey priest, with rob and dave. We played jenga, and I actually got home at the resonable hour of one o'clock.

Saturday was easy breezy lemon squeezy. All seven of my classes went famously. I was in a good mood all day, thinking about how I'd never see any of my naughty students again. The one's I like are young enough, that they'll never remember I ever taught them. Some of the older ones asked for my canadian contact info, and my email address, which I gladly supplied.
Saturday night Rob and I chose to rally the troops at the woodstone. A lot of our friends showed up, and everyone seemed to have a good time.

Sunday was spent in a very relaxing manor. Kit Ming and I woke up, had another pillow fight, and then we watched 'I heart huckabees' with shaun. We were both starving after the movie, so we headed out for something to eat. We ended up walking around, eating indian samosas and banana parathas for ages before we settled into a lovely/inexpensive soup noodle shop.
The band got together for three hours in the evening to make some noise in the studio. Ander's made great use of his new iriver, with the help of a great little recording mic, we put down some nice live material, and worked on a few beats that sounded awesome. We'll have one last practice, and then a gig this coming wednesday at the Wanch in wan chai.

Today is my last monday, and I've only one more lesson to go. My next class is good fun. The kids are only enough that we can just talk, and work on achieveing a natural, confident flow with their english.
It must be so hard to be a student in Hong Kong. There's so much pressure on children to go beyond all parental, and social expectations. I wish parents would realise that not every child can, or should be a doctor or a lawyer. Things would go seriously rye if such became the case.

Tonight should be good. Rob and I are meeting our old friend Nancy, whom we rarely see for dinner. Then.........oh yes.......then........we go to bonkers.
That's right!! It's been ages since I last went to bonkers. It was the first place all the elta's ever got properly pissed at, when we came to hong kong. I'll be sure to have a moment of silence before tasting my first pint.

Cheers!
brendan (the warrior geek) harrington

Captain's Log: stardate 49361.5

Doublethinks' Yellow Ruby is now available for download at.....

www.doublethinks.com

Introduction:
This entry took place over two days, as I wasn't able to post yesterday because of sudden internet problem at work.

wednesday 22nd: A day of music and relaxation
I did very well for myself yesterday. I hung around all morning at the flat, reading various books, listening to music, and playing a lot of guitar. I had to go to wanchai at about half three to withdraw what was left in my LCH account.......once again things went wrong, but I don't really feel the need to dwell on it, because I needn't go back there for a long while.
Before I left for the bank I stuffed myself full of noodles and soup, and strapped on my acoustic, named Ho Wing Ka, after a funny little girl I used to teach ages ago.
So, off I went listening to music, reading my Osho book, Freedom (which I'm now nearly finished) to find a nice, quiet spot to play guitar for a while.

Luckily the spot I had in mind was, as per usual, not at all busy, and to my delightful surprise new benches were actually in place. For anyone who knows their way around hong kong island (especially those interested in performance theater) you'll probably know the spot I'm on about. It's just on the side of the Hong Kong Performance Arts centre, which is quite near the HKCEC running along the harbour front.
Anyway, as I was saying.... this place is quiet, with scarce few people passing through. There are a variety of trees poking up around the place, and every so often, you can find a lovely piece of bronze sculpture from a variety of artists. All around, a good little spot, that's easy to get to, and there's surprisingly little noise from the not too far off traffic below.

thursday 24: running down hill with a forest fire at my side
Last night after work, Rob and I decided to hit up our favourite little karaoke bar, Dundas. Dundas is by far the best watering hole we've found in Hong Kong yet. It's got everything we could ever want.....bad music, horrible singers, sociable locals, dice cups, a dart board, and it's all you can drink. Typically when we go to dundas, it's with the intent of drinking all we can, via drinking games such as russian roulet, liar, and the ever classic, internationally acclaimed JISH.

Jish is such a great game. All you need are some dice, some cups, and three or four willing participants. This is a game that Rob, Rod, Anders and I devised after a long night of careful deliberation at KK pub and cafe. It'd take far too much effort on my part (and I think my written explanation would lack the nessecary clarity to fully convey the beauty of the game) to do Jish any justice, so I'll just leave it at this... Jish is an awesome game. fun fun fun.

Rob and I ended up making our way back to sally and gabe's flat in sha tin, at around four in the morning. We took the mini bus home, which is always fun. I really do love mini buses. Their so cheap and the drivers are always a bit crazy with their driving.
After making it up to the flat, we decided it would be a great idea to drink all of gabe's delicious, Green Goodness juice and watch the first epsiode of Cowboy bebop. Definately a good idea.

Oh yeah, I only just remembered.... when we were drinking last night, rob and I got on the topic of what everything's going to be like, when we settle back into things in our respective countries. I mentioned something about how, from my perspective everyone back home (circle of friends) is still just as they were since the last time I was back, but that's clearly not going to be the case. People develope and change. This is obvious. Everyone is off doing their own thing, at various uni's, in a smattering of different towns and cities.
ahhh...
I'm having a bit of a communication breakdown here, which is expected because I'm trying to recall how this conversation unfolded last night, and writing from memory is a difficult task having just woken up not twenty minutes ago.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that, all my friends back home, are still my really good friends, but I've been out of the picture for so long, that to them I must just be an old friend coming back home for a quick visit.
--------------------------------------
Actually, I don't care. Whatever has changed can not be such an obsticle that friendship is hindered. Relationships are part of the conventions of being.........they're meant to evolve. I need to stop looking for old familiarities and just do what I always do...go with the flow!

uble huble toil in bubbles

Signing off
Brendan (the warrior geek) harrington

I'm eating focaccio!

Well, Friday night's show turned out to be really fun, and it was actually our first paying gig. Seeing as Luke Chow organized the show, all earnings from the door were split equaly between the four groups.
The whole night was chalk full of confusion though. We were among the first to show up, though the guys from natural city were already there, they didn't take any initiative to get anything on stage organized. So, when we got there we had to sort out everything on stage, because all the equipment was completly disorganized. The drum kit particularly, was in three different piles....and that's just what we could find of it... I was pretty surprised that gabe didn't lose his temper at all, seeing as there was no ride stand, one of the tom's had a big hole it in, and during the show, the bass drum keep moving forward.
Anyway, because everything was such a mess we didn't get around to starting our first song til eleven o'clock. Luke looked a bit concerned because everything was so obviously behind schedual, and I'm sure we took a bit too long getting our volumns sorted; considering how unfamiliar we were with amnesia (we had never played there before) I think we did well enough.
I felt badly for Luke because there wasn't much of a turn out, and everything started off later than expected, but these things happen.......and i think it's safe to say that those who did stick around to the end of the night (about 1:30 in the morn') had a great time. Amnesia is a pretty good gig. It looks cool, decked out in black and red, the drinks are cheap enough, and there's actually a large enough stage to swing my bass around on....without knocking out kachun's front teeth.
Generally, friday night was fun. People were relaxed, and patient, which are two good attributes to have in an audience when things aren't going smoothly.

Three cheers for some girl name May as well. She's the first person to ever notice that we stole our name straight from George Orwell's famous novel, 1984. No one else had ever made the connection before.
For anyone who hasn't had the pleasure of reading 1984, I highly recommend it.....it's easy to see why it's such a classic, especially when you consider that it was written in 1948.

Saturday's usual overly hectic schedual of back to back lessons was....very surprisingly, Easy.
I can't even remember the last time I had seven lessons pass by with such ease. It's fairly likely though that the only reason they went so well is because, I only have to do it one more time. Oh, how good it feels to say that I'm nearly finished teaching little hyper active, energy draining children.
After an easy day's work I spent much of the night at my mate chris' flat. He's just recently wrangled up a new flat mate, a talented photographer, and all around nice fella, Patrick. Even though the flat wasn't new to Chris, he never did have a house warming party untill Saturday evening. The theme was beach wear, but not many people adhered to that idea at all. Myself, Rob, and Shaun were all showing our sexy white legs with beach shorts and accompanying dress shrits. I opted for a pink scarf and my leapord skin cowboy hat to up the funky ante a bit.
I didn't stay too long. I left with kit ming around one o'clock, as we were both tired and wanted to relax back in central for a while.

Yesterday I was happy to wake up without a hangover, and had a pillow fight with kit ming. Then, i spent the day lazing about, went to lamma with nat and anders, and moved a load more of my stuff from steph's flat. Another easy, great day.

Cheers
Brendan

Dragon i, and Amnesia

We played a show on wednesday night at the Wanch, and for whatever reason I felt great. I was jumping around more than usual and had a great time. We met two fella's staying with our mutual friend/ musician Luke Chow, and I was really impressed with their stuff. All acoustic, up tempo sort of songs...a few originals, and a couple of brilliant covers. One, which I really enjoyed was a cover of Elvis Costello's, Watching the Detectives. Superb.
We played after they did and I suppose things went fairly well because just last night Luke rang me up and asked if we could play a show together.......friday night!
So, I called up the the fella's and I guess we're all ready to play for a good forty minutes tonight, at Amnesia in Central.
This place is literally a two minute walk down the hill from where I am now, which is very very nice.
Right after I got off the phone with Luke, yet another pleasant invitation appeared. Ming gave me ten minutes to get out of the flat and meet him and a few others outside Hong Kong's main vip club, Dragan i.
Normally I wouldn't have a single chance getting into dragon i but seeing as Ming knows the right people it wasn't much a problem.
Lane Crawford was hosting some private party for........something.....i don't actually know. Anywho, the whole thing ended up being free. Naturally, we all left several hours later, drunk.
All I can say really is that it's not my sort of place. There are way too many rich, model types, and aside from private parties the cost of a drink is through the roof, usuall about 60-70 for a glass of wine.
Well, I wish I had more time to go into detail but my breaks nearly over, and it's time to go.

Hopefully everything goes well tonight!
DOUBLETHINKS!!!

brendan

Mosquitos...Why? Why? WHY!?

Last night, I thought I'd be a smart cookie and actually get a full night's rest, for work this morning. Yeah, that didn't happen at all...

For the first time in longer than i can recall, I was in bed just before midnight, and to be honest I wasn't even that tired. I was planning on just laying in bed and possibly watching an episode of Full Metal Alchemist on my iriver (which I did) and then simply rest until I fell asleep.
The last time I looked at the time on my mobile it read, 1:33am and I thought.....eh not bad, I usualy go to bed late anyway. I must have fallen asleep not long after that, though for only about ten minutes. Apparently a family of mosquitos had been hiding in my room......waiting.......waiting.....and waiting for the right moment to attack.
Oh, did they ever attack.
I strongly dislike mosquitos. However, they seem to be really like me, or at least just my blood. I'm sure they have no idea what 'me' is.

Anyway, between 1:33am and ten past five in the morning I must have got, at the most, about half an hour's worth of shut eye. By the time five something rolled around I completly snapped at not being able to kill the little blood sucking basterds, that repeatedly assulted my body and went out into the main room.
I threw down a big heavy duvet on the tiled floor, brought out two pillows and a thin blanket and thankfully got a solid three hours of sleep.

I was pretty out of it this morning on the train to work, having not much rest I very reluctantly got out of bed not long before. Actually, when I woke up my eyes were stuck shut with sticky sleep, that persisted well into my MTR ride. I must have looked like I was just dumped by my girlfriend and had been crying for hours past.

Luckily one student that I really wish would never show up to class again, was sick today. As such, my two morning lessons went really well and I felt great. I don't feel so hot now though. I'm starting to get really lathargic, and generally just reluctant to move about very much.

Rob and I were just on break together, and I had to go down to causeway bay to talk to some nutter named Piano. I've worked with her company before (they're a casting agency) and they've gotten me a couple of easy, well paying jobs doing a commercial and a magizine shoot. Anyway, they wanted myself and Rob to do a bit of a profile, which is pretty much us standing in front of some blue backdrop in a white room (big lights shining) saying our name, height, hobby, nationality, and then doing a spin. Fairly easy. Hopefully some more work will come out of it.

Lui Chong Hing is ragingly incompetant. LCH is my chinese bank and I hate them. On numerous occasions they're driven me to the brink of my patience, with their sheer stupidity. I remember one time a few months ago, when it took me over an hour to get them to make me one cheque......a process that should take about five to ten minutes. Anyway, today's ordeal was them not knowing how to deposite a cheque into my regular chequing account. Fools.
Once I get my visa sorted out I'm going to switch banks, and promptly empty my LCH account and give them the finger.
Well....I probably won't flip them the bird, but I'd happily never step foot in any LCH building again for as long as I live.

Tartar
Brendan

Doublethinks, Rockit, Alice, Daredevil, Burrito

Doublethinks' last gig went off fairly well, though I could have done with a taller mic stand and a much better keyboard for Kachun. (Kachun is my good friend/band mate named Anders. I've been trying to remember to use his chinese name instead of his english one, but I always forget)
We managed to play for just under an hour, and we had a really good response from a lot of the people there. I'm not sure on the actual number, but it was somewhere in the 150-170 range.........which would make it one of our biggest gigs, attendence wise.
There was a bit of a problem with the opening act showing up really late, and we in doublethinks couldn't help but feel we were getting screwed over a bit..........but I don't really feel like getting into now.
I've been trying to extend our band contacts lately, meeting new people and (as you do) put the name doublethinks out there as much as possible, and i think it may be working. Once I get back from holiday in canada we should have a few gigs lined up, so i can jump right back into the live bit again. It's so much fun jumping around on stage, being really loud and generally just messing about.
Kachun and I were talking the other day about getting a few acoustic gigs lined up. And seeing as Kachun has his fancy acoustic bass I could play......why the hell not.
We'll speak to the owner of gecko lounge soon to see what he has to say. Who knows, maybe he'll have an opening within the next couple of weeks.

-----------------------
Twas Pat's 21st birthday saturday night. So, naturally a cosy, dark cafe was rented out and the words, "all you can drink for two hundred bucks" were thrown out there somewhere......it turned out to be a fun night. Somewhere near the end of it Kachun and I had a sword fight, with real (unsharpened) swords. That was fun. I drank wine for most of the night, and played a lot of chess, russian roulett, and ring of fire. It had been so long since I last played chinese chess, so I lost every game against my fearless bandmate, Mr. K. I think I was getting better after a few games, though it may have just been the wine getting to me.

Yesterday, after not having slept much, I made my way to the practice studio with shaun........an hour and a half late. I had a great practice. Aside from feeling a bit nausious/
naucious....(sp) everything went smoothly.
After the studio I headed down to causeway bay to meet steph, and check out rockit festival. Rockit is hong kong's only music festival and it's really not that great, especially considering that Feeder was the main act of the night........not exactly a very rockin band. Some of the supporting acts however, like hong kong's The Academy put on a great show. I felt badly for the fella's in The Academy though, because the sound quality was pretty piss poor for their first few songs. Through no fault of their own though. The singers mic kept cutting in and out, so half of the time the crowd could only here his monitor, and the guitars weren't nearly loud enough. It almost seems like it was done on purpose because they kicked so much more ass than lousy Feeder. The only thing that kept me watching feeder (which i only did for about half their set) was the lighting job. The lights acted just like flipping channels on tv, constantly jolting my gaze towards the stage.
At this point in the day I was feeling really weak, as I hadn't eaten much and was running on little sleep. So, as soon as feeder finished up I dragged my fatigued bag of bones home, with a massive burrito from Taco Loco to fill the void.

I'm still waiting for the latest translation of Full Metal Alchemists' forth menga. Hopefully it will be available before I head home. I plan on getting on my plane with a bag full of books, my mp3 player and a lot of snack food. If I've learned anything from international flgihts, it's that I can't sleep on planes, the movies are usually gash, and (this is for all traveling vegetarians out there) never rely on airplane food!! so........I'm packing my own little picnic!

I've already begun buying a load of books to bring with me, but....I keep reading them! I just finished Louis Carol's, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass. Both of which are excellent novels! and I'm nearly finished Osho's, Freedom, and Ram Dass', Learning the Baghavarta Gita. I also picked up a neat little book by George Orwell called, Why I write. It's a very short read, and it's very interesting. I highly recommend any of these novels.

What I don't recommend however, is the movie Daredevil. I had the misfortune of being tired and bored last night whilst eating my giant burrito, and caught it on Pearl (I never would have rented it) My only question for Daredevil is, how the hell do you suddenly go from being nearly dead to fighting bad guys, and jumping from roof to roof with a stab wound going clear through your shoulder??? Get Lost.
He should have been left in the comic book shop along side batman's magic belt, and the penguin's impossible umbrella.

Lastly, for anyone in the hk area, Doublethinks will be playing this wednesday at the Wanch in Wan Chai. It's Free. Thanks to everyone who came out to the last show. If you've any comments or suggestions send them to brendan@doublethinks.com

Cheers
Brendan

What to do, what to do

Well, I've only a month left before I say goodbye to hong kong, kit ming, and doublethinks, and I'm not sure if I can handle it..... 'it' of course refers to the unbelievebly cold weather that canada has to offer.
I'm really excited to come home for a bit. I've been in hk now for a straight year, and though it's been great, there's just nothing that compares with a nice homecooked meal and spending christmas with friends and family.

Josh, Alexandra, Annie, Cj, Lauren, and everyone else back home......I request a snowball fight!!! It's been ages since I've been knocked over at just the right angle, that pushes snow down between waistline and skin. Oh the good times!

I've been a complete geek lately, having discovered my love of comic books (rather Menga). So far i've bought the first three menga's of my all time favourite anime, called Full Metal Alchemist. It's such a great series, and now the original comics have started being translated into english. Just an hour ago, rob and I were in Page One in Cental and I had to battle with myself as to whether I should blow a hundred bucks on a new comic or an actual book.
This time I'm happy to say that I went for the slightly more intellectually involved route. I picked up a great new book called 'Freedom' by Osho. Though I've only read a few random bits of it when I was in the shop, I think it'll be a great read. Steph picked up a couple of other books from the same author, and she seemed to enjoy him quite a bit.

The usual studio was booked up during our habitual sunday practice this week. Luckily, Anders managed to find a new place for us, and it turned out to be a great little place. It was on 18th floor of a commercial building in Mong Kok....not too far from the other one. On two sides of the studio we were surrounded by windows, and all around us was some serious looking gear. All of this was in a lovely white room with hardwood floors, which provided a great environment for us. It was a nice switch. We managed to work out some kinks with a few new and old songs, and we ran through the set list for our upcoming show as well. In all, we've got a good show ahead of us. We've broken the set down into three chapters according to the energy level of the music, and having to switch instruments a bit.

Chapter One:
yellow ruby
di don
could have been
riddles on sale

Chapter Two:
Piano Song( I can't remember the translation of the title from chinese)
Ocean Music

Chapter Three:
Rubber Band
How Long
Sleeping Elephants

Generally a good mix of stuff
And now it's time to teach one last lesson.
Happy Halloween

Brendan

Zeynex the Warrior

It's been over a month since I last updated my fancy blog. I had been meaning to add a few posts over the last month, but I've forgotten whatever it was I had to say.
A few interesting things have happened, such as moving off of lamma island and into swanky/convienent Central. In now takes me about 35 minutes to get to work, as opposed to the minimum 75 minutes from lamma.

I was in a nervous state the whole last week of september, which continued on right until I successfully passed through immigration from macau, back into Hong Kong, for the fifth time in the last year. Last time I left for a visa run, kit ming and I went to Shenzhen for a day of prospective shopping. Upon trying to enter back into HK I was taken aside by two immigration officers. One was a gruff sounding man who clearly didn't want to be at work (not to my advantage in the slightest) and the other was a average height woman, with a slender build, who was far too quiet for my liking. They lead me into some room with no chairs (damn scare tactics) infront of four people sitting at one long table. Not much at all was said. I was asked some simple questions regarding my reason for being in hk, and my anticipated time of departure. Nothing too bad really, accept that I had now been flagged down by immigration, which would make my next visa run an extremely nervous encounter. And as I said before........I was quite worried.
Happily though my next, and last visa run to macau turned out to be much more of a success than I had planned. They could have just looked at me when I was coming back from macau at 6:30am tuesday morning, that my luck was up, and given me a week to get the hell out of china. Both rob and I were taken aside in our tired, semi drunken state to a waiting room, then a little office.........waiting. I wasn't even that nervous at this point because I hadn't slept in a solid day, and had literally been drinking all night with steph and rob (having a great time as a potential going away party) Anywho, this really young guy walked in the room, told us he knew we were working here, illegally, and then came the magic words, "I don't care that you're working here. Just go back to your own country's for a little while, and apply for working visa's, then come back"
The lovely daniel Lui gave us two more months and then sent us on our elated way.

I celebrated my twenty-first birthday by doing nothing particularily special. I spent much of the day walking around causeway bay on my own. I did have a very nice birthday dinner though. Steph, Josh, Kit Ming and I went to the bookworm cafe (my favourite restaurant) ate a tonne of food, and generally just had a pleasent/relaxing meal together. So, that was the big 21.

doublethinks has been doing well lately. We've been playing more shows and getting a lot of constructive comments. Our main concern when playing live is to mind the balance of the guitars, and make sure that the drums aren't busting eardrums, as Gabe does with his shattering sticks in hand.
Our most recent and most significant gig as of late, was a show on october 13th at the edge. We played a decent set, and actually had someone write a review about the performence. It's a bit of a mixed review to be honest, but having been compared to oasis, coldplay, and notably echo and the bunnymen can't be all that bad. The write up and some pictures of us rocking everyone's sock's off can be found at www.undergroundhk.com
Our next big show isn't until november 6, so we have time to relax and work on new material. if anyone's interested in coming just give myself, anders, gabe, or shaun a ring.......or email........or just yell really loud. I'll hear you........trust me.
Right, tickets are $150 bucks, but that includes two drinks. Plus it's in tst, which can be a pricey place to drink. So, haveing two drink tickets in your hands, plus three awesome bands to watch isn't such a bad deal.

In other music news...
I plan on recording a few tracks of my own making next month, so that I have something to show you folks in canada that i'm not all that lazy and unmotivated. It won't be anything special, just me and my acoustic. I haven't said anything to anders about it yet, but I'm going to try to get him to help me with some bass, or bongo's or something to add a little more thickness, and flavour. I'll also need his help, and likely gabe's as well with the mixing and mastering, because it's such a time consuming process, that really needs a few sets of ears and a lot of input.
Not that it's very important, but I've been thinking of whether to use my own name for the prospective ep title, or a name of my own choosing. A name i've wanted to use for a band for a while now is, Read Music. I really like how it sounds.

Lastly, but not at all the least important....
Kit Ming and I have been really well lately. We've now been together for over eight months, and I've never been more happy and all around comfortable with someone before........which of course is a very good sign for the future.

cheers
brendan

GUCCI PARTY BABY

success!

Last night rob anders and I attended the annual gucci fashion show. Our friend, ming, works PR for gucci, and he managed to get us a few invites to see last nights show. I'll see if I can upload some pictures of coat rack model people later.

I'm finding it hard to focus right now on actually saying anything that i want to say. Partly because I just woke up after six hours of sleep. I'm at sally's flat using her laptop, and there's some fella behind me instaling a new air conditioner. Naturally, installing anything at all tends to be quite noisey, so I couldn't have much of a lie in.

In other news, this is my very very very first saturday I've ever booked off from work!!
Interkids being the illegel place that it is, doesn't give it's employees any of the public/mandatory holidays that everyone else in hong kong seem to get. I started working the first saturday I got back into Hong Kong, which was the end of october, and I had just one saturday off for christmas..........which wasn't that great, because I had to work the sunday after anyway.
My saturday classes are all so hectic. For the first five hours all I have is little kids, with the average of four years. After five consecutive splitting headaches I can relax a bit with my two older classes, where the kids are about ten or eleven years old.
SO.... not having to deal with any of that today, as well as being safe in the knowledge that I'm not working tomorrow........... I feel happy!

Right then, Gucci party last night.
I had to buy a black jacket for the occasion, and sported with it, a white pinstripe dress shirt, and just a stinking pair of jeans.
It started off in a very surreal reception area, where as you walk in you can't help but notice models having their photos taken, and there just so happens to be fancy black runway carpet under your feet. Anywho, I can't be bothered to go into detail describing anything now, so I'll just say that it was dark, there were strange blue lights coming from the strange tables, and there were strange people dressed all in black walking around with strange black trays of champainge, whiskey with lemon, and some other strange tasting drinks.
There was an open bar all night with long elegant glassware spaning the blacktop bar, all in a rather large hall at the Hong Kong Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai.
Needless to say I drank a fair bit, but didn't actually get too drunk at all.
One thing that surprised me was that, I actually bumped into a few people I knew after the fashion show ended, and the party began. One of whom was a girl Rob and I worked with in the summer named Winky. She was there with a few of her friends. Winky introduced me to one of her friends whose name was................(drum roll please) Tease!
Yes, that's right, Tease. I found the name quite amusing. She was a local girl, but studies in England, so, I'm presuming that she must have heard all the wise cracks possible regarding her choice of english name. Admitedly though, I really had to contain myself from a fit of laughter as I was looking at her, and shaking her hand. I'm glad it was dark and the music was loud.

Anywho, the night ended at about four o'clock with Rob and I having a mini adventure trying to find a minibus back to sha tin town centre. We managed to get ourselves a messy falafel each, and then grabbed a bus that said it was going to Mong Kok. It did, we got there safely enough, and Rob even got some sugary mango juice. You've got to love 24 hour city life.........there's always somewhere to go to get sugary mango juice. After that we got on some random mini bus........we were loosely thinking that it was the right one back to sha tin. One problem with being a foreigner on a minibus is that you have to say the street name that you want to get off at, by yelling it at the driver. We didn't know any sort of street name, and even if we did, people tend to think that as westerners we're trying to speak english, even though we could be yelling in canto. So, communication is always a failure.
Luckily someone yelled at just the right time, and we managed to find our way back to sally and gabe's flat without much difficulty, and only a little bit of noise.
A good night in all.

who wants a quickie?!

hey all!

Here's a quick one that I only just realized I forgot to post!
anywho. here she be.

one last thing before I make like a tree. this is my last month on lamma island. For october and a week of november, i'm going to be crashing on various sofa's and linolium floors. Should be fun because after that comes... tuk tuk thailand!

right so, if anyone cares to hit up the beach just give me a ring. I'm always up for a swim.
cheers
---------------------
arrrr.....

doublethinks played a show at the wanch last wednesday.......it went really well until the last song, where i suddenly blanked out and forgot the whole fucking thing. Good times though. There were quite a few people there, including all the new gelta's fresh off the chatteris boat.

hey johnbie!!!!!!!

I decided not to buy a rabbit. I figure since I'm never home for very long, that I'd neglect it...... plus I'd have to leave the aircon on all day so it wouldn't die from the heat. I prefere not to use much electricity, and the rabbit would ruin that angle.

Plans are changing constantly. Rob and I are seriously thinking about doing our tefl certs in phuket, thailand come november. The course we're looking at is a full month, housing is supplied, and it's meant to be really challenging, though rewarding. It's a tad on the pricey side though. The course alone costs 12500 HK$, about two grand canadian. On top of the course cost I'll need some money to live for the month, as well as buy my ticket to thailand, and back to HK.
If we actually do end up doing our tefl's then we'ld be laughing in regards to getting better paying, legitimate jobs, that would supply us with work visa's.

After prospective Thailand, I'd stay in HK for about a week and a half, working for a bit of extra dough, and then I'd be back in canada for christmas. Once home, I'll probably have to find a job to earn my fare back to hong kong, which i'm sure would take a couple of months.

Before this whole tefl business came about, I was planning on moving to the new territories to Tai Wai, into a new flat with Rob. We both wouldn't mind having a nice flat, that we could furnish on our own. We found an amazing little furniture shop in ma on shan about a month ago, where they had chairs that looking like giant hands. They were the perfect size, and because one of the chair's fingers runs directly up the centre of where your back would be, they provide posture support. My back is always sore from bending over at little tables all the time, teaching little munchkin children.

A group of us went out drinking saturday, as is the custom, and I ended up breaking my glasses.......................again.
I loved those glasses, they were so comfy, and had swirly brown and white all over them.
I bought a new pair yesterday before I went off to the studio in mong kok. I was in a rush so I picked out a new pair in a few minutes. Now, that I'm actually wearing them, they're just alright looking. I think they're a bit too big in the lense area. I've got a spare set of frames at my flat on lamma, so I'm going to get some lenses made for them, probably this week. I think i've had four pair of glasses in the past two years.........
the funny thing is, is that I've been thinking about laser eye surgery just in the past couple of weeks. Kit ming's sister recommended it too me. She said that she has some friends who've had it done, and it worked really well for them. Perhaps breaking yet another pair of glasses was a sign..

I was at steph and josh's place last night, and we ended up watching, I Heart Huckabee's. I had heard the name before, but never anything about the story line. To anyone who hasn't seen this movie, I definatly recommend it.................it was amazing. Definatly one of the best movies I've seen in a long while.

tiz all for now.
brendan

ring ring

I'm not dead!
In fact, i'm feeling great! I've been having a wonderful time socializing and getting lost in the hk rush during the past few months, so i apologise for the complete and utter lack of updates.

so what's new?
lately, i've been thinking about buying myself a fancy dancy phone card, so that i can actually call some of you folks lost in the wilderness of canada........england........the states......and where ever the hell else you are.

Don't be too surprised if you here my distantly familiar voice yelling down your phoneline during the next couple of days.

It's hot here.............really hot. I've never really liked basking in the sun, or frolicking on the beach too much in the past. But! Due to my remarkably close vacinity to the beautiful powerstation beach on lamma (on the left are beautiful lush rolling green mountains, or the right there's a big fucking power station... hence the name) i've taken a big big liking to the salty water and coarse whitened sand. if any of you chumps are in the area on any given sunday you can find me honning my ever increasing frisbe skills. Feel free to join me in my goal of over taking my minor fear of the great unknown that is the water. Every time I'm out swimming I go out just a little further, and try really freaking hard to push away the thought of sometime creepy, and unfamiliar dragging me under, or heading off with a precious limb. I absolutly love swimming now.

in other news.......

I really want a rabbit. I'll probably buy one this month. They're so cool. I can't wait to just sit at home letting it hop about and sniff at it's new surroundings.

i'm going on a junk (yacht) trip this coming sunday.
that should be fun. I'm sure i'll get really drunk, and swim about in some of the little islands all around hong kong.

i'm going to be moving to sha tin, or tin wai come the start of october. I love lamma, but i'm willing to sacrifice a bit of serenity in order to save a crap load on rent and travel expenses... plus i'll be way closer to kit ming, and there are a lot of job opportunities in the new territories, and right now, i'm way too far south to consider traveling so far north everyday for work.

ming had invited rob and I to the big annual gucci party on sept 2nd. there will be an open bar. we're buying suits. awesome

that's all for now
brendan

CJ CJ CJ CJ

Hiya CJ!

Well, it's been a while since my last post, and I suppose a fair bit has happened during the past twenty days or so.

To start, Doublethinks (my band: www.doublethinks.com) is doing extremely well. Anders Gabe and I have been busy little bunnies in the recording studio, finishing up all the mixing and mastering for our first EP, which may be called 'The Neighbourhood'. In total there will be six songs, and even though we're not even finished all the final touches, I can't wait to get back under the mics to record some of the new stuff we've churned out.

Over the past couple of weeks we've begun playing gigs again, and it feels great! Our first surprise appearance was at The Wanch, where after a studio session, we went to wan chai to check out our friends new band. It was just an open mic, and we didn't have any instruments, so we borrowed gear from another band and laid out two solid songs. We couldn't play anything else because Shaun didn't have a capo, nor did anyone else, so, that pretty ended the night. I ended up drunk, hitting up a bunch of bars with Shaun afterwards and eventually, I forgot an 11 yard role of canvas in a taxi, that I had bought earlier that day. So, being the funny drunk that I am, I spent a good half an hour argueing with some guy named Barry at the taxi service centre, trying to locate my $500hk role of canvas. He said that he would call me back with the whereabouts of my canvas, but.......

BARRY NEVER CALLED BACK!
that scoundral.

So, I'm continuing to be prolific with my art, and soon I will add another bit of ink to my body. I've been working on this piece for a good six months, on and off, and I'm nearing the point of completion. This time I'm moving away from the arms, and am getting inked on the chest. Anywho, should be fun. I'm planning on adding to the colourful right arm when I go back to the hammer for christmas.

UMMMMMMMMM........................ I can't really think of much else to say.
Kit Ming and I are still together going on four months now. She now has a new nickname thanks to my mother, I sometimes op to call her Kitty Ming. Clever isn't it. haha, she is a cutie.

Oh right! Doublethinks, this coming saturday is entering the first round of the HK battle of the bands. The world battle of the bands are being held in hk this year, and will consist of participants from the States, New Zealand, HK, and another couple of countries.
So, I'll surely update again soon with the results of this saturdays festivities.

anywho, time for lunch
cheers
brendan

Two and a half years Plan

Plans are beginning to crystalize, in regards to what I'll be up to in the next couple of years.

Though very loosely layed out, I'm happy that I have certain goals to ascertain. So, starting from this summer I'm going to work work work, and save as much as I can, using my wealth to pay off my debts, weighing in at about 18,000 Hk dollars.

By the end of august I hope to alleiviate myself of debt.
December 12- January 12, back to Canada from a lovely albeit wintery visit.
Then Back to Hong Kong for another five months or so, where I'd work to save as much as I can. ( The time period for this one is pretty shaky, because it really depends on how much I'm able to save within the next year)

After the approximate five months in Honky town, I'd come back to Canada to earn my TEFL certificate (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) which would ensure me a good job, with higher salery in HK.
As well as my TEFL, I plan on getting my Motorcyle license in as quick a time as possible. I think I can get the full deal in about three months if I take lessons and all that extra money sucking garb.
So, with my M license, and TEFL cert in hand, I plan on picking up a second hand motorcycle well suited for long distances. Buying the actual bike may be a bit expensive, and may require a bank loan.

Now that I have my hypothetical motorcycle, and I'm all packed and ready to go, I would set off from Hamilton, heading towards British Columbia.
I've just started doing research today to get an idea of what path I'll be taking.
From what I have written down in front of me, it looks like:

Hamilton- Manitoba (Winnipeg) via the Trans Canada Hwy.
winnipeg- Saskatchewan (Regina to Saskatoon to Prince Albert National Park)
Sask- Alberta (If I follow the Sask route above, I can head SSW to Edmonton, then straight west to Jasper National Park) Depending on the altitude at some areas, and the pressure on the bike, I'd like to follow the mountains right down to Banff National Park to Lake Louisse to Banff, then cross the border into BC.
Though I may take a less ambitious route and head from Prince Albert, Sask. SW to Calgary, then to Banff and British Columbia.
I'm not sure which way I'd like to head in BC, but I was thinking of heading right out to the Pacific Coast, stopping by Vancouver, then following the coast south into the states for a bit, because it may be around late fall by the time I complete my set journey, and warmer weather would be good for both the safety of the bike, and me.

Taking a direct route, pretty much following the Trans Canada Hwy, from Hamilton to Vancouver is 4550 km, or 2844 miles. Though with some of the zig-zagging I've in mind, I'm sure it's quite higher than that, as I don't really want to just follow the highway, because of the monotany, which the prairy provinces and famous for, and I don't know how safe the TC Hwy would be on a motorbike.

Anyway, I'm starving and it's lunch time.
tartar
Brendan

Oogle boggle da dee! I'm on fire!!!!!!

To break up last week's usual work schedual, I worked for Odeon Productions Company.

I can't remember if in a past entry I mentioned being stopped by some random women in causeway bay a while back, but it turns out that she wasn't just a nutcase wanting to kill me.
Last thursday was spent at Hong Kong Stadium dressed like a rock star, drinking beer, and generally just goofing around.
I was hired along with my friend Shaun, to play the roll of the rock star guitarist for the phone company, Vodophone. For all you north american's reading, I've been told by my english friends that it's quite a big company.
Anyway, it was an enjoyable/easy day, that ended with myself and some others in a fairly intoxicated state, in the Grand Hyatt in Wan Chai.........nice place, but way too fancy.

In other news......I'm getting screwed!!!!!!
hahaha, but not in a good way at all. I've begun the part time process of looking around for a new job. I like my job now (for the most part anyway) but rob and I are getting dicked around in regards to getting work visa's.
Our boss, Tommy, told us that we would have a meeting today to finalize some things, but oops! I guess he forgot to show up to work!!!!!! What a prick.

anyway, one good thing that may come out of the vodophone commercial, is a prospective client.
I was speaking with the owner of Odeon Productions for a while inbetween shots, and she seems to be a genuinly nice person. During out talks I she asked what I do for a living, to which I informed her that I teach english.........but, I only do that to pay the bills. I told her that I'm an artist, and now she'ld like to see some of my work. So, I'm still working on one considerably sized piece now, and i'm nearly done a second one, in which I used for the first time, spraypaint. This past summer I hung out a lot at the lounge in the casbah, and I took quite fondly to the work gracing those dark walls for so long, that I still have a prefect mental image to recall at ease, of many of the works. One of the more interesting things I noted about them, was the artist's use of spray paint with the use of layers of oils, water colours, and acrylic paints all harmoniously working together, to produce a magnificant display of colour.

My recent works have moved away from the subject, and more towards a certain initial reaction dependant on colour, movement, and line. Occasionally when painting I can't help but notice, that i'm 'stealing' ideas from gaugain, and herring, which I think any healthy artist will do, but I'm worried that nothing of my own will come through. Hopefully, with the help of the island environment, and a healthy mind I'll produce what I need to, and in time I'll have done enough to show my new, prospective client.

Lastly........
This week I'm going to try something new. I'm not going to drink.
I'll let you know how it turns out.

Cheers
Brendan

Lamma Lamma www.Lamma.com.hk

Well, it's Monday morning and the folks are now on their way back to Canada. It was great having them here, especially considering that the next time I'll get back there is Christmas. And a having a couple of home cooked meals with the Rents, Steph and Josh was quite nice. I definatly have missed mum's homemade spaghetti.

Yesterday we went to Macau, because we had pretty much done everything else touristy in Hong Kong. Out of the five of us, I was the only one who had been there before, but I really didn't see too much, as I only spent three hours there last time. Plus, my tourist visa had only ten days left on it, so, now I'm good for yet another three month stint.
Last night, Steph Josh and I were briefly discussing plans to travel to Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand in the not too distant future. Recently we had heard about a sleeper train that we could catch, from Hong kong to Southern China, which would then travel for a good 27 hours right into any of the above countries. Seeing as I don't want to draw too much attention to myself with hong kong immigration, I think the trip would be a great idea, instead of making the habitual day trip to Macau every three months.

Actually, I was thinking yesterday, whilst wandering about Macau, that I wouldn't mind living there for a while. It would be far different from living in Hong Kong, because everything's in Chinese and Portuguese, though many of the younger residents speak a fair bit of english. It's also not nearly as busy as hong kong. Plus, if I could actually wrangle myself a proper visa, I could save my pennies and buy a kickass scooter. So many people, just fly around all over Macau on scooters. I've seen entire parking lots completly packed full of the little motorized two-seaters.

As for Lamma life.......
I'm loving life on the island. It's peaceful, I have a lot of space to myself, and most importantly I've set up nearly everything I need for my studio. Just last week I bought a roll of primed canvas, measuring 63'' x 6 yards, and I've been working on one piece just over 5' x 5'.
I've been fairly busy lately with trying to move everything in and having the folks over, so there have been a few nights when I crashed back at Hung Hom, but all in all I'm liking not having a television. I'm sure it'll get a bit lonely at times, but those instances will pass and i'll find something to busy myself with.

That's all I've time for now.
I'll write again soon, and thanks to everyone who's actually reading. Feel free to send an email my way, and let me know how everything's going.

Cheers,
brendan

Drinky fun

Myself, Rob, Rod, and Fiona have made a wonderful discovery! We happened upon a new 'All you can Drink' bar!!!!! It's pretty much the same price as the Woodstone in Causeway, only this place is in Mong Kok, so, it's within staggering distance from our flat.
The four of us were looking for a nice relaxing environment to chat, and generally catch up, in Mong Kok this week. We checked out a few odd cafe's in one building, and decided to start from the top and work our way down the 25 story commercial centre. Well, on the highest floor we found the lovely Dundas pub and cafe.
I think a bunch of peeps should be heading there this saturday, but I'm not sure if i'll be up for it. I've had a nasty headache for nearly a week now, that only today has subsided somewhat. Last Saturday at the woodstone a fairly decent crowd turned out, but my head was pounding so much that I didn't really drink, thus was a bit more quiet than usual.

Sunday night I was feeling considerably better, especially since I didn't have a hang over, so, Anders, Shaun, Gabe, Sally, Rod, Rob, and I all headed out to Shek O beach. We were all meant to meet early that day, but due to the previous night's activities we didn't end up actually getting to the beach 'til about half seven. With bongo's and guitar's in hand (plus a ceremonious beer) we spent the night surrounded by sand, mountians and the sea. It was so enjoyable in fact, that right after work the next day, myself and Rob met Anders at the bus station in Shau Kei Wan and we did it all over again. Monday however, was a bit rainy, but we didn't mind.
Oh yeah, hahaha....... I was nearly sick that night from a sudden urge to race up and down the beach about four times. We had, of course, a few beers in us at this point, when I stood up and asked Anders if he wanted to race. He didn't seem to have any objections. So, after rolling up our pant legs we counted to three and tore ass like a grade 8 track meet. I actually had a lot of fun running to the point of exhaustion, but after I had settled back down a bit I was completly over come with a feeling of nausia. Literally for about the next forty minutes I was lying down gripping my stomach, with my head over a considerably deep hole in the sand, that rob and I had dug for the perpose of vomiting. Thankfully though, the feeling did go away without my having to Chunks-ahoy in the sand. I did ope for saving the rest of our beer for another occasion though, which was a smart idea.

Now for some work news! Yeah fun! Rob and I came into work a couple on monday's ago, and to our surprise there were stuffed animals floating across the floor. Yes, nothing says fun, like spending the day moving furniture in sopping wet shoes, because of a burst water tank. At first it was fairly amusing that there were four inches of water spreading across the entire school, thus knocking out all the computers, destroying all the carpeting, and killing off quite a few stuffed toys, but after a while I just felt tired and wet. I had to take apart Haddy's desk (one of my bosses) and it took so freaking long. Seriously, that thing was mammothly heavy. For the next week after that I had a sore back, and a stiff neck...... which probably has something to do with my reaccuring head ache.

....................................................................
Alright! We hit up the ol' Dundas Pub and Cafe last night, and it was awesome! Great View, cheap beer, the dice game, and jenga! What more could anyone want.
I don't usualy go out Friday night, as I work all day Saturday, but somehow my entire flat and I got the impression that it was Anders' birthday.
we sang happy birthday to anders when we met him in mong kok, and I guess he just thought it was a joke or something, because later on when Gabe and Sally came to the bar we discovered our extreme idiocy. It wasn't Anders' Birthday at all!!!!!!! IT WAS IN DECEMBER!!!!!!!!! Oh man, we're idiots. LOL, oh well, I had a great night at the new local, and I may head back there tonight.

Well, that's all for now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANDERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chitty Chitty Bang BAND!!!

I've some big news for all you out there in radioland. I'm getting my own flat!
Yes, that's right, I'm moving out. I had been thinking of finding my own place on and off for the past couple of months, but I was having way too much fun getting drunk and messing about with the boys in hung hom to really persue the idea. For the past few weeks or so Steph has been checking out flats on Lamma, and I decided to join her to see what they were like for myself one day, and now......well........we're practically neighbours.

Going with my usual impulsive self I put a deposite on the first flat, that I checked out with Kit Ming. Initially, after my hasty decision I thought that maybe it was just a tad too impulsive, and that I really didn't think it through whether I'd be able to afford living on my own at all, but I soon rejected Doubt. My reason for wanting to move has nothing to do with being unhappy in my current situation with Rob, Rod and Gabe. On the contrary I've never been happier with my flat mates, because all of us are jsut so entirely easy going, rarely take much seriously, and we all seem to share the same sort of modern-morbid sense of humour..... plus we all listen to kick ass music, which never hurts, unless it's ridiculously loud. My wanting to go solo is a direct of the city life, and how entirely distracting everything can be, especially considering that my first foremost passion is for the arts; it's hard to persue such a craft as oil painting when living with three others, and having little personal space. So, this past Sunday I went out to Lamma again to pay the remainder of my deposite, and to check out the precise dimensions of the flat.

The flat itself is exactly what I was looking for, which is another reason why I was so quick to jump all over it, for it's a studio flat. Studio flat, however, sounds altogether too upscale, newyork for my liking. It carries the title of 'studio' simply because there's no bedroom at all, just a small kitchen, similar sized wasroom, and one large room. In total I have 350 sq ft of roof over my head, as well as a balcony, and a rooftop measuring the same as the flat below. I am extremely happy to have my own place, and I suspect that it can only get better when I actually make the move. The first of April is the big day, when it's legally all mine, but my new landlady said that I can move in anytime during the last couple of weeks of the month, providing I pay the first month's rent and and property agency fee ahead of time. I'm going to have to borrow some cash from one of my flatmates until I get paid within the first few days of April, because even though I'm budgeting like never before, there's nothing actually inside the flat, so I've been playing the role of the domestic dude for the past week. I've done quite well for myself so far. Today I bought an electric stovetop, a cutting board and some cutlery, onto of what I already have at home, which is a wardrobe, large wooden shelving unit, some cookware and a small oven. I'll probably have to wait another month before I can afford to buy a bed, so April may be a tad uncomfortable, but I don't think I'll mind too much. Last month I spent a lot on money on art supplies like primer, a crap load of oil paints, a pallet, brushes and paint thinner, so I'll be able to get right to work as soon as I make the move.

In other good news the old folks will be here soon! I think they get in on the 26th, which is great because it'll be just in time for Pop's to help me move everything. I've a whack load of stuff that's really going to be a pain in the ass to move, because of the hour long journey from Hung Hom to Lamma. So, the more help I have, the better....especially with the fridge, that's going to suck. I don't even know if I'm allowed to bring it on the ferry, though I suspect I'll be able to as long as I pay the friendly ferry staff the appropriate amount of moo-la.
Oh yeah! ontop of my dad's helping hand, I can put Steph's bf from Australia to work, seeing as he gets here in.........one week! Holy Shit, I didn't really realize 'til just now how soon he's going to be here in; it'll be nice to finally meet Josh, though from all of Steph's photograph's and accompaning stories I feel like we already have.

Lastly, I want to recommend the novel, 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Matainence' by Robert Pirsig. Never before, have I read a a story such as his, where I simply cannot imagine anyone not falling in love with his words. Pirsig takes you into a world where philosophy is more tangeble than anything else, and you cannot help but dwell on his words even hours after reading. Perhaps I'm being a a tad over zealous. Find the time to pick it up, and let me know what you think.

Cheers.
I miss you all.
Brendan

A Taken Man

It's been quite a while since my last post, and I appologize for the delay. I actually wrote a substantial update sometime last week, but some SOB shut down the computer when I was in a lesson. Oh well....

Noel and Margaret came and went, and they seemed to have a great time in HK. It was nice to see Noel again, and finally meet Margaret. We ended up meeting two friday's ago, and went out for a lovely dinner at a pricey Thai place in Central. If anyone ever desires some delicious Thai food, then I definatly recommend Cafe Siam. Being as Steph and I hadn't seen Noel in thirteen years, he payed for the dinner, which consisted of lots of food, beer, and a few bottles of wine. I'm telling ya, Noel's generosity is at times too much..........especially when it comes in the form of beer. Anyway, we had a late dinner together, took a few photo's for the folks back home, and then headed down to lan Kwai Fong. As it was a friday night, it was packed. We ended up at a nice place called Club 64 that I used to frequent a lot last year, where Noel kept a steady stream of drinks for the next few hours. To make a long story short....... Steph ended up missing her first lesson the next morning, and we were both still drunk when we taught our first two lessons. The rest of the day was consumed by a massive hangover, and I was elated when the day finally ended.

Though I enjoyed the single life, I finally found someone I wanted to keep close to me for more then one night. I am now a taken man!!!! I'm happy to announce that myself and Kit Ming have been together now for a few weeks, and everything's going smoothly.
Alright, well, that's all I've got time for now. I promise I'll write again soon, for there's much to be said.
tartar for now
brendan

THEY"RE COMING!!!

Happy Lunar Newyear Everyone!!!

Chinese Newyear is just two days away, and thankfully that means I don't need to work 'til Saturday! Horray!
Now this may come as a surprise to some of you out there in la la land, but for the first Saturday in a long while I actually didn't go out on the piss. All day at work this past Saturday I was feeling nausious, and at times a bit dizzy, so, midway through the day I spoke those ever so rarely heard words........"I don't think I'm going out drinking tonight." I did naturally feel a bit left out of the fun, seeing as a big group was heading out for the evenings festivities, but I am definatly glad I stuck by my nausious guns. Working Saturday's at Interkids are always extremely busy. So busy in fact, that free food is ready and waiting for us all day long in the kitchen, for the fourteen or so teachers rushing about trying to sign workbooks, gather lesson materials and simply sit down for a moments rest. Usually, even when slightly hung over, the free food gets me through the day just fine, but such was not the case this time, as I couldn't eat much of anything all day. Later that night when at home I made myself a rather gracious sized bowl of potato and leak soup (one of my favs) but I could only eat a third of it, before bending over to throw up everything in my stomach.

Luckily I don't have a fever at all, and I suspect it was the oober cheesy, constipation inducing pizza from friday night that lead me to gut wrentching activities the following night. I now feel absolutly fine, aside from a bit of a tender stomach, so I'm ready to treat myself to yet another delicous Aloo Gohbi Curry in just about an hour's time.

Myself, Gabe, Anders and Shaun all managed to meet up yesterday for a two hours of solid, productive band practice in Mong Kok. The seven song demo is nearing completion, so it should be ready by the end of the month. We've all been pretty busy the past couple of weeks, so the closest we got to having a steady practice came in the form of us waking up at my flat, sometime late in the afternoon last week, and messing about coming up with some decent guitar and scribbling down a few lines every now and then. Anders, being the kickass guitarist that he is, came up with an awesome new track that got me singing right along. The both of us agree that it sounds pretty good, so we put it to use during yesterday's jam session. The only problem with it so far is that I can't sing and play the bass line similtaneously. Practice Practice Practice I suppose, and I'll work it out soon enough.

We haven't played any shows since Chicago Blues, for the reason that we're focusing on really getting our act together in terms of new tunes. Though he only mentioned it lightly yesterday, Anders was saying that we nearly have enough material for a new album. The more that I think of it, the more I realize how completely true it is......I mean, we do definatly need another month of regular practice's before we could really say the words "new album"with confidence, but the material is there. It's now just a matter of maintaining focus and working out those ever- so- wonderful musical glitches.

One last thing! I was talking to the folks back home just a couple of days ago, and it seems that they are officially coming to Hong Kong to visit Steph and I!!!!!!! It'll be awesome to have nearly the whole family here, minus Carrie-o-line, and Ian. Though I'm sure they'll eventually make it out here to the east-east-east coast. Right, the rents will be here from March 28th right till April 14th, and from what was said when I spoke to them Saturday night, I think they may even be heading up to Beijing to see the Great Wall of China! Which I might add, Is DEFINATELY worth seeing!

Alright well, tiz time to get some curry!
cheers
Brendan