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
Monday, October 31, 2005
Monday, October 17, 2005
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
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
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