I've been keeping a journal of all the fun fun stuff I've done and seen so far. Today marks one full week on the road. But I have no time to write about anything now. In a couple of hours I'm heading out across the big nothing towards Melbourne. I should be kicking it with my sis, Steph and her boy toy Josh in a week and a half. WOoooo!!!!!
Take care all!
brendan
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
BYE BYE FREO!
My ride will be here in a moment. I'm all packed once again. Why do I always need to pack when I'm hung over?
Take care all!
Take care all!
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Last week in Freo
Four days of digging, a day off, another day of digging, two days off, gardening today and working on the docks tomorrow...all cash in hand. This is how I've been surviving without using my bank account. I would normally be using it, but there's nothing in there in withdraw. Odd.....I could have sworn that I transfered ALL my money from my Chong Hing account to my Canadian account over two weeks ago. Wait! I did!
I hate Chong Hing. The last two times I've transfered money from my Chinese bank to my Canadian bank there's been some mysterious cause which delays the movement of cash. When this happened before I still had money in my pocket. But, this time I took everything out and wire transfered it to CIBC. Somehow it's still not there yet.
So, I'm still in Fremantle, an area of Perth which everyone calls Freo. There seem to be a lot of short names for things here, many of them ending in 'o's'. The music scene here is amazing. I've seen some great bands, the best I've seen in ages. The best so far has been, Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke. Great stuff. For anyone planning on passing through Perth anytime in the future, just give the city a couple of days, then stay in Freo and head to Mojo's in north freo. Last night I went to their open mic night and didn't play. I showed up around half eight with my guitar but the night's list was already packed. There were some great acts and really talented musicians. It's been so easy to settle in here in Freo.
I called a fella who placed an ad for a riding companion to Melbourne a couple of days ago, and now happily have a lift all the way along Australia's east coast all the way to Melbourne, nearly 4000km away. The fella driving is a German named Daniel. He has a station wagon in good condition and wants to camp pretty much the whole way to Mel. Gas and any camping expenses will be split between the three of us, Daniel, myself and some other German gal. Another guy at the hostil traveled with Daniel before and said he can be a bit of a pain, being very regiment in his plans. So, if he's too annoying, I'll hop out and hitch the rest of the way. With all the places we plan on visiting it should take about three weeks give or take.
Right then. So far I've met some very friendly people, picked oranges and lemons, done a load of gardening, seen some great bands and have been shedding away the layers of Hong Kong's air (big breath in...ahhhhh...).
Awesome.
My friend's in HK, James and Elodie have given me the number of a friend of their's living in Perth. I think I'll give her a ring soon.
ho yeah!
tartar
brendan
I hate Chong Hing. The last two times I've transfered money from my Chinese bank to my Canadian bank there's been some mysterious cause which delays the movement of cash. When this happened before I still had money in my pocket. But, this time I took everything out and wire transfered it to CIBC. Somehow it's still not there yet.
So, I'm still in Fremantle, an area of Perth which everyone calls Freo. There seem to be a lot of short names for things here, many of them ending in 'o's'. The music scene here is amazing. I've seen some great bands, the best I've seen in ages. The best so far has been, Felicity Groom and the Black Black Smoke. Great stuff. For anyone planning on passing through Perth anytime in the future, just give the city a couple of days, then stay in Freo and head to Mojo's in north freo. Last night I went to their open mic night and didn't play. I showed up around half eight with my guitar but the night's list was already packed. There were some great acts and really talented musicians. It's been so easy to settle in here in Freo.
I called a fella who placed an ad for a riding companion to Melbourne a couple of days ago, and now happily have a lift all the way along Australia's east coast all the way to Melbourne, nearly 4000km away. The fella driving is a German named Daniel. He has a station wagon in good condition and wants to camp pretty much the whole way to Mel. Gas and any camping expenses will be split between the three of us, Daniel, myself and some other German gal. Another guy at the hostil traveled with Daniel before and said he can be a bit of a pain, being very regiment in his plans. So, if he's too annoying, I'll hop out and hitch the rest of the way. With all the places we plan on visiting it should take about three weeks give or take.
Right then. So far I've met some very friendly people, picked oranges and lemons, done a load of gardening, seen some great bands and have been shedding away the layers of Hong Kong's air (big breath in...ahhhhh...).
Awesome.
My friend's in HK, James and Elodie have given me the number of a friend of their's living in Perth. I think I'll give her a ring soon.
ho yeah!
tartar
brendan
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Hong Kong>Macau>Singapore>Australia!
To start, I'll apologize for the massive gap in postings for the last while. It gets a bit boring to sitting down and typing about any little exciting thing that happens sometimes, that I just can't help but be lazy.
In my last post I mentioned that my working holiday visa for Australia had cleared. It didn't nearly as long as I thought it would.
I had the pleasure of quitting work last week. It was particularly wonderful because I know this time that I won't be going back into teaching for a long, long while.
Sooooo, after a slight confrontation with immigration (I over stayed on my tourist visa for the second time) I ended up missing my ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. I was due to fly out from Macau to Singapore for a one night stop over before heading out from Singapore to Perth in western australia, but by the time I managed to fill in all of immigrations forms, pay a small fine and run down to just catch the ferry, I had almost no time at all to get to the airport and check in before final boarding call. I hadn't even cleared Hong Kong yet, and already my trip was falling to shit.
I ran off the ferry and had to wait ten minutes in line to clear Macau's immigration officers, ran outside, jumped in the first taxi I saw and told the fella to floor it to the airport. At first he seemed to understand that I was in a hurry but it didn't take him long to drop down to 40km/h leaving me muttering horrible things under my breath. We pulled up to the airport, I threw some cash at the driver and looked at my watch to see that I had exactly 2 minutes to find my check in desk, sort out my luggage and get on the plane before the doors closed. At this point I had pretty much stopped entertaining the idea of getting on my flight, but with such a delay between my connecting flight in Singapore, I was hopeful for a new connection later in the day.
This next bit is for anyone who thinks nothing directly beneficial can happen to you from a bit of fog and rain. MY FLIGHT WAS DELAYED!
I've never been so relieved (aside from when I didn't wet myself on that bus trip years ago). I was in such a hurry that morning sorting out a load of stuff with the post office, that I didn't even have time to sit down and have a meal all day. My flight's delay meant that I had enough time to breath....aaahhhhh...eat...mmmmmm.....and change some cash into Singapore dollars...$$$...PERFECT!
An hour later when I stepped onto the plane I had a big stupid smile on my face, a full stomach and a few dollars to call my friend, Lae, in Singapore when I touched down.
Singapore is a beautiful place from what I saw of it, which was very very little. Lae and I had a nice dinner of cheese pizza and tea at her huge amazing flat! before heading out to a quaint drinking area, thankfully away from the city, where we drank for a few hours before the bars closed. I met my good friend Lae in Hong Kong, so naturally we were both accustomed to drinking at anytime and anywhere. After the bar scene we went to a 24 hour grocer and tried to buy beer. The cashier looked at me a little funny when I placed four cans of Tiger beer on her counter. "I'm sorry sir, it's against the law to sell alcohol after one o'clock", "...oh, really?".
She gave us a second funny look when we put back the booze and came back with a pack of fresh raspberries.
In the morning Lae and I worked on a piece she was writing for school. She just started at NYU's newest campus, doing her graduate study in film and it's demanding from what she showed me.
We hugged, kissed cheeks and I hopped in a taxi.
Part 2: Ozzy ozzy oi oi!
A friend of mine in Hong Kong told me to head straight to southern Perth to a place called Fremantle. I made it out of the airport, got a shuttle bus to the city, grabbed a train to Freo and was exactly where I wanted to go, and I had no idea where I was.
I asked a friendly looking gal where the closest backpackers was and she actually walked me right to it. I must have looked pretty lost with my big bag and a guitar. The backpackers was full and the fella inside gave me directions to another. I gave him my thanks, walked out the door and promptly got lost. Then there was some crazy bloke running around swearing his head off waving a stick in the air and occasionally hitting the ground with it. He was obviously piss drunk and pissed off. Feeling love in the air me and my feet went in the exact opposite direction from where the angry fella was, which quickly turned into the middle of nothing. I hadn't slept much in the past.....summer or so...so, I was knackered at this point and was happily walking into nothing at all with the intention of putting up my tent in the first field I stepped into.
Magically, a car pulled up with a magical gal and her magical boyfriend. She and her bf saw me wandering about, dead lost, and then verbally accosted by a monkey with a stick. These magical people having just finished work, drove me around to full hostel after full hostel before finding a home for me at a place called the Old Fire Station. "Just in case" they said and gave me their phone number, offered a couch and tour guide services. I gave them hugs goodbye and an embarrassing amount of thanks before finally finding my face in a bed.
Freo is an awesome place and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking that Perth is just too far to head and couldn't possibly be worth the time. There's a great music scene, the people are international, friendly and helpful. And! They support busking!
Tomorrow is my first day of work. I was laying on my ass today when an announcement came on saying that there was some labouring work to be done. I went down to the office and got a job in about two minutes. Some local fella is redoing his back garden and needs some fella's to dig and move things for him. It pays 13 an hour, which I'm told isn't that great. But, it's good enough for me for sure. Pick up and drop off are included and the house owner is even throwing lunch into the mix. I should only be doing it for a few days and that's just fine by me. Then, I plan on heading to a lovely little spot called Rottness island before heading south to spend some time with big trees and wineries.
ho yeah!
brendan
In my last post I mentioned that my working holiday visa for Australia had cleared. It didn't nearly as long as I thought it would.
I had the pleasure of quitting work last week. It was particularly wonderful because I know this time that I won't be going back into teaching for a long, long while.
Sooooo, after a slight confrontation with immigration (I over stayed on my tourist visa for the second time) I ended up missing my ferry from Hong Kong to Macau. I was due to fly out from Macau to Singapore for a one night stop over before heading out from Singapore to Perth in western australia, but by the time I managed to fill in all of immigrations forms, pay a small fine and run down to just catch the ferry, I had almost no time at all to get to the airport and check in before final boarding call. I hadn't even cleared Hong Kong yet, and already my trip was falling to shit.
I ran off the ferry and had to wait ten minutes in line to clear Macau's immigration officers, ran outside, jumped in the first taxi I saw and told the fella to floor it to the airport. At first he seemed to understand that I was in a hurry but it didn't take him long to drop down to 40km/h leaving me muttering horrible things under my breath. We pulled up to the airport, I threw some cash at the driver and looked at my watch to see that I had exactly 2 minutes to find my check in desk, sort out my luggage and get on the plane before the doors closed. At this point I had pretty much stopped entertaining the idea of getting on my flight, but with such a delay between my connecting flight in Singapore, I was hopeful for a new connection later in the day.
This next bit is for anyone who thinks nothing directly beneficial can happen to you from a bit of fog and rain. MY FLIGHT WAS DELAYED!
I've never been so relieved (aside from when I didn't wet myself on that bus trip years ago). I was in such a hurry that morning sorting out a load of stuff with the post office, that I didn't even have time to sit down and have a meal all day. My flight's delay meant that I had enough time to breath....aaahhhhh...eat...mmmmmm.....and change some cash into Singapore dollars...$$$...PERFECT!
An hour later when I stepped onto the plane I had a big stupid smile on my face, a full stomach and a few dollars to call my friend, Lae, in Singapore when I touched down.
Singapore is a beautiful place from what I saw of it, which was very very little. Lae and I had a nice dinner of cheese pizza and tea at her huge amazing flat! before heading out to a quaint drinking area, thankfully away from the city, where we drank for a few hours before the bars closed. I met my good friend Lae in Hong Kong, so naturally we were both accustomed to drinking at anytime and anywhere. After the bar scene we went to a 24 hour grocer and tried to buy beer. The cashier looked at me a little funny when I placed four cans of Tiger beer on her counter. "I'm sorry sir, it's against the law to sell alcohol after one o'clock", "...oh, really?".
She gave us a second funny look when we put back the booze and came back with a pack of fresh raspberries.
In the morning Lae and I worked on a piece she was writing for school. She just started at NYU's newest campus, doing her graduate study in film and it's demanding from what she showed me.
We hugged, kissed cheeks and I hopped in a taxi.
Part 2: Ozzy ozzy oi oi!
A friend of mine in Hong Kong told me to head straight to southern Perth to a place called Fremantle. I made it out of the airport, got a shuttle bus to the city, grabbed a train to Freo and was exactly where I wanted to go, and I had no idea where I was.
I asked a friendly looking gal where the closest backpackers was and she actually walked me right to it. I must have looked pretty lost with my big bag and a guitar. The backpackers was full and the fella inside gave me directions to another. I gave him my thanks, walked out the door and promptly got lost. Then there was some crazy bloke running around swearing his head off waving a stick in the air and occasionally hitting the ground with it. He was obviously piss drunk and pissed off. Feeling love in the air me and my feet went in the exact opposite direction from where the angry fella was, which quickly turned into the middle of nothing. I hadn't slept much in the past.....summer or so...so, I was knackered at this point and was happily walking into nothing at all with the intention of putting up my tent in the first field I stepped into.
Magically, a car pulled up with a magical gal and her magical boyfriend. She and her bf saw me wandering about, dead lost, and then verbally accosted by a monkey with a stick. These magical people having just finished work, drove me around to full hostel after full hostel before finding a home for me at a place called the Old Fire Station. "Just in case" they said and gave me their phone number, offered a couch and tour guide services. I gave them hugs goodbye and an embarrassing amount of thanks before finally finding my face in a bed.
Freo is an awesome place and I highly recommend it to anyone thinking that Perth is just too far to head and couldn't possibly be worth the time. There's a great music scene, the people are international, friendly and helpful. And! They support busking!
Tomorrow is my first day of work. I was laying on my ass today when an announcement came on saying that there was some labouring work to be done. I went down to the office and got a job in about two minutes. Some local fella is redoing his back garden and needs some fella's to dig and move things for him. It pays 13 an hour, which I'm told isn't that great. But, it's good enough for me for sure. Pick up and drop off are included and the house owner is even throwing lunch into the mix. I should only be doing it for a few days and that's just fine by me. Then, I plan on heading to a lovely little spot called Rottness island before heading south to spend some time with big trees and wineries.
ho yeah!
brendan
Saturday, August 11, 2007
I GOT MY OZ VISA!
I thought it would take at least a few more weeks, but my visa application has been accepted. It was so quick!
Oh I'm a happy fella.
Now all I need is my ticket to Perth once my online banking is up and running and then come late september I'm on my merry way!!!!
wooooooo!
Oh I'm a happy fella.
Now all I need is my ticket to Perth once my online banking is up and running and then come late september I'm on my merry way!!!!
wooooooo!
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Alex, My Long Lost Sister.
So, I've one more lesson to go and a few hours to burn, then I'm off to the land of aeroplanes and baggage claims. Tonight, one of my best ever mates from Canada is touching down for nineteen days of fun under the Hong Kong sun.
We met back in highschool when Alex was organizing a bus trip for anyone who wanted to go to Edgefest, a yearly one day festival, that during those highschool days, was one of the coolest tickets around. It usually brought in 30,000 plus for the day, with three stages and big and unknown acts...........but the problem was distance. For most people in the greater toronto area like we were, the three hour drive north to the middle of nothing important was often a stress to organize. So, here comes alex, this gal I'd never seen before with the proposition of a bus full of friends making the pain of travel an adventure. Alex (Alley Cat) is the only person from those early highschool years whom I still talk to. There are other's of course, but she was the first to stick the whole way through. And...there's a very sound reason for it as well.....she's awesome.
Back to the past...
I've been keeping up with my running phase and have completely slacked off on biking, because my back rim is looking a bit too wavey to be readily recognized as belonging to the biology of a bicycle. Okay, well....it's not that bad, but it does need a few touch ups, especially in the rear brakes, which no longer exist.
Going for a run when I have the time a few nights a week is a real treat. Being so out of touch with the quick art of foot to ground I very very very easily tire out; on my bike those fun lovin'lactic acids take waaayy too long to make themselves known.
I've got into a whole system of jogging for ten minutes then sprinting as fast as I possibly can, for as long as I'm able before my lungs think it'd be a great idea to rival the sound of a 747 taking off.
This whole deal seems to work well for me. Sprinting is one of the greatest pleasures I've rediscovered in recent years.
Anywho, that's all pretty boring isn't it?
Yesterday I went off in the early morning after not much sleep from the previous night's music and debachery. Dirty Dan and the Seven Sea's played their last gig in hk before danny's departure to vancouver. Two thirds of the bowie knives played and after seven sea's I played my own stuff. It was a great night through out. Sunday night I played with shaun as well, opening for the seven sea's at a private cd release party. The cd sounds great by the way. So, if you're out in vancouver hunt down danny and greg. They'll both be there in a couple of weeks or less.
Crap, out of time again.
There's a prospect of an exhibition of my work in the next two months....it was chris jenkins birthday yesterday.......all is well.
yeah alex!
take care.
brendan
We met back in highschool when Alex was organizing a bus trip for anyone who wanted to go to Edgefest, a yearly one day festival, that during those highschool days, was one of the coolest tickets around. It usually brought in 30,000 plus for the day, with three stages and big and unknown acts...........but the problem was distance. For most people in the greater toronto area like we were, the three hour drive north to the middle of nothing important was often a stress to organize. So, here comes alex, this gal I'd never seen before with the proposition of a bus full of friends making the pain of travel an adventure. Alex (Alley Cat) is the only person from those early highschool years whom I still talk to. There are other's of course, but she was the first to stick the whole way through. And...there's a very sound reason for it as well.....she's awesome.
Back to the past...
I've been keeping up with my running phase and have completely slacked off on biking, because my back rim is looking a bit too wavey to be readily recognized as belonging to the biology of a bicycle. Okay, well....it's not that bad, but it does need a few touch ups, especially in the rear brakes, which no longer exist.
Going for a run when I have the time a few nights a week is a real treat. Being so out of touch with the quick art of foot to ground I very very very easily tire out; on my bike those fun lovin'lactic acids take waaayy too long to make themselves known.
I've got into a whole system of jogging for ten minutes then sprinting as fast as I possibly can, for as long as I'm able before my lungs think it'd be a great idea to rival the sound of a 747 taking off.
This whole deal seems to work well for me. Sprinting is one of the greatest pleasures I've rediscovered in recent years.
Anywho, that's all pretty boring isn't it?
Yesterday I went off in the early morning after not much sleep from the previous night's music and debachery. Dirty Dan and the Seven Sea's played their last gig in hk before danny's departure to vancouver. Two thirds of the bowie knives played and after seven sea's I played my own stuff. It was a great night through out. Sunday night I played with shaun as well, opening for the seven sea's at a private cd release party. The cd sounds great by the way. So, if you're out in vancouver hunt down danny and greg. They'll both be there in a couple of weeks or less.
Crap, out of time again.
There's a prospect of an exhibition of my work in the next two months....it was chris jenkins birthday yesterday.......all is well.
yeah alex!
take care.
brendan
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Mango Banana Pear!
Listening to the Weakerthans at work, with their friendly simple chords and playful measuring cups of words, I'm enjoying my tasty fruit salad. For years I never really ate too much fruit and as a vegetarian that's obviously not a very wise thing to leave out of my diet. I never really craved fruit before, but over the last few months it's been on my mind more and more, to the point now that I've drempt of picking my own in Australia.
Somewhere outside Melbourne I'll be doing just that, thanks to an australian mate I work with here at Interkids. I'll live first with my sister and her boyfriend Josh in Melbourne until summer sprouts it's hot renewing lease for all those lovely apples, strawberries, olives and grapes of my dreams.
I'm busy now with Australian Immigration in HK trying to sort out a referal letter so that I can have my required chest x-ray as soon as possible. Ozzy land makes anyone who has spent more than three months in HK to get one because of the heavy air pollution. I've been told before that a day in Hong Kong is about the same as smoking 8 cigarettes. That's an average I'll be very happy to leave behind.
This chest x-ray will probably add an extra month to my oz visa application. So, I'm a bit worried that it won't clear before I'm meant to be kicked out of HK, on the 24th or September. My plan is now to buy a ticket to Australia for the 24th and then when my good friend Alex is here we can take a hastle free trip to either Shenzhen or Macau. With my ticket in hand I'll show immigration that 'yes!' I am in fact leaving this wonderful land. Then they'll happily stamp me with the usual three month tourist visa stamp, putting my new kick out date somewhere in November. I wouldn't stay nearly so long of course, I'll probably just need a couple of extra weeks. After this prefectly planned trip I'd swallow whatever charge the airline throws at me so as to change my australian ticket to a later date.
I think it'll work.
I'll be one hell of a happy fella when I don't have immigration bearing in my mind.
oh yeah. I bought some proper runners yesterday and went for my first run since highschool. It was gruelling and wonderful. I may have to do it again tonight.
back to work.
take care all!
bebs
Somewhere outside Melbourne I'll be doing just that, thanks to an australian mate I work with here at Interkids. I'll live first with my sister and her boyfriend Josh in Melbourne until summer sprouts it's hot renewing lease for all those lovely apples, strawberries, olives and grapes of my dreams.
I'm busy now with Australian Immigration in HK trying to sort out a referal letter so that I can have my required chest x-ray as soon as possible. Ozzy land makes anyone who has spent more than three months in HK to get one because of the heavy air pollution. I've been told before that a day in Hong Kong is about the same as smoking 8 cigarettes. That's an average I'll be very happy to leave behind.
This chest x-ray will probably add an extra month to my oz visa application. So, I'm a bit worried that it won't clear before I'm meant to be kicked out of HK, on the 24th or September. My plan is now to buy a ticket to Australia for the 24th and then when my good friend Alex is here we can take a hastle free trip to either Shenzhen or Macau. With my ticket in hand I'll show immigration that 'yes!' I am in fact leaving this wonderful land. Then they'll happily stamp me with the usual three month tourist visa stamp, putting my new kick out date somewhere in November. I wouldn't stay nearly so long of course, I'll probably just need a couple of extra weeks. After this prefectly planned trip I'd swallow whatever charge the airline throws at me so as to change my australian ticket to a later date.
I think it'll work.
I'll be one hell of a happy fella when I don't have immigration bearing in my mind.
oh yeah. I bought some proper runners yesterday and went for my first run since highschool. It was gruelling and wonderful. I may have to do it again tonight.
back to work.
take care all!
bebs
Saturday, July 14, 2007
back in town
not dead not dead i'm not dead yet.
Well, it's been over a month since my last post. Sorry about that. A lot has happened since early june but i've left it so long now, that it's difficult to remember what any of that jazzy business was.
My sis, caroline came for just over two weeks. It was her first time this far east and I like to think that she enjoyed most of her stay. There was one day when she clearly was not having a good time.
We took a day trip to Shenzhen to do some shopping for her and get a cheap massage for both. I was really trying to find a particular massage place that I'd been to during my last visit in april, because the service was excellent, the two hour long japanese massage was incredible and it was really cheap! So after some hours of walking around and enjoying the sites I took us to some random joint, where, thankfully, I wasn't offered any sort of 'happy ending' massage. For anyone men who has never been to Shenzhen before I'll let you know now that it can be tricky at times to sort out the legitimate parlours from the illicit. I can't decide which i heard more when walking the streets, "hello dvd" or "hello you want girls". I left the proper comma out after hello because there really is no pause. They're not even questions either. They say it like if you had a slight speech problem and were greeting a business partner, when in desperate need of a washroom. Very quick......and progressively more annoying.
Anyway... I discovered that my sis really doesn't enjoy taking in the vibe of a city by just walking around it for hours. This (for anyone whom I may tavel with later) is my favourite way to get to know a place. The massage (after 'i don't know-ing' through a heavy fog of confusion) turned out to be for full body and collon. I'm sure you all know what a full body massage is but the latter is far different. It's basically a series of presure points to your belly. When I say 'pressure points' I don't mean the wonderful world of reflexology, it's more that someone is just putting a lot of pressure to a single point, which before felt fine, quickly turns to you considering that possibly she lost something important, like a wedding ring, in your intestines. The massage part was fairly relaxing.
For the rest of carrie's two week extravaganza we pretty much just went out and drank every night, ate a load delicious food and lost some money on the horses.
now now now...all is well. I've been sick for a week but am recovering steadily. I've pretty much readjusted to life at home on the sofa....with the rabbits and am loving it. I also have been playing a lot more of my own music. Last weekend, I had a solo show at a bar called kangaroo's. The response was mostly positive. And the night before I played a few tunes at my mate Greg's house party. Good times.
Last month, Shaun and I were hired to do some commercial, which we did. It paid well and was quite easy. Yesterday, I did a photo shoot with a local celebrity and i'll have to do the same thing for two more days in august....they also pay well.
oh yeah....hk immigration also told me that I must leave the country by september 24th and not come back for some time, probably a year.
haha...they've finally done it.
AND! alex is visiting in august...! woooooooo!!
Well, that's all for now.
take care all.
brendan
Well, it's been over a month since my last post. Sorry about that. A lot has happened since early june but i've left it so long now, that it's difficult to remember what any of that jazzy business was.
My sis, caroline came for just over two weeks. It was her first time this far east and I like to think that she enjoyed most of her stay. There was one day when she clearly was not having a good time.
We took a day trip to Shenzhen to do some shopping for her and get a cheap massage for both. I was really trying to find a particular massage place that I'd been to during my last visit in april, because the service was excellent, the two hour long japanese massage was incredible and it was really cheap! So after some hours of walking around and enjoying the sites I took us to some random joint, where, thankfully, I wasn't offered any sort of 'happy ending' massage. For anyone men who has never been to Shenzhen before I'll let you know now that it can be tricky at times to sort out the legitimate parlours from the illicit. I can't decide which i heard more when walking the streets, "hello dvd" or "hello you want girls". I left the proper comma out after hello because there really is no pause. They're not even questions either. They say it like if you had a slight speech problem and were greeting a business partner, when in desperate need of a washroom. Very quick......and progressively more annoying.
Anyway... I discovered that my sis really doesn't enjoy taking in the vibe of a city by just walking around it for hours. This (for anyone whom I may tavel with later) is my favourite way to get to know a place. The massage (after 'i don't know-ing' through a heavy fog of confusion) turned out to be for full body and collon. I'm sure you all know what a full body massage is but the latter is far different. It's basically a series of presure points to your belly. When I say 'pressure points' I don't mean the wonderful world of reflexology, it's more that someone is just putting a lot of pressure to a single point, which before felt fine, quickly turns to you considering that possibly she lost something important, like a wedding ring, in your intestines. The massage part was fairly relaxing.
For the rest of carrie's two week extravaganza we pretty much just went out and drank every night, ate a load delicious food and lost some money on the horses.
now now now...all is well. I've been sick for a week but am recovering steadily. I've pretty much readjusted to life at home on the sofa....with the rabbits and am loving it. I also have been playing a lot more of my own music. Last weekend, I had a solo show at a bar called kangaroo's. The response was mostly positive. And the night before I played a few tunes at my mate Greg's house party. Good times.
Last month, Shaun and I were hired to do some commercial, which we did. It paid well and was quite easy. Yesterday, I did a photo shoot with a local celebrity and i'll have to do the same thing for two more days in august....they also pay well.
oh yeah....hk immigration also told me that I must leave the country by september 24th and not come back for some time, probably a year.
haha...they've finally done it.
AND! alex is visiting in august...! woooooooo!!
Well, that's all for now.
take care all.
brendan
Sunday, June 03, 2007
The occasional blues.
I just got an invitation for a reunion from some of my elementary school classmates. After scrolling through the members list, seeing so many faces which, like my own, have changed drastically over the years I realize that i really do want to attend and get to know all those who've poked out of the soil during these nine years. So far away from home, I suddenly wish I were back in Canada.
Now, sitting in shaun's flat, he, gabe, ming, cora, my ex sin yee and rob are drinking steadily into another saturday's night, Lan Kwai Fong waits for our drunken arrival, where I'll use whatever cantonese I know to charm my way into someone else's life. In this beautiful city that has been my real home for four years, where I've really grown up I feel so completely distracted..... I miss canada. I miss my old ring of mates. Alex, CJ, Peter, Moir, Brent, Kayn...even sparcely decorated memories of Immures, Ruth, and the staircase fanatics. What are you all up to?
Would anyone care to pay for my ticket back to the hammer?....haha... oh how wonderful that would be. The last time I smiled at that old grey skyline was a year and a half ago.......two visits in four years. Now, not enough.
home home home home home hammer!
take care all
bebs
Now, sitting in shaun's flat, he, gabe, ming, cora, my ex sin yee and rob are drinking steadily into another saturday's night, Lan Kwai Fong waits for our drunken arrival, where I'll use whatever cantonese I know to charm my way into someone else's life. In this beautiful city that has been my real home for four years, where I've really grown up I feel so completely distracted..... I miss canada. I miss my old ring of mates. Alex, CJ, Peter, Moir, Brent, Kayn...even sparcely decorated memories of Immures, Ruth, and the staircase fanatics. What are you all up to?
Would anyone care to pay for my ticket back to the hammer?....haha... oh how wonderful that would be. The last time I smiled at that old grey skyline was a year and a half ago.......two visits in four years. Now, not enough.
home home home home home hammer!
take care all
bebs
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
INTERVIEW!
yooooooooo!
Just a quick pop in to say that my band, THE DAVID BOWIE KNIVES will be doing an interview tomorrow night for a big paper in Hk called The South China Morning Post. I'm not sure when the article will be posted, I'm just so excited that all these interviews and shows keep dropping down on us. Lovely!
There will also be some sort of photo shoot some time next week. Hopefully nothing big happens the day we're in the paper............that way we'll be the sexiest front page material they've ever had!
haha
cheers
brendan
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
My literary world
Well hello there! Sorry for the lack of posting recently. I have all sorts of excuses but there's not any point going into them.
Life in the big apple...I mean Lychee (if New York is the big apple, than hk is the big lychee) is excellent. Regular exercise is keeping me focused, energetic, happy (or at least happily distracted) and I'm really enjoying most of my time in solitude.
Recently I've started re-reading old books, partly for the joy of knowing how good the book was the first read and more so because of my budget and not being able to afford spending valuable money on books instead of food. Sometimes I read certain passages and I remember how that certain string of words stirred some new idea or feeling. Re-reading the lives of some of my favourite characters makes me realize one thing. I'm incredibly easily influenced by the mood of a story, by narrative and location. Watanabe, the main character from Murakami's. Norwegian wood, had me feeling a bit down on saturday......then he traveled and described the remote country side of nothern japan, untouched snow and bright mountains. I was in such a good mood after reading about that!
Now I'm relaxing with, On the Road, and Dean has me, 'catching the bug' as the main character put it.
Finally, out of the literary world. I'm blowing off school for another year to start fulltime in fall 2008. Come september I'm moving to Australia where there's a promise of a girl, an adventure and family.
take care everyone.
brendan
Life in the big apple...I mean Lychee (if New York is the big apple, than hk is the big lychee) is excellent. Regular exercise is keeping me focused, energetic, happy (or at least happily distracted) and I'm really enjoying most of my time in solitude.
Recently I've started re-reading old books, partly for the joy of knowing how good the book was the first read and more so because of my budget and not being able to afford spending valuable money on books instead of food. Sometimes I read certain passages and I remember how that certain string of words stirred some new idea or feeling. Re-reading the lives of some of my favourite characters makes me realize one thing. I'm incredibly easily influenced by the mood of a story, by narrative and location. Watanabe, the main character from Murakami's. Norwegian wood, had me feeling a bit down on saturday......then he traveled and described the remote country side of nothern japan, untouched snow and bright mountains. I was in such a good mood after reading about that!
Now I'm relaxing with, On the Road, and Dean has me, 'catching the bug' as the main character put it.
Finally, out of the literary world. I'm blowing off school for another year to start fulltime in fall 2008. Come september I'm moving to Australia where there's a promise of a girl, an adventure and family.
take care everyone.
brendan
Monday, April 23, 2007
Bungy a Go Go!
There it is.........Macau tower. Home of the world's highest bungy jump.
five, four, three, two, ONE!
I couldn't even move. My feet were tied so tightly together that it was impossibe to take a proper step. So, bunny hoping and penguin walking til my toes pointed over the platform and into nothing but open air was... a scary feeling.
The jump master counted down... but I was still there. I was ready when he made it to 'one!' but not on my own accord. I expected that he'd give me a little push and then there'd be no turning back. I turned to the camera at my side and yelled "I'm terrified!". The kiwi jump master told me that eveything'd be fine. All I needed to do was stretch my arms out at my sides, look straight infront of me and let myself fall forward. But when you've got nothing but a 233metre drop in front of you, it's hard to just 'fall farward'.
haha...I asked for another countdown and on 'ONE!' I was on my merry way. I was so frieghtened waiting up there on the platform....looking down....but the instant I tipped forward I let out a big 'woooooooooo!!" and experienced the first free fall of my life and it was nothing but peacefull.
Ever since I was a kid I had been afraid of roller coasters and that sickly sinking feeling. It was only a few years ago that I really got my first taste of a roller coaster, when I was in China with friends and I loved it. I knew that bungy jumping would be the same but when I was up there waiting for my turn to plunge head first into a 233 metre fall, it's difficult to remember that you're there for fun.
Anyway, I'm really happy that I was so terrified before my first bungy jump (there will definately be more!). The fear of being up so high and going down so unbelieveably quickly made the jump more exciting and so complelely memorable.
After Irene, Josh and I finished up at Macau tower and thanked everyone that helped us with our jumps, we had a wonderful dinner at a cheap local place, wandered around and took the ferry home at ten. Immigration was a breeze yet again. Seeing as I've left the country three times this month they've never questioned my 'traveling' story. Piece of piss.
The three of us are planning on getting a big group together this summer, before Irene leaves for Germany, to do a load of jumps back to back. The first jump is pricey but the second and third are nearly half price...............and............the forth jump is FREE!!
So, the plan is to do three jumps each, one after another in a single day.
I'm excited already!
You've got to try it!
.hong kong harrington
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Bungee Jump!
Tomorrow, I love you. I love you, tomorrow.
Tomorrow myself, Irene and Josh (and anyone else who cares to join the party) will be heading off to Macau.
I've been to Macau over ten times and I really never do much when I'm there, aside from photography and long leisurly walks.
HOWEVER!!!!!
This time the three of us are going to jump off the Macau tower, plunging 250 metres, experiencing five full seconds of free fall on the world's highest bungee jump.
I can't stop thinking about it.
We were planning on going the last sunday of the month, so I wasn't bothered to think about it all that much. But just last night I got a text from Irene saying that she didn't want to wait any longer, so why not do it tomorrow.
How could anyone possibly say no?!
Now,my head is completely full of fantasy images, trying hard to imagine what a 250m bungee jump could possiblyfeel like. I've been to Macau tower before, so I know how incredibly high up 250m really looks. I'm starting to get faint just thinking about it.
I told Rob this morning, on our way to work, that I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to do it once we three get up there. He made a pretty good point though. As long as I pay for the whole deal, then there's no way I can allow myself to back out of it. I'm not going to waste my money that way!
So, all I really need to do is pay for the jump BEFORE checking how ridiculously fucking high up I'll be.....
That's my plan. Pay before I look....and bring a spare pair of pants for when it's all over.
woooooooooooooo!!
bebs
Tomorrow myself, Irene and Josh (and anyone else who cares to join the party) will be heading off to Macau.
I've been to Macau over ten times and I really never do much when I'm there, aside from photography and long leisurly walks.
HOWEVER!!!!!
This time the three of us are going to jump off the Macau tower, plunging 250 metres, experiencing five full seconds of free fall on the world's highest bungee jump.
I can't stop thinking about it.
We were planning on going the last sunday of the month, so I wasn't bothered to think about it all that much. But just last night I got a text from Irene saying that she didn't want to wait any longer, so why not do it tomorrow.
How could anyone possibly say no?!
Now,my head is completely full of fantasy images, trying hard to imagine what a 250m bungee jump could possiblyfeel like. I've been to Macau tower before, so I know how incredibly high up 250m really looks. I'm starting to get faint just thinking about it.
I told Rob this morning, on our way to work, that I'm not sure if I'll actually be able to do it once we three get up there. He made a pretty good point though. As long as I pay for the whole deal, then there's no way I can allow myself to back out of it. I'm not going to waste my money that way!
So, all I really need to do is pay for the jump BEFORE checking how ridiculously fucking high up I'll be.....
That's my plan. Pay before I look....and bring a spare pair of pants for when it's all over.
woooooooooooooo!!
bebs
Monday, April 16, 2007
Monday, April 02, 2007
Dear China....yeah!
A compass, t-shirt, toy dog and a two hour long japanese massage is exactly what I got in Shenzhen yesterday. I woke up sunday morning with a tender stomach from saturday's lang kwai fong excursion. Before heading north to cross the hong kong border with china, I went south to causeway bay, where my passport with a double entry china visa was waiting for me. Getting into China is always easy. All I had to do was take the train to lo wu station, pass through the usual stages of the cheerful immigrations department on both sides of the border and I was set for the day. Getting back into Hong Kong was and often is my only worry in immediate life. The fright of deportation back to Canada didn't hamper my day at all. It was sunny, the skies were clear enough and I was in a fantastic mood. Even my stomach was in a good humour and didn't bother me with the moans and groans of nausia, once I gladly walked past the infamous lo wu shopping centre with it's aggressive hoards of locals selling everything from wedding portrait services to pirated dvd's and prostitution.
I had never explored Shenzhen before, even though I'd been there several times already. I was always apprehensive about being theived, getting lost or just couldn't be bothered to walk around solo. Though it wasn't much of an adventure, coupled with my daily bike riding to new unreached places, I've begun entertaining solo backpacking as a much desired and realistic possibility for my post hk future.
Not knowing anything about the city, I started out by walking in a straight line directly away from immigration. The sun was still strong and my backpack was heating me well, so after walking for some time I stepped into a familiar hk clothing shop, 2%, with it's Japanese flavour, multi patterned clothing, mostly for women and a decent t-shirt collection for the fella's. There were three cute gals working inside, all of whom gave a little giggle at the tattooed foreigner walking through the door. One stayed behind the counter while the other two hung around behind me giggling about something. The braver of the two tapped me on the arm and started quickly asking me questions in mandarin. I had no idea what she was saying and told her so in Cantonese. I was a little surprised when I noticed that between the two of them they knew almost zero english but with broken mandarin and canto we still managed to hold a conversation. In true asian fashion we took a couple of pictures together, laughing all along and I bought a toy dog key chain for my virgo astrological sign. One of the two asked me if I thought she was beautiful. I gave a good laugh and answerd easily through a smile. She was gorgeous! Taking steps to the main question she eventually asked if I had a girlfriend. When I said that I didn't she called me a liar. She was single as well and I still can't understand why. She was funny, friendly, phisically was fantastic and was playfully affectionate. I had to leave shortly to exchange some of my hk dollars for RMB to buy my toy dog and stayed a few minutes more before leaving for good. Her name from mandarin sounded like Ma Li and we gave eachother a hug and a kiss on the cheek when I left. Why ma li....!? Why can't we speak the same language. haha.
Walking again, I passed by an outdoor adventure shop, bought a compass and made an awesome new friend. Jennifer's english was really impressive. It caught me off guard after my funny conversation in 2%. Every weekend the shop owner and some locals go for an outing, hiking up some mountain or climbing another. All around the shop were beautiful photographs that the owner had taken from different spots in China. I was really impressed by everything I saw there. Later this month I'll join Jennifer, the owner and a group of others for a weekend expedition.
I went into way too much detail with that 2% business and now I'm short on time before today's final lesson. Today children, we're learning about phrasal verbs and comparing cultures. Is hong kong a melting pot or a mosaic?
Right, well.... sometime between walking and making friends I had a legitimate two hour long japanese massage for about 20 canadian dollars. It was freaking amazing! Then more walking. Immigration was a breeze. The guy before me was taken away for questioning. He looked nepalese. So, the officer I went to looked tres tired and simply stamped my passport without even looking at me. Three more months!
On wednesday I'm going to Gwailin and Yung sho with my two lovely local ladies, pat and jas.
woooooooooooooooooo!!!
see you all there!
bebs
I had never explored Shenzhen before, even though I'd been there several times already. I was always apprehensive about being theived, getting lost or just couldn't be bothered to walk around solo. Though it wasn't much of an adventure, coupled with my daily bike riding to new unreached places, I've begun entertaining solo backpacking as a much desired and realistic possibility for my post hk future.
Not knowing anything about the city, I started out by walking in a straight line directly away from immigration. The sun was still strong and my backpack was heating me well, so after walking for some time I stepped into a familiar hk clothing shop, 2%, with it's Japanese flavour, multi patterned clothing, mostly for women and a decent t-shirt collection for the fella's. There were three cute gals working inside, all of whom gave a little giggle at the tattooed foreigner walking through the door. One stayed behind the counter while the other two hung around behind me giggling about something. The braver of the two tapped me on the arm and started quickly asking me questions in mandarin. I had no idea what she was saying and told her so in Cantonese. I was a little surprised when I noticed that between the two of them they knew almost zero english but with broken mandarin and canto we still managed to hold a conversation. In true asian fashion we took a couple of pictures together, laughing all along and I bought a toy dog key chain for my virgo astrological sign. One of the two asked me if I thought she was beautiful. I gave a good laugh and answerd easily through a smile. She was gorgeous! Taking steps to the main question she eventually asked if I had a girlfriend. When I said that I didn't she called me a liar. She was single as well and I still can't understand why. She was funny, friendly, phisically was fantastic and was playfully affectionate. I had to leave shortly to exchange some of my hk dollars for RMB to buy my toy dog and stayed a few minutes more before leaving for good. Her name from mandarin sounded like Ma Li and we gave eachother a hug and a kiss on the cheek when I left. Why ma li....!? Why can't we speak the same language. haha.
Walking again, I passed by an outdoor adventure shop, bought a compass and made an awesome new friend. Jennifer's english was really impressive. It caught me off guard after my funny conversation in 2%. Every weekend the shop owner and some locals go for an outing, hiking up some mountain or climbing another. All around the shop were beautiful photographs that the owner had taken from different spots in China. I was really impressed by everything I saw there. Later this month I'll join Jennifer, the owner and a group of others for a weekend expedition.
I went into way too much detail with that 2% business and now I'm short on time before today's final lesson. Today children, we're learning about phrasal verbs and comparing cultures. Is hong kong a melting pot or a mosaic?
Right, well.... sometime between walking and making friends I had a legitimate two hour long japanese massage for about 20 canadian dollars. It was freaking amazing! Then more walking. Immigration was a breeze. The guy before me was taken away for questioning. He looked nepalese. So, the officer I went to looked tres tired and simply stamped my passport without even looking at me. Three more months!
On wednesday I'm going to Gwailin and Yung sho with my two lovely local ladies, pat and jas.
woooooooooooooooooo!!!
see you all there!
bebs
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
"I want to ride my bicycle. I want to ride my bike"
I woke up much earlier than usual for a tuesday morning with recycled images of riding my dad's bike in Canada.
Then, I bought a bike.
I've put on about nine hours on it since it's purchase. Already I can feel the fatigue and enjoyment.
On Wednesday I had a biking adventure and was in a fantastic mood all day. But that night when sitting at home with rob I received a worrying phone call.
Our land lord, called telling us that he planned on selling the flat we were living in very soon, and that we'd have to leave at the end of our contract....April 28th. I'd have to move in with someone else again....likely my bandmate shaun, if he'd have me. Rob would probably be sleeping on sally's floor. The change of residence would be highly, highly unwelcome.
Just a few weeks ago our landlord came by the flat and I had a chat with him, where he agreed to allow rob and I to stay several months past our contract. His english isn't that strong so rob and I professed every possible argument we could (including our vebal agreement) illustrating exactly how screwed we'd be if he kicked us out to Rob's gal, Cora. She rang him right away leaving us two pacing about the flat telling each other how detroyed we'd be if we had to move out in just one month's time. There's so much we need to do before we can even consider moving and neiter of us has time enough to deal with it now.
Cora, being the smooth talker that she is, reminded our landlord of his agreement with me, told him that we need time to get the floor fixed and the rabbits would need new homes to boot.
Fifteen minutes were passed in high anxiety until Cora rang rob back telling us that we could stay.
A fifteen minute bout of depression in an otherwise glorious. After running over and over how screwed I'd be if I had to move again, then finding out that all was well, I was even more cheery than before.
Oh, I named my new yellow bike, Dave.
Dave is awesome.
Right! Our tv interview went really well last week. I was red faced, gabe stared at this shoes when he spoke and shaun swore a few times. Afterwards, we had a few more drinks and saw a few friends of ours play an acoustic gig at Mink.
This past Thursday my band played a gig at the wanch with Defiant Scum and Hungry Ghosts. The whole night was fantastic. A lot of our friends who haven't seen us play in ages seemed impressed with the new rock sound we've been developing. We played eight songs in total and in true rockstar fashion we were sweaty and shirtless by the end of it, jumping around, drinking beer and watching our mates sing along to the songs we wrote. At four o'clock rob, appple and I were at home bowling on the nintendo wii. Then I woke up. I evidently passed out when I went into my room to change. Good times.
cheers all
brendan
Then, I bought a bike.
I've put on about nine hours on it since it's purchase. Already I can feel the fatigue and enjoyment.
On Wednesday I had a biking adventure and was in a fantastic mood all day. But that night when sitting at home with rob I received a worrying phone call.
Our land lord, called telling us that he planned on selling the flat we were living in very soon, and that we'd have to leave at the end of our contract....April 28th. I'd have to move in with someone else again....likely my bandmate shaun, if he'd have me. Rob would probably be sleeping on sally's floor. The change of residence would be highly, highly unwelcome.
Just a few weeks ago our landlord came by the flat and I had a chat with him, where he agreed to allow rob and I to stay several months past our contract. His english isn't that strong so rob and I professed every possible argument we could (including our vebal agreement) illustrating exactly how screwed we'd be if he kicked us out to Rob's gal, Cora. She rang him right away leaving us two pacing about the flat telling each other how detroyed we'd be if we had to move out in just one month's time. There's so much we need to do before we can even consider moving and neiter of us has time enough to deal with it now.
Cora, being the smooth talker that she is, reminded our landlord of his agreement with me, told him that we need time to get the floor fixed and the rabbits would need new homes to boot.
Fifteen minutes were passed in high anxiety until Cora rang rob back telling us that we could stay.
A fifteen minute bout of depression in an otherwise glorious. After running over and over how screwed I'd be if I had to move again, then finding out that all was well, I was even more cheery than before.
Oh, I named my new yellow bike, Dave.
Dave is awesome.
Right! Our tv interview went really well last week. I was red faced, gabe stared at this shoes when he spoke and shaun swore a few times. Afterwards, we had a few more drinks and saw a few friends of ours play an acoustic gig at Mink.
This past Thursday my band played a gig at the wanch with Defiant Scum and Hungry Ghosts. The whole night was fantastic. A lot of our friends who haven't seen us play in ages seemed impressed with the new rock sound we've been developing. We played eight songs in total and in true rockstar fashion we were sweaty and shirtless by the end of it, jumping around, drinking beer and watching our mates sing along to the songs we wrote. At four o'clock rob, appple and I were at home bowling on the nintendo wii. Then I woke up. I evidently passed out when I went into my room to change. Good times.
cheers all
brendan
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The David Bowie Knives invade your TV!
The David Bowie Knives, aka, Myself, Shaun and Gabe will be on channel 27 tonight (hong kong cable) for an interview on the show, What's up After 8?
This is going to be a live interview and as far as I know anyone can call in and ask us a question during our 30 minutes on air.
No cable?Outside hk?
Apparently you can also watch online at www.tictv.com
Cheers everyone.
Brendan
This is going to be a live interview and as far as I know anyone can call in and ask us a question during our 30 minutes on air.
No cable?Outside hk?
Apparently you can also watch online at www.tictv.com
Cheers everyone.
Brendan
Monday, March 05, 2007
Still holding
Do you wish to proceed.
Yes.
To confirm your choice please repeat your answer after the beep.
"Yes"
Press '1' for English.
1
Press '1' for summary statement.
Press '2' for latest transactions.
Press '3' to change your account details.
Press '4' to report a damaged or stolen card.
Press '5' for teleportation five hundred meters above sea level.
Or hold the line to speak with a customer representative.
dee dee dum da doo da daa.....(holding)
(automated message) This call may be recorded to ensure customer satisfaction and prevent hill fires in northern Alberta.
(A real person) Hi, thank you for calling "_______ ___" and making us your choice today. May I have your full name and latest major transaction please.
(me) Hi, I'm Brendan Harrington. I think my last transaction was a couple of weeks ago. I deposited about 150 canadian.
(guy I was talking to) Alright Mr. Harrington. I have your account information in front of me here but unfortunatly your last transaction was not for 150 dollars. Perhaps you could double check your latest "_______ ___" statement and I'd more than happy to assist you.
(me) I'm at work. I don't have my statement with me.
(him) Alright, well that's okay. Can you recall your latest transaction?
(me) It should have been a deposite for around one something...maybe 250. It was last month anyway. I can't remember how much it was. I just need to renew my card. Can I just do that without giving my last transaction? I have my card number right in front of me if you need it.
(him) I'm sorry sir, I'd be more than happy to assist you, however, I'm sorry to say that we need your latest transaction information before we continue.
(me) So, should I keep guessing or....?
(him) ....
(me) 200 canadian?
(him) Okay, sorry for the delay sir. I'd like to thank you once again for calling "_______ ___" and making us your choice today. Now, how can I help you today?
(me) My card has expired and I'm living abroad....... (and so on)
-------
Oh the joy of dealing with customer representitives over the phone. I find great comfort in the fact that all I had to do was keep guessing the right number until he could help me.
So, other than having fun dealing with canadian bills life has been rolling on and over me at it's regular pace.
My band, the david bowie knives, played a gig last week in the middle of nowhere in ngau tau kok and it was a solid night of enjoyment. The venue was also a recording studio on one side and it reminded of this place I used to go to back in hamilton called The Transit Union Hall, only with a much better paint job and higher ceilings. The stage was quite good but the lights were a bit strong so it was next to impossible to see the frets of my bass. Save for a few quickly corrected mishaps I managed to keep on track through our six song set. We were recieved pretty well and made friends with the guys that run the studio called DM plus (I think) and a surprizing industrial gothic band called head hunter. The bass player I'm quite sure tried to kill himself after the show by kicking the hell out of a wall, before climbing up halfway out a window thirteen stories up. His friends quickly pulled him back down where he then kicked the wall to saity.
On tuesday, Shaun and I played three of our own songs each at this place called Mink on Hollywood road in central. I didn't know 'til I got there but free beer and 250 bones each was waiting for us just for playing a three song set, at a good venue, in front of a good crowd. I didn't play 'til half ten so I had two hours of waiting before I could take full advantage of my free beer. I usually set myself a two pint limit before playing and allow for a third during the set.
I've been really enjoying my first Tolstoi experience with Anna Karenina for the past couple of weeks. Since my book filled return from Ireland I've been making it my quest to read all the old classics I've wanted to over the years. So far I've crossed off Voltaire, H.G. Wells and Mark Twain. Anna Karenina will take me at least another few weeks at the pace I'm going. It's a two parter and there are a lot of names to keep track of. It's not a difficult read at all though, surprisingly, but I'm taking my time with it and as a result I keep thinking of the lives of Vronsky, Levin and Alexei Alexandrovitch more than what's going on around me. I've been catching myself living in the past recently and this is perceptibly not a healthy habit. Tolstoi is helping me come out of this unfavourable distraction with his world of farming, high society and russian military men. There are several quotes I've made note of so far, one reaffirms a conclusion I came too after Sharon dumped me in favour of education and solitude.
This is said by a childhood friend of a main character, Vronsky, regarding the relationship between ambition and women.
"Women are the principal stumbling-block in the way of a man's activity. It is difficult to love a women and do something at the same time. There is only one way to love with comfort and without hindrance, and that is-marriage."
take care all
have a drink for yourself
brendan
Yes.
To confirm your choice please repeat your answer after the beep.
"Yes"
Press '1' for English.
1
Press '1' for summary statement.
Press '2' for latest transactions.
Press '3' to change your account details.
Press '4' to report a damaged or stolen card.
Press '5' for teleportation five hundred meters above sea level.
Or hold the line to speak with a customer representative.
dee dee dum da doo da daa.....(holding)
(automated message) This call may be recorded to ensure customer satisfaction and prevent hill fires in northern Alberta.
(A real person) Hi, thank you for calling "_______ ___" and making us your choice today. May I have your full name and latest major transaction please.
(me) Hi, I'm Brendan Harrington. I think my last transaction was a couple of weeks ago. I deposited about 150 canadian.
(guy I was talking to) Alright Mr. Harrington. I have your account information in front of me here but unfortunatly your last transaction was not for 150 dollars. Perhaps you could double check your latest "_______ ___" statement and I'd more than happy to assist you.
(me) I'm at work. I don't have my statement with me.
(him) Alright, well that's okay. Can you recall your latest transaction?
(me) It should have been a deposite for around one something...maybe 250. It was last month anyway. I can't remember how much it was. I just need to renew my card. Can I just do that without giving my last transaction? I have my card number right in front of me if you need it.
(him) I'm sorry sir, I'd be more than happy to assist you, however, I'm sorry to say that we need your latest transaction information before we continue.
(me) So, should I keep guessing or....?
(him) ....
(me) 200 canadian?
(him) Okay, sorry for the delay sir. I'd like to thank you once again for calling "_______ ___" and making us your choice today. Now, how can I help you today?
(me) My card has expired and I'm living abroad....... (and so on)
-------
Oh the joy of dealing with customer representitives over the phone. I find great comfort in the fact that all I had to do was keep guessing the right number until he could help me.
So, other than having fun dealing with canadian bills life has been rolling on and over me at it's regular pace.
My band, the david bowie knives, played a gig last week in the middle of nowhere in ngau tau kok and it was a solid night of enjoyment. The venue was also a recording studio on one side and it reminded of this place I used to go to back in hamilton called The Transit Union Hall, only with a much better paint job and higher ceilings. The stage was quite good but the lights were a bit strong so it was next to impossible to see the frets of my bass. Save for a few quickly corrected mishaps I managed to keep on track through our six song set. We were recieved pretty well and made friends with the guys that run the studio called DM plus (I think) and a surprizing industrial gothic band called head hunter. The bass player I'm quite sure tried to kill himself after the show by kicking the hell out of a wall, before climbing up halfway out a window thirteen stories up. His friends quickly pulled him back down where he then kicked the wall to saity.
On tuesday, Shaun and I played three of our own songs each at this place called Mink on Hollywood road in central. I didn't know 'til I got there but free beer and 250 bones each was waiting for us just for playing a three song set, at a good venue, in front of a good crowd. I didn't play 'til half ten so I had two hours of waiting before I could take full advantage of my free beer. I usually set myself a two pint limit before playing and allow for a third during the set.
I've been really enjoying my first Tolstoi experience with Anna Karenina for the past couple of weeks. Since my book filled return from Ireland I've been making it my quest to read all the old classics I've wanted to over the years. So far I've crossed off Voltaire, H.G. Wells and Mark Twain. Anna Karenina will take me at least another few weeks at the pace I'm going. It's a two parter and there are a lot of names to keep track of. It's not a difficult read at all though, surprisingly, but I'm taking my time with it and as a result I keep thinking of the lives of Vronsky, Levin and Alexei Alexandrovitch more than what's going on around me. I've been catching myself living in the past recently and this is perceptibly not a healthy habit. Tolstoi is helping me come out of this unfavourable distraction with his world of farming, high society and russian military men. There are several quotes I've made note of so far, one reaffirms a conclusion I came too after Sharon dumped me in favour of education and solitude.
This is said by a childhood friend of a main character, Vronsky, regarding the relationship between ambition and women.
"Women are the principal stumbling-block in the way of a man's activity. It is difficult to love a women and do something at the same time. There is only one way to love with comfort and without hindrance, and that is-marriage."
take care all
have a drink for yourself
brendan
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
lunar new year
Back to work after three days off to celebrate chinese new year. Tai Wai, where I live has been packed full of people since saturday night because of the famous, Che Kung Temple, which is just a minute down the road from my flat. Because of this busy business of celebrations, fire crackers, lion dances and generally just red and gold everywhere, it's taking me a lot longer than usual to get where I need to go.
Not much else has been going on really. I've been hanging out with gabe I lot more and it's reminding me of our chatteris days. We've been practicing kung fu in sha tin and playing a whole lot of nintendo wii.
Tuesday night I couldn't get to sleep so I ended up leaving my flat at midnight and made my way down to lan kwai fong. I met my good friend emily at a canadian joint, had a few pints and ended up pub crawling with three germans, a columbian fella and a gal from shang hai.
good times.
take care all
brendan
Not much else has been going on really. I've been hanging out with gabe I lot more and it's reminding me of our chatteris days. We've been practicing kung fu in sha tin and playing a whole lot of nintendo wii.
Tuesday night I couldn't get to sleep so I ended up leaving my flat at midnight and made my way down to lan kwai fong. I met my good friend emily at a canadian joint, had a few pints and ended up pub crawling with three germans, a columbian fella and a gal from shang hai.
good times.
take care all
brendan
Saturday, February 17, 2007
New moon. New face
Happy chinese newyear everyone!
I'm sitting at work waiting for my final student of the day then the drinking begins. To be honest though, the drinking definately started last night. I met Irene at an artist bar called Joyce is not Here for some sangria, then made my way quickly through a load of beer with jenkins and shaun watching Beerfest. We ended up heading out to the fringe club to see a few bands play already completely drunk. After playing cards on the roof and enjoying a few more rounds plus music, I managed to get the bus home. I woke up this morning on my sofa....late for work. Everything around here is quite relaxed today as everyone seems to be in the holiday spirit. So, I've felt no consequences due to my wonderful lie in.
My stomach has been at me all day though. Hair of the dog, here I come.
cheers
brendan
I'm sitting at work waiting for my final student of the day then the drinking begins. To be honest though, the drinking definately started last night. I met Irene at an artist bar called Joyce is not Here for some sangria, then made my way quickly through a load of beer with jenkins and shaun watching Beerfest. We ended up heading out to the fringe club to see a few bands play already completely drunk. After playing cards on the roof and enjoying a few more rounds plus music, I managed to get the bus home. I woke up this morning on my sofa....late for work. Everything around here is quite relaxed today as everyone seems to be in the holiday spirit. So, I've felt no consequences due to my wonderful lie in.
My stomach has been at me all day though. Hair of the dog, here I come.
cheers
brendan
Saturday, February 10, 2007
oops
This morning I just can't seem to shake that sleepy feeling. After having spent my friday night in central to watch a few bands at the edge and the shotgun she ra's at fringe club, I made my way home and layed down in my comfy bed....completely forgetting to set my alarm.
I missed my first lesson.
I missed my first lesson.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Finally, London.
I have indeed made it back from england alive, but due to my crappy work computer I haven't been able to log on to blogger to update on recent adventures.
So, london was amazing. Rod and I went to a carnival where one ride gave us an amazing view of most on london at night, with the added pleasure of spinning around upside down to boot. It was fantastic.
After that we wandered around looking for a stand up comedy venue called The Comedy Store. We did. We went. It was packed and had a really intimate atmosphere. Aside from a few open mic night comedians I had never seen any stand up but it was obvious that the five people on stage were professionals, were outstandingly hillarious and possessed a remarkably quick wit. The whole show was improv with some added help from the audience yelling out ideas that those on stage had to work with.
In a fantastic mood, we hit up a near by pub, which carried it's very own lager called Samuel Smith. Excellent and not too pricey.
Earlier in the day we went to camden market and wasn't all that different from Kensington market in toronto, although much larger and there was more of a rock style to most of the clothes. Near the market was a fantastic bar that really reminded me of home and toronto called, End of the World Bar. Being a bit early though no bands were playing but the music was awesome. I realized yet again how out of touch I've become from new music. Hong Kong is virtually empty.
There's obviously a lot more to say but it's rare for anyone to have enough time to say it all. Somewhere in there we had dinner at a chinese restaurant. I ordered in cantonese and the waiter hadn't a single problem or raised eyebrow in understanding what I wanted.
London, I hope to see you soon.
cheers
bebs
So, london was amazing. Rod and I went to a carnival where one ride gave us an amazing view of most on london at night, with the added pleasure of spinning around upside down to boot. It was fantastic.
After that we wandered around looking for a stand up comedy venue called The Comedy Store. We did. We went. It was packed and had a really intimate atmosphere. Aside from a few open mic night comedians I had never seen any stand up but it was obvious that the five people on stage were professionals, were outstandingly hillarious and possessed a remarkably quick wit. The whole show was improv with some added help from the audience yelling out ideas that those on stage had to work with.
In a fantastic mood, we hit up a near by pub, which carried it's very own lager called Samuel Smith. Excellent and not too pricey.
Earlier in the day we went to camden market and wasn't all that different from Kensington market in toronto, although much larger and there was more of a rock style to most of the clothes. Near the market was a fantastic bar that really reminded me of home and toronto called, End of the World Bar. Being a bit early though no bands were playing but the music was awesome. I realized yet again how out of touch I've become from new music. Hong Kong is virtually empty.
There's obviously a lot more to say but it's rare for anyone to have enough time to say it all. Somewhere in there we had dinner at a chinese restaurant. I ordered in cantonese and the waiter hadn't a single problem or raised eyebrow in understanding what I wanted.
London, I hope to see you soon.
cheers
bebs
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Just a little more East
well ireland's in the past now. I had an awesome time.
But, it's not the place for me. So, after hong kong I'm moving to vancouver for art school.
Yesterday after waking up at 5am I left cork behind and headed for london. I landed in stanstead and truly had no idea where I was. All I had was rod's address in Reading. After some confusion from switching about trains I finally made it to the right station, where I ran to the number 13 platform for the next train to Reading.
I made it to my train, threw down my bag and just sat down when the conducter came on announcing that this was a none stop train to Oxford........the doors closed only a few seconds after he said the word,'Oxford'.
All I had for breakfast that morning was toast and some apple pie and it was nearly noon already. My visit to Oxford was short but pleasant. I went to a near by restaurant and had a nice veggie pasta dish, then caught the right train back to Reading at one o'clock.
So, here I am now at Rod's place.
He has an awesome dog named charlie and there's a big penis shaped egg fryer beside me. What more could I need.
I know.
LONDON!
cheeeeeeeers
brendan
But, it's not the place for me. So, after hong kong I'm moving to vancouver for art school.
Yesterday after waking up at 5am I left cork behind and headed for london. I landed in stanstead and truly had no idea where I was. All I had was rod's address in Reading. After some confusion from switching about trains I finally made it to the right station, where I ran to the number 13 platform for the next train to Reading.
I made it to my train, threw down my bag and just sat down when the conducter came on announcing that this was a none stop train to Oxford........the doors closed only a few seconds after he said the word,'Oxford'.
All I had for breakfast that morning was toast and some apple pie and it was nearly noon already. My visit to Oxford was short but pleasant. I went to a near by restaurant and had a nice veggie pasta dish, then caught the right train back to Reading at one o'clock.
So, here I am now at Rod's place.
He has an awesome dog named charlie and there's a big penis shaped egg fryer beside me. What more could I need.
I know.
LONDON!
cheeeeeeeers
brendan
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