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
Saturday, July 21, 2007
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
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