If you walk so quietly...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers
Brendan