tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37843432012-01-02T23:27:55.664+08:00Mind on the RunNotes and observationsTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.comBlogger4961100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-13003676889026773332012-01-02T23:27:00.001+08:002012-01-02T23:27:55.671+08:00TestTesting testing
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-2301279248550589432011-12-13T10:47:00.000+08:002011-12-13T10:47:48.722+08:00Goodbye McNulty
Turns out I was really attached to that hamster. I keep choking up today.
McNulty went to sleep yesterday evening for the last time, in my hand. The vet said we could wait outside, but two days before she had refused several times to go back to her cage after feeding, and kept crawling up my arms, the way she used to run along them when she was still a baby.
Then the next day, Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-78295254043912829012011-12-08T15:51:00.000+08:002011-12-08T15:51:12.942+08:00Went on the annual charity-related company trip last Friday. This year's event was a visit to Dialogue in the Dark, an experience in total darkness where, led by blind guides, you get a taste of what it's like to live without eyesight. The pitch-black walk recreates a number of everyday Hong Kong scenarios, including a walk in the park, a ferry journey and a trip to the market.
It was fairly funTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-8610466986889697042011-11-23T16:42:00.000+08:002011-11-23T16:42:58.033+08:00Went to the Sai Ying Pun public clinic yesterday evening. Nice enough, as clincs go - fairly standard 1980s issue NHS style building, friendly enough staff.
The downside to the visit is the doctor suspects I may have diabetes.
Annoying if true. Let's see what the blood test reveals.
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-82468819124691740702011-11-18T08:29:00.001+08:002011-11-18T08:29:35.884+08:00This is mainly a test post for an Android app. Here is a picture of a dinosaur.
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0Sai Ying Pun, Sai Ying Pun22.28591 114.14283tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-63961845247491420552011-11-15T17:08:00.002+08:002011-11-15T17:08:28.519+08:00In other news
I just greeted a Chinese colleague - surnamed So - by the water machine, saying "ah... So."
Now I am worried that might have been racist.
.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-86175677508170226912011-11-15T16:25:00.000+08:002011-11-15T16:25:23.976+08:00It's a Small, Odd World
Thanks to work I got two free tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland for last weekend, and entry to the preview of the new Toy Story Land area. It was OK, but I am glad I didn't pay $400 for the privilege. Definitely not worth it.
On the other hand I am glad I have now been, because it now makes sense of a lot of things Americans mention off-hand, and references in their TV Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-49135993399455880322011-11-10T09:50:00.000+08:002011-11-10T09:50:21.478+08:00Don't worry. You got away with it.
My Halloween costume was Donnie Darko. I think I overestimated the number of people who would remember the film, which in fairness did come out ten years ago.
Apart from the people I was with, only one guy recognised it, and even he said "What about the rabbit suit?"
"That was a different character," I said.
"Oh," he said. "Oh yeah."
.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-85099570240197179882011-10-25T17:58:00.000+08:002011-10-25T17:58:02.399+08:00Music news
I am playing with my confederate Darren in this concert tonight:
We are the last act on the bill (name dreamt up at short notice). Should be fun, title of the concert notwithstanding. We'll be digging out three numbers from our Beijing back catalogue, and adding a new thing that I half wrote a couple of years ago but only really finished in rehearsals last week - took about 5 Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-15288842720995939912011-10-11T16:55:00.000+08:002011-10-11T16:55:39.559+08:00
Another 1st of October holiday, another edition of the Anfield 12th Cup.
Last year we won it but this year came out second best to the Liverpool supporters' team.
We beat the Chelsea and South China teams 1-0 (goal against Chelsea pictured above), but drew 0-0 with Liverpool.
They won the shoot-out, so got 2 points where we got 1.
Still, a fun day out on a ridiculously muddy pitch.
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-10705157344811566242011-09-26T16:10:00.000+08:002011-09-26T16:10:50.455+08:00Too few classic ballets feature mad inventors and slapstick comedy, that's what I say.
We went to see the Hong Kong Ballet's production of Coppelia on Saturday evening, way out in the wilds of Sha Tin.
This was our attempt to see something more traditionally 'classical' after our first ballet trip to Snow White a few months ago (or possibly last year, even - I forget). I was a little wary at Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-3158442107518346982011-09-07T16:26:00.000+08:002011-09-07T16:26:55.002+08:00Did I do the right thing?
My Tiny Niece was complaining, on a recent visit ot Jakarta, that her cousins (offspring of Liverpool-obsessed dad, and slgihtly named after Reds players) had neat football gear but she didn't.
CK and I went to Bali for a few days after that and saw a tiny Spurs kit for sale in a shop in Legian, so naturally I had to get it for her.
It seems to have taken.
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-12349997317884485882011-07-13T09:39:00.000+08:002011-07-13T09:39:43.910+08:00Stranger in the Roda
I've occasionally daydreamed about how cool it would be to be in, say, England on a visit and happen across a capoeira roda in progress, join the game and play with complete strangers, unannounced and unexpected (on both sides).
That actually happened with some guy on Monday night, when we had our class down by the Star Ferry pier.
I bought the game with him, being the Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-10948045594223231792011-07-07T16:35:00.000+08:002011-07-07T16:35:38.279+08:00Yesterday was our capoeira teacher's last class in Hong Kong before she goes to Brazil for 2 months.
It will be difficult to keep the momentum going with classes led by the more senior students, even though we'll have help in August form graduados of another group, so I expect a few students to disappear.
On the other hand, when the teacher's away it's possible people will feel under a bit less Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-63760579245196817562011-06-24T11:52:00.001+08:002011-06-24T11:52:54.819+08:00Rhythm and Stealth
Thanks to having a new laptop and thus being able to use iTunes with my iPod, I've been taking advantage of the option to fill up the MP3 player with songs after the items you specify.
The good thing about how iTunes does this is that it tries to put in complete albums at first, which means that lately I have been listening to albums I haven't thought about in a while, toTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-18428427162599060002011-06-10T18:03:00.000+08:002011-06-10T18:03:59.490+08:00Possibly misplaced loyalty
Back in March, I turned down the chance to interview for the position of chief English editor at the HK tourist board. I wanted to complete our current Chinese language project, but they wanted the position to start too early. The same headhunter later approached our flatmate, who now has taken the job. I wouldn't mind about that, except JW, our Xi'an native editor, hasTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-87725836833110070782011-06-02T17:24:00.000+08:002011-06-02T17:24:26.985+08:00What I did on my holidays
Day 6 - 27 April
I just noticed that the timestamps on our photos are out by a day. One for future biographers to puzzle over, no doubt.
We set out a little late, and ended up at a beach on Bali's southern peninsula. This was after some to and fro wherein I said I'd like to go sailing if possible. I was offered jet-skiing or being dragged around on something Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-54297500662823758422011-06-01T13:22:00.002+08:002011-06-02T13:56:26.068+08:00Now, where was I?
Ah, yes.
What I did on my holidays
Day 5 - 26 April
Now, one good/annoying thing about our trip to Bali was that the in-laws had arranged a car and driver for us, for most of the duration of our stay. This was rather luxury, and our driver was a very nice guy by the name of Budi, but it did mean we felt compelled to be going somewhere and doing something all the time. On our Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-78508535584551926882011-05-19T18:00:00.001+08:002011-06-02T17:11:04.459+08:00What I did on my holidays
Day 4 - 25 April
We set off for Bali in the morning, happy in the knowledge that we had only carry-on luggage, truly the best way to fly. But we were on the same flight as one of CK's aunts, who lives in Denpasar, so we had to wait for her cases at the tiny luggage carousel when we got there anyway.
Still, never mind. We met up with the attached uncle (whom I'd met at Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-65188899715380323062011-05-16T17:52:00.000+08:002011-05-16T17:52:30.809+08:00Well, I'm 30.
It happened on Saturday. I'm in my thirties and there's no going back now.
Mind you, my mum said that her thirties were some of the best years of her life, when she phoned to say happy birthday. Apparently it was when "people finally acknowledged I might have some opinions". So there's that.
It would perhaps have been more comforting if she hadn't kicked off with "it is funny to Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-3575776355648504822011-05-12T10:52:00.000+08:002011-05-14T04:25:19.338+08:00What I did on my holidays
Day three, 24 April
Up early for Mass at St Yohannes Bosco.
In the afternoon we met up with a bunch of CK's schoolfriends at an overpriced steak restaurant in Grand Indonesia mall, an overpriced shopping centre. Nice, though.
Then back home to pack for Bali... Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-46957296038902897562011-05-09T10:59:00.000+08:002011-05-09T10:59:09.638+08:00What I did on my holidays.
Day Two.
23 April
We awoke rather late on account of having stayed up too late the night before.
Shortly before noon we repaired to Mangga Dua mall, where we got haircuts. CK had a 'hair spa'.
While this was going on I received an upper-body massage in the adjacent seat from a woman with extraordinarily powerful thumbs.
We then had to return home rather sooner than Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-86932970398737975862011-05-06T16:20:00.000+08:002011-05-06T16:20:01.523+08:00What I did on my holidays, April 2011
Day One.
22 April.
We got the 4.30pm China Airlines flight from Hong Kong to Jakarta. The trip was uneventful. I watched a couple of films, although I now can't remember which. Airborne reading matter: "An International Episode" by Henry James.
On arrival in Jakarta, we were picked up by CK's brother and sister and went straight to the family home.
Invited Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-80984496032158488772011-04-11T17:06:00.000+08:002011-04-11T17:06:14.683+08:00Another busyish weekend just gone.
More rehearsals for me and Leo's jazz/funk project on Saturday-- we've got about 20 minutes' worth of original material now, and I have some bits and pieces in my lyrics book.
The next step is to track down a rhythm section.
Then we went to the Spurs-Stoke game together, where I forced Leo to wear a hat I had made him. It was one of those baseball caps with a Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-40683199450652300242011-04-01T14:19:00.000+08:002011-04-01T14:19:23.825+08:00LRB · Perry Anderson · Lula’s BrazilInteresting bit on Lula from the London Review of Books: LRB · Perry Anderson · Lula’s BrazilTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-23302422627833010552011-04-01T10:39:00.000+08:002011-04-01T10:39:00.156+08:00Good roda of the month last weekend. Probably the last one to be held at the Discovery Bay pier in Central. This is probably a Good Thing. The space is nice but part of the point of having an outdoor roda is to attract onlookers - you know, marketing - and the number of passers-by could be multiplied by ten if we just move a few hundred yards down to pier 7, or any of a number of public spaces inTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-70354971501985600762011-03-22T09:51:00.000+08:002011-03-22T09:51:18.764+08:00Indonesian celebrity
Last night I went round to Leo's place for music practice - we're up to four or five original songs for our jazz/funk project. It's an exciting time to be alive.
As I left with my guitar and mini-amp and all my gear, a woman in her late twenties, of apparently ASEAN extraction, came out of another flat on the same floor. She held the lift door for me.
"Thanks," I said as Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-43822157680872973742011-03-15T17:01:00.003+08:002011-03-15T17:01:51.407+08:00Played my first football in about a month, on Sunday night in a friendly against a certain EUFC (no idea what that stands for). There seems to be a conspiracy against me getting anything in the Assists column -- three or four Perfectly Weighted crosses, either blazed over the bar or passed tamely to the keeper at chest height. I ask you!
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-46560230587456746552011-03-15T17:01:00.001+08:002011-06-02T13:55:27.541+08:00Played my first football in about a month, on Sunday night in a friendly against a certain EUFC (no idea what that stands for). There seems to be a conspiracy against me getting anything in the Assists column -- three or four Perfectly Weighted crosses, either blazed over the bar or passed tamely to the keeper at chest height. I ask you!
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-14100267103196227732011-03-09T17:12:00.000+08:002011-03-09T17:12:40.619+08:00A demanding audience
Other things what I have been doing lately. On Saturday, CK and I went down to Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Park (turns out it's actually quite easy to get to from our place, only being five minutes away, but over a footbridge to cross a busy dual carriageway).
We went there to glue gourds, as one does. The cabaca is a core component of the berimbau, the stringed instrument used Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-42549850784603833702011-03-09T16:49:00.000+08:002011-03-09T16:49:12.843+08:00Pictures of hamsters
Bubbles:
McNulty:
Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-13913162570270998482011-01-13T01:01:00.001+08:002011-01-13T01:01:25.787+08:00I received a Facebook message just now, asking in all seriousness, "Do you know martial arts and how to handle a gun?" My life is sometimes quite interesting.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-89844155003190692812011-01-04T18:10:00.002+08:002011-01-05T13:36:16.302+08:00Books I read in 2010 -- part 2
On Literature, Umberto Eco
Pretty much what you'd expect. The James Joyce essay was good, had to skip the one about Sylvie because I am yet to read it once, let alone be in a position to "re-read it before you continue with this essay" as Eco recommends.
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Finished this on a plane back from Singapore.
Very good, Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-17380708671866020042011-01-04T17:59:00.001+08:002011-01-04T18:00:09.320+08:00Books I read in 2010 -- part 1
Frankly I've forgotten a lot of them, but here are a few I noted at the time - with brief reviews if I did one. Asterisks indicate freebies I got from the office, if you're wondering why on earth I acquired them.
Elmore Leonard, The Big Bounce - "it's okay".
The Bronte Project by Sarah Vandever
This was something my wife picked up in a liquidation sale some Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-30762095856581953872010-12-29T13:39:00.000+08:002010-12-29T13:39:40.826+08:00The wife and I went to England for two weeks on the 7th of December (or thereabouts).
A few things happened.
1) We went to White Hart Lane to watch Tottenham Hotspur play Liverpool.
Tottenham won 2-1, and the teams were kind enough to score all three goals at the end we were in, which was nice.
Strangely enough, this was my first ever visit to the Lane. When I was younger, my family could have Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-41729075985479892572010-11-15T10:14:00.001+08:002011-05-09T10:52:40.496+08:00A little over two weeks ago I was in Beijing on my first ever business trip. I've decided that business trips are a bit rubbish. It's like going on holiday except you have to do stuff you don't want to all the time.
Mind you, at least this one was to Beijing, where I could catch up with people I know. On Friday I'm flying from Shenzhen to Nanchang to attend some kind of trade fair. I'm not sure Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-38416052890885699802010-10-11T11:36:00.002+08:002010-10-11T11:44:04.297+08:00That lad's got a foot like a traction engineWe won the Anfield Cup on the 1st of October, a mini-football tournament for fans of various English teams - this year it was us (Spurs), Liverpool, Chelsea and West Ham.Crucially for me, I finally scored a goal for the team. Very satisfying and kind of a relief. I'd gone through a whole season without scoring, although I suppose you could say half a Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-642342652288646722010-10-07T12:09:00.001+08:002010-10-07T12:11:41.981+08:00Our friends in the northI have a work trip to Beijing over the weekend of the 16th/17th, flying up on the Friday. Apparently I will be at the Shenzhou Hotel. I can only assume this is a hotel assembled out of leftover parts from China's space programme, which will be excellent.Sadly I will be working all weekend - it's for a photoshoot, but there's nothing glamorous about it. Even VOGUE shoots Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-71339403918844952322010-09-07T15:48:00.003+08:002010-09-07T16:12:37.923+08:00Junk tripAfter several years in Hong Kong without going on one of these quintessential posh kids' outings, I seem to be doing a lot of junk trips, barbecues and - most recently -barbecues on junk trips. This latest one was a birthday excursion for a fellow Spurs fan, and the passengers were not so posh as all that, but the classic junk trip content was all there: drinking, swimming and a boat. Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-71364638035127437242010-08-18T15:06:00.005+08:002010-09-07T16:26:23.929+08:00It's a wig!The missus and I went to see Slash at the end of last month. It was excellent, although AsiaWorld isn't really a good venue. It's miles out of town, costs a bomb to get to, has no atmosphere, isn't organised very well (if you're going to have a 20 minute break between the support act and the headliners, tell us - we promise to spend cash on beer and souvenirs) etc etc. But the concert Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-25646794552147241442010-03-22T11:31:00.005+08:002010-09-07T16:34:53.528+08:00Post-mortem evidenceVideo of the gig is now up on Youtube, so you can make your own judgements. Due to camera limitations, the set had to be videoed one songs at a time, so you miss out some interesting bits between songs, such as where I take five attempts to get a capo on the second fret of my guitar.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-22369018525833578862010-03-19T14:59:00.003+08:002010-03-19T15:09:44.043+08:00Gig post-mortem We played BC Unplugged at the Wanch last night. Good gig, and a lot of fun. We had some issues with it being acoustic - we had to drop half our songs for one thing, and playing lots of barre chords on an acoustic knackers my wrist. The new songs were pretty good. Of the two, Liquidator works well, but we shouldn't have played it second, as it sounded too similar to Guerrero, the Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-59541098371216552532010-03-16T11:18:00.001+08:002010-03-16T11:21:33.308+08:00I can see my house from hereView Larger Mapand my office: View Larger MapTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-35080489343456439302010-03-02T17:53:00.001+08:002010-03-02T17:54:55.278+08:00The baby actually has more hair than her namesakeIn an unusual turn-up for the books, my Indonesian brother-in-law yesterday named his newborn daughter after Liverpool FC goalkeeper Pepe Reina. Annaliese Reine Evangeline. Hmm. Apparently their first daughter, Annlouise Grace Evangeline, also had an LFC-based name. I couldn't work out what this could possibly be. "What," I said to CK, "a dodgy Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-409246580524721272010-02-11T17:02:00.002+08:002010-02-11T17:48:38.862+08:00Sports casualThe capoeira future is a little uncertain - I helped our teacher do her visa application last week. I think she'll probably get it, but she's not helped by having been here about a year on a tourist visa, and having been serially let down by people saying they'd sponsor her for a work visa (she was working for them, after all) and then not doing it. Primarily, I suspect, as a tax Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-39945172700866486752010-02-09T09:18:00.002+08:002010-02-09T09:21:10.027+08:00There was a particularly chatty old lady in the lift this morning. "Going to work?" she said. I said I was. "I'm going to have dim sum!" she announced, cheerily ignoring my almost complete inability to speak Cantonese. "That's good!" I said. I wanted to say 'your morning is better than mine' but didn't have the vocab. I will have to look up comparatives in my Canto-grammar book when I get home. ATomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-3930807857828249572009-11-12T10:12:00.002+08:002009-11-12T10:16:45.241+08:00Pub quiz pub quiz pub quiz pub quizWe went to a pub quiz last night at the bar in the Excelsior hotel. Before it started, Danny and I were discussing how you can reasonably guess a lot of answers based on what you know of the setters, which is how you win at University Challenge, for example. "Mozart's too obvious, it must be Schubert", that kind of thing. "Sometimes you know the answer before Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-11425103128236042792009-10-13T15:42:00.003+08:002009-10-13T16:13:14.652+08:00Photos and things are now up from our set as part of the Underground music night at Rockschool last month. Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-10314945720183657292009-09-21T12:01:00.003+08:002009-09-21T12:18:06.451+08:00Corda AmarelaI'm shattered. We got home last night at 3am after a full week of capoeira workshops that culminated in our first batizado yesterday. It's been fantastic, though, and a privilege to have some great capoeiristas training with us and playing in the roda - not only Mestre Falcao, who came over from Brazil, but also Mestres Ousado (Singapore) and Eddy Murphy (Macau), and the graduados Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-29501127643618266452009-09-14T12:50:00.002+08:002009-09-14T13:00:55.645+08:00Like a lanky CroatOn the night of the Spurs in HK tram party in August, I made the acquaintance of a fellow fan. He told me his name, I told him mine, and he said "but I'm gonna call you Corluka". This appears to have stuck, although I don't think I look that much like him. The trend reached a head on Saturday night as CK and I watched the game at home via a dodgy internet feed (12.30am kickoff, Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-65756901278845973662009-09-09T12:45:00.003+08:002009-09-09T12:49:40.963+08:00A Surprising resolutionI didn't expect to get anything out of the Student Loans Company, but shockingly they have managed to 1) use email for the first time in ten years and 2) send an apology that, although obviously a form letter -- they're not superhuman and I imagine they have a lot of these to send, does at least mention the specifics of my complaint. Please accept our apologies for the Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-44563131647229528282009-08-24T14:38:00.004+08:002009-08-24T15:02:01.270+08:00"Foopball is a tuough game but it is a pity you canot win by hacking everybode. You hav to be nippy."On Saturday afternoon, I played my debut game for the Hong Kong Spurs supporters' team. Mercifully, it was a friendly, as my performance was not up to much. It's three years or so since I kicked a football, and that was in five-a-side, which is quite different as it turns out. No throw-ins there, Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-73995628017918829112009-08-20T13:42:00.002+08:002009-08-20T13:51:42.054+08:00Feliz aniversário para mimWhen I go to class tonight it will be exactly one year since my very first capoeira lesson. I'm pretty pleased with that. My progress from having no idea to where I am now hasn't been stellar, but neither is it too bad. Goal for the coming capoeira year: learn to play the berimbau. Due to the circumstances of moving around (and our previous gym not being the right place Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-44617898297395360822009-08-18T11:10:00.003+08:002009-08-18T11:16:27.946+08:00The Ballad of the SLCHere's an email I sent to the Student Loans Company complaints department at the weekend. To whom it may concernI received today a letter dated 4 August 2009, which kindly informed me that my repayment amount would go up by more than £100 a month because "we have not yet received a completed Overseas Income Assessment form". This surprised me, because I would have thought if Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-29435658047207423612009-08-14T11:43:00.001+08:002009-08-14T11:45:52.750+08:00Rock and rollWe had our first proper gig last night (i.e. not an open mic night), at the Wanch on Jaffe Road. It went pretty well - no major mistakes, plenty of people came, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. Afterwards people said very nice things, e.g. "you sing a bit like Jim Morrison", "you're really good at the guitar" etc. These things are not really true, but it's nice that they said Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-28998870198888455692009-07-31T11:32:00.003+08:002009-07-31T11:47:24.214+08:00COYSTottenham Hotspur are playing South China in Hong Kong on Sunday. My wife and I will be joining an assortment of the many HK Spurs fans in the north stand, along with my capoeira teacher and her 5 year old daughter. I think it's good to have kids along - it helps cut the swearing down and the sprogs' energeticicity can be infectious.As I will mention at the drop of a hat, I've been Spurs Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-84716162280288997592009-07-28T18:11:00.002+08:002009-07-28T18:14:44.731+08:00Capoeira on LammaThe inestimable Lamma-Gung came by on Saturday to take some photos of our classes at the Island Life Studio. I don't usually go to class there, but the sessions in Central have been on hiatus while we relocated from Kontact gym (the facilities were good but it's hard to train capoeira with other classes and workouts going on around you). Anyway, the photos got put up on Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-6754754771338584112009-07-24T10:07:00.001+08:002009-07-24T10:09:04.426+08:00It doesn't pay to read too much into Facebook. However, I just got a friend request from a capoeira mestre other than my own. Sweet..Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-53934364901469275002009-06-11T14:51:00.002+08:002009-06-11T15:00:27.835+08:00Sou discipulo que aprende, sou mestre que da liçãoSo on Tuesday I had to lead the capoeira class. Our contra mestre called me about half an hour before to check I was going, and to let me know she's missed the ferry. The original plan was that she would catch the next ferry and I would just egt everyone to warm up and do some basic exercises. In the end, she didn't make it at all, but things Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-77178732166996054312009-06-08T16:28:00.001+08:002009-06-08T16:34:53.415+08:00Seen yesterday: "American Gladiators" dubbed into Cantonese. There was just one bloke doing all the voices, which made the female presenter sound a bit like Pingu the penguin's mum. .Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-11727091568306743342009-06-08T16:28:00.000+08:002011-05-09T10:56:41.826+08:00Seen yesterday: "American Gladiators" dubbed into Cantonese. There was just one bloke doing all the voices, which made the female presenter sound a bit like Pingu the penguin's mum. .Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-17722172424291737502009-05-27T13:32:00.002+08:002009-05-27T13:45:37.985+08:00I had another minor breakthrough with capoeira recently. Nothing to do with technique, however. Last Wednesday evening I finally plucked up the courage to go and practise in public -- I ran to and a couple of time around the park near the old asylum, and then found an empty corner, cued up the appropriate soundtrack on my MP3 player and did about 10 minutes of capoeira practice. Nothing too fancyTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-18776236130936890502009-05-19T10:17:00.001+08:002009-05-19T10:18:35.833+08:00Domestic bliss"Is it only three months since I left home? Seems longer.""That's probably the boredom. Don't worry, I'm sure the next 40 to 50 years will just fly by."Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-19723569423033483882009-03-31T15:19:00.002+08:002009-03-31T15:28:19.497+08:00Moving inThe honeymoon is over, literally, and now begins the process of acquiring bookshelves and an extra wardrobe and all that sort of thing. I had actually been keeping a lot of CK's things in storage for a while, so the volume of stuff in the flat has not greatly increased; however, it does need to be rearranged so that it can be got at conveniently. There is not a lot of space on the livingTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-54859010086591036402009-02-04T17:14:00.002+08:002009-02-04T17:16:16.408+08:00Never been so happy to be in debtPhew. The loan we applied for to cover the costs of the wedding has come in. It's not ideal to go into debt for this but, while it is technically possible to cover everything with the money we have, it doesn't leave anything for, well, rent and food - and I don't get paid till we come back from Jakarta. So, you know, it's better than just maxing out a credit card.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-24269870875366484082009-01-30T14:26:00.001+08:002009-01-30T14:28:22.234+08:00Passive-aggressive FacebookI got this FB message a few minutes ago: "I can't approve your tagging, unless we are Facebook friends."Just think about what's going on there.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-76915269828596218832009-01-22T16:50:00.000+08:002009-01-22T16:51:29.408+08:00Tom's last capoiera in HK from inMotion on Vimeo.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-90745066951461234772009-01-17T14:55:00.002+08:002009-01-17T15:00:57.815+08:00Auto-didacticism As you may or may not know/care, I am now an Irish citizen.I was recently talking to my flatmate (Cork-born and bred), about how I'd been reading up on Irish politics, since I felt I should know at least a little bit about it.Predictably, he said he wasn't sure why I would, since most Irish people don't care too much about it either.But the thing is, when someone says 'Labour' orTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-74476394884843748512008-12-04T16:10:00.002+08:002008-12-04T16:14:19.479+08:00The thing about capoeira is it isn't very machoA conversation after training on Tuesday night:"You know, sometimes I think those Muay Thai guys don't take us very seriously.""Yeah, well wait till we're all 45 and they've smashed their knees off.""And we're still doing cartwheels.""Yeah. Then we'll see who's laughing."Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-88344827528327410312008-11-21T15:19:00.004+08:002008-11-21T15:42:17.974+08:00Muito axéI had an absolute shocker of a capoeira session last night. I just started feeling massively overheated after about an hour, and just had to stop so that I could breathe properly again. I hope I'm not coming down with something. I had a bit of a rest and managed a couple of restrained turns in the roda at the end.Mascote, the kid of the group, was the opposite of me. A fidget at the bestTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-27007286315078434742008-10-22T09:47:00.003+08:002008-10-22T10:30:47.279+08:00DevelopmentsI made two minor breakthroughs at capoeira last night.One is that I can now do handstands -- some might say that 27 is a bit late in life to be learning such a skill. Regardless, it's one of the basic things you have to be able to do for capoeira.I can also now hold that backwards 'bridge' position like what contortionists do. Before now, I had generally managed to get vaguely into Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-13755726661600242912008-08-21T14:28:00.002+08:002008-08-21T14:47:58.179+08:00Hua Guofeng, 1921-2008So there goes Chairman Hua, The One Nobody Ever Remembers, aged 87.I may have strongly disagreed with his politics, which were immortalised as the Two Whatevers: "We will resolutely uphold whatever policy decisions Chairman Mao made, and unswervingly follow whatever instructions Chairman Mao gave." (He later renounced this in self-criticism sessions.)However, he did get rid Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-62620918072175535382008-07-31T16:22:00.001+08:002008-07-31T16:26:47.945+08:00Q: What's more annoying than getting a tax return?A: Getting a tax return the day after you've gone to the trouble of posting off a form to say 'hey, you didn't send me a tax return' so that the Inland Revenue Department can't later fine you for not telling them in time.On the plus side, next year I won't be liable for any tax at all, probably. So I don't know what I'm moaning about.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-39495838676473656832008-07-22T16:08:00.001+08:002008-07-22T16:10:34.045+08:00Exciting new layoutAt first I was just experimenting, but then I couldn't get the old template back, so here we are and there it is and really, what are you going to do?The blogroll thingo on the right is a bit better now, and hopefully more interesting to people who aren't me. E.g. you.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-24559654963255091102008-07-22T14:13:00.003+08:002008-07-24T11:10:59.520+08:00K-Town massiveWell, it's been a year and a half, but I'm at last moving off Lamma island, in a bid to save money.I'll be sharing a place near Kennedy Town, on Hong Kong Island, with a friend of mine whose lease is up in North Point as of August the 9th. His rent was about to go up to HK$7000 a month, for a one-bedroom place not much larger than a shoebox, and he concluded that this was too much Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-64934739064831367502008-04-23T14:43:00.002+08:002008-04-23T14:46:05.218+08:00Wedding discussions"Hmm, can you get miniskirt wedding dresses?""Probably, but you want it to be like in the video for "November Rain"? What if Slash loses the ring?"Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-49107395218442233202008-04-07T18:12:00.003+08:002008-04-07T18:14:08.760+08:00Let's not get into why, but I just photoshopped a polar bear driving a Lada Riva.This is, I feel, not the kind of thing to be left unshared.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-61533469988464567362008-04-07T17:59:00.005+08:002008-04-07T18:25:04.096+08:00The rugged landscape of Lamma IslandIt's not exactly Kilimanjaro, but I went off the main path on the island for a bit of an explore on Sunday. It's much quieter without the weekend crowds, and it's nice to watch the Brown Kites wheeling about (too far away for my camera to catch, alas).Did I mention we have a massive wind turbine, by the way? It's still quieter than the main power station, in Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-4406350772193261122008-04-01T15:41:00.005+08:002008-04-01T17:11:48.538+08:00Taking a hikePhysical exercise. Good Lord.The entire ELT department was forced to go to a country club in Tuen Mun on Friday, March 28th, for a day-long teambuilding extravaganza (Design got a trip to Macao by helicopter!) -- this was less awful than I expected, in fact. But it was still moderately awful.In the evening, I mooched around and had dinner, then met up with my Irish mate R at the Old Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-63119185427866977342008-03-19T09:53:00.002+08:002008-03-19T10:19:32.446+08:00I am off to Jakarta this afternoon. Now, I was only there three weeks ago, but since that was to spend a Saturday afternoon and the whole Sunday sitting listening to a pre-marriage course in a language I don't speak in order to get a you-can-get-married-now certificate*, it wasn't exactly quality time. I gather the weather in Jakarta is mostly thunderous and precipitating heavily, so if anything Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-18581494159783542382008-02-15T13:25:00.007+08:002008-02-15T13:58:42.225+08:00Getting aboutA rehash of the good old "where have you been" map, but this time I filled it in according to languages I speak well enough to read the paper. (I restricted myself to official languages.)So below is a map of the countries where I speak the lingo. What I surmise from this is that I should learn Spanish. And possibly Russian. Maybe Arabic. create your own visited country map or check Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-17004731091501213092008-02-11T09:43:00.000+08:002008-02-12T12:43:48.421+08:00Return to Son of GrindstoneBack to work after a four-day weekend for the New Year. (Happy Year of the Rat everyone, incidentally.)Work is reasonably tedious, partly because I've been seconded off the storybooks and onto mock exams for the HKCEE, which isn't quite as interesting. I didn't do much with my holiday but catch up with sleep. Luckily, my Christmas presents from home arrived on the 6th Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-77345571951218459392008-02-03T15:19:00.000+08:002008-02-03T15:54:35.237+08:00More Tales of the Fighting MongoosesSo, I've managed to win a couple of races, but my first attempt a "deathrace" didn't go so well. In fact, my driver ended up dead, although she did still earn me $570 for coming in 10th. Basically, if you're in some kind of post-apocalyptic motor racing event where every has machine guns mounted on the bonnets of their cars, do not take the early lead..Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-78029520391299540802008-01-28T12:40:00.000+08:002008-01-28T16:22:23.599+08:00Days of BlunderI've recently signed up to a Mad Max style online game called--for some reason--Dark Wind. It's free (clue one as to me signing up there), and is a turn-based driving game in the vein of Car Wars. My gang of anti-social gearheads rejoices in the name The Fighting Mongooses. I managed to finish first in my first race, largely because the only other human player was reduced to a Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-58572043737820660802008-01-08T15:20:00.001+08:002008-10-08T14:12:22.349+08:00Happy new year2008 is upon us. In a scant six months or so, it will be safe to go back to Beijing, post-Olympics. Well, apart from all the toxic particulates in the air, anyway.I jetted over to Jakarta to stay with CK and her family, on the 22nd of December. The flight was with Cathay Pacific, which was pretty good. Not as good as China Airlines, though (rolling seatback movies instead of Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-17730407453591283272007-12-04T22:37:00.000+08:002007-12-04T22:43:57.309+08:00MusicalSo for some reason I submitted a song to an online forum thing. I'm quite pleased with the reaction, which described my vocals as "like a mumbly, gravelly David Bowie", although I admit the 'mumbly' part might not be a compliment. On the other hand, at least one person didn't realise the lyrics weren't all in English, so maybe that's where that came from.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-54715758120827942862007-11-22T10:58:00.000+08:002007-11-22T11:38:29.932+08:00ArghManaging editor's Post-it note: Does this mean Oxford University? If so, let's make it clearer.Original text: "Buchan was educated at Oxford."At Oxford. Not in Oxford, you daft apeth. At Oxford. So just to be annoying, I've amended it to be specifically Brasenose College.On another front, though, I've just gone along with changing 'tales', used in one paragraph of a back-cover blurb, to 'Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-11434358677684384412007-11-21T13:24:00.000+08:002007-11-21T13:48:04.275+08:00Who do I have to kill to get out of Hong Kong?I don't like Hong Kong. It's boring. There is nothing to do except buy things. The low, low prices on electronics are lovely, granted. But I think it's easy to tell why so many PSPs have been sold here. It is dull. Why have so many malls when they all sell the same stuff, anyway?This is rather a moot point. I'm about to sign another year's contract Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-85364634053942551302007-10-29T09:31:00.000+08:002007-11-13T14:10:24.013+08:00Random notesI never did get round to posting anything about my trip to Indonesia. For now, suffice to say that it is very hot in Jakarta, and that I now think I get why LA is described as being impossible to get around in without a car. I mean, intellectually I understood the concept before, but if LA's roads are much like Jakarta's - though I suspect they're in better repair - then it really isTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-32651915155829974872007-10-15T14:49:00.000+08:002007-10-15T14:51:58.920+08:00Vroom VroomJust schlepped all the way out to Cheung Sha Wan to pick up the tickets for the Macau Grand Prix! (Hey, "schlepped" is in the Firefox spellchecker dictionary. Interesting. And "Firefox" isn't.)Woo yay! And I was only 45 minutes late back to work after lunch.I did a quick search for the company in Gmail so I could write down their address--my first contact with them was waaay back in Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-15309418925955624652007-10-09T10:35:00.000+08:002007-10-09T10:37:09.594+08:00Well, I'm backI'm back in Hong Kong. This is not particularly a good thing. Oh well.I'm thinking about possibly buying a tortoise.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-309288376288241892007-09-17T10:15:00.000+08:002007-09-17T10:24:32.623+08:00VoyagesCK arrived in HK on the 7th, and this Saturday we're off to Jakarta. The return flight is a little under two weeks later, but it'll only be me on the plane on the way back. Well, I presume there'll be other passengers, but CK won't be there, is what I'm saying. Shouldn't be for too long, I hope. However, she's moved out of her Beijing flat and all the stuff has to go somewhere. We went outTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-45974181491138338282007-09-07T13:42:00.000+08:002007-09-07T13:48:21.143+08:00Publishing is funSo, today I'm sorting out the manuscript for the teachers' guide to our graded reader version of King Solomon's Mines. I realised this was not going to be the best MS ever when the introduction began "In the book of First Kings in the Old Testament, there is a story of King Solomon, who was said to be very rich and very wise."Yes, I think you mean 'the first book of Kings'. Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-66206770116489782682007-08-17T13:39:00.000+08:002007-08-17T13:44:35.200+08:00TrioletThe days have passed us by and soThe time is all but at an end,When we must stay from what we know.The days have passed us by, and soWe are now free to stay or go - But sooner than we might intendThe days have passed us by. And so The time is all but at an end. These are harder than they look. (Triolet Wikipedia entry)Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-42307404710487643062007-08-08T14:55:00.000+08:002007-08-08T14:58:09.954+08:00Even more Jakarta-boundGot my confirmation of my days off today. When I handed the leave card over to my supervisor, she said "oh my, six days?" .....why so surprised? Come on, that's half my annual leave entitlement anyway, and HK's not exactly over endowed with public holidays. I can't help but feel that if one employee going on holiday for a week is a big problem, maybe you don't have enough Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-89798306651574083892007-08-02T13:02:00.000+08:002007-08-02T13:12:38.839+08:00Jakarta-boundHooray, I'm going to Indonesia. Although not for a while. I paid for CK and my tickets to Jakarta in September yesterday, so that's all sorted out, then. Time to brush up on the lingo - "terima kasih", "selamat malam", etc. With Lastminute.com.hk, it was just over HK$3000 for the both of us on China Airlines (not Air China, but the Taiwanese one), which isn't bad going. I paid in Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-64993164734605386532007-07-17T15:21:00.000+08:002007-07-17T15:27:02.157+08:00More stupid Mac adsFrom the Apple website:"A PC comes stuffed with software you’d never want to use. A new Mac comes with the stuff you want."Says the company that sells a laptop bundled with a program for organising your ideas into bullet points. Mmm, useful.Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-68774686969716636922007-07-07T13:48:00.000+08:002007-07-07T13:50:04.918+08:00SimpsonsifiedMe and CK in Simpsons format:Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-22546417179130929122007-06-26T11:18:00.000+08:002007-06-26T11:31:06.705+08:00Sigh.Well, all the excitement is over. Mum and James went home on the 6th. CK flew back to Beijing on Saturday morning, after which, depressingly enough, I went into the office to do some work I hadn't finished on Friday. After which I went out drinking with Rudi and Richie until 5 in the morning. Less said the better. Anyway, I'm now struggling endlessly with a series of graded reading passages Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3784343.post-25361028204241104782007-06-08T15:07:00.000+08:002007-06-08T15:18:46.137+08:00Back to workHad visiting relatives over from the 29th to the 6th, in the form of my mum and my brother. Mildly exhausting even when we didn't do much. Good news is that they get on with my fiancee, so that's all right then. I took them to most of the usual places - the Peak, Mongkok, Ocean Park, and we spent two days in Macau. We also had an afternoon on the beach on Lamma (a late start thanks toTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12380944119153438285noreply@blogger.com0