first draft is done

welp i'm finally done with the first draft of the story i was working on.  it'll need quite a bit more work on the dialog but it's mostly all there.  i tried to steer it away from any existentialist crap but somehow a bit still sneaked through.  i guess i'll just have to be more vigilant in keeping it out.

(photo above was taken at the same place, next day)

XXX

lamma island

am not sure anymore if i bought a new pair of beach shorts so i can have something new to wear when i go to the beach, or if i go just so i can justify buying a new pair of shorts. hmm. anyway. i did the buying and the beach going. this weekend's destination was lamma island in hong kong.  i took the ferry to yung shue wan (photo, above) which is a village full of seafood restaurants and stores selling beach items and knick knacks.

i already had breakfast (the flying pan, they made my breakfast right this time)  so i went directly to the beach (hung shing ye beach) which was small but nice and clean and with beach facilities.  the big let down was the view of the power station looming over the whole scene like in a sci-fi movie. by lunch time the place was getting crowded so i walked back to yung shue wan for seafood lunch.

after lunch i did the family trail (about an hour), scorching heat just after lunch time, so i decided to go through public showers (literally) when i passed by hung shing ye beach again and did the trail while dripping wet.  was very nice that way.

 walked all the way to the second beach, lo so shing beach. the lo so shing village was nice. i bought an ice-cold drink from an old man by the trail and sat there drinking under the shade of a big flowering tree. butterflies and gentle breeze and all.  another old man at the next house was slowly peeling sweet potatoes in his veranda.  i spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach, reading. the water wasn't as clean as on the other side.

i took the ferry back to central from so kwu wan (photo, above), another village full of seafood restaurants.


XXX

bowen road at night

i know, i know, the photo quality is absolute crap, but this was taken with 3g iphone (hey, it still works!). anyhoo. this is what bowen road looks like at night.  scary no? the typhoon warning finally let up.  i was too lazy to do anything but forced myself to run.


XXX


saturday, july 2

i did exactly the same as last week with the running thing, so i thought i'll just add it here.  well except that this time there was this (south asian? middle eastern?) guy who was just there smoking pot at the end of the path, in the dark, with a few bottles of beer.  and walking back to my apartment i passed by this small indian hole-in-the-wall, "indian village", so i tried their chicken briyani, even tho i've had dinner, even tho it was already very late, even tho i was soaked in sweat, and even tho i thought it cancelled the whole running thing.


XXX

shoot and then focus?

in case you haven't read about this, there's supposedly a new camera called lytro that lets you focus the photo after taking it (in the example above, from their website, click anywhere on the photo to see how focus shifts). i said supposedly because they're keeping mum on the details. there isn't even a physical description or photo of the camera (surely if they're just protecting the technology, it's not something that can be stolen from showing what the camera looks like?).

what do you think? i'm doing the wait-and-see.

XXX

king prawns

unlike their much smaller cousins who were jumping all over the place when i passed by the fish market tonight, these king prawns were already swimming in ice water.  i bought them anyway because they were so big (that's a proper sized fork for comparison) and they looked so yummy. i was gonna throw away the heads because of that gooey yellowy heart-attack stuff that's in there but i didn't. between that and the massive earthquakes i felt in my heart after drinking the long black coffee that i got from pacific coffee (i don't know what the hell they put in the coffee - 5 espressos?), i was desperate to run in bowen road again.  only there's a typhoon signal no. 1 hoisted, so i just stayed in and waited to see if i was gonna fall into a coma.

XXX

hotel room drama

this photo was taken spring last year, in villa sassolini, in italy's tuscany.  i'm showing this because i liked this room so much (this is actually a huge living room adjoining wil's bedroom - this was the only unit with such a room, with a long communal table in the middle which we used as our very own hq in the hotel) that it inspired me to write a short story that the divas are helping me turn into a short film.  they will play themselves, of course, and hopefully we'll be able to find someone to play a character that michael would've been able to do (he has since moved to thailand).  anyway, knowing these strong-willed divas who'd insist on what they want, i won't be surprised if this ends up nowhere.  the least i can do is finish the script, then i can at least declare that i did something.

XXX

connetable tinned sardines in mustard sauce

i was intrigued when i saw this in the market. i mean, i've always seen tinned sardines in olive oil or tomato sauce but this is the first time i saw one in mustard sauce. the brand is connetable and the product itself is called "les fillet de sardines, moutarde a l'ancienne" and i really liked it. it's got a very rounded creamy taste, very nice mustard flavor but without the kick (and i actually like the kick so i put a bit more moutarde de meaux when i ate it). i ate half on a slice of whole wheat bread and the other half i tossed in with mesclun salad.

i'm always on the look out for good tinned/bottled food because it's always nice to have a fall-back food in your cupboard that you actually like.  Even if you don't eat it often, it's just waiting there and you know you'll enjoy it when you eat it eventually. kinda like the mini wini.

XXX