wisdom of dick

record early wake up time of 2:30am.  dick once told me that old people always wake up early because they're afraid they might not wake up at all anymore.  i don't know about that, because i know i woke up remembering that i have ice candy (you know, frozen flavored liquid in plastic container - bah, i'll show you photo tomorrow) in the freezer, and i wanted some right at that moment. and anyway he's in his mid-30's, what does he know about being old.

well, one can only have so much ice candy so early, so after a few i decided to run. it was already 4am by the time i got there.  i saw a few old chinese men in their standard gear of white vest, khaki shorts, black shoes and high socks - , doing their tai-chi thing, some carrying radio, walking the path alone - but they kept disappearing.  i mean, like, one would say "good morning" in cantonese to me and i'd say the same as i pass him, but if i look back he's gone.  what's weird about it is that one side of the path is high retaining wall and the other side is a steep fall.  and this happened a few times.  creepy, no?  i decided either they fell and rolled down all the way to causeway bay or, more likely, they can walk through solid concrete retaining walls.

when i reached the end (same as the beginning, it was a return run) and i stopped, i felt very woozy. woops. (uh-oh, the vanishing old men are after me!) feeling dizzy combined with being hot from running and soaked all over is really bad.  i sat down on a park bench, took deep breaths, and it took a while before i felt ok again to stand up.  went to the street (magazine gap road) and waited for a taxi. none came. strange because there's always taxi anywhere in hong kong at anytime. after waiting for sometime i got dizzy again, combined with some rumbling in my belly, so i went to the toilet in the park nearby and let one rip. or two. ok, a few. then i felt REALLY better.  how was i to know that this dizziness thing was just a massive case of fartiness?  i blame the ice candy.  well i can't really because they were good. when i went back to the street there were plenty of taxis but by then i'm pissed at them already for not being there when i needed one, so i walked home.

i usually go back by the central escalator, but this time i thought i'd go a different way.  down to garden road, by hong kong zoo and botanical, between government house and u.s. consulate, ice house street, then queens road. lined along the sidewalk of an entire block in queens road were people manually sorting freshly unloaded newspapers, literally doing inserts. (photo, above). 

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al molo

very nice italian restaurant - the name's "al molo". saw it when i took photos of that yacht the other day and decided to go in.  ended up doing a 4-course meal.  :) (i was very hungry!) not cheap tho.  raw oysters for starters (french -  if anyone tries to make you feel guilty for not consuming locally-sourced food, carbon footprint and all that, take him to this restaurant and feed him french oysters), a glass of sauvignon blanc, hand-made pasta with mushrooms, sea bass fillets, some dessert with a name that i think translates to "granny's cake", and a double espresso, plus tip, amounts to HKD 950.  was yummy tho, and the staff were nice. i'll be back.


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tûranor planet solar in hong kong

not sure what this was but it sure was more interesting than the light show yesterday. i googled it and turns out it's some solar-powered german-built yacht that intends to go around the world, currently in its hong kong stop.  tûranor planet solar. here's their own website.

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hong kong's symphony of lights

i found an unused hong kong ferry token among my coins, probably from when jane visited, so i took the ferry to tsim sha tsui and watched the light show.  it was bleh.


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eta: someone told me that this used to be much better, with a lot more buildings participating.  too bad i never saw that version.  still, i think it would've been much better had don dorsey done it.

what can you buy for $20

as an experiment, i invited my nephews and nieces (and kids) to submit a gift wish for the early christmas celebration - with the condition that it should cost US$20 or less, and that if i can't find it in the price limit, they'll automatically get PHP50 instead.  you should've seen the list they made:  lens for a digital camera, wrist watch, desktop speaker with subwoofer, and the one that takes the cake, a complete kitchen package from ikea. well that one's from my youngest sister, and of course she'd pay for it, but i'm in hong kong and she actually expects me to put the whole thing, cabinets and all, in one door-to-door box.  between her and my eldest sister who thought up the early christmas celebration, i wonder why i bother making up fictitious characters for stories.

anyway, kids today have a very grand idea of what a gift can be, and no idea of the value of money. no one asked for a certain book, or cd (i suspect they all just download anything they want), or any traditional toys, or some special food, or something really basic, like a new pair of socks. sign of the times? i remember when getting ANY sort of gift was a real treat - now it has to be branded products and electronics, and only the latest ones will do.  in a way i guess it's also a good indicator that all the basics are well provided for.  now that's really something to celebrate.


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early christmas shopping

norie, my eldest sister who lives in california, decided she wants to celebrate christmas in september in the philippines (and why not, right?). so we'll have a reunion/christmas party.  i expect lots of food and noise and fun.  photo above is from last year's christmas eve party games.  there'll be a hired band for the party so there'll be lots of singing as well.  in the past it's my nephews and nieces who make up a band, but now two of them have moved to california. we'll also have an exchange of gifts, that's why i'm going christmas shopping this weekend, in the middle of august.


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i'm stuck.

remember how i said i'm on to my next screenplay?  well i am. only i'm stuck.  how does one write dialogue for an old and grumpy italian-american male and a young black female? i've got the whole story  (another short one) and even camera set ups but i can't put words in my characters' voices.  most of my adult life i've taken pride in understanding most english accents to a point where i can actually ignore them and focus instead on the message, and now it's come back and bitten me in the behind.

hmm.  skip and move to another one?

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eta: photo above has nothing to do with this, of course.  i just wanted something to link to my photography page and this is the only photo i have with an italian-ish and old-ish-looking guy (character i have in mind is older).