I Smell Summer

The weather in Hong Kong has been absolutely dreadful the past 5 days. Overcast, gloomy, with rain that never goes away. Luckily, I've managed to hibernate inside my apartment and go grading-crazy on final exams. As of today, I have finished marking all 152 of them. Now, I just have to wait for the approval from the English Department, tidy up some loose ends, and then I can get ready to start my summer holiday.

As much as I would like to go traveling this summer, I am putting it off for another year or so. Instead, I will head back to Pennsylvania for some home-cooking and quality time with friends and family.

Still no word from HKU on the MFA program. The waiting makes me crazy.

I started reading David Mitchell's Ghostwritten last week. This book is blowing me clear out of the water. The parallels that I am discovering between what I'm writing and what he wrote in this book are numerous. The only difference is that his is much more ambitious and planned out. with a broader scope and a better sense of style and structure. But if anything, reading this will make me work even harder. I can't wait to read the rest of his stuff.

Another One Bites The Dust

Another semester done. All that's left is to finish marking persuasive essays (so many plagiarisms included) and administer and correct the final exams. Then it's back to Pennsylvania for the summer. Hopefully, people are down for a camping/road trip of some sort.

Over the last few weeks I've been doing a lot of hiking, bike-riding, playing basketball, and enjoying the humid weather. It will be nice to escape Hong Kong while the summer months pour on the heat. Not that Pennsylvania offers more of a reprieve, but anyway...

Saw a good movie the other night called City of Life and Death about the Nanking Massacre during World War II. It was even more brutal than expected, but overall very touching and well done.

Also saw Have Heart play a show at a place called the Warehouse in Aberdeen. It was the first leg of their World Tour which will take them to 6 different continents and mass handfuls of countries. Unfortunately for them the turnout wasn't the best (maybe 60 people tops) and it was on Mother's Day. They were decent, but I kind of had the impression that they were a bit bored (crowd didn't help I suppose). Not a good thing only one week into such a massive tour.

That's the story. Maybe a few more posts before the summer holiday? We'll see.

May is for Manny

It's May already. A few more classes, some essays to grade, a final exam to invigilate and mark, and then home for the summer.

Went to the Devil's Advocate to watch the Pacquaio/Hatton fight. The atmosphere was absolutely electric, with an equal mix of Filipino and British boxing fans. And then the fight started and it was a six minute massacre. Pacquaio absolutely destroyed Hatton, which was somewhat disappointing because I expected more from the 'Fat Man.' I was hoping for a see-saw battle, Fight of the Year, type event. It turns out Pacquiao is another level completely. I hope that Pacquaio/Mayweather comes to fruition, for that could be the event of the decade in the sport of boxing.

Also went hiking and camping this weekend. Things I learned are:
1. Always check to see if your tent has poles BEFORE you leave for the weekend
2. Always bring insect repellant so that you do not suffer the wrath of mosquitoes and sand flies
3. Don't bring 3 books, when 1 is enough
4. Don't cram bananas in your bag...they squish open and make everything sticky
5. Don't pack toothpaste on the bottom of the bag...it squeezes open and makes everything minty

Is there anything more annoying in Hong Kong than the touts on Nathan Road? Do we really need 7,481 tailors in Tsim Sha Tsui?

Nighttime Coffee Rant

The application has finally been submitted. Now all I can do is the play the waiting game. I'll admit, my passion for writing on this website has waned substantially since I started working on my novel/writing sample. I attribute it to a combination of things, the primary and most important being that I exhaust myself in reaching my daily quota with that writing, therefore decreasing my desire to write anything extra on here. To be honest, I'm not even sure who reads this site anymore. I know that some visitors still arrive, but they are mostly anonymous lurkers. Add to the fact that I haven't been on any trips lately, instead choosing to fall into the monotonous routine of working/reading/writing/sleeping, and well, quite frankly, who wants to read about that?

If your are curious about my daily activities here in the Pearl of the East, well here you go: I play basketball quite frequently, accumulate novels like I'm building a library, struggle to find the right words on a nightly basis, show Vicky Christina Barcelona to my students for 'cultural' reasons, drink a hefty amount of coffee, and attempt to reverse the rapidly approaching 'middle-age' clock. Oh the joy.

If you read this and actually want me to write about something, anything, please drop me a line. Having a goal, a plan to tackle, is infinitely more exciting than me telling you I had egg fried rice for lunch and saw a one-armed man playing the harmonica for money in Causeway Bay.

Briefs

My application goes out next week after a month of preparation. Finally. Nothing left to do but sit back and hope for the best.

Just finished reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz and was floored by it; the narration, the story, the language (which alternated between English, Spanish, Spanglish, ghetto, and geek, sometimes in the course of one paragraph), the characters, the history lesson. Everything about it was well done. Yes it was hyped. Yes, everyone has read it. Yes, it won the Pulitzer as well as a handful of other prizes. But this one was definitely worth it.

Saw Misery Signals last week in a gymnasium. One of the best shows I've been to in a long time (probably since I've only been to two in the last two years). I'll put up some side stage monochrome pictures at a later date.

I can't believe the semester is almost over. I'll be back home before I know it. Does anyone want to hire me for the summer?

Uptown Girl

The end of March. Still working on my writing sample to submit to Hong Kong University. I should wrap that up, as well as the application, within a week or so, then mail it out and play the waiting game. In the meantime, the semester is wrapping up quickly. A few more tests and writing assignments, then finals, then summer time.

Recent activities included a visit from Michelle, in which we got dressed to the nines and attended a high table English Society dinner at the Regal Kowloon in Tsim Sha Tsui; went to the Zoological and Botanical Gardens to ogle at a multitude of monkeys, a Chinese porcupine, and some flamingoes; saw a Malaysian horror film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival; was coerced into my first karaoke singing experience (I tackled Uptown Girl and a few Eric Clapton songs); and stood witness to Hong Kong's version of Mardi Gras, (the Rugby 7's), in which foreigners of all nationalities did their best to dress idiotically, get shitfaced, and represent their countries in the most asinine way possible.

Concert review of the upcoming Misery Signals show sometime in the near future, as well as possible brief book reviews.

Have a happy April!

Breakfast

The Hong Kong International Literary Festival turned out to be a fantastic time. I had tickets to three events on Sunday, actually ended up attending four, not to mention I was able to have breakfast with Miguel Syjuco and Nam Le on the balcony of the Pawn. I was able to listen to two of the youngest literary superstar's in the world pick each other's brains and chat friendly about writing and life. Miguel was an extremely humble and friendly young man who is still in disbelief of all the publicity he is receiving for his writing. He talked to me for about ten minutes and offered me some advice on writing, advice that I will never forget. Nam was also nice and very intelligent when he spoke, but he seemed a little more used to the attention that was being bestowed upon him, as his book is out already and has been garnering praise from every corner of the world.

I also had the chance to meet Janice Y. K. Lee and Rana Dasgupta, two more very young and successful authors. Both talked about the pitfalls of writing and how they managed to persevere through it all and churn out successful works of fiction. I managed to resort into fanboy mode and get two autographed copies of their books as well. I felt like a kid again.

Let the writing commence.

Literary Lions

The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival began last night on the rooftop terrace of the Fringe Club. I went down to check it out, pick up some books, and buy tickets for some of the events that are going on this week. The big name this year is Margaret Atwood, and she is giving a free speech at CUHK next Monday that I will try to attend. I did manage to get tickets to three events, all next Sunday. I am looking forward to all three.

The first is a talk with Nam Le and Miguel Syjuco about what it takes to write an award-winning book, as both of these men have in 2008. How much writing and struggle is there in the process?

The second event is called Making a Splash and is about debut authors who have managed to hit it big with their first work of literature.

Finally, I'm attending a round table discussion with three authors who have put out short story collections in the past year. Once again, Nam Le will be there and I am looking forward to reading his collection The Boat, as it has been called one of the best fictional debuts in years by many critics.

It will definitely be an entertaining and informative week for the literary arts in Hong Kong. Just what this city needs to inject a little soul into its veins.

March (Already?)

Not much to update on of late. It is March (already!) and things are moving along at a comfortable pace. I have not been updating the blog lately because I have been hard at work on polishing up my writing portfolio. I plan on applying to grad school in the next month and I need to hand in an 8-12 page writing sample. All of my time has been spent focusing on that.

Other than that, the semester is moving along quickly. Last week the students had to do oral presentations. Their assignment was to write an original 10-15 minute drama and perform it, all in English, with props and costumes if they so desired. They did an outstanding job, managing to poke fun at me on occasions, as well as doing some other funny stuff (such as the Obama Girl spoof in which my sister was affectionately known as Apple Lee Hamburger). Creativity and laughter was apparent all around and the kids seemed to really enjoy performing. Hopefully I will be able to put some links up, as some of them were videotaped.

Philippines Pictures III

Philippines Pictures II

Possible huge news on the horizon. In the meantime, settle for looking at more pics from the Philippines.

The preceding pics are from the town of Talisay as well as Taal Volcano, one of the 5 major volcanoes in the Philippines. My travel crew and I decided to take a 3 hour jeepney road over the worst "roads" possible just to get to the town of Talisay. The town itself borders Lake Taal, which is where Taal Volcano is located.

The volcano is still active although it hasn't erupted since 1977. It has, however, shown signs of unrest over the past 20 years. We climbed it early one morning (the only group to not ascend it on horseback) and it took us about 45 minutes to get to the top. After the descent, are clothes were covered in a fine layer of volcanic ash. Enjoy.

Philippines Pictures I

On my recent trip to the Philippines I managed do a few things I had never previously considered, some of which (dancing on stage at a White Beach tranny show, and then on the next night taking over a Sabang "disco" with interpretive dance moves and managing to distract not only the entire clientele of the club, but also the girl dancers themselves) I do not have the pictures for on my camera. I hope to obtain them soon so I can post them and you can join in on the fun.

Other things, such as riding in a tricycle, jeepney, catamaran, eating Balut (duck fetus eggs), climbing an active volcano, and enjoying the Filipino culture, I have documented. I share the first batch of pictures here today.

The pictures are from White Beach and Sabang on Mindoro Island, and the town of Batangas on Luzon Island. It is a brief glimpse of the first three days of the trip, before the actual climbing of Taal volcano and before Manila (which is where my camera died).

Because of my camera battery mishap, you will not get to see my pics of Rizal Park in Manila, nor will you see pics of The Hobbit House, a bar in Manila with a major Tolkien fetish, decorated just like 'The Shire', and staffed with midgets and dwarves. Not to mention they had kick-ass Filipino cover bands playing 70's and 80's tunes. What is better than having a 300 beer selection and having it served to you by a Filipino dwarf?

Nothing.