Finally finished an involved language project with Jessica. I almost bit off more than I had energy to chew with this. In Cantonese, it’s not enough to jot down how a word sounds; you need to have the intonation burned into your brain. I looked all over the internet for the kind of Cantonese video I had in mind, but couldn’t find any, so I roped Jessica in and we made our own.
I’m not promising that this next video is particularly interesting or anything. Just Next-Door-Timmie coming over and doing his thang, making me very nervous around my MacBook. His Filipina nanny makes an appearance at the end. (Her last day with them is soon and she is c-o-u-n-t-i-n-g down big time.) Poor girl, has the patience of Job.
Went with Tina to Grappa’s Cellar (in Central) for some live swing dancing. Here’s some video I shot. I talked to a (white) guy named, Dan, who sounded American, but he’s actually from here in Hong Kong. He runs a children’s psychology clinic with his parents. I asked him how American tourists/visitors are different from other nationalities and he said Americans are quick to have seen “the world”, by just visiting Hong Kong a short while. In other words, he’s run into more than several who scratch “see world” off their list by visiting Hong Kong a few days.
I just had an IM conversation where my friend said something about me “traveling” and “finding myself” and I totally disagree with both notions. I don’t feel like I’m any more “traveling” than I was in ’07 when I was freelancing in NYC, then ended up in San Francisco. Basically, I tried to make it work in HK, now I’m going to see if I have better luck in Singapore. (All signs point to “yes”.)
As for “finding oneself”, that feels like something to do with a quest to unearth answers to deeply-seated personal questions, possibly bordering on a life or identity crisis. I certainly don’t feel any of that.
I was just bored with myself and want to see what Asia is like. Maybe for 6 months or maybe forever; I don’t have a timeline or a definite plan. I checked out Hong Kong, now I’m off to check out Singapore. See? Boring. No “finding self”, no “world seeing”. Just have some food, meet some new friends and hopefully-eventually find some work I can like.
Have I mentioned that I’m liking this not-working business dangerously much?! Seriously, not-working is where it’s at for me. I’ll see how long I can keep it going.
O hi, Asia! 
When I got back from Belize, people asked me things like “do you see the world completely differently now?” and “do you have a heart for the people there?” First, I don’t even know what that second one means, but I’m not the kind of person who thinks that gracing a country with my presence elevates its importance. Jeeze, it was just a trip. I didn’t have a vision quest either.
P.s. pls include video of you swing dancing : )
Thank heavens Timmie didn’t fry his head.