What better way to spend a vacation?American Tour Phase 1 - Florida, May 20-28
I'm back in Hong Kong and still struggling mightily to make sense of both the trip and its aftermath. Some things, though, are self-evident.
Like the re-inflation of my midsection...
I wouldn't say I gained 10-15 pounds. I'd say I smuggled a sh*tload of ice cream, buffalo wings, and other assorted American junk food home with me, wrapped around my abdomen.
Or I could say I added 10-15 pounds of American citizensh...Read more
Am in Seoul, waiting to get back to HK.
Watched The International, Taken, Transporter 3, and The Wrestler (again) on the plane. None of the 3 I hadn't seen before were worth watching.
Slept a little, thanks to a pharmaceitucal care package my aunt gave me. I saved more than half of it for tonight since I am certain I will get back to HK and suddenly become bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
I'm tired of Ugly Americans (and fat ones, though I slightly ...Read more
It's 5:00AM in Nashville; I am off to the airport within an hour to start on my way to Hong Kong. If all goes according to plan, I will be back in the city around 11:00pm on the 9th.
I miss my chiropractor, my guitars, the tomboy at my gym, my goddaughter, my movie buddy Vickie, my friends from Movie Night and elsewhere, and massages, though not in that order (at least at the moment). See you soon!
I've been staying with friends in Newport, RI, my hometown. They have three kids. The kids are 12,12 (twins) and 8. The kids go to school. Early. I've been getting up at 6 for several days now. It feels very odd.
Speaking of odd, I have to move to Japan because I lost, or more generally won, a bet. Last ChristmasI met and interviewed a woman in Tokyo who taught me new things about milk and c...Read more
I arrived in the US on Wednesday (I think); 30+hours, HK-FLA.
My mother screwed up her computer, so I am rarely online. But it is fun to be back in the Land of the Weird. I am driving without a license and weeping at the plethora of size 13 shoes. My jet lag is almost gone,
and I am buying up socks and underwear at an alarming rate for a (straight) male.
Well, I must order recovery discs for mom's computer, so I can't stay long, but I wanted to let you al...Read more
I am in Seoul, in the airport. I got here at 4:30 AM local time (HK+1hr). It is now 9:15. My flight leaves at noon.
I'd never sen an airport concourse so empty. It was eerie. I tok photos but his is a fre nternet cafe. I was lucky to get he keys to type Eglish and not Korean.
I love books. I knew I'd have a lot of layover time, so I brought several. I will buy more in the US.
I respect books. One of the few things I consider a sin is throwing a book away. Unles its utter crap.
My father and I have a ...Read more
Yesterday I was very busy, but thankfully in a positive way.
I went back to the Tom Lee sale in the morning. Found some good books. Not music books, actual books about music. And a cheap pedal, too.
Then I headed to Mong Kok, where I met up with Jason Tobin, who helped me with a translation issue at a machine shop. I am having parts for my guitars custom-made. They are VERY simple parts, so don't think I'm doing anything groundbreaking. But I am not ca...Read more
... Are the midwivesof invention.
Tom Lee is having its annual Factory Blowout Sale, a mass dumping of a lot of stuff whose prices get slashed (to reasonable) in an effort to reduce inventory. It's a lot like the original Filene's Basement in Boston; lots of people sifting through piles of mostly rubbish and lots of scratch-n-dent guitars, keyboards, etc.
Normally I avoid Tom Lee like the awful plague it is. It's full of salespeople who take customer service seminars from Attila the Hun and every standof...Read more
But I think I did okay.
Guitar #13 needed some rehabbing.That gaudy neck had some design problems (and some construction problems), so it is gone.
The body had some design problems too. I've worked on the neck joint area, but most importantly I fabricated a new pickguard for the guitar out of aluminum treadplate.Read more
I'm about to watchKung Pow: Enter the Fist, and I fear that it may enrage me so much that my heart will pop like an overripe pimple and that aneurysm in my brain will finally burst and my left eye will fill with blood so that when I fall on the floor breathing my last, the world will seem half-red.
With my luck, I'll fall over facing the MF-ing TV and the last thing I see will be this wretched, Orientalist, cinematic bowel movement.
I sure hope not.
See you after the credits, if I live ...Read more
If we don't support the movies that deserve it, we get the movies that we deserve.