Art Jamming

For her birthday, Yan received the very thoughtful gift of the Artjam... for four! So, on one beautiful Sunday afternoon, Yan, Ailin, Hoi Ying, and I headed to TST for a creative experience.

I didn't have much time beforehand to plan out my masterpiece. So I went with a replication of a picture I took in White Sands, New Mexico. I'm glad I had decided this ahead of time, because our time slot at the studio was only 2 hours and it can be pretty stressful!

To add to the stress, our time slot coincided with some children's group... and you know how I feel about those little demons. The space was small, the aprons were weird and kept sliding off, and we really didn't have any surface area to spread out our paints and brushes. Despite all these challenges, the jam of art was such a wonderful experience.

I'm amazed at how fabulous all the paintings turned out to be. It felt good to mix colors, play with texture, transform an empty canvas. But I'm afraid these two hours in the artjamming studio fed us a false sense of artistic ability. It won't stop me from coming back though!

While the experience would have been more pleasant for me without a million little kiddos running around, I'm glad these kids are lucky enough to get the chance to do something fun and creative. These kids grow up in tight quarters and do not have to space to house piles and piles of toys, crayons, and all the things that American kids can have. There's no room to finger paint or make a mess, there's no back yard to hose them down. There's no Michael's or Joann's or Target to purchase fun crafty stuff, and the few crafty things available here are not cheap.

I read an article a while back about how HK is really behind in the art scene, especially in comparison to other big cities. And while this may be due to a different set of priorities (make money not art) or a different way of thinking (in the box not creatively), maybe there's just no room to be creative here.

Hong Kong's 1st Redbull Flugtag

After just another week of being sick and tired (not just an expression), I slept the better part of Friday and Saturday and scraped up some strength for some Sunday action.

Redbull's Flugtag (German for Flying Day) events are held all around the world and finally on 10/10/10 it arrived in Hong Kong. While fun, outdoor, silly, and possibly dangerous evets are pretty non-existent here, I'm glad Redbull pulled this off pretty successfully. Lots of teams participated and it was a very healthy turnout and yet I didn't freak out from crowd claustrophobia.

None of the aircraft (is that plural?) took flight, and if they did, they would have crashed straight into the barge not far off the edge of the pier, collecting the remains of each teams' hard work. It was pretty hilarious seeing each project launch into the harbor.

While this sort of pointless fun is SO NOT Hong Kong, many of the aircraft beautifully represented the HK spirit: the ol skool aqua luna junk, a tram, dim sum cart, and of course Bruce Lee. Various holidays were represented as well. It was really nice to see all walks of life get into this event.

Bo Ling

Last weekend my ol neighbor from Silver Lake was visiting.  Her brother also lives in HK so I got to spend an evening with her and her BF.  They're on a bowling league in Seattle and wanted to check out the Bo Ling scene here.

We started off the night with a super tasty dinner at Din Tai Fung for a couple rounds of their famous xiao long bao.  While walking off dinner we passed Chungking Mansions and the Symphony of Lights show in the harbor.  And finally on to the traditional Cantonese sport of Bo Ling.

Bowling in Hong Kong is like anything else here.  Very serious.  Everyone playing had mechanical wrist guards and looked like robots.  We played three games and I never broke a hundred.  Maybe next time. ;)

But mostly it was an evening with lots of laughter and perhaps my friends will consider moving to the far east.

Great Things Ahead: Fall Preview Edition

There are so many great things ahead.  Here's my list of things I'm looking forward to.

• Cooler temps, fall, and football!
• Cooler temps mean outdoor activities like biking and hiking!
• Seeing my former neighbor from Silver Lake
• Mid-autumn festival (day off!)
• National day (another day off!)
• Working in Jakarta
• Vacationing in Jakarta
• Getting over this cold
• More climbing
• LA's 1st Rock N Roll 1/2 Marathon
• Artjamming
• Halloween
• Weekend at Beas River
• A couple of weeks visiting home which includes food, shopping, my dog, my peeps and...
• UA vs UCLA at the Rose Bowl!

I love having things to look forward to.  Over the summer I had a few things I was dreading and asked the higher powers to give me things to look forward to.  Well, there they are!

Rock Climbing Certified!

Last summer on the way to a waterfall, I found myself hugging a rock wall, wishing I had real skills to keep me from falling into the river below.

So when Lory suggested a rock climbing class, I was 100% in. Eight friends, 6 classes, countless gravity defying moves.

Most of our classes took place at King's Park climbing wall, an 18 meter wall in Jordan. The high wall was super fun, but made for sweaty climbing during the day. Due to weather, our final class took place at an indoor climbing wall in TST. Air conditioning, music, certified!

Monkey Hike

Over the weekend me, my "bro" and future mrs bro ventured to the monkey mountains. I'd never been there before, but had attempted it once with bro and friend. We ended up at some other destination and settled for an afternoon of biking.

This time our journey was a success. It's a nice and easy ramble, even on a super hot and sweaty day. Monkeys fill the trees, line the roads, and even go for a dip in the reservoir. There were lots of babies who were very cute, and we even had an angry monkey chase us. Not so cute.

Upon returning to civilization, we wound down the weekend over Sichuan food. It's amazing how after a long weekend in Chengdu can turn their cuisine into comfort food.

Our Stories Must Be Told

Hi Friends,

Friendship night has been much neglected. There's the Facebook and the Twitter that lets you follow all the latest. What more do I have to say on here?

Well, there's a lot to say, because our stories must be told.

Summer's here, and then we'll be starting senior year in HK. Which means it's time to start thinking about escape plans. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. I don't have anywhere to go, and I don't have the means to get there. But I should start thinking about those things.

I have plenty of ideas. It's what's been keeping me up at night for over 20 years. Now it's time to execute those plans. And finish paying off my debt.

Your readership is always appreciated. xxx

brunch and beach!

Hike to the Peak!

hike to the peak!

I've lived here two years and I've never hiked to the Peak. Kinda lame I know since that is essentially my backyard. Literally, from my door, to Central to meet the hiking group (easier to try new places with the official group. That means I don't have to think.) Then the journey up, and an even more interesting journey down.

Has it hit you yet that I live here? I am reminded constantly how lucky I am.

Wong Nai Chung Gap Hike

hangover historical hike with harmonica. WWII pillbox!

On Saturday, Cang and I went on a very easy hike. Easy but rewarding. The trek to the actual hike was more challenging than the trail. Our hike was quiet and we only came across a couple of other people in an open clearing. The rest of the way, we came across WWII remnants, an old Chinese wall, random tables... like we had stumbled upon an ancient abandoned civilization.

Since the trail is very easy, and lined with cool things along the way, I'd like to use the space for some kind of war reenactment. It didn't feel right to wander through there without weapons and pith helmets... you know, just like the colonial days!

As we wandered, Cang read narration for the historical trail, and when we took a break I played us a little song on the harmonica.