Gweilo

I picked up a book called Gweilo: A Memoir of a Hong Kong Childhood in Hong Kong. It was a beautifully written memoir of Martin Booth, who arrived in the then British far-flung colony in 1952, at the age of seven. Gweilo is a Chinese slang for a Caucasian male. It translates literally as ghost [...]

Homeward Bound: One (Last) Night in Hong Kong

Just got in after an 11-hour flight. SQ treated me like a king!
I left my heart in Hong Kong. Had dinner up at the Peak, where you can see probably the most spectacular, most beautiful night skyline in the world. This trip has been once in a lifetime, and I’m not just talking about the [...]

Unexpected Shirley Kwan in Concert 2008

It’s been 15 years since I last saw a concert at the Hong Kong Coliseum. Shirley Kwan is simply amazing. Fake bra, shiny gold-color mini skirt, MMM sun shade, and most of all, her unique, pitched voice that has never failed to mesmerize me over the years. I met up with a blogger friend and [...]

[133] The Gathering – Anne Enright

Man Booker Reading Challenge #3
“I am saying that, the year you sent us away, your dead son was interfered with, when you were not there to comfort or protect him, and that interference was enough to send him on a path that ends in the box downstairs. That is what I am saying, if you [...]

Springing

Well, here where I live, Spring is sprung–weeks early, even. Our lilac bush looks like it will have flowers by this time next week instead of in the middle of May as usual. The dogwood trees, the magnolia trees–all the flowering trees are flowering. The daffodils and crocuses are, if anything, starting to fade. It [...]

Haircut: Life on Razor’s Edge

Interview scheduling has it that I have outstayed my original plan in Hong Kong. Not that I’m not enjoying my time here with friends and family, but I was desperately in need of a haircut. For 12 years I’ve been going to the same barber in San Francisco and so I was quite flustered to [...]

Vocabulary

I’ve always wondered what other people do when they come across a word/phrase that they’ve never heard before. I mean, do they jot it down on paper so they can look it up later, or do they stop reading to look it up on the dictionary/google it or do they just continue reading and forget [...]

Q&A Meme

I stumbled upon this meme and decided to snag it.
On Culinary Arts…
Q. What is your salad dressing of choice?
A. Balsamic Vinaigrette
Q. What is your favorite fast food restaurant?
A. Not really a fast food place, but a comfort food restaurant. Baghdad Cafe in the Castro. Great burgers and fries.
Q. What is your favorite sit-down restaurant?
A. The [...]

Stagnant + More Enright

For the first time I years (probably 4 or 5 years actually) I didn’t read a single page yesterday. Something has occupied my mind that I could barely concentrate on anything, let alone reading and dissecting Enright’s language, other than being sucked into this distraction. No I haven’t been to myself. My mind is a [...]

Reading Anne Enright’s The Gathering

Seems like I’ve been on the roll for the Man Booker Challenge. Picked up and started reading Anne Enright’s The Gathering, a novel about nine siblings gathering in Dublin for the wake of their wayward brother who drowned in the sea. The highly poetic writing is a bit of an effort to read but it’s [...]