I don’t understand the H2O situation here.  So Hong Kong’s a cluster of peninsulas and islands, but you can’t drink the water unless it’s boiled or bottled.  But one of the most popular bottled waters is actually canned, and it’s called Pecori Sweat.

It rained nonstop today.  Hong Kong was a sea of umbrellas, and metal tips were stabbing everyone’s faces in an already crowded city.  Supposedly, there’s a cyclone warning, but it hasn’t been all that cold or windy.  Just HELLA rain, which I wouldn’t have minded if my socks and shoes didn’t get soaked.  I decided to be like the locals and get some sandals to walk around in.  But I got a pair that was two sizes too big (male complex) and now I’m forming blisters on the balls of my feet.  Yayyyyyyyyy!

Woods “Rain On”

Stevie Wonder “Too High”

Dude check out this band No One Remains Virgin.

About to check them out tomorrow for the Fragile album release show.

Pretendin to be that shit.

2Pac “Me And My Girlfriend”

I’M IN HONG KONG!!!!!  The last two days have been a time warp.  On Wednesday Dahlak and I scrambled for our big (temporary) Brooklyn exits.  Dahlak’s spending a month and a half in Ithaca working on his new play and album, and I’m on the other side of the planet figuring shit out.  It was 15 long hours on the flight, and now my timezone’s exactly 12 hours ahead.  My AM is now my PM.  And I’m dead exhausted.

I managed to zombie around Nathan Rd. (HK’s main street) and snap a couple of shots.  And grab some shkrimp wonton noodles.  Comfort food for my month of wandering.

Little Dragon “Come Home”

James Brown “The Boss”

I cannot wait to get out of this damned country.

There’s a particular type of breathing that can only exist when separated from home by and ocean.  I felt it in Paris and China in ‘05, and again in London in ‘07.  Why it’s taken me so long to leave again can only be attributed to the very characteristic that I hope to leave behind when I depart on Wednesday – a timidness to explore the earth, to be lost, and to clear my entire schedule.

This month has been completely filled with everything I needed to get done in order for next month to be completely open.  I kindasorta got there.  We didn’t finish the vocals for the new iLL-Literacy project iB4the1.2 like we had planned…nor did I completely finish all my freelance projects or learn Mandarin.  Perhaps learning Mandarin over the course of a month was a bit ambitious.  Okay, they were all a bit ambitious.  And true, much of my unproductivity can be attributed to me staying up until 5am every night watching Mad Men.  So tired and burnt out from my day that all I have the energy to do is zone out in front of a show about how people burn out from their days.  Oh, the irony.

I’ve got so much shit to do all I feel like doing is pacing in circles or lying in bed.  I can hardly justify the amount of work I’ve done in order to be able to relax.  Is this an inescapable cycle?  Will I just end up at wifi cafés all day when I get to Hong Kong?

I need to find a new way of life.  My eyes hurt.

Metric “Satellite Mind”

(there’s no reason I used “whoop there it is” except that it’s OLD)

On Monday I went back to the Chinese Consulate (a.k.a. The Land Where People Yell At You) to stand in 2 different lines for 2 hours each.  The prize? My approved China visa!!!!!!!

[Photo not shown because the internet is scary]

And so it is.  In exactly one week I fly to Hong Kong, and from there I’m joining a motorcycle gang and biking to Shanghai, where I’ll become a bad husband who treats his wife horribly but has a soft spot for his daughter, just like in Joy Luck Club.  Ahhh, the life.  As I left the Consulate, I passed by a Chinese employee teaching a black security guard how to count in Mandarin.  It tickled my heart.

My mom’s freaking out because I keep leaving Facebook comments like this:

Uncle Sam and/or Uncle Mao, in case you’re reading this: My visit to China is based on nothing but a knack for dumplings and the need for some time to clear my head.  But if you do decide to arrest me, please send them:

Chang Loo “All the Stars in the Sky”

This week I caught wind of a YouTube video that’s been buzzing around the interwebs…a mash-up of Disney’s Pochahontas and my ‘03 poem Slip of the Tongue!!  Sure, there are a lot of things that are fucked up about Pochahontas, but you know what?  There’s a lot of things that are fucked up about me too.  I’m absolutely honored that people are still moved by a recording of my poem where I was stuttering and slurring all over the place.

Thanks Bena for the heads up!