Rain - will it rain or won't it?

Here it is, not quite 10am on an overcast, relatively cool (27 degrees) Monday morning in Hong Kong.  Here I am, at my usual table, sipping my second cup of coffee at the FCC, debating whether or not we're going to have taxi problems, getting to the train station, if it rains.

Ostensibly, I am here at the FCC to write - I simply would not even go to Pages to write were I to have stayed at our HK flat.  At least I am doing a blog piece, which will be the last one until I return to HK, as I go home to GZ for the next 10 days.

Tax season is over.  The work that I've taken on is not 'pressure-prone'.  I can do that work as well as devote more time to music, photography and cartooning.....as well as making an initial start at some 'serious' (at least for me) fiction.

Anyhow, this is today's blog - albeit brief - and now to try to do some non-fiction tax writing........

On a laid back, lazy late summer Sunday.....

For me, the nicest way to begin a Sunday without plans or activities anticipated for the day would be to have had an uninterrupted night's sleep go on into a later than time to get up (ie nearly missing the last 7:05am Sunday morning, regular season baseball game!).

Such was today's case and it was nice.  Breakfast consisted of tea (brewed here) but bakery bought (from the night before) buns (in my case, crisp/hard/sesame seed coated rye with raisin).  Ah, what a mess was made as those sesame seeds scattered far and wide, going everywhere but the paper I was holding with which I had hoped to entrap them.   The cockroaches will have a field day, tomorrow night, realizing that I am gone and thus, coming out to retrieve all those sesame seeds!

Also devoured - in three separate times during the morning - were the cut pineapple pieces packed for sale by the local food stand.  Yesterday, I went to the stand, purchasing that pineapple pack and two packs of mixed fruit.  Katherine and I each had mixed fruit, last night.

Lunch today was a walk - to the one hot dog stand I know of in Hong Kong where you really do get a hot dog.  I fear the place will cease to exist because of so little business but it simply serves the best I've had on this side of the Pacific.

And after the foot longer, thick, juicy dog in a large bun, laden with sauerkraut, pickles and mustard? Why a walk home and a nap, of course!

It's raining in Hong Kong

11:10am on a Saturday morning.  I've already met with my first clients of the day.....two more meetings, today, then a leisurely afternoon/evening with my wife, who is headed towards Hong Kong, today.

I had 4 good hours of sleep, last night, waking up around 2:30am and reading, playing harmonica for a couple of hours prior to going back to sleep.  I now have a general idea of how I want to improve upon my ability to read music while practicing, primarily, the chromatic harmonica.  I will 'secondarily' learn/practice on my melodica/melodion as my second instrument, primarily because it has a keyboard.

As I feel confident with the latter instrument, I will then go on to my AX synth.....and then, the diatonic harmonica.....going last, to the banjo.

So much for my eclectic assortment of musical instruments, which I hope to start with - at least - 3/4 hour a day for all of them.

And then there's the writing - lest we forget that this is the most important facet of developing new ways to spend my time, instead of taxes......

Of course, there is also drawing - for which I really do have to learn to use both this iPad and a drawing tablet as well as 'conventional' paper and pencil.

Autumn in Hong Kong

Here it is, just a couple of days prior to the end of the month.....and this morning, in Hong Kong, it feels like Fall.....WONDERFUL!!!

What's not so wonderful, though, is the task at hand of going through a month's worth of mail that has accumulated while I've been out of Hong Kong.....ah well, such is life.......

Regardless,  I'm in Hong Kong and not too worn out from tax season.....and the work load I have facing me is more than tolerable.

Onwards.......

It ain't over 'til it's over!!

Last day of an 18 day vacation.  Here in Ochanimizu until around noon.  Then taxi to Uemo and the Narita Express.  Katherine and I go separate ways:  she to an earlier China Southern plane;  me to the ANA business class lounge, first, followed by a later flight to Guangzhou.

So....what's been done during our trip?

Firstly and most importantly, Katherine's monumental display of diligence in her studies paid off, yesterday, at the Temple University-Japan's Promeco Test Center, where she passed part two of the IRS Enrolled Agent exam!!!!!

Me?   7 baseball games;  3 museums;  2 jazz and blues 'concerts' at different clubs;  3 books read.....and 9 days of walking from our hotel, the Tokyo Garden Palace (conveniently located very, very near Joanna's apartment!), to the Imperial Palace and circumnavigation (once, completely, 8 times, partially) around the outer perimeter.  A walk like that is a long way from my first walks, growing up in the lower middle class, East New York, Brooklyn Jewish ghetto!

And my biggest accomplishment?  Staying off of email, telephone, SMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow is my return to the real world........refreshed from a really nice time away from reality.

.....and there are two more days to go.....

.....but will there be more days or will there be a delay in flying?  A Category 4 typhoon is - as of Saturday morning (today) - heading directly for Hong Kong.  True, our flights go to Guangzhou buy hey, that's not so far from Hong Kong and what will the typhoon's wind impact be??

I'm sitting indoors at a local coffee shop, near the Temple University-Japan facilities, where Katherine is sitting for an examination.  I'm indoors because while I started out, outside, it turns out that those pleasant outdoor tables are not meant for fresh air but for smokers (cough, cough!).

Just a bit over 2 hours left for my wait.  I'll probably go shopping at the Isetan, next door, in search of flowers to present to Katherine after her exam.  After, we'll be joined by Joanna for either a grand, glorious Beijing duck lunch or a not so grand and glorious Beijing duck lunch:  grand if Katherine passes, not so grand if the results are 'not so grand'.....

Returning to the real world will be a chore - it has been a nice 2+ weeks without email or telephones, pissing off, along the way, a whole group of people who cannot quite understand what it is to be outside their realm of communications.  We've progressed from party phones to private phones to answering services to message machines to messages on cell phones.

Bring back the good old days where people looked at people, not their phones!!!

TGIF - Tokyo!

Very interesting:   The sushi bar in Ochanomizu that has become our 'favorite', here in Tokyo, serves very noticably larger pieces of fish at dinner time.  They've got to go through their inventory, reducing the supply in order to re-order, fresh, the next morning from the fish market......no longer will we plan lunchtime at the place - dinner is far more filling!!

Nakano Broadway, the retro shopping mall is a very dangerous place, indeed:  too many desireable items for sale for which I really don't have a need but a desire.......happily (especially as far as my wallet is concerned), I have had sufficient will power to resist......and with a choice of either a Grateful Dead T shirt of a Woody Allen shirt, I opted for the latter (as I already have 4 Dead shirts).

Maru, the jazz cellar in Ochanomizu, is the ideal way to spend an evening.  The cover charge is not too costly and the music is good - a two set evening, without either dinner or drinks, will run $US26.25.

The dental clinic at Tokyo Medical and Dental University is, perhaps, the best deal in town:  my daughter needed a filling and it cost $US79.  There was no wait (10 minutes is not a wait!), the place was comfortable and spotless.....but Joanna can speak Japanese and I could not.....so I guess that I'm going to have to stick with my annual visits to Bumrungrad in Bangkok.

Two more days here, then home and a return to communicating with the world.  Practically zero connectivity and living without email or the phone is pretty bleeping nice!!!

The last game of the season - what a way to end!!!

Chiba is at the far end of 'greater, metropolitan Tokyo'.  It takes approximately 45 minutes to get there.

QVC Marine Field is fully enclosed, but for a roof, and gives one the same sort of feeling that one gets in Oakland, for an A's game.

On the 17th, my birthday, mid-afternoon,  as Katherine and I were returning from a late lunch, we bumped into Paul Barnes and Jason Martin, home from their travels from 'See it All' through the ballparks of Japan.  They were on their way to Saitama and a Lions-Fighters game.  Their last game, on the 18th, was in Chiba for the Marines - Buffaloes.  I joined them.  It was a 4 hour game where one was absolutely oblivious to the time because of the game, itself, which held one absolutely captivated with its excitement and activities.

The Buffaloes won, 7-6.

The weather was superb.  The fact that there was sufficient space to 'spread out' made it simply sublime.

What a fitting end to 7 baseball games in Japan, in September.....and now I will return to MLB - TV, upon my return home.

California FTB due process? Bullbleep!!!!!!!

A client of mine - one who has been with me for years (but will cease being a client and become solely a friend because of his move) - moved to California from Thailand at the end of 2012.  'Welcome to the Hotel California - you can come anytime you want but you can never leave'

Without warning, the Franchise Tax Board 'ordered' Wells Fargo Bank to abscond with $US10,000 from his account because of a 1099 from 2009, which it claims was taxable in California.  The company which issued the 1099 contacted the Franchise Tax Board, stating that this was overseas income (the client was never even in California during 2009) but to no avail.  The FTB gets 'nasty' with people who dare dispute its actions.

Who the hell does the FTB think it is - what arrogance!   Hasn't anyone in the FTB ever heard of due process?  What right does any government, anywhere, have to simply take what it wants?  Who wants to bank with a bank that complies without concern for the depositer???

If this is California democracy in action, then democracy, California style, is a farce!

71 or 72?

Happy birthday to me!   In the west, I am 71.  My wife, though, says that I am 72.

Regardless, I am happy, relatively healthy and.....ALIVE!!!!!

Last night I went to a jazz cellar for some live music.  Today, we'll visit a Bhuddist shrine, followed by Mexican food at El Torito - Shinjuku.  This morning, I walked approximately 6 kilometers in 20 degree weather, which was absolutely delightful!  I've got to get up earlier, each day, to take advantage of the cooler weather!!!

My thoughts of the day:  I enjoy doing nothing, relaxing, reading, sleeping, walking, etc.  Life is good!

An unanticipated typhoon.....

It is 11:45am on a wet, windy - very, very windy - Monday morning in Tokyo.  It is a national holiday, today.  We are experiencing typhoon winds strong enough to have cancelled flights to and from both Haneda and Narita.

I started my morning walk at 7am, this morning, without either hat or sweat towel, fearful of either being blown away.  I never quite made it to the Imperial Palace for a walk circumnavigating the place because the rains started.  I made it, soaked, to Delifrance, for my morning cup of coffee.

Balentien hit two home runs, last night, setting a new record for Japan.  No, I was not there.  Yes, I could have gone but being with my wife and daughter was obviously more important than seeing the second NPB record, this trip.   And I will still get to another game, tentatively planning to travel to Saitama on Wednesday, to see the Seibu Lions vs the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters.

I'm reading a lot.....I'm sleeping a lot.....and I've gotten back to walking on a daily basis.  Walking, cane and all, is something I've got to do on a regular basis......and these weeks in Japan will hopefully become the start of something I once did with regularity and will do as part of my daily routine for a long, long, long time to come.

Rain, rain, go away......

.....And so I got up and got dressed, early this Sunday morning......

.....And I went out for my walk to the Imperial Palace and a walk around the place.....

.....Only it was raining - not the time for walking.....so here I am, back at my trusty old iPad, writing away prior to reading the weekend newspapers, hoping that the forecast for rain all day, today and rain, all day tomorrow simply will not be correct.

On the other hand.......on 10 September, at the Swallows home game at Jingu Stadium, I got up and led the cheers with the two paid flag wavers from the Swallows.  You might want to see......

http://youtu.be/x9aHttGTo8l

Japan Ball is over for the year.....boo hoo.....

Here it is, the 12th of September.  I've been here in Japan for a full week and I have yet to wear shoes or socks:  sandals all the time!

Today's walk is far more realistic for the next week+ :  5-6 km.  It was a glaring sun, this morning (good that I brought sun glasses!!).  I'll do the same walk, tomorrow and hopefully, most of the days that I am here.  I'll do a 10K, again, one day here but not all the time.

At 7am, prior to my walk with Jon Gat (from L.A.), I said my good-byes to two from our group who went to the fish market in Tokyo for the freshest sushi/sashimi you can find!!  At 11am, I said my good-byes to most of the rest of our group, departing for Narita and back to the States.....and to the two going on to Sapporo for a game, tonight, at the Sapporo Dome.

Tonight I have a ticket for 'my' Swallows at Jingu Stadium, where, last night, Vladimir Balantien tied the NPB home run record.  Sometimes I do things right:  two nights ago, at Jingu, I purchased a ticket for myself for tonight's game.  Wouldn't it be great if I see 'big bad Vlad' break the record, tonight??!!!!  That'll be two records, having seen Tanaka of the Rakuten Golden Eagles pitch his 20th win of the year on the 6th, in Sendai.

Katherine (my wife, for those who may be reading this but who do not know me) is now with me at my hotel in Tokyo and we'll have a good time/family vacation in Japan over the next 10 days.....and of course, I will continue to blog while outside of China!!!!!!!!!!!!

A walk around the Palace

9am - some might call it rain but to me it was nothing more than a drizzle requiring an occasional wiping of the glasses.  The walk around the Imperial Palace is 5 km.  Getting there was 2 km.  Getting back another 2 - thus 9km this morning.......tomorrow morning I'll do it again!

Last night at Jingu Stadium, Vladimir Ballantien hit home run # 54.  I won't see the Swallows tonight as it is our final game (at the Tokyo Dome - Giants vs Seibu Lions) for the JapanBall season.  I purchased a ticket for tomorrow's game, though and wouldn't it be nice if I got to see big bad Vlad hit # 56, setting a new Japan record??!

Lunch in 20 minutes - I'm meeting my wife & daughter - both studious in their endeavors while I figure out ways to stay out of their hair, allowing them to do their respective studies.

Things go nicely!!!

Literature in a garden/manga in a museum

A morning walk without a destination in mind.
Stopping for breakfast and then going on to discover a garden.
Sitting in the shade in that garden  - reading.
Tranquility.

A nap, then a taxi ride.
A manga museum.
Nice!
Very, very nice!!

The name of the garden?  It's already packed, so I can't refer to it but I do know that it was an 8th century imperial garden in Kyoto.  It was tranquil.  It was peaceful.  There were ants and bees.

And then, during the afternoon, a ride to the Kyoto International Manga Museum, a place where one can informatively learn more about this genre than I'd have thought.....and sit and read, from the close to 300,000 books available to read while there.  

Now I really want to add some collector manga art to our little, diversified art collection!!!

Thus far, I've seen a pitcher win his 20th game this year without a loss - a new record replacing Rube Marquand's (?) 100+ year old record of 19.  AND....Vladimir Balentien has 53 home runs with 20 games to go to break the Japan League record of 55.

Balentien plays for the hopless Yakult Swallows - 'my' team.  I'm going to a Swallows game tonight......will he hit a homer?

Happiness is a ball game at Koshien-in a lower temperature than before!

Four days.....three games....surprisingly cool temperatures.....expected seats made for the Japanese posterior.....but fun, nonetheless.

While the Hiroshima Carp fans go non-stop in synch, the Hanshin (Osaka) Tiger fans go non-stop, too.....sometimes in synch, more often, in controlled chaos.  They don't just wear team jerseys, they wear pants, jerseys, head gear and are wild.  The rooting is infectious - there is no such thing as a dull moment there!

Unlike those of us with Los Angeles mentalities (ie - I left after 7 innings with the score 9-1, Giants over the Tigers), people stay until AFTER the game is over.  

I have trouble with the baseball strategy, here.  The culture does not permit them to 'play to win' - they play not to lose.  That means caution - bunts, holding runners on 3d - they don't take chances and that sort of drives me mad.....but it is far more fun to attend a game in Japan than in the States.

Take it to the limit!

Remember the Eagles song?   I just did:  Take it to the Limit....one more time!

I worked, I pushed myself, from the 3 August return from the States through late afternoon/early evening, 4 September, without a day off, pushing myself, taking it to too ridiculous a limit, getting a really bad case of bronchitis/cold/sore throat, et al during that time frame.

I was called during that time to take on more work......I annoyed the hell out of some of those  who called, expecting that I would succumb to pleas and do work.   Well, all those who called are likely duly pissed off at me, only I really do not give a damn!

I set schedules with adequate time.....What's that, you say - you are sorry that you didn't take heed of my warnings or my schedule.....too damned bad!!!

Yeah,  I have an iPad on this trip - to write, to read, to listen to music.....but no email.  Yeah, I took my iPhone - in case of a family emergency.  Otherwise, I have no idea who has called and either left messages or not - as I am not answering.

Instead, I am having fun!  I'm going to the first of 5 baseball games, tonight, in Sendai.  It's is going to be a good game, too, with two pitching prospects in what will hopefully be a battle.  The game is going to break attendance records - primarily because additional stands that have been built for the playoffs (Rakuten Golden Eagles are in first place in the Pacific League!) will be opening up, tonight.

Anyhow, I'm here in Japan....on vacation.....and liking it!!