In my solitude.....still.....

Happiness is finalizing, more or less, the outline of what I write, re-write, update.  I can finish the first draft by 24 January and have a week of review/draft #2, prior to sending it off for technical review.....

Not so much happiness with the self-abuse I put myself through while doing this.....such, I suppose, is life.....

I'm watching an archive video of the NY Islanders-Winnipeg Jets hockey game.....basket ball in the morning/hockey in the afternoon, on the iPad.  That iPad video diversion makes it far easier to do the other work that has to be done on the computer.

Earlier I took a walk in 24 degree weather........now I am ready to get back to writing.....this is happiness!

And they said it couldn't be done.....

.....Here it is, just about a month that we've been in Bangkok.  Here it is, only 2 times this month have I worn long pants....or, for that matter, socks!

Here it is, just about a month and I haven't boarded a plane to fly someplace - something, frankly, I simply do not remember not doing on a monthly basis - ever, during the past 20 years.

And we have taken long, peaceful afternoon naps, daily.

There's only one problem with it all:  I am now starting to show a backlog of both writing and work that should have already been done but has not been........but I still don't care - life is too nice to let things like that interfere with it.....!

....and on the day after the orthodox Festivus......

Festivus, the holiday for the rest of us.  Season nine of Seinfeld.

Yeah, I am a Festivus celebrant but I am a reconstructionist/reform branch of Festivus - I celebrate it on 27 December.......since 23 December, leading up to Xmas, is practically a holiday......and the 24th, 25th and Boxing Day, the 26th are holidays,  I choose to celebrate Reconstructionist Festivus on the 27th of December, thereby giving an extra holiday to the merriment!

Today, the 24th.  Not quite a holiday in Thailand.  We're off to see computers - searching for a small Windows computer for Katherine.  True, there is some work awaiting.....let it wait.........!

The sun is shining, the grass is green, the mango and palm trees sway......a typical Bangkok day....as an Asian transplant I shall stay.

True, its December the 24th, I'm not yearning to be up north.....oh oh.....

It's freezing in a white Xmas..............

you get the picture:  a modification of Irving Berlin's song......happy holidays, everyone!!!

Normalcy

What is 'normal'?  Good question!  We can be eccentric, we can be very, very odd....but if we do not step on anyone's toes, if we get through day after day after day keeping our cool, doing the reliable routine type of day, then we are at normal.....or so I think.

I think we've reached the point of living a normal life.  For all intents and purposes, things are working!   The internet has its glitches but is faster with far fewer glitches than we had in China.  The telephone works - but not the telephone in our apartment, as we are not even sure what the number is.

Mail Boxes, ETC is conveniently located and will ship EMS as well as UPS, so the mail is taken care of.

The Bangkok Bank debit card, with the Rabbit transportation card combined, does not work correctly - still have to work on that one but that too can wait until we've got to go to the bank with deposits/withdrawals to be done - at that time we can figure out how to do our banking.....

And that leaves us our normal life:  a bit of work each day....reading each day.....walking each day.....photography and music, etc, etc, etc.   Life, after three weeks in Bangkok, is very, very nice, indeed!!

A solution to the Yahoo problem?

Back to basics - I am sick and tired of  daily changes of passwords for Yahoo.   I a tired of the hypocrisy of the system - 'they' want your internet addiction - they want you online all the time.

Yet if you have more machines accessing in more countries faster than the norm, you are viewed as suspicious.  And they have the audacity to list a telephone number that is either busy or no one answers....

Back to basics - email on my computer ONLY;  email using OPERA ONLY;  both systems.....no more telephone or ipad....use those for other things but limit my email time, perhaps more efficiently,  and perhaps also the answer to password problems........

Luxuriating in Bangkok!

It has taken a bit of time - a bit over two weeks to be exact but now we are starting to function on a regular, recurring, 'normal' basis!

Changes:  I'm up at 7 each morning but exercising - doing those arm rolls - the first thing.  Then to the everyday routine of siphoning through the email, getting rid of the junk email, listing the priority emails that I should (but don't, all the time) answer that day.....reviewing the newspapers and accumulating material upon which I can write (but I haven't written, yet) and then doing a day's worth of modified tax work.

By modified, I mean part day......never again for full time tax days!!!!!

By modified, I mean, like yesterday I went out and purchased a smaller keyboard, one with which I hope I can learn the right hand for eventual practice on my key-tar, neatly storaged in Hong Kong.......and taking more pictures, and reading, and going to book signings (like the one for Dean Barrett, last night) and discovering a Sunday afternoon jazz bar where I can practice and jam at.......

I have a goal:    to stay in this area for the full duration of my 90 day visa.....NOT to go back to either GZ or HK during this interval.......can I do it?   Only time will tell!!

Happy Birthday to the King!

Here it is, our 6th day in Bangkok.  I am at an internet cafe.  Hopefully, next week, internet that works will finally be installed in our apartment and we'll be able to start living a far more normal life than the twice a day visits to Zeno Cafe to use their wifi.

The temperature is wonderfully nice - 25 degrees outside - great for a walk.....but for the fact that I'm saddled with morning internet routines.......

While it isn't every day 'normal' , yet,  hopefully it soon will be back to normalcy and then we'll be able to see how adaptable we are to life here.

I was all set to write a long blog, this morning, when I discovered that Yahoo thinks what I am sending out is suspicious.....and for the second time, this week, I was forced to set up another password......I don't even remember all my passwords as it is - access to email is becoming far more difficult because of this.........

Such is life......

A bright, sunny, balmy Hong Kong late November afternoon

Hello all of you out there in blog readership land.  I'm back, having unanticipated free time because of In Tax Expos, a Ukrainian based company putting on seminars in Hong Kong today and tomorrow.  I applied.  My registration was accepted.   Yet upon arrival at the Grand Hyatt this morning, they had no record of me and I was politely told to leave.......

Well I am furious and not so politely, I will state that if you are presented with the opportunity of having to deal with In Tax.....it is my suggestion that you seek a viable alternative because if the way they handled the situation, this morning is indicative of their capabilities, then it is apparent to me that they are not quite capable of handling anything, at all.....

Other than that, I am more or less up-to-date which is fortunate because I am not with any desire to do much, at all prior to going to Bangkok in less than a week.  Bangkok, our 'winter home'.......!

Those Japanese bad back patches are superior to the Chinese patches

What a difference one night makes!   Here it is, cold as cold can be (6 degrees is far too cold for my liking!) but I am up and typing, sitting at the desk in our hotel room, not in pain while typing away.

Yeah,  getting up, be it from a chair or bed or subway car seat will get a grimmace out of me (one of those rare times that my facial expression matches how I really feel) but I feel much better, now.

Baseball tonight!!   Sushi for lunch!!!   We're nearing the end of our stay in Japan, this week.........and then home to the frantic push to complete all that must be completed at home prior to our three months of trial living in Bangkok........

I won't let a bad back rain on this week's parade!!!!

'How'd you pull your back?'

That seems to be the most common question asked as I grimmace my way through the day.

Hell, if I know how I did it I wouldn't have done it!!!

Anyhow, it is 12 degrees in Tokyo and the clouds are likely to disappear later, leaving us with sunny days for the remainder of our stay here.  Last night, at a dinner party of 7 at El Torito, I had the portable router with me and the baseball game,  MLB vs Team Japan played on my new iPhone 6+.  I like the 6+.   True, it is not as big (i.e.  wide) as some on the other new phones on the market but it is wide enough and very definitely long enough to make reading enjoyable - something that my older phone (4S) was not capable of doing.........

And now I've got the NBA on (everyplace but China because those idiots from the Stern gang (as in David, the retiring 'commiss') prematurely sold the NBA rights to Li Ka Shing, someone who I don't particularly like or respect (but he got his come-uppance:  look at his two sons!)) as well as MLB (to watch the Japan games) and a whole list of newspapers......

I love Japan - but not in cold weather.  I love the fact that for the second year in a row, I'm going to baseball games  in November.  Tomorrow night I'll be rooting for Team Japan vs the MLB.  Game 1 went to Japan last night, in what turned out to be a pitcher's battle.   Tomorrow night?   Well, in the warmth of the Tokyo Dome, I don't expect a pitcher's battle but would happily settle for it as then that mind game-aspect of baseball most assuredly shows its strength!!!

another day of gluttony?

I've got to control myself!   Three meals - big meals (at least two of them) yesterday and two meal appointments, today.......what's a diet conscious guy to do????

We went to Jimmy's Kitchen, taking Jon and Pam Bennett of Houston, Texas, baseball buddies who were on the 'See it All' trip to 13 baseball stadiums in Japan in 2012.  We did it, then, in two weeks, a bit too much for all of us.  Jon, this past summer, went to all 30 MLB stadiums for games........a feat to be admired........

Not much to write about, today......but at 7:40am on what looks to be a rainy day, today, such is life.....

Days of glttony - again.....

Yesterday was one of over-abundance:  I started out with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at the FCC for breakfast, went south of the proverbial border with spicey chicken in corn enchilladas at Mr. Taco Truck....had a big & juicy burger at McDonalds prior to seeing Fury with Brad Pitt about a tank crew in the final month of the second world war in Germany.....good war movie.....good ensemble acting.....and Pitt will likely receive an Academy Award nomination, if not more......and then fruit at night, prior to reading myself into one of those rare, uninterrupted nights of sleep.

Back to a regular breakfast of corn flakes, banana and skimmed milk, this morning but an Indian shrimp curry for lunch.....and tonight will be dinner at Jimmy's in Central.......

Wonder of wonder, miracles, miracles :  in one fell swoop, I am going to obliterate all dietary accomplishments and weight loss of the past year......aiyaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Back in that blog saddle, again......

....back where (my blog) a friend is a friend......

you get the drift - its been a while since I've pounded my thoughts on the logitech keyboard of my iPad 2.  No, I will not upgrade to the iPad Air 2 (unless my current iPad breaks down) and wait it out another year.....at that time.......multiple screens and tasking for the iPad???

I purchased the NBA for the year and watched the Lakers play a full game today, something I haven't done (a full NBA game) in a long, long time.  I have no idea whether there'll be any coverage in China as Li Ka Shing owns the rights in the PRC, blocking the NBA in what had to have been one of the dumbest moves, ever, relinquishing website control to someone else......

I'm going out, now, to see if I can get a portable keyboard/stand or stand to prop up the iPhone so I can watch basketball......and try some typing on it, as well........

We shall see.......

Homeward bound

I left Guangzhou on 2 October.  Today, 24 October, I return and finally can sleep in my own bed, again!!!

Bangkok for 10+ days was good.  Work was good, finding a place to stay for 3 months was good.....life is nice.

Hong Kong was busy with meetings - too busy at this burnout stage of the year.  Yet I return home, today, with some work and lots and lots  and lots of time within which to do it......

Will I finally start learning the concertina that I purchased in Japan, in May?  I hope so.....but only time and determination to end procrastination will do the trick.....

10 days in Bangkok..........

And what have we accomplished?   A heck of a lot, actually!

Katherine spent her time reading and studying a 10 unit CPE program, 'The life-cycle of a corporation.  I did tax work - and completed the 48th tax season of my life.  48 tax seasons - occupational rut - how the hell did I get so old so fast?

But, on the other hand, we did search and we did find a three month home in Bangkok and starting the first of December, we will be learning what it is to be living in a real apartment (and not either a hotel or serviced apartment) for a few months.

Will Bangkok be a permanent part of our life in the future?  Actually, that is a stupid question/comment because BKK IS a permanent part of our present and future lives.  We'll be here more than just a few times a year and we like it like that!!

So, for those of you who want to be with us during those three months of 'experimental' (but not really experimental!!) living, come to Soi 16-Sukhumvit - we're going to be living at Garden Grove!   And insofar as morning meetings are concerned, Kuppa, on Soi 16, will be my breakfast meeting place from December through February.

The season is changing.............

A week ago it was 34 degrees out, late afternoon.  Today, it was 31.  True, a slight change but a change indicative of seasonal fluctuations.......and the fluctuation at night is wonderful - it was cool, there was a breeze, while the humidity was still high, it was, all other things being equal, a wonderful night........this was not the case just a few nights ago.

Is it the fall?   At 20 September, it is late enough (or early enough?) for fall changes........is it a fluke, with another hot stand?   It's no fluke but there might be a few October days of summer left.  Seasons change, years go on, we get older - you get older, I don't!  My body ages while my mind gets younger!!!

Tomorrow morning we sleep late - no 8:30am meetings for a change....and mid-day, we are off to Shenzhen.

On a day like today.......

Sounds like I'm about to break into song..........why not - if we all sang occasionally, perhaps the world would be a hell of a lot better off!

Joanna and Katherine left for the airport, I went to work, I'm ready for a long distance telephone call and then have a leisurely morning of activities, a 3pm meeting and basically a couple of days with Katherine, working a bit, relaxing a bit and taking advantage of Hong Kong.

We'll probably visit Japan again in November.....but for now, it is time to complete this week's worth of work and unwind.....

Happy birthday to me!!!!!

I was born 72 years ago.

I never ever imagined saying 'I was born 72 years ago'!   Where the hell have all those years gone?  Katherine and Joanna came in from Guangzhou this morning.  I completed virtually all the work I intended to do by 12:30pm and we are spending the day as family.  With the exception of a couple of emails, et al and a meeting tomorrow afternoon, I will spend the time with the two women of my life who have put meaning to my life.

Life is nice........far nicer at the age I never expected to be talking about than I ever expected.  Yeah, one does have limitations increasing as the years go on but so far, so good.......and for this I am obviously very, very appreciative!!

Force 8 typhoons do tend to alter one's schedule!

Who knew there was a typhoon on its way?  Anyone who watches television or listens to radio, that's who.....!   Me?   I don't watch, I don't listen, I thus don't know that until I got the 8am radio newscast......and then it wasn't raining.  But an hour later, it rained like hell.

Now?  No rain.  The forecast for today?  Who knows??   Who cares?????  I'm productive, today, in-house, shuffling paper, making it look like I'm busy........but I'm up-to-date and not under pressure.....and looking forward to tomorrow when my family will join me for a happy day and evening, indeed!!

And thus, the rains came.....

Another busy day, oblivious to the weather, only to discover that when I was ready to go out and take a break, there was a torrential downpour going on and upon just looking at the forecast for the week ahead, we are liable to have heavy rains throughout the entire week........if it helps cool things down, then that is not so bad!!!

True, I have not yet had the opportunity to play more music at the end of the day because my ends of days have been too late to want to do anything.......but I am writing and starting to put ideas for the novel into computer memory - that's a start......and I am taking pictures - far more than I have in the past.....although I need to do more than just take pictures!!

It is now 6:15pm and with luck, I can satisfactorily end this day within a half hour.   What shall I do after - that's the big question.....

In the mood.......

What a horrid abuse of the Glenn Miller number......in the mood?  In the mood, albeit reluctantly, to do taxes......

For two days in HK, I met clients.  I no longer can meet and do - I'm a single tasker at this stage of my life.  and today is tax day.....no writing until after but I've got to post something.......

All packed up and ready to go but.....

.....it is too damned hot and I was too damned tired and ready for a nap instead of making our way down to Peddar Street in Central to get a taxi to the train station.  So we'll do it at 6:30am tomorrow morning and I can now do work I re-scheduled in a rational manner without creating any pressure for myself.

I was invited to speak about FATCA - to Republicans Overseas..........and I can fit this one into my schedule.....could be interesting, looking at things from the other side as I do my performance........same as usual but how will these attendees view it?

Not much to do but with innefficiency the rule, not enough time to do it

Somehow, I wrote enough to finish an article, enough to review/edit/submit tomorrow, prior to starting a Tax India article.  Writing, writing, writing.....but I like it......

On the other hand, tax work pays the bills and while I don't like it, I reluctantly do it, as I have prostituted myself to a nicer life with some income than without....i.e.  Social Security doesn't quite do the trick - and I love my working relationship with Tax Analysts but writing revenues?  I'd starve to death sooner than I'd prefer.......

And so, I go on.....cheerful and bright, taking my time, not quite caring about my work efficiency because there's always tomorrow to do what otherwise should have been done, today.....

Back to some efficiency!

That weekend off from communicating with the world is far more essential than you can imagine!  One reaches a point where I want that other brick in the wall, cutting me off from the world and letting me maintain some solitude.

I started off this Hong Kong trip with over 200 unattended to emails.  I am now down to under 125......virtually all done today, after taking a few days away from phone, from email, et al........

And celebrated, prematurely, my upcoming birthday, having buns at a very upscale traditional Chinese restaurant and the most wonderful chocolate fudge cake from the Mandarin Oriental cake shop, this morning.  The chocolate fudge and accompanying fruit platter made it to my food gallery in my website, too!

So much for diet control, or lack thereof.......

The last August Sunday of 2014.....in Hong Kong

Three adults, one mucho grande, the next petite......third of standard size......all crammed into a Hong Kong mini-apartment not quite large enough for just one.....

El Mucho Grande, yours truly, the writer of this here blog, today, was up early, as usual, getting himself ready for the joys of solitude prior to anyone else's movement from the bedroom......now, the elder female is up, brewing herself tea, warming bread, preliminary wifely things prior to her taking her morning shower.

Princess the sleeping one, ain't asleep - she's in bed, phone in hands, qq-ing.    

The computer just re-booted.  Why?  Damned if I know......so I am now switching from the Mets- Phillies (1-0 - good game) to the Padres-Dodger game........and it is just about to start as I am about to end this blog - no work - It's Time for Dodger Baseball!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happiness is being in Hong Kong!

Going to Bangkok is really, really nice.  Tokyo and points south, too, was wonderful.  Phnom Penh?   It is off the beaten path and is 'vacation' rather than work......Hong Kong means work.  Hong Kong means that business dinner at Jimmy's Kitchen and a business breakfast at the FCC the next morning.

Hong Kong has been 'my city' for a quarter of a century.  That possessiveness is obviously enhanced by having my apartment - same one for almost as long as I've been in HK - to make living tolerable.

Today is a working day:  lunch meetings and work on taxes......but it all transpires here in Hong Kong.....I like it like that!

At 6:45am on my balcony.....

Sitting in solitude as the day is about to begin, I watch, in semi-trance state, the boats traveling the Mekong.  That pace, slow, patient, seemingly without any motivation, is the day pace in a tropical place where air conditioning is not standard, where early mornings and late afternoons are far more vital (but also somewhat limiting in both time and the ability to communicate outside of the country).

Homeward bound early this afternoon.....this has been a good change of pace where I've been able to observe and render an opinion after my observations.  It is nice to still be 'relevant' as a 'guru' at this stage of life.   Glad that someone would hire me for a task I wouldn't hire myself for!!

Praise be those carbon emissions - when it is 36 outside

Sunrise, that period of dark blue to pink  flavors of coloration of the sky  is a brief - far too brief time of the day.    It gets white hot pretty damned fast.

Ah, but what a time to get up - it is, after all, an hour earlier here than China, so I would be getting my ass into gear at the time of a late Summer Cambodian sunrise.

I got bored with the Yankee-White Sox game and left it around 8:45am, this morning, coming down to the lobby of the Quay to find that our breakfast at 10 crowd had already eaten and were going into a final, summary meeting with the Thai/Cambodian contingent, leaving me to fend for myself.

I had breakfast:  2 cups of coffee, tomato juice, fruit salad & yogurt; bor bor (or something like that), a Cambodian rice porrage.  This was my 9th cultural variation on a rice porrage theme I've had the pleasure to experience in life.

My preference:  Thai boiled rice with minced pork.

Will we find Cambodian purple jade, today??   Only time will tell.....

Watching the sun rise over the Mekong

The Quay, a small, boutique hotel a block and a half away from the FCC-Phnom Penh and Herb's Happy Pizza (which makes the happiest and one of the best tasting meat sauces I have ever had!).  The room:  spartan but modern with a patio overlooking the river.

Yes, there has been noticeable change in economic status/development here....but go one or two streets 'deep', behind the facade and the poverty of 14 years ago is still here.......yes, Tijuana of the mid-50s is still thriving.....albeit, half-way around the world in Cambodia.....

Departure day

All you can eat sushi - set price for a 2 hour period.  Gluttony to which one volunteers because one wants sushi and there are no other sushi bars around (really - the two favorites we'd been going to for years have closed - one went out of business;  the other lost its venue when they tore down the building).  Going there was a mistake because, as little as I truly did consume (and I am eating far less these days), it was still far too much and I did not sleep well, at all.

It is now time to pack, go out for a walk, and then go to one of my two favorite barber shops in Asia (in Ochanomizu - the other is on Thonglor in Bangkok) for a shave and a haircut.  Alas, no longer 2 bits.....

This has been a good trip - lots of baseball!!!!   

Red sleeves

The burn is still there but after two days, it is not always on one's mind.....but for the next week or so, it is simply going to look like I am wearing a pair of red sleeves.  I definitely have to wear my watch as the burn is far more noticable without the watch and my white skinned watch area!

I'm reading much - go to my Shelfari site (prctaxman) to see what I've been reading......I'm not writing - will get back to that next week, as this is a vacation and writing (since I'm being paid for it) is work, albeit pleasurable work with minimal income.

We went to another temple, yesterday afternoon but this one was in sections and the sections were up a mountain and there were steps - lots of steps - too much for me in the heat and (especially) humidity - but I did take pictures - lots of pictures - most of which will be deleted.....

And we did see the latest version of Godzilla, last night.  Good escapism?  Yes!  Good movie?  Are you kidding???  I'd recommend it for one who wants to escape for a couple of hours, watching some good computer generated graphics.   The 1954 version remains in my mind (as does The Thing and The Creature from the Black Lagoon) as the film of ímpact'  that I'd probably like to see again.  This latest version (or the likely sequel)?   No way would I watch again....

Back to Tokyo, today.......and baseball again for the high school tourney?  If we get the opportunity, then absolutely - it was GREAT!!!

Flame broiled at Koshien!

Morning baseball is nice.....but beer girls at 8:15am?  As we took our seats in the VIP section of officialdom of the High School Baseball Federation, a couple of things were noticeable:  firstly, Joanna was the ONLY female there - all others were older Japanese men;  secondly,  these seats were great!!!!!  It is indeed nice to have contacts!!!!  Life definitely is based not only upon what you know but who you know!!!!!!!!!  Third, why were the beer girls coming to this section, which was not for the paying public but the guys involved who had to, by example, be alcohol-free?  Fourth,  without any sunblock, this morning was going to be brutal - the morning sun was so intense and I felt like a raw, Burger King Whopper being flame broiled in the sun!

Too bad I cannot transfer the pictures from my Leica to the iPad.  Too good was my feeling that I was, perhaps, the only one with a non-Japanese camera amongst the 45,000 in attendance.  Too sad am I that when I get home to Guangzhou, because of the internet restrictions, I will not be able to put the pictures on my website (that'll have to wait until the end of the month in Hong Kong).

And yet....I wouldn't have missed the opportunity to attend the opening ceremonies and first two games of this year's tourney.  47 prefectures.....with two teams each for Tokyo and Hokkaido (and the winning prefectural team from the rest of the prefectures).  49 teams in this year's event.

Going behind the scenes was a fantastic experience - the kids come first - physical trainers there to see that these young players stay healthy - stretching after the game and individual attention to all - especially the pitchers!   Seeing the emotions - tears from the losers, shit eating grins on those victorious.....no corporate sponsors - this is purely amateur and not ' western-hypocritical'.

I have new found respect for how the Japanese treat baseball.........it was an experience that simply cannot be duplicated.  

It ain't gonna rain on our parade!

.....and now the weather report says rain - severe at times - all week long in Osaka.  Will there be baseball tomorrow at Koshien?    I hope so.

It is 10:35am and I just got dressed on this wet Sunday morning.  I'm in our hotel room in Kyoto.  I've been reading......and liking it.

Today we'll first go for breakfast.  Then it'll be off to Osaka and a trial run at getting to Koshien Stadium, first, in anticipation of tomorrow's 8am appointment there to meet and be escorted to wherever we'll be sitting for the opening ceremonies (assuming no rain) and a couple of baseball games.  After, we'll go to Universal Studios-Osaka, to get tickets for Tuesday and our visit to the magical world of Harry Potter at the theme park.......

So much for the blog for today.....it is raining, now, on what appears to be a day of on and off rain......hopefully no wind squalls like last night - then, one knew that a typhoon had hit the southern part of the country.....

A typhoon postponement.....

The high school tourney - postponed from an official start on the 9th to the 11th because of a typhoon that should hit southern Japan today and tomorrow.

We'll get to Kyoto today but tomorrow's plans???  We'll re-arrange......such is life......

Anyhow, this is a wonderful break from reality and being here in Japan with my daughter is indeed a treat!!!!!

And as for anything else happening?  Who cares - we're having fun!!!!!!!!!!!

Time for the sweat towel!!!

The heat and humidity are stifling.   So what else is new???   Tokyo summers are not noted for their  'hospitality' to the visitor.   I sweat a lot....a whole hell of a lot!!!  I run through handkerchiefs because paper towels and napkins and tissues cannot take the force of my sweat!   I looked for my Kanemoto sweat towel, the one Joanna and I got during our first game together, in Japan, way back when......I couldn't find it but did bring my Rakuten Golden Eagle towel, which will now be put to use......

So, what's on our schedule today?   Nakano Broadway, the new apartment, getting tickets for the 13th at the Tokyo Dome (if possible - otherwise we'll go to Saitama for the Lions - Buffaloes game, that night)....and dinner with Joanna and her friends who are helping to move her to the new apartment she'll be living at for the next few years in Tokyo......

.....and, of course, I have to go to that 4th floor harmonica store - the óne of a kind' place for a frustrated, wanna be musician like me!

Bel Canto

Ann Patchett's third book.  I read a more subsequent book of hers as 'required reading' for one of the workshops I took last summer at U of Iowa.   I purchased this one as an ebook a while back but only recently got around to reading it.

Picture this:  a South American country.......a diplomatic reception with dignitaries from arond the world in attendance.  A terrorist group attacks and holds hostage the attendees.....for 4+ months......all men but for an opera singer who was paid to perform at the reception.

That's the theme and that's the story that turned into a page turner..........I liked it.

And now........I'm reading two books:  Jingwei Bird, written by a friend, Rick Zalon and the Doris Kearns Goodwin memoirs of growing up in the 50s, with baseball and the Brooklyn Dodgers an important element of that growth and the bond between the author and her father.

That latter book is in preparation of the daddy-daughter, baseball-related trip to Japan, next week!

Of course I've got a sunburn!

Well, what the hell do you expect?  The glare of the sun off the water, even in the shade, will give you a sun tan, or worse.  Seven hours out on the Gulf of Thailand, glare, humidity, sweat, work.......a new experience for me, one who has Shekou or Macau or Staten Island boating experience but not a whole hell of a lot more.

Sailing is work.  For those addicted to the hobby, it is a labour of love.  It is a day of leavers and pulleys and ropes controlling the slack, the position of the sails to let the wind power a boat that, in windlless weather, also has  a damned powerful engine!!

These 3 days in Pattaya have been a laid back, relaxing change of pace.....and now onwards to the airport and the return to my real world......Guangzhou, here I come!!

Found in Bangkok.....

There's a change of scenery, a change of climate,  a change of pace,  a change in the cast of characters.....over all, a change, an infusion of enough things different to make working here in Bangkok on a five day trip a refreshing trip, albeit, not a restful one, yet......

That rest comes sometime tomorrow afternoon, when I leave for Pattaya and a couple of days away from the internet and communications, in general, aboard a boat!   No shit, I am going boating!!!  That'll be a first for me and the opportunity to take advantage of being with people I expect to see more and more in the future makes it doubly exciting.

Hong Kong/Guangzhou and Pearl River Delta life for over half a year, each year, makes China a permanent part of my life.   But for a few months during the winter cold, we hope to make Bangkok our winter home.  In October, we look for a furnished apartment....In December, we'll start living here.  'Here' just might be our future - especially as Katherine develops work capabilities and 'interfaces' more with clients here.

Today?   Streamlined Procedure meetings..........yes, the IRS system stinks.  But at least I can be a beneficiary from it all!!

Movies x 3

And in the after hours (which are early ones for me in Hong ong), what do I do?   I read, I rest, I the watch movies.

Last night I saw Dawn of Planet of the Apes.     A play on words will sum up my feelings:  it should have been re-named Yawn of Planet of the Apes.  It was a contrived, poorly conceived movie that tried to be more sophisticated than it had a right to be.......but the make up was good.  Still.....yawn.......

Two nights ago I saw Chef.  I loved it!!

And over the past couple of nights at home, I watched Mel Brooks' Silent Movie, a gem ahead of its 1976 issuance.   I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT AND WILL SEE IT AGAIN!!

Another summer day in Hong Kong

Happiness is being busy after tax season.....but not so busy that I am under pressure.

Happiness is planning for the trips I will be taking this summer.....because I love to travel and none of the trips will result in jet lag.

Happiness is liking my life, who I am, where I am and the direction in which I head into the future.

Happiness is being happy;  being healthy.

Something that has taken me 24 years to do.....

In 2007, Chinese-American author Ha Jin’s “A Free Life”  was published.  This was a book about the immigration experience.

A poem of his, ‘Homeland’  was included within this wonderful book. 

You packed a pouch of earth into your baggage

As a bit of our homeland.  You told your friend:

“In a few years I’ll be back like a lion.

There’s no other place I can call home

And wherever I go I’ll carry our country with me.

I’ll make sure my children speak our language,

Remember our history, and follow our customs.

Rest assured, you will see this same man,

Made of loyalty, bringing back gifts

And knowledge from other lands.”

You won’t be able to go back.

Look, the door has closed behind you.

Like others, you too are expendable to

A country never short of citizens.

You will toss in sleepless nights,

Confused, homesick, and weeping in silence.

Indeed, loyalty is a ruse

If only one side intends to be loyal.

You will have no choice but to join the refugees

And change your passport.

Eventually you will learn:

Your country is where you raise your children,

Your homeland is where you build your home.

This poem works both ways – it describes my 24 year experience as an immigrant on this side of the Pacific, too. 

This afternoon, I had my initial meeting at the Hong Kong Immigration Department.  I am applying for naturalization to become a Hong Kong citizen.

Larry

14 July 2014

Baseball, a fruit cup and an edit.....

Ah, my final morning in Hong Kong this trip.  A Sunday morning, psychologically relaxing me a bit more because there ain't no one doing anything outside this morning.....hell, at 10 am, they are still likely to be in bed - especially here in mid-levels.....

The Dodgers are ahead of the Cards 7-1 on the iMac - how pleasant it is to be able to watch a live game while typing away.   Yesterday afternoon, after Katherine and I went our post-lunch separate ways, I purchased 2 fruit cups from the local stand.....we're each having a fruit cup for breakfast.

I finished an edit of an article whose words flowed smoothly.......I start, tomorrow, on my TII article.

And tonight.....the final FinCEN 114s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A long, long wait

There is a sushi bar on the third floor of IFC Mall.  It always has a wait - unless one goes around 3:30-4pm for lunch.......

We went at 7:30pm and had an 80 minute wait - I displayed a patience previously unheard of from me - but I had to wait - it was the least I could do after Katherine's learning FinCEN 114 input.   There are many who had duplicate efforts that were both subsequently accepted by the IRS.  There were a few triplications and quadruplications of filings also accepted.    While all under my name and I wonder if my name will come under scrutiny, I wonder more if they are even going to be looked at as this is such an error-prone, confusing (in parts) system in its first year of operation........and that is why I urged everyone to file to get it all on initial record (that will not be looked at).......because I have no doubt that they are going to change the system, next year, and ask for newly reported accounts in subsequent years whether this account was opened in the current year - to penalize future discoveries of prior omissions.......

Devious, true....but would you expect anything different from the guys who are running all of this??

FinCEN 114

I was promised the world and instead, I got a can of warm, smelly excrement!  And yet, I cannot truly place blame upon Lacerte Software Corporation, my tax software provider since 1992.   The have a system to which I am the exception falling so far out of the bell curve that no one could justify a permanent one person patch.

They tried.   And in the process of trying, in taking down my anti-viruses, in assigning a phantom EIN, they truly fucked up my system and I fear I will have to purge the hard disk drive of everything and starting over.....starting over with the back up I actually have!!!!!

And thus, we (primarily Katherine Lipsher, MBA, EA) became expert at doing the FinCEN - for each individual, in a painstakingly slow bout of torture......and along the way, became convinced that the new system they set up cannot possibly work because of so many areas for which numbers had to be filled out when in fact there are none.......and for which, after looking at the returns efiled by clients, there are going to be far more 'variations' in answers than the government possibly could imagine......and I wonder..............

Other than that, life is nice, albeit kind of hot and humid, here in Hong Kong......

The war that I lost.........

4+ days

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

in-between meal snacks with reckless abandon

I ate my way through Hong Kong, this trip, wiping out any diet accomplishments of recent........true, the trip was a sucsessful business trip to Hong Kong but food wise, this was an unmitigated, f--king disaster!

Homeward bound today....and hopefully better diet control!!!

The war the Google lost.....

Yeah, gmail was my back-up email.  No more.  Shortly before the end of May, the absolutely horrendous connection problems of getting on gmail in China were, it appears, resolved:  now there is no chance in hell that one will get on at all!!

Because of the 25th anniversary of a 'non-event' in Beijing,  everything Google was jammed.   I can live without the Google search engine.  There are alternatives.  I find not accessing Google news an inconvenience....but I am ending my reliance upon gmail in China.  Yeah, I will keep the address and utilize all things tied to it but it is time to get a local email address in China as my back up.......

Such is life....

I am no longer to be found on Facebook - I think..........

On the 14th of May, without any assistance from Facebook (because they want to keep everything, regardless of whether you want them to), I think I was able to successfully disengage myself from Facebook. No, I haven't been to FB since 10 December 2010, when I saw Social Network and determined that I would rather be anti-social than join Zuckerberg and crowd.   With all do respect, if Mark Zuckerberg is the future of society, then I am content to live in the past!!!!

Anyhow, I had a sudden barrage of FB emails when I did my dastardly deed.....then a few more.....then.....nothing.

I think I'm off.....and I have absolutely no desire to find out how correct I am in this assumption.

This is the last blog until my return to HK on the 9th of June........will I or won't I make changes directly to the site????  Only time will tell.....!

The great thing about M&S Food Court around the corner....and the sad thing.....

I'm eating better at night - there is absolutely no doubt about it.  Beet root salad last night was wonderful.  The mango/pineapple plate, while not as good as the prior night where all the pineapple was sweet, was still great.

I love the cottage cheese with pineapple, too.....not to mention the Greek yogurt with honey.    I'm eating more because it is so conveniently located and therein lies the problem - I'm bulking up when I shouldn't be, because of sheer volume.........

That is sad.  Sadder is the fact that I haven't been to my neighborhood fruit stand because of the M & S convenience..........that is something I will definitely have to change!!

One meeting over.....and soon to start the day.......

Friday morning.  The Economist already downloaded on the iPad;  first meeting a success.  Now I have to go to the bank and then to pick up mail.....then home to my HK apartment and two tax returns, first, followed by reviewing two more........Life is boring at this time of year - got to be that way because  of the necessities of life......nothing more to say - a brief one, today

Poetically lazy, that's me, sadly......

I finished what I wanted to do, business-wise.   Yeah, there is some other stuff but I really do not want to work on it.......

I have music I want to learn.  I'm too lazy, not sufficiently motivated.

Sadly, I am in a case of the 'blahs', not really wanting to do much more than vegetate......after going to M&S food court, around the corner......and I'll do that after I find a DVD I want to watch, tonight.....

I'd go to the Procrastinator's Club - next time.......It's just one of those days......

Summer's here and there ain't no turning back.....

I was out, this morning, after my breakfast at the FCC.   To the banks.....to the post office.....to pick up office supplies.....and then crash because the heat and humidity is too much to handle - recovery time is needed.

I'm working, now.  It is 1:30pm.  It is 32 degrees out.  I think it is warmer in Central......and of course, the humidity is stifling........

This is the way it'll be from now through the first weeks of October.   Welcome to a typical South China Summer!

My Hong Kong morning.....

Corn flakes/skimmed milk/banana & tomato juice first, with 2 cups of coffee throughout and after.....

And these past weeks have seen free WSJs as well as China Dailys.......that's life at the FCC.   Only after, today, I have to first go to the general post office, followed by a visit to the HKPO on Queen's Road.

And I have a lunch meeting, today......and dinner meeting, tonight....but with two perceived easy tax returns to do, sandwiched in between lunch and dinner........

Less pressure, right now......and that is nice!!!

a pain in the back.......

Again.

Lower back pain.  Fortunately I am seeing my stretcher, this morning.    I'm watching the Braves-Rocies game, 7-0, Braves in the bottom of the 8th.  Watching and writing.......

I'm back in Hong Kong for a week.  I'm already behind schedule, failing to follow up on any more work after my second meeting of the day.   I went to the new Marks & Spencer Food Hall, around the corner and pigged out, last night, on healther bulk I did not really need.

Impressions from the land of the rising sun.....

10 days in Japan.  This was a mid-tax season break.  It was good to get away.  It is lousy to go home to face 71 more days of tax season.  If there is anything 'good' it is the fact that I've completed 100 days of tax prior to the 10 day break in Japan!

Impressions:   There are far more 'old' people here than one can imagine.  I might very well be the youngest cane carrier around!  Baseball is far more affordable than in the States although the game here is less aggressive.  I like the livelier ball, though:  saw 6 home runs in two games.   That definitely adds excitement!!

Oishimbo, the food manga for which I read the six English language books published thus far, has suspended weekly publication in Japan because of lots of controversy about radiated food emanating out of the Fukushima area.

Real estate is conducted here on a far more ethical basis than the Chinese, who are now buying, like....it is going to be an interesting clash of cultures here......

The lively ball

Last year, when Wladimir Ballantien set the Japan home run record, all controversy surrounded a lively ball.  This year, it seems to me, the ball is a hell of a lot livelier.

We saw Willy Mo Pena and Andruw Jones hit two in the rain out game in Sendai on Thursday.  The Jones shot was a real long blast.

Yesterday at the Tokyo Dome, there were 4 home runs, including a grand slam in the Carp's 10-3 rout of the Giants (to hell with the Yomiuri Giants - I dispise them as I dispise the NY Yankees!).  Is it a lively ball -even more so- this year??

This trip has been a welcome change of pace/environment from the tax work I left and will return to.  Emails are out of control - far more coming in than I can ever hope to keep up with.....but then, this happens every year and has been like this since the late 1990s during tax season.

The hardest thing is to find the time to do tax article writing - especially with only a couple of days left of this trip - true, I need to do a little each day but at the cost of ruining a vacation for me and my girls???

Baseball, sushi and nuclear disaster

I've been going to baseball games for 67 years.  Not once in all those years did I come close to a foul ball.

Katherine has been going to baseball games - perhaps 6 or 7 games, total, in all her life.  On Thursday, she got her foul ball, hit by Andruw Jones, prior to his bat's sweet part coming into contact with a fast ball to produce a real long home run.

Last night we experienced some gourmet sushi.   Expensive?  Yes!  Worth the price?  Not as worth it as that $US300 kobe beef dinner I had last year but definitely a worthy experience.

And yesterday, I did the basic research I felt necessary for the Fukushima aspect of the fictional effort I embark upon.  Baseball.....rock & roll.....nuclear espionage......lofty goals?   That will be determined as time goes by.

Weather is cold, here in north Japan.   I'm 'soft' and want my warm weather back.....and will probably regret saying this as I curse the south China summer that we'll be returning to, next week.

We take the train back to Tokyo, today........these few days north have been fun - and worthwhile!!

The ulitmate commitment against social networking!

A couple of years ago I got off my ass and terminated all banking at HSBC, the world's local bank that I love to hate!

In 2010, after seeing 'The Social Network', I decided that Facebook was the antithesis of everything I believed in and stopped using Facebook.

Last night, I opted out of Facebook.......and have 14 days in which to either answer one of their emails to me (10, thus far, and not even a full day, yet) or they will (so they say) completely 'obliterate' my accout.  Of course, I don't really believe them but I will watch with amusement the emails they'll be sending me.....

Now, after this blog posting, I will opt out of What's App.......keeping (although it really is not worth keeping) We Chat......

I hate the phone.  I hate networking.......if you really want to reach me, email is the way.  

And next for me?   Getting rid of the smart phone and getting a plain, old fashioned dumb phone!!

How NOT to go on a trip!

Don't catch a cold/sore throat/etc/etc that turns into a strep throat!  I spent yesterday at Tokyo Medical and Dental University clinic.  And yet, there are some advantages when you can't really do anything but cannot sleep:  one then tends to read!

And read I did:  on the plane, at the clinic, and all times in between.   Half way into 'The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair"   I re-discovered what a 'page turner' is:  I simply could not put the fucking ebook reader down.........I loved the book!!!!

The weather was warm, today.   My chills are not as chilly.....the bronchial cough is there but not as much - two more days of antibiotics will hopefully cure it all.  Yeah, I should be careful not to abuse drugs like this.....but to spend 9 days in Japan feeling miserable????  Hell no!!!!

The Seattle drizzle hits Hong Kong

Here it is, the 8th day of May.  I've been in Hong Kong for 5 of those 8 days and thus far and frankly, life has been a drizzle - not enough to warrant turning my cane to an umbrella but enough to make the start of the day with a morning walk to the FCC feel dreary - just like the thing I hate about Seattle - it is too dismal for me......

I was originally supposed to leave Hong Kong yesterday.  Then it was changed to today.....and as of now, it is likely that tomorrow will be the day I depart.  There is simply too much that has to be done prior to my leaving:  I will not return here until 25 May, so anything 'lingering' will cause difficulty......linger not.....just get the work done so I can leave as early as possible, tomorrow morning!!

And the next time for an addition to this blog?   Next week, from Japan!!

Cinco de Mayo in Hong Kong

Yesterday afternoon in Dongguan was nice - the upstairs patio of El Caliente worked perfectly for a day long event that started with a light rain but was primarily dry.   Had it been sunny, would it have been too hot outside?  Would the humidity have been stifling?

I took lots of pictures which I'll have to edit and then add to the website.......

And tonight, it's going to be another Mexican restaurant in another city for yet another cinco de mayo:  the T Bird alumni of Hong Kong gather at Coyote in Wanchai, tonight.....time to do a third tasting of Mexican food in three days....time to celebrate, again....without tequila........

Lo ahd behold - it's the end of April!

How fast it's gone....first four months of 2014.....pffffft.....here and gone....tomorrow is May Day, a holiday at home....but no dual meaning - no disaster alert from me as I am relatively up-to-date and semi-invigorated at this time of year.  I started in February.  It is now 3 months done.....I'm working through the end of July - for 'tax season' but this last half will be easier (I think) than the first half of this my 48th season.

And on the big screen, ancient Mac to the next of me, Milwaukee and St Louis are tied, 3-3 in the bottom of the 6th......with two live baseball games on the horizon (Eagles-Buffaloes on the 15th of May and Giants-Carp on the 18th, in Tokyo).  Time to complete my packing and to depart for GZ!

Monday morning blues......

It's a sunny Monday morning -  I got a tax work day

It's a sunny Monday morning - I'm in Hong Kong not to play

The work will be there, not to disappear - no way!

The seasonal tax load taking charge of life has its say.

Enough of poor blues poetry.   I started today with a tax meeting.  Fortunately, the meeting went well and I simply added another return to be done to the calendar.   I have two full days left in Hong Kong plus a heavy morning breakfast on Wednesday, prior to returning home.  I am a very boring person, now, because there is simply nothing on my mind other than tax work......focused to the proverbial 'T'.......dammit!!!

The drizzle continues.....

Is this what Seattle is like on good days?  We're in day two of low temperatures (nice!) but constant drizzle (not so nice...), not enough to warrant using the umbrella part of my cain but eye glass cleaning when arriving at a destination is necessary......

Nonetheless, this morning was something to cheer about - yours truly, the insomniac, slept through nearly 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.....nice, indeed!!

I perform, tonight, at the American Club in Hong Kong........last scheduled show of the year for me.....and in between?  More tax work!!

A drizzly, miserable Hong Kong day......

It takes me longer to get started in the daily work load.  I finally got my act together, today, around noon.  Here it is, 4:05pm, and I'm finishing lunch at the FCC.   From here, it's off to the fruit stand for my two fruit cups.   Then on to one more tax return for the day.....and then rehearsal time for tomorrow's show......

I started watching the Oliver Stone álternative'  history of the U.S., last night......it's long.....going to take several trips to Hong Kong to get through but it looks good, thus far, 93 minutes into it.

So much for today.....time to bet back to work!   Dammit!!!!!

You should be hungry for 'The Lunchbox'!

I'm not quite sure when 'The Lunchbox' was released in India.  I saw it, last night, in Hong Kong.  It was an Indian film without song and dance.  It was humorous, it had had pathos.  It had the sad but realistic commentary about aging:  no one really wants to buy yesterday's lottery ticket.  We view ourselves as far more eye appealing, far younger than we are.......May-December relationships that develop through unusual circumstances (i.e. tiffin lunches being delivered from Bandra to Narimen Point continually going to the wrong person - that just doesn't happen).  Nonetheless, this was a good film, one that I will go out of my way to purchase a pirate DVD from Chung King Mansions, to watch again with my wife and daughter.

If you are into 'art house' cinema, this is worthwhile to go out of your way to see!

Easter Monday - a day like all days.....

Hong Kong has a four day holiday.  Good Friday is an off day, as is the weekend.  But Hong Kong has adopted the British Easter Monday holiday, too.

It is time to soberly face a week of meetings, work and a final performance on Thursday night.  I'll start rehearsing, again, tomorrow.  I know the material well.....I'll just add the HK-US TIEA to the program.

The weather is getting humid - disturbing enough to warrant turning on the air conditioner this afternoon, for the first time, this year.  It has not gotten too hot.....yet.....that will soon come.

Ah well, a semi-weekend off is over...time to get back to work!

Something didn't Happen.....

Something Happened, by Joseph Heller.  I never really read anything much other than Catch 22 and decided, recently, to try some Heller.  I got about 150 pages into it before realizing that there were other things I'd rather read......

Keith Richards autobiography is another book I recently started......I will get back to this one but I know not when.

The two books I will read to completion without interruption - or at least that is what I am thinking at this time.....this too can change - are:  Dave Eggers A Hologram for the King, which was one of Michael Lewis' bookstand books and Michael Lewis' The Flash Boys.   What  particularly interested me about the Eggers book was that Lewis recommended it in an FT interview....what also interested me, as a writer of non-fiction, was that Lewis seemed to have only fiction on his night stand........I feel that way as well - I am a better writer of non-fiction because of the fiction I read.  I am told that I should stop reading fiction if I want to write it.  This is my problem - I like reading fiction too damned much!!!

Great ideas.....now where the hell's the time?

I'm a writer who simply works at taxes to support the writing habbit.  I'm a trainer (more than a craftsman), hopefully mentoring my partner to take over most of the tax work I desire to extricate myself from in the future.

I've got three writing projects in need of research:  A novel;  a memoirs centered around the Rolling Stones, the times we were in and where I was at during each of the six concerts I attended over a span of six decades.

And now there's the Leicester City Football Club, elevated, next year to the Premier League.  They are owned by a Thai oligarch.  Is he 'clean'?  Is he corrupt?   What are his politics?  When did he take over the club and what has he put into it?  Where are then going, next year......and the year after.....Once again, another non-fiction piece.

Do I have the time to be the writer I want to be?   Can I do the research necessary for one of those projects - for more than one?

.....and can I still become a better musician?????

I hate Google, I hate Facebook, I hate We Chat.......and Twitter is for twits!

This is the third time, today, that I start a blog.  I will not be bold, venturesome and inquisitive to try something new for the blog, as I've simply erased the two prior starts in the process.

Songkran takes place today.  It is the Thai New Year.  No more traditional celebrations but water fights, all day long, for those fools venturing out.  In this case, young and foolish are those who partake.....after all, I am completely a curmudgeon!!

I love Thailand.  I wish I could be more legitimate here.....I want to do banking but FATCA has become so limiting for Americans.

FATCA is the most deleterious, stupid enactment I can recall the U.S. ever starting.   And it is not just here in Thailand where I am forced to be on a cash basis.   I cannot open up a corporate bank account in Hong Kong either, because US regulations make it easier to decline American accounts.

Let us face it - without an audit trail (and you really do not have one being on a cash basis), reporting back to the U.S. is questionable, at best.

To be frank, FATCA makes me ashamed to be an American!

The frustrations of using software that is supposedly intuitive.....

I wrote a long blog, this morning.  I tried to attach a picture.  I wiped out that which I wrote.  SHIT!

Today is Songkran, the start of the Thai new year.   Tomorrow we return home to Guangzhou.  This afternoon?   I guess that we'll avoid the water fights that go with the holiday and spend the day at our hotel, reading, resting, relaxing......and, of course, doing tax work.

The agonies of a bad back.....

If only I knew how or why I get a lower back pain then I would take measures to prevent getting the pain.  Yeah, while not truly a pain in my ass (not that lower!), it is still a pain in the ass!

Yesterday, still battling some symptoms of a cold and chills, I had the back pain, too.  The back pain is still there but not that overbearing that I cannot function.....such is life.....

This morning, Songkran, the Thai new year, is 'water fight' day in Thailand.  Thonglor, where we are at, is not part of these activities.  Nana, where we used to stay, is definitely part of the water fight day.  I was out prior to the young, far more energetic (than me) water fighters.  I walked while listening to Elton John on my iPhone.  But for the music, I really do not care for a smart phone.  The calendar does not work correctly on the phone - never has, probably never will....so I do not use it.   The phone numbers do not automatically transfer to computer or iPad....but that isn't a priority for me as I so rarely use the phone.   Next phone for me will be a dumbphone - I do not need all those bells and whistles.

The aches and pains that start the day

It really does hurt.  I get up more slowly in the mornings because of the various and sundry aches and pains (particularly, the lower back) when I get out of bed.

Somehow, I do it mechanically during the middle of the night as, two to four times a night, I have to get up to pee.  Yet starting the day, waking up and being perhaps a bit more cognizant of what my surroundings and feelings are like, I get up, straighten up and start moving, albeit far more slowly than I once started out the day.

This morning I walked urban Bangkok, again.  I love my noise reduction earplugs.  I hate a smart phone but for my music collection on the phone.  That makes the mechanical marvel which I truly do not take advantage of (but for the music) an essential part of my life.   Fortunately, the humidity of Bangkok in the mornings is not overbearing as it will soon be in Guangzhou where, if I can set a new routine for myself, will get up and walk, then shower and proceed with my day, once we get home........I've got to keep the body parts in motion - not fast, necessarily.....nor slow, either.....just in motion!

4 more today and that's it!!

Wonder of wonders, miracles do happen:  we kept up-to-schedule for two weeks in Bangok and we actually have 4 completed tax returns that are ready to be sent out, today, from the Bangkok Post Office.

This has been a tiring trip - mixing the social aspects of doing work with the 'mechanical' tasks requiring 'thoughtless concentration' is rougher as one gets older.  Add to that the purely social aspects of being here, as well.....now I need a vacation!!!

Actually, I need a pressure-free, stressless time to seriously diet, as I dampen the frustrations of this, the 48th year of doing taxes with food......feeding my face gains weight I do not need but alleviates the frustrations of doing tax work.....such is life.......

Bangkok days.....

What a wonderful way to start the day!   No, not that 7am iPhone alarm going off in the other room.  Somehow, Katherine simply wants that masochistic awakening far earlier than necessary to get up.....

What was wonderful was actually awakening at 8:40am and slowly starting to function.....not going for breakfast until 9:30am!!!!!

Our Bangkok routines have thus far called for too active a day and we were simply tired after a rather full day, yesterday.  Today?  Well there's a business lunch for me and work this afternoon.  Tonight?  No going out!!!!!  We'll watch a movie, read and relax.

Pan Pacific Serviced Suites is wonderful.  True, the daily rate we are paying is 'stratospheric' compared to what we've spent in the past but there is sufficient space for us to be productive......and thus far, we've been very, very efficient, staying up-to-date, completely on schedule.

It is very hot at the proverbial height of day.  Noel Coward was right - mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noonday sun......joined, perhaps, by foolish old and overweight expatriate Americans who live the Pearl River Delta but travel south and north on the Asian side of the Pacific.

To switch or not to switch.......

For almost ever and ever and ever, at least since my discovery that it was impossible to keep up with American football in the early 1990s, I've been an Arsenal Gunners fan.

Leicester City will be back in the Premier League, next year.   I can 'relate' to Leicester, as our daughter spent four years in school only a bus ride away.  True, I've been to Emirates Stadium and television coverage for Arsenal will be superior to what I'd expect for Leicester City but the Apple Store did replace a crashed hard disk drive in Leicester and that place has a great rugby team with widespread support.

Can Leicester stay longer than a year?  Will the Thai ownership (which now answers my questions as to why LCFC kits were available at the airport in BKK) pour the necessary funds into making it a competitive team?    Should I switch allegiance?

Only time will tell.....but I can relate to Thai ownership.......and I can relate to Leicester.....unlike not being able to relate to either Thaksin's ownership of Man City.......

Life in BKK is wonderful....now to find a 3 month place for 'seeing' what life here would be like on an éxtended' basis........LL  7 April    Bangkok

The Leicester Tiger jersey that goes a long way in Hong Kong

I am finally taking in the magnitude of what Rugby 7s weekend is all about.   I'm not quite sure how many come to HK for the party but so many, many more came here to party regardless of having tickets for the show....heck, the show was going on last night and well into this morning, as  costumed, tipsy, morning walkers along Hollywood Road in Hong Kong clearly were not at the stadium but were out for the all-night carnival that will last the weekend.

The tables next to me on this Saturday morning at the FCC are normally empty.  They're full of middle aged Brits who look tired after the night and are here for breakfast prior to their trek to the stadium for the day's worth of rugby.

The game is fast  - there's not sufficient time to read an ebook reader during the lull times between games or that minute half break.  Beer flows without stop.  The lines grow in geometric proportions in wait for a urinal as the event goes on.  Being a teetotaller (not by choice) alleviates the need to wait on line.......and, I suppose, permitted me t have a less 'distorted' view of what was happening on the pitch.

.......but in the long run, nothing beats those tail gate parties outside of Candlestick Park from the late 80s for  sports partying!!!!!

And oh yes......wearing my Leicester Tiger jersey was an 'ice breaker' for the half-dozen or so fans who gave me thumbs up.....lots of Brits here this weekend!!

Lots of big, fat, loud, drunken rugby fans have hit town.....

Hong Kong is a party town this weekend.  One saw it last night as the bars were all packed and I had to walk Wyndham Street to get home as the sidewalks were packed with many here for the party.

Undoubtedly this is a big F&B weekend in town - the annual Rugby 7s are being played this weekend.  I'm going, tonight.  I have not been to the 7s since 1994 when I sat in the south stands and decided that I am not the animal one has to be to get into the swing of things over a rugby weekend.  This was re-confirmed and fully etched in my mind when I went to the mens room - the place was a pig sty.  I didn't even want to walk in!

Tonight, 20 years later, I will sit in a corporate box - business class instead of steerage.  I will get my fill of Hong Kong sports for anther 20 years.....and yes, I do intend to attend the 7s again in 2034!

The bean counter who devoured Hong Kong

The agony continues - confronted with wonderful choices at superb restaurants, I am devouring faster than I can burn it off and getting more rotund as the season of taxation continues......

Jimmy's Kitchen - Kowloon - for a lunch meeting.....Main Dining Room of the FCC tonight.  Two breakfast meetings and a lunch meeting tomorrow followed by sporting event food at the 7s in Hong Kong.  And when will it end?  Who knows???  I am here in Hong Kong (where Spring weather seems to have replaced the chill of a south China winter) for two more days.  Then I go home to Guangzhou for a couple of days.....and then its off to Bangkok for two weeks of work and fun.....with emphasis upon the latter (hopefully).

Chinatown

This was a collaborative effort between writer Robert Towne, director Roman Polanski, producer Robert Evans and stars Jack Nicholson, John Juston and Faye Dunaway.  I saw it in 1974 when it first came out.  I didn't appreciate it for what it was:  a classic that withstands the test of time.  I saw it over 2 nights, finishing last night.  It is, in a word:  brilliant!!

I did not have a difficult work day, yesterday....but I fought the work, nonetheless.  I have an even less difficult day, today....but there is little to fight...... Tonight I go to see The Grand Hotel Budapest.

Taxation every day......thinking about writings all the time.....actual writing:  not as much as I should be doing and definitely not as much music practice as I should be practicing, too.....

This is what it's all about.....

I slept in, getting up around 8:30am, getting to the FCC about an hour later.  Yes, it was nice to sleep in!  I am now at my favorite morning table.  Temperature outside is 20 degrees.....obviously warmer inside but that warmth is enhanced by the rays of sun beaming on me through the windows as I sip my after breakfast cup of coffee and type away at my iPad.

I can't attribute it to foresight but as a true stoke of luck, today's scheduled work will be as easy and pressure-free as it gets and I can coast through in a relaxed mode.  I will have the time to start researching the Stones-related memoirs:  where they were at the time, where I was at the time, where the world was at the time  for six concerts over 6 decades.......I experienced this....can I put those thoughts and feelings coherently, cohesively, into something that someone would want to read?  To be continued.....

A night at the opera +

Wonder of wonders - a 5th row center seat for Lohengrin, flown in from Helsinki, as part of the 42 annual HK Arts Festival.  I've now been to 23 of the 42 festivals, taking in opera each year.  The production was superb, although the cast, dressed in white for much of the second and third acts, could be culturally confusing to the Asia audience used to white as the color of death and mourning, rather than for a wedding celebration.

Tonight is an 'opera gala' for symphony and vocalists performing all those hit arias that one likes to go home humming.

And next week it is time for a totally new mind set on Friday night as I go to the HK Rugy 7s for the first time in 20 years......

Life is nice.....and then there are tax returns to do.........such is life......

Technology - at its best, and the problems that it can cause.....

Technology at its best:  I have an ancient (as old as you can get) MacbookPro on my desk in Hong Kong.  It is partitioned with the Windows XP partition the only HDD I use.  It is slow but very reliable and I am able to fully function a 2008 tax return on this machine.  I cannot print out or save because these functions were changed for subsequent years and the newer software and 2008  are in conflict on my computers.....but for that old reliable  MacBook Pro.

Technology at its worst:  Same machine.  I cannot right click.  Neither one nor two finger clicks work on the earlier operating systems.  I screwed up a 2013 tax return and it is locked in a state of permanent limbo because all the alternatives that my software service provider has to offer require a right click.

Fortunately, porting over this client to my new Mac Air proved to be the solution, as I was able to 'authorize' the client and print out.   I now have to follow up and make sure I know how to right click-simulate on this machine.....but it is still my 'in transit' machine.....after tax season, I will keep that trusty old MacBook Pro as a permanent back up library of the earlier tax stuff....but will have to get a new machine for the office.  Such is life......

A weekend in Macau

In December, 1969, I went to an outdoor concert in northern California.  I must have been out of my mind!  Northern California in December?



It was cold.  It was wet.  It was muddy.  I hated the fact that I really should have exercised some common sense and not have gone.  Yet I went and while I was a long, long way from even being able to see anything, I did go to that infamous, Hell's Angels policed Rolling Stones concert.



That was 1969.  Now we are entrenched in the third month of 2014.  Cotai strip was not here when I first came to Macau.  And tomorrow night, the Stones play.  I'm prepared - I'm ready to boogie....I have my soft gel clear yellow capsule that is not vitamin D but, shall we say, is vitamin thc..........



I saw the Stones in the 70s - in July, 1975 at the Forum in Inglewood, CA.  I saw them during the 80s and in the 90s and in 2003 in Hong Kong.  Here it is, I'm seeing a band with members older than me.....



I KNOW, IT'S ONLY ROCK & ROLL....BUT I LIKE IT!!!!!

Back again in Hong Kong.....

and speaking tonight at the American Club!

Here it is, folks, we are into the first week of March and not only am I not burnt out.....yet but actually am enjoying some of the work challenges.  The problem is that the days have been long, thus far, and the time off has been ....well......not really sufficient.

Last night, though,  after a day that was more productive than I anticipated, I went and dined while listening to live jazz at the FCC.   One of these days I am going to have the patience to tackle blues scales on my chromatic harmonica.......because I will not progress beyond my current musical capabilities until that happens.......

Anyway......I'm back through the 10th of March, so there'll be some blog additions - maybe even something substantive, over the next week.....