The Kowloon Diaries

Temperatures Soar

Hot Asians
(Gascoigne Road)

Spotlight
(Queen Elizabeth Hospital Path)

Cool
(George V Park)

Stumped

A new poem inspired by something I saw today.

Twitter

These days, I keep noticing the birds. It started with the black kites which are always circling outside my window. Apparently they're scavengers, and when they do that circling they're looking for dead animals. Then it was the crested birds who sit on top of the high fences round the tennis courts and laugh at my serve. I looked them up and I think they're called crested bulbuls. And there are the fat pigeons who roost on our air conditioners, often getting into fights with each other, and the little sparrows, not exotic but happy little fellows always jumping around on the streets. I never used to understand how people could consider birdwatching a hobby, but I'm starting to understand the appeal. Once you start looking you notice that the city is full of them. I've tried to take photos but there are much better ones here http://www.pbase.com/chan_ysc/wild_birds_in_hong_kong

Meanwhile I've composed two haiku in honour of the kites:

an airplane flies straight
the black kite soars and circles
revealing the wind

black kite with sharp eyes
scours the city and attacks
a pile of garbage

The World Starts Turning Again

My helper came back yesterday and I got a whole chapter done today, and it's good! (Though I'll have to read it again tomorrow to be sure of that.) At least I feel like a writer again. You've got to write every day to keep your momentum high. I've done nothing for a couple of weeks and I was starting to lose confidence.

More good news: my hideous new upstairs neighbours who've been gutting their apartment for the past MONTH, tell me that the last of the drilling work will be finished on Monday. At least my home will be habitable again.

If it weren't for the US recession I could almost be in a good mood. Unfortunately my husband's business is mostly exports to the US and they've already started cancelling orders so we're not a happy home at the moment. We've worked out a new budget and I'm not getting my laptop computer now. Never mind. I'll survive. These things always break on me anyway.

And reading...

I started Jonathan Chamberlain's King Hui and was getting into it, and then Mick Jackson's Five Boys arrived. I've decided to carry Five Boys around for intermittent reading, mainly because my copy of King Hui is trade paper size and rather heavy.

Fact: books are better when they're small.

(not that there's anything wrong with King Hui, it looks very smart, and a larger format is appropriate for the subject matter, it's just not the most convenient size for me -- small woman who already roams the streets laden with children, schoolbags, snacks, water, wet wipes, notebooks, pens, camera and shopping bags.)

And as for my writing...

I reorganised the whole plot, again, when we were on vacation. This wasn't a drastic slash and burn. Quite the opposite. I actually decided to reinstate some previously cut stuff, in particular Dutch Canadan stoner Curtis, whom I've brought back to life with a major role.

It's all about finding the time, and right now isn't good for me. My helper's been away for three weeks, there's noisy rennovation going on in the flat upstairs, and I've got two birthday parties to organise this week. So not much time for anything. I'm updating my blog while the kids watch Tom and Jerry. I can do things like this, but can't concentrate on writing when I'm constantly being distracted by them. The week after next I'll get started again when my helper gets back. In the meantime, I try to work in my head, plotting out scenes and looking for ideas about characters and settings while I'm out and about.

Trees of Fortune

Slightly disappointed yesterday as none of my neighbourhood trees won the Banyan Tree of Hong Kong election, but the Banyans on Nathan (in photo) took third place, and the ones in Yung Shue Tau in Temple Street were in the top ten. The trees at Yung Shue Tau form a canopy over what used to be a kind of poor man's nightclub, where singers, kung fu masters and fortune tellers performed. It's cool and I must use that in a story sometime. I guess the trees in my street aren't grand enough to get recognition, but I still love them. Anyway the Hong Kong Love Trees website is interesting. I had no idea there were so many different types of Banyans, and I've learned that the Chinese Banyans, which are the most common, actually kill other trees by attaching themselves to their trunks and sucking out the sunlight and nutrients. I'll never look at them in the same way now.

2008 The Year of the Hermit

In which the writer decided to cut off all ties with the external world (except for her blog, obviously) and focus her entire attention on The Book.

This means: No lunches with the girls. No Starbucks lattes. No telephone or email gossiping. No tennis or squash or running (I can get fit again later). No manicures. No haircuts. No waxing or moisturizing (my body will be allowed to return to its natural state). No shopping for inessentials. No surfing the net (apart from research). No writers' meetings (talking about writing is NOT a substitute for doing it). No reading magazines or newspapers (except for headlines so as don't completely lose touch). No books (except for idle waiting time, eg outside school) No rearranging my bookshelves (no need cos no reading is allowed). No healthy food (junk is quicker and it fuels my creativity). No TV (except when feeding kids). No designing book covers (just forget what it looks like and write the damn thing). No poking or playing attack or other pointless facebooking.

Ouch this is severe. But it must be done.

No more excuses.

Caught on film

Photos are here. Don't we all look goregeous and "jolly" as the South China Morning Post puts it.

Nury has written a response to the SCMP article on his website, The Curious Diary of Mr Jam.

Hong Kong Writers' Circle Christmas Literary Evening

Our party went with a bang last night! Photos will follow shortly. In the meantime there's a nice write up on the SCMP's Operation Santa Claus website.