A Worthy Excusrion

I’ve been considering how to go about sitting down to the blog for the last week and every opportunity slipped away…due mainly to a need to focus my eyes on something other than a computer screen and any form of responsibility.  I’m finding myself still very much immersed in ‘work mode’ and have to trust my instincts when my mind says, “veg.”  Last week and weekend were jam-packed with goodness and I want to share some of that before this weekend rolls in and deflates the memory.

Clockenflap was an adventure on Saturday and I imagine that I will be able to share the images from that festival along with some gratitutious raving over Pet Conspiracy sometime this weekend.  I met some new people and found some new music so, all in all, it was a worthy excursion.  Late in the evening, full of rock and salt air, I scooped up Domenica and John for another couple days of visit and fun.  Friends in a new flat or town have the wonderful effect of making things feel like home.  Food, fun and laughter that is still rattling my soul were had in plenty.  Here are a few photos I shot on our adventures around Hong Kong.  If you’d like to see them all, click here.

Meat Me - Sheung Wan Market

Spring Onion Cake - Spring Deer Restaurant - Tsim Tsa Tsui

Stanley - Hong Kong

Dark Light - Sheung Wan Market

J & D are now off roaming around Viet Nam and I am in the midst of plotting some of my own adventures in South East Asia.  Next week I will be in Macau and the Mainland for work which is a little adventure.  The winter holds the promise of Yunnan Province, Singapore, Bali and Japan.  Friends are radio’ing in left and right and its clear this winter will be full of fun.  More details on that as things become solid….

I have another cover shoot and photo commission to share with you which I will try to do this weekend between yoga classes and the editing and sharing of Clockenflap :)  Hooray for Friday!

Edible Bird (Nesting)

Ok.

Friday is here and before I head out the door to work I am going to make this promise to myself…today I am going nest a little.  A bank account is priority numero Uno since I’ve accumulated a few Hong Kong dollars that need a place to sit but I also want to get myself a calendar so I can be more deliberate about planning my off & on time.  I’m approaching the 4 week mark and, though it hasn’t been that long, it’s been long enough to admit that I live here now and I need to stop living out of a suitcase and on take-out.  With dear friends on the way here and more on the horizon I want to be a hostess and not a tourist.  I’ll start today.

Tonight I settle…tomorrow morning I’ll head to the South side of Hong Kong Island to the Cyberport to shoot a festival called Clockenflap before heading to the airport to scoop up the jet-setting J&D who will grace me with their presence through Tuesday morning.  I’m looking forward to friends in the vicinity…

Speaking of friends in the vicinity, I just got confirmation that christmas in Singapore is ON! and it’s looking like Cambodia and Japan are in the ‘almost booked’ pipeline….More on that later

World Wooshing By

The weekend went by so fast.  The upside of that is that the week did too.  Tomorrow is already Thursday and I’m thinking about investing in a seatbelt for life since it’s moving so fast.  I guess that’s basically a belt and I have plenty of those so maybe not…but hopefully you get my point.  I don’t know if its the subways and traffic that are making the world whoosh past me faster or if its age or maybe  the new job but, damn! time is flying.

Again, I had grand intentions that dissipated into a blurry swirl of sleeping late, finding food, taking pictures and feeling too tired to do much beyond find a seat and watch the city wash over me.  Toss in some hypnotic monkeys, hilarious street art and contemporary laser magic and it all looks like a lot more activity than it was.  Here’s a peek of some photos from last weekend. . .

cheeky

Dialectics of Void & Substance - Li Hui

pretty anklet

portals to my soul

bringing it

Hungry for a little more Hong Kong?  Perhaps a little street art?  Go on and click ‘em.

Little Boxes

As it turns out *any* band by the name of Live Fast Die can play when I arrive on a new continent….not the specific one from New Hampshire.  I might have put that together sooner if I had put any effort into the details at all but, well, I didn’t.

Today was long. I began at 7am with a trip to Guangzhou for work and ended now at 1:11am after a bag of pistachios for dinner and 8 out of 17 bands at a club called rockschool.  Im exhausted and wondering where my energy comes from on a day like today.  I sat on a corner of the bar and had a decent perspective for watching the music but a pretty lame angle for photographs.  I fired off a few but there wasn’t much steam and I don’t anticipate that this is the set that is going to make HK aware that Beana Bern is in town.  We’ll see.

Tomorrow…er, later today…12 boxes of life will be delivered to my flat and, except for my geeky camera and computer gear and my ukulele, I have contemplated just not letting them in.  Less is more right?  If I let the delivery happen as scheduled then my nice, nice apartment is going to full of crap I don’t need.  I lined up a storage space in the neighborhood but you know what that means?  It means that Beana has a storage space in Hong Kong, Innsbruck, New York and a corner of the attic in both New Jersey and Cape Cod.  Remind me to write a “special comment” on what “home” means to me…

“What-If’s” and “Ah ha’s!”

It was smoggy today in Hong Kong.  The sun never really made it out from behind the curtain of moisture and smog and clouds and yet, today was the first day when I could see into the distance.  Well, not the literal distance but the theoretical distance, the possible future, the likely ‘whats-next.’  Each discussion I have illuminates new perspectives and challenges and opportunities and slowly but surely the scope of my work here is revealing itself.  It’s not going to be a small job and it’s not going to be dull.  I took a huge leap of faith when I abandoned my nice life in Tirol for this unknown but with each passing day I feel more confident that I knew what I was doing :)

I managed to shave my commute down to 35 minutes from over an hour because I stopped being a dumbass and because a nice colleague showed me the MTR station right next to the office.  Duh.  Part of the fun is the not knowing and then the next stage of that fun is the eventual knowing.  Its my pattern to wait until I’m all-about-the-knowing but by then I’m also usually going…the irony….In any case, my commute allows for fresh air (tram), book reading (MTR) and a (walk) past a (coffee joint).  It’s ideal.  When typhoon season hits I will only have a few spots where I’ll be exposed to the elements and I imagine that this will also come in handy when the summer comes and decides to steam this island up to unbearable degrees.

My brain is a little frazzled with all the “what-ifs,” “ah has!” and “dude….i totally need to do-thats.”  It’s a bit of a treat that I have a 3 day weekend to absorb all the info and ides swirling and try to relax a little.  Or at least try to.  The cats are finally settled but I feel like there are pieces of me that haven’t quite arrived yet.  Like I’m somehow still in transition, that static person shaped blob that isn’t quite beamed up or down yet.  I’m getting there but, often throughout my days, I am still surprised to see such a new landscape.  My hair and skin are going to need a new routine as well since sticky, humid, salty, smoggy air is a new environ.  Lots of adjusting going on here at 2bean…

In honor of the fact that I am just now beginning to see the light…

Shark Fin District

So it’s bedtime on my first ’school night’ since I moved to Asia.  Tomorrow morning I will wake up, get dressed and make my way to the other end of the island to meet my colleagues and get my feet wet.  I’m psyched and prepared for this job but I know that, as with any new gig, it takes time to feel smart and prepared.  That said, I’m going to absorb what I can and trust the process.  My cold is finally subsiding and it was good that I had some days to recoup before getting going.  My sleep is still off but I think I’m as ready as I can be.

In the last days I had a burning desire to see the skyline of my new city and a wish to get acquainted with my new neighborhood.  Of course, the satisfying of these two desires brought me to new places, eateries and vistas.   Below are some of my favorite images from the past couple days…

Central - Hong Kong

Insomnia Goes Great with Neon

Spicy Pork Noodles

I’ve learned that my ‘hood is only in the very, slight beginning stages of gentrification so it is more Chinese than anything else.  Shark fin, ginseng and edible bird nests are among the most popular specialties sold here and I am certain that one day I will bring my camera and focus only on those things that I wonder if you would put in your mouth…I even found a crocodile specialty store for all your edible, crocodile needs.  It’s amazing.  Those slight signs of gentrification on the eastern edge of Sheung Wan are also nice as, today, I found a delicious tuna sandwich and a savory muffin made with bacon, cheddar and apple.  I live between the best of both worlds…

Here’s one last photo to help put everything in perspective…

Hong Kong Sparkles

As a side note, I’ll tell you that I did a little research to see if there was hope of some music in my future.  What I found not only gave me great hope but booked me for this Friday night…assuming I’m back from my business trip to Guangzhou on time I’ll head to The Cavern to shoot something that I’ll tell you about later…

So far, so good.  Wish me luck for my first commute.

The Light Finds Its Way

Rainbows can be a sign of good things to come or a reminder of good things that have already been.  I would like to believe that the rainbow that hungover Cherry Valley on the snow-capped day that I left the Alps was a bit of both.  A sweet reminder and a charmed farewell…

Cherry Valley Rainbow - Last Hours in Innsbruck

There was no rainbow or snow-capped peaks when we landed in HK but instead a hot, humid wind and some sun sparkling on Victoria Harbor.  I took the fact that the cats came home with me rather than sitting in quarantine for 4 months as a less colorful version of a good luck charm.  I can already tell that it is going to take some time to capture this place in a way that does justice to its energy and atmosphere but I did fire off a few photos to give you a taste.  Whereas the image above was my neighborhood last week, the image below is my neighborhood this week…

West towards Sheung Wan

I wake up every morning to boats and cranes and construction and ferries on the harbor with the steep skyline of Kowloon in the hazy distance but I haven’t shot the shot that I want to share with you.  It’s nice to smell salt air again and to be able to see more than a handful of kilometers in any direction…So I’ve done some limited wandering around the main drags that connect the different neighborhoods here and I am thrilled with my locale.  I was concerned that living in the “dried seafood district” would leave me both isolated and smelling funny but dried shark fin and crocodile parts are benign enough and the location is perfect.

Street Cleaning - Sheung Wan

There is less neon in my neck of the woods than in other neighborhoods but the light finds plenty of ways to slither and shimmer here…in the reflections of the wet streets, the mirrored gates, the shop windows filled with live, female crabs or sim cards or the bajillion other things that can be bought or sold in Hong Kong.  It’s beautiful in so many ways…though a very different kind of beauty than the pristine majesty of the Alps.

How I Carry My Visions of China

If I’m honest, I can’t yet imagine what my ‘groove’ here is going to look or feel like but with my first business trip to Guangzhou on the books for next Friday I have a feeling it’s going to reveal itself rather quickly.  One very exciting aspect to my new routine is the time on the tram and subway to catch up on all those books I skipped while driving to Wattens.  Coffee to go and public transportation..two great tastes that taste great together.

My Hood

My Lunch Today

Apartment pix will follow soon though I’m certain they will not do justice to the sweetness of my nest.  More images of the metropolis, its surroundings, its people and street art are also forthcoming…

Blu Wave Kinda Like Neu Wave

If you’re curious about more city pix from today, click here.  If you want a first glimpse at Hong Kong Street Art, well, click right here.

Home to a Place I’ve Never Been

I keep telling myself that I am going to wait to process my move before I sit down to tell you about it.  Tonight is my third night in Hong Kong and it’s clear now that “processing this move” is going to take a while.

I know that most of you are eager to hear about my new reality and you can be sure that I am excited to tell you about it.  It doesn’t seem right, though, to jump into Victoria Harbour without sliding out of the Tyrolean Alps.  I could wax poetic with the same teary, heavy goodbyes I did for the last 2 weeks with friends and colleagues that I love and will miss or I can cut to the chase.  I’ll cut to the chase:  Tirol became a part of me in the last 2+ years and I am going to miss living there and I am going to miss the people that shared my days with me.  I still have my last few photos I shot there to share with you and some juicy details on the commissions I shot that will linger in Tirol long after I’ve left.  I’m sure that I’ll dip into that pool of gratitude and melancholy now and again when thinking of my time in the Alps but not tonight…

I don’t know who of you have arrived ‘home’ to a place you’ve never been before but I did it (again) a few days ago and the sensation of awe and wonder and uncertainty and hopefulness never gets any less powerful.  The planning and stress that spun my wheels for weeks prior to my departure was worth it when I got Doozer & Walter through export and import Customs with no quarantine and only some drama.  We’re all still shaking off the journey and getting use to the view of Kowloon and Victoria Harbour instead of the Nordkette and it wont be long before I have some pictures to share.

Unexpected Whiskey – The Someday Tour

It feels like Lego Land on Kirschentalgasse today.  Boxes on top of boxes stacked near boxes waiting to be filled.  The sum total of a life fully lived doesn’t necessarily equal more stuff and I am surprised to see that I don’t actually have that much to pack.  I think I’m going to be able to squeeze everything that I’m storing into 10-12 boxes and will probably only need to ship 5-6 east. The cats are starting to realize that something is about to happen to them and so is their Alpha Kitty.   If everything can be packed by next weekend then it is quite possible I will be able to enjoy my last days in the Tirol with my friends so I’m feeling motivated.

On Friday I was lucky enough to have 2 photo shoots…one for a financial services company whose preparing to plaster my work on billboards and bus stops all over the Tirol.  It’s a new kind of work for me and I underestimated the effort it would require, but it’s challenging and (hopefully) lucrative.  I’ll be in Asia when the campaign goes live but I’m hopeful some friends will snap some pix and send some newspapers so I can see how it looks.

The second shoot was the polar opposite to the first…freeform instead of careful calculation.  I got to participate in an interview and subsequent rock show with Damo Suzuki, a 60 year old Japanese man who was very important to the Krautrock movement and has been on tour forever.  He was a gracious and interesting man and I’m looking forward to reading (and sharing) Brad’s interview for MOLE when it’s published.  Here are a couple images from the night…if you’d like to see them all, click here.

Damo Suzuki & mord @ pmk

Damo Suzuki & Mord - Innsbruck, Austria

Saturday entailed a whole lot of photo editing and some big denial about the packing that I promised I would begin.  I decided to procrastinate the inevitable with some whiskey at Innkeller and decided that as soon as I assemble a band to back me and my uke I am going to call us ‘Unexpected Whiskey.’  In my experience it is often the best variety.  Unexpected whiskey often leads to late nights as was the case last night so today, Sunday, didn’t get rolling until well into the afternoon.

Magically, NPR woke me with some tunes that had me packing boxes like a championship box-packer so what might have been a wash was actually a productive day. 

  Don’t see the link?  Click here.

Back to Lego Land for me…I may have just taped Doozer into a box of art supplies and need to stop multi-tasking.

Lovely Day to Run

I feel like there is wind blowing behind my eyelids and stars in my hair.  It’s possible that I may come across as some kind of manic freak, so many highs and lows…high roads and low roads…but what’s really happening is the beginning notes of what will be a great crescendo.  Have you ever watched how a Timpani player’s hands move fast , mallets blurred, even before the copper kettle utters a note?  It builds…the momentum finally rattling through the skin and into the music.  I have fast hands right now, my motion feels blurred and though theres no melody yet I  can feel the vibrations of the first notes of my new song gathering in my toes…It won’t be long now ’til I’m singing a different tune.

Traveling is something that is in my blood and I can’t express how excited and grateful I am to stand on the brink of the South China Sea…it’s a dream.  Tonight, however, what has me feeling so light and airy is not the motion, not the journey, not the adventure but the knowledge that at the end of this wind tunnel lays a chance to drop my bags and reconnect with the simple act of standing still.  I know that there is a destination from which I can reflect on the journey so far and think about what’s next.  I know that saying about life being about the journey and not the destination but, from where I’m standing, I can see a need for both.

  Don’t see the player?  Click here and feel good.

Bring Me That Horizon

The lightning bolts that were shooting out of my neck and keeping me from turning my head in any direction had me thinking, for a while anyways, that maybe I shouldn’t turn my head.  Maybe I should just point forward.  Straight ahead.  Now that the electricity has dissipated and I have my peripheral vision back I realize that there was no point to the pinched nerve at all.  It was just good bad luck and a little whiplash.

So flying over the Alps yesterday I was hit with a wave of sadness.  It wasn’t all sadness.  There was a lot of gratitude and excitement and anticipation mixed in but the underlying current was definitely sadness.  Every time I’m about to leave one land for another I get sad.  I don’t think I’ve ever taken my life in the Tyrolean Alps for granted but knowing that I won’t be flying in and out of them, riding up and sliding down them, seeing the sun set pink behind them or falling asleep under their big, blue shadows made me pause.

In an effort to not take anything for granted, I hopped, skipped and flew back to the USA for a whirlwind love-in with friends and family before my schlep East.  I’ve got a big job ahead of me and its a stupidly long flight so I figured I’d head back now to feel less pressure later.  I’ll let you know how that strategy works out.

I started things off in Vermont with some Burlington, some Mud City and some Isle La Mott.  Getting up there was a shit show but upon arrival I was in good hands and let the good times roll.  More rolly than rocky, it felt great to be back in the green mountains.  I caught a glimpse of my future here and there in the ponds and trees and, as is always the case, I brought some VT home with me.  Here’s a couple of my favorite pix, but click here for the whole album.

Green Garden - Mud City

Lake Champlain Sunset

Very Nice People

I headed South to New Jersey for some quality time with my Grandfather and was swept into total puppy frenzy with Annie the puggle.  As is always true, I enjoyed every moment with Popi though I dream of the day I will be able to beat him at dominos.  The time flew by too fast and it was hard to say goodbye…Here are a couple of my favorite shots from Jerz, but click here for the whole album.

Let sleeping puggles lie

annie

american dreams of a jersey girl

After Jerz I had a therapeutic and relaxing hot minute in CT with my Aunt and Uncle and then it was time to head back to the metropolis for a quick hello with Jamie, Marc & Kelly’s wedding and some Brooklyn love.  Celebrating the love of two dear friends at the juncture of the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges is a fine way to spend a Saturday.  Here are a couple of my favs but click here for the whole album…

Marc & Kelly

yummers

There is no doubt that hopping on the F Train feels like a breath of fresh air and there is also no doubt that the throbbing metropolis still feels like home.  After the wedding and more mojitos than I remember I shimmered my way to Crown Heights for a little more merry-making with another group of lovelies…birthday cakes, microbrews, fanny packs and Michael Jackson.  Click it!

Mia - Big Buck Hunter

la-la-la-ladies

red velvet

My hangover made me late but not un-ready for a spectacular Sunday…a Sunday entailing a new BMW motorcycle, the Meadowlands, wind in my hair and some good times with yet another dear friend.  You can only get a little bit more “American” than an NFL football game in New Jersey complete with tailgate and piss-beer so it was an excellent way to see myself off the continent.  I wasn’t sure I would enjoy sitting on the back of a motorcycle on the BQE but I was pleasantly surprised…really good times!

All the fun and merry-making left me hurtin’ but I was able to squeak in a last minute lunch with another all-star, D, before a date with a chiropractor and then an epicly uncomfortable ride…but it ended with a spectacular view of my amazing backyard and then 2 very, furry kittens. The stress is real now, the job is big but the truth is that everything is good – really good – and I am an incredibly lucky woman.

“It is a profound mistake to think that everything has been discovered; as well think the horizon the boundary of the world” ~Antoine Merin Lemierre