Peter Hoflich

Hey Ho, another Sunday here again. Before I forget, more things that Zen does:

Says “oma not here,” “opa not here,” “car not here,” “train not here,” anything that he can’t see, but has seen before, he will list.

When did I write last? Wednesday? Thursday I went to a press converence with a local bank and Visa, about new chip technology that is going to upgrade the old magnetic stripe credit card. Yay. Met some nice people, though, at least. Got home and did… nothing?

Friday Zen had a fever, and Naoko really couldn’t take a day off due to an important appointment in the morning and the freelance translation she did in the afternoon, so I stayed home with Zen – austensibly working from home, but more looking after him than really working. Got more work done over the weekend, but only in fits and starts. But progress is being made at least. Naoko came home at 7:30, I made dinner, Zen slept at 9. I slept at 1:30 after doing a bunch of nothing all night.

Saturday Zen was recovered, but a little weak and cranky. I took him cycling to a new park in the morning, then hung around home. I thought he would nap at 1:30 or so, but it was more like 3, while watching MTV’s “Fugliest Rock Stars” that he finally slept. Lazed around on a lazy Saturday afternoon, which was fun and pleasant and mind-opening, then Zen woke up and we went out for dinner. I wanted to buy a DVD player at the local Courts, but the didn’t have the el-cheapo model that we wanted there, so I will look at the local grocery store instead. Time to make the jump, I think, but only with a cheap model, because those are apparently the ones that will reliably play DVDs from any of the encoded regions. Encoding – what is it good for but to add grievances to the average joe like you and me? Mom and dad phoned at 10 and we talked for a while. Zen told us he wanted to sleep at 9:20, so we read in bed with him, but he didn’t actually sleep until after 11. Thanks, Zen, for lousing up our evening.

Zen was up at 6:30 this morning. I don’t know how he can exist with only 7 hours of sleep. Is he 2 years old or 22? Went to the botanical gardens in the morning, then up to Sixth Avenue for lunch. Nice spot, crappy food though. Went home and hung out, Zen fell asleep at around 1, which was nice for a change. Did some work, listened to the walkman, then watched sumo – it stood to be an exciting match: if Asashoryu lost (unbeaten so far in the tournament), and Chiotaikai and Asasekiryu won, then it would be a three-way battle for the championship, something that almost never happens. If Asashioryu won, then it would be the first unbeaten chamionship in over 7 years, cementing Asa’s reputation as one of the strongest yokozuna in years. And he won. It was nice. What a powerful chap. Had a nice fish dinner and mellowed out in the evening. What a quiet weekend we have had. Zen is reading on his own now – I won’t waste two hours of my evening again tonight, nosir.

Uh oh, Zen is crying for me to read books to him. Maybe I better go, make him happy. Crying boy, he was so good today…

CD review: Madonna, “American Live.” This one took some getting used to, but I think I like it a lot now. It is cool how she has basically created acoustic guitar ballads this time, although adding the weird Cabaret Voltaire-like electronica of Merwais is a weird touch. Sure, Madonna was singing “Like A Virgin” when Cabaret Voltaire were last together, but there is always looking back…

Here is a little birthday graphic I made for my nephew Evan, who turned 2 years old on Friday. Happy birthday, Evan.

Another interesting day, got to work and did a bunch of researching and writing, hopefully my articles will all take off in a flurry over the next few working days. I need to be very productive. Had some laughs with the gang, fun. I picked up my photos, a year’s worth of digital pics to look at, finally, that was nice. Got home and saw Zen and Naoko, then went for a walk. Funny – every night I come out and meet my neighbour from upstairs walking her baby boy, we stroll for a bit, separate later, then meet up again back at the building. A coincedence of timing, how funny. Naoko told me that Zen can now read Chinese – he was spotted at the kindergarten reading the title of the book “Wo de shen ti,” which means “my body.” I wrote that out in Chinese characters, and he seemed to be able to read the first half, but then didn’t get the next part, said “wo de lau shi” (my teacher) instead. Confused, but getting there. Zen rolled around in bed endlessly tonight, he really doesn’t get sleepy until past 9:30 at night…

Hey ho, another fun day at home, work, and at home. Took Zen to the school in the morning, which was fun – he walked cheerfully most of the way. The only fuss was in the morning when he refused to put on his uniform, insisting instead on wearing his green Peter Mate tank top and green shorts. I was also dressed in a green shirt and a green tie – the green guys! Work was fun, as I transcribed interviews to prepare for several pieces, also put together a comic, my first for this organization, and it will go out in the email news next week – fun. Left fairly punctually, and got home near 7. Had a lovely fish dinner, went for a walk, then Zen took 45 minutes to get to sleep – ZEN!!

Book Review – Hercules Poirrot’s Christmas, by Agatha Christie. The firt Agatha Christie book I have ever read, astounding! The woman has sold a billion books in the English language, and a billion more in other languages – ASTOUNDING!! Even more astounding is our guest of last week, Lin, who told me she had never heard of her!!! A good yarn from the sympathetic Flemish detective, as he unravells the mystery of the Lee family in England. Fairly compelling characters, good stock murder situation on the English moors with a cast of likely killers, all with some sort of apparent motive. Poirot solves not one, but THREE mysteries in the making, but doesn’t bother to solve the mystery why people would quote Shakespeare upon discovering a dead body. Oh well. I managed to guess who the murderer most likely was, but it was just a hunch – I would have had to have noticed more physical details to have figured out the proof. Still always the most interesting thing about reading a detective novel.

Hey ho, another weekend has passed. Sunday was a quiet day, mellow and relaxing. Went to the wet market in the morning and bought fish and beef and vegetables and fruits, took the bus home, went for a swim. Flaked out in the afernoon and did some prep, did some studying and reading and cycling and swimming. I spent a lot of time with Zen, it was great. Zen loves to say “what’s this,” although it sounds like “wassis?” He spells out whole words in upper case letters. Sometimes he asks me “wassis” for things he knows himself, as if he were testing me. He even corrects me – one D looks like a B, so when I say it is a D, he says B. I know I am right, because I can read the word, but he is also correct – it looks more like a B than a D. Also if I find a letter he doesn’t know, I say “what’s this,” and he answers quizically “no?” Watched the Big Lebowski, then went to sleep.

Today was an OK day – went to a regular monday morning meeting with the staff, welcomed a new staff guy we have been expecting for some time now, did some writing, had a crap lunch of awful faux-Japanese udon soup, Elena told me all about Clay Aitken, did some clerical work (putting magazines into envelopes) before I got down to some real work – transcribing an interview. Oooohhh… Read Agatha Christie on the bus, met Sean, had a nice dinner alone while Zen and Naoko watched the Big Lebowski, then read books with Zen. He rolls around a lot, reads less these days, but still manages to get to sleep by 9:20 or so.

Book Review – Fools Die, by Mario Puzo. Mario Puzo is famous for having written the Godfather, a crap pulp book that was turned into great art, surprisingly, by Francis Ford Coppola, now considered by many to be totally washed up. Fools Die is a later book that is about four degenerate gamblers – well, really two, really one, an author, and his misadventures in life. An interesting read, and the characters are mostly well developped, so well developped that you are dreading that something really awful is going to happen to them… and then by the middle of the book when nothing actually DOES happen to them, and the book becomes really a collections of scenes and anecdotes, it begins to get quite dull. Still, titillating, amusing, and generally well written, it is definitely for the most part a fun read.

Hey ho, another few days gone. Friday was an OK day – I spent most of the day taking care of clerical things, so it was a bit of a drag, but we had a good laugh too at various times, so it was good. Introduced everybody at work to Joni Mitchell “Both Sides Now,” so many love or hate me for that… Also heard that Chen Shui-Byan had been shot – yoiks!!! Got home and had a kerfuffle trying to meet up on the bus – phones and busy signs and trying to meet up didn’t work, so we went off to eat prata after delay instead of directly. How does the story go… I was supposed to call Naoko from Clementi so that we could all get on bus 173 from home to the Indian restaurant further on. She called me before Clementi, said “where are you, why are you late?” I said “I am almost in Clementi, I will call you when I am there.” I got to Clementi and my bus was there right away – great – so I called her. Busy tone. I called her again and again, busy tone every time. Finally, right before our place I got her to pick up, but by then it was too late, and I just got off the bus and walked to meet at home. Oh well. Took a cab, since I was pooped. Had a great dinner, then walked part of the way home, took a bus for the rest. Nice time. Slept at 10:30. Mum and Dad called at 11, but we slept through…

… and called them in the morning to hear the news. Went to the pool and swam with Lin and Justin and Dana and Zen and had a nice time playing in the water. Went home for lunch, I got sleepy. Saw them off in the cab as they went to the airport, then got sleepy and slept on and on until 4:30. Naoko went off to hang out with Mihoko, which was nice, Zen and I put the house back in order and swept the floors and all that. Got invited to dinner with Mihoko and Sean and the kids and another couple, which is always nice – Zen really loves playing with their kids, Kai and Hana. Went by bicycle to pick up beer and groceries then off to the party. Nice food and chatting, good music, and cocktails!!! Heard more U2 than I have in a while – Sean likes “the Joshus Tree,” which I haven’t heard in ages. Nice.

Lin really likes this banana leaf tree…

Hey Ho, another few days have passed, it is Thursday. I thought it was Wednesday for a while, until my co-worker clued me in. I was strangely disappointed that I didn’t have an extra day before the weekend to get a few more things done, but I guess I can fit two days of work into just my tomorrow if I just concentrate hard enough (that’s the little German in me talking). So now I have to recall the past FOUR days instead of just the past THREE days.

Monday… I had my long meeting and my difficult Monday wrapup work before I got started on settling all sorts of important post-business trip things – going through emails, yep, dumping my interview sound files on my hard drive, catching up on office gossip… With the boss not around, at least the office was quiet. Got home early… and I think I went for a walk with Zen or something.

Tuesday… Did some more settling back in and fiddle faddled around work. Started work on an important piece of transcription and other office protocol, left early. Got home just after 7, Zen was there, not looking too happy. I took him in my arms, and he seemed like he was ready to get to sleep! It was just 7!!! I held him for a while, then put him down to rest. He finally got to sleep around 8. At that point everybody else had eaten, so I ate cold noodles on my own. By 9 everybody was showered and sleeping, I was the only one still awake. How bizarre. I did computer stuff, like writing out invoices, and then went to sleep early – like at 11.

Wednesday… Boss back in the office. Got some good work done by filing a story, had long meetings, did other important stuff like… I forgot. Met Cat from Montages at 7 and she gave me some money that she owed me for work done a while back. That was nice. Had some food, went for a beer, talked about life in general. She suprised me by telling me that she had never been out of Singapore before her recent trip to Malacca in Malaysia (which, concedntally, happened while we were in Malacca… wow. A little richer now, I took a cab home from Clementi, but still got back home after Zen had gone to sleep. That is the second night in a row that I didn’t really have time to spend with him. This time I didn’t even turn on the computer, just hung out with Naoko, read a bit, got to sleep early.

Thursday… Got some more good work done, had a long meeting about our next magazine. Good to have these a month before deadline, although this one is going to be a bit spooky getting it all together… Had a nice lunch, then went out to buy CDs. I had had my eye on the new Madonna CD, just because I like that song “Hollywood,” and then when I was in the store I heard an Wu Bai song come one – I instantly knew it was Wu Bai. That bloody store is always playing Spandau Ballet “True,” but while I was in the store they played Wu Bai, it was the first time I have heard them play a song recorded in this century – SHIT!!! Of course I bought it right away… I even felt like ditching Madonna for Wu Bai, but I was feeling flush so I just bought both. Elena lent me two CDs of her own, and even an Agatha Christie book. Did some good work in the afternoon, then left on time to get home to my darlings. Had tendon for dinner (that’s TENpura DONburi, not ligaments), then took Zen for a walk. Zen spells out words that are printed on the pavement, quite funny. He also does this new thing… he says “go away!” and pushes you away, then when you have walked 10 paces he pretends to be crying, then when you turn around, he runs happily into your arms. It is really sweet – because the smile when he runs into your arms looks so joyful, you have to know it is genuine. What a clever boy to have figured it out. I hope it isn’t manipulation, just some sort of fun thing. Got home, showered, put Zen to bed, and started writing this – yay!

Some recent group pics…

Hi, I am writing this from work. Busy, got to get back.

Hey ho, time to wake up in Singapore instead of Korea for a change! Saturday was spent grocery shopping (our fridge was empty since it broke down last week and most of our food spoiled) and cleaning and preparing for guests (Lin and her kids Justin and Summer). First thing in the morning we went to a garage sale on the first floor of our building – bought a Bugs Bunny video tape and a wooden pig – then shopping, then relaxed and napped at noon. Zen woke up at 4:20, he and I went off to the airport to pick them up. Worried that we might be late, since that often happens in cases such as these, but it was OK. Our first time visiting terminal 1, actually, so it was interesting. Second time in 2 days in an airport. They all have such an interesting feeling to them. I should work in one some day. Or just hang out in them more. Took a cab home. Drove through a major thundershower, thunder and lightening everywhere. The kids were amazed at the light show, Lin was happy to smell the smell of Singapore again. Went back, Zen got to see the kids at home and playing with toys, then making thick crust pizza… that was more like bread than pizza, actually. Nice fun time. Zen got to sleep late, I was so tired… Watched a bit of Bowfinger, then off to bed.

Today we woke up early, ate breakfast and had coffee – Lin brought 8 big packs of Irish Cream coffee with her! – then off for a walk around the compound. Went for a trip to the botanical garden where we walked a lot and played on the $5 bill tree, hung out with the doggies, and drank more coffee. Came back for a swim and a pasta lunch, Zen slept and Line and Justin went off for haircuts. Summer stayed with us and we hung out playing guitar and colouring. In the evening we went off to the hawker centre for dinner – satay, rice, noodles – and some walking around. Got a basil plant and some plastic toys at the night market that was there, which was funnnn-ish. Hung around in the evening writing all of this!

Here is a picture of Dad from a few months back here in Singpaore:

Hey ho, another week has gone by. I went to Seoul! I tried to post on the website remotely, but it didn’t work out too well. Still trying to iron out some kinks…

Last Monday was a normal day at the office. Lots of busy busy preparing to go. No writing, not any more, but I got enough done. It was raining all day, real crummy weather, so getting a cab to go home took longer than usual since I had lots of stuff to take with me for the trip itself and all. Hmmm… Got home, had a nice dinner (quiche!) and then went off to the airport by cab in the rain. Check in was quick and I was on the flight in no time. The whole flight seemed to be full of old Korean villagers – i.e. lots of feisty little old people, the guys wearing strange combinations of clothes (plaid sports jackets, jeans, Nikes) and the ladies with short permedhair and featureless faces. I got a nice seat at the front of an aisle with lots of room to stretch out my legs, but the lady behind me kicked the chair around alot. She stuck her foot through to my armrest knocking my elbow, so I elbowed her foot right back. Then when I put my seat back she raised such a stink, the stewardess came to me and asked me to put my seat up straight… and sleep like that on the night flight!! So no sleep for me. I had a few 15 minute naps, but they were always interrupted by something. Near 4 in the morning they turned the lights on and served breakfast. Who eats breakfast at 4 in the morning?

Got to Seoul OK and through customs and found the bus and sat on it into Seoul. The old airport used to be very close to the city, but the new one is over an hour away – thank you very much – but at least the commute is comfortable. The ride to the hotel was smooth, but at the end I was suprised to see the bus driving through the tight local streets, uphill past little kimchi shops and local homes. Hit the peak of the hotel, and there it was – the Grand Hyatt, looking like a mountain of its own. Got to the hotel, checked in, got in a suit, and jumped into a cab to go to my first interview. That went OK, then got in the cab back to the hotel where I had lunch in a nearby restaurant. Funny how they have these little local restaurants near the Grand Hyatt on the hill like that. Hung out there a bit, checking emails and calling for my afternoon interviews. Set something up for the afternoon and jumped in a cab and head out there too. One 45 minute interview later, and I was out. Instead of going right back to the hotel, I decided to walk around a bit – passed the Seoul stock exchange, some Soviet-looking dormitories, and to the river park, looking a little brown in the late winter sun. Took a cab back to the hotel and slept part of the way. Pooped. Got back to the hotel, went for dinner, which I washed down with a bit of Soju. Went back to the room to do some work and have a few more beers, then to sleep. The view from the hotel is out to Itaewan and was totally awesome. Nice full moon rising over Seoul.

Wednesday morning I went for breakfast. Ooops, seems like the first morning breakfast is NOT included in the room rate. Oh well. Got nervous as I waited for my boss to show up so that we could do our 9:00 interview, he wasn’t showing up, I was going to go ahead, then he came running in, we dropped his bags in my room, then off to interview a CEO of a bank. That was interesting – we were sitting in a room with 8 chairs arranged around a table, glass doors off to one side. Very nicely done, very tasteful. The glass doors open up, and in he walks, bold as brass. 90 minutes later we are out on the street, enjoying the Seoul sun, and I am off to a press conference at the Hilton. We take seats, listen to the big guys talk, questions are asked, and then we get to eat our yummy meal. OK. I got to meet some of the other press there covering the event, which was cool, there was even a familiar face from Singapore there! After the whole thing, I had some time to kill, so I wandered around looking at Lotte World and then trying to find the old hotel where I stayed at last time with Naoko when we were backpacking as newlyweds. Walked around the block, then down to Nandaemon, the old city gate, and then around the corner, walked in circles a bit, walked past it, then found it sure enough – it has a cafe next to it with a big playboy sign on it, looks a bit dodgy, but the Daewoo Hotel is probably still the same hotel it always was, touristic. Went out back towards Lotte, seems like I walked in a huge circle. Oh well, who cares. Went around a bit taking pictures of bank signs, for our creative people back in the office. Funny. Walked up up up to another interview place and talked to another guy for nearly an hour, then off to take some more pictures and off to the hotel. Got there, chilled out a bit, and soon it was 6:30 – off to drinks with the bankers! I met some interesting people from Jordan and China and Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Japan… There was Korean drumming and fun stuff, then off to meet Scott in the university district. Yes, the famous Scott Bug, legendary publisher in Korea, and all around interesting guy. Met him and discovered he is just like my friend Jeff who I knew in Taiwan, probably now a tycoon in Shanghai. Interesting – we went to one pub for a beer, the owner seemed like a cool guy, he had a cool pub – just like the old Lao Ba in Tainan, with good music playing and mellow people chilling out. I even thought I smelled something in the air as I drifted in. Then we went to another place that Scott had only heard about – it was an underground place. We went down one street, there was nothing there, so we turned around and kept searching, then we went back to that street again and realized that there was music coming out of the doorway of one of the nondescript apartments we passed… went downstairs and that was it – it was full of people, but they made space for us at the bar and we sat there drinking beers, chatting with the bartender Mijim and listening to reggae. Mijim is a very cool person, and her bar is just like my old favorite Lau Ba in Tainan, ANDYYYYYY…!!! Mijim has excellent taste in music – she played Peter Tosh, Nick Drake (!!!), Velvet Underground “What Goes On,” followed by a Korean Band Sweat Jane that did an original song that was stylistically EXACTLY LIKE “What Goes On.” Bizarre. Next to Scott was this strange Korean lady who worked for Matador records and who had her own record label, was an editor for a hip magazine, had been to Russia, etc. etc. etc. Next to me were the animation students, drawing pictures of Kim Jong-Il, things like that. It was a cool place and we were there until after midnight. No sleep… till bedtime!

Thursday – my third day in Korea and the day of the big conference. I was supposed to meet my boss for breakfast so we could talk about articles and our mission in Seoul, ate by myslf until he came along at the last minute. Went in to the conference area and mingles like crazy, watching waiting listening talking understanding. A conference on credit bureaus. Some of the presentations were interesting, some of them were boring, some of them were strange, some of them were funny, some of them were totally incomprehensible, some of them were… odd. I think it was an interesting conference, and I interviewed central bankers from all sorts of countries, chatted and made contacts and friends at various banks and organizations around the world, and had a good time hanging out. The lunch was yummy, and the people were friendly. There were cocktails at the end of the evening, then a fantastic dinner. I sat with a table of Taiwanese people, so I was happy, chatting about the days when I was a student living in Tainan and all that. Nice. Afterwards went for drinks with my boss in the lobby – a few beers and some good talk. We were joined later by the only female speaker for the evening, who broght a friend who is European but is working for a central bank in Africa. Wow! We hung out for a long time, chatting about stupid stuff and fun stuff and silly stuff, drinking champagne and having awkward moments, but all around getting along well. Fun. Got back to the room at 2, then worked for another 45 minutes preparing for the CEO interview of 10 the next morning!

Got up, was supposed to meet my boss for breakfast, that didn’t happen as he was running late, then off like a flash to the CEO interview. It went well, then back to the hotel to hang out and have lunch and have coffee and talk about work again, finally, before the usual “so long, see you in Singapore next week” type things. Checked out of the room and went into the city for my last interview. It went OK – the guy I talked to was a little condescending, or maybe he could smell my bullshit, but it was an odd moment, although in many ways it went fairly well. Big buzz in the air – in another part of Seoul, the president was being impeached. Big bummer for the Korean people, hopefully not to set back the good things that were going on in other fronts. Passed a small group of people hanging out in hemp clothes with traditional drums. Wow. Got to the Lotte hotel to grab the airport shuttle, and an hour later I was checking myself in with my bags, etc. Got some souvenir kimchi for the flight home and then in the plane. Fun. Watched two films on the entertainment system on the way home – “Love Actually” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” Had plenty of big whiskeys on the way, not realizing that they had made me pretty drunk until it was time for me to actually stand up and get off the plane. Oops! Got home after midnight and into the arms of my beloved with my darling Zen sleeping nearby. Happy to be home again.

Film Review: “Something’s Gotta Give.” About a lecherous old guy with his young girlfriend, who ends up with her mother, the oldest woman he has ever dates (but younger than him). Plenty of viagra and menopause jokes, but a good film. Naturally it will be filled with plenty of strong moments, good acting, a tight script, funny moments, bizarre nudity (Diane Keaton, nearly 60, looking pretty hot) and other unique points. What was worth noting is the moments when it did NOT work – Jack and Diane’s early animosity (of course they are going to warm up to each other! It’s a movie), Jack’s startled revelation that he had fallen in love, and other schmucky bits. The annoying daughter. His role as a hip hop producer. And any reason why we should care about two independently wealthy people with no romance in their lives, other than the fact that they ARE Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, therefore they must be great. And they are. Although the title reminds me of another trite phrase “As Good As It Gets” (which I liked more).

Film Review: “Love Actually.” Nice little film, the joy is in watching it unfold. Several character sketches, interwove, with Hugh Grant as the wry young single PM of the UK, and Billy Bob Thornton as the President of the US, other people too. Bizarre how Alan Rickman might consider cheating on the delightful Emma Thomson with some office tart, but oh well… Some bits work, others don’t. Actually, barely any of the bits work, per se, other than as pappy filler. Charming, and amazingly empty. Take, for instance, the amusing story of the little boy, whose mother has just died, but can’t think about grief because he happens to be in love with some girl in his class who doesn’t know he exists. Ohhhhhh… kayyyyyy… If you didn’t necessarily love “Four Weddings And A Funeral,” then you will be even less impressed with this. If you have some time to kill on a flight… well, why not.

Hey, Yuping is in Singapore. Saturday was a mellow day – we woke up, got ready, Zen was recovered from his flu. Yuping and I walked to Bukit Timah nature park and walked up with Zen in the stroller. It was hot and cool, we enjoyed the trees and the sounds of birds. Met Tony and Barbara going up, then hung out at the summit for a while. On the way down got a call from Naoko. Got to the hut at the bottom and saw monkeys hanging out with people. Went into the hut to see the stuffed pangolina and tiger and owl, then back out to see even more monkeys, including baby monkeys. Zen was sleepy but held on… then held on after lunch until finally sleeping at 3!! (I also got a funny call from my boss, who thought I was somebody else). Yuping went out with friends all afternoon and evening, Zen slept until 6. I had a deep, scary nap from 3 to 4, then did some stuff. OK. In the evening… we hung out. Zen went to sleep at 10:45!! And I taped Space:1999, and wrote emails and read and drank Mihoko’s free cognac XO until 2 AM. Yoiks.

Today we hung out in the morning, then went to Clenenti at noon to meet Poyo Chuang and his new mystery wife. That was fun, Zen played in the playground for a while. He finally slept after 2 PM for his nap, we were exhausted too. Got ready to go out, then went over to neighbours for a hina matsuri from 4 to 8. Met lots of cool people, ate yummy sushi and stuff. Zen had his bath, and got to sleep at 10, late again. Hung out talking with Yuping for a while. So nice to have her here – someone to chat with in Chinese and feel good about, remembering our nice days in Taiwan as students all.