Joygasm typhoon swimming on distant rooftops

I am alive again.

I just returned to my room, everything is working well now. After a tasty Thai lunch, I went to work out. The gym here is on the 41st floor, and exquisite. The facility is shared with the spa, and is decorated with rich wood and dark slate with delicately scented candles for lighting-- perfect Feng Shui in action. After a 45 minute workout, I was finally feeling human again. After a sit in the very hot sauna and a quick shower, I decided to check out the pool. I forgot to pack a bathing suit, but I figured I could get away with my shorts.

I forgot to mention that this is typhoon season and Hong Kong is currently socked in, after a week without rain. The pool deck at the Langham is on the roof, open to the sky. When I climbed the stairs to the pool deck, there were a few other guests milling around the door, talking about the rain. When I looked out, a bubbly laugh started in my belly and by the time I was at the side of the pool, I was smiling and giggling uncontrollably. It was overwhelming; to be outside, in a downpour, splashing in around 557' above the world, the rest of Kowloon's skyscrapers poking through the fog. Looking up, you see the dizzying view of the Langham Place Office Tower looming a further 280' above your head.

I also forgot to mention that, because I checked in early, and no rooms at my level were available, I was upgraded to a suite on the 39th floor. The standard rooms are nice enough, but I should be so lucky to ever again stay in a 5-star hotel's suite. Back from my swim, still smiling, I returned to the room, tossed my wet shorts in the combo washer/dryer, retrieved a teapot from the full kitchen, topped it off from the countertop water heater and sat down with my laptop, brewing green tea in the living room, with Miles Davis on the stereo and looking out over Hong Kong.

Reflections at the southbound border

We're all in the shuttle now, leaving the Shenzhen Hilton for the border. I have a new set of pictures that I'll have up soon.

Even though at first, Shenzhen looked a lot like Hong Kong, living here for a week illustrated the differences. This part of China is very technological and modern, but everything is still "Made in China", with all the connotations that Americans have come to expect. Expensive looking but ultimately thin, artificial feeling materials, poor build quality, low price and high quantity. Chinese customer service and logistics are generally the same-- slightly creepy copies of actual quality practices. A great example is the forced English that the hotel staff uses. It sounds very sweet when they say "Good morning, sir". But if you ask them a simple question that hotel staff should know, you get a blank stare. I don't mind that they don't speak English, it's more that they try so hard to make it seem that they do.

Whimsical interlude: Automatic urinals in China also give a mini-flush when you approach. I guess the little tinkle is expected to act as an encouragement for guys with stage fright.

It was sort of sad leaving the factory yesterday. The Foxconn team was really great to work with and everyone was very friendly.

We're at the border now. This is the madhouse of madhouses. We were in a line a minute ago with all the cars waiting. All of a sudden hundreds of horns started blaring, and all the cars and busses started moving in random directions. Moments later and it has calmed down again. I have no idea what just happened or why.

Health has been a day to day affair here. Monday I was struck with a crazy flu with fever and chills and serious stomach cramps. The flu subsided after a good rest on Monday night, but Tuesday and Wednesday still brought major digestive distress. Wednesday night, we found a really nice Indian restaurant and I looked to the spicy non-Chinese food for help. It seemed to do the job, Thursday I felt just fine-- as if my adjustment to Chinese water and food and pathogens had completed. Yesterday though, serious fatigue and headache hit me hard, all day I was on the verge of falling asleep. Finally back at the hotel, I ate in my room and passed out by 8:30. Feeling better today, but the headache has been persistent. Hopefully the Advil will kick in by the time we get back to Hong Kong.

Elena and I have plans to go to HK Island this afternoon to find the Ohel Leah. It's Shabbat of course, but it will still be interesting to just walk by if we can. We'll try to get as close as possible and still be respectful.

Across the border

Took the shuttle across the border yesterday from Shenzhen, it's 7:45am here now. I just got up and we're taking the shuttle to the factory at 8:30. Shenzhen is a lot like Hong Kong, very commecial, extremely wealthy for China and filled with young people. Crossing the border was pretty easy, it probably only took us 20 minutes total.

Most everyone in our party grimaces as our drivers make their way down the street, it's pretty much anarchy out there-- I love it though. Big smiles at a totally different system that while chaotic, seems to work. I'm sure I'd have a different opinion if I actually had to commute here and got stuck in traffic on the freeway behind a bicycle...

I've got my first set of adventures posted on my smugmug account. Check them out.

Link

I have entered THE FUTURE.

Touched down in Hong Kong. from what I can see, this city is what we Americans picture life to be like in 20 years. I half expect to see Emilio Estevez running down the street with Mick Jagger chasing him, except they would all be Chinese.

Yes, the Asian chicks are hot. Yes, they all have porno-star/archaic English names like Barbara, Meg and Fanny.

Flight was easy, airport was easy, limo to hotel and check-in was crazy easy. Hospitality here is sugary. Techno thai food for dinner and a Tsing Tao. Ran for 10 minutes at the amazingly plush fitness center. The deep bath awaits. Then crash out and let my dreams duke it out with jet lag. Goodnight. More tomorrow.

Who says a blog's title must remain constant?

Not I. Besides, I think it's perfectly obvious by now that I do do that blog thing.

Oh, and what the fuck has been going on with Jason? Where you been man? We need a phone call, soon.

Scottley's Second Law of Evite Responses

Further research in the field of Evite Responses has revealed Scottley's Second Law of Evite Responses. The Second Law serves to counteract the First Law by moderating the incentive to avoid geekyness by responding arbitrarily late to an Evite:

The rudeness of an individual is inversely proportional to the difference in time between the Evite event date and the date of said individual's response.

The Second Law is illustrated by the dotted line in Figure 2 (for reference, the solid line illustrates the First Law).


Figure 2 also illustrates an important theorem that follows from the Laws of Evite Responses: Savvy Evite responders will tend to dispatch their responses near the equilibrium point of the two curves.

Hopefully this research will help educate the thousands every day who respond to Evites.

Research supported by a grant from the RedEnvelope corporation.

Scottley's Law of Evite Responses

The geekyness of an individual is inversely proportional to the time it takes them to view or reply to an Evite.

Figure 1 illustrates this principle. Time = 0 is the moment of Evite dispatch.


There is a corollary to Scottley's Law of Evite Responses which states:

The geekyness of an individual is directly proportional to the time spent by said individual analyzing the geekyness of individuals and making graphs about it.

Frankly, I don't think the data supports this conclusion.

Business card feedback

I'm working on an personal card that I can hand out on my journey. I've posted my first few concepts on my smugmug account. Won't you please scoot on over and tell me what you think? Hell, maybe even the basic idea is artistically flawed and you could provide some scathing critiscism.

Hmm... now that I think about it, I hope the whole thing doesn't come off like a Successory. I hate those things. I can't believe I just linked to Successories. Ugh. I have to go shower now.