Greetings.
I wish to continue to tell you what I did in the past few evenings.
31st July, 2006
I took my bike and went out for a nice night ride.
Here's the route:
Home--Star Seafood Floating Restaurant--Belair Gardens--Garden Rivera--Jat Min Chuen--Che Kung Temple--Man Lai Court--Hong Kong Heritage Museum--Sha Tin Central Park--Hong Kong Sports Institute--Sha Tin Race Course--Kam Tai Court--Kam Fung Court--Ma On Shan Park
When I went past the Ma On Shan Park, I noticed that there was this dark, tiny path. I was curious where it would lead to, so I just dived into it. Quickly I went down a steep slope and ended up on a small beach, but the sand was quite coarse that I had to get off from my bike. In the distance there were two women sitting and chatting on the shore, and near the shallow end of the water there were a couple of bare-chested middle-aged men in their undies walking and searching in the water. Turned out they were actually just checking on their net to see if they had caught any fish. There was also this ferry pier stretching out into the water, and there were some people hanging out on the pier.
I walked my bike towards the pier, and I took a pee in the dark side of the shore, hoping no one would notice. Then I pushed my bike up the stairs and went onto the pier. I could see the stars in the sky, even though there's a lot of light coming from the housing estates. There's the Big Dipper that helped me locate Polaris of the Little Dipper and Arcturus of the Bear Driver. I could also spot the Summer Triangle (Vega of the Lyre, Deneb of the Swan, and Altair of the Eagle) pretty easily, and there's the Northern Cross (or the Swan). I saw the "teapot" of the Archer and the Scorpion as well. What a sight! Haven't seen them for such a long time.
1st August, 2006
In order to get into the Sony Ericsson Soft Hard Long Time No See Concert, I spent HK$400 to get the very last ticket available at Hong Kong Coliseum's box office just 15 minutes before the official showtime of 8:15 pm. Tons of people were lining up to get a hold of some of the memorabilia. So did I. I got a HK$320 cap for my cousin Burnham for his 27th birthday, a HK$80 shopping bag (HK$180 originally if without any other purchase). After the show I also got myself a HK$170 pass-string.
The show, which started around 8:30 pm, was tons of fun. Every audience received a plastic Softhard mask (red for Jan; yellow for Eric; mine's Eric) and a pair of blow-up ping pong cheer tubes. Eason Chan had a brilliant appearance and performance of his tunes including the McDonald's TV commercial theme song ("Ba La Ba Ba Ba..."), 夕陽無限好, and 浮誇. Some of the Softhard's trade-mark repartee worked better than the others, and it felt like that the classic comic duo might not be as bitingly funny as they used to be in the 90s. However, perhaps because this was a concert, the two clowns didn't get to converse, which was what they do best and was the very act most of the hardcore fans hoped to witness again after a 10-year lapse, as much as they sang and danced.
The time when Softhard began reminiscing was most touching. What a miraculous journey they've had together! Didn't know that they first met when they attended the Caritas Bianchi College of Careers (明愛白英奇專業學校). Time past by so quickly. So was the show, which ended around 11:30 pm. After the show I went to the stage door, and I could see that two layers of fence were already lined up with a couple of security guards wearing light blue shirts and dark blue trousers standing by, but there were only a few fans waiting. I am one of them. Not a fanatic myself though, but I was in the mood. Hey, besides, I paid four hundred bucks. I wanted to see them up close and personal, so to speak.
It's close to midnight, but so far all I could see was musicians, dancers, and backstage crew who were dressed in trendy clothes leaving in small groups. Then all of a sudden came a youthful, all-male, SWAT-team-like group of security guards wearing navy blue caps, shirts, pants, and black boots. One of them stood right in front of me, and once a while we looked at each other embarrassingly. I smiled.
Then Jan and Eric came out. light Flashed. Eric went straight into the van. Jan came near to the fence as if he's just been released from the prison. He seemed uncomfortable. His smile seemed forced. It looked like he's thinking,"Gee, I'm way too exhausted to say anything, and, besides, I dunno what to say. Anybody I know here? No? Oh, hey, you there, how's it goin? Yeah, yeah, thanks for coming. Alright, gotta go now. 'K, see ya."
He waved. I waved back. They were gone.
I prefer the Softhard on stage. The Softhard that is soft, like a ball of fluffy, tickling, colourful feathers and is hard as a glaring diamond.
Afterwards, I walked into the Hung Hom train station right across the street opposite the Coliseum. In the lobby there were these people fast asleep in the chairs, tilting their overworked bodies in different angles and to different directions. 45' forward. 30' backward. 90' left. 15' right. 110' northeast. 5' southwest.
Next I let the escalator take me down to the platform. Seeing all the other passengers just stood very much separately, alone, I started humming to myself and pacing from one end of the platform to the other, and what d'ya know? There's the security guy standing right in front of me. Again. He looked at me. I smiled, tightly pressing my lips together.
The train slided into the station, and I caught a glimpse of someone, in one compartment, whom I know. I walked towards him and sat right next to him. "Hello," I said with a smile. It was Siu Lung. He smelled drunk. He told me that he had a drink with Ah Zong, who played Claudius in "Hamlet," after he finished ushering for the show "Only You" that starred Ms. Chan Po-Chu and Mr. Adam Cheng Siu-chau. I gave him the yellow Eric mask as well as the blow-up cheer tubes which hadn't been used at all. His destination's Tai Wo. Mine's Sha Tin. We said our goodbyes.
2nd August, 2006
Went to the public library in Shatin. Wanted to check out Jose Saramago's novel "Blindness" before attending the performance of the play. It's checked out already. Oh, well.
Went across to the Sha Tin Town Hall to go to the restroom. Thinking about going to a screening of Anime & Fantasy, I made a phone call at a pay-phone. Birdy declined. I made another call. "Nah,"replied Suzanne. Oh, well.
Got myself two ticks. Two screenings in a row.
Walked across the Shing Mun River through the Lik Yuen Bridge. Quite windy. And rainy. The strong wind signal No. 3 was hoisted. Thanks to Prapiroon the typhoon.
Took a bus to Tsimshatsui. Got off at St. Andrew's Church. Walked to TST East and had my dinner at a noodle shop.
Walked to the Hong Kong Science Museum's Lecture Hall.
6:30 pm
"Negadon: The Monster from Mars"
Dir: Jun Awazu
Japan 2005 Colour 26 min
"Kakurenbo: Hide and Seek"
Dir: Shuhei Morita & Daisuke Sajiki
Japan 2005 Colour 25 min
"Norabbits Minutes"
Japan 2006 Colour 3 min
8:00 pm
"Ray the Animation"
Dir: Naohito Takahashi
Japan 2006 Colour 88 min
Time to sign off.
Yours sincerely,
B. H.
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