Friday, December 16, 2011

Just checking in




Time passes so strangely here!

Running running running and still not getting anywhere!

I've been dealing with some not too fun stuff lately (as can be observed by my new daily "breakfast cocktail" YUCK!!!) but I am hoping that it will sort itself out before too long... um... to be incredibly vague.  Yeah.

Our city run is about over which means it's time to pack up all my belongings and move!  Packing sucks!  Why am I living a wandering life when I hate hate hate packing and unpacking yet I have to do it every month and a half.  Damn,,,. 

I would say I am 2/3 of the way done.  At this point I just need the bags to make it to Florida, and I have a week to sort stuff out there.  Also way behind on classes which means that while I am hope wanting to spend family time.... I'll need to duck out and do some electronic time too.  Which means I will be neglecting you!

Rest assured.... I will let you know about Ecuador with lots and lots of photos and then the move to London!

Ok... that's my 5 minute alarm... that's all I allowed myself for this one.  Yep, time is THAT tight around here.



In other news... I cut off all my hair again.  I was asked.... Amalie inspired?  Perhaps maybe?  But her's is much shorter.  You can decide. 



Bye bye bye bye bye bye bye!!

K.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Awesomeness.

I'm out of commission for a bit... 'i have some top secret things to attend to.  I'm sure you understand. Until I'm back... I found you this...  xo



Midnight Sun | Iceland from SCIENTIFANTASTIC on Vimeo.

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Tickets are booked!






Tickets are officially booked!

Dates for all you other wanderlusters like me so we can visit, chat, have a cup of coffee, beer, vino, or just hugs:

Here in SF until Dec 20 though growing more unreachable every day so if you need any of the above... call me!
Dec 21- 26 Back in FL mostly for family time but I will see some of you at Black Dog right?  Save me a seat outside!
Dec 26- Jan 3 Ecuador.  Paddling my butt and shoulder off.... Lets hope I finish up in one piece!
Jan 3-5 Paris - Tu me manques!
Jan 5- mid Feb - LONDON.  So many people to see so few days off.  FYI my day off is Monday so if we should hang out, clear your Monday!  

Let me know when you will be around!  I can't wait to see everyone. 


xoxo


K

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

It's hard work trying to take over the world!

It was my day off today and I had so much work to do I did not have very much time to enjoy it!  But I did manage to take a few happy snaps before the work commenced.  I still have a laundry list of things I need to do before we get out of here in two weeks... on the list... LOTS of plane tickets. 

There are exciting things happening soon I think.  I'm trying hard to make some decisions that are big tough ones that need to be made!  Scary stuff but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  Up until now I've always landed on my feet. 


I can't say any more about it now... but soon my pretties... soon. 

As always...

xoxo K

PS I found a gas mask today.  Watch out for 2012!

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

When you have two days off and nothing to do...

I did none of the things that I said I was going to do...

I got some x-mas shopping done because I will be home for the first time in quite a few years for xmas.  So yes, it is about time to amp up the consumerism and buy some things... My gifts tend to go one of two ways... either very thoughtful and well considered or silly gag gifts.  Or sometimes a bit of both.  Those of you who have received gifts from me know that right?

Anyway I did a bit of that and then I went into Goodwill and found an awesome cozy sweater.... It's one of my favorite colors... cross between blue and purple... and it's totally not flattering.  It's like a grandpa sweater.  Here!  I found it for you!

And I haven't been feeling as awesome as normal lately so for the bulk of today I sat in this, with leggings and watched movies and worked on a few projects.  I've been having some weird health things lately that just make me feel kind of lousy.  
So I feel a bit guilty for not taking advantage of the day but sometimes you need an inside cozy day right?  And that's allowed in this girl's world.

More interesting things to come soon I hope.

xoxo
K.



Sunday, November 27, 2011

Happy Turkey Day... ish

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving, well at least those of you who celebrated.  Mine?  Mine was excellent.  My first Thanksgiving on American soil in 8 years!  It was lovely.  I drove about an hour and a half north to be with some family who was down visiting from Seattle.  So nice to see them and spend the day with lovely people and the most food I have seen on one table in perhaps my entire life?!

Things here are still going.  I have off two days in a row this wee which is rare and kind of amazing.  So I am trying to decide what to do.  Should I drive 3 hours north and visit my brother?  Or should I stay and continue to explore San Francisco?  I haven't been taking enough pictures!  I need a photo day for sure!!!

There is this amazing shop in the Mission that's also a writing center.  Anyway, it was founded by Dave Eggers.   Have you read his stuff?  If not, check it out its awesome.  Anyway... so this shop.  It's a pirate shop.  Everything pirate.  But the way its done is really beautiful.  They also have an awesome fish tank.



And they sell things that make good stocking stuffers and cute gifts like beard extensions and this:


Anyway.  I might hang out around the Mission and then head up to visit the next day.... I just can't decide.  So much to think about so much to do.

Thanks for the thoughts!  Yes, I am doing ok.  I don't know if I will ever truly make it in this lifestyle.  But I am so glad to be in SF and I can't wait to go to London!  After that.... we will see!

xoxo

K

Monday, November 21, 2011

Music Sunday!!!

Songs  I am loving:



She is amazing.  And look at those lips!!!  Crazy talk!  But this is seriously pretty. 



Made of awesome!  Funny and a great story teller. And yes, around 2 minutes he rhymes pocket with vomit. 




Seriously.... awesome sauce. I like things with a pinch of humor and this band has it.

Tomorrow is my day off. I will update then.

I've been alright. Downloading music like the above and bundled up in scarves and music and paintings. Solitary life is alright for now... as long as I don't run out of music, paint, coffee.

Missing you all!

xoxo

K

Friday, November 18, 2011

Oh dear!

I find myself in a predicament where I said I would update tomorrow… and tomorrow slipped through my fingers and is now yesterday. So before I go to bed… and even though I don’t really want to… I will I will I will. But I have to make it quick! I’m very tired and I have to start work at 9 tomorrow!! But listen, tomorrow… well actually today? I finish work early so I will make a proper posting of news and plans and awesomeness. Promise… Real Time. And you know I NEVER joke about real time.

OK so quickly. Things continue to be ok. And yes, just ok. Which I find endlessly frustrating…. I am working on it. I’m also having some doubts about my actual job. About my abilities here. Trying to work that all out in my head… Have I ever told you that my head is a kind of weird place? Well it is.

Work is work though…. And at the moment I feel overworked! Things I have done this week:

Worked too many hours for me to say publically and not feel judged about.

Slept two few hours for me to say publically without being judged. (I think we’re in the less than 20 for the week…. Yikes!) I get these random bouts of insomnia sometimes and they drive me absolutely insane!

I don’t want to go into too many details before I know the answers for sure but there might be a few changes in the next two weeks which could be rather large. I’ll let you know as soon as I know for sure.

And now… for sleep time.

Xoxo

K

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Take three minutes please!!

And watch one of these. Awesomeness. And I Love them. Will update tomorrow. I'm sorry. xoxo







Friday, November 11, 2011

Isolation...

This is incredibly isolating...  It's so weird.  It's not a bad thing.... it's just a thing. 

Lots of drawing... lots of painting.  Lots of watching.....

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Things seen this week:

1. Lots of pretensions at the oakland art murmur.

2. A dive bar fully stocked with barbies.  Not a few barbies... lots and lots of barbies.  All Holiday editions of barbies, still in their boxes.  They adorned every wall space, every nook and cranny.

3. Burlesque dancing set to the tune of schoolhouse rock.  Yes as in the following video:



But with girls in g-strings.


4. A piano bar, but with live karaoke.  OH wait add the fact that it was industry night so anyone who fancies themselves a musical theater kid was there with book in hand to jazz hand away.  And THEN the cast of hair came in, and one guy (who used to be on that show queer eye for the straight guy... yeah remember that) sang a song from RENT.  Ever wondered what happened to that guy?  Yeah he's touring around doing regional musical theater. This guy:
It was fun.... for a minute.  But there were entirely too many 'big' personalities in that room at one time. 

5. Too many coffee places to count in the quest to find my favorite.  It might have happened.... I think I found it.

6. Books books books.  Right now reading Geek Love. Which is a book about circus freaks.  Specifically about a family who wants to breed circus freak children, so while the mom is ovulating she takes heaps of drugs, resulting in a dwarf hunchbacked albino, a boy with flippers instead of arms and legs, a set of conjoined twins... etc.  Too early for me to decide if I like it yet but so far it's interesting.

7. That's about it.  More soon.  I'm ok.  Not comfortable yet.... maybe tomorrow.

xoxo
K

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Eye Spy...

I just had two days off, which was lovely.  I met a few people for brunch at my favorite breakfast spot.  Bowls of coffee?  Gingerbread pancakes?  Yes please!  Then I spent most of the rest of my time walking around the city and getting lost.  Lost in parks, lost in streets, lost in my thoughts, lost in time, lost in culture.  But it was nice. 

I found this this medusa lady, which I thought was halloween worthy!  **funny thing about SF and halloween, it's impossible to tell who is dressed up.



Pumpkins were carved.  Can you guess which one is mine?


Lost in parks, this is a great little one right by my house.  Yummy cafe close by as well so it's pretty tempting to sip coffee and read in the park all day.... basically what I did yesterday.


The view from outside my house while I was on my nighttime run.  Lots of running these days.  It's good.  Being relatively anti social means that I have no excuse not to go running or go work out.  Getting ready for Ecuador.


Off to said yummy coffee place at the moment, I have some time before I start work to read etc.  Then the week begins again.  This week I am learning the show track. 

xoxo

keiko

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Sorry for the lack of being here...

Hey! Sorry! Things have been very busy here and I am a bit settled and finding my feet. So... perhaps now that I have a bit more of a routine I can get back to writing a bit.

Work is going alright. Crazy crazy crazy long hours. I think we are going to have to stay tuned as to how this whole 'living out of suitcase and moving every 2 months' thing is going to work out for me. I have to admit I am not completely sold on it at the moment, but I haven't given up hope yet! Don't worry!

I have been a little... I don't know lately. Nostalgic? I've been thinking a lot about the past and also wondering and thinking about the future. And yeah, imagining the future is a kind of nostalgia as well. You spend your whole life stuck in the labyrinth, thinking about how you'll escape it one day, and how awesome it will be, and imagining that future keeps you going, but you never do it. You just use the future to escape the present.

Sorry, too heavy?

Rest assured, I am fine. It's a bit of a change to live a completely solitary life again. And that's the direction that this feels like its going. People are friendly here but not so much friends. At least not yet. But yes... I am fine. And yes, I miss lots of things. But forward, always! Just waiting for this ball to truly start rolling I guess.

I just can't get used to these Cali blue skies though!  Unreal.  I am so used to waking up in Macau to shades of gray.  It's been a while since I saw that huge open blue thing up there.  It's lovely.


More updates soon I promise. 

xoxo

K.

Sunday, October 16, 2011

New digs and new gigs.

IMG_0609

I'm at the airport!  Getting ready to head out to San Fran. 

I can't believe my time is done here.  Well, let's be honest.  It's not done I will be back again!  But for now, farewell Asia!  I'll see you soon!  I've given too many pieces to you to not come back and check up on them and see how they are doing.

Cambodia was awesome but I haven't been able to put up all my photos yet.  Here's a teaser for those interested.



Ok gotta run and catch my flight.  Thanks so much to everyone who has been uber helpful with me the last few weeks.  Caring for my stuff, or transporting it or giving me a place to stay or meeting me when I'm sad or going on holidays with me.  Lotsa love for all you kids and its been awesome.  I will miss this very very much!  See you soon! 

xoxo


K

Monday, October 10, 2011

In Cambodia.... innit

Hey sorry for the lack of any kind of warnings or anything like that!  I kinda just took off I guess.  What's a girl to do when stuff gets too crazy?  Fly the coop to Cambodia of course.  I have a few more days here but I was getting annoying work emails etc so had to jump onto the interwebs for a few minutes and thought I should catch up for a second with you guys!

It's rainy season so I am not missing too much at the moment.  Had to come home from temple tours to dry off.  However I did very very very much enjoy exploring ancient ruins in the pouring rain because guess what... all those other suckers go home!  Ha ha ha!  Photos to come.

Also had a bath with an elephant the other day.  That was awesome as well.

And at the same time I am finding it hard to be here a bit.... partly because what is going on with me, and partly because this country is heartbreaking.  Such poverty.... watching toddlers play in garbage on the street with their mom is terrible... and terribly sad.

Anyway.... back to happy for the moment.  Elephants are awesome and getting cheeky kisses from local pachyderms is tops for sure.

I'll be back in HK late Thursday night so I will talk to you all then.


xoxo

K.

Friday, September 30, 2011

Typhoons and madness!

Sorry it has been a while.  Why am I still surprised when things are busy?  A summary of the last few days?  Ok here you go:

I had the past three days off which was nice/hard at the same time.  I found out a buddy of mine had to leave the country so I had planned to go see him before he took off but things got a little crazier than I originially anticipated! 

Our house turned into a proper share house for the week which has been weird.  We have had someone's girlfriend because her roomates parents are in town, we have also had a tattoo artist staying at our place and working out of R's room!  He starts so early too!!!  So at 9:30 am you wake up to the droning buzz of that ruckus.  And then on Tuesday, I got word that a friend of a friend was stuck in macau without a place to go so we took her in as well!  It's been crazy.

Anyway, I went over to HK on Weds to see my very stressed friend.  Loads of immigration problems but it was nice to hang out before he got the boot!  But then on Thursday there was a T8 which means a bigish typhoon!  That means no ferrys back to Mahcow!  Oh no!  So I ended up spending another night and feeling a it guilty about it but it's all good.  Luckily he got his shit sorted out in the end and I was able to come back on Friday morning.

And now... I have today off because it's a public holiday.  So I am packing packing packing and starting to deal with my own immigration problems!  Yuck!  More to come soon including probably something ranty soon about how much I hate immigration but for now, that is it.  Back soon!!

xoxo

K

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Weekend update!

What a nice week!  Super crazy per usual but also super productive!  We booked all the flights to Cambodia and back after a bit of a nightmare but in the end it was done.  We will be in around and near Phnom Penh for three days or so and I am expecting that to be heavy... From what I have heard and read it is intense, because as a tourist you are obviously reminded of the 70s and the Khmer Rouge etc.  When I was in Hiroshima last spring the thing that caught me so off guard was contextualizing all of the information and trying to relate it to modern day timings I think?  If that makes sense at all?  The perspective of how close to NOW all of that happened and obviously THAT was 1945. 

I'm not saying that there is a relation between the two other than fact that hundreds of thousands of people were killed in each (or more obviously).  Anyway.... I think it's important to see those things and try to understand what happened.  I also think it's important to feel uncomfortable in those situations, it would be wholy unnatural to NOT feel uncomfortable.

Then we will be taking a boat ride North or at least that is the plan... either via boat or bus (both roughly 6 hours) to Siem Reap to see temples for a few days and perhaps rent some motor bikes and take a little side trip to one of the fishing villages.

Sooo that is good!  We leave on Oct 6.  My last day of work here is Oct 2 and I get my work visa taken away on Oct 3.  Then I must be out of Macau for GOOD by Oct 13.  How scary is that?  It's a little scary because my flight for San Fran doesn't leave until the 16th so I need to head to HK and hang out for a few days but seriously there are worse places to be for sure!

What else is going on?  I just had a good but again, busy (always with the busy!) day off.  Good food, good fun, and got some work done.  And now... a four day work week followed by three days off and then a final four days at work!  Oh my goodness!!!

In other news:  I ditched the goldielocks and went back to brown.  And I cut it short again.  Best and easiest decision I have made in a while! 

More soon.

xoxo

K

Thursday, September 15, 2011

2011-12 Travel Dates and Plans

So I can catch up with all you amazing people on the West Coast of America and Europe.

  • Oct18-Dec20 San Francisco
    • This is also include a trip to LA and possibly Portland - Dates TBC 
  • Dec20-26 Tallahassee FL
    •  Home to visit the family for a few days and my first x-mas at home in a long time
  • Dec26-Jan03 Ecuador
    •  Kayaking with some of my most favorite people EVER!
  • Jan04-06  Paris
    •   I can't fly to London direct but I can make it to Paris.  Stop and visit a few people for a few days and freeze my butt off!
  • Jan06-Feb15 London

Then: San Jose, Atlanta, Washington DC, Boston, and ending 2012 in NYC.  And then?  We will see if I make it that long on tour.

Can't wait to catch up with everyone!!

xoxo
K

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Spinng spinning spinning...

... out of control!  Seriously started packing today.  Instead of making me feel more settled and better about everything.  It made me feel worse!

I know this is the right move for me but then why am I so sad to leave?

This is yet to be determined...

In other news:  Had a fantastic day off in Hong Kong today which was both productive AND enjoyable.  That doesn't happen often enough in my book!

  • Electronic shopping - check
  • camera bag update - check
  • outdoor store errands - check
  • fancy pants dinner with Macau homies - check
  • fancy pants drinks - check
  • laughing til we cried in the middle of an outdoor shop - check
  • crying til I laugh whenever I think about leaving these guys - CHECK

Pictures and posts to follow tomorrow.  Right now it's bedtime and an attempt to process some recent developments.

xoxo
K

PS I miss you too!!!
PPS I realize that all of my recent posts are about how crazy everything is.... and are a bit lacking in substance.  I'm working on it.  Suffice to say it has been a big week!
PPPS  I think this is fucking beautiful.  The music, the video, the ambient noise in the background. everything.  This is 7 years in the making.  Listen underneath, to all of the things that help support the vocals.  Stunning in my opinion.

Monday, September 12, 2011

CAKES FROM THE MOON?!?

The mid autumn lantern festival takes place every year and it's a pretty big deal, second only to Chinese New Year really in Macau.  Lotus lanterns are flown everywhere:
It's a lunar harvest festival that is about 3000 years old!  Mooncakes (not my favorite thing ever!  More to come on that later) are eaten, lanterns are flown, and matchmaking is made.

There are lots of stories and legends surrounding this festival about Houyi and Chang'e who is the Moon Goddess.  She lives on the moon but isn't actually the moon...   The one I heard yesterday:

Houyi was the hero and Chang'e was his wife.

ONCE UPON A TIME, the world had 10 Suns in the Sky. It was too hot. But a wonderful Archer (Houyi) came one day and shot the extra Suns from the sky. Then there was only the 1 Sun, and it wasn't too hot anymore. As a reward, he was given a magical potion from the Rabbit that lives in the Moon. (In case you don't know, the rabbit in the moon is awesome at making medicine and other potions. True fact.)

OH, NO! BAD GUYS HEAR ABOUT THE MAGICAL POTION!

One day, when the Archer was out hunting, the Bad Guys come to his house to steal the magical potion. Only his wife (Chang'e) was home. What to do? She can't fight the Bad Guys! She knew that the Bad Guys couldn't steal the potion under any circumstances, so she drank it!

And it made her start to float. (And immortal, btw.) All the way up to the Moon. So, that's where she lives now. With the Rabbit. And she gets to be called The Princess in the Moon.
But, she's sad because she can't come back to Earth. (Although Rabbit is totally working on it.)

BUT ON ONE DAY HER MAN CAN COME TO HER! (As it should be.)

When the moon is close. And that's why it's all full and beautiful. The lovers reunite. But, then, he's gotta find his way back to Earth - so we all light lanterns so that the Archer doesn't get lost. Awwww sweet no?



Now... back to the mooncakes.  They are these little round pastry things.  They look pretty.  And I think they are yuck!  When you cut them open they have a lotus seed paste or a white bean paste surrounding a duck egg yolk or egg yolk so that when you cut it in 1/2 it looks like a moon.  There are also contemporary ones that have basically anything that you can turn into a paste, yucca, yam, pineapple.  But I think they are all gross.  But during this festival it's customary to give them and have them be given to you.  So if course its impolite not to eat them.  Bleh!  One more thing I can't say that I will miss.  MOONCAKES!   

Saturday, September 10, 2011

And the heros are...

Cambodia and Laos...   Here we come...

Let me introduce you to the travelers:
Name: Richard Craig Booth aka Mr Humphrey aka 'Humph'
Occupation: Travels with the circus as a vet.  Almost completed vet school however dropped out at the last minute due to unknown circumstances.
Weapon: Matchsticks
Special Ability: Sound effects, he can reproduce any sound known to mankind and confuse his enemy... kind of...


Name: Emily Rose aka Jezebel aka Jez, not Jess
Occupation: Circus freak, carny, fire eater, fire twirler, pyromaniac
Weapon: Flaming Lamborghinis
Special Ability: Reading minds and speaking the truth


Name: Keiko Fox LeMon aka Tallulah aka Lu
Occupation: Stripper, Fire Dancer, fire breather, hula hooper
Weapon: Laser beam eyes
Special Ability: The ability to call you out on your bullshit from a mile away


Watch out... the trip is being planned.... only trouble will follow.  Stay tuned.  Humph, Jez, and Lu will be traveling in early October to Cambodia and Laos for a final hurrah before Lu forever leaves for the traveling circus.  Should be good. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Oh my goodness! I'm a hugeballofstressandworries!!!!!

IMG_0517

I am worried and stressed.  Actually, no that's a lie, I am on the verge of being super stressed and worried about everything.  Can't you tell?  Look at the worry eyes, I can't hide them!!  Will I ever get to a point where I stop worrying about what is to come and just let things be?  (On a side note, will I ever NOT wear whatever I am thinking on my face?)

I know I said I wasn't going to start worrying or stressing until Friday but going back to work today was kind of crazy.  Nothing went wrong, the show was fine, but even though I know my department will be ok when I leave and they will make it work until they find a replacement... I hate the fact that my leaving makes things harder for people!  I don't want my going to mean that people can't go on holidays back home, or that they can't have as much time off as they would like, or that their days will get considerably more monotonous.  Yuck!!

But that is the reality.  At the moment we have three tracks to our show in my department, and at th moment we have 4 people who can run those three tracks.  It's a big math game, but the basic idea is that at the moment we can swing around and do different things during the day because there is more than one person who knows how to do all of the jobs required.  When I leave that changes...  so you will be stuck doing the same job every day until someone new learns the job. 

Anyway, there was some general chatter of 'soon things are going to be hard' and there is nothing I can do about it.  That sucks!  I don't like hurting people or making things hard for people and I genuinely try to make the best out of most situiations and be an optimistic person.  So while I know my coworkers are happy for me, they will be worse off for me having left... and having that in the back of my head makes me feel a bit sad.

I know they will be ok... It just sucks to be the one who is about to make things harder.

Full full full 10+ hour day tomorrow.  Maybe the atmosphere will get a bit better!

xoxo


K

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

a day of random nothings.

Today I didn't think about anything.  I didn't worry about anything.  I didn't plan for anything.  I didn't do much of anything either.  

Today I : 
  • had a solid window of sunbathing (with sunscreen of course!  no sunburns here!)
  • changed my nail color
  • Finished one book and started another
  • had frozen yogurt 
No working out, no stressing about moving, none of that.  Tomorrow I do not start work until 5 and I plan to do ONE more day of nothing before I start to think about the task at hand.  I worry about things, I always have.  But not today... not tomorrow.  Friday.  Let the stress start on Friday. 

xoxo


K




What I am listening to right now:

I love them.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Long Sleeve Weather FantasySoonToBeReality


I woke up this morning with the realization that soon... my weather and seasons will be changing drastically. And I smiled.

I am soon to be headed for the cooler weather of San Francisco. And though I like bathing suits, the smell of suntan lotion, big sunglasses, painted toenails, and being basically naked most of the time. I love love love long sleeve weather. My favorite weather is in this moment: walking outside in the city, with a lightweight cardigan and scarf, in my riding boots or wedges (the red or yellow ones), with my favorite jeans.... the ones that make you both feel uber comfortable and look amazing as well and they somehow cross the threshold from afternoon to dressy without a problem. That outfit, and you are ever so slightly chilly and would like to be holding a hot drink because the ends of your fingers are ever so cold and you might need to shove them in your pockets. That moment.... that weather.... makes everything better! It makes me want to give people more hugs, both because you appreciate the warmth and it makes them feel better too!! Win win win!

In my current weather, I still hand out lots of hugs, but they are generally sweaty and not as awesome as cold weather hugs. I can not wait!!! Plus I think people just look nicer in colder weather clothes.

PS I am love with her boots. Now is not the time to buy shoes.... Buuutt... I am getting rid of all my sandals. Hmmmmmmm....

Monday, September 5, 2011

Future travels?




Well I have started making plans... I have to hold off for a minute on specifics regarding this next move but what I can say is that either way.... I handed in my resignation here yesterday which means that as of today I have 28 days of employment left in Macacu! So sad in some ways! I have learned a lot here both about myself and about work and about people. In some ways macau both broke me down and helped me stand at the same time.


It is a weird place and I am not sure that many people can understand it. It's a bizarre situiation to live on a 23 square mile island. Hong Kong is amazing and one of the places that I will miss the most from here. HK is awesome and I think that if our show was based there I could stay for a long time! But heading to HK once every one or two weeks just isn't enough to make up for the fact that I spend the majority of my time on an island where there just isn't enough going on!


I had some trepidation about leaving this job, mostly because I felt bad potentially hurting the people who I work with by leaving them short staffed. But I have to think of myself first* and I know that they will make it work. And at the end of the day I have spent over two years here and I don't owe them anything!** I will miss parts of it here and I sometimes do worry about my ability to integrate back into society. :) I've basically been living on a weird reality based TV show for a while now... Cirque survivor?


Anyway... after I leave here I will hopefully have about a week and a half to do what I please. I am thinking Cambodia, Vietnam and maybe Laos?? Three places that I would like to see before I head out. And I think that is do-able in that short time. If I had a bit more time before going I would really really love to go to Nepal. It's absolutely one place that I said I wanted to go and I haven't been. It just means that I will have to put it on the back burner for now but I will make it one day. It's too amazing not to go.

I ALSO wanted to make my exit here via the Trans Siberian Railway which I will also not do.*** Again, it's on the bucket list. One day... Some amazing photography to be had there I am sure and not hugely touristy which I like especially if you go from E-->W at least that is what I am told. Anyway, I am off for now, shows to run, plans to make!

xoxo

K.


* surprisingly this is something that I rarely do.

** This was a recent teaching- Thanks Dad.

*** Super sad face about this one. I had the trip all planned out and costed including what cities I would stop at and for how long etc.

Sunday, September 4, 2011

On the road again.

More to come... but here is a preview of the news. Documents were signed today!












Friday, September 2, 2011

recap and almost big news!!!




Big news in a few days! I should be able to say in about 24 hours? BUT this is interesting and big and fun and exciting. I hope my luck is turning around. This has been the longest 10 days of my life it seems...

BUT here are some fun pictures from the past few nights schnanigans.


We went to a party and I learned that Roger can control lasers!





And once the blacklight came on I realized that I still (despite days of scrubbing) still looked like one of the suspects on CSI!




Too much was imbibed.



It's weird that I have known this guy for so many years.



But it's nice to work with people you love so much!



At some point I got sleepy and demanded to go home



But not before Em made a friend and 'saved him' from his tortured mirror frame life that was...



We had a zombie....



And superhero..... Party.



I was one of the undead....




But found spiderman jumping on my bed!!!!



But not before the mass attack that killed or rekilled us all!




It was fun but I am so glad it is over. Watch this space. Big news tomorrow.... I promise!!!


xoxo
K.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Too much fun...

I am currently exhausted. It's my day off and I am tired. Yuck.

This has been the longest most random week ever it seems and I hope that this coming week will be way better.

We had a ton of parties which meant late nights and sluggish mornings. It was our 3 year anniverary party on Sunday and last night we had a zombie vs superhero party at my house. I'll put up some photos once I have a moment to transfer them onto this machine.

All of my roommates went to sleep last night and I was left kicking people out of the house at about 5 this morning. I woke up with a wicked hangover.... and I use the word wicked so rarely. I locked myself in my room this morning and wouldn't come out until I felt better. I emerged at about 4 and now I am fine.

Sorry for not writing anything lately. I will update this tomorrow with photos. Fingers crossed for a better week.


xoxo

K.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Now all your love is wasted, then who the hell was I?

My local pub is closing. Sad face!

Tonight I was there and after playing a bunch of uplifting music they put on Bon Iver's 'For Emma Forever Ago'. Not because it was one of their last nights and they wanted to be depressing, just because they liked it. I couldn't stop being nostalgic and thinking about that album.

It is the epitome of heartbreak. The story, for anyone who is unaware, is this: boy meets girl. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl loves boy. Girl dumps boy. Boy is heartbroken and moves into a cabin in the woods and pours all of his heart into an album. For Emma Forever Ago is that album. I think it is heartwrenchingly beautiful and as I fall asleep tonight it will be playing quietly. It makes me a bit sappy and think all of those mushy ' better to have loved and lost ' type things. But in the end... his voice is awesome and that record is raw and just amazing. I love rediscovering things.

Goodnight kids.

xoxo

K.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Last day off!

I have had a nice three days off. It wasn't the time that I thought it was going to be due to my unexpected return to Macau, but I still had a good time. Yesterday was a fun adventure day. Roger and I went and got Sushi for lunch, then we got frozen yogurt! Yum! Actually to be more specific: blueberry = yum, mango = yum, durian= YUCK! So disgusting. We got it just to taste it knowing it would probably be bad. But I had no idea that a fruit could taste like death. Anthony Bourdain once described eating durian as, "Its taste can only be described as...indescribable, something you will either love or despise. ...Your breath will smell as if you'd been French-kissing your dead grandmother."

Yeah freeze that and put it with yogurt. **Shudder**

After that we went to this amazing pool that we found, then went to Toy's R Us to look for playstation games for my roomie and potential toys for us. Finished up the evening with Mexican food, margaritas, and then darts at one of our local dive bars.

Today I enjoyed having the house to myself and made blueberry muffins and dinner for the roomies.

I've been pretty introspective lately and thinking about what I am doing and about the future. I have been in Macau and with Cirque du Soleil now for almost two years, which is about when most people thing about leaving. macau is a very transient place and up until 6 months ago I very much wanted to leave. Now... I am happy here but may be presented with an opportunity to leave anyway. And despite list making and pros and cons I am not sure how I feel about it.

This isn't helped by the fact that Cirque is notoriously slow to make decisions and get back to people regarding employment so when they say that they can let you know in two weeks they might actually mean a month. I should have heard from them on Monday, and I have not heard anything yet. So I'm sitting and waiting for them to make a decision so that I can in turn make a decision.

The job is a touring job, which would mean leaving here immediately and heading out on the road. The tour goes to San Francisco and London as basically the two first stops I would make with it which is awesome. But as much as people complain about life here, I don't hate it. My schedule has just drastically improved, and I would like to travel more around SE Asia.

They told my boss here that they would be making an offer but who knows. I haven't heard anything yet.

Trying to just take things one step at a time one day at a time. I find that hard sometimes because at any moment I feel like the next step could be a big one! We shall see!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Don't Spit on me!!


Well... THAT was a bit of a failure of a day!

Here was the plan: Head over to HK in the earlyish morning putter around for a bit then head to Cheung Chau island for a few days. Cheung Chau is one of the outlying islands around Hong Kong and is a bit more Local than many of the other ones. Lamma Island is cool as well but is predominately dominated by Western people it's a bit of an alternate lifestyle kind of place. I like it there but I wanted to try something new. Anyway, the plan was to hang out on the beach for a few days and get away from everyone and have a bit of alone time.

Here is what happened instead:

I got up this morning and my brain would not function... I tried and tried and despite coffee and breakfast I COULD NOT get moving before noon. So once I eventually got up and got my stuff together I made my way to the ferry terminal and was on my way! Problem one: my kindle battery died on the ferry. Now the whole issue of e-readers pros and cons is a subject that I would love to chat about later but for now, just go with it. No problem, I thought, there is a bookstore very near the ferry terminal I will pick up a book and take it with me.

The ferry to HK takes about an hour, hour and a half to get through immigration etc. So once I was through I picked up a book and was on my way... I did have a few errands to run before heading over to Cheung Chau namely a camera issue to resolve which I will tell you about later. But (problem or bad omen number two) before I could do that as I was leaving the ferry hall a man spat on me! YUCK! One thing that is a bit of a surprise here is the hawking and spitting. It seems to be mostly carried out - entirely unapologetically - by the old folk, and takes a bit of getting used to. There is a government drive to stop this habit, and there are posters up everywhere with threats of fines for those caught in the act, but it still happens. A lot.

Anyway so I was walking and an old man spat on my arm. Very gross.... But I got over it eventually and continued on my mission. After the camera part was done. (see below) I made my way over and got the ferry to Cheung Chau. Arriving there it was stating to grow a bit dark so I thought I should probably check into the hotel first thing. It was a bit of walk but I made it only to find out that they lost my reservation! They were--mildly--apologetic and said that they could give me a hand finding somewhere else to stay. Awesome!! Whereupon they called every B&B and hostel on the island and everything was completely booked! Sad face! So I had no choice but to get BACK on the ferry and head back to central HK again. ANNOYING.

I called a few of the regular places we stay when we head into town to find that they too were all booked out. I don't know what was going on today. It was a Tuesday. I shall do some research tonight and figure it out maybe. Sooo I found one place but I didn't want to pay $200 US for a night, when I could pay $6 and come back to my own bed. In the end that's what I did... except when I got to the ferry terminal at 8:45 there was no 9 or 9:30 ferry so I had to wait til the 10. Yuck yuck double yuck!

In the end it's now midnight and I just got home after a very unproductive day. I still have two more days off but I think I will just hang around Macau. Maybe go to the pool tomorrow and make some blueberry muffins or something equally awesome to restore the awesome quota for the week.

Ah the camera story: Basically I had some awesome help today and ended up with a brand new camera! Not what I had intended to do but it's kind of amazing. I heart Canon so much sometimes. Now I have something to play with for quite a while to attempt to master it. I won't go into details but nice helpful people are amazing. Thank you!!!

Mmmmmm... Blueberry muffins.


xoxo

K.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Who I am and what I do...

So I have been asked to start a blog. I am sure in the long term my reasons why will become clear but at the moment I am trying to do what I am told.

What shall I explain first... the Coco LeFleur part or the circus part? Let's go in order shall we?

I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin. (Hook'em Horns) My last year there I lived in a big-ole house just off campus. It was a co-op. Yes, I may or may not have been a dirty hippy at some point of life, give me a break. Anyway.... I has just moved back to the states after studying abroad and moved directly into this house. I wasn't told much about my room or roommate only that her name was Danielle and that she was a graduate student type person. Well I showed up just after New Years to an abandoned house to learn that Danielle was actually Dan, as in Daniel. I then learned that Dan had known about my coming but when asked by my other housemates about me he couldn't quite remember my name and thus Coco LeFleur was born. Aparently Coco is a French foreign exchange student.

When I moved from Austin to London somehow the name followed for a bit and now it's always a backup funny pen name etc that reminds me of sitting on front porch swings late at night playing guitar and drinking micro brews.

As for the circus.... 2 years ago I ran away and joined the circus. Real Time. I work for Cirque du Soleil in Macau now in the props department and all its fun and glory!

Briefly what I did today: airbrushed things neon UV green all day. If I were on CSI they would arrest me for sure! To give you an idea... This photo was taken after about 20 minutes.

I worked in the spray booth today for 7 hours. Literally my entire body glows with a cartoon neon radioactive green tint.

And my interesting fact/question for the day? On the subject of radioactivity... why is it always pictured as glowing green? It irks me a bit if I am honest. Why you ask?

Well... because generally radioactive things don't fluoresce green at all.
One of the first things that was noticed by Marie Curie after producing a test-tube of concentrated radium was its "fairy like glow." It did not glow green, however. It was said to be a bright blue color. Reportedly she even kept a vial of it next to her bed as a kind of night light. So why don't we have radioactive blue? huh huh huh???

OK kids, bedtime for me. Tomorrow I am off to Hong Kong for three whole days off! I plan to find an island and sit my butt down in the sun for a bit and hopefully find some non polluted water to swim in.



xoxo

K.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Round Two...

Hello Blog. It’s me again.

What has changed since the last blog I kept:
  • I now live in Macau (small SAR outside of Hong Kong)
  • I no longer have plans to get married and move to the UK
  • I work for the Circus and that consumes most of my time
  • My next big adventure is Ecuador
Things that haven’t changed:

  • I’m still reading reading reading and I am sure will have to talk about some of those books here
  • Still traveling as often as possible though this time throughout SE asia instead of Europe
  • Still trying to see the positive in places I go and people I meet and keep my head afloat.
  • Still nerdy.

I am not sure what this will be besides a place to dump some photos/thoughts. But we will see.

I have four minutes with which I can tell you about my day so far today:
I woke up this morning at 8 which is early for me. When I was in HK last Wednesday I bought some awesome coffee which my roomie Em and I made and enjoyed. Yum!! Coffee is one of my favorite things. And ICED coffee is one of my favorites of my favorite things. What I miss is New Orleans Iced coffee though. Proper cold drip coffee and chicory, mmmm!! If I could find a cold drip maker here I would be pretty happy! Anyway….

I walked to work this morning via the village which was spiffing. There is a market on Sundays and I perused a bit, it’s generally tourist junk. There was a funny gilded stall on the end where everything was gold and gold glitter. Very bizarre.

And now I am at work getting ready to do two shows.

More about work tomorrow.
Xoxo
K.