I can't wait. They'll be in Singapore on July 27 and I'll be there. Unless Intersect brings them in. Do it!

moved in

It's been a while since I've been able to write here. Lately, time's been split between work (with some out-of-town shoots mixed in) and house stuff. By house stuff I mean all the work that's involved in moving into a completely bare apartment. I don't think I've ever spent so much in my life. Sincerely, my bank account is fucked. But it's cool. It feels very grown up, picking out my own chairs, bed mattress, lights, etc. Past weekends, I've been supervising the handyman, the plumber, and the electrician. I have tons of bulbs from when I experimented with the lighting, haha. So far, I've got most things; most lately, a microwave oven.

Speaking of appliances, I've learned, in this past month, that the idea of plugging appliances into automatic voltage regulators is obsolete. So is grounding them by attaching a thin wire to the ground or the wall. My knowledge of electrical issues is apparently stuck in the 80s and 90s, in the era of varying voltages and intermittent power outages. I now know that I no longer have to have footwear on before touching the refrigerator.

Now, if you're Asian, you know that moving out of the family home as a single guy is a bit of a thing. There's a bit of guilt that plays into the decision and no one is a above emotional blackmail. So it's good to know that my parents have been quite cool about my decision. In fact, they've been absolute darlings.

Before moving out, I was quietly thinking about oral hygiene. Leaving the family house also meant leaving behind our electric toothbrush contraption (base charger, water pick, the works). But the week of my move out, I found a gift-wrapped box on my desk. Turns out my mom got me my very own electric toothbrush system.

My dad called to ask me about my home theater system. I said I was happy to have my brother's tube TV handed down to me. He was after all upgrading to one of those LCD types. I believe  they're called flatscreens. My dad quickly volunteered to spring for a flatscreen as his house warming gift. Not only that, he said he'd send me one of his unused microwaves. People apparently gift him with these things. This morning, as I picked up the microwave from his office, I found out from his secretary that he sent her out to get me a new one but to pretend that it was something he already had on him.

My parents. What can I say.

Anyway there's still stuff to be done around the house. I still have about a dozen boxes in the "work" area as I wait for my work table and shelves to get made, or get bought. The toilet's water closet needs a bit of tweaking. Some kitchen tiles need to be replaced. Hooks need to be installed and I have to get the wifi router set up so I don't have to be doing this hunched over the low TV console where the broadband modem is on. But so far, I'm in my home away from home.

I've been busy moving out of the family house. I've been planning to do so for the past two years, but I've always been slow to pull the trigger. Anyway it's happening slowly but surely.

Checks are with the landlord. During the weekend I got the water running, got the place cleaned, screwed in some bulbs (most of which I'm changing to a white daylight cast). More than half my books are at the apartment. I am now the owner of my own refrigerator and a toaster. Tomorrow I'm taking delivery of a dining table set and a bed frame. The mattress is arriving next week. I put in an order for chairs, and bought the blinds that are getting installed tomorrow too. I still need a work table, a couch, a couple of shelves, a cabinet, lamps and light fixtures, a phone and Internet connection, and more chairs.

I just listed a litany of tasks and needs to hide the emotional upheaval that I'm, er, feeling, at the risk of channeling LJ. I've said before that I've moved homes seven times, and it never really gets easier. While packing the second batch of books, I unearthed scrawlings and "art" by 3-year old me. My pre-school teacher gave me "satisfactory" marks. I also found a binder of my very first rolls of transparency film. They were photos of rural settings, children posing, sunsets and, "patterns and texture" on plants. Horrible.

Anyway, I wanted this, I planned for this. And I am getting exactly what I wanted. It's time to grow up, but I'm still making time for patintero in empty parking lots, ice cream on the steps, gigging until way past my bedtime. You only live once.

T. Enami and new music

I've always felt that photography was meant more to make one curious about the world we live in, rather than explain it all away. That's not a modern or post-modern take. Even at it's conception, photography was already doing that. Which is why I have a thing for early photography

I found T. Enami via The World's Best Ever and you can learn more about him, and see more of his photos HERE.

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Thanks to my buddy, Barry, for giving me the heads up. I'm now listening to the new Shout Out Louds album, and looking forward to the new The Magnetic Fields album (which is described as folksy).

David Byrne, Fatboy Slim and Santigold. On Imelda Marcos. I can't wait.