One-Eyed Panda’s Journal

I’m feeling so much better since my last post. Took a great trip to Hangzhou with Betty and read Haruki Murakami’s When I Talk When I Talk About Running. Both helped set me on a path to recovery and got my head around things for a great week at work.

I made some other great discoveries this week as well. I found a great CD shop on Fuxing Lu that has a lot of Chinese alt rock CDs. I bought seven on Monday night including stuff by B6, Dead J, Sound Fragment and Sulumi. I also picked up Queen Sea Big Shark’s album there today and ordered discs by Muscle Snog and Joker.

DVD-wise I found seasons 5 to 7 of Spooks. I hadn’t seen any other seasons available since buying season 1-4 in 2005. Betty & I started watching them yesterday and the show is as good as ever.

Well I guess you’re wondering since there was so much positive stuff in this post, what’s the shit at the door? it’s just that – somebody left shit at the door on Friday night. The notes the person/people left said Roger had shit in the hall which is just not possible: I am the only person who walks Roger and I would have known if he shit in the hall. Two I carry Roger through the building so that he can’t do that. I called my landlord about it on Saturday and she said she’d look into it. I’m annoyed at the people who did it, but I’m not going to let it ruin my weekend.

I’m writing this on my mobile phone at Boxing Cat Brewery where I’m meeting Betty for lunch then we’re heading to The Thing on Changle Lu to see if they have Shanghai bu huiying ni t-shirts. Then home to watch more spooks. It’s been a great weekend.

Update: The Thing didn’t have the Shanghai bu huying ni t-shirts but we were able to get a few other great ones including a cool pig wearing a gas mask to represent Swine Flu.

In my last post I said I was tired. That’s ventured into full-time burn out at this point. We’ve decided to redesign our website at work and that’s meant that we’ve started doing web-only stories on top of our magazine content (see my first one on Chery’s proposed IPO here). I’m still trying to adjust to the new demands and that has meant I was just slammed this week. Betty, my girlfriend and I were hoping to get away this weekend to Hangzhou to relax (it’s the only way to cope when things get like this), but she got sick and I still had a bit of work to do at the weekend so we’ve had to postpone the trip.

I did relax this weekend though. I went to Boxing Cat Brewery with friends on Friday and in the taxi on the way home to walk Roger, I found a Cuban cigar still in its case and fresh – that almost made the tough week worth it. After walking Roger, I went to Yuyingtang to see Convenience Store and meet up with Jake Newby. I liked the sound but the crowd was mostly young girls there to swoon over Convenience Store’s supposedly handsome lead singer. We left after watching Convenience Store for about 20 minutes and headed to Exit where we met some of the friends from Boxing Cat and I got to enjoy that cigar. Ended the night wandering Xikang Lu looking for a BBQ stand.

Saturday, I spent the day sleeping, reading and watching Star Trek. I’ve started Richard Price’s Lush Life. Price really knows how to write a crime novel and his method of writing dialogue – seen best on HBO’s The Wire where he was a staff writer – is simply superb.

Last night headed back to YYT again to see the amazing Jeff Lang, a blue musician along with Joker, another great up and coming Shanghainese blues band. I was amazed by both of them. Joker cause they’re so young and blues/rockabilly isn’t that popular among Chinese youth and Jeff Lang cause he can combine blues and progressive rock guitar into an amazing live set (he also played for nearly two hours in a felt suit). His amazing live set made me not want to pick up his CDs for fear of not being able to live up to his live sets (unfortunately Joker’s ep wasn’t there). They were also RMB100 a pop which made them a little bit expensive and probably hurt sales. For another take on both nights at YYT check out Jake’s post.

Today was literally a bit of a washed out day. It’s been pouring rain pretty much constantly since I woke up. It made walking Roger tough. Each time we got out it was heavy rain and even with his raincoat on he still got a bit wet. I spent this morning writing this month’s book review and the afternoon reading a bit of Lush Life and sleeping. I had only meant to sleep for 30 minutes but ended up dozing off for more than three hours  - I guess that shows you how tired I am. Going to take it easy tonight so that I’m prepared for next week.

Enjoy the rest of your Sundays.

J.