Walking the Path

Apologies for the radio silence. I’ve been in the middle of moving house. Just finished today in fact.

Our new apartment — the place is meant to be for Betty and I, she’ll move in early next year — is bigger than my last place, but the rent is still the same. It’s in the old Western Roads Settlement of Shanghai and about five minutes from the childhood home of the English author J.G. Ballard.

The move has made me feel like a new man. I feel like Don Draper in A Summer Man (Season 4, episode 8, it and episode 9 The Beautiful Girls are amazing) when he’s swimming in the pool at the New York Athletic Club. I just feel much calmer and stress free. It’s a great.

I was off work last week for two days with the flu. It came because I was trying to work and move at the same time. It was just too much for my body. But the two days of resting told me I need to take better care of myself and rest as well as working hard. Balance is key.

I’ve been off today for the Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival and I’ve gotten so much done because I didn’t let stress get to me. The weather was pretty crappy raining on and off all day, but I was still able to get the rest of my stuff out of my old apartment, walk the dog three times and do two loads of laundry.

I don’t feel tired, instead I feel ready for tomorrow and two full days of work before the weekend. I’m ready to take on whatever comes in the next week before I head home next Thursday for two weeks of vacation.

J.

Celebrated seven years living in China (all in Shanghai) on Saturday. There are good days and bad days but I wouldn’t change it for anything.

J.

P.S. Listening to The Mountain Goats right now at my desk. Their music just fits where I am in my life right now. Check them out.

I’ve never really thought much about Peter Gzowski. I’m a bit too young for the voice of Canadian morning radio for 30 years. I only knew him as the author of numerous copies of The Morning Side Paper which sat on my uncle’s shelf in London. And those were books I thought “too adult” (IE boring) to read – and I read everything even as a kid.

The only time I ever remember listening to him was on a car trip with my Dad up to Ottawa when I was 17 and going to tour the university where I would eventually do my undergrad degree. I don’t really remember having an opinion on him at all. I just remember turning on the radio and wanting to listen to him because I thought that’s what journalists did and I wanted to be a journalist.

After reading Robert Fulford’s review of a new Gzowksi biography I realize that I missed out on a great personality and like that two-volume biography of Pierre Elliot Trudeau that sits in my box of books unread — somebody I’m going to have to learn about through the printed page.

And that’s sad. I can’t really blame myself for not knowing these things at the time. I was 18 when Gzowski retired from Morning Side and I’ve become a devoted follower of its unfortunate Sunday morning-only successor, The Sunday Edition with Michael Enright, but I still feel a lot like I should have been aware that there was a great voice just a little bit farther up the dial and maybe I should have turned away from the alternative rock station for a few hours each day to enjoy it.

I’ve taken the Trudeau book out of the box now and placed it in my pile as my next book to read. I may have to appreciate Trudeau through the page but at least I can. I’ll be sure to grab the bio of Gzowski when I’m back home in October too.

J.

I’ve been really lazy today. I should be more active but all I can be bothered to do is watch season 1 of Fox’s Fringe and listen to CBC’s Wiretap.

J.

I want to escape

I don’t want to get on a plane and head off to warmer climes.

I’d rather bury myself in books and movies

I want to get on a train with Paul Theroux

I want to go through London with Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes

and I want to sleep in my own bed at night.

J.

Fell ill on Friday after eating some bad food Thursday night

(at least that’s what I think happened)

Spent most of last night on the toilet.

Today’s been a daze.

Slept until 1:30pm.

I never do that.

Been laying around on the sofa all afternoon and dozing

while listening to my iPod.

Discovering the joys of talk radio

Meditations on Shakespeare

The fun of Jonathan Goldstein and Wiretap

Catching up on Canadian news via Rex Murphy and The National

Learning how to avoid be sick again via The Art of Manliness

And of course local music via Andy and Jake at Kungfuology

And just feeling better.

J.

I haven’t written for so long

cause I’ve been burned out.

I wanted to take a step back

and really see where I was.

I didn’t like it.

So I assessed what was wrong.

Too much stress. So I switched jobs.

Found one with a more manageable stress level.

It’s a management position, but less hours than before.

I’m happy.

I have free time to spend with Betty and Roger.

And to go to rock shows and read again.

Life is good.

J.

Hi

Other stuff has been dominating my life for a while which has forced me to keep radio silence. It’s going to be a while until I put up a proper post, but to fill the void here is what Jake and I got up to last night.

J.

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.