The Searchlight of Insight

For insomnia: move to the edge of the bed and you'll soon drop off

Tess might be dreaming of divorce but I am not dreaming at all because I am not sleeping. The attached chart(s) shows a typical night’s sleep for me, as illustrated/tracked by Sleep Cycle on my iPhone.  For some strange reason, since moving into our new flat, I have not been able to sleep. This has been going on for a few months now so needless to say I am getting pretty tired. A typical night I fall asleep rather quickly, only to wake-up about 90 minutes later. I will be restless for about an hour, fall asleep, and then awaken a while later for another hour of restlessness. Net effect: 4 hours and 21 minutes of sleep.

During the last few months I have cutback on coffee, since my new employer actually doesn’t provide coffee at head office. Therefore, I have a cup in the morning, finished on the way to work, a cup mid-morning from Pacific Coffee Company and maybe another cup at lunch or early afternoon. Typically I don’t drink coffee after 2 PM. (My previous employer had an awesome coffee machine and it was a real challenge staying away from it!) I have also lost about 4 – 5 kgs during the summer, started exercising again and cut out soft drinks. Since July 23rd I have had less than one can of Orange Fanta and only a few sips of Coke. I am also eating healthier – in the morning I have cut sugar out of my cereal, instead adding yoghurt. I am making a conscious effort to eat less junk, buying fresh fruit from a terrific fruit stand near work. Finally, I have cut back on lunch: I now eat half a sandwich instead of a whole sandwich, supplementing lunch with a salad of some sort and fruit. I am still not sleeping very well.

Yes, I saw a doctor and he said to me, “Anything I prescribe, you will only get addicted to.”  I have talked with friends about the East/West and North/South theory. I have tried running and exercising at night. I have eaten many bananas at night (they contain melatonin, in case you didn’t know) only resulting in more hair on the back of my neck and hands: I am still very, very restless each night.

Some people say that God wakes you to pray for people. I tried praying and that helped quite a bit. But finally last night I was so fed-up that I got up at 4:45 AM and stayed awake. This is my new strategy and I will let you know how it goes. Tonight if I wake-up... I am just going to get up.

Meanwhile, any suggestions?

Good-bye 122!

The day has finally arrived when we’ll move out of our building after ten years. I remember when we first moved into 122 ten years ago. Tess was in Canada and pregnant with Sebastian. I moved us in and the first thing I did was snap a picture of the sunset then post it to our web site. This was pre-Facebook and blogs weren't big back then. Fitting, I thought, that as I cleared out of our flat this past week I'd snap this final picture of a 122 sunset. For the last two years we lived in a larger 122 flat with gorgeous views such as this one. We didn't really take advantage of those views enough, which struck me during we a we enjoyed bbq on the balcony a few weeks ago.

Regardless, we had many, many great times at 122, where I lived longer than anywhere else with the exception of my childhood home where I grew-up. One spot to remember is the one pictured at left. The last weekend in March 2001, Tess called from Canada. It was morning in Hong Kong and late in Toronto. Our flat was full of Chinese-speaking only contractors,  painting and fixing the place for us to occupy. They were drilling and making a huge racket. When Tess phoned I couldn’t hear her so I went outside the backdoor of the flat. I stood in the spot pictured at left, looking down on the playground through the window. Right there on the phone, Tess read me a poem she wrote, that concluded with her telling me that she was pregnant. I was ecstatic and tried to communicate the news to the Chinese workers. I had to tell someone! They thought I was truly crazy, of course, as I charaded various signs including having a big tummy. Eventually one of them figured out what I was trying to communicate. “Awwhaw, you going to be daddy!” They were happy for me.

Thank you to all our friends at 122 for ten great years. You are a wonderful community.

June Road Mishaps

I rarely see a bad accident in Hong Kong. Generally they can be found in the Hong Kong-Chinese media, in modestly graphic detail. After driving in Hong Kong for ten years, I usually only see fender benders and… hardly any. The month of June has been the exception: I have encountered a variety of mishaps in just a few weeks. Odd.

First, one happened while I was driving to work. I came off the ramp to encounter backed up traffic, am indication something has happened since traffic on this ramp typically moves smoothly. By the bottom of the ramp I saw a car on fire with the firefighters hosing down and the car kicking up a tremendous amount of smoke and steam. The pour driver stood and watched with downtrodden shoulders.

Second, one afternoon on my way back to the office. An accident happened immediately in front of me. A lady changed lanes without properly checking if the lane was clear. A bus promptly ploughed into the side of her car. I stopped to offer myself as a witness. The two drivers hopped out of their vehicles and the bus driver wanted the woman to move her car. She refused, with a mild argument developing. I think the woman was pretty certain the bus driver was at fault and had a smug little look on her face. Very typical for Hong Kong drivers not to move their cars despite the smallest of damage to their cars.

With the lanes mostly blocked – it was possible to get around the woman’s car by half driving on the sidewalk – the traffic backed up something fierce. There was also a bus behind me, so they were all in a bit of a logjam. By the time the police arrived twenty minutes later, there was probably a kilometre of traffic up the road. Of course, being Hong Kong, many drivers leaned on their horns over and over and over, providing symphony of noise.

A policeman arrived, took one look at the accident, and the woman’s face went from smug to sour. As far as he was concerned she was at fault. She was not happy. I gave my details then left for them to sort it out.

Finally a few days later, also on my way to work, there was a slowdown as everyone gazed at this poor scooter driver with a flat tire. Wow, poor guy. What bad luck to get a flat tire then for whatever reason have his stuff strewn all over the highway. Regardless, there he was stoically piecing things back together while other traffic dangerously rushed by. No honking from the other drivers, just amazed gazes. Note the bamboo scaffolding to the right of the scooter, with green overtop for safety reasons.

Sound check at Elvis Costello

Last night Tess and I went to see Elvis Costello. Our friend Laurel ordered the tickets the first day they went on sale months ago. As it turns out, Laurel must have been the first one on the phone. Laurel claims she asked for "the best seats" and sure enough, we sat in the front row, dead centre. Coincidentally, we met some people from Union Church in the same row (who shall remain nameless to protect their identity because last night was the Union Church AGM and this might end up being the one blog per year that Pastor Greg reads... but hey, WWJD? I think he'd honour a commitment to Elvis!) Meanwhile, in the 3rd row sat a dozen people from the newly planted Watermark Church. I cheekily said to them, "I guess this is the Union Church row." As I sat there, remembering all the times I've been to a concert and eagled eyed the front row to see who got the best seats. I slouched lower. (Above: final sound checks before the concert began.)

But slouching was impossible. Elvis Costello put on a stunning performance. I have always liked Elvis not just because he had great music, but because I identified with him. He is a bit quirky, wore the suits, recorded a popular album "Live at the El Mocambo" at a Toronto rock club, married a Canadian. When I learned he was playing solo, I wondered how he'd replicate all of his songs without accompanying instrumentation. Well Elvis and his seven guitars - one of which had written on the back "Forget Iraq ~ Rebuild New Orleans", demonstrated his amazing guitar skills and diverse vocal abilities. He played most of the old favs including "Oliver's Army" during an encore.

Elvis worked the crowd well, often departing from the microphone and amps to sing unaided, just Elvis and a guitar, walking the stage, singing to the various sections in the audience. The crowd silent, listening, expecting and enjoying.

But the quietest moment in the evening had to be during one of Elvis' encores (yes, Singapore, cheer for more on Monday and Elvis will return again!) During the encore Elvis sat back in a chair to strum his way into the hugely successful Notting Hill cover of  "She." There was no cheering from the crowd. The crowd went silent. Most people have a special person or memory associated with this song (for me it's Tantalizing Tess) that would have been pulled out of the recesses of peoples' minds as Elvis performed. I believe the crowd was also silent because they knew Elvis does an extraordinary version of She. For the three and a half minutes he played this song, no one wanted to miss a note or tone. We were stopped in time, enjoying the present, pleasurably reminded by the past, anticipating the future.

Epilogue:  surprise, surprise, here is a You Tube video of "She" from last night...

 

What does it look like?

Someone asked me the other day what our home looked like on Christmas Eve, with presents under the tree and stockings stuffed. "It must look magical!" she said. Yes, pretty close. The sun was just coming up when I snapped this picture of the tree and stockings. We had quite a good Christmas Day. All the kids knew and understood that nothing would happen before 7 AM. Sebastian awoke at 6:30 AM with Jasper not far behind him. I parked them in front of the TV in the playroom with half a chocolate pop-tart each (chocolate pop-tarts was a specific request from Sebastian for Christmas morning). Carys awoke fifteen minutes later. The movie and sugar fix kept the kids occupied until 7:30 AM when Sela finally got up. The extra sleep for Sela was a real blessing because she was building quite a nasty sleep debt = grumpy. The rest of the day went very well. The kids were quite well behaved and reasonably quiet considering the fact they had lots to excite them. Midday we went to some friends' home on the Gold Coast of Hong Kong (Kowloon side) for an afternoon Christmas brunch. (There were six adults and nine kids.) We ended up staying until 8:30 PM, since everyone was having such a great time and the kids well behaved. We got home about 9:15 PM and needless to say, it took no time for the kids to fall asleep.

T9: Inside Nuri

As predicted,  Nuri hit Hong Kong head-on. Tess did an excellent blog about our day that you can read here (including some pictures.) We had a strange few hours this afternoon where the eye of the typhoon actually passed over Hong Kong... no winds, eerie silence, no rain but lots of thick, low fog. Then WHAM! About 7:30 PM the winds started up again and feel much stronger than they were this morning. You can see our taped windows (taken this morning,) intended to reduce the damage that might be caused if one of the windows shattered. The heavily taped window has a crack so we are being extra cautious.

Hard to believe that a month ago we were at Fintry on Lake Okanagan and that this was a typical scene each evening. Truthfully, most evenings didn't look this stormy. I took this picture at the tail end of a cold front and few days of cloud. Even though Sebastian has started back to school, it's still cottage season back in Canada with a few more cottage and sailing weekends before our Canadian friends and family will swing back into school and regular non-summer routines. I'll probably take some time this weekend to post pictures form the summer so be sure to come back for a quick peek in a few days.

Coming in for a direct hit...

Watch this space over the weekend folks. We are currently at Typhoon Signal 1 with a pre-warning that we will be at T3 in a few hours. Typhoon Nuri is coming in for a direct hit on Hong Kong, as you can see from the graphic at left, showing the storms trajectory over the next 48 hours. (Hong Kong is the red * next to the eye of the typhoon.) The last two typhoons hit Hong Kong at a distance or tangent. This one will be different and with reported winds far in excess of 100 km/hr this could prove to be a very interesting weekend. I'll be charging the camera batteries tonight... after we've cleared the veranda and taped the windows, of course.

You can see Hong Kong harbour here.

Happy Easter

Today we had our annual Easter Egg Hunt on the playground with a dozen other families in the building. In the morning we made the bags with the kids. Due to the terrible weather the hunt was off, then it was on, then if was off and finally it was on. Click here for a report from Tess. With eggs laid the kids poured onto the playground and sure enough, the heavens poured onto them in buckets. Afterwards shivering kids rationalised, "But why do I need a hot bath when I just got washed in the rain?" Twelve hours later it is Easter Sunday and I have been asked to give the Offertory Prayer for the 11 AM service and here it is:

Good morning, while preparing for this morning’s offertory prayer I happened upon a cute story. The story is about a man who drove to a very run-down section of town for a business meeting. The man left his new car parked at the side of the road. After the man’s meeting he approached his car to find a small boy gazing at the car with wonder in his eyes. The man asked, “Do you like my car?”

The boy replied, “Mister, I think is it the most beautiful car I have ever seen.”

The two stood in a few moments of silence, and then the man said, “My brother gave me that car.”

“Wow,” said the young boy and then he asked, “Do you know what I wish mister?”

The man thought he knew, but waited and then politely asked, “What do you wish?”

After a few moments the boy replied, “I wish I could be a brother like that.”

The point is, that each day as brothers and sisters in Christ we have the opportunity to be generous both in spirit and pocketbook to those around us who are in need. Let us pray the Offertory Prayer…

Loving and gracious God, we thank You for being such an extravagant giver, You have blessed us beyond our wildest imagination with what we need and so much more. We come to You in thanksgiving, knowing that all we are and all we have is a gift from you. In faith and love, help us to do Your will. We are listening, Lord God. Speak Your words into the depths of our souls, that we may hear You clearly. We offer to You this East Sunday all the facets of our lives, whether it be at home, at work, or at school – to be patient, to be merciful, to be generous, to be holy. Give us the wisdom and insight to understand Your will for us and the fervour and courage to carry out our good intentions. We offer our gifts of time, talent and possessions to You as a true act of faith, to reflect our love for You and as brothers and sisters in Christ to our neighbour. Help us to reach out to others as You our God have reached out to us. In Your name Christ Jesus we pray and ask you to receive today’s offering, Amen.

Above, Tess with some of our Union Church friends.

Another weekend, Tess returns...

Tess returned from Toronto on Friday afternoon. She stayed an extra few days to visit with friends and family... she even bought a surprise care package of groceries for my niece, Carly, while in London, dropping it off with a housemate when Carly was out at a class. Do I have a great and thoughtful wife or what? Tess & I missed Valentine's Day together but in addition to arranging for a card to be given to Tess in Toronto, I also did my annual collage. I have posted a copy of it here... click on the pic to see the large version. Yes, that's Sela sleeping on the floor... she fell out of bed while Tess was away but was so tired she didn't even wake-up! Oh and by the way, Jasper has started sleep walking.

While Tess was away, Sebastian had a Fairy Tale Day at school. Apparently the Primary 1 classes have all been working on fairy tale stories. Seb's story was Peter Pan. Wednesday night we pulled out all his green clothes and belt to select the most appropriate items for him to wear. I also gave him brand new wellies. I bought the boots last year but was waiting to give them to Seb only after he outgrew his last pair of rainboots. Sure enough, the old boots no longer fit him, so he received real welly boots just like his cousin Galen. (Even I am jealous - they are pretty cool boots!) I also made a hat ~ complete with a red feather ~ and the next morning when Seb was all dressed up I took the accompanying picture! The sword was a sponge nerf-type item that I brought back from my business trip... I had an armload of them. A great way for the kids to play fight without taking each others limbs off. (I know, I know, real swords would only cause flesh wounds.)

Today Tess had the brilliant idea of taking the kids and her parents out to City Hall for Dim Sum. We got there right as the restaurant opened and lucked out by securing a table right by the window, overlooking the harbour... uh, where a major land reclamation project is underway. Okay, not the prettiest of views. The kids did pretty well, experimenting rather tentatively on various dim sum delicacies with encouragement. We do know they love Singapore noodles and chicken fried rice - an ample supply of that was consumed. And what a miracle... all of the kids sampled the garlic pak choy. The real hero was Carys, who had seconds of the chinese veggies and used chop sticks to eat her Singapore noodles. Great fun and food was had by all. Many thanks to Grandad Blake who insisted on picking up the tab.

with love from Hong Kong