Poagao's Journal

Absolutely Not Your Monkey

Jun 07 2010

The latest news

I don’t write here very often these days, obviously. Most of my scattered thoughts can be communicated through Twitter and Facebook, and though I don’t keep up with the site’s statistics, I suspect that viewership has largely disappeared as anything over 140 characters is now officially “long-winded.” But I still like to write, so although I feel that the whole blogging thing has run its course, those of us who began before everyone had a blog will most likely continue after it has become obsolete. Hard to believe I’ve been doing it for almost a decade.

It is another brilliant Monday following a rainy weekend. I’ve been trying to get a photobook project together recently, just a quick and dirty trial run for something more serious later on. I’ve also been getting feedback from some friends on my army book, which, after a bit more revision based on their feedback, should be ready to shop around. I rehearsed with Noname Yu and his band the other night, as he wanted some brass backing for some of his songs. I’m not sure how that’s working. I also watched the movie again for the first time since I finished editing it in 2008. I’d meant to just take a quick look and ended up watching the whole thing.

Today during my lunch break I was wandering around the site of the old Beef Noodle Street near Xining Road. As I ruminated on the sad state of affairs there, with only a couple of tarpon-festooned stalls hidden in the deep shadows under the thick banyan trees, I came across a team of workers emptying an old Japanese-era house of the several tons of detritus that had filled it over the decades. Old dishes, clothing, pillows, furniture, all being carted out into the street. I looked down at a book on history with a cover that might once have been blue, and wondered who had owned it, who’d read it, who’d bought it at a bookstore and carried it home to put on their bookshelf. I thought of the books in my apartment; perhaps someday the book of Magnum photos I got the other day at Eslite will end up in a trashheap somewhere as well.

Yes, I’ve been a bit depressed lately. No doubt the weather, the changing of the seasons, has something to do with it. Relationship troubles as well, on which I won’t go into further detail here. I feel like I need a break, to go somewhere to recover, perhaps another sea voyage. I read recently of a ship, the Cosco Star, that plies the route from Keelung to Xiamen. It’s been a while since I explored a new place on my own.

But it will have to wait a bit longer; I’ve got too much going on at the moment.

posted by Poagao at 3:23 pm  

7 Comments »

  1. Count me as one follower of your blog, I’ve got it in my RSS reader. After you comments on Twitter last time, I’ve reconsidered my position on Twitter somewhat, you made good arguments for it. I really need to get my act together and get to Facebook and Twitter. It seems everyone is on Facebook these days. Either that or they use Flickr exclusively to share photos. The realm of the blog looks to be heading to the pundits only…before I know it I’ll be 65, sitting under a tree on a bench somewhere and wondering where everyone went!

    Comment by Bryan — June 7, 2010 @ 8:33 pm

  2. I can think of worse fates, Bryan.

    Comment by Poagao — June 7, 2010 @ 10:11 pm

  3. got your feed on my reader so i still read your blog

    Comment by andre — June 8, 2010 @ 11:20 am

  4. Thanks, Andre; I’ll keep writing then, for now.

    Comment by Poagao — June 8, 2010 @ 1:52 pm

  5. whatever happened to the movie? Did it ever get finished? Is it available somewhere?

    Comment by Scott — June 11, 2010 @ 2:08 pm

  6. Scott: Not yet, the sound and music have yet to be finished.

    Comment by Poagao — June 11, 2010 @ 3:41 pm

  7. hi. i read your blog from the beginning- glad to know you are still writing and i can still have something interesting to read. have you heard of light therapy for seasonal affective disorder? they use light boxes and are approved by the fda. why not try a light box for the rainy season?

    Comment by v — June 23, 2010 @ 11:12 pm

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment