Getting about

A rehash of the good old "where have you been" map, but this time I filled it in according to languages I speak well enough to read the paper. (I restricted myself to official languages.)

So below is a map of the countries where I speak the lingo. What I surmise from this is that I should learn Spanish. And possibly Russian. Maybe Arabic.


create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

Return to Son of Grindstone

Back to work after a four-day weekend for the New Year. (Happy Year of the Rat everyone, incidentally.)

Work is reasonably tedious, partly because I've been seconded off the storybooks and onto mock exams for the HKCEE, which isn't quite as interesting.

I didn't do much with my holiday but catch up with sleep. Luckily, my Christmas presents from home arrived on the 6th of February, just before the holiday. Although slightly miffed that CK got more than I did, it did mean I was able to enjoy over the weekend the Apocalyptica DVD my brother got me (as well as an Esprit scarf, which would normally be a terrible gift for someone in HK but with the current cold spell has been very useful), as well as the film Strings and an I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue double CD from Mum.

Strings came with a gift tag describing it as "bizarrely beautiful", which is pretty well spot-on. It's "the world's first integrated string-puppet feature film", set in a fantasy land where everyone is a marionette with strings that reach up to the sky. The story is perhaps a little generic in outline -- and the ending weak -- but it has some breathtaking set pieces, and the overall product is amazing. The opening scene sets the tone well: an aging king commits suicide by cutting his own head-string, without which the marionettes die.

Acquire and view this film if at all possible.
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More Tales of the Fighting Mongooses

So, I've managed to win a couple of races, but my first attempt a "deathrace" didn't go so well. In fact, my driver ended up dead, although she did still earn me $570 for coming in 10th.

Basically, if you're in some kind of post-apocalyptic motor racing event where every has machine guns mounted on the bonnets of their cars, do not take the early lead.
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