Lindsay & Geoff

Backwards Down the Number Line

2009-11-23T03:59:00.004+08:00

Last year, I had to renew my passport and in the section where you have to put a referee (someone who has known you for a few years), I put my friend Greg Lydon. On the line that asks how long the person has known you, I was surprised to write "22 years." Though it made perfect sense it was odd to see how long I have been friends with my friends. 22 years puts us back to grade 7 at George St. Junior High. Others I have been friends with since grade 3 at St. Dunstan's Elementary School. That puts us back 26 years.

This weekend was both my birthday and my good friend Simon's birthday (November 20th and 21st respectively). We technically met in 1974 at the Victoria Public Hospital, which puts us back 35 years. I suppose 35 years is a bit of a milestone. Back when I was in high school, 35 seemed extremely old. Now that I'm 35, I still feel like a bit of a high school kid. So who knows? Maybe you feel the same no matter what age you are.

I've never been the most sentimental or enthusiastic person, but I feel birthdays are one of the nicest celebrations we have as humans. Though there are lots of birthdays cards to buy, the essence of the day isn't a Hallmark one. It's a celebration of life and the fact that our friends and loved ones made it through another year. There are people out there that hate the idea of birthdays - people that think they are stupid. On a personal level, I don't necessarily like growing older but the tradition of the birthday is a nice one. I cannot deny it.

We celebrated some October and November birthdays on Friday night at a party called Scorpia. It was nice to get so many people together and the second annual Scorpia proved to be another great party. Thanks for coming, everyone. I had a blast.

...and happy birthday, Si!

What's Been Going on in Taiwan...

2008-06-25T21:36:00.005+08:00

Finally an update!!

First, let's start with Jenn's visit from Canada. We had a week in Taiwan together, then her sister Christie came to meet us and the three girls and Geoff travelled through Singapore, Malaysia and Southern Thailand together. It was great, after 6 years of living in Taiwan, to have Jenn here to see what it's all about. **One thing I'm going to miss about Taichung is the fresh flower market. Cheap and beautiful flowers!!

Next, we had a great visit with Geoff's parents, Hart and Janet. They even got to see Militant Hippi play! It was fun to have them here, and I think they really enjoyed themselves.

Now...let Festival Season begin! First there was the Taichung International Food and Music Festival. An afternoon of great food and music. As you can see, The Baker (aka Geoff) rocked out hard. Some of our students came to watch him play, too. It's always nice to see them outside of school, wearing their street clothes (not uniforms).

The second festival was Basic Aid. This is the one we held last year for the orphans in India. The weather kept many people away, but those who braved the rain and mud had a great time. We did manage to get some money for the two charities (Basic Human Needs in India and the Bunun Aborigional Tribe in Central Taiwan) despite the low numbers. This year it was held on top of a mountain overlooking the city of Puli. The first picture is a view from the mountain, which is absolutly gorgeous on a clear day. The second picture is of the latest band Geoff is playing in, Noise Pollution. Do yourself a favour and check out Oliver Benjamin Thayer, he's the lead singer.

Finally, there was PeaceFest. An awesome festival held in the north of Taiwan. We thought it was muddy at Basic Aid...until we arrived at PeaceFest. I can't figure out why Festival Season is held during the Rainy Season! Again, despite the rain and mud, we had a great time. Militant Hippi played, of course. The picture below is of MH's front man, Boston Paul, who had just dove off stage into the mud. A group shot of us and some good friends, and some mud dancers. It really was an amazing weekend! One of the many that we'll miss.

Two random things that I'll miss about Taiwan:
1) It looks like blood doesn't it? It's what is spit out after chewing beetle nut, or bin lang. It's the equivalent of our chewing tobacco, but much more disgusting.
2) Having our laundry done and folded for us. We drop it off on Friday night and it's ready Saturday afternoon. I've mastered the art of taking loads of stuff on the scooter!

Really Good Update...Coming Soon...

2008-05-12T20:33:00.002+08:00

We know we really suck at blogging these days, but we still love whoever takes the time to check in here, and we will try a little harder...coming soon...

Happy New Year

2008-01-02T22:54:00.000+08:00

I must admit I've been getting pretty lame with this blog site. I'm starting to get jealous of Simon's. Perhaps, he has more time at work to do things like this, I'm not sure.

Anyway, merry belated xmas to everybody. I hope everyone had a good holiday. Lindsay and I did. There were a few parties, including our annual open house (see below) and lots of turkey eaten and beer drunk. New Year's was great too. We spent the night at Moonshine Hill, which is the place in the mountains where I held that concert, Basic Aid, last year. It was a great way to bring in the new year, complete with fireworks (fireworks, and good ones, are easily accessible in this country. Lately, I've been becoming a bit of a pyrotechnician. If my career as a musician doesn't work out, maybe I can get on the road crew of a band).

So 2008 is here.

It's funny Simon mentioned me starting a Taiwan School of Rock. I still haven't yet but our school Christmas show is coming up (yes I realize it's after Christmas) and I have dressed my junior high class up in metal gear for an airband of The Final Countdown by Europe (perhaps the best worst song ever). Though they can't play the instruments, their headbanging, powerstances, and windmills are improving with each day. I am very proud of them. Of course, I will do the annual Youth in Asia band too.

On Friday, I'm off to the Philippines with a local bar owner named P.J. Kind of a random trip. In another two weeks or so, Lindsay and I are off to Malaysia and Thailand. I will be traveling with three girls. Though this might sound good as a Penthouse letter, I'm afraid it will mostly involve me sitting around waiting for them to get done shopping every day.

This is Michael (my friend and bandmate in Militant Hippi) and his wife Caroline.
I've been lame with the picture taking too. I couldn't really find any good ones of Xmas or New Year's. So here's a guy named Colin pretending to light a cigarette off our DVD fireplace.

Faye and the Slacks Farewell

2007-12-12T23:45:00.000+08:00

Faye and the Slacks have their final show coming up this Saturday. Faye is moving on to Australia and I wish her the best of luck with her music career. It was lots of fun and I'm going to miss playing her songs. In the past year and four months, we played 33 shows in 10 different cities and towns throughout Taiwan, including two big festivals (Ahh...music stats. Still got the old Deadhead in me. Mind you, I haven't kept track of every setlist or how many times each song has been played, believe it or not.) Anyway, F.A.T.S. did quite well on the Taiwan music scene and I think the whole island is going to miss Faye's sweet voice. Thanks for the good times, Faye and good luck!

Welcome to Our World

2007-12-06T19:34:00.000+08:00

Since we are environmentally friendly, we car-pool to and from school with a co-worker. This week, it was said co-worker's (Mary Ann aka Mrs. Robinson) turn to drive. On our way to school today her car was acting funny, and started to smell very bad. After stopping to pick up breakfast, the car wouldn't start again. Thankfully, our school is well-known at the breakfast shop and one of the workers drove us down the hill to work. Geoff was in contact throughout the day about the status of the car, how much it will cost, and when it will be fixed. After a few phone calls, leaving both Mary Ann and Geoff unsure of exactly what was happening, here is a text the breakfast shop worker, Vicky, sent. This is to tell us what the problem is, etc. You try and figure it out, cause we are still baffled... Obviously the language barrier is a daily issue, but sometimes it's worth it to share.

"The car problem is water tank have ink cause and take the trouble of hitting. Repair car personnel say surface repair about 4000 yuan by issue. Have a question to pay extra money to disassemble department to hit to take."

Ted and Brandy's Visit

2007-11-27T23:07:00.000+08:00

Well, it's been three weeks since the last posting and though that seems like a long time, I thought it was a lot longer than that. At least, the summer re-cap is finished and I'm in September now. Perhaps, I will get you all caught up ... as long as I'm not too busy (see also lazy).

In September, my cousin Ted and his girlfriend Brandy came to visit. It was great and the timing was perfect as we had a four day holiday.

The day they flew in, Lindsay and I went up to Taipei to meet up with them. They were a little jet-lagged but we ended up doing a full day of sightseeing. Here's Brandy looking down from Taipei 101, the world's tallest building (until Dubai beats us. But that building isn't open to the public yet, though perhaps Doherty has gotten drunk and climbed it.)

A few days later, they came down to Taichung. This was my first time jamming with Ted. Here we are at an open mic at the Grooveyard. By the way, for those of you who haven't met my cousin. He's the one on drums not on sax (that's Patrick, the owner of Grooveyard).

Friday, straight from work, we took a road trip down to Kenting - the beach town at the southern tip of Taiwan. You see great Chinglish everywhere on the island but here's a classic from one of the rest stops.

Unfortunately, it absolutely poured the two days we were in Kenting. It was some of the worst rain I have seen in Taiwan. But at least there are other things to do in Kenting besides going to the beach. There are great restaurants and those carnival games like throwing darts at balloons to win lame prizes. And of course, you can drink beer in pretty much any kind of weather.

You can also play travel editions of Cranium. I can't remember who won but I assume it must have been Ted and I.

Fireworks are a little harder to do in rainy weather but we managed to put on a little show down on the beach late Saturday night. Here's us getting ready.

For about two or three hours on Sunday, the sun came out. We went straight to the beach.

Afterwards, we took a drive along the east coast. And then it started to pour again (basically about 0.1 seconds after this photograph was taken).

We drove into the mountains, to a town called Lushan. It's a little village with natural hot springs. All the hotels have the water pumped into them as well. Though we had a sweet grotto like hot spring on the main floor of our hotel, we also had our own personal one on the balcony outside our room.

Like I mentioned earlier, it was a national holiday in Taiwan and we had a four day weekend. I forget the holiday but there were celebrations all over. Lushan did their big celebration on Sunday with a pig roast, tons of fireworks and karaoke in the town square.

Here's Ted belting out some tunes. The town loved him.As nice as Lushan is, it is very hard to get good food. At one restaurant, we ended up with a plate full of deep fried mini shrimp. You eat them whole with shells, eyeballs, tails, etc. It wasn't exactly what we were craving but it wasn't too bad either. We managed to get a few of them down.The next day, we took a drive through the mountains. We went up to one of the highest points in Taiwan (maybe third of fourth highest). It was so beautiful.A nice clear day after a weekend of rain.It's very weird being up above the clouds. We are in a parking lot and there's the road. The clouds are not just above us but below us too. Now, you have to work hard to get to the beautiful mountain scenery. The road up to Hehuan Mountain is a little crazy. The road is built into the side of the mountain and there are very steep drop offs like you can see in this picture (scarier when it just drops off into clouds). The road is narrow in parts and you see a few rock slides and broken guard rails, crumbling roads, etc. It was a little tense in the car for parts of the drive and I don't think my Aunt Janice would have been too happy knowing where her son was this particular day. But it all worked out. No cars plunged off any cliffs, and we had a great little road trip. Thanks for the visit, guys. It was lots of fun.

Knijff ~ Glauser Wedding

2007-11-06T22:26:00.000+08:00

Our last "event" of the summer was the marriage of Linda Knijff and Gary Glauser (aka Jenn Gilman's mom and Gare). It was such a fun time, with loads of warm-hearted people!

Having a great time at the reception, which was all anyone was invited to. Under 10 people at the actual wedding!

Like any good wedding, there was some great dancing!

Daughter of the bride and her handsome dude.

Heterosexual life partners

The Happy Couple!

Fort McMurray

2007-10-23T22:24:00.000+08:00

It's almost November and I'm still re-capping the summer. I've been either really busy or really lazy. Anyway, next up was my trip to Fort McMurray to visit my sister and her new baby. Though I talked about this earlier and put up a couple of pictures, to fully re-cap my summer in order, this must come next. So I will talk about it again and put up more pictures.

I guess the only thing I can really say that I haven't said already, is that new babies must get really sick and tired of cameras and people. All I wanted to do was take pictures of little Janna. And, of course, all anyone wanted to do was hold her and make crazy noises and faces at her. I really wonder what these babies think of all of that. They just want to sleep and eat but all these people keep coming up and harassing them.

She's very small. I was talking to Mom the other day and she said that Janna is now (two months later) the size and weight I was when I was born. I'm guessing that giving birth to me wasn't a pleasant experience. Though I don't think I make my mother angry at me all that often, I'm sure that was the first time I did.
Here's Janna and her mom. These are the most recent pictures I have, by the way. From August. Nothing else. I think my sister is worse at emailing and keeping in touch than I am.
Janna and her grandmother.
Janna and her dad.

I think I'm burping her here but I'm not sure. We both look a little confused.

Fredericton - Part 3

2007-10-08T23:27:00.000+08:00

For the past few years, I've been at the age where every summer tends to have its share of weddings. I think I'm averaging about three weddings a summer but, to tell you the truth, I kind of like them. Maybe not the actual ceremony, per se, but I like the whole event. Friends come home from far away and a stag parties ensue. Then the day comes and it gives me a chance to drink in a tie and eat good food. This August, was Curnie and Daphne's wedding. Congrats, guys!

The Pad and Party Central at church. Could be a good basis for a sitcom.

Just married...

The wedding reception was up at Curnie's place in Skyline. Good food, good friends.

Afterwards, we headed up to Wheat's for late night.

Even when forced, Si still won't look at a camera.
This appears to be me about to punch Nicki.Speaking of Nicki. If you are ever at a party where Nicki is drinking and your camera is laying around, you will look through your photos the next day and have about fifty weird close-ups of people and objects. Most you end up deleting but there are a few that will be keepers. I think this shot of Gooch is awesome.
Uh oh, looks like some of Simon is rubbing off on me.

Fredericton - Part 2

2007-10-04T23:07:00.000+08:00

One thing about being home for the summer and not working, you always want to go out (or at least, I do). And the great thing is, it is possible. There's always going to be one bar that is good on a given night. On Mondays, perhaps it's Mexi's. On Tuesdays, I don't know, I'd like to think the Hilltop still has it's Twisted Tuesdays and that nothing has changed up there in the past decade. Then you have Wednesdays, the Tap Room.

I think I went to the Tap Room every Wednesday this summer. They have a great reggae band and the place is usually crowded. One Wednesday night, when Curnie, Joe and Nicki had just come to town, we all went down to check out Si's brother, Will's band. I think they are called the Tallest Band on Earth but for some reason I always forget and get it wrong. Nevertheless, they are a very talented band with a big sound that covers reggae, funk, blues, rock and disco. Very good stuff. I hope to see more of them next year. Si and I even talked about becoming their manager (or at least thought up some funny band names) one night out at his camp.

Here's a typical picture: Si not looking at the camera and Nicki doing something weird.
I just came across this one, as I was looking for pictures for the blog. Not sure where it was taken but it appears to be Wheat trying to kiss my girlfriend.

Technical Difficulty

2007-10-03T00:45:00.001+08:00

I was trying to do two posts at once tonight. I was successful but it put them in the wrong order. There is a newer Fredericton post after the Montreal post. I tried to change the order and make the Fredericton post first but I was unable to do it. I could keep trying but I'm tired and I think I will go to bed instead.

goodnight,
Geoff

Montreal

2007-10-03T00:07:00.000+08:00

After Gatineau and Ottawa, we were planning on meeting up with Si and a few boys in P.E.I. I had kind of planned this beforehand and then realized that driving from Ottawa to Charlottetown in one day would be hell. So instead, we spent a night in Montreal. Montreal has always been my favourite town in Canada (or at least, since my first time visiting the city as a kid. Before that, my favourite Canadian town could have been Rainbow Valley, P.E.I. But I'm digressing because I have the island in my head now.) Anyway, Montreal is such a great town and there's always so much to see. This time we didn't see anything. Just a few restaurants and pubs. That was nice, too.

We stayed with my cousin, Ted and his girlfriend, Brandy. We also visited them last summer. This year we were finally able to pay them back for their great hospitality (see future Taiwan posting). By the way, I like this picture because it looks like I'm wearing a top hat. I should start wearing a top hat.
Turns out, all I missed in P.E.I. was standing around in a bunch of fields.
Actually, I'm joking. These are some very cool pics from Simon. I wish I was in one too.

Fredericton - Part 1

2007-10-02T12:43:00.000+08:00

In a recent comment from Simon, he accused me of neglecting to show pictures or write about my Fredericton visit (or at least, neglected to do this last year. I'm not sure if I did neglect my visit last year or not but I don't think I did. I could probably scroll down the blog pages and find out but I won't). However, Si did give me the benefit of the doubt by asking if I was saving the best for last or just didn't take any pictures. Well, the latter is true, which in turn, makes the former true. I was certainly in Fredericton before the Quebec/Ontario road trip but I guess I didn't take any photos. Luckily I did when I came back.

The following pictures are all from one weekend (Aug. 12/13). What a great weekend.

On Saturday evening, we headed up to the Lydon's for dinner. Courtney and Jen were in town and it was great seeing them again. It had been a long time. And of course, Nicki was back by this point too.

Nicki taking a picture with Kya and Noah driving a jeep in the background. Man, those kids are growing fast.

I just discovered these backyard fireplaces last summer. I think they're great and I wish I had one. Well, maybe not right now. Taiwan doesn't really have backyards or cold weather, for that matter.

Afterwards, we headed down to the Capital and ran into some old friends' Nancy and Jill (don't know their new last names and I never know if it's rude to call a woman by their maiden name after a few years of marriage or not. So I will leave it at Nancy and Jill).The next day was even better. We went canoeing on the beautiful St. John River. It took a while to get our hungover butts out of bed but we ended up putting in in Mactaquac at about six o'clock and it was one of the best days of the summer.

Normy and I were in one canoe. Nicki and Gooch in another. And Wheat and Si in the third.
I love this picture so much. It's the desktop picture on my computer now.

Ottawa and Gatineau

2007-09-28T22:50:00.000+08:00

After Sudbury, we went to Gatineau to visit Lindsay's (and my) friend, Claude. We visited her last year as well and I must say my French hasn't improved since then. Oh well, it's great visiting Quebec, anyway. It's nice having two such distinct people and parts of Canada. It's like we get two countries for the price of one.

That's Claude on the right and her friend on the left.

We also ventured across the river to Ottawa to visit my aunt and grandmother. This picture was about the extent of our sightseeing - Parliament Hill taken from our moving car.

That's my aunt, Janice.
And my grandmother, Ferne.
This is Lindsay's friend, Amy and her little boy, Liam. They live in Ottawa too.

Sudbury

2007-09-18T19:30:00.000+08:00

Our next stop was Sudbury, a town I had never been to. I had driven through the place a couple of times, ten or so years ago, on my way out west (first, in a Pontiac Parisienne station wagon with fake wood siding. That was with Jonny, Nicki and Jackson. We drove, unknowingly, in second gear the entire way and broke down in every province. Then two years later with Slippy, Nicki and Rob Carfra. This time breaking down and selling Slippy's Pontiac Grand Am in a little town called Virden, Manitoba. Up until now, I had no idea both those cars were Pontiacs. I guess, I should stay away from Pontiacs) but it never made much of an impression on me. So finally, twelve years later, I actually stopped in the town.

Sudbury isn't much of a scenic town - there is a giant railyard downtown (picture Fredericton with a railyard instead of the St. John River) - but the people are great and the cottage country (like North Bay) is basically within city limits. The lakes are beautiful here as well and we spent a great afternoon out at a cottage (Sasha's - see below). The reason we stopped in Sudbury was because our friends Neil and Sasha and Faye. Neil and Faye are brother and sister and they are both great singer/songwriters with their own CDs. I've been lucky to play bass for both of them in Taiwan and, now, in Sudbury. Sasha is Neil's girlfriend. They are great people and also great hosts. Thanks a lot. We will have to do it again.

It's pretty big, I guess.

We played a show at quite a nice bar. Good crowd too. This is Neil's set with Faye on drums.

This is Faye's set with Neil on drums.

North Bay - Part 2

2007-09-17T22:50:00.000+08:00

After the wedding in North Bay, we went to visit Chris and Tara (the other couple we know from North Bay) and Jami (Tara's brother, who I also played music with in Taiwan). Jami and Tara have a beautiful cottage on an island in Trout Lake. Trout Lake is very cool. As far as I can tell, it seems to be in North Bay's city limits but it feels like you are further away. All you can see is water and trees. No buildings, no cars, no buses. Though this picture could describe almost anywhere in Canada, it's a rare site for us Taiwan dwellers. We visited lots of cottages this summer and they always seem to be the highlights. It's funny how something as simple as trees and lakes can do that.

Here's Jami cutting up a freshly caught fish. I assume it's trout since it is from Trout Lake but I can't remember.
Their dog Olive jumping for a ball. This dog was the size of a small horse and could jump about fifteen feet. It would do this all day long and not get remotely tired.
Here's myself with Tara and Jami in the water. Thanks for the good times, guys. It was awesome. Thanks to Chris, too, who I don't have pictured. We didn't really take that many photos. We were too busy swimming and relaxing and eating delicious food.

North Bay - Part 1

2007-09-15T11:17:00.000+08:00

It's funny. Lindsay and I seem to go to North Bay a lot now. But the fact is we only know 4 people who live there. Two couples. Oddly enough, one couple got married last summer and the other got married this summer. I guess we will have no reason to go anymore but we still will. North Bay is a great town full of great people (and we certainly know more than 4 of them now). Both times, we went we had a blast.

This time I was in Jamie and Steph's (you will see them below) wedding. We met Jamie and Steph three years ago in Taichung. We taught at the same school and we became good friends. Jamie and I also formed an acoustic duo called the Double Standard. We ended up playing quite a bit in Taichung and got sort of popular (or at least, I like to think we did). It was great.

Speaking of the Double Standard, here we are doing a little reunion show at the rehearsal party. We hadn't played for about two years (though we played a little bit last summer) but it went rather well. There's a video clip of us on Facebook doing a couple of Modest Mouse tunes, if you are interested. I must warn you though, that I hit a few too many wrong notes.

At the wedding, my job was to walk Steph's mom, Anna down the aisle. The bride going down the aisle with her dad, Frank.
The new bride and groom. Lindsay and I in their backyard (this is where the wedding took place).
The Double Standard all dressed up.
The tuxes we rented were great but wearing suspenders is a little different. The pants are so high, it feels like you have a constant wedgie. But, I must say, we looked good.

Peterborough and Balsam Lake

2007-09-12T23:32:00.000+08:00

Oddly enough, our summer this year was very similar to our summer last year. We were invited to yet another wedding up in North Bay and decided to make a road trip out of it. Our first stop was to see Hammy. He lives outside of Peterborough in a town called Keene. It's a nice little community with a good diner. Unfortunately, I didn't get around to taking any pictures.

It was awesome hanging out with Hammy again. I can't even remember the last time we did. It was many years ago for sure. It was also great to finally meet his girlfriend, Nicole. We ended up spending three nights with them and it was fantastic. Thanks, guys!

Sunset off the 401.

Hammy and the Captain in Boston Pizza (or one of those chain restaurants, I can't remember).We spent two days out at Nicole's grandmother's cottage in Balsam Lake. A beautiful spot.
Nice aquasocks, Hammy.
Turn left for Toronto, turn right for Lindsay.

Summer Recap ... Saint John

2007-09-11T23:14:00.000+08:00

After Tokyo (and a very long flight via Chicago), we were home. Fredericton is such a nice place to come back to, but, like last summer, it seemed like we were hardly there. Actually, that isn't true. It seemed like we weren't there for much of July. Which I guess might be true, since I don't seem to have any pictures.

Anyway, our first little trip was down to Saint John. Our friends Neil and Sasha from Taichung (a year or so ago) were traveling through the Maritimes. Neil, who I played in a band with called Newt and the Slacks (he's Faye's older brother) did a mini-tour during his trip, which brought him to Saint John and O'Leary's. It was a fun Thursday night.

Neil, Sasha and Lindsay at Boilerworks - a new restaurant in Saint John, run by Craiger's girlfriend, Heather.

At O'Leary's.I ended up playing a few tunes with Neil on guitar. O'Leary's was surprisingly packed for a Thursday night. I'd like to think it was because of us but the 2 for 1 on Moosehead products might have had something to do with it. The future mayor of Saint John?

Summer Recap ... Tokyo

2007-09-10T23:38:00.000+08:00

Summer has been and gone and Lindsay and I are back at work. Vacation time is over. So it's time to do a little recap of the summer. Our first stop was Tokyo.

It's funny I wasn't that impressed with Tokyo when I was there. I, for whatever reason, had higher expectations. I just assumed it would be like New York, London and Hong Kong - famous cities you've heard of all your life. Cities that seem to be the center of the world when you are in them (I want to use words like 'cosmopolitan' and 'fashionable' right now but it wouldn't sound like me). Anyway, Tokyo just felt too normal.

Now, this could be because I already live in a big Asian city. A lot of Tokyo was really no different than Taipei, even parts of Taichung. Or I could be becoming a desensitized, jaded traveler (I actually worry about this sometimes). Fact is, the more places you go to, the more they all start to look the same. But anyway, I'm digressing. And I actually did enjoy Tokyo, though it might sound like I didn't.

Perhaps the problem is that Tokyo is so huge. I think you really need to know a local to find the cool stuff. Districts such as Shinjuku (the business district), Ginza and Shibuya (the shopping districts) and Roppongi (the bar district) are just like any those districts in Taipei and, I'm assuming, other Asian cities. I'm sure Tokyo built it all first and the rest followed suit but still, it just felt familiar and because of that, a little disappointing.

But having said all that, there were some cool parts of town and the really cool aspect of Tokyo ended up being the Japanese culture. They are very interesting people. There is a park that we stumbled across where men dress up like Elvis (or at least fifties greasers) and dance; teenagers dress up like goths and hang out on a bridge; crazy guys sing English pop songs at the top of their lungs; bands play live music; we saw more than a few men dressed in women's clothing; etc. And none of them are 'busking.' They don't want your money. We even stumbled across an art fair that felt like a Dead or Phish show. In fact, you could buy Dead stuff, and even bands like moe. and String Cheese Incident. It was kind of weird, but right up my alley. Here are some of the dancing Elvises.

Some of the teenagers I was talking about. I find this picture funny. The guy on the right is just some tourist taking the piss out of them (look at his eyes).

A bassist playing in the park. I like that outfit.

Some girl dressed up in leather. I really like this outfit.

A guy with a dog wearing sunglasses and a Hawaiian shirt in his pocket.

Tokyo is a crowded city.
Very crowded.I mean very, very crowded.
Lindsay in front of a temple.A woman standing in front of a field in the city.
Ignore everything I said earlier. Tokyo has beer vending machines. It's the best city in the world.
Sayonara!

Back Home

2007-08-31T15:26:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone,

We are back in Taichung and, man, that's a long journey. Surprisingly though, the flights were great - including the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Hong Kong. I couldn't believe it. They gave me the leg room I requested and there was free food, drinks, pillows, blankets, etc. About half of the stewardesses were hot, too - something you don't see on domestic flights. The only bad thing about the flight was that it was 15 and a half hours long but I guess the great distance between Hong Kong and Toronto isn't Air Canada's fault. Our nation's airline has been one of my biggest gripes in the past few years and though our domestic flights are still pathetic, I guess I will have to ease up on them just a little...maybe.

For whatever reason, I couldn't upload pictures to the blog in Fredericton (that's an actual valid excuse), so I will start re-capping the summer. But first I must show my cute niece, Janna. I went out to Fort McMurray to visit her and my mom (who was out there helping). Since Francis was working for much of it, I ended up being surrounded by women and other babies and breast pumps and conversations that didn't stray too far from baby stuff the entire time. Even still, it was one of the highlights of my summer.

Here she is. Very cute.

Uncle Geoff

2007-08-17T23:59:00.001+08:00

Last night, the phone rang at midnight and I had a pretty good idea what it was going to be about. My sister who had been pregnant for the past nine months and past her due date called us earlier saying she might be going into labour. She went to the hospital and the doctor sent her back home where she phoned again to say she was back home with no baby. Then, like, three hours later the aforementioned phone call came telling us that she gave birth. Not only did that seem very quick but Jules, on the phone (cell phone of course. This was in the operating room a half hour later) seemed extremely calm like she was just sitting on the sofa watching an episode of Friends.

Now when I say calm, I do not mean disinterested. She was definitely happy but just calm. I'm not sure what I was expecting the scene to be like after a birth. Maybe it's always like this. If I had been in the room, things might have been a little more frantic. However Jules did assure me that an hour before, she definitely wasn't this calm. Then, there was this crying in the background and when I asked if that was the baby (dumb question on my part, perhaps), she said yes and that she was holding it. She said, in her calm manner, that she would soon try breast feeding. All this was surreal for me as babies aren't really part of my life (though now, they seem to be more than ever). And yet, my sister had just given birth and already sounded like a professional mother with her half-hour old child. Needless to say, it was one of the coolest phone calls I ever got from anyone. And now I'm an uncle and my parents are grandparents and my sister is a mother and her husband Francis is a father.

So what about details? Well, it's a girl which is probably a good thing as they did not have a name ready for a boy (and they did not know what the sex was going to be beforehand). And the name they chose is very cool. Jana Page Bourque. Now Jana (maybe there are two 'n's, I'm not sure. Jana? Janna?) is half my mother Janet's name and half of Francis' mother's name Anna. Page is my mother's maiden name and also my sister's middle name. I like it quite a lot.

Some of my women readers are probably wondering how much the baby weighed. I was, indeed, given a precise weight but now I forget. There was a seven somewhere and a decimal point and another number I can't remember. The relevance of this has never made sense to me and I asked Lindsay if she knew why people (I assume mostly women) always seem to ask and tell this information. I mean babies are just baby size, aren't they? She said she wasn't sure but maybe for the pain factor. Could women actually ask this to find out how painful the birth was for the mother? This I find weird but perhaps it is why (females are more sympathetic than men). I guess if you are going to pass something the size of a watermelon through a very small passageway a seven pound watermelon wouldn't be as painful as a ten pound watermelon.

Anyway, it doesn't matter. The watermelon in question is now my little niece and I'm going to see her on Monday and I can't wait. I'm more excited than the first time I saw Jerry Garcia walk out on stage at the old Boston Garden. For those of you who know me well, you know how excited I must be. Congrats, Jules! I can already tell that my niece has an awesome mom.

love,
Uncle Geoff

Is Anyone Out There?

2007-08-17T20:44:00.000+08:00

It's been forever since we've updated our blog, but does anyone even notice anymore? Facebook has taken the world by storm, and I wonder what that means to our wonderful blogs. Nevertheless, here is an update for anyone who still happens to care...
We have been in Canada since July 10th. We spent 5 days in Tokyo before heading home. Although it's another big Asian city, just like where we live, it was a very cool spot with loads to see and a very unique culture to learn about. We'll have to post pics at a later date.
Another wedding in North Bay, Ontario, meant another 2-week road trip. Thanks SO much to my wonderful parents for leanding us the car again. We made 6 stops visiting friends and family(again, pics to come later): Hammy and Nicole in Keene, Jamie and Steph's wedding and Tara, Chris and Jami in North Bay, Neil, Sasha and Faye in Sudbury, Claude in Gatineau/Amy, Fern and Janice in Ottawa, and finally Ted and Brandy in Montreal. It was a fabulous trip, and we are so lucky to have been able to make so many stops.
The rest of the summer has been spent in Fredericton with friends and family. It has been awesome! We have just under 2 weeks left of summer and to no big surprise, I'm sure, we are heading back to Taiwan for another year. This one is the last one...and this time I mean it! Ha! We leave on Aug. 29th. Before that though, Geoff will head to Fort McMurry to visit his sister, her husband, and their new little addition, Janna. She was born yesterday.
Stay tuned for pictures from Tokyo, Ontario and Quebec, and of course our time in Freddy Beach. Now you can go back to playing on Facebook...

Hong Kong

2007-07-02T01:39:00.001+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, Lindsay and I had a four day weekend, so we took full advantage of it and went to Hong Kong. Oddly enough, it was Lindsay's first time (and this is odd because she has lived in Taiwan for 5 years and going to Hong Kong from Taiwan is like going from Fredericton to Montreal on a road trip. It's just something you end up doing more than once.) Anyway, it was great. Hong Kong is like the New York or London of Asia. It's just one of those cities. Very cool town.

Here's Hong Kong from the top of Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is one of the many mountains in Hong Kong. The city is an interesting place in that it is a perfect example of man conquering nature. Greater Hong Kong is all built on mountains and islands. There are tunnels going through mountains all over the place. There are also 6 tunnels under the harbour, connecting Hong Kong island with Kowloon. There are bridges everywhere. You will see fifty story apartment buildings built on the top of cliffs. It looks like they could tip over at any moment. The whole city is built straight up. There's even a cable car that can take you up to the peak. It's basically like a train going up a 45 degree angle. The airport was built on man-made island and they have also reclaimed land at the harbor by building outward. Whether all this is good for the environment or not, I don't know. But it is quite impressive.

And here's us on the top of Victoria Peak.

That's Tim on the left. He's a friend from Taichung who lives in Hong Kong now. That's his girlfriend on the right. We are in an Indian restaurant that was very good (it also had a foosball table where I played against the owner's little daughter. And yes, I let her win.)

This isn't the best picture but it's a shot of Hong Kong at night from Kowloon. All the buildings are lit up. As lame as it sounds, just watching the city from the other side of the harbour is actually very enjoyable.

Lindsay and Sarah Bowen (she lives in Hong Kong now) on the Avenue of Stars. It's like their Hollywood walk of fame. Apparently, Hong Kong is the third biggest place for movie production - after Hollywood and Bollywood.

Pomp and Circumstance

2007-06-26T15:17:00.000+08:00

The school year is almost over. Right now, we are in exams and Friday is the last day of school before summer. A few weeks ago, the Senior High 3 students graduated (for some reason the graduating classes in Taiwan go one less term than the others).

The graduating ceremony in Taiwan is much different than the one in Canada. First of all, a lot more Chinese is spoken. Also, it isn't really a big deal. Very few parents or families come to see their children graduate. Awards are given out but every student does not go up on stage to get their diploma. They are simply given them before or after (I'm not exactly sure). It isn't too exciting to sit through either (oh wait, that would be a similarity) ...

A shot from the back of the auditorium. Quite a big graduating class.

Lindsay and I on the edge of our seats.

Now there are endless differences between Taiwan and Canada. One of them is the above. They have a fascination with that 'show off/fancy' bartending (maybe there is a name for this, I don't know). It's when the bartender juggles, spins, throws, etc. the bottles and does some fancy pouring. They are always practicing this at school (and yes, it is a high school. They are all under-age). It could even be a course offered, I'm not sure, but it is truly a cultural phenomenon. I have no idea the history behind it either. Perhaps, the DVD of the movie Cocktail was only issued in Taiwan in 2004. My only concern is that these kids, go through years of training only to find out, after the fact, that spending the rest of their lives working at T.G.I. Fridays wasn't such a great career move. Here are a few of my graduating students. On the right, is Peggy. In the middle, is Kelly. Byron, on the left, just got that perm. It is awesome and I complimented him on it more than once that day. It reminds me of my U.N.B. graduation photo.

Peace Fest

2007-06-25T20:51:00.000+08:00

Peace Fest is the second biggest music festival (English speaking, anyway) in Taiwan. It's held at a very cool place called Kun Lun Gardens in Longtan (a little south of Taipei). It's a beautiful spot in the hills surrounded by a forest. It's quite isolated and quiet, something which is rare in Taiwan.

Faye and the Slacks opened up the festival on Friday night.

Some of you might know the guy on the right - Mitch Peters from Fredericton. On the left is his girlfriend Jocelyn. In the middle is my girlfriend.

Here's a shot from the roof of the temple (oh yeah, there's a temple here too). This is early Saturday afternoon.

Militant Hippi had a good time slot. We played Saturday night at 10pm. Though we were without our rapper Justin, it went very well. Here's some people dancing to us.
Not sure what Lindsay is looking for here (actually it's a pose but she tried to explain and I didn't understand).Here's Lindsay and I.Faye and the Slacks not working.

I love this shot. I have just taken a beer bong and I'm drooling foam.

A Shower for Baby

2007-06-20T22:09:00.000+08:00

We recently had a baby shower for Krysta and Shea. They made out like bandits!
This is what Geoff and I gave the Moore family. It's a map of the world, but in puzzle form.

Sogo Food Festival

2007-06-12T23:30:00.000+08:00

A week after Basic Aid was the big Sogo Food Festival. This happens every year. It's held in front of a big department store called Sogo and there is usually a big turn-out. Many of the restaurants and bars set up booths and it's an all day party with good food, drinks and music. I look forward to it every year but have never gotten the chance to play at it until this year. Again, both bands got in, so it was another busy day.

This is from the Faye and the Slacks show.

Militant Hippi. It was one of our best performances. Unfortunately, it was also Justin's (our rapper - white shirt, in the middle) last show.

This is Sophia, our guitarist's daughter. She comes to almost all our gigs.

Lindsay and some friends.
Our youngest fan, Shea.

Basic Aid

2007-06-06T22:46:00.001+08:00

Hey everyone,

It's been over a month since I wrote in this blog. Anyway, as I recap the last month, you will see why. April, May and June are extremely busy months musically. Lots of festivals and shows. Anyway, I mentioned last time that my friend and bandmate, Paul and I were organizing a little music festival called Basic Aid to benefit an orphanage in India. Well, it's been and gone now. It was a very stressful month leading up to it and by the time Sunday night rolled around, I was the most exhausted I'd ever been. I hardly slept or ate during the whole event. I didn't realize how much work was involved. Anyway, if you asked me before if I'd do it again, I would have said no. If you asked me now, I would say perhaps. It was a success (we didn't lose our shirts and we did raise a fair bit of money), lots of fun and to me, it feels like quite an accomplishment...but I'm glad it's over.

Basic Aid was held at a cool place called Moonshine Hill. It's in the mountains, about an hour north of Taichung. It's a venue surrounded by bamboo trees and the stage (what you see in the bottom half of the picture) was carved out of the side of a mountain. It is a natural rock stage. Also, there is a little cabin with a bar inside.

People camped overnight. Saturday was beautiful. We were lucky. But the rain (that I was worried about and expecting) came on Sunday. Man, it poured.

Early the first day. Just a few people sitting around.

Faye and the Slacks playing in boots. Like Woodstock and all great music festivals, it was a little muddy.

Starting to get dark...

Though I won't put all the bands pictures up, 14 different ones played. It was a great weekend of music.

Here's Militant Hippi.

Militant Hippi again. One of our songs requires female backup singers. That's Lindsay up there with our singer's girlfriend, Alana.

People hanging out at the bar inside the cabin.

Here's me on stage a couple of days after the show.

The Music Never Stopped

2007-04-25T20:00:00.000+08:00

I must say I've never been so busy in my life. Playing music has always been more of a hobby than anything else but lately it's been a very time-consuming second job. Last weekend I played two gigs and when I look at my calendar for the next couple of months, most weekends seem to be already booked. I think my fingers are going to fall off.

If the playing wasn't enough, my friend and bandmate Paul and I are also organizing a music festival in May. It's a charity event for our friends in Varanasi, India. Initially, we were going to just have a sort of party with a few bands but it ended up turning into a big festival with 15 bands. I will certainly keep you posted on that.

Militant Hippi at a bar called Groovecity last Friday night.

Here's a copy of the poster for the music festival I'm doing. It's called Basic Aid.

Spring Scream

2007-04-22T22:41:00.000+08:00

Every year, there is a big music festival in the south of Taiwan called Spring Scream. I played at it last year and it was awesome. This year I was lucky enough to play at it again - this time in two different bands. It was also a four day weekend because of a holiday. It was great to get out of the big city.

This is a shot of Militant Hippi. We are kind of hip-hop, reggae, and funk with a bit of blues and rock.

We played early (around 5:00PM) but there was a good crowd there.

One of our songs requires back up singers. There's Lindsay in the middle.

The Militant Hippi girls before the show. Also note the cabin. The festival was held on this resort with three hundred cabins. There were six stages. Even a pool, though I never went swimming. That's our cabin right there.
The third day of the festival, the other band I'm in played. We are called Faye and the Slacks. Faye is a singer-songwriter. She's great. She has her own cd and everything.This shot was taken early. Before it started raining.
There was a good sized crowd for this show too and they stayed for the entire set, dancing in the pouring rain. I must admit, that feels pretty good as a musician. If people stay in the rain to listen to you, you must sound alright.
This was taken the night of the Militant Hippi show. Perhaps very late at night.

One More

2007-04-15T21:51:00.000+08:00

Some of you already know but for those of you who don't, Lindsay and I are staying another year in Taiwan. We were going to move back to Canada and I was going to go back to school but getting into university was tougher than I expected. At least next year I will know to apply to more places. Anyway, we will be back for the summer and look forward to seeing everyone.

Here's a picture of our school at night. Out of my three years working there, I've never been there at night. This was taken after our New Year's party. It looks quite nice all lit up.

Taipei

2007-04-12T18:06:00.000+08:00

Well, the trip is over. You spent your last ten days on the beach and you have a pretty good tan. You take a train to Bombay and go for a beer at a bar called Leopold's while your girlfriend does a final round of shopping (hasn't she already bought a million things?). You are very tired and when she comes to get you, you have another hour you could spend in Bombay but instead, you both decide to go to the airport early. It is the worst traffic ever and it takes two hours. You get there and wait in long lines because of heightened security since 9/11. Finally, you get to your gate and open your daypack. There is a bottle of water in there. You had forgotten about it. But it's half full and went through two security checks and an x-ray scan. You wonder how this can happen in one of the largest cities in the world, yet in Moncton, New Brunswick, security took away your grandfather's shoe polish. You think either Moncton Airport has a terrible problem with terrorists, or too much time on their hands.Then you hop on Thai Airways flight 634 and wave goodbye to India.

Goa - Part 2 (Palolem)

2007-04-11T18:50:00.000+08:00

Like I said in the previous post, Lindsay and I wanted the end of our trip to be relaxing. India is great in many ways and bad in many ways. Either way though, it's always crazy and never relaxing. Until you reach Goa. A perfect way to end a trip through India.

We stayed almost the entire time in the southern beach of Palolem. From what we read and heard along the way, this was the nicest beach and just what we were looking for. There is a big rave/techno scene in Goa and also rich fancy resorts. Palolem is just a cool, mellow beach. The food is great and there is some live music. It wasn't really different than any of the beaches we had been to in Thailand, Cambodia or Sri Lanka but it was perfect. It had bacon and eggs for breakfast and steak dinners and carbonaras for dinner. Though we ate great Indian food for three weeks, a little change was welcome.

This is a shot of the beach looking north.
Here are some cool cabins up on a cliff. We hiked through here but didn't stay.
This is Rosa, one of the beach vendors. There are many beach vendors and they are all kind of annoying and are persistantly trying to sell you things. Rosa was persistant but not really annoying. We ended up becoming friends with her. We saw her everyday, ate dinner at her parents house and even took her into town one day to buy her a few little gifts. A local woman entertaining tourists for donations. She would go down the beach, setting up her highwire act every fifty yards or so.
Lindsay standing on some rocks. This is in Patnem Beach, the next beach over from Palolem. This dead sea turtle washed up on shore one day. It was huge.
Here's the cabin we stayed in.

A cow walking past said cabin.Fishermen out on a cloudy day.

This is Rosa with her family. We ate dinner with them one night. It was an interesting experience. They all live together in this little room. They eat there together and sleep there together. There's five of them in the picture but I think there was another two kids somewhere. The food was good but the spiciest food I have ever eaten. The dad said (not in English. Rosa translated), while laughing at me that spicy food makes you tough. I was dripping in sweat and drank about two litres of water. I guess I'm not that tough.

After dinner.

Sun setting in the Arabian Sea.

Goa - Part 1 (Anguna)

2007-04-10T19:21:00.000+08:00

I always thought Goa was a beach. Or perhaps a city with a few beaches in its vicinity. What I learned in fact, is that Goa is a state, albeit a very small one. We wanted the end of our trip to be relaxing. Sightseeing is great and all that but hanging around a beautiful beach in the sun doing nothing but swimming, reading, eating and drinking is pretty good too. So we wanted to make sure we chose the right beach/village to go to.

Anguna wasn't it. Instead, we ended up going to a cool place called Palolem in the very south of Goa and didn't leave for about ten days. Though I've titled this post 'Part 1,' our Anguna stop was simply a day trip we took one day. They have a very cool market there every Wednesday. We had known about it, as it is quite famous in the area. Anguna beach. Nice but wait till you see Palolem.
Here's the market. Actually, this is only a small part of it. The market is huge. For those of you who know me well, you know I can't stand shopping. But this was different. I might have shopped more than Lindsay (or at least comparable). You can basically buy anything here and the haggling is great (you get very good at haggling in India). Lindsay bought some cool things. I bought many cheesy t-shirts.
Lots of jewelry.
Lots of spices.
Lindsay with some vendors.
We rented a scooter and drove the 2 hours north to Anguna. It was insane. Indian drivers are crazy. This is a billboard we saw on the way. I love it. Only in India you would see this. Is there anything missing from this picture that, I don't know, could reinforce the message they are trying to convey?

Kerala - Part 2 (The Backwaters)

2007-04-08T20:58:00.000+08:00

This was definitely one of the highlights. I had read about the Kerala backwaters before and knew we had to do it. It's was out of the way (thirty hour train ride from Bombay) but well worth it. Basically, the backwaters is a water system (some of it canals) that stretches for miles and miles through the southern part of the state of Kerala. At first I thought it was just through the forest but these rivers and canals actually go through villages. For some reason, this made it even cooler.

We rented a houseboat with a Swedish couple we met in Alleppey and we cruised the backwaters all afternoon, slept overnight on the boat in the middle of a lake and cruised back the next day. It was extremely relaxing and absolutely beautiful.
This was our boat. It had two bedrooms and three crew members (one cook, two drivers). The food was excellent too. I don't know what something like this would cost in Canada but it was quite reasonable. We were treated like kings and queens. That's our captain. Notice he is using a pole. The boat (and look at the size of it) was man-powered - only two men and two poles. This not only made the cruise peaceful and quiet, it was also a lot better for the environment. These waters are getting quite polluted from all the boats.

A couple of guys fishing in the lake.

A woman walking along the river.

One of the canals. You can't really see, but there are houses on both sides. It was like going through a neighbourhood in the suburbs, except the streets were canals.

This is the Swedish couple, Hannah and Martin. Very cool people which made the trip even better.

Sunset over the lake.
Sun almost down. By this point, we are anchored on the lake, having drinks before our dinner. It was paradise.

Kerala - Part 1 (Alleppey)

2007-04-01T22:45:00.000+08:00

After Mumbai, we headed further (or do you say farther? Or is there even any difference between these two words? I never know.) south to the state of Kerala. It was nice to get away from the big cities. We stayed in a place called Alleppey - a nice little town with two canals going through it. Didn't do a whole lot but the next day we rented a houseboat and cruised through the backwaters (see more on this next post).

It was a long train ride. Close to thirty hours.

Just like Mumbai/Bombay many of the cities go by two names. Alappuzha is the same as Alleppey.
Here's one of the canals in Alleppey. In my mind, canals make cities beautiful. Alleppey is like an Indian version of Amsterdam (minus the drugs, prostitution, rain and bicycles. Okay it wasn't like Amsterdam at all).A stone mermaid on the side of the canal.

Mumbai

2007-03-29T23:43:00.000+08:00

The south of India is different than the north. Perhaps, it's richer. I don't know. Compared to Delhi, Mumbai is almost civilised. There are the usual scam-artists and touts and all that but there is a lack of wildlife in the streets. I didn't see any cows, pigs or goats anywhere. Mumbai or Bombay (as most people still seem to call it) is a beautiful city. Though my knowledge of British history really isn't that strong, my guess is Bombay was perhaps one of the most important cities in the British colonies. They seemed to have sunk a tremendous amount of money into it. You can still see the British influence. Big stone buildings with elaborate designs are everywhere in the old part of town. Even the train stations are beautiful. We spent a few days here before heading even further south.

This is a clock tower at the University of Mumbai.
The High Court.
An interesting name for a park and traffic circle.
On the left is the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower. It's a fancy five star hotel. We went in one night for a couple of drinks in their lounge bar. Very nice.

On the right, in front of the tower, is the Gateway to India - one of Mumbai's most famous landmarks.
Believe it or not, this is a train station (Victoria Terminus). Like I say, the buildings in the city are unbelievable.
Check this crazy room out. Purple and green trim for a paint job. Padding at the head of the bed and all down the left side of it. What you can't see to the right is a full wall mirror. We felt like we were on the set of some 70s porno shoot or something.

India Interlude

2007-03-25T19:49:00.000+08:00

Before we get to the next instalment of our trip to India, let me introduce little Schiehallion (pronounced Shehallian) Moore. Shea for short. She arrived on Feb. 21, 2007. She's a ray of sunshine in our Taiwanese lives, and we all love her very much!!

Varanasi to Mumbai

2007-03-24T11:11:00.000+08:00

You are basically doing our same journey through India from your armchair. The next thing you do is fly from Varanasi to Mumbai via Delhi.

This is the airport in Varanasi.

You are on Indian Airlines flight 805. And yes, even domestic flights in India are better than Air Canada. You get free hot meals, drinks and you don't have to pay for or rent (or whatever they make you do) any blankets or pillows. All this is supplied for free with a smile.

This is your girlfriend getting on the plane.
This is a sign for the Ladies Frisking Booth that you are awfully curious about.

Varanasi - Part 3 (Life)

2007-03-23T21:40:00.000+08:00

One of the most ironic things about traveling is the fact that it is actually quite difficult to meet and hang out with the people of the country you are in. You meet cab drivers and merchants and touts and hotel workers. And of course you meet and get to talk to some random people on trains and buses. But it's difficult to actually immerse yourself into their culture and see how they live. We were lucky in Varanasi. Our friends Jess and Dan, from Taichung, opened up a school for under-priveledged children in Varanasi. By under-priviledged, I mean street kids with no families or no homes. They have a school there as well as a hostel where over twenty of the kids also live. Jess and Dan are good people. Better people than I could ever hope to be. They live like locals. They don't really make money. They are there to help children. Lice and ringworm are part of their everyday lives.

So in Varanasi we visited them and, of course, went to the school and saw the children. The part of town where they live and where the school is, is a completely different place. The locals don't even look twice at you or come up to you and try to sell you stuff, scam you, take advantage of you. Once you leave the ghats, it's like you are a local almost. Great feeling to be able to just walk down the road and not be bothered by throngs of people (believe me, India is bad for this. There is always someone hounding you, begging, scamming, selling, etc. I think I already mentioned this in probably every one of my posts.)

Here's a picture of the hostel that Jess and Dan run.

This is Jess and some kids. The blue tractor trailer is part of a puja that we participated in that same night.

I know, I know. What the hell is a puja, you are thinking. Basically, a puja (I'm probably spelling it wrong) is kind of like a parade. People get tractors and trailers and decorate them with lights and sound systems and then go to their destination-a temple. They leave from their homes all over the city all with the same destination. So when you start out, it is only your tractor. The closer you get, the more tractors and people you meet up with. From what I can guess from the experience, the objective is to make as much noise as possible.

So how did we get involved? Of course, the whole city doesn't participate. I think it's special people or something. Jess and Dan's landlord of the hostel is a minor celebrity in Varanasi (at least I think he is). He got some tractors for it and wanted some white foreigners making a lot of noise to attract attention. Our float was comprised of four tractors/trailers. Here we are during the puja in our trailer jamming. They are acoustic guitars but they are plugged into this massive amplifier. It was pretty cool.

I forget what the green marks are for. Good luck, I'm assuming.

Like I say, the closer you get to the destination, the busier it gets. There were parties in the streets. Every trailer was blasting music/noise of some sort. It was so loud.

That dude in the red hat is Jess and Dan's landlord. He was in this fancy trailer in the back. Jess and Dan, as mentioned before, are very good people. This is their adopted son that used to live in terrible poverty. It's against the law to sell alcohol within one kilometre of the Ganges. But they still do. They're hard to find but there are "liquor stores" around. And they are always ridiculously busy. Line-ups of men all day and night.

Varanasi - Part 2 (The City)

2007-03-18T21:46:00.000+08:00

Some more shots of Varanasi...

Here's a shot of a local Varanasi woman.
Here's a shot of a local Varanasi man.
Like I mentioned in the previous post, the locals do their laundry in the Ganges.
Big laundry day.
This woman is making cow patties. They use cow shit as kindling for their fires. It must stink.
This is a temple at the University of Varanasi. Like Fredericton, Varanasi is a university town with a nice river running through it. But it is the exact opposite of Fredericton in every possible way.
A cute little puppy.
Here are some of those guys I was talking about last post. Who knows that could be the guy who does the penis and sword trick.There are guys like this everywhere in Varanasi. I guess they are some kind of holy men.
Some fruit.
It was so much fun just walking along the ghats everyday.

Varanasi - Part 1 (The Ganges)

2007-03-16T19:44:00.000+08:00

Our next stop was Varanasi - an overnight train ride away. The train itself was fine but I am the worst packer in the world. Two years ago, I remember unpacking my bag in boiling hot weather in Thailand only to discover that I forgot to pack shorts. This time I wasn't prepared for the cold. This part of India (Delhi to Varanasi) in January/February is hot in the day time but it cools down at night. We had a sleeper in the train but with all the windows open I nearly froze to death. Like I say I simply wasn't prepared. Lindsay was all cozy with her blow up pillow, scarf, and blanket (courtesy of Thai Airways). I had a ball cap for a pillow and air as a blanket. It wasn't the best journey. But it was all worth it...

From my recent and probably future posts, you will get the impression that I have a love/hate relationship with India. I do. The good stuff in India only comes after a day or two of hellish travel. You have a horrible day, then you have five great ones. Many of the places we visited were nice and fun and beautiful but I can't picture myself going back to a lot of them. Varanasi, however, is an exception. I already want to go back. It is the coolest, strangest place on earth. It's this holy city built along the Ganges River. Very holy and religious. Every kind of person is there from all over the world - it's a destination for many hippies and spiritual types (if you are basically a cynical nihilist like myself, you can often feel out of place). Sometimes it feels like you're in the parking lot of a Grateful Dead show. Sometimes it feels like you are on Mars. It's a crazy place. There are cows, goats and pigs everywhere. They burn bodies by the river in full view passer-byers (is that a word?). Many of the men don't even wear clothes. A traveler I met from Duncan, B.C. told me a story. He went into one of the many tents (perhaps where some of the people live) by the river and there was this guy (holy man?) naked, painted in white. He took out this sword and wrapped his penis around it a bunch of times, then kind of stepped over it and sat down on it for a while (yes, it is hard to picture but I saw the photograph). Anyway, I think you get the jist of it. Varanasi is like no place you ever imagined. It is sensory overload. Here's a picture of one of the many ghats. Basically a ghat is just an entrance to a river. Probably five miles of the river bank in Varanasi looks like this. There are steps all the way down to the Ganges. I assume it's built like this because of flooding during monsoon season. Whatever the reason, it's really cool.
Here's a very crowded boat.
Here's a shot of the Ganges. It's quite a big river. Not much of a current at all and it is, unfortunately, very polluted. According to the Lonely Planet, there is 1.5 million faecal coliform bacteria per 100ml of water taken from the Ganges. In water that is safe for swimming this figure should be less than 500. It's disgusting but the locals swim, bathe, and do their laundry in it. Problem is they also dump everything in it. Apparently, it's better than it was but baby fetuses and cow carcasses have been seen floating in it in the past. And since it is so holy, the ashes of all the dead go into the river and sometimes the bodies (if it's a baby, pregnant woman, leper, death due to snake bite, etc.) This is all stuff we heard, so I'm not sure if it's 100% accurate. But it's probably pretty close.

The Ganges at dusk.
Our boat guide and some ghats.
Some boaters.
Here's a shot of the burning ghat where they burn the dead bodies. Now, you are not supposed to take pictures of it but I think I'm far enough away here that it shouldn't matter. I certainly don't want to be culturally insensitive. This is one of the main ghats.

Agra - Part 2 (The City)

2007-03-12T18:08:00.000+08:00

Before getting there, I assumed that Agra (the home of the Taj Mahal) would be one giant tourist trap. It seems that all the cool stuff in the world is slowly getting less cool. There's a Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut at the front entrance of the Pyramids in Cairo; there's a Starbucks in front of Chairman Mao's portrait at the Forbidden City in Beijing (this is new since I was there - I actually just read about this today in the China Post); and most of the landmarks in Europe are packed with line-ups of tourists. It takes away from the experience and spoils the beauty of these wonders of the world.

So Agra, was a nice surprise. The Taj Mahal was off in a little neighbourhood with small streets and no big chain stores (there's really not much of this in India anyway). And though the city is over a million in population (every small Indian town you've never heard of is a million people), the town seemed smaller. Of course, there were the usual scam-artists, touts, and beggars but we found Agra much friendlier than Delhi and Jaipur. We only spent a couple of days but it was great stop full of interesting things to see.

Here's a picture of an autorickshaw. These are everywhere in India and a good way to get around. Check out the fancy seats in this one.
I like this picture. You see monkeys a lot and they can be a real pain in the ass but they are fun to watch. At the restaurant at the hotel, we saw one monkey sneak onto a table and steal the sugar bowl. The waiter chased him with a stick, something he said he has to do all the time.
On a street outside one of the gates of the Taj Mahal.
Camels walking through the streets of Agra.
Here's a cool dude. We had to wait for our rickshaw driver forever outside of Agra Fort and this kid and his mother befriended us. The sunglasses are Lindsay's. He kept wanting me to take his picture with them on.
Some locals walking to the other side of the river. Not much rainfall here either, by the looks of it.
These are some guards that watch over the Taj Mahal. You see big guns everywhere in India but it still hard to get used to.Unlike New York, London, Milan and Tokyo, India isn't necessarily on the cutting edge of fashion. Though the women dress quite nice (saris and stuff), the men don't seem to be as fashion-conscious. You see lots of acid wash and orange. I had to laugh when I saw this jean jacket. I can't even guess what "Le Gay Dil" is supposed to mean.
Party Smart hangover cure. I had to buy this when I saw it in the pharmacy. Maybe you can buy it everywhere but it's the first time I had ever seen it. Believe it or not, I haven't even tried it yet.

Agra - Part 1 (The Sites)

2007-03-07T23:39:00.000+08:00

We were told by everyone that India was difficult to travel in but we (or at least I) didn't really believe them. We were planning on leaving Jaipur the same day we arrived on an overnight train to Agra. It would have got us there in the morning and saved time - perfect! Of course, after about a half an hour of finding the ticket booth at the train station and an hour of waiting in line (crowded with people cutting in line, a very common thing to do in India), we found out the train was full and spent the night in Jaipur. We booked into a hotel, ate dinner and drank a bit of rum with a couple of Canadians (believe or not, the only Canadian travelers we ran into all trip). The next day we got the train and were in Agra by mid-afternoon.

This is the rooftop of our hotel. The first day we just chilled out. Look at that view! How many times have you seen this shot? Finally seeing it in person is really something. We went to the Taj Mahal early in the morning. As you can see, there were some people there but it wasn't really too crowded.
I must have taken about seventy shot of the Taj Mahal. It is truly one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. I knew beforehand that it was a mausoleum built by some emperor for his wife that had died. Lovely story. What I didn't know, is that the guy had three wives in total. There were two other little mausoleums on the grounds in memorial of them. To some people, this fact might make the love story of the Taj Mahal kind of bogus, but to me, I think it makes it a little better. If you are an emperor, you might as well enjoy yourself.This is called the Itimad-Ud-Daulah, nicknamed the Baby Taj. It's certainly nice but after the real Taj, it's just another building.

This is Agra Fort. I think it was many things in the past (including a military fort) but apparently it was a jail too and the emperor who built the Taj Mahal ended up there (his son threw him in there when he seized power from him).

Inside Agra Fort.

Here's the Taj Mahal at night. We walked down to the river to check out the backside of it. As you can see there are spotlights and fences all around it. What you can't see are four soldiers with machine guns on guard (actually you will see them...next post).

Jaipur

2007-03-04T22:34:00.000+08:00

We left Delhi early in the morning. We had booked a ride in a van down to Jaipur which included a tour of the city. We were told that they would drive us there and then take us around to the sites. Afterwards, they would drop us off at the train station. Exactly what we wanted.

We waited on the side of the road for about forty minutes and finally the van came. The driver didn't say a word (strange because everyone in India speaks English) to us. He drove around the city and picked up some locals then we finally started the journey south. Yet, still no one would talk to us. It was weird. When we eventually got outside Jaipur the guy pulled over to the side of the road and began unloading our luggage. I asked him what he was doing and he just ignored me. Then I asked him what about the tour we were supposed to get. He just laughed in my face, got in the car and took off with the others (locals) still in the van. Conveniently, there was a rickshaw driver right there. He told us it happened all the time and that he could take us on a tour of the city. This was the first (actually not even the first) of many scams. Of course we had no choice but to go with the rickshaw driver even though he was obviously part of the scam too. The one friendly local. The good guy. The hero that saves you from the bad scam artist. I was extremely angry and the worst parts were: a) it was booked through our hotel; b) the first place we went into (Amber Fort - pictured below), we saw the locals that were in the van with us.

This is Amber Fort. Very nice.
This is the Jal Mahal. I think it means Water Palace or at least that's its nickname. It used to be surrounded by water but we were told Jaipur hasn't had rain for a few years.
This is the Hawa Mahal. Jaipur is know as the Pink City. Every building in the old city is pink. Pretty cool town.
This is part of the Jantar Mantar. It's full of all these crazy looking structures which were built for astronomy purposes back in the 1700s. Not sure what this staircase was for but I think it was some sort of observatory. They also had sun dials and these structures built for the Zodiac calendar. Really crazy place.
A here is a picture of typical, everyday traffic. Traffic is insane everywhere in India. I don't know how the locals do it.

Delhi

2007-02-23T01:28:00.000+08:00

We landed in Delhi around 8:30PM and didn't really know what to expect. I had called ahead and booked a room at a hotel and got an airport pick-up. So when we walked out of the steaming hot airport, a guy was holding a cardboard sign with my name on it.

The drive into town was crazy, as expected. About twelve lanes of cars on an old four lane highway; horns honking; near accidents every thirty seconds; everyone going as fast as they can. Typical stuff. It wasn't until we got into the downtown area that I started noticing what looked to me like a war-torn area. Buildings in ruins like a bomb had just gone off the day before. Then I started noticing cows everywhere, walking down the streets like stray dogs. I remember thinking to myself, what a cool part of town and wondering whether I'd be able to find this crazy neighbourhood the next day to check it out on foot. But just as I'm thinking all of this, the cab pulls over and I look up and see our hotel.

Delhi is one of the craziest places I've been to. There are people everywhere and lots of noise and dirt. People go to the bathroom in the streets and the poverty is depressing. Really quite surprising for a nation's capital. But it's something else. It's an adventure just walking down the street. Don't get me wrong there are some cool parts of town but they are just a little harder to find.

Here's a picture of a market type area. As you can see there are people everywhere.

In India they have auto-rickshaws everywhere. A good and quick (or at least quicker) way to get around. But the traffic is unavoidable. This is a road or at least a path leading up to a mosque (The Jama Masjid). It's a bazaar area, like so many other parts of Delhi. It is impossible to take one step in Delhi and avoid being pestered by someone trying to sell you something or beg for money or scam you in some way.

The Red Fort. This huge fort was built over 400 hundred years ago and was used by the Mughal emperor (yes, I'm reading this from my Lonely Planet).This is just outside our hotel.

India

2007-02-03T23:19:00.000+08:00

Two words to describe India....Loud and Smelly! Having said that, we are having an amazing time. Pictures to come in late Feb./early March, when we are back in Taiwan.
Stay tuned......

Road Trip to Puli

2007-01-06T16:57:00.000+08:00

While my parents were here visiting, we took a road trip into the mountains to a place called Puli. Puli is home to a very massive, and very impressive Buddhist monastery. Dad, Geoff and I climbed the 360 stairs to the 16th floor to see an amazing mountain view.

Some jackass thought the roundabout was a perfect parking spot. A monk's job is never done...

Just outside of Puli there are some great waterfalls.

Here's the fam at the geographical center of Taiwan.

Year End - Part Deux

2007-01-06T12:38:00.000+08:00

Although we don't get a lot of time off for Christmas, we jam everything into a fun-filled Christmas Extravaganza Weekend. Lucky for us, Glenn and Midge were here to celebrate, too. December 23rd was our turkey dinner hosted by our good friends, Alana and Justin. **Here insert a BIG congrats to them...they recently got engaged!!** A local foreign restaurant supplies everything: turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, and pies. It was so yummy!

Year End - Part 1

2006-12-31T14:44:00.000+08:00

As my previous post clearly stated, the month of December has been a busy one. I've hardly had time to do anything, including this blog. Things are finally starting to die down now, so let's back up a bit.

At the beginning of December, Jon visited Taiwan. Many of my friends (you know who you are) talk about coming over and never deliver. Jon mentioned it once last summer and showed up a few months later. What a great surprise. He spent the first part of his trip over in Hualian with Nicki, surfing and seeing the beauty Taiwan has to offer. Near the end of his trip, he came to the West Coast, to see the city life. Turned out to be a perfect weekend too. Faye and the Slacks had two gigs and it was still warm enough (or so we thought) to go surfing up north.
Friday night, I picked Jonny up at the bus station and we went to get some Indian food from one of my favourite restaurants in town, Bollywood. A few hours later, we opened up for a blues band called Boogie Chillin' at a bar called 89K. This picture is taken near the end of our set during a song called Giddy Soldiers. Jon rushed the stage for a picture. I tried my best to make my bass playing look effortless. I managed a smile (but apparently not a look into the camera) and hit a wrong note soon afterwards. I like this shot a lot.

The next day, Faye and the Slacks had a gig at a cafe called Sahara. Nicki flew over from Hualien to meet up with us too. I have a good shot of him playing tambourine but it is a bmp not a jpg and this blogsite won't upload it (man, do I ever sound like a techie geek right now). Anyway, it was an early show. It went well and we then went back to our apartment.

This might be my favourite part of the weekend. We went back to our apartment to have a few drinks and planned to go back to the bar for 11:00pm. But it was just the four of us and we were catching up and looking at pictures and we ended up staying most of the night. It was so great to have two of my oldest and best friends in Taichung with me.

I don't even know where this was taken. I think it is from a Taiwanese bar called the Party Animal. Nicki is still his old, crazy self.

The next day we went up north to a surf spot called Junan. The water was warm enough but it was a cold rainy day. For the west coast, the waves were pretty big (at least for me). I managed to catch a few waves but certainly had my share of wipeouts too. After that we hooked up with the boys in Taipei and had a few beer outside Taipei 101 (world's tallest building). It was nice. Seven of us from Fredericton were there: Joe, Fish, Curnie, Chucky, Nicki, Jon and me (again there's a good picture but this site won't upload it).

Thanks for the visit boys. It was a blast!

Merry Christmas

2006-12-25T01:33:00.000+08:00

Merry Xmas, everyone!

It's been a while since I posted anything here. The last month has been crazy. Jonny's been to visit (I will post some pics soon); Lindsay's folks are here; school's been hectic (my third annual student band - Youth in Asia - has been practicing most noon hours and taking up a lot of time); rehearsals three times a week with Faye and the Slacks and Militant Hippi; four gigs in two different weekends; and of course getting all the Christmas shopping done (I just finished at the 7-11, at 1:30AM this Christmas morning). It feels like I haven't sat down in a month. I feel a good night's sleep coming on ... and that's where I'm heading.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Geoff

Believe it or not, this is from a Christmas show we saw tonight. These dancers in very short shorts were the act on right before our student Christmas choir.

Smog Does Have Perks

2006-12-05T21:12:00.000+08:00

This was on our drive home from school ealier this week. Fantastic!

Birthday Boy

2006-11-26T15:37:00.000+08:00

I’ve known Simon for almost all my life. We first met at the old Victoria hospital in Fredericton on November 21st, 1974. Interestingly enough, I was three weeks late coming into the world and Simon was two weeks early. Had we been ones to conform to the status quo, I guess we wouldn’t have met till 1983 on the dodge ball court at St. Dunstan’s Elementary School. So I guess, whether I’m one day older than him or five weeks older, Simon has looked up to me all his life.

I have many stories I could tell about Si but since blog sites are relatively open to everyone on the planet, I will keep them to a minimum. The first one that comes to mind is Simon’s obsession with sticking his head into buckets of icy water. One night, in a dive hotel in Montreal he stuck his head into a bucket of ice for ten minutes. Why? I’m not sure. Though it was halfway impressive, I think a guy named Gabe won the contest.

Another one of my favourite’s is Simon in London. As we all know, Simon is an international athlete and a minor celebrity on the Fredericton athletic scene. He is without a doubt the Guy Lafleur of Maritime rugby. One time he was on the national team playing in Cardiff. Luckily, I was in Edinburgh, Scotland at the time, so I went down to check out his game. The story, however, takes place in London. We were out at a bar with a friend named Duncan and it was getting late and we had had too much to drink. So I bolted, as I do sometimes, without saying goodbye. Halfway to the hotel (was I even walking in the right direction?), I get a call from Duncan telling me to come back and get Si. Being the good friend I am, I go back and find Si passed out at a bus stop. I manage to get him into a cab and we take off. As we get to our destination in King’s Cross, Si throws up all over the back bumper of the cab in front of a crowd of junkies and prostitutes. We all had a good laugh.

Besides swimming, the thing that brings all of our good friends together is road trips. I forget which trip it was but we were crossing the border from Quebec into Vermont one summer day. As we were getting searched (it is the most difficult border to cross in the world), I remember looking over at Simon emptying out his pockets for the border guard. As he put the little pile on the counter, I see that the entire contents of Simon’s pockets consist of a bit of change (under fifty cents, mostly brown coins), two beer caps, and a condom. The border guard just looks at him strangely and tells him to go back outside.

It is always entertaining being around you, Si. Happy birthday, buddy. Sorry about the late greeting but I was three weeks late coming into the world and it still takes me a while to get things done.

Great Weekend

2006-11-20T21:41:00.000+08:00

What a great weekend! I had spread the word a few weeks ago that Nicki and the boys should come down to Taichung for my birthday. Nicki said he would but I didn't think the others could make it. So it was awesome to get a call from Curnie Saturday afternoon, saying that him and Joe were going to pick up Nicki and come down (they took a cab from Taipei - what a bunch of big rich city folk).

Anyway, it turned out to be a great weekend. Faye and the Slacks had a gig Friday night, my friend Phil threw a big party on Saturday, and I got to hang out with Nicki (Joe and Curnie bolted early) all day Sunday. It was a lazy day. We just sat around, eating pizza and watched that Metallica documentary and some old Borat skits. But it was perfect.

Thanks for coming boys!
It might be hard to read these shirts but they have Chinglish on them. It was a Chinglish party. There are some very funny shirts over here with bad English translations on them.
Maritime kitchen party.

I had to throw this one in. Militant Hippi played a cool gig last weekend in a place called Longtan. We are playing lakefront to a bunch of Taiwanese people. Behind us, across the lake, is a huge red temple. It was a very cool show for charity. In this picture, we are playing with a band called the Anglers. There's like ten of us on stage.

Public Ass Grab

2006-11-12T22:43:00.000+08:00

Well, Halloween has been and gone so if I'm going to do a Halloween post, I better do it now. As there isn't really Halloween here in Taiwan, we celebrated on Saturday the 28th. Faye and the Slacks had an outdoor gig at a bar called P.J.'s. The Slacks went disco (I wanted to go metal again, but people are starting to notice that I do that every year. True, perhaps. But it's so fun to throw on those leather pants - did I ever get my money's worth out of those things),Faye went eighties and Lindsay went all Bling Bling and stuffed her ass. It was a very good night.

Public Ass Grab
White jeans, big curly hair and a bass. Who am I? Mike Gordon?

Taipei Show

2006-11-07T23:15:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone,

Si brought to my attention, that I haven't updated this blog for quite some time. He's correct but I have an excuse. We still don't have a camera. But tonight I got some photos and here's a little update.

A few weeks ago, we did a tour to the three major cities in Taiwan. We were the band for a literary magazine launch. It ended up being four gigs, and though none were paid gigs, transportation and hotels were covered. And it was good exposure. Out of the four gigs, the Saturday night show in Taipei was the most special. Nicki came up from Hualien and some friends, April and Lisa, came up from Taichung. Plus, I hadn't seen the Taipei boys in a long time (including Chucky who I hadn't seen at all). Thanks everyone, it was great.

Here's Fish and Chucky. It was Fish's birthday. I think we are drunk at this point in the night. Fish also came to our Friday night show.

Thanks a lot for coming. I apologize again for the other band sucking so bad. Here's a shot of Faye and the Slacks. Faye, Phil and I.
April, Nicki, Curnie, Lindsay and Lisa. It was a smaller pub but it was packed.

So great to play for so many friends.

So there's a bit of an update. To read even more, go to Si's blog and read Nicki's reply. The night went until morning. We had seven people in our luxury suite down by the train station and Nicki and I finished a bottle of wine on top of a greasy roof as the sun came up. Can't wait to do it again.

Slacker Geoff

On Tour

2006-10-16T20:29:00.000+08:00

I knew I was going out with a rock star, but now he's a touring rock star! Still living sans camera (which won't be for much longer...we'll be buying one this week), I don't have pictures to post, but Faye and the Slacks were asked to play at the release parties for an English fiction and poetry publication called Pressed...which by the way, Geoff is also published in. They were in Taichung city (the city where we live) two weekends ago, Taipei for 2 shows this weekend, and will go to Kaoshiung (second largest city) next weekend. I hope all this rockin' won't go to his head..........

Holiday

2006-10-07T03:24:00.000+08:00

It's a holiday! Five days off work to celebrate the moon! And what better way to do so than ...

shave a pig down in the middle of the street ...
and roast it.

Back in the R.O.C.

2006-10-02T22:04:00.000+08:00

Well, we're back in Taiwan ... and have been for a month. Things are good and we are both back into our routines. Teaching, jamming, darts, gym (Lindsay), running in the park (for me, sometimes), etc. At first, it was a little depressing coming back. It was a great summer and it seemed harder to leave Canada this time. And when you arrive in Taiwan, it is hot, dirty, and noisy. But once everything settles down and falls into place it feels like home again. Got a long weekend coming up this weekend and then two gigs up in Taipei the following weekend. Hope to see all the boys there.

Here's a shot eastward of Taichung. It's a nice day but still a little smoggy. You can sort of see the mountains in the distance.

End of Summer

2006-09-26T22:54:00.000+08:00

As always, the summer flew by. It was a very quick one for Lindsay and I because we were so busy. But it was great seeing everyone again and we had a blast. Our last night in town, Si, Normy and Jesse threw a party at their place. It was the first night in a long time that almost all of us were together in one room. What a perfect way to spend our last night in Fredericton (despite its Northside location).Si, Nicki, O, Lydon and Skead ... on the porch (read to the tune of Fluffy by Ween).
I don't know who took this but they must have been sitting down. Wheat and I look like giants.Here our first attempt at a group shot. I like how I'm Normy's height in this one.
The group shot. Look at us all! Like a reunion. By the way Skead, why are you facing the wrong way?

Now, I have to send out a special mention to Si. Out of the whole summer, he was the one who kept me entertained the most. Many of the boys were out on the weekends and what not but, Si was always there. He was out every night with me and was always on for doing something. Whether this was due to: a) a strong loyalty to our friendship; b) alcoholism; c) ulterior motives (i.e. meeting up with random girls whom he suspected might be out at so-and-so bar on so-and-so night - this could actually be the case, as it seemed to happen every time); or d) all the above; I am very grateful for his companionship.

Of course, Wheat is a close second. He was great too but would often bail early because of his job (can you believe it?) Normy, was unfortunately a bit of a mystery man this summer. I think I only saw him twice. So, Simon, I guess that makes you the new Super Friend.

P.S. Si, don't ask why your outline is a sawblade. I tried to get a star but couldn't find one. I did the first one with a heart outline but, well, it looked a little too friendly (if you catch my politically correct drift).

P.P.S. That's some crazy red-eye. You should try looking into the camera next time.

Tap Room

2006-09-23T00:08:00.000+08:00

One of the things I love about Fredericton in the summer is all the patios down at the Tannery. Though the city isn't using the area to its full potential (compared to, say the Boardwalk in Saint John for example) it's still pretty fun. Unfortunately, because of this, it makes it possible to go out every night (as I seemed to have done). One night in particular stands out though: Wednesday at the Tap Room. Si took me down one night early in the summer and I couldn't believe it. A eight (nine? ten?) piece reggae band! Great sound and a great scene, even though you have to wait about two hours every time you want a drink (that place seriously needs to consider putting in a fridge full of bottled beer). Anyway, here are some photos. As our loyal readers are well aware, Lindsay and I didn't have a camera all summer. These are some of the few pics we have from Fredericton, sent to us from Jenn (see below). I appear to telling a really interesting story here.

Here's me giving Jenn a Jasper kiss. A Jasper kiss is basically opening your mouth wide and leaning in until you hit a cheek. I learned it from Jasper (see baby from Toronto post). I hope I'm wrong but I think I gave a Jasper kiss to Simon that night as well.

Jenn giving Lindsay a big Jasper kiss.

Lots of people were home this summer. It was great. Nicki and Jonny pulled into town near the end of August. It was a great surprise (technically I shouldn't have been surprised as I had been notified beforehand. But I misread Nicki's email and forgot about Jon telling me he was coming to visit Fredericton when I was out in Victoria visiting him).

Aww ... how cute.

Gatineau/Ottawa

2006-09-19T22:26:00.000+08:00

The last stop on our road trip was Gatineau/Ottawa. One of Lindsay's good friends from Taiwan lives in Gatineau. Her name is Claude and she is all that and a bag of chips. We spent a couple of nights with her and became fully integrated into French culture. Lindsay did well. She understood most of the French and she spoke fluently. Claude and her friends seemed to understand her quite well. I, on the other hand, was basically lost. I understood maybe 30% of the conversations around me and, a lot of the times, I would say something (after carefully planning my words in my head) and they would laugh. Actually, it wasn't that bad but, man, I need to practice my French. I also got the chance to visit my Aunt Janice and my grandmother on the Ottawa side, which was nice. My aunt is great and I don't see her nearly enough.

A coté du piscine avec Claude, Mikael et Lindsay.

Aylmer

2006-09-18T20:06:00.000+08:00

After Toronto, we went to a little town called Aylmer for a Fred Eaglesmith Charity Picnic. Aylmer is south of London, near St. Thomas. The town itself is a little strange, but cool. Many different types of people around, including Mennonites (which I guess is what made the place seem strange). The show was great - at a campground called the Springwater Conservation Area. It ran for three days and included many different bluegrass/country bands. It was a very small scene too which was cool. We met lots of great people (partied with Eaglesmith's son, which was interesting) and talked to many of the musicians. I could have probably jammed with them too ... but they were a lot better than me.

Here's a picture of the stage on Sunday afternoon. Not many people at this one and I can't remember who is playing but it was the first time I touched the camera all weekend.
Here's the beach. Right next to the stage.

Toronto

2006-09-14T20:58:00.000+08:00

After North Bay, we headed down to Toronto to visit our friends Alex and Heather. Some of you might already know Alex (Billingsley), but you might not know that he is Raffi's twin (see below). Toronto was great. We did a bit of shopping (which I hate) and I got some much needed (at least, Lindsay said they were much needed) clothing. Also played some darts and saw an Eaglesmith show at a cool venue called Hugh's Room. Very good times. Here is Alex next to his counterpart. Here is Alex and Heather's littly boy, Jasper. Cute little dude, especially when he gives kisses.

Thanks a lot guys, we had a blast!

North Bay

2006-09-11T21:58:00.000+08:00

After Montreal, we went to North Bay for our good friends Chris and Tara's wedding. The entire weekend was great. First night, we took it easy at Tara's parents' cottage - a beautiful place on its own island. The next night we checked into a fancy suite. It had a separate living room, fireplace and the bedroom had a jacuzzi in it. We stayed there two nights. It was awesome. The wedding was great too. Live band that didn't play any horrid wedding reception clichés (eg. Chicken Dance, Jive Bunny Remix, Old Time Rock and Roll, etc.) and prime rib that melted in your mouth. The next day we visited our other good friends Jimi and Steph. They also live in North Bay. Again, very good times. Lots of bocce ball, beer drinking, jamming (Jimi was the other half of the Double Standard) and the last night, a lot of tequila at a bar on an old boat. Thanks to everyone in North Bay. We had a blast.

Here's a picture of Jami and I having an early morning jam on his boat. Jami (the bride's brother), is another good friend and an excellent guitar player. He also lived in Taichung and I played lots of music with him. He was lead guitarist/singer for the Country Levers - a band we formed over there.
Here's a picture of Lindsay, Chris (the groom), Tara (the bride) and me at the reception.Here's a picture of Linday and I with Jimi, Steph and their dog Radley (as in Boo).

Montreal

2006-09-07T19:21:00.000+08:00

In August, Lindsay and I went on a two week road trip. The length of the trip turned out to be quite controversial among friends and family but it was very fun and we saw many people. Our first stop was Montreal to visit my cousin Ted. He and his girlfriend Brandy live in the Plateau which is a very cool part of town. I've probably been to Montreal about fifty times and I had never been there before. We also took a walk through the Old City, which I had never done before either (I guess I don't usually venture too far off Sainte Catharine St). Anyway, it was great seeing Ted again after so many years. It was also nice meeting his girlfriend Brandy. Thanks for the hospitality and hopefully we will see you guys again next year.

Here's a shot of our upcoming album cover.

St. John, NB and PEI

2006-09-02T13:10:00.000+08:00

My wonderful friend, Jill, is going to be a new mother in December. When I was home we had a little shower for her in St. John. It was awesome to see some ladies that I haven't seen in a while, and although I won't be there for the arrival, I can't wait for Olivia Grace to get here!!

I was lucky enough to go to Prince Edward Island with my favorite gal, Jenn, to see the Shoreline Festival. Saw some GREAT music such as Joel Plasket, Xavier Rudd and Grand Theft Bus. It was a wicked weekend!

Newfoundland

2006-08-31T09:14:00.000+08:00

After our trip to B.C., I went to Newfoundland with my family. It was my first time on the Rock and I have now officially been to every province (though no territories). Newfoundland was pretty much exactly how I pictured it. Cold; foggy; the locals talked funny; liked to drink; etc. The reason for the trip was half business and half pleasure. Mom and Jules went to the Atlantic Independent Booksellers fair and Dad and I cruised around the outskirts of St. John's. It was a great time. I schmoozed with some book publishers and caught up with my agent, who says she still has faith in me. It was an excellent trip.

We went whale watching and saw a bunch of whales and puffins.

The houses in downtown St. John's are extremely cool. So colourful. This is a great picture Dad took (actually he took all of these). It's a picture of two guys fishing in Conception Bay. This is a lighthouse in Cape Spear (the easternmost point in North America).

We're Back Home

2006-08-30T12:29:00.000+08:00

Well, 1 car, 4 planes, 1 bus and 1 taxi later (Lindsay also likes to count the bus and train connections in Toronto and Chicago) we are back in Taiwan. It is such a long journey but it was good. Japan Airlines was excellent and the Air Canada flight from Toronto to Chicago was surprisingly okay too. The plane from Chicago to Tokyo was half full so I was able to sprawl out on four seats and sleep a lot of it. Now we are back in our apartment, sweating and cleaning up. I think it feels good to be back but I'm not sure yet. It was such a great summer in Canada...

Kelowna

2006-08-01T23:41:00.000+08:00

Hey guys,

As we mentioned before, we lost our camera and all our pictures from B.C. Thanks to Julie, we now have the Kelowna ones back. Here are a few:

Now, normally I'm quite indifferent towards babies and I don't usually pay too much attention to them. Not that I don't like them but you know. Anyway, there have always been exceptions to this and Jaida is certainly one. She is one of the cutest babies I've seen. She's always smiling and laughing and I didn't see her cry once (mind you she has a serious Cheerio addiction that should probably be dealt with). Anyway, I fell in love with her. Here's a picture of me giving Jaida her first guitar lesson. It took some time and patience but by the end, this eight month old could play Knockin' On Heaven's Door.

Trey Anastasio once said: Hammy's in the kitchen, the Captain's still in bed (at least that's what it sounds like he's saying). There's a half truth to this. The Captain certainly likes sleeping in but I've never seen Hammy cook a meal in my life. Anyway, here's the aforementioned pair swimming in Okanagan Lake.
Here's Jimi and Jaida. Jimi is drunk and Jaida has a Communist-style cap on. I love it! And here's a picture of the two lovely ladies. We are at a party outside of Kelowna. The deck overlooks the lake and that little white dot is the moon. It was very beautiful but the party turned into a late night which resulted in me being embarassingly hungover the next day (while everyone was eating steak and caeser, I was in the bathroom with my head in the toilet).

So there's a bit of a recap. The rest of the trip was great too and all our hosts were perfect. If there's any other pictures floating around, I'd love to see them (Jonny, do you have any good ones? Calhoun, did we take any photos? I don't think we did). Anyway, I'll talk to you all later.

Geoff

We are home...but there is no evidence!!

2006-07-24T10:29:00.000+08:00

Yes, we are back for another great summer in Canada. We've already been to BC for 12 days, Geoff's been to Newfoundland, and I've been to PEI, but we have lost our camera along to way and have no pictures to prove it.

Thanks so much to all our friends and family in BC for being such great hosts and hostesses. We had such a great time visiting with everyone. Now, because of the camera mishap, we are asking you to send any and all pictures you have of our time there to Geoff's email account. That would be awesome!!

It is definitly a busy summer, but we hope to see everyone before we take off again.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!!

Great Weekend

2006-06-27T01:11:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone,

Summer is almost here. Actually, it is here. Taiwan is having some of the hottest weather I've ever experienced. I am constantly soaked in sweat, as our apartment has no air conditioning. But I can't really complain about hot weather, since I have gone without it most of my life. This past weekend was busy and lots of fun. I had two different gigs with two different bands. I've been extremely busy with music lately. It's been fantastic.

Here's a picture from Friday night. Newt and the Slacks played at a bar called 89K. We played very well but it was mostly for Taiwanese guys watching the World Cup and paying no attention to us. This is during one of our songs called: You guessed it, The Devil.

This shot is from Peace Fest, a music festival in Longtan. It's with a band called Militant Hippi. Very fun show. It was a little sloppy on our part but the crowd loved it and were dancing for our whole set.

I feel like an egotist putting this one on but it's such a great shot. Lindsay took it and the smoke in the background looks cool. I'm still relatively new to the music scene. Smoke machines still excite me.
And look who showed up. Met up with Nicki about a half hour after the Militant Hippi set. He missed it unfortunately. But it was great seeing him and the night was still young at that point. Ended up partying till five in the morning and all through the next day.
I actually emailed this shot to Vice Magazine today. Is this guy serious? Absolutely every article of clothing he has on is ridiculous. The shirt is priceless, as are the jeans, but check out those rubber boots. And I believe he has a pink scarf tucked into his little shirt as well. I mean, come on.

There's a little update for you. Lindsay and I will be in B.C. in less than a week and in N.B. not too long after.

see you soon,
Geoff

Who'll Stop the Rain?

2006-06-09T22:53:00.000+08:00

June and July in Taiwan is the rainy season. It rains continuously every day for weeks on end. Sometimes it lets up for a bit but then it comes crashing down again. The hardest rain I've ever seen. The picture above is a major street in Taichung. The brown part in the upper half of the photo is basically a river of mud flowing down the road. It gets very depressing and frustrating.

Anytime I go out on my scooter I get drenched and come home soaked. My wet clothes are hanging all over the house. On the way to school today, a road was unexpectedly washed out and we had to take another route, which in turn made us late. During the drive, I deejayed from the iPod, all songs about rain (Who'll Stop the Rain by CCR, Rain Down On Me by Blue Rodeo, November Rain by Guns 'n Roses and Dry the Rain by the Beta Band. That was as far as I got but I feel a good compilation CD coming on. Jimi, are you reading this?) And of course, events get cancelled. This Friday I had a gig in Kaoshung with Newt and the Slacks then the following day, the other band I'm in, Militant Hippi, were playing at a Peace Festival up north in a place called Longtan. One was cancelled and one was postponed. So I'm sitting here right now on a Friday night in front of my computer. I don't even want to leave the house.

If all this rain has done anything, it's made me start thinking about summer. I can't wait to be home and have been trying to make some plans. Evolve looks great and so does the Shoreline Festival. I'll be home on July 12 or 13 or something - just in time for the Wilco show at the Playhouse. Then I'll be going to Newfoundland with my family for a few days. Newfoundland is the only province I've never been too and I'm very excited.

For the first ten days of July we will be in B.C. Our tentative plan is this: July 1st in Vancouver, July 2nd and 3rd in Saltspring Island, July 4th, 5th, 6th in Victoria, July 7th, 8th and 9th in Kelowna and then July 10th, 11th and 12th back in Vancouver. I hope you guys are around. I'll email you soon and maybe we can start planning some stuff.

Looking forward to seeing everyone,
Geoff

P.S. Si, I hope you don't mind me using your song title method for my subject.

Penghu Island

2006-06-01T00:21:00.000+08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to do something very cool. One of the bands I play in, Militant Hippi, got a gig in a place called the Penghu Islands. On the above map, they are the islands to the west called Pescadores (I have never heard that name for the islands before but it's the only good map I could find). It's not an easy place to get to.

I got work off Friday and Stefan the guitarist, his girlfriend and I (Lindsay stayed in Taichung) took off to catch the ferry at 6:00AM. We met up with the rest of the band Paul, Dong-Yang and Michael and headed off to Chiayi where the ferry was supposed to leave from. It was a beautiful day, no wind at all but when we got there the ferry service had been cancelled because of a typhoon that had blown through a couple of days before (why it wasn't running that day, I have no idea). So we sped down to Kaoshung where there was another company had a ferry service. It wasn't running either (must have been a coast guard decision or something - no boats at all on this clear, beautiful day). We didn't think we were even going to make it but we eventually went to the airport as a last resort. All seats were booked but we ended up flying stand-by.

It was my closest experience or at least a tiny little nibble at what being a famous musician on tour would be like. A guy picked us up at the airport, and took us to a house he had rented out for us for the weekend. Then we get to the concert and it's on the waterfront for this fireworks festival the town was having. The stage was huge (as of now, I have no pictures. Lindsay owns the digital camera. But I will hopefully get some off Michael). There wasn't many people when we started playing and you can't really see out into the audience when the lights are on you but after our first set, I look out and there must have been two thousand people there. It was awesome. Don't get me wrong, there weren't groupies throwing bras up on stage or anything. In fact, it would be the equivalent of playing a Canada gig in a park back home or something. There were families, old people, kids, town drunks, etc. in the crowd. But cool nonetheless.

The rest of the weekend we played a couple of bar gigs. Everyone on the island seemed to dig our sound and the funny thing is, is that we are a very new band. We only had four songs and weren't prepared for this show at all. But I would start some bass riff or Stefan the guitarist would launch into a groove and everyone would join in and Michael and Paul would start singing gibberish (they can't understand English so it doesn't matter) and it all came together. We pulled it out of thin air and basically have six or eight new songs now. So that's that. There's some more gigs lined up in the next couple of months and I can't wait.

On Sunday, Michael and I flew back to Kaoshung and picked up the car. Our car, which isn't in great shape, always overheats and we constantly need to fill up the thing (radiator thingy?) with water. So in the parking lot of the airport I open the hood, take off the cap and fill it up with water. Then we are on our way. About twenty minutes into the drive, on the number 1 highway - the busiest highway on the island, the car starts to shake and I can't accelerate anymore. So I start to pull over to the side and as I'm doing so, it stalls. I put it in park and get out. Open the hood and there's smoke everywhere and there's water spurting out of the radiator thingy...and next to all that is the cap. I had forgotten to put the damn thing on! Not a good thing to do and I will never do it again. I fried some part of the engine and water mixed with the oil. It ended up costing 15000NT (about 500 bucks) and it took four days to fix. Michael and I had to take the train home.

So my first big concert was an expensive one. But it was worth every penny ... or NT, I guess I should say.

Geoff

Crosstown Traffic

2006-05-16T15:18:00.000+08:00

If you are driving up the main street of Chingshui, Taiwan and come to one of the major intersections before hitting Dajia, look up and guess what you will see? Yours truly. Pretty funny stuff. That's me. Third one over. Dressed in a tie, teaching chemistry to three good-looking students in a pagoda with my tall, blonde colleague, Krysta. There's no false advertising going on here at all. I do this everyday.

Dancing Into My 30th Year...

2006-04-24T19:16:00.000+08:00

I had my 29th birthday this month, and what a time it was!! The weekend of my birthday, some friends had a BBQ, but the weekend after it was a day of shopping and a night of booty shakin' in the capital, Taipei. There were 10 of us.....

We stayed at The Hope Hotel. Check out the short time option. I think people stay there in "hopes" of a good time, not a long time...Ha!

After an evening of poker and primping, we went to a club called The Luxy to dance the night away. We were lucky enough to be on the guestlist...it's just the way we roll ;-)
And there's the birthday girl herself...gold shoes and all! Thank you ladies, for a fantastic night.

Spring Scream

2006-04-05T13:02:00.000+08:00

Every year, Taiwan has a big music festival called Spring Scream. Last year I went and it was awesome. This year, I actually had the chance to play at it. It was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. My friend Neil (pictured above with the guitar to the left) is an amazing singer/songwriter. He has recorded an album and has toured Canada. A couple of weeks ago, he asked my roommate Phil and I to back him up for his gig at Spring Scream. His stage name is Newt and Phil and I are now his back up band called The Slacks (think slackers, not pants and it's a pretty good name).

It was my first time playing a big show with lights, a soundman, an audience of more than twenty or thirty people, etc. Though I was nervous beforehand, the show went extremely well. The foreigners and the Taiwanese all seemed to dig our sound and it could be the start of bigger and better things. Thanks to everyone who came out and supported us. It was a great night of music.

Geoff

Congrats to My Favorite Couple

2006-03-26T11:56:00.000+08:00

Congradulations to my good friends, Rachel and Kyle, who are getting married in May in Cuba. I wish we could be there for the festivities. Can't you tell why we're such good friends?

Sepia Effects

2006-03-10T19:04:00.000+08:00

Not quite the Red Lantern us Northside Frederictonians are used to.....

Our Adventure Continues...more Sri Lanka pix

2006-03-04T11:20:00.000+08:00

One of the many dagobas (temple) we visited at the beginning of our trip. Again, so many stairs!
This was taken at the top of a great hike we did to a place called World's End. Just behind us is a drop of about 880 meters. It was so divers...the hike started with some massive plains, had this place at the top and ended with some very cool waterfalls. We did the entire thing in about 3 hours, all before 11am. Can you believe that Geoff was awake that early??? Notice we were dressed in pants and long sleeves. It was freezing in the hill country and neither of us had enough warm clothes. By the end of the hike we were down to short sleeves, but for the entire time we were in the hills we were absolutly freezing!!
I saw this guy while waiting for the train into the moutains and tea plantations. Just a cool shot.
This is Raja. He and his friend, Daya, were great guys who took great care of us. He took us on the World's End hike from above, and drove us to the south. Some very genuine people.

Best Of...(first installment)

2006-02-24T18:30:00.000+08:00

Here is the first taste of our 3-weeks in Sri Lanka. Despite the country's terrible luck, be it civil unrest or the tsunami, this country has everything to offer. What a fantastic place!

Best sunset, hands down. I wouldn't say that Sri Lanka is best known for its sunsets, but we lucked out with this one. Picture us sitting behind the camera after a day on the beach, beer in hand. Ahhh!

We took a tuk-tuk from the beach into Galle City one day to get some cash. The driver stopped at his friend's market stand. Look at these colours!!

This is the best hike we did. An ancient king built his summer kingdom on the top of this rock - Lion's Rock. It was more than 1200 steps to the top. You can imagine the view of the jungles below.

Aren't these two adorable?? We went to an elephant orphanage one afternoon before we caught the train through the mountains and tea plantations. Elephants (young and old) that’ve been hurt or abandoned are brought here. We hung out with them while they ate, followed them to the river, and watched them play in the water. Very cool!!

Dos and Don'ts

2006-02-20T20:17:00.000+08:00

One of my favourite things to do while traveling is people watching. We are all so different throughout the world. What one person might find peculiar or funny, another may not. Certainly when it comes to fashion, I'm no expert. Though I've traded in jeans for khakis and cords, I still wear many t-shirts and don't think about what I'm going to wear on a given day until I get out of the shower. Also for most of my life, women (starting off with my mother and then girlfriends) have bought me clothes and dressed me (though not physically). Having said that, I thought I'd do my own little fashion Dos and Don'ts from our trip to Sri Lanka.

Up first is one of the coolest women we encountered. She was at an elephant orphanage in a village called Pinnewala. Besides the funky sari, she had these crazy big glasses, that looked straight out of some 70s B-movie. We followed her around and took many paparazzi style shots.

Now a comb-over would normally make the Don't list but this guy wore it with such confidence and bravado that I had to take a picture. This is how cool he looked after just waking up from an afternoon siesta. Imagine how good he looks when he actually puts some time and effort into it.

Which brings us to the Don'ts. For a hairstyle that has been so widely and openly ridiculed as the mullet, what can I really say about it? This guy's mullet is perfect and the way he has his hands up in a 'hey, check this out' manner while chatting up the girl is even better. Lindsay zoomed in and snapped this little gem during breakfast one morning in a beach town called Hikkaduwa.

Last but not least. Perhaps, the most disturbing of them all. How one fashion (i.e. Speedo wearing) can become ten - no a hundred times - worse by simply adding a t-shirt is beyond me. This guy was casually having his lunch, reading the paper and sipping coffee one table away from me. I couldn't concentrate. I wasn't sure if I should find him funny or scary. Did he indeed have a Speedo on under that t-shirt? What, besides his bare ass, was also resting on that innocent wooden chair? A chair that I had been sitting on, myself, only a few hours prior? Thankfully I didn't see him again and since suffering through this traumatic experience, and despite photographic evidence, have pretended that it was all just a bad dream.

till next time,
Geoff

Back home...

2006-02-12T20:00:00.000+08:00

Hey everybody,

We're back home in Taiwan after traveling for over 24 hours. Left Colombo late Friday night and arrived in Taichung late Saturday night. In between were 3 flights, 3 cities (Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei), 3 long cab rides and one long, cold bus ride. Traveling is very exhausting. We'll write later with some pictures of our trip ...

Geoff and Lindsay

Si inspired...

2006-01-19T16:35:00.000+08:00

Dear Simon,

There's nothing more I like than cheese. Seeing that album cover of Eddie Murphy on you website brought much joy into my heart. So I went hunting for some of my favourites and even found a few new favourites. The front-runner, is Hasselhoff. First of all, anything this guy does is cheese. Second of all, he really does suck. How the guy became a superstar is beyond me. Second up is Michael Bolton. I just found this gem. Man, that hair is terrible. And look at that outfit. I can't wait for the eighties to come back. Third. Who knew? Eddie Murphy has two albums. I don't know which one is worse. Fourth: Whitesnake. Actually, now that I look at it again, it could be the best album cover of all time. A naked woman humping a giant snake. Fifth: Bobby Weir. The cheeseman pulls it off everytime. And sixth: wait. How did that get in there?

Only 4 sleeps until....

2006-01-18T22:09:00.000+08:00

Sri Lanka!!

Pakistan Earthquake Benefit show at the Frog Pub

2006-01-16T23:21:00.000+08:00

Another year, another benefit show. Last year the Double Standard had their first gig here raising money for tsunami victims. This year, our new band called Brain Curtains (tentative name) played their first gig to raise money for earthquake victims in Pakistan. The first picture is us playing Neil Young's Out on the Weekend. The second picture is me playing a song (I Know You Rider) with a band called The Soilers. Next picture is a couple of groupies who kept trying to get backstage. And the final picture is self-explanatory. That's a damn cute dog sitting at the bar.

Youth in Asia - Part 2

2006-01-16T23:11:00.000+08:00

For the second year in a row, I formed a band with my students for the Christmas show. Last year we did Linkin Park. This year (I'm the only returning member of Youth in Asia) we did Green Day's Boulevard of Broken Dreams and a Chinese tune called Blue Eyes. We blew the roof off the place...

Postcard from Taiwan

2006-01-04T20:23:00.000+08:00

Shin Ying Quai Le!

Happy New Year from Taiwan. Things are going smoothly over here. It seems like winter is over, as we haven't had a cold day in about two weeks. In about three weeks time, Lindsay and I are taking off for Bangkok and then Sri Lanka for Chinese New Year. We land in Colombo at two in the morning. Should be interesting.
Xmas here was good. We ate and drank a lot. New Years was the same, minus the food. These two bozos in the picture were supposed to come down to Taichung but, alas, they never did. It was a great night, nonetheless.
I hope all is well with everyone and that the festivities in F'ton were good. I've been a little slack in the keeping in touch department but I will try to be better in the future. That's my new year's resolution along with playing my bass higher.

that's all for now,
clau

P.S. Si, if you ask me, anyone who laughs at a pair of Zubaz pants is an idiot.

Want a ticket to the gun show?

2005-12-30T21:25:00.000+08:00

Saw this little gem when we were helping Santa buy a bass for Geoff.

Quote of the Year...

2005-12-30T21:18:00.000+08:00

"My imagination is extinguished when I see him dig his nose hole."

Princess Summer Shih
SH 3 student
Chia Yang High School

Still the latest...Luciano Pavaroti

2005-12-30T20:59:00.000+08:00

We had the chance to see Pavaroti during his last Asian stop on his last tour ever (for only $30 can). Apparently he's good friends with the Mayor in Taichung. Not a great pic, but it's really him...all 500lbs. of him. He's so big, he had to sit the entire time, and he still sounded amazing! It rained a bit at the beginning, hence all the yellow raincoats.

The Latest...

2005-12-30T20:36:00.000+08:00

A beautiful Taichung sunset. It's amazing the effect the smog has...

Oh My Buddha!

I've been trying for an hour to put more than these pictures on all together, but I can't seem to be able to. Here is the first instalement of the latest...

Merry Christmas!

2005-12-24T13:54:00.000+08:00

Hey Everyone,

This is my first attempt at posting something on the site Lindsay made us. The guy on the right, as you may already know, is Santa Claus. The other, as you might not know, is the security guard at our apartment building. As you can see, we are all getting into the spirit of the yuletide season. For a second year, we will be having a green (actually there's no green in Taiwan) - maybe a grey and brown - Christmas. Today is Christmas Eve and it's quite nice. 13 degrees and beautiful bluish-grey skies (from the smog not rain) to go for a scooter ride into the mountains (which I'm about to do). I hope you all have a good holiday wherever you are.

Merry Christmas,
Geoff and (though she's not with me right now) Lindsay

Kidz Day - we are good samaritans

2005-12-11T11:06:00.000+08:00

Kidz Day is a Christmas party for orphans all over Taiwan. Our school had a couple of craft booths and Geoff's band played.

Geoff is playing bass...his new instrument of choice.

A Weekend Away - Kenting

2005-12-08T19:28:00.000+08:00

The Ladies....Nicki, Lindsay and Tara

South-Eastern Coast, on our way to a surf beach
Ahhh! A tea by the sea...
Driving up the coast. What a view!
Some good Chinglish
The Boys...Jami, Geoff and Chris (he's 6'10!!)

A Few Pics...

2005-12-01T18:39:00.000+08:00

I love a man with a guitar!

Four on a scooter...an everyday sight! I once saw a family of 5 and a dog!

Ready for the open road...

2005-12-01T17:41:00.000+08:00

The handsome couple.

Hello Everyone!

2005-12-01T17:22:00.000+08:00

I'm new at this, but I think it's awesome. An easy way for everyone to see what's going on with us. Enjoy...