Some interesting manikins caught my eye in the clothing department of Emporium, tonight.  

Happy New Year! Spending the New Year right in the heart of Bangkok was quite an experience. There are fireworks sites all over the city, one was the building we look at from our living room and my office (see photo left of smoke between salvos) another was (I assumed the roof) of a friend’s…

One of the most confronting things about moving to Thailand, at least for an Aussie (and probably a Kiwi, too*) is the level of service that is provided everywhere. All of this service will be accompanied by much smiling and nodding and a Wai (the folded hands and nod) at the end – always, it…

A quick update, mostly for friends and family, on the flood situation as it pertains to us. Anonymous Car Concern has put the families of ICTs on notice that we might be requested to co-operate with being required to voluntarily temporarily repatriate, should the situation become more uncertain. (I’m not making up that language…) Seriously,…

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is an odd book which is kind of a stream of consciousness rant about the ways in which an artist struggles with what the author calls “Resistance.” That in itself is…

Happy New Year to all. I don’t usually make New Year resolutions but this year I do have one – a complex one but only one, nevertheless. This year, I resolve to work on not relating to the “Tales of Mere Existence – Project” video, embedded below.

I was a rebel for National Novel Writing Month, this year, albeit a tame one. Instead of starting a new novel, I used NaNo as an excuse/permission to put away a draft which was becoming a spaghetti bowl of potential plot threads and spend a month simply writing from the start again, knowing my characters…

The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield My rating: 2 of 5 stars This is an odd book which is kind of a stream of consciousness rant about the ways in which an artist struggles with what the author calls “Resistance.” That in itself is…

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a beautifully detailed portrait of a young love and marriage, corrupted by both the selfishness of a man and his mistress but also by every person, including his wife, who felt that somehow his genius, his work meant that different…

Moving to Thailand – Your 2nd Life Begins! by Mike Fook My rating: 3 of 5 stars Despite the cover, this book is not for sex-tourists, it will be useful for anyone who wants a quick run-down on how not to offend Thai’s or get into trouble, but also provides a positive, enthusiastic attitude toward…

WARNING: This post is highly specific to those moving to Thailand/Bangkok and potentially goes into far more detail about power sockets and power boards than many could understand anyone wanting – until they are faced with the pre-pack-preparation helplessness of the expat-wife before “the locusts” come which can only be assuaged by copious browsing of…

When we were first in Japan and met other expats I took to asking them what they had brought in their air shipment, at first as a conversation starter but I soon realised that the answers could be quite revealing. Whether an expat was an ICT (Inter-Company Transfer) with an air shipment (which is usually…

  I haven’t written much for a few weeks, partly because I’ve been reading a lot (I’m really enjoying reading “The Shadow of the Wind” for the local book club,) but also because I’d been having terrible RSI, particularly during/after #storycraft, which can move at a blistering pace. I’ve had a curved keyboard for a…

When we first moved to Japan, I reunited with a high school flame: photography, albeit digital. I was brought up with a Pentax SLR, and was lucky enough to have both a teacher at Primary School and an Aunt who showed me the magic of images appearing on wet, blank paper, at an early age…

The very first day we arrived in Nagoya, on our house-hunt a month before we moved there, a building just down from the main JR Station junction caught my eye with it’s stunning spiral lines. I was told that it had only just been finished and that, among other things, it housed the local design…

The last few days, I’ve been playing with a little desktop photo processing toy which I discovered through one of the photography blogs I follow. It’s called Camera Bag and it’s a hoot! I believe it began as an iPhone app but it is now available for both Mac and PC desktops. Essentially, it applies…

Happy New Year to all. I don’t usually make New Year resolutions but this year I do have one – a complex one but only one, nevertheless. This year, I resolve to work on not relating to the “Tales of Mere Existence – Project” video, embedded below.

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a beautifully detailed portrait of a young love and marriage, corrupted by both the selfishness of a man and his mistress but also by every person, including his wife, who felt that somehow his genius, his work meant that different…

I lifted my head from writing my novel, today, to find that Christopher Hitchens had died. There are few people in this world who hold themselves to the same standards as they hold others, even fewer who do it publicly in the genuine hope that they might help to better society, Christopher Hitchens was one…