April Loves

For once I organized a birthday party for myself last Wednesday (April 22). Here's one of the photos taken by my good friend EC. (You can see the album on my Facebook)

Birthday was always a quiet occasion for me. When I was growing up, April was crunch time for exams or term papers, so it's a surprise when a few friends called or sent a message. In recent years I've spent it with lovers, and at times on my own. It didn't bother me at all. There're bigger things to feel self-important about, like if you finally make a movie or if I publish a book.

This year I decided to distract myself by bringing some friends together. Through their sparks I relived the days I'd passed, the coincidences and thoughts that had brought to this place. Everything was a surprise when I saw it from that perspective. Even small gifts stunned me--where did all this generosity come from?






















Cedric Folliot from France. Cedric is a good friend of my friend Julien, filmmaker and artist in Paris. Cedric is on this year-long trip around the world with a friend (on absolute backpackers' budget), and they came by Hong Kong for a week before bumbling for 2 months around China. It'd be interesting to hear about their adventures in Chinese provinces where no one speaks English and the locals would most likely glare at them and walk off.

Knowing Cedric the way I do though--over Cantonese dinners and desserts, late-night drinks and fun/animated conversations--I believed he will do splendidly in China. Sometimes all you need is a curious mind (jumping into the sea despite gloomy weather), a laid-back attitude ("I'm cool with whatever is cool with you"), and good laughs.

* * *

In other news, I was interviewed by Ryan Manning for Thunk. Read it here.

Apparently it's a series of interviews with writers (mostly in US, I'd think). Like I said in my answer to the last question: when/how did I come to have anything to do with anyone out there?

The strangest thing is, of course, a piece of flash fiction I wrote too long ago has been accepted by a poetry journal in US. It's supposed to be out in June, but don't believe what those literary journals say...