河國榮, An Aussie in Hong Kong

Manufacturing leaving China?

Wed, 23 Mar 2011 08:35:00 +0800

Didn't see that coming, but should have! Foxconn is apparently planning to build a new factory in Brazil to build Apple products. The Chinese source article sites transportation costs as the reason for the move, but one can not discount the possibility that labour costs in China have now escalated too much to be competitive with other developing nations.

In Hong Kong, we've been hearing about the increasing costs of labour and the associated labour-protective contracts that must be signed. Now, we're beginning to see real effects of this.

Improved antenna, 4-inch screen, NFC e-wallet rumored for Apple's iPhone 5

China Times also noted that strong demand for Apple products, particularly the iPhone and iPad, has prompted Apple's manufacturing partner, Foxconn, to plan a new facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was said that the new plant will be specifically to build Apple products, and production will start in 2013.

iPhone 5 第3季現身

此外，為了解決美洲市場運輸考量並分散生產據點，外電指出，鴻海計劃在巴西聖保羅（Sao Paulo）市北方約60公里處的 Jundiai 市再度興建廠房，專門為蘋果代工產品，並計劃於2013年開始投產。目前富士康在 Jundiai 市擁有兩座廠房，分別為Sony、惠普（HP）組裝產品。

Status Update (10 Feb 2011)

Thu, 10 Feb 2011 12:00:00 +0800

I've been home for a week since 「中國皇后號」 finished, and I've been able to spend more time with my wife and the kids. The Chinese New Year holiday was pleasant. We don't 拜年 as much as many other people in Hong Kong, but we did manage to happily 拜年 with a few family members and friends.

Work on my web site redesign continues in the background. The specs have been finished and we're now working on the graphic design. It won't be flashy. I prefer simple and elegant. And there won't be any Flash content in the site because I've determined that the site must be iOS compatible.

Work on my new album is also continuing. My voice is not ready to record anything, but there's music to arrange, album covers and inserts to design, and content to write for the insert. This can all be done irrespective of my voice's condition. When my voice is eventually ready to record, we'll record, mix and master the album, and release it accordingly. I'm not a pop star and I don't have a pop star singing voice, so it'll require quite a bit of homework to produce something that I can feel comfortable with releasing.

In the meantime, I'm going to visit my parents in Gympie Australia for a couple of weeks to see how they're going. It'll also give my voice a chance to further relax and recuperate after performing at full voice without a microphone on stage for close to eight weeks (I used full voice from the very beginning of rehearsals to give my voice a chance to build strength for the live performance). I'll restart vocal training with my favourite vocal coach Peisha McPhee after I return, and we'll see how things go from there.

Fortunately, all of our kids are now in good health. Two of them had bladder infections, and after six weeks of antibiotics, that has been cured. Another tried to catch a hornet in his mouth and was awarded a swollen snout for his efforts. Five days of anti-histamine medication allowed him to survive that incident. Hopefully, he won't try to repeat the exercise. It's comforting to see them all in good health, especially after losing Beethoven. And it means that I can visit my parents in Australia without having to worry about the kids.

Cheers all.

「中國皇后號」 Last words.

Fri, 04 Feb 2011 21:00:00 +0800

Just over one year ago, I was approached by a very nice gentleman at the HKREP to meet for a cup of coffee. They were planning a new stage play which involved Caucasian actors, one of which would need to speak significant amounts of Cantonese dialog. With 20 years of Cantonese television and five Cantonese stage productions behind me, I was perhaps their best hope. It was in the coffee shop at the Sheraton Hotel that I met with this gentleman and the script writer/director Sister Joanna.

Very little happened in that short meeting. It was a quick conversation and I was treated to a great plate of Fish & Chips. There were implied promises but nothing more. A short while later, I helped the HKREP to take publicity photos for "The Empress of China" and then heard nothing from them until October of 2010 when my part in the play was finally confirmed.

Rehearsals began in December, and it was a very tough eight weeks. Days into rehearsals, our beloved Beethoven was taken ill with Acute Pancreatitis, and we lost him several days later. Later in rehearsals, issues developed at home that complicated life for a while. Then in mid January, I became ill myself with the flu and fever. Unfortunately, my role was extremely challenging and I couldn't afford to take time off from rehearsals, so I attended even with my fever. After just a few shows at City Hall, our helper's father died and we had to send her home so that she could get the care she needed from her family, so the kids became my morning responsibility. Fortunately, our shows were all afternoon or evening shows, so I had time to look after them and take them for their walks.

The shows themselves were challenging. As an actor speaking in a language learnt as an adult, my dialog was challenging. I was speaking words and grammar that I had never used in my entire life. When you're filming tv or film, you can make mistakes and re-record, but when you're on stage, that's not an option, so the pressure was real. However, I was fortunate to be able to complete all of our shows without any significant mistakes, and I enjoyed almost every single show we performed.

As I've stated in previous posts, we had a special group of people involved in this play, a group of more than 25 actors including seven Caucasians. We had different attitudes, different techniques, different lifestyles and different roles, and yet we all respected each other and worked together extremely well. And we all had one important trait; we all respected the work and worked very hard to be the best we could be right up to the very last show, irrespective of our role in the play.

"The Empress of China" is now over, but it will always be one of the most significant highlights of my life.

「中國皇后號」 A Photo

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 16:00:00 +0800

The HKREP was kind enough to give me permission to post this photo from our final dress rehearsal. I hope you like it. The handsome man on the right is one of our guest actors from New York, Andrei Drooz.

「中國皇后號」 Our last day in Sheung Wan, and flooding in my home town of Gympie, Qld.

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0800

We spent our last day rehearsing for The Empress of China in Sheung Wan today. After a break, we'll begin technical rehearsals in City Hall on Wednesday.

After two full run-throughs today while still recovering from the flu, I'm feeling extremely tired, but nothing can prevent me from checking the flood status in my home town of Gympie in Queensland where my parents still live.

Gympie is rather unique. The Mary River is the source of flooding there, and the river bank separating the larger Eastern side of Gympie is quite high, so the Mary River needs to rise significantly to flood to the East. Unfortunately, once it gets that high, it's like watching water run out of a full bathtub with the taps turned on, and the flooding can be severe. Main Street is definitely in trouble, again!

With rain predicted to continue for several days yet, and the ground already completely soaked, deeper flooding is almost guaranteed.

Fortunately, my parents live in a very high area of Gympie, and they're still reachable by phone and internet.

「中國皇后號」 The Flu and Double Run-throughs!

Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:00:00 +0800

The weather is cooler now. I don't know if it's the sudden weather change or if it's the air conditioning on the MTR (which for anyone over 6' tall can be a big problem) but I picked up a serious flu bug several days ago. By Tuesday afternoon, I could feel the flu hallmarks of nasal swelling, exhaustion and muscle pain all over. With so little time left until we perform for the public, I didn't want to risk not recovering quickly and dashed off to see my favourite doctor.

I was a little surprised to discover that I was feverish! I shouldn't have been surprised because I had been experiencing hot and cold all day long; i.e., my body's thermostat was out of wack. My doctor prescribed the best medicine he could (not all medicines are created equal) and suggested that I take one or two days off rehearsals to recover. I shook my head in response to indicate that taking time off would not be an option. There was still so much to work on in the play and so little time left to do it in.

So I spent two days; perhaps three; rehearsing with a fever, all the while keeping everyone else on the cast at least an arm's length away from me, and not talking unless I absolutely had to. Sneezing and coughing were simply not permitted! Not that that helped much. As my doctor indicated to me, the recent sudden cold snap combined with the high pollution levels in Hong Kong has led to a great many people coming down with the flu, including several on our cast.

I'm getting better, but to be extra safe, I revisited my doctor yesterday and he agreed that I would need a second course of medicine to be sure of full recovery, with a few small changes to the medicine just in case I'm dealing with more than one type of bug.

Fortunately, we have this weekend off so I can relax; physically at least; and recover more before returning to rehearsals next week.

Next week! Ah... fun! Double full run-throughs every day except Tuesday. It will be tiring without a doubt. On Wednesday, we move rehearsals to the City Hall theatre where we'll remain until the last show on Jan 31. With double run-throughs daily, next week will probably be the most taxing week in our 8-week period together. Once the show goes live, work will be relatively light weight, with double run-throughs only occurring four times during the two weeks that we'll be performing.

I have just checked with URBIX, and have found that tickets have sold very quickly for most of the shows. There are still reasonable selections available for the last three shows but they might not last long.

Well I'm off to get a little warm sun on our porch while going over the various scenes of the play in my head ;-)

Cheers all.

「中國皇后號」 Less than two weeks to go!

Mon, 03 Jan 2011 23:00:00 +0800

Less than two weeks to go.

We, the family at the Hong Kong Repertory Theatre, have been working hard on the new bilingual play 中國皇后號 for almost five weeks. During this time, my wife and I personally suffered a loss in the family with the passing of Beethoven; another actress in the group spent several days visiting her grandfather in the hospital; and yet another actress sadly lost her father just this morning.

Despite the losses and emotional hits, we have all continued to work hard on the play, which has presented us with multiple challenges due to its unique structure, something I think audiences will find very interesting.

It's great to be working with so many talented people including members of the HKREP, caucasian actors living locally in Hong Kong, and of course those wonderful actors from New York. Everyone is talented and dedicated to being the best they can irrespective of their role in the play. I was especially delighted by the local Caucasian actors. One, of Irish decent, speaks fluent Spanish (one of the languages I'm learning) is excellent with accents and quite a character to be around. Another is a professional voice actor and can readily produce multiple voices all of great quality. Yet another is simply a fun guy to be around and to watch on stage. And every one of the Caucasian actors; both local and from New York; have incredible voices, voices that will ring free through the City Hall theatre when we perform there from January 15.

But the most interesting person in the group is definitely the director. Sister Joanna 陳尹瑩 is intelligent, demanding, experienced and gracious. She is knowledgeable in many things including so many things not related to the stage. It has been an honour to work with her, and I mean this from my heart. She's a very special lady.

More later. I need to shower and sleep now so that I can continue to work hard refining my bilingual role in "The Empress of China" tomorrow ;-)

Friendly reminder. Tickets are available now from all Urbtix outlets.

Merry Christmas (2010)

Mon, 27 Dec 2010 00:48:00 +0800

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, spending time with family and friends.

For us, it wasn't a merry Christmas, having lost Beethoven only less than three weeks ago. Having just lost someone special, the joyfulness of the season only accentuates the sorrow. Between Beethoven and a busy rehearsal schedule for the new The Empress of China play, there were no decorations at home, no Christmas tree, and strangely no gifts either. (Sadly, my sister in Australia is mourning the recent loss of two of their 'kids'; one to kidney failure, the other to insect sting complications. I feel for her.)

But it wasn't a total loss. For the first time in a month, I had two and a half days free to spend with my family and we made the most of it. Today, we even took nine of our kids up the (smallish) mountain beside our village here in Clear Water Bay which we haven't done in three or four years. One or two of the kids will be in arthritic discomfort tomorrow, but with pain relief and exercise management, they'll be fine. They loved the walk and that's what counts.

Beethoven's departure reminded us that the kids' time with us is a limited luxury, something that needs to be treasured. His departure also reminded us that we need to take more photos and movies, and that's what we did today; at least until the camera battery ran out of juice!

For most people here in Hong Kong, tomorrow is a public holiday. For me however, it's back to work. With only three weeks until our play goes live at City Hall in Central, we have to make the most of the time we have, to be the best we can.

Once again, Merry Christmas everyone.

Goodbye dear friend

Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:00:00 +0800

My best friend has left us.

Yesterday while working in China, my wife called from the hospital to say that Beethoven was in a very bad way, and that he might not last much longer. Fortunately, our work in China had to stop earlier than planned, and I rushed back to Hong Kong to the hospital in Mong Kok.

Beethoven looked restful and relatively calm when I saw him. The hospital had increased his pain relief and he was feeling better. My wife had stayed with him all day and was extremely exhausted. I suggested that she return home while I stayed with Beethoven through the night. At the time, I felt he still had a chance of recovery.

For almost two hours, I lied on the floor next to him, looking into his eyes and reassuring him. His breathing was calm and relatively normal. It was a companionship, an experience that I'll treasure. But then at around 2:30 in the morning, he became restless and began complaining about pain again. The pain became so intolerable that without regard for his weak state, he stood up and vocalised his fear and distress, understanding that his condition was very very dire. I held him and tried to calm him while asking the doctor to increase his pain relief, but while the doctor was injecting more pain relief and a sedative to relax him, he suddenly had a heart attack and was no longer with us. The pain had simply been too much for him. He died at 3am.

I now know a lot about pancreatitis. I wish I didn't, but I do. Reflecting in the early hours this morning after saying our goodbyes, my wife and I came to realise that Beethoven may have been suffering from mild chronic pancreatitis for several months. But if vets find it difficult to spot and diagnose acute pancreatitis, how could normal people like ourselves diagnose mild chronic pancreatitis? It's an unfortunate calamity and I keep wishing that I could roll back time and make things right.

When Beethoven was a pup, he belonged to a neighbour. For whatever reason though, he chose to visit us daily and be with us. He chose us, and for that, I'll be eternally grateful. He was a wonderful friend and I'll never forget him.

R.I.P. 貝多芬.

(A very big 'thank you' to the doctors and staff at the Pets Central clinic in Mong Kok. You people were absolutely wonderful.)

Babysitting Beethoven

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 22:21:00 +0800

I'm feeling very tired.

Monday night, I took Beethoven to the 24-hour vet clinic in Mong Kok at one in the morning. I didn't get much sleep that night.

Yesterday before lunch, I was able to bring Beethoven home. He hadn't recovered fully but he seemed chirpier than the night before. The saline drip had definitely helped him. Unfortunately, he was still weak and refused to eat or drink. Last night, I watched him carefully, considering every minute whether to take him back to the hospital. His breathing was heavy and a little quick. I didn't get much sleep last night either.

Around midday today, I recorded Beethoven's breathing at home and showed the video to our friendly vet in Sai Kung. He indicated that the laboured breathing was not a good sign, and we rushed home to take Beethoven back to the hospital.

He's there now. We spent a few hours with him there after the drip had been reattached, and watched him perk up quite a bit as his breathing slowly improved. Unfortunately, he's not out of the woods yet. We need to find out why he's sick before it kills him. Tonight, the hospital will be doing an ultrasound on his lower body to check his organs. They'll call me to tell me whether they find anything. I'm hoping that they find something that can be fixed. That'd be nice, but we have to wait and see.

To complicate things, I begin full-day rehearsals tomorrow morning for the upcoming bi-lingual play 「中國皇后號」 performed by the H.K.R.E.P. Since my wife and I won't be home during the day for the rest of the week, we've decided that Beethoven is going to stay on a drip in the hospital to keep him stable until we know more about his condition, or until he begins to eat again.

But his condition worries me a lot. When dogs get sick, they can leave us very very quickly. I'll be visiting Beethoven at the hospital tomorrow morning before I head off to rehearsals in Sheung Wan. Hopefully, he'll look better. We can only hope...

Beethoven Hospitalised

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 22:00:00 +0800

One of our 'kids' is in hospital.

Beethoven follows me everywhere when I'm at home. At night before I go to bed, if I get up from my computer desk and move toward the bathroom, he notices and gets up to follow me within seconds. Except for last night.

Last night, I moved toward the bathroom and Beethoven didn't move. It wasn't until I came out of the bathroom that I noticed he hadn't followed me. I snapped by fingers which is usually enough to indicate to him that I'm going to bed, and he still didn't budge, so I examined him closer.

His body was colder than normal. His eyes were a little dull and drooping. His body posture was unusual, and his breathing was rapid. His tail wagged very slowly. If I asked more demandingly that he get up and come over to me, he would but it was a difficult and slow walk. Everything indicated a severe decrease in energy. One of the kids had thrown up their dinner moments before, but I couldn't be sure if it was Beethoven or someone else.

Our kids are normally very resilient. They get bodily injuries and they recover. They get the occasional sneeze but it never lasts long. They eat something that doesn't agree with them and they'll either throw it up, or eat some of the vegetation around the yard to force themselves to throw up. But I've almost never seen them in the state that I now saw Beethoven, and it worried me.

So at 1am this morning, Beethoven and I were in the car heading to the Pets Central 24-hr clinic in Mong Kok. The vet examined him and agreed that he didn't look well. They took xrays to see if something had lodged in his digestive tract but it was clear. They then took blood samples and found that his red blood cell count was way above the normal range; i.e., his blood volume was low. He was subsequently put on a drip and placed in a cage to rest. His condition worried me considerably. If any of our eleven kids were to leave us, it would hurt me greatly. I am not looking forward to the coming years.

My wife and I visited him this morning just before lunch. Fortunately, Beethoven looked much better and I was very relieved.

I suspect that they won't find a cause for the problem, but that doesn't worry me much because I have actually seen this condition once before. Before we adopted our first kid Dallas, he was a free ranging pup in our village who would come up to the car park to greet us every evening when we returned from work. We became great friends. And then one night, he disappeared. We scoured around looking for him and eventually found him in a store room lying on the floor, wagging his tail but unable to get up or move. We took him to the RSPCA (there was an 'R' in the name at the time), and he was placed on a drip for 3 days with a condition very similar to Beethoven's. Dallas recovered and never suffered from the same condition again. I hope the same is true for Beethoven.

In some ways, the condition is actually the reason we have pets today. If not for the condition, we would not have taken Dallas to the RSPCA. If we hadn't have taken him there, the young people in the village who casually looked after him wouldn't have given him to us, and we wouldn't have started to adopt.

Beethoven is still in the hospital. Hopefully, I'll be able to bring him home tomorrow.

Resurrection. Part 2: General Symptoms.

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 20:00:00 +0800

I can remember several experiences over the last ten years that were brought about by my ailment. I can remember them vividly because they were quite severe, and I'll describe some of them for you in the next chapter of this series. In today's chapter however, I'll quickly describe some of the general symptoms I've experienced.

Fatigue was a big problem. I felt tired for most of the day on most days. Even if I slept for an extra two or three hours during the day, I would still feel tired. One result of the perpetual fatigue was that I was almost always passive rather than pro-active. This was probably why I was able to continue my work at TVB, because they'd call me up to go to work and I'd go. It was that simple. On the other hand, trying to actively prepare for engagements, or walk out the door to exercise, or even prepare breakfast was extremely hard to do.

Watching tv became a big part of my life because watching tv is the easiest passive activity on Earth. Procrastination also became a way of life because I didn't have the energy to actively work on those tasks that were most urgent. This didn't mean that I didn't get any work done, but it did mean that the most urgent work was normally left until the last minute.

My body also suffered. Over the years, injury and illness became more common. Before the programming incident, I was rarely ill. During the last three or four years however, I found myself mildly ill for many months at a time. Healing was also a problem such that running or weight lifting did not lead to healthier larger muscles as it should have, and led to injuries instead. Looking back, I suspect that this was also an ingredient in my vocal problems; even though I trained, my vocal cords were not able to build strength as they would normally do.

My moods were unpredictable. There were times when my body felt as if it had hoarded large quantities of adrenaline, so much so that I wanted to explode. This unfortunately and regrettably led to uncontrollable, unnecessary and unreasonable rage, most of it in the privacy of our home. I remember raging uncontrollably and knowing in my mind at that very moment that the rage was completely unjustified but unable to stop regardless. There was a period of time when it was very very difficult for my family to be with me. Happily, those days are far behind us now although they'll never be forgotten.

Next time, I'll describe some of the individual experiences I remember. I think you'll find them intriguing. And then in a later chapter, I'll tell you what I think the ailment is.

Take care all.

The Album Cover

Sat, 20 Nov 2010 09:00:00 +0800

We've hired a local design company to come up with designs for the new album cover and yesterday, we received the first draft. I can't show you just yet but it's very cool!

Take care all.

Resurrection. Part 1: The Beginning.

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 20:00:00 +0800

Almost 10 years ago, I succumbed to a debilitating physical/physiological problem that nobody could diagnose or treat correctly.

At the time, I was writing software to aid database developers who worked with the FileMaker database system. I spent day after day working on it for months. Many programmers will tell you that it's difficult to pull yourself away from a project once you get involved, and I often spent 12 to 15 hours a day working on the software. Most nights, I slept only 3 or 4 hours, and not very soundly because one ear was kept open while I slept to listen for fights and incidents involving a village puppy I'd befriended earlier in the year.

After 3 or 4 months of this schedule, my body gave up and I lost the ability to do anything conscientiously. It was a hard time for my family. I saw a doctor and was promptly prescribed anti-depression medication because my ailment was not understood and therefore deemed to be psychosomatic in nature. People around me and at TVB were telling me to buck up, get back in the game, stop moping, pull yourself together, etc. They simply didn't understand, and that's the biggest problem with this ailment; nobody understands it except those who have experienced it personally.

The symptoms are terrible and life changing. You feel exhausted and fatigued all day every day. You are unable to do anything that your responsibilities dictate should be done. Hormonal rage becomes an unpredictable part of daily life. And for me, stage nerves transformed into stage terror. This was perhaps the most serious symptom for me because where I once loved performing on stage, I was now in fear of it, or rather in fear of the terror that I would probably experience on the stage. It was extremely debilitating (and life threatening) and there were many occasions when I considered giving up performing because I felt so tired, and more importantly to avoid the fear and the terror.

A mystery to me, I was still able to function at TVB although it was very strenuous trying to maintain the energy in my characters while on set. I distinctly remember my role as Marco Polo, thinking at the time that Marco Polo would probably have been an extraordinary man with unlimited energy, intelligence and curiosity, and then using every ounce of my limited energy to try and portray that in the character. It was hard.

The last 10 years have been very difficult, but my family and I survived and it's almost over.

In August this year, I flew to L.A. to begin recording my album. While in L.A., I was suddenly besieged by multiple sources of significant stress; health, financial, responsibility. Where most healthy people would be able to continue with their lives, my body's reaction was instead pronounced. The muscles in my upper body, shoulders and neck all responded by tensing up as hard as possible. This included the muscles in my throat, and I was no longer able to sing. I saw a wonderful ENT specialist in L.A., and extended my stay by two weeks in the hope that I'd recover and be able to record my songs, but I didn't recover and the recording had to be postponed indefinitely.

Since then, I've reflected and analysed these past years since the programming period 10 years ago, and I've realised that my body in its current condition is unable to handle stress. If I'm to turn my life around, accomplish worthy goals and fulfil my dreams, I will need to cure my body and make it strong again.

Fortunately, I may have discovered the true nature of my ailment, and that makes it possible to repair my body. The healing has started and the future is beginning to look bright!

More later.

Disheartened

Thu, 11 Nov 2010 21:00:00 +0800

Today was disheartening.

A year ago while performing in China, I damaged my vocal chords. The speaker configuration at the venue was such that the microphone couldn't be turned up very much and I had to sing at a very high volume to be heard by the audience. My vocals were not strong to begin with, and after two nights of over-singing, my chords gave up. I was unable to speak normally for several months, and recovery only became somewhat noticeable in June. Even now though, I haven't fully recovered.

Today was evidence of that. We booked a recording studio to get experience in a recording studio, to see how things are done, and to make sure that the music material we have is compatible with the studio. Everything was great, except for my voice.

It was crystal clear that my voice is not yet ready for 'prime time'. It was broken and raspy. It definitely needs time and work.

So, it is not possible at this time to set a release date for the album. In the meantime, while I work to strengthen my voice, we'll continue to work on the various things that pertain to the album; designing the CD cover and insert, re-designing my web site, arranging the remainder of the songs, thinking about marketing, etc.

There have been many obstacles to recording this album. When it is finally released, it will be a symbol of victory against all odds.