Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/04/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Daniel wrote to Ken, > Working is overrated. Amen (saith Peter, reverently). PMCC. SF, CA P.S. Just home from a flying fortnight's break in HK and China. Enjoyed the incomparable hospitality of Joseph Yao and Sarah Wong over dinner poolside at their digs on the Peak, accompanied by an extensive tasting of fine wines and champagnes. Sarah is within spitting distance (ahem) of becoming the first Master of Wine in East Asia. While Joseph and I retreated to his study for a post-prandial review of the latest Leica and Zeiss optical bon-bons, Sarah excused herself from the other dinner guests and gave my gf a first-time HK visitor's tour of the premises. The gf could be heard exclaiming with surprise and delight upon viewing the panoramic vista of the HK skyline below from Sarah's rooftop. That Peak experience (ahem again) was matched several days later in Yangshuo, where the ethereal landscapes of misty limestone karst mountains lived up to the inspiration for Chinese paintings (and nicely quoted in Henning's photos). Even took some photos of my own, despite an equipment casualty. Ignoring my gf's advice to leave the camera in the hotel that day, I had taken it along on a particularly hair-raising bike ride through the roads and streets of Guilin (gf is an in-training road racer -- SF Velogirls -- and no way can I keep up; Chinese traffic, with its swarming bicycles, herds of water buffalo and WTF-pumped truck drivers would challenge even Lance A). The camera casualty was predictable but happily remediable, as I couriered the camera back to Joseph in HK who had his tech fix it while treating him for lunch. But the fix was not quite as swift or convenient as the time some years ago in Macao when Joseph and I gaped in astonishment to see Shintaro (of Leica painting renown) perform an impromptu field CLA of Adrian Bradshaw's frozen 60mm Macro Elmarit while *standing* on the steps of St. Paul's, using only his pocket tools. Reminds one of the proverbial emergency appendectomy done with a Swiss Army knife (remember, Joseph is an ER doc). So the object lesson for all Leica shooters on the loose in south China is be prepared: don't forget to bring along your own Leica technician for those unexpected field repairs. (It is lamentably true to say that Leica gear just isn't what it used to be. But what is?) Yet it was not quite as easy as it might sound, as neither Joseph, Adrian nor I speak much more than sushi-bar Japanese, and Shintaro's English proficiency, well, meets that general standard. Real cultural boundary pushers we, we lucky few, we band of Leica bros. After roughing it in Yangshuo, we topped off our intrepid China expedition with a blowout long weekend in Shanghai, replete with Starbucks, a glitzy new hotel with banks of elevators and working sit-down plumbing, and that greatest of small luxuries, clean laundry. We focused on the world class food (Laris at Three on the Bund; classic Beijing duck; Shanghai steamer dumplings everywhere) and the burgeoning contemporary art scene at M50 and MOCA. Gf fell in love with a modern photoshop riff on Guangxi landscapes on display at Ofoto Gallery. From viewing distance, it was classic Chinese landscape. Up close, the karst mountains were Shanghai skyscrapers, the trees were construction cranes, the calligraphy were vertical lines of source code, and the red seals and colophons were Chinese manhole cover patterns. Brilliant -- but to gf's great sorrow, the edition was sold out and the gallery was keeping one last copy forever to hang on their office wall. Guess I'll just have to return to China again soon, which will be my parental duty -- my daughter will be teaching there as a Yale China Fellow for the next couple of years. Parenting is hard work. P.P.S. Since I have just logged back in to the LUG, I have no idea what your new position is, Ken, but goodspeed in the new endeavor ... --- Daniel Ridings <dlr@dlridings.se> wrote: > Kenneth Frazier wrote: > > Listers, > > > > I thought I'd let you folks know that I now > finally have a position, > > I replied off-list in a more serious tone ... > > But ... I hate to break it to you Ken ... > > Working is overrated. > > :-) > > Daniel > > _______________________________________________ > Leica Users Group. > See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for > more information > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com