thank you for listening
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Artist:
Hello, MOG. I am caught up in the real world at the moment. After complaining incessantly about how much it sucks that I live where I work, despite that no one forced me into the situation, and doing nothing about it for a year, work is finally complaining back. That is, work is kicking me out. Because my big little bedroom needs to be converted to a meeting room. By Saturday.
I should be complaining. (Right, done that.) What's the deal with the one-week grace period, right? But I secretly think the universe and I have an understanding that I'm one of those people who don't move, as it were, unless it sends an earthquake my way, while I'm standing on a fault line. Even though I believe I am intuitive enough to pick up on subtle hints it drops in front of me, I know I need to be screamed at when it comes to real important matters, just to be sure I don't sit still and wait to die. So, yeah, the need to move in one week is not surprising me.
Before I go on any further, I should mention that I'm not being fatalistic, I'm only being Asian. Around here, no one bats an eyelash when one so much as talks about ghosts or past lives or imaginary conversations with the universe (in which it actually talks back). It's like you have to think Chinese to truly appreciate the extent of the humor of Chinese movies or instant noodles. So please put this post in perspective, although the biggest mocker in comments will get a telepathic reward. I can't tell you what it is but I can beam it to ya.
Hit the red button now. It is dedicated to the week I'm having.
Over the weekend, I dropped my weekend activities, namely, mogging, to figure this out. A little miracle happened. The third phone call I made to a realtor got through, and the apartment in which I was interested was available for viewing right there and then. I had a real good feeling about it and when I got to view the apartment it wasn't what I wanted. I walked out of there feeling down, but then I became aware of where I was: at the exact same street where stands my favorite cheap hotel, where I've spent overnights when the workplace drove me crazy. I could see the hotel three buildings from where I stood. I knew then what to do.
Exploring is creepy cool, huh? I had fun with Mixwit Sunday night and put together very randomly these songs I was amused to find there. More on Mixwit at the bottom of the post and in comments. (Scroll down real quick and hit play for some background music and jump back here.)
Today I confirmed with Admin that I can self-efface by Thursday night, as requested. I have called my favorite cheap hotel to announce that I shall be staying with them for a month while I am looking for a new place; I asked for a discount and got one, too. Everyone is stoked by this brilliant plan except my best friend in Cambodia, who thinks I will never ever leave that hotel now. He's probably right.
From now until the night of moving, it's color by numbers for me in terms of packing and dating realtors. I've made sure this post is just long enough that you are all swearing off my everpresence by now and I can disappear and be back in time when you all start missing me, with a new story about my new crib, no doubt. I hope this post was worth your while; I stuck lots of music in between all the love handles.
Of course, it isn't completely fun without a fun ending so here goes. Last Saturday night, disheartened by the apartment I viewed, yet undecided on what to do, I came home feeling like I had to start practicing being homeless. And like the climactic twist in a Bollywood movie, the world's loudest Khmer music blaring from the world's loudest speakers roused me from my ruminations. It turned out there was a wedding next door, and I do mean right next to the bedroom from where I am being banished, and guess fucking what? That wedding has been going on for two days and three nights now. I swear to you I haven't slept well since. If that isn't the universe screaming at me to move out, I don't know what is.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (32)
my mixwit mix up there, if you haven't already clicked it:
movement in the key of now
King Missile - Jesus Was Way Cool *i really wanted Martin Scorsese but it isn't available
Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe
Emperor Penguin - Disco Party In The Castle Of Love (Tonight)
Another Sunny Day - You Should Be Murdered
Superdrag - Do The Vampire
Cowboy Junkies - Blue Moon Revisited (Song For Elvis)
random things i thought i'd find and didn't: Garageland, Salad, Howlin' Maggie, Haywood
i did find Heavenly, Olive, Supreme Beings of Leisure, Kosheen, The Dismemberment Plan
Good luck with the flat hunting -- I'm on a short break too.
See you very soon and thank you for the music!
Well I don't know whether to comiserate or congratulate ou on the eviction...I'll just throw some vaguely related music at you then...
you a going to live in a hotel? at least you have someone to make the bed for you now. :P
GOOD LUCK WITH THE MOVE!!!! I'm screaming so you can hear me over the universe. A forced change has almost always ended out to be a good one for me. As I'm sure this will for you. Just make sure you find a perm home instead of the cheap hotel forever, unless they have really great housekeeping then I might reconsider...is there free breakfast buffett too by chance...? humm. Either way I love your mix...that Whale seriously rocked my boat this morning, I'm looking forward to the junkies song as always.
Come back to peak in and say hi when you have a free moment to spare for your worldwide buddies...you hear!
Great music! Maybe not such a great situation. I begin to wonder how large is this "big little bedroom". So much music she sends and she must store it somewhere, right? And then I start wondering, what is your work? I must review your prior posts to see if this can be gleaned. What an interesting way of notifying admin. To self-efface. To erase, to wipe out, to withdraw from notice. I shall pass through the veil and my ancestors shall greet me.
dang they only gave you one week to find a new place? well at least you are going to stay in a place you like. good luck with finding a place as i am sure a month is a whole lot better than a week to search. i hope the hotel has free internet!
Michael, "I'm on a short break too" - that, you are! your absence is doubtlessly noticed, dear, i hope you get back before i do so that you don't waste my time asking around where you are. ;d and as they like to say in my nick of the woods... laterz!
Jox, a bit of both, i think. ooh that Richard Hawley segues so smoothly from Cowboy Junkies. should've taken the mix further than 6 but failing to find the songs in my head started frustrating me. strangely, the mix began as mainly '90s British and ended up being not.
Mike, that's exactly it - my friend sez i'm never leaving because it's got housekeeping, internet, cable, laundry, security, etc. without my having to move a muscle. it's a cheap hotel but, no matter how low they go, the services stand. hey! - did my friend put you up to that? ;p
H, hahahah, thank you for the intergalactic show of support. "forced change" is my middle name...s. another friend was giving me the oneuppey look because, when this same thing happened to her, she booked a slightly more expensive hotel, but with free breakfast, and then found a great flat only 3 days later.
isn't that Whale song just the stickiest thing? i haven't heard it in forever and now i can't get it out of my head!
G, stop gleaning! i have housekeeping to do that for me now. ;D i have boring answers to your interesting questions, i'm afraid. the big little bedroom is way bigger than a studio. the music goes to iTunes in a PC laptop and a Mac - i am a hybrid mutant and have no loyalty. work is advertising (seriously, it isn't as juggernautic here as it is there in the first world). hey, loving the pass-through-the-veil thingie - is that a gsmattingly original or am i missing an important quote?
Pat, thanks, it isn't as problematic as it sounds, the only thing i really can't do in the hotel is nail pictures on the wall. (; internet - yes! but to be used sparingly, perhaps. it's the second thing i ask while flat-hunting, next only to "may i see the bathroom?" and way ahead of laundry, garbage collection, power outage and flooding and leaking issues.
Wow. i can't even imagine. It's so alien to me. I think I would want to be homeless listening to a 3 day wedding through my walls. I hope the transition goes well, happy house hunting!
wedding update: after 2 nights, 2 days of traditional Khmer music, i'd have thought it's just about winding down, but instead, tonight, suddenly, they switch to hiphop and German techno. what, the old peeps need to retire to bed now and it's the kids' turn at last? lord god.
How does this work? I could stand a ood party maybe 5 hours. Do they have 1 DJ for the whole night, shift DJ's? Are people leaving to go sleep, and return to party again? Do they just drink until they pass out, wake up, and start it all again? This kind of stamina and lifestyle is so foreign to me, I honestly cannot picture how you attend or structure a 3 day wedding...
Tyler, my real answer to those questions is ...i don't know. but from first hand experience, i can tell you that the "noise" hasn't stopped for a single second for 3 days (and counting) - it's been people talking on a microphone (i thought at first someone opened like a bingo parlor next to me, LOL), DJ sets, live music / wedding singers, CDs, on rotation nonstop, over and over and over and over. i am bleeding out of my ears. my walls are thick, too, but that is some major sound system they have there. i am guessing this is a rich Khmer family because no one seems to be complaining. i think one answer to your question is: the rich here can do what they want. sigh. thanks for wishing me luck!
Is it insomnia, or do I detect a bit of excitement over the shakeup? If some of your musical leanings are any indication, your friend just might be right. Hell in a month, you'll probably be the kingpin of the local entertainment scene, hangin' out down there every night sporting a feather boa and snakeskin boots. Why, who knows, the cute food delivery girl might wind up living right next door?
Loved the mixwit - I can't figure out how to put the player on mog myself, but I'll keep trying.
Yacht-Summer Song
I'd say..move to Brooklyn! We gots good people here and plenty of ad agencies. Otherwise, sorry to hear about your mess, but it looks like you have a more than excellent perspective and fuck it attitude that should suit you well. Mix is dope..
Am I to assume there are no zoning laws where you live that a disco can literally go up next door to you?
Yeah, sounds like a good change in the long run.
mixwit is fun huh? good luck finding a new pad poe. in the meantime the hotel sounds cool. my wife and i saw the cowboy junkies in concert last month and were slapped in the face with the stark reality that we are officially middle aged. serioulsly. super crusty old farts like the cowboy junkies. aaaaaahhh, what is happening to me???? well, good luck on your quest for new diggs at any rate. :)
Scott, hahahahah, it isn't all insomnia. getting booted out of a bedroom does seem like an adventure, or maybe it's the green tea. hey, Ms. Delivery might indeed be staying in the next room, maybe she can hook me up with some house calls and i can finally afford to visit y'all. kingpin - i like it. i can finally, officially say i live in the underbelly of Cambodia.
okay, Mixwit. once you've saved your mix, it takes you to your mix "homepage" - in my case: http://www.mixwit.com/poebegone/movement-in-the-key-of-now ...where you can view your finished mix, and much like in YouTube, both a link and an embed code. simply copy and paste the embed code to your mog post or comment - don't forget to paste it in the HTML, not the main, text field.
daaamn i am missing out on all the "hotel" mix songs. [more bleeding out of ears] check out the 2nd choon, yo! i am listening!
Cody, aww thanks for Brooklyn, sounds like a smashing idea. if only U-Hauls can fly, or the power of the mind accepts frequent flyer miles. i will get there and mogmeet you all to death and borrow a soup bowl or a beer. ;D
Amiel, that's the attitude, as Cody says! i am honestly looking forward to it - believe me, nothing is more depressing than ending a long day at work by going home to ...the workplace. i feel sad just thinking about it.
Jeff, you said it! i just went over last night to test-drive Mixwit and ended up spending 2 hours there, just kind of surprising myself with what i can find. LOL, that's insane about the Cowboy Junkies, and probably true. hey, now! [checks mirror]
Tyler, there are more than enough written laws but, since emerging from unrest in the '80s, imagine this country as still grappling with civilization and utterly lacking a middle class (they were all massacred), so between you and me, it's pretty lawless. kind of a post-war zone. this is for you, it's Vietnam but pretty close, and it's one of the cute examples, which not all of them are...
Ah, I think we all ned that swift cosmis kick in the shorts to get us moving to where we need to be. I don't remember the term used in Grosse Pointe Blank, but it fits here.
Hope you land somewhere permanent quickly, you gotta have somewhere safe to lay your head now that you have to commute to work. And keep rockin' the tunes Ilay.
looking forward to hearing about the new crib. it's gotta be a good thing that you're moving. good luck with dating the realtors! ;)
Good luck. Is current Cambodian pop music ever mind-blowing?
My comment sounded a little brisker than I had intended. I forgot to mention that I thought your meditations on the shifting drama of your life drew me in, and I'm now rooting for you. I enjoyed your playlist. You whippersnappers often have keen antennae for new sounds that the aged like me don't have a clue about.
Damn, the confidence of that guy braving the scooters is like Jesus walking on the water!
Ah yes, the Khmer Rouge. Yeah...um...I got nothing near as cultural shifting/changing in my own life or country to relate to the horrors of Pol Pot. I certainly don't in anyway mean to make light of it, and I'm sure my ignorance shows. Sometimes I forget how many borders we span here.
but I love these posts that you make me aware of some other cultural nuances (of other cultures) that I am oblivious to. When all else seems strange, at least we have our music.
Geezus ilay, I'd be a goddamn mess if I were in your situation! I'd be all on the verge of weeping & shit. Good thing it's you & not me eh? Good luck finding your next abode & with the move. I DESPISE moving! I've lived in my current apartment for 11 years, so the thought of moving gives me the heeby jeebies, ugh. I've been thinking of moving for years but this place is such a steal & it's really beautiful & cozy, so I've just stayed put.
""my best friend in Cambodia, who thinks I will never ever leave that hotel now. He's probably right.""
Vladimir Nabokov spent the end of his life living in hotels :)))
Good luck for the chase, if you do not intend to stay eternally in your best cheap hotel :)))
This is you:
(E. Hopper)
Best of luck with the search!
Dale, oh man, talk about the little details! someone just pointed out today that the money i will spend commuting will be more than half the rent monthly - i'd taken it for granted that work used to be, ehrm, walking distance. i like the way you put it - a swift cosmic kick in the shorts. Gross Pointe Blank is on theme here, i should totally rewatch it in my first week as a hotel dweller.
Britt, believe me, i will literally date a realtor if i find myself still flat-less after three months! ;D
Spike, your first comment was short and sweet, your second was thoughtful, and thank you for rooting for me! whippersnappers, LOL. i am an old hag but young at heart and/or mentally juvenile. (;
current Cambodian pop is not blowing my mind yet, unfortunately, but i've found some pre-Khmer Rouge ban Cambodian rock (thanks to fistula spume for triggering the search) worth posting here, if i get around to it.
Tyler, Jesus walking on the water, he he he. there's a rhythm to it, once you get the rhythm, it feels less death-defying. aww i love that last line of your comment. yes, yes, yes! - we're a lot different around here, even musically, but we have music in common.
Aug, if i was proudly wearing my fuck-it attitude yesterday, today i am saying fuck it to that attitude. i just discovered to my horror that my 'stuff' has tripled in the one year (only!) i've lived in Phnom Penh. now i'm just petrified, i abandoned packing and am mogging here instead. you were saying? - i DESPISE moving!
Francois, you know, i probably don't mind that. to have someone else turn your bed and scrub your bathroom floor at a time when your bones creak at the slightest sign of movement is not such a bad idea, after all. i'm real easy to please, i don't even require my housekeeper to be a Lolita. ;D
Colin, um, i deny ever having curled my hair in that way!
plus, you may change your mind after i tell you that my cheap hotel is painted a boyfriend-stealing-bitch-fuchsia on the outside and the staff's uniforms are of a is-my-boyfriend-gay-or-just-effeminate-baby-pink color. ;d
Tripled huh? Sheesh. You must be a pack rat like me! I've had to make a concerted effort to go through my stuff & get rid of shit I've not used in forever. It really has felt good to get rid of it & streamline my belongings. But I'm quite sure I still have far more shit than you do, since I have a one bedroom apartment, haha. I hate to think about having to move it all one day . . . .
Hello Poe! Thought I'd drop in and post a song which seems very appropriate for your current living situation - it's "Fugitive Motel" by Elbow, who you should LOVE!
Best lyric - "I blow you a kiss - it should reach you tomorrow, as it flies from the other side of the world......."
Aug, busted - i am a packrat. my mother tells me so all the time so it must be true. everytime i move, she gets to inherit boxes and more boxes of my shit that i don't know where to put and end up begging her to store temporarily in her house. :}
ebuzz! good of you to drop by - i'd have opened my best wine if i'd known sooner. ;d i love Elbow. love the song, never seen the vid until today and it's just the great kind of darkly the way i like. those lyrics are the bomb, Jim, luuuv it all. thanks, this really made my day!