The further adventures of an earthbound alien

What can one say about overseas career opportunities? I’ve done this kind of thing before and I’ve been well rewarded. And I’ve worked on projects that friends have begged me to join and most of them have been rewarding. If you ever get the opertunity to work in another country try it. You might surprise yourself.

But sometimes things go bad.
In the case of the Singapore experiment, I slowly discovered that the production company that had hired me was probably the most dysfunctional group of yobs I have ever had the displeasure of running across. They couldn’t produce a wet slap, let alone anything that I’d even remotely like to be associated with. The company (let’s just call them Dumbass Incorporated) is, and has been, known for producing shows that people in the United States rarely see. The reason for this is that the shows are spawn from greed and end up looking just like you think they’d look when you operate like that.

Why did I agree to work for these guys? A friend begged me and told me that this company was going to try to make a good show; one that could sell in the US. OK, so he was wrong, as it turns out. The end result is that four months later they are no further ahead in the project than when I started.
Life is too short to carry fools on your back. So to them I say good riddance. You throw the dice and sometimes you crap out. Or as my old grand pappy used to say, “Get the hell out of my chair!”

Five months is a long time to be away from home. But I’ve managed to use the time away from Dumbass Inc. to make new friends reintroduce myself to some old friends that I thought I’d never see again and open up a whole new set of business possibilities.

For now, my family and I have a month long tropical vacation (day care provided) to discover South East Asia.

There’s more good stuff and some bad to relate, but like I always say, who really gives a shit. Someday if you’re lucky enough to be sitting on my porch and I get fired up, I’ll tell the whole story. Then in the morning when the effects of the Mojitos have worn off I’ll probably feel foolish for boring you with the details. I’ll apologize later when we hook up for lunch and hope we can still be friends. You’ll probably hesitate at an awkward moment but eventually accept my apology. I’ll take that awkward pause as a sign that things between us are not the same. I’ll regret having said what I said and try to shrug it off by making a joke about it to some other friend. That friend won’t understand what I meant and will probably mention it to you in passing. You’ll probably be insulted and the rift between us will grow bigger. I’ll get mad at the dirty back stabber for blabbing to you what I told him in confidence. God, he does this to me all the time. That’s the last time I tell that guy anything! When will I ever learn to keep my mouth shut? I’ll see you on the street from time to time and although we will stop and chat, things between us will never be the same. The trust will be gone. How can you be so ungrateful? I sit there, make you a Mojito and pour my heart out to you about cartoons and greedy people and Southeast Asia and this is the way you treat me? How could you? I thought we had something. I thought you were my friend.

That’s it! I’m taking my blog back! You don’t deserve it!

OK, OK. Look I’m sorry. This has been a pretty tough time for me. Yeah I know, I know! That’s no excuse. I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that. After all we’ve been through so much together. Remember the letter to Apple, about quick time. “I have a car!” …Funny stuff there. Or the time I ate chicken feet? Yeah. Yeah… Good times.

Good times…

For the further adventures of the Hughes clan as they weave their way in and out of awkward, culturally inspired, sticky situations, and throw down exotic meals, log onto:

http://pajamacatzworldtour.blogspot.com/

Since I’ll be running with these guys for the next four months we are going to pool our efforts on one Blog. (I have yet to tell Jen this.)

You’ll love it! She makes me refrain from using the “F”, and you’ll find her sense of discovery still in tack and not jaded by a job that is pretty...
...well, you know.

…and her observations are refreshing.


She also has better pictures.




So get over there, now!







What are you still doing here?

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

There are more London Photos. Plenty but, hey that was so three weeks ago. I find myself back in Singapore. And just recently I discover that I have company. There are three jet-lagged girls in my apartment and they all have the same last name as me. Lucky me. And what a day we all had, and to top it all off, it is our anniversary; twelve years! ...Not all three of us, mind you, just the two big ones.

It’s strange to be away from your wife and kids for three months, but it’s even stranger when they move into an otherwise empty apartment. I find I don’t have the things I should. For example, up until now one pan seemed to work out pretty good. I used it for everything. It’s a wok and I used it for boiling water and frying things that needed frying. Then, when it cooled down, I’d eat the fried thing out of it. Now I find that the simple act of spaghetti for four can’t be done with one wok and paper plates.

And so, I find I’m a little pissed off at the company that put me up here. When I first got to Singapore they put me in a borrowed apartment. I slept in someone else’s bed because he was away for the weekend. Not the way Mister big-shot, supervising director should be treated but, hey I didn’t mind because, I can take it! Then I was moved into a pretty nice place that I didn’t like. I had to clean it myself, buy my own pillows, sheets and towels. I also bought a wok and some paper plates. And I ate out a lot. That was fine for me because I worked around all that stuff, but now the wife and kids are here it isn’t good enough. There are a lot of things that I never thought about. I shouldn’t have to buy pillows, fer fuck sake! I should live like people who travel to another country do, in a bed with covers and shit. Not like a hold up hit man who’s down on his luck. God damn it! I’m going into that office tomorrow and I ain’t doing shit until I get a new place that my family can live in! God DAMN IT!...

But still, this morning at 4:30 the girls woke us up to watch the lightning over the reservoir. We all sat on the edge of the bed like it was movie night and we were watching the lightning channel. Lilli suggested that I make some popcorn, so I did. So we watched lightning while eating popcorn out of a wok at 4:45 am. I guess I’d rather be anywhere with them than by myself in the nicest place on earth.

But still, God damn it!