Score!

After 3 days and nights of living iso and antisocial, i was thinking that it could be a good night to actually like talk w/ someone. And then hours later i strolled onto an unmarked beach to hear the unmistakable sound of amplified beats. Yup, i'd stumbled upon a beach party, replete w/ dj tent, sound sys, light sys, and a small crowd of maybe 10 people. Hell, it was 5pm, and the party had been going for maybe 20 hrs already.

The scene was a once a month informal, unannounced party put on by some friends who lived on the island.

I talked w/ a few people which was good, though i certainly noticed the effort it could require.

I also scored in that i got to smoke some of those special mild cigarettes that i've been dreaming of since leaving BC. And it was a good reality check, since it wasn't quite the euphoric mellowness i'd recalled.

Moments of blissful living in the groovy moment, yes, but with weighty chunks of philosophical malcontentedness spliced in for sure. Smoke-induced conclusions: there's no reason for anything or anyone to change in order to make me happy- it's me who needs to change. Also, I have regrets and unhappiness, and yet my regrets and causes of unhappiness are truly not that bad, so i can hardly imagine how hard it must be for people w/ obvious reasons for regret or trauma or hatred.

Also, check this out:

i talked briefly w/ this 24 yr old Pakistani fellow who quickly let me know about the copious amounts of alcohol and Special Cigarettes he'd had in the last night, as well as the helping of Coke. He was on day 7 of hardcore partying for his wk off for spring fest. i wasn't exactly impressed.

But then he also told me about how he came to HK 6 yrs ago, w/ nothing, how he slept on the Star Ferries for 42 nights, how he ate food he found in the garbage and worked his ass off to where he now works for a trading company (trading what? Everything, he said, but lots of jrugs, and i doubt he meant pharmaceuticals).

And he was the sole bread winner for a family of 5 in Pakistan, where they now had 2 houses and a small store.

"Congratulations, man. that's awesome that you did it."
"It wasn't me. It was God," he replied.

And then practically the next thing out of his mouth was how he liked to get drunk and get into fights. Which didn't exactly surprise me, considering this guy's wild sort of energy. But it underlined the fact that people are people, and often complex.