I'm back at the office for the first time in 3 weeks today. I guess I was at the office in Germany, but first time back at my office in Australia. The trip was pretty good. Well, the Shanghai part was great. The Germany part kind of sucked, though, cause it was mostly just non-stop work for 2 weeks. But it was great to be back in Shanghai and see everyone.
I got in on a Friday night and just went out to dinner with my sister and one of our friends. So that was pretty chill. But then immediately from Saturday morning we were already out in the morning at the gym, then on to an all-you-can-drink brunch, and then on to an art show, and then on to a going away party in the evening. It was a super full day, and it was great to be right back into the swing of things. I'm still working on building up that lifestyle here, where I have things to do all the time, and it was nice to be right back into having my gym on Saturday with friends, and then brunch with friends, and then an evening plan with friends. That was my life for the last 4 years, sometimes with an afternoon activity thrown in, sometimes not, but I'm used to always being out and about. And I'm not here in Sydney yet. So it felt really great to do that. And then it was pretty much the same thing on Sunday. Like, exactly the same except with a different gym class and no going away party in the evening. Here in Sydney I sometimes only have a gym class on Saturday morning, and that's it for the whole weekend. I don't even have a Sunday gym class yet, let alone brunch and evening plans every day. So I'm still working on that, and it was nice to be right back in it, even after being gone for over 3 months.
Other than being happy to slip right back into a normal lifestyle and getting to see my sister and friends (all but 1, who wasn't around), I got to eat everything, and I went to two art shows. The first one was a TeamLab exhibit, and the second was Yayoi Kusama. I've actually been to exhibitions by both of them before, so while I enjoyed them, I wasn't totally blown away.
TeamLab is a Japanese art collective who do interactive light exhibits, I guess would be the best way to put it. They basically use light and sound to transform big blank spaces, using the space itself as their canvas, and immersing you in it. Very instagrammable. So this one only had two rooms, and while they were very pretty to look at and fun to take photos in, they weren't as impressive as the rooms I'd seen in Singapore a few years ago. Those were much more immersive experiences compared to this, where you just sort of watched the pretty lights and listened to the pretty music. Still really nice, but not as good as last time.
Then there was Yayoi Kusama. Also Japanese, also making use of rooms to create environments to play around in (although hers are built up and don't have a sound component, not just making use of light and sound), also very instagrammable. If you're not familiar with the name, she's the polka dot lady. You may have seen something. Anyway, this one was quite good, because her stuff is always super fun. But there was only one infinity room, and you had to share it with other people. Other ones I've been to you get it to yourself, or you get lots of infinity rooms. So that was the only disappointment for me. But overall, this one was a winner.
That was pretty much it for Shanghai, and then it was on to Germany. Which I'll talk about later. Now I'll talk about Skinny Pelembe instead. Skinny Pelembe is the moniker of Johannesburg-born, UK-based producer Doya Beardmore. I just heard about him a couple months ago when his new single, No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish, popped up on my Spotify. It's a fantastic song. Great beats, great instrumentation, great vocals. Really loving it.
So of course I went and listened to more by him. He has a few EPs that came out before the new single, the most recent of which is Sleep More, Make More Friends. This is a fantastic EP. Much better than the two that came before, which didn't really stand out to me. But this one was great. Lots of wonderful songs on it. Go listen to the whole thing. But I'll just put one more track on here today, Not Your Friend, Not Your Enemy, the opener to the EP, which has Yazmin Lacey on the vocals.
I got in on a Friday night and just went out to dinner with my sister and one of our friends. So that was pretty chill. But then immediately from Saturday morning we were already out in the morning at the gym, then on to an all-you-can-drink brunch, and then on to an art show, and then on to a going away party in the evening. It was a super full day, and it was great to be right back into the swing of things. I'm still working on building up that lifestyle here, where I have things to do all the time, and it was nice to be right back into having my gym on Saturday with friends, and then brunch with friends, and then an evening plan with friends. That was my life for the last 4 years, sometimes with an afternoon activity thrown in, sometimes not, but I'm used to always being out and about. And I'm not here in Sydney yet. So it felt really great to do that. And then it was pretty much the same thing on Sunday. Like, exactly the same except with a different gym class and no going away party in the evening. Here in Sydney I sometimes only have a gym class on Saturday morning, and that's it for the whole weekend. I don't even have a Sunday gym class yet, let alone brunch and evening plans every day. So I'm still working on that, and it was nice to be right back in it, even after being gone for over 3 months.
Other than being happy to slip right back into a normal lifestyle and getting to see my sister and friends (all but 1, who wasn't around), I got to eat everything, and I went to two art shows. The first one was a TeamLab exhibit, and the second was Yayoi Kusama. I've actually been to exhibitions by both of them before, so while I enjoyed them, I wasn't totally blown away.
TeamLab is a Japanese art collective who do interactive light exhibits, I guess would be the best way to put it. They basically use light and sound to transform big blank spaces, using the space itself as their canvas, and immersing you in it. Very instagrammable. So this one only had two rooms, and while they were very pretty to look at and fun to take photos in, they weren't as impressive as the rooms I'd seen in Singapore a few years ago. Those were much more immersive experiences compared to this, where you just sort of watched the pretty lights and listened to the pretty music. Still really nice, but not as good as last time.
Then there was Yayoi Kusama. Also Japanese, also making use of rooms to create environments to play around in (although hers are built up and don't have a sound component, not just making use of light and sound), also very instagrammable. If you're not familiar with the name, she's the polka dot lady. You may have seen something. Anyway, this one was quite good, because her stuff is always super fun. But there was only one infinity room, and you had to share it with other people. Other ones I've been to you get it to yourself, or you get lots of infinity rooms. So that was the only disappointment for me. But overall, this one was a winner.
That was pretty much it for Shanghai, and then it was on to Germany. Which I'll talk about later. Now I'll talk about Skinny Pelembe instead. Skinny Pelembe is the moniker of Johannesburg-born, UK-based producer Doya Beardmore. I just heard about him a couple months ago when his new single, No Blacks, No Dogs, No Irish, popped up on my Spotify. It's a fantastic song. Great beats, great instrumentation, great vocals. Really loving it.
So of course I went and listened to more by him. He has a few EPs that came out before the new single, the most recent of which is Sleep More, Make More Friends. This is a fantastic EP. Much better than the two that came before, which didn't really stand out to me. But this one was great. Lots of wonderful songs on it. Go listen to the whole thing. But I'll just put one more track on here today, Not Your Friend, Not Your Enemy, the opener to the EP, which has Yazmin Lacey on the vocals.
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