Dave Fox's Globejotting

11/02/2024

To those of you who have been sucked into the "Will Taylor Swift make it to Las Vegas in time for the Super Bowl on Sunday after performing in Tokyo on Saturday night?" drama, here is a quick science lesson for you:

Scientific fact #1: It is 17 hours later in Tokyo than it is in Las Vegas. Ms. Swift's concert was scheduled to begin on Saturday at 6 PM. That would have been 1 AM Saturday (or what people in Las Vegas tend to call, " Friday Night").

Scientific fact #2: According to a website called The Sporting News, "On average, her concert has clocked in between three hours and 15 minutes and three hours and 30 minutes." (Yeah ... that really is a quote from a website that calls itself The Sporting News.)

Scientific fact #3: Taylor Swift is a billionaire. She owns a private jet. She might even own several. (I haven't had time to count.)

Scientific fact #4: If Taylor Swift's concert ended at (I'll be generous here) 10 PM in Tokyo, and Super Bowl halftime is at 5 PM in Vegas, that means she would have 36 hours to get from her concert venue to the football stadium.

Scientific fact #5: It would not take 36 hours to fly from Tokyo to Las Vegas, unless your airplane happened to be attacked by a flying, fire-breathing dragon who really hates Taylor Swift ... and the odds of that happening are pretty damn small, because most flying, fire-breathing dragons are dedicated Swifties. If you have your own private jet (which I do not, so I have been unable to test these numbers, but I'm still going to call them "scientific" because it makes me feel intelligent), a direct flight from Tokyo to Vegas should not take more than maybe 12 hours. Maybe a little longer if you decide to stop for a cheeseburger in Uzbekistan en route.

So if you, along with millions of other people, were worried Taylor was not going to make it to the Super Bowl in time, what that means is that her publicist did an excellent job of creating faux-drama, which has generated such an effective buzz that even I am writing about it.

22/10/2023

Soccer on the beach in Krabi, Thailand.

13/08/2022

, you’ve really outdone yourself. I wonder how many shots of someone drank before they said, “I have an idea! What if we invented floating, motorized saunas that people could rent & drive around Oslofjord?” 🇳🇴 https://koknorge.no/the-visit-at-kok/

08/08/2022

Visitors to Norway are advised to keep a safe distance at all times from excessively amorous trolls.

08/08/2022

Finally back in for the first time since Covid started. I took this photo on July 28 at one minute past midnight. Technically, southern Norway doesn’t have the midnight sun but on clear summer nights, there’s still a faint glow in the sky all night long.

17/03/2022

Just finished St. Patrick’s Day gig #1 and have arrived at the Rabbit Hole for gig #2.

The crowd in the first pub was so loud, I could barely hear myself play. Apologies in advance if the livestream gets messy, kids. We’ll start in around 40 minutes.

17/03/2022

I’m wiggling my way through Saigon rush hour on my way to my first of two St. Patrick’s Day gigs of the evening.

Hoping to stream the second one here starting around 8 am in Seattle, 11 am in Boston, noon in Dublin and 10 pm in Saigon.

Let’s hope technology cooperates!

16/03/2022

☘️☘️☘️ LIVE IRISH MUSIC FROM SAIGON FOR ST. PATRICK’S DAY! ☘️☘️☘️

Hi everyone!

It’s been a LONG time since I’ve posted anything in this group. I’ve been distracted by Saigon’s lockdown drama many months ago … and Covid … and a few other unfortunate adventures. But one of the cool things that has happened in the last few months is that I became a rock star.

Okay … not a rock star, but I am now the fiddle player in what I’m pretty sure is Saigon’s only Irish folk-rock group, the Druids.

With St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow, we’ve got two back-to-back gigs, one of which I’m hoping to livestream on Facebook on my Globejotting page.

I say “hoping” to livestream because there are many internet gremlins who like to wreak havoc on technology here. Also, my bandmates and I will be racing from one pub to another for our second gig of the night. Our time to set up will be short, and I won’t have much time to tinker with the stream if it doesn’t cooperate. (Also Irish pubs tend to have a few extra customers on St. Patrick’s Day. I will hopefully find a spot to put my phone where you can see us playing, rather than the back of some drunk guy’s weird green hat.)

That said, it gives me great pride to announce, MAYBE live from the Rabbit Hole Irish Pub in Saigon tomorrow, a night (or morning, depending on where you are) of Celtic music, featuring me on the fiddle, and some other, more talented musicians on guitar, mandolin, bass, and percussion. Covid has scuttled our ability to properly rehearse but that’s okay. I’ve been saying for years that creativity is best when messy and imperfect.

The stream will hopefully be starting somewhere around the following times tomorrow (Thursday, March 17):

North America - Pacific Time: 8 a.m.

North America - Eastern Time: 11 a.m.

Dublin / Greenwich Mean Time: 3 p.m.

Central European Time: 4 p.m.

Vietnam / Indochina Time: 10 p.m.

Singapore / Hong Kong / Perth: 11 p.m.

Sydney, Australia: 2 a.m. (early March 18)

New Zealand: 4 a.m. (early March 18)

We’ll play three 45-minute sets. Pop on over to the Globejotting page on Facebook and see if the Druids are streaming. (And if we’re not, you might try again a few minutes later. We hope to start as close to those times as possible but you know how rock stars are.)

04/10/2021

I just received an email from listing "Jobs Similar to Travel Writer." One of them was a line cook at the Rainforest Café in Edison New Jersey.

11/08/2021

Saigon is in an intense lockdown due to Covid and I’m bored. So I've decided to throw not one but two virtual parties this weekend on Zoom. (Why two? Because Planet Earth has lots of time zones and people get cranky when I host online events in the middle of the night.)

This will be a totally unscripted, disorganized, chaotic event for people in the Globejotting tribe to get together and have a ridiculous conversation. (And yes. OF COURSE Sven Wondermoose will be there!)

It's free if you'd like to join us. You just need to bring your smiley face whatever beverage makes you feel gleeful.

Here are all the sordid details on how to register and get the top secret Zoom link(s):

https://www.globejotting.com/globejotting-happy-hour-2/

(Also, in case Facebook hid yesterday's announcement from your feed, I'm also running a charity course and coaching sale this week to raise money for people who can't afford food right now due to Saigon's strict lockdown rules. You can get some great deals and help people in need. You'll find a link to all the info on the Globejotting homepage.)

Dave Fox is hosting a global happy hour on Zoom this weekend. Grab your favorite beverage and join the party!

10/08/2021

CHARITY COURSE AND COACHING SALE TO HELP PEOPLE IN CRISIS IN VIETNAM

Hi Everybody. As many of you already know, Vietnam is currently facing its biggest crisis since the war. Covid rates have been skyrocketing. The death toll is now 100 times what it was three months ago.

With a severe vaccine shortage (only one percent of the population is fully vaccinated), the government has implemented a strict set of lockdown restrictions. As a result, many so-called "informal workers" – street vendors, lottery ticket sellers, recycling collectors, etc. – are not allowed outside to work. Many of these people barely earn enough to survive under normal circumstances. Right now, they have no money for food and many are desperate.

I'm running a special sale this week on my online courses and individual coaching sessions. I'll be donating half of my profits to the Sống Foundation, a non-profit organization that is raising funds to feed people who cannot afford food due to the Covid lockdown, and to provide essential supplies to frontline medical workers. ("Sống" is the Vietnamese verb for "to live.")

You'll find all the details at https://www.globejotting.com/charity-course-and-coaching-sale-help-feed-vietnams-most-vulnerable/.

And hey ... if you haven't checked out Globejotting.com recently, you'll find a couple of articles about what it's like to be living in Saigon right now, as well as information on two free virtual happy hours I'm hosting on Zoom this weekend.

Vietnam's Covid lockdown has been devastating for the poor. Sign up for discounted writing courses and coaching and help feed people in need.