Day One , 19:45 - Changi Airport - Singapore
its already dark, i hate arriving to a place i've never been to before when its dark. Well actually it isn't that bad, it just makes me anticipate what it looks like in the morning more. You can tell i really am not in a mood to tolerate anticipation. Why? well, for starters im a stranger in a strange land, first destination in four destinations, supposed to be taking care of someone who needs alot of care that deep down inside of me i feel inadequate to provide. Yet everyone else thinks otherwise. I'm not freaking out, seriously i barely know the language actually i don't know a word of it, nor the culture and for Gods sakes I've never been here before, he has...but not me talk about pressure. Anyways, hes supposed to be checking in on his babies ( Investments but he just treats them like babies) and wants "someone" to spot the saboteurs who might get ideas, so for the duration of this trip i am supposed to be Mr. Saboteur Spotter, lol if he only knew.
If he only knew how i feel right now,
So we are in a Taxi headed to the hotel in Downtown Core and he is calling his wife and asking about the kids making sure his 10 year old did well in his Karate tournament (you have to give the guy credit for trying)
"Oh really?....Whats his name?"
He snaps his fingers at me, gesturing to write down what he is about to say...
" Michael Davids.....okay how old is he? 24.....where does he work? Michael what Davids?........any relation to Andrew Davids ? ...So that's all you have,........... Honey i barely have the time to sit down and talk...so just tell me here and now......[ long pause accompanied with steady nodding and "ah hahs"] Okay ill run this through...find out more, She just doesn't see him till we find out who he is and where is he from, okay? talk to you later honey, bye...."
He hangs up and looks to me, telling me how family is the most important investment you have to watch and do all you can to make it perfect.
"It's what really counts in the end Kane, better achievement than any other Investment,"
"Do they know?"
"Of course not, they wouldn't want to know... so i keep it that way.......i know that might sound irregular...but shop stays in shop...no matter how acceptable or unacceptable shop happens to be...so did you take down the info i gave you? give it to that really good guy you have at your firm...what was his name again?"
"Sam"
"yes Sam...but nothing fancy...this guy might be proposing to my daughter...im trying to get a heads up on him...they've been seeing each other for a while now...Gosh she's really grown"
Day One , 23:18 - 7th floor Room 0715 - Fullerton Hotel - Singapore
With a nice harbor view from my room overlooking the Marina Bay...i sit on my laptop to check my emails. Paranoid Investor man called it an early night, normally that would be the opportunity to check out the local nightlife, but I'm glad i didn't. I checked my Business email and got a daily report from Charlene, my Secretary back in Cairo...turns out the case i handled for Mr. Streak ( check out Welcome to The Woods Where the things have no Name for further info about Mr. Streak) had a verdict issued, in favor of his two young kids...so yes we lost...another one lost in the never ending battle between the old guard and the new republic...we are in the age where the young vanquish the old, regardless of how much wisdom or virtue the elderly may posses, they just had their times and should make room for the youngsters. Why should I be complaining I'm a youngster, I'm on the winning team? anyways that's not the point. I check my hotmail account to find a truly unexpected email from someone that hurt me not so long ago. I thought i was the only one still drowning in the sadness. She is too strong and vicious to still be thinking about me and what happened, She probably must have wrote it while Drunk....
"Dear Kane, i know we havent been talking, and last time we did wasnt all that...but you have to know that it is you who made this fail not me, i tolerated your lying and cheating and just acted as if i didnt know...you have to feel guilty for ruining the best thing that has happened to me
You Suck
Susie "
All i can think of while reading this is how much booze did she need in her system to conjure up emailing me... and i just love the logic and how the facts all go blurring to everyone's liking when consuming copious amounts of alcohol. Well come on, lets be frank i should have saw it coming, instead i preferred to sucker myself into believing all the nice stuff she said and did were truly genuine and free from any hidden agendas. I wouldn't doubt if all her other conquests received a similar email with similar tones. Well give her the credit that it wasn't a forward to all of us...
Day Three , 00:37 M Bar- Mandarin Oriental Hotel - Central - Hong Kong - PRC
In the midst of the medium level house/lounge music that makes you wanna shake your not so perfectly formed booty hidden under a pair of tailored pinstriped pants courtesy of George Singer ( yeah i dig local tailors) between in-house prostitutes and business executives and Rogue PRC Generals, Paranoid Investor tells me how we will prolong our stay and head off to Macau, since he is being sweet talked by a Vegas Casino to join them in a venture
there. He is just worried that Macau is known as the easiest place for Whales to flush Casinos out...that's why most Casinos there focus on anything but "Gambling" . they go all out on Escort Services, Clubs, Golf Courses...they're trying to wheel in the small fish rather than the Whales and High Rollers."But doesn't the house always win?" i ask sheepishly
"Not if you are Yip Honn"
" Yipp Honn The Whale?"
"Not only is he a Whale...all the Casinos consult him and he trains the pit bosses on how Whales work the Casino...he even partnered up in a Casino in Macau...ever heard of the Lisboa? the Biggest Casino in Macau?...he partnered in it, i mean imagine..1970 a Casino only 60km away from Hong Kong..you can take a ferry over, and sleep over i mean the hotel had 1,000 rooms damnit. too bad the guy's dead now....anyways..Stanley Ho is going to open up the Grand Lisboa, a beefed up version of their old venture...him and Honn, he's looking for an investor, someone to come up with foreign money so that they get the foreign investor treatment. he even has Henry Fok pulling all the strings for them back on the mainland..hes slowing the Sands down, and Trump is too focused on real estate in the middle east now to be closing in on Macau... so where meeting Ho tomorrow...actually today, we already are tomorrow..i'm drunk arent i?"
"that would be putting it lightly"
"DAMN i love you Kane...always the right man for the job,.... so did Sam call back on that guy who wants to fuck my daughter?"
"are you sure he hasnt already done that?"
"good point, tell Sam he's getting double, i want a head start over Daughter Fucker...
Am i really the right man for the job? i rest my case....
I call it an early night to do some research on all the Ho's Yips and Foks we're supposed to meet in Macau, what kind of research can you do at 1am in Hong Kong? well there's the internet, and hey its still the acceptable evening in Europe and Back home. I call Sam up and tell him to call all cars on "Daughter Fucker" . Afterwards I call Rankin Fitch who i was introduced to by Mr.Adham ( See Amnesia )
"Kane Boy, whereabouts in the world are you?"
"Hong Kong Mr.Fitch...its made for a man like you"
"Don't really think so...theyre all short with slanted eyes...it scares me, ill stick to the Caucasian variety what do you want I'm in the middle of a fitting for a Tux"
"Information...."
"About?"
"Stanley Ho, Henry Fok and Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau held by The Shun Tak Group"
"call my office, ask for Janovich, ill let him know you will be calling"
I then reflect on what Paranoid Investor said about me being the right man for the Job, practically what this means is he needs me, his well being cannot go about without my contribution regardless how little that contribution might be. My thoughts are interrupted by my hotel room phone ringing, its the concierge...Paranoid Investor seems to have had a run in with the law, a serious one, should've expected it...he was too shit-faced to stay outta trouble.
Despite my limited knowledge of Hong Kong Law, crimes seem to be universal, and hence universal also is the way states deal with them. Paranoid Investor finally slept in his hotel bed rather than on the floor of a prison cell, thanks to my efforts, a lot of luck and a little money.
Day Three, 14:02 Clipper Lounge - Mandarin Oriental Hotel - Central - Hong Kong - PRC
While reviewing the fax sent by Janovich ( Fitch's hatchet man) over afternoon tea, Paranoid investor walks in ...and sits down, he looks hungover like hell, and although grateful for my endeavor of last night was overtly ashamed. He's wondering whether or not im going to judge him for it. "come on, at least now you can say you know what it feels like to wear a Chinese prostitute's bra.." he laughs about it...temporarily reassured but then you can tell he isn't..
"none of this to my wife...you hear?...not my wife , not anyone in your firm...nothing..."
"i think you mean nobody..."
what he and a lot of other people don't get is that...we [ professional lawyers] don't judge..we don't even create opinions on you...we just observe, and react...our agenda being, securing your interests...cause if we really acted based on what we really think of you then we'd suck at doing what we do...or we would be horrible people, and honestly...we aren't paid to think of you... What he and a lot of other people also don't get is we already know all your dirt before we take you on as a client, we know what you are capable of, your favorite foods...that silly action figure you shoplifted when you were 12, that year when you didn't file for taxes and we Goddamn know why..., we know where you were and what you were really doing when you were lying your ass off to your wife all those nights claiming you were working and you really were doing someone else, but we aren't neither stupid or cocky enough to let you know we know...its a lot safer for us when you think you are in control...its an illusion...an illusion we create...so that we become better at what we do and get your ass out of the sticky situations your ego and your money get you into.
"Any news on Daughter Fucker?"
"actually yes, Sam came up with a lot...his name is Michael Anthony Davids born August 12th 1983...graduate Cairo University Faculty of Law Class of 2005.. is a Junior Associate at Inglewood & Danjac a corporate services firm...lives in Heliopolis...clean record..only a misdemeanor for assault, it was a bar-fight he got into... Son of Anthony Davids... Factory manager and Janice George housewife...congregates with a close knit group of friends..classmates from school, list of known associates, frequented establishments, no spouses...and oh...he has been seeing your daughter for a while"
"Lawyer huh..."
"legal consultant actually"
"were you classmates?"
"no, can't say the name rings a bell...I was before his time"
We discuss the particulars of what Janovich came up with..., i tell them all there is to know about Stanely Ho's known and not so known History..., the investments hes been in , the whole lot. i also came up with some research as to how ventures come about, regulations governing foreign investors..Paranoid will be considered a foreign investor..limits to partnership...we gotta go in prepared. I told him his exit options didn't look nice unless you allow Ho to buy you out..he took a point of it. but was he really listening?
before boarding the Ferry to Macau, i went up to my room to get cleaned up and wasted some time online on MSN with a friend. She constantly complains about long working hours, she works in advertising. She doesnt seem to get how her boss thinks... if she puts up with the long hours her Boss throws in her face, its going to be the usual. its taking a toll on her life, livelihood and even her health. She tells me thats just the way it is in advertising, im not trying to belittle what she does in any way, but she does it with passion as if shes curing cancer, when at the end of the day its nothing more than emailing, preparing presentations, color correction and dealing with other people who slack and dont have to report to the deadlines that she has to. i respect the passion she has for what she does, i wish i could have the same passion about helping investors put their money in something that has broken hundreds of homes such as gambling, or saving arbitrary detainees from a certain doom of police brutality...or passionate about saving some guy's future from the hands of an abusive company ( like my friends who is ribbed long working hours) or save my unfortunate high school classmate from killing his mom and chopping her up to put her in the freezer. or fighting off a drug company who has a tendency of dumping its industrial waste in the Nile ( a water source for millions) I wish i could be passionate about telling the hundreds of people i have already told that they live in a system that claims they have rights but its the system itself that infringes their very rights. I wish i could be passionate about looking a woman in the eye and telling her that the man who raped her is most probably going to get away with it because she was too overwhelmed to undergo forensic examination within 36 hours of the attack, I wish i could be passionate about telling an old man that it is the government that killed his son and there is nothing he can do about it... I wish i could be passionate about telling every political activist i meet that whatever they do wont change a thing, that anything save taking up arms is merely futile....i wish i could be passionate about preserving the status quo and making money out of that...why the money? what did i do to deserve it? its hush money nothing more, we pay you as grievance for the shit you just have to see..? is it much? well i hope so...i mean if my friend at advertising makes more money than i do, who do you think is better off...blind and rich? or aware and poor?...why didn't i work in advertising? maybe then i wouldn't have the time to think about all this trivial garb...id be spending my entire day sending emails and doing color corrections, meetings, and presentations...
Day Three, 22:27 , Xanadu Lounge - Sands Macaou - Macau- PRC
okay, i hate to be cynical, but what kind of people discuss building a casino, in a rival casino? well okay this Stanely Ho guy has his hands in all gaming in Macau..but i mean why not go at the Lisboa...? turns out his daughter Josie Ho is a renowned pop singer and actress, and she has a number at the Xanadu lounge in a competitors Casino...( Ho also has an invisible stake at the Sands, so its kinda okay) but it was more of a mental note to add to all the notes that tell me that i really am way over my head with all these people. the meeting was the usual flaunt with some business on the side...a few courses and lots of drinks later, Paranoid Investor excuses himself to make a phone call outside in the corridor. Im approached by the singer's half sister and CEO of STDM Pansy Ho and she asks me what are my clients main investment concern, in addition to a failed attempt on her part to assess his solvency... i try to be as courteous as possible telling her he would be more qualified to answer that and seeing her time is of the essence i will go fetch him for her from the corridor. The moment i enter the corridor...i see him almost 20 meters away...all worked up, i can tell even though he is giving me his back...but you can tell from the tone of his voice...i heard it right there, clear as crystal in my own native tounge;
هي حصلت نتناسب من محامين؟
Day Four 23:30, Room 1228 - Park Hyatt Tokyo, Nishi Shinjuku - Tokyo- Japan
Trying as much as possible to retain professionalism after i heard what i heard. Hey i am human, i am entitled to be offended. but why am i not surprised? it happened to me before when i wanted to apply for a loan to get my first car the banks told me they don't lend lawyers, like we are some undesirables that dont meet the bar of people they would want to deal with, then this Paranoid Investor thinks working as a lawyer is good enough a reason to not marry his daughter off to someone, they have lawyer jokes, but not engineer jokes or banker jokes...its just us and accountants, and accountants get off easy...although it was accountants that were behind Enron...BCCI and in every embezzlement, theres always an accountant.
Seriously, are lawyers all that bad? you tell us about stuff you're ashamed of admitting to anyone else, we help you in your time of need, we don't judge you , like i said before we don't even create an impression about you, we tell you what to do and Goddamn it we help you with it we probably are the only people who get you results, your IT expert blames it on a bug, or requires you to download an undownloadable upgrade, your doctor cant give you a conclusive yes or no, your physical trainer blames it on your willpower, your parents blame you and your generation, your children blame you on how you bought them up, your friends blame you on not taking their advice, your Shaikh blames it on your lack of Faith, your boss blames it on your lack of professionalism..we, well we just make it disappear.
You turn to us when there's nobody else to turn to, we make it all go away like it was a bad dream, we help you use the system to get what you deserve, we clean up the mess YOU made, and you go about your life once more stronger than before and with more faith in your capabilities to either bring about prosperity or havoc. we advise you on every little tid bit, at any time of the Goddamn day, we dont have you check in with us first thing in the morning, or when the weekend is over, we help you fight corruption, discrimination, injustice and all the other ills of mankind, we enrich your knowledge on things you should've originally taken to heart, we help solve the unsolvable, maybe even touch you in the most irrelevant of ways but turn you into a better human being.
We protect you, even from your own self...
We help you have that perfect life of yours despite your imperfections, we are tempted to obliterate your peaceful existence at every moment cause we can... but we don't.. because we take our privilege responsibly.
And then,
We aren't good enough for you?
Who is good enough for you if we aren't?
I mean is everyone else so clean and squeaky? no Contractors that cut costs and buildings fall? no business men that runoff with other peoples money? no Doctors that forget instruments and towels in the guts of patients? no cops that beat up suspects and deny due process? no politicians that philander? no Bankers that run off with the loose change? no drug companies that come up with the disease before the cure ? no marketeers that convince you with a product you don't need and having you save up and work your ass off to buy it? and only when you do another new and improved one comes up that makes the old one look like shit? no sales men conning you into buying things you don't need? or you end up buying something that you never really wanted ? no stockbrokers that make you put all your life savings into a worthless shares only for them to rise up and the stockbroker piggybacks on your investment? no importers that dump the market with unsafe and cheap products? no steel magnates monopolizing local and foreign markets? no petroleum companies that influence governments to wage wars against inferior nations so that they can get more off-take agreements and exploit more natural resources? don't get me started.
All job types have all walks of life...both the crooked and the decent, the crooked will always be crooked, even if he's a Priest in Boston, the decent, will always be decent, even if hes a lawyer in Cairo who happens to be contemplating sanity on 50th floor of the second tallest skyscraper in Tokyo.
