There's two movies that American girls can't shut up about, and two men they will forever (openly) fantasize about: 'Dirty Dancing' (with Patrick Swayze) and Labyrinth (with the dude with the crazy hair).
Doesn't matter how sexy or masculine you are as a man, you'll still NEVER be as sexy as Patrick Swayze in dirty dancing, or as sexy as David Bowie in Labyrinth. And yes, you will have to hear about it, repeatedly. It's just part of life so get used to it.
I told Hui about this. She'd never seen either of these, so first I laughed at her. Then tonight we started with 'Dirty Dancing'. See, I'm a guy that can handle having my girl know there's sexier guys out there, and amazing fantasies to have. After all, I'm the guy she'll be with at the moment she accidentally screams out something like, "Oh Mr. BOWIE!!!". I am comfortable enough to handle that.
More importantly, I don't want her to miss out on a CLASSIC!
Last week, we saw 'Citizen Kane' which had a 100% approval rating from 'Rotten Tomatoes' which aggregates movie reviews from the most widely known critics in the world. i.e. the likes of Siskel and Ebert. I refuse to say 'Siskel and Ropert', because... who the hell is Ropert? I grew up with Ebert, thank you very much. Well Citizen Kane had a 100% review rating, and the movie totally sucked balls. It represents what's wrong with artsy movies, as do directors like Stanley Kubrick. We recently saw this movie called, 'Sleeping Beauty', and it also sucked balls, and I was convinced I'd see 'Stanly Kubrick' in the credits, so I watched the credits and finally googled it. Don't watch either of these movies expecting that they'll get good later, they don't. 'Sleeping Beauty' had a 50% rating, when it should have been something TERRIBLE like a 10%.
From now on, I'm just going to watch movies according to what girls consider to be unforgettable and just can't shut up about... and what results in endless fantasies or upset men that can't get why women are endlessly fantasizing about "some dude from a movie".
So tomorrow, we're going to watch Labyrinth with David Bowie!
By the way. I really liked Dirty Dancing. What struck me most was the class struggle of the time, and the touching connection which developed where an upper class helped out a lower class because we're all human, and classes don't matter anyway. My god, I was nearly emasculated by a show of tears.
So if you haven't seen Dirty Dancing lately, go see it.
And when you do, watch it with your girl. And then pause the movie half way through, just like I did, so that you can dance to "In the Still of the Night". Yeah, I did that. I gotta compete, what can I say? I need to know that at least SOME of the time, she's actually fantasizing about ME!
Saturday, November 19, 2011
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Thiesm or Athiesm?
When deciding whether to embrace religion, people are told to test for god's existence. They are guaranteed to receive a divine answer if they pray with extreme earnesty, and listen carefully. The answer may be an emotional feeling, a physical feeling, or an inner voice.
This simple process lacks the scientific method however. With the right guidance, the same process can disprove the existence of a god. Here is how to fully prove if a god either does or does not exist:
Ask serious questions of God which you don't know the answer to but can easily find out:
"What is the street number of the nearest post office?"
"What is my next door neighbor's middle name?"
"Exactly how much do I weight?"
For a good test, ask at least 10 questions and be sincere.
This will effectively demonstrate God's accuracy.
Next text consistency and reliability by asking nonsensical questions:
"At what time tomorrow will I receive the Nobel prize?"
"What does my nonexistent Aunt Sally want me to do right now?"
"How many million cats are in my basement?"
Notice that as long as you are earnestly communicating and listening for an an expected answer,
you WILL get an answer.
Ask the same question 20 times to see if the answer varies.
After doing so, you may have some questions about where these answers come from.
Feeling is the cornerstone of theism. However your brain can answer you with emotions, physical sensations, and voices. Your brain produces authentic god-like experiences, on demand.
You can ask any question, and your amazing brain will respond with an answer. If you don't know the answer, your brain will provide a fictional one. After learning language, people process thoughts with words. As you read this sentence, you are "sounding it out" in your head.
When you aren't reading or thinking, that internal voice is easily mistaken as something divine because it seems to come from somewhere else. "I asked a question, so WHO just answered and WHERE are they?" It came from you, in your head. This is called 'internal dialogue'. Dont' worry, it's healthy and all of this is normal.
To get answers, some people will tell you to read the entire bible. I give you one page and a painless way of finding out which is accepted by both the religious and scientific community. Thiests say, "Ask, and ye shall receive." It is true. Everybody can agree on that.
Unexplained experiences could be dictating major things in your life and the lives of others. Whether you are religious or scientific, knowing the truth is of paramount importance for sound judgement. Repost this message to help others.
This simple process lacks the scientific method however. With the right guidance, the same process can disprove the existence of a god. Here is how to fully prove if a god either does or does not exist:
Ask serious questions of God which you don't know the answer to but can easily find out:
"What is the street number of the nearest post office?"
"What is my next door neighbor's middle name?"
"Exactly how much do I weight?"
For a good test, ask at least 10 questions and be sincere.
This will effectively demonstrate God's accuracy.
Next text consistency and reliability by asking nonsensical questions:
"At what time tomorrow will I receive the Nobel prize?"
"What does my nonexistent Aunt Sally want me to do right now?"
"How many million cats are in my basement?"
Notice that as long as you are earnestly communicating and listening for an an expected answer,
you WILL get an answer.
Ask the same question 20 times to see if the answer varies.
After doing so, you may have some questions about where these answers come from.
Feeling is the cornerstone of theism. However your brain can answer you with emotions, physical sensations, and voices. Your brain produces authentic god-like experiences, on demand.
You can ask any question, and your amazing brain will respond with an answer. If you don't know the answer, your brain will provide a fictional one. After learning language, people process thoughts with words. As you read this sentence, you are "sounding it out" in your head.
When you aren't reading or thinking, that internal voice is easily mistaken as something divine because it seems to come from somewhere else. "I asked a question, so WHO just answered and WHERE are they?" It came from you, in your head. This is called 'internal dialogue'. Dont' worry, it's healthy and all of this is normal.
To get answers, some people will tell you to read the entire bible. I give you one page and a painless way of finding out which is accepted by both the religious and scientific community. Thiests say, "Ask, and ye shall receive." It is true. Everybody can agree on that.
Unexplained experiences could be dictating major things in your life and the lives of others. Whether you are religious or scientific, knowing the truth is of paramount importance for sound judgement. Repost this message to help others.
Monday, October 10, 2011
10 days to leave China
"You have ten days to leave China."
I didn't expect that.
Some pages on my passport have ink marks on them. Some people think this is not acceptable. Others don't even notice because they are so minor.
Within the next 48 hours, I will be getting in line again and seeing if an agent just does their work, or says there's a problem because of a little ink. We'll find out.
I didn't expect that.
Some pages on my passport have ink marks on them. Some people think this is not acceptable. Others don't even notice because they are so minor.
Within the next 48 hours, I will be getting in line again and seeing if an agent just does their work, or says there's a problem because of a little ink. We'll find out.
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Forums
For years, I've been writing business 'how to' guides at rpgreseller. The site never got good traffic which would allow me to do sales, but I did get recognized by other business leaders, and I got some contracts with them. It paid off in the end. However, I gotta pay for the server each month, and it takes so much TIME maintaining it and doing all that writing.
I found someone that will take over everything. It was never earning, so that seems fine by me.
In the future, I may do a forum that focuses on how to do business in China, then I may attract the import/export crowd.
I found someone that will take over everything. It was never earning, so that seems fine by me.
In the future, I may do a forum that focuses on how to do business in China, then I may attract the import/export crowd.
Out of Debt
I took most of my pay check this month and paid off a credit card.
With the CC done, and college loan done, I am now out of debt.
I plan on trying to stay this way for a while, and want to avoid anything but equity investments. e.g. if I go into debt to buy a house, that's not actually so bad because in a worst case scenario, I can sell the house, which should be appreciating faster than my debt, and I'll be ahead.
I've been becoming very interested in the prospect of land and home ownership. Land can provide a lot of self sufficiency, and a home is a place to live. I could either pay rent forever, or eventually have my own place.
Home ownership is big on my list because I want to share a house with someone that needs a break, financially.
I'm not sure if I'll eventually settle down in China, or the USA. I work do damned hard that I just never find time to learn Chinese. I do carry an MP4 player which has lessons on it. I turn it on whenever I am traveling around somewhere. I have a tendency to forget it though =\
With the CC done, and college loan done, I am now out of debt.
I plan on trying to stay this way for a while, and want to avoid anything but equity investments. e.g. if I go into debt to buy a house, that's not actually so bad because in a worst case scenario, I can sell the house, which should be appreciating faster than my debt, and I'll be ahead.
I've been becoming very interested in the prospect of land and home ownership. Land can provide a lot of self sufficiency, and a home is a place to live. I could either pay rent forever, or eventually have my own place.
Home ownership is big on my list because I want to share a house with someone that needs a break, financially.
I'm not sure if I'll eventually settle down in China, or the USA. I work do damned hard that I just never find time to learn Chinese. I do carry an MP4 player which has lessons on it. I turn it on whenever I am traveling around somewhere. I have a tendency to forget it though =\
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Wheat For Breakfast
My recipe
Few cups of wheat
Two cans of tuna fish or two handfuls of thinly sliced mutton
Boil it. (in a magical slow cooker)
Season with some chicken bullion OR with a can of tomato paste
Getting Fancy:
Consider
eggs
olives
tabasco sauce (just a little on top for some ZANG!)
Few cups of wheat
Two cans of tuna fish or two handfuls of thinly sliced mutton
Boil it. (in a magical slow cooker)
Season with some chicken bullion OR with a can of tomato paste
Getting Fancy:
Consider
eggs
olives
tabasco sauce (just a little on top for some ZANG!)
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Give your man one of these.
This is an awesome gift. Period.
Cheap, but so freaking useful. I sometimes give these as gifts to my friends.
I carry the survival knife at all times. Mostly just use it as a knife or bottle opener.
The size and profile is perfect. I don't want a bulky knife in my pocket, I want a flat blade.
This fits the bill perfectly.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
$3,800
Years ago, I took loans for college. After graduation, payment became due at $50 per month, and the interest came out to about $200 per year. In other words, 25% of my monthly payments were just going to interest alone instead of paying down the debt.
I decided this might be good for my credit score. A long history going on for years, of steady payments on a loan. Next month, the final payment will be done.
I will have paid $600 in interest on a loan for $3,800. That's around 15%.
It was nice being able to make such ridiculously low monthly payments. But what of my credit score?
Will I look like pure awesomeness? We'll find out.
I decided this might be good for my credit score. A long history going on for years, of steady payments on a loan. Next month, the final payment will be done.
I will have paid $600 in interest on a loan for $3,800. That's around 15%.
It was nice being able to make such ridiculously low monthly payments. But what of my credit score?
Will I look like pure awesomeness? We'll find out.
Thursday, July 7, 2011
The Frog Prince
Never before have I ever seen an animated movie with such deep meaning, never one which was so delicately written that a child would feel it were made just for them, as much as any adult.
That good. So good I tell my friends.
It gets my glowing review.
That good. So good I tell my friends.
It gets my glowing review.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Dumbing Down of America
Interview with the author (watch the full thing). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6FKkWFHyi0&NR
Some very powerful statements.
The new world order doesn't want children to be creative, well educated, or critical thinking.
For several hundred years, there has been gradualism in the educational system, and movement toward 'regionalism' in government where what is good for an individual or a city does not matter. Wealth of well to do cities will be flattened out and distributed to other cities. Wealth of rich nations... yeah, that's happening too.
Regionalism is 'collectivism', is communism. Both capitalism and communism have a dark side. I fear that the dark side of America will make other dark times seem very small in magnitude.
Some very powerful statements.
The new world order doesn't want children to be creative, well educated, or critical thinking.
- Corporations want employees that are 'school to work', and have no skills or options, just do the work and quit job hoping so much.
- Goverment wants citizens that don't question authority, and don't question what is best for them. They want non-thinking followers.
For several hundred years, there has been gradualism in the educational system, and movement toward 'regionalism' in government where what is good for an individual or a city does not matter. Wealth of well to do cities will be flattened out and distributed to other cities. Wealth of rich nations... yeah, that's happening too.
Regionalism is 'collectivism', is communism. Both capitalism and communism have a dark side. I fear that the dark side of America will make other dark times seem very small in magnitude.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
true love and soul mates
People ask me if I believe in 'true love'
And I want to refer them to a linguist for reality therapy.
OK, love is love.
There is no artificial or fake love.
The color blue... is blue. It comes in many shades, but there is no TRUE blue.
So why should there be "true love"?
See where I'm going with this? The phrase "True love" fucks us over.
It gives us this idea that we should live our lives seeking true blue.
As if we should just seek for something that doesn't exist.
We should seek our 'soul mate'
That's more bad language. More 'impossible'.
Nobody is perfect, and no love is perfect.
OK?
Think of yourself and your parents and any brothers or sisters.
You fight and you hate. I'll bet you don't even want to live together forever, am I right?
Your love is not perfect, and it never will be, because it can't be.
Why? Because you're all human, ok. That's why.
And guess what.. humans aren't perfect.
You need to wake up and realize several fundamental things:
1. There is no true love. (love is love is love, nothing else. Don't modify it with any adjectives and then say there's some new kind that people don't know from birth, and then don't get all high and mighty with me telling me I don't know my shit because I'm single!
Never disqualify someone as ignorant about love because they are single, they might know way more than you do. Besides, it's really condescending. "Well if you haven't found true love, then what could YOU possibly know?)
2. There is no soul mate (there is only good matches for you, and NONE of them are perfect. Not to mention that a 'soul' or 'soul matching' has nothing to do with any of this. When was the last time someone walked up to you, eyed your breasts and said, "Sister, I like your soul! I feel a compatibility coming on.")
You develop entire libraries of inter-connected and supporting ideas about 'true love' and 'soul mates' and you live your life hoping and acting weird, missing good opportunities with good people... because you're waiting for perfection and expecting something that doesn't exist.
You're going to be searching a long time, I can tell you that much.
And you're going to be unhappy with every single lover you ever have. You will look back on them with this harsh judgment about not being a perfect soul mate, or not giving you "true love". As if. See how silly you are? You got these goggles on that prevent you from interpreting reality. So what's real now?
I've known this long enough to settle down with the idea that I will love a lot of girls in my life. I'm never going to judge them by thinking, "Well this one wasn't true love, and that one wasn't true love, and that one was imperfect..." I am going to love them with a pure kind of love that you have never achieved because YOU still got broken reality goggles.
You still think you'll only fall for one person, a soul mate. And that when you do, it's going to feel different.
It won't feel different. It's going to feel sexy and friendly, like it always does. That's nature's work.
The only "soul mate" qualification is to have a working relationship that doesn't end.
But even that can result in you judging people as having some kind of false or substandard love.
"It didn't work out, so he was a bad lover."
No he wasn't. He held you close, and did everything that a lover does. Took care of you. He cooked you breakfast. Drop the harsh reality. He was just fine. Why did it end? I don't know. I'm not you.
I look back on my exes and mmmm. They were scrumptious. They were perfect. And you know what? I still love them and we sometimes get together with them when the timing is good. That's a special kind of love you can't have if you're busy judging the past, and judging everybody against an image of perfection.
Join me. Understand "pure love". Pure is the only adjective that I approve of attaching to the word love. It really filters out the confusing instead of adding confusion to it. Mmm. Language is everything, it influences your philosophy. Set your mind free. Embrace pure love.
And I want to refer them to a linguist for reality therapy.
OK, love is love.
There is no artificial or fake love.
The color blue... is blue. It comes in many shades, but there is no TRUE blue.
So why should there be "true love"?
See where I'm going with this? The phrase "True love" fucks us over.
It gives us this idea that we should live our lives seeking true blue.
As if we should just seek for something that doesn't exist.
We should seek our 'soul mate'
That's more bad language. More 'impossible'.
Nobody is perfect, and no love is perfect.
OK?
Think of yourself and your parents and any brothers or sisters.
You fight and you hate. I'll bet you don't even want to live together forever, am I right?
Your love is not perfect, and it never will be, because it can't be.
Why? Because you're all human, ok. That's why.
And guess what.. humans aren't perfect.
You need to wake up and realize several fundamental things:
1. There is no true love. (love is love is love, nothing else. Don't modify it with any adjectives and then say there's some new kind that people don't know from birth, and then don't get all high and mighty with me telling me I don't know my shit because I'm single!
Never disqualify someone as ignorant about love because they are single, they might know way more than you do. Besides, it's really condescending. "Well if you haven't found true love, then what could YOU possibly know?)
2. There is no soul mate (there is only good matches for you, and NONE of them are perfect. Not to mention that a 'soul' or 'soul matching' has nothing to do with any of this. When was the last time someone walked up to you, eyed your breasts and said, "Sister, I like your soul! I feel a compatibility coming on.")
You develop entire libraries of inter-connected and supporting ideas about 'true love' and 'soul mates' and you live your life hoping and acting weird, missing good opportunities with good people... because you're waiting for perfection and expecting something that doesn't exist.
You're going to be searching a long time, I can tell you that much.
And you're going to be unhappy with every single lover you ever have. You will look back on them with this harsh judgment about not being a perfect soul mate, or not giving you "true love". As if. See how silly you are? You got these goggles on that prevent you from interpreting reality. So what's real now?
I've known this long enough to settle down with the idea that I will love a lot of girls in my life. I'm never going to judge them by thinking, "Well this one wasn't true love, and that one wasn't true love, and that one was imperfect..." I am going to love them with a pure kind of love that you have never achieved because YOU still got broken reality goggles.
You still think you'll only fall for one person, a soul mate. And that when you do, it's going to feel different.
It won't feel different. It's going to feel sexy and friendly, like it always does. That's nature's work.
The only "soul mate" qualification is to have a working relationship that doesn't end.
But even that can result in you judging people as having some kind of false or substandard love.
"It didn't work out, so he was a bad lover."
No he wasn't. He held you close, and did everything that a lover does. Took care of you. He cooked you breakfast. Drop the harsh reality. He was just fine. Why did it end? I don't know. I'm not you.
I look back on my exes and mmmm. They were scrumptious. They were perfect. And you know what? I still love them and we sometimes get together with them when the timing is good. That's a special kind of love you can't have if you're busy judging the past, and judging everybody against an image of perfection.
Join me. Understand "pure love". Pure is the only adjective that I approve of attaching to the word love. It really filters out the confusing instead of adding confusion to it. Mmm. Language is everything, it influences your philosophy. Set your mind free. Embrace pure love.
Shanghai
Opportunity came knocking. I'll be moving there next month.
I was just getting settled into life at Nanjing. This is good though.
I just finished watching Season 6 of 'Weeds'. Wow, talk about emotional. Amazing ending and edge-of-your-seat writing.
I met a girl, like her. She's a Westerner, which takes a load off.
She has some emotional stuff about an ex boyfriend.
I've met like... a million girls like that in my life.
History does a number on the female brain.
I was just getting settled into life at Nanjing. This is good though.
I just finished watching Season 6 of 'Weeds'. Wow, talk about emotional. Amazing ending and edge-of-your-seat writing.
I met a girl, like her. She's a Westerner, which takes a load off.
She has some emotional stuff about an ex boyfriend.
I've met like... a million girls like that in my life.
History does a number on the female brain.
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Eefing sound studio!
KTV (Karaoke Television) AKA 'Karaoke' is very popular in China.
People here don't want to be exposed to strangers, so they go to a KTV palace that looks like a 3-5 story hotel.
Then they rent a private room and sing their hearts out.
That room costs about $15 per hour, but these people make $15 PER DAY!!
So it's expensive as all hell.
I want to have the best party E-VAR so I just went out and bought some big speakers and a mixing unit that powers them and mixes in up to three mics at the same time.
Later tonight, I'm going to have a wild and crazy KTV party. FREE.
Except, there won't be much to eat at this party. I pretty much banked myself until my next paycheck :)
People here don't want to be exposed to strangers, so they go to a KTV palace that looks like a 3-5 story hotel.
Then they rent a private room and sing their hearts out.
That room costs about $15 per hour, but these people make $15 PER DAY!!
So it's expensive as all hell.
I want to have the best party E-VAR so I just went out and bought some big speakers and a mixing unit that powers them and mixes in up to three mics at the same time.
Later tonight, I'm going to have a wild and crazy KTV party. FREE.
Except, there won't be much to eat at this party. I pretty much banked myself until my next paycheck :)
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Irritating Christians
OK, I used to be a Christian, but I wasn't irritating other people with it.
So this girl, someone I knew from Childhood adds me on Facebook. We're cool.
Then she finds this thing and reposts it. You've seen it before, 'The Christian Thang' comes in many forms.
It's usually a Facebook status message or an email that talks about affirming your belief in something and then it ends with, "And as a service to humanity, you should dutifully repost this and wave your ass around to ALL of your friends, right in their faces, with serious pride, mmmkay?"
This time 'The Christian Thang' came in the form of affirming support for the pledge of allegiance and focused on the sacred words, "Under god."
And it also talked about having this removed from the pledge of allegiance.
So I chime in and, hell, as the only guy willing to speak up for the hundreds of non-believer friends on her massive Facebook list, I say, "I remember the pledge. First, it felt unnatural like programming. And then second, I knew that my god wasn't the same as everybody else, and some didn't have a god, and it's stupid for a teacher or an educational institution to make people stay non-scientific or non-educational stuff they don't believe in."
Make people say stuff they don't believe in? - Can we get more fucked up? That's not freedom and that's not comfortable or even right to do. We should stop it.
So then she says that she wouldn't be here if not for God and she's so sad to hear that I have troubles believing anymore. I tell her God passed the science test. I prayed and prayed for months, wholeheartedly, seeking a sign. And I always got internal dialog in my head. I used to think that was God I heard talking back to me, but I proved it was just myself.
You know how some Christians tell this faith affirming story of, "One day, I was driving, and then god spoke to me clear as anything and he was like WHAT THE FUCK, PULL OVER RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!! so I pulled over... and then there was this awful accident, and I'm alive because GOD IS REAL!!!"
Well, I remembered that shit. And one day, actually on multiple days because my brain was fried with Christianity since I was a small boy, that same exact thing happened to me. God was like, "Pull over, biotch!" and I was like, "You know what, this is the PERFECT opportunity to PROVE that this is just in my head."
So, as the troubled one I was... as far as I knew, I was risking my very life to prove god was either right or wrong, either real or not real. And well, I'm still here typing this shit years later, right? There is NO god.
I shared this with her, and she shared back. "I married this guy that was addicted to alcohol and wrong in all the wrong ways, and I stuck with him because he's a man of god and I was TRAINED (by my perfect religion) to never question male authority since men are closer to god." ... ok to make a long story short, she wasn't sure what to do. She left the poor sap. Later on I guess he died or something because she wouldn't be here alive today if not for him..
Oh wait, I remember. She was suicidal when she talked to god, after a long vacation from talking to god, and god finally said to leave, so she left and she's so 1,000% sure she would have killed herself otherwise.
OK, as long as we're deep on derp. I've nearly committed suicide, and I know what it's like not to fuck around with it. I had a cord wrapped around my next and my vision was fading as I rest on my bed, waiting to die. I got the good cord, the one that's over 20 meters long, and I wrapped until I could barely breath even if I tried as hard as I could. I was not shitting around. But my brain never stopped thinking. I was trying to talk myself out of it from the moment I started minutes ago. I eventually thought of who would find me. Well shit, it'd be my dad. And my brother had already offed himself not too long ago... and that would just devastate him. He wasn't ready to handle that, and he shouldn't find me. SO I decided that I would wait one week. And if I still felt the same way, I would go to a hotel and let some maid find me instead.
You know what? I didn't think about god once. He just wasn't my kind of crutch at the time. When people are on the edge, they think of whatever keeps them going. The thing about there's no atheists in foxholes is bullshit. What's true is that there's no men in foxholes who don't have a crutch of some sort. They think of SOMETHING that keeps them going. We all do, and there's proverbial foxholes in life. She was in one of them.
The difference is that when a Christian gets through something (even if they were in no real or serious danger, and were only mildly depressed) they come out of it thinking that God saved them yet again.
Let me tell you. I've been taking every risk ever given to me when God says that I am going to die or suffer unless I listen to him. I don't cower in the field of the unknown, in a nonexistent foxhole, praying to a nonexisting crutch. My crutches are REAL! and I have no faith in god. I am stronger than any Christian will ever be. I have transcended from a weaker form into something much more powerful and capable, and even more fearless for it.
Anyway... I deleted her from Facebook along with another Christian that was too loud and annoying.
The funny thing is what was the last straw, the thing that pushed me over... This was days after the pledge of allegiance thang... She says it's her birthday and she wants huckleberry pie. But not just ANY kind of huckleberry pie, the kind you climb up a mountain and pick the berries yourself, and then take them home. YUMMO!" - yes, she said the word "yummo".
And at that point, I realized that leaving Christianity has made me a far more interesting person, with a much more fulfilling life. I am never going to make a post that has the word "yummo" in it or talk about stuff that's so meaningless as blueberry pie. Well, hell... I'll do meaningless, but I'll make it interesting, dammit.
Instead of "yummo", I am so many much more powerful and interesting words.
I am bitch, cunt, fuck, shit, higgitywiggity-woo-woo... I express myself with the full color range of the linguistic rainbow and that makes me funny, enjoyable, and shit... sometimes I'm so damn funny I even make myself laugh.
I am a happy person, and I make other people happier than I ever would if I had remained a Christian.
I completely renounce the faith. I've done that privately a number of times, but now I do so openly for friends, family, peers, and perfect strangers to stand witness.
I also invite you to stand with me, and I challenge you.
As a Christian, maybe you've been challenged to believe, and just try a prayer and then see if your body feels something since you're praying (guess what, that works with any god, it's called a psychosomatic response and it explains why religion is so believable. It feels very, very real.)
My challenge is to not use my bullshit test, but make up your own bullshit test and make it a good one. See if your god can pass the bullshit test, and be serious about it. Just as serious as when you prayed for the first time and felt something.
Without further adieu, here's something that got me thinking about all this stuff today. I came across a link that shows the Christian crazies are wrong about that "But the founding fathers made those words..." argument. They actually were NOT chosen by the founding fathers for our pledge. Read on.
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/03/24/the-founding-fathers-had-a-national-motto-e-pluribus-unum-2/
By the way, there are some negative side effects of leaving god. You are going to turn into a drug abusing loser like I am and you'll start hitting people for no reason as you become increasingly violent. It's true that it's impossible to be good without the grace of God... you will become the worst, most evil son of a bitch ever since Johnnie Cash... and you'll love every minute of it.
Peace!
So this girl, someone I knew from Childhood adds me on Facebook. We're cool.
Then she finds this thing and reposts it. You've seen it before, 'The Christian Thang' comes in many forms.
It's usually a Facebook status message or an email that talks about affirming your belief in something and then it ends with, "And as a service to humanity, you should dutifully repost this and wave your ass around to ALL of your friends, right in their faces, with serious pride, mmmkay?"
This time 'The Christian Thang' came in the form of affirming support for the pledge of allegiance and focused on the sacred words, "Under god."
And it also talked about having this removed from the pledge of allegiance.
So I chime in and, hell, as the only guy willing to speak up for the hundreds of non-believer friends on her massive Facebook list, I say, "I remember the pledge. First, it felt unnatural like programming. And then second, I knew that my god wasn't the same as everybody else, and some didn't have a god, and it's stupid for a teacher or an educational institution to make people stay non-scientific or non-educational stuff they don't believe in."
Make people say stuff they don't believe in? - Can we get more fucked up? That's not freedom and that's not comfortable or even right to do. We should stop it.
So then she says that she wouldn't be here if not for God and she's so sad to hear that I have troubles believing anymore. I tell her God passed the science test. I prayed and prayed for months, wholeheartedly, seeking a sign. And I always got internal dialog in my head. I used to think that was God I heard talking back to me, but I proved it was just myself.
You know how some Christians tell this faith affirming story of, "One day, I was driving, and then god spoke to me clear as anything and he was like WHAT THE FUCK, PULL OVER RIGHT NOW, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!!! so I pulled over... and then there was this awful accident, and I'm alive because GOD IS REAL!!!"
Well, I remembered that shit. And one day, actually on multiple days because my brain was fried with Christianity since I was a small boy, that same exact thing happened to me. God was like, "Pull over, biotch!" and I was like, "You know what, this is the PERFECT opportunity to PROVE that this is just in my head."
So, as the troubled one I was... as far as I knew, I was risking my very life to prove god was either right or wrong, either real or not real. And well, I'm still here typing this shit years later, right? There is NO god.
I shared this with her, and she shared back. "I married this guy that was addicted to alcohol and wrong in all the wrong ways, and I stuck with him because he's a man of god and I was TRAINED (by my perfect religion) to never question male authority since men are closer to god." ... ok to make a long story short, she wasn't sure what to do. She left the poor sap. Later on I guess he died or something because she wouldn't be here alive today if not for him..
Oh wait, I remember. She was suicidal when she talked to god, after a long vacation from talking to god, and god finally said to leave, so she left and she's so 1,000% sure she would have killed herself otherwise.
OK, as long as we're deep on derp. I've nearly committed suicide, and I know what it's like not to fuck around with it. I had a cord wrapped around my next and my vision was fading as I rest on my bed, waiting to die. I got the good cord, the one that's over 20 meters long, and I wrapped until I could barely breath even if I tried as hard as I could. I was not shitting around. But my brain never stopped thinking. I was trying to talk myself out of it from the moment I started minutes ago. I eventually thought of who would find me. Well shit, it'd be my dad. And my brother had already offed himself not too long ago... and that would just devastate him. He wasn't ready to handle that, and he shouldn't find me. SO I decided that I would wait one week. And if I still felt the same way, I would go to a hotel and let some maid find me instead.
You know what? I didn't think about god once. He just wasn't my kind of crutch at the time. When people are on the edge, they think of whatever keeps them going. The thing about there's no atheists in foxholes is bullshit. What's true is that there's no men in foxholes who don't have a crutch of some sort. They think of SOMETHING that keeps them going. We all do, and there's proverbial foxholes in life. She was in one of them.
The difference is that when a Christian gets through something (even if they were in no real or serious danger, and were only mildly depressed) they come out of it thinking that God saved them yet again.
Let me tell you. I've been taking every risk ever given to me when God says that I am going to die or suffer unless I listen to him. I don't cower in the field of the unknown, in a nonexistent foxhole, praying to a nonexisting crutch. My crutches are REAL! and I have no faith in god. I am stronger than any Christian will ever be. I have transcended from a weaker form into something much more powerful and capable, and even more fearless for it.
Anyway... I deleted her from Facebook along with another Christian that was too loud and annoying.
The funny thing is what was the last straw, the thing that pushed me over... This was days after the pledge of allegiance thang... She says it's her birthday and she wants huckleberry pie. But not just ANY kind of huckleberry pie, the kind you climb up a mountain and pick the berries yourself, and then take them home. YUMMO!" - yes, she said the word "yummo".
And at that point, I realized that leaving Christianity has made me a far more interesting person, with a much more fulfilling life. I am never going to make a post that has the word "yummo" in it or talk about stuff that's so meaningless as blueberry pie. Well, hell... I'll do meaningless, but I'll make it interesting, dammit.
Instead of "yummo", I am so many much more powerful and interesting words.
I am bitch, cunt, fuck, shit, higgitywiggity-woo-woo... I express myself with the full color range of the linguistic rainbow and that makes me funny, enjoyable, and shit... sometimes I'm so damn funny I even make myself laugh.
I am a happy person, and I make other people happier than I ever would if I had remained a Christian.
I completely renounce the faith. I've done that privately a number of times, but now I do so openly for friends, family, peers, and perfect strangers to stand witness.
I also invite you to stand with me, and I challenge you.
As a Christian, maybe you've been challenged to believe, and just try a prayer and then see if your body feels something since you're praying (guess what, that works with any god, it's called a psychosomatic response and it explains why religion is so believable. It feels very, very real.)
My challenge is to not use my bullshit test, but make up your own bullshit test and make it a good one. See if your god can pass the bullshit test, and be serious about it. Just as serious as when you prayed for the first time and felt something.
Without further adieu, here's something that got me thinking about all this stuff today. I came across a link that shows the Christian crazies are wrong about that "But the founding fathers made those words..." argument. They actually were NOT chosen by the founding fathers for our pledge. Read on.
http://www.secularnewsdaily.com/2011/03/24/the-founding-fathers-had-a-national-motto-e-pluribus-unum-2/
By the way, there are some negative side effects of leaving god. You are going to turn into a drug abusing loser like I am and you'll start hitting people for no reason as you become increasingly violent. It's true that it's impossible to be good without the grace of God... you will become the worst, most evil son of a bitch ever since Johnnie Cash... and you'll love every minute of it.
Peace!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
She screamed in horror!
Craziest thing today.
I'm going to the bank to wire money home, and right at the top of the metro station stairs on the way out, my assistant screams. Then she's pointing at this fluffy, dead rabbit. Just there in the middle of the walkway.
So I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, how long has that thing been there.. making people scream and stuff?"
Hundreds of people are walking by.. and I realize that if I don't pick it up, it's just going to keep on going forever. So I toss it in the trash.
If it was like a spider, I would understand nobody picking it up. Man, I wouldn't pick that up either.
But it's this harmless RABBIT!
That leads to my conclusion. Society is so screwed. If we can't even handle stooping to clean up a dead rabbit.... how are we going to stand up for change and things that matter?
And then there's my other conclusion, that came to me halfway through lunch.
It's an awfully nice thing I eat with chopsticks!
I'm going to the bank to wire money home, and right at the top of the metro station stairs on the way out, my assistant screams. Then she's pointing at this fluffy, dead rabbit. Just there in the middle of the walkway.
So I'm thinking, "Wait a minute, how long has that thing been there.. making people scream and stuff?"
Hundreds of people are walking by.. and I realize that if I don't pick it up, it's just going to keep on going forever. So I toss it in the trash.
If it was like a spider, I would understand nobody picking it up. Man, I wouldn't pick that up either.
But it's this harmless RABBIT!
That leads to my conclusion. Society is so screwed. If we can't even handle stooping to clean up a dead rabbit.... how are we going to stand up for change and things that matter?
And then there's my other conclusion, that came to me halfway through lunch.
It's an awfully nice thing I eat with chopsticks!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Recent
I went to a traditional Chinese funeral. It was all that can be expected of a funeral, so I'm not going to write many details. I traveled a long time to show respect and love although the actual time spent taking action was only a few minutes. Someone high in the business came a long too and drove others. Respect and love are big in China. It was a bonding road trip.
Today, I bought a small toy compass for 2 kuai. Supercheap! - But it actually works, so I am very pleased with it and I went back to buy all that were available (3). I will give the other two away to some expat friends. Sometimes someone says, "Go West" and then you're up shit creek without a paddle.
I spent a moment to see the business plan of a young gentleman and I was impressed. Not so young, really. 28. Although he's getting the shaft when he goes to banks or seeks investors. He's on to something and he's done his homework. It WILL be successful. He just needs about 280k RMB to make it possible. My lazy math pegs that at about 50 USD. I'm going to pass on a recommendation to some friends who might be in a position to invest.
In China, you meet exciting, different, and interesting people. A dry and uninteresting sentence like that becomes loaded when 'you've been there' and you 'get it'.
Tomorrow, I get my new assistant. The first was great for the job but didn't want to do personal things like translating gibberish to a dentist when he's got a big drill in my mouth. She preferred office work. Following that, we had a guy who got himself fired within a week because he tried to bribe a few people at work and also threatened one at the same time. Ooh, way to get ahead in the world! - And now I'm on #3 and if anything goes wrong, I'm going to look like a bad boss because I go through assistants like hits of crack.
The assistant makes me happy. Tomorrow, I can go to the bank and prepare to wire some cash home. Desperately needed. I got bills to PAY. And I need my debit card so that I can get a VOIP (internet phone) account going again. It's time to call relatives.
I saw 'Sliding Doors' (a movie) tonight. It made me feel sappy and romantic. I guess it's been about nine months that I've been in Nanjing and stayed single. Sometimes people ask me about that.
Trying to avoid a long story, I told one guy, "I just don't like girls." - You should have seen his FACE!! - Total panic. He for sure thought I was coming out of the closet and was about to lovingly embrace his hand and tell him he'd look cute in a pink tutu... as I moved in for a passionate kiss.
I find girls attractive, but I have this image that friends treat each other way better than lovers treat each other. So the logical thing to do is avoid the drama and just be friends. I'm also not up for the maintenance of a relationship. People develop needs, and they can show some surprising sass if they don't feel those needs are well met.
I could go for a man's best friend. I've been thinking of investing in a Husky or German Shepherd. First, I shall pay my bills. A dog is always a dog. It will never get sassy with me unless I really deserve it.
Today, I bought a small toy compass for 2 kuai. Supercheap! - But it actually works, so I am very pleased with it and I went back to buy all that were available (3). I will give the other two away to some expat friends. Sometimes someone says, "Go West" and then you're up shit creek without a paddle.
I spent a moment to see the business plan of a young gentleman and I was impressed. Not so young, really. 28. Although he's getting the shaft when he goes to banks or seeks investors. He's on to something and he's done his homework. It WILL be successful. He just needs about 280k RMB to make it possible. My lazy math pegs that at about 50 USD. I'm going to pass on a recommendation to some friends who might be in a position to invest.
In China, you meet exciting, different, and interesting people. A dry and uninteresting sentence like that becomes loaded when 'you've been there' and you 'get it'.
Tomorrow, I get my new assistant. The first was great for the job but didn't want to do personal things like translating gibberish to a dentist when he's got a big drill in my mouth. She preferred office work. Following that, we had a guy who got himself fired within a week because he tried to bribe a few people at work and also threatened one at the same time. Ooh, way to get ahead in the world! - And now I'm on #3 and if anything goes wrong, I'm going to look like a bad boss because I go through assistants like hits of crack.
The assistant makes me happy. Tomorrow, I can go to the bank and prepare to wire some cash home. Desperately needed. I got bills to PAY. And I need my debit card so that I can get a VOIP (internet phone) account going again. It's time to call relatives.
I saw 'Sliding Doors' (a movie) tonight. It made me feel sappy and romantic. I guess it's been about nine months that I've been in Nanjing and stayed single. Sometimes people ask me about that.
Trying to avoid a long story, I told one guy, "I just don't like girls." - You should have seen his FACE!! - Total panic. He for sure thought I was coming out of the closet and was about to lovingly embrace his hand and tell him he'd look cute in a pink tutu... as I moved in for a passionate kiss.
I find girls attractive, but I have this image that friends treat each other way better than lovers treat each other. So the logical thing to do is avoid the drama and just be friends. I'm also not up for the maintenance of a relationship. People develop needs, and they can show some surprising sass if they don't feel those needs are well met.
I could go for a man's best friend. I've been thinking of investing in a Husky or German Shepherd. First, I shall pay my bills. A dog is always a dog. It will never get sassy with me unless I really deserve it.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Japan - Big ol earthquake and tsunami
I never felt it, but the Earthquake and Tsunami were really something. I was aware of it within a few hours
because of a site on the internet. I'm surprised that Hawaii was such as mess considering that they had several
hours of awareness.
It seems to me that there must be some kind of big failure in infrastructure if death and terror is 6 hours away in a different country, and everyone in your own country (at least in the path of danger) doesn't get an online notification within minutes.
I saw a picture of an airport where none of the cars had been moved out of the way, etc. Real messy looking.
I believe in the future, countries will begin coordinating their emergency response systems online. It will save so many lives. I wondered at the idea of suggesting that the Microsoft corporation begin to integrate ecological disaster warning systems that function by geography. I think that't the kind of idea that might get listened to.
Windows updates itself, why not warn me of imminent danger?
because of a site on the internet. I'm surprised that Hawaii was such as mess considering that they had several
hours of awareness.
It seems to me that there must be some kind of big failure in infrastructure if death and terror is 6 hours away in a different country, and everyone in your own country (at least in the path of danger) doesn't get an online notification within minutes.
I saw a picture of an airport where none of the cars had been moved out of the way, etc. Real messy looking.
I believe in the future, countries will begin coordinating their emergency response systems online. It will save so many lives. I wondered at the idea of suggesting that the Microsoft corporation begin to integrate ecological disaster warning systems that function by geography. I think that't the kind of idea that might get listened to.
Windows updates itself, why not warn me of imminent danger?
Weekly House Party
http://klancykennedy.com/kk/party/3-13.html
This link shows a slideshow of some of the action at the last party.
We had about 11 people show up, and I cooked pita bread for the first time.
I'm working on learning 'survival cooking' (stuff like bread, sauces, gravy, how to use spices, etc.)
I ran out of chairs, so I'll be buying more soon from Ikea so I can host up to 20 people.
I do this every weekend now.
It takes a lot of time, and I spend most of it just trying to take care of my guests.
Later, I will see about finding a way to make myself less busy so that I can enjoy the party as well.
This link shows a slideshow of some of the action at the last party.
We had about 11 people show up, and I cooked pita bread for the first time.
I'm working on learning 'survival cooking' (stuff like bread, sauces, gravy, how to use spices, etc.)
I ran out of chairs, so I'll be buying more soon from Ikea so I can host up to 20 people.
I do this every weekend now.
It takes a lot of time, and I spend most of it just trying to take care of my guests.
Later, I will see about finding a way to make myself less busy so that I can enjoy the party as well.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Weekly Party Group
http://www.hellonanjing.net/forum/16-social-events/4519-weekend-house-party-with-food#4519
I am having a weekly party for English speakers. It's a way to make friends.
Last week was good, about seven people showed up. This week might be 10-12ish.
Lately, I'm more socially aware. I've not been involved with any girls for about half a year now. It's almost like going without food for a long time. You suddenly are able to vividly smell food from a thousand meters away.
The party is attracting way more boys than girls, that's the opposite of what happened in Shanghai. I like the crowd. We're watching Season One of Weeds.
I am having a weekly party for English speakers. It's a way to make friends.
Last week was good, about seven people showed up. This week might be 10-12ish.
Lately, I'm more socially aware. I've not been involved with any girls for about half a year now. It's almost like going without food for a long time. You suddenly are able to vividly smell food from a thousand meters away.
The party is attracting way more boys than girls, that's the opposite of what happened in Shanghai. I like the crowd. We're watching Season One of Weeds.
Friday, February 11, 2011
My Brilliant Idea
The turn of the century brought us photo websites which featured tagging, and then this revolutionary feature of tagging... just died out.
It should be brought back with a music site. I want to be able to listen to a song, hear church bells and then tag it 'church bells'. And I want to be able to search for 'gregorian chant' and then see a list of the 1,000 or so songs in the world which feature that in them.
Imagine... being able to get key board, flute, choir, monks... whatever you want. Search cross genre.
What Google did for searching the internet, another site could do for music. All they gotta do is enable tagging.
It should be brought back with a music site. I want to be able to listen to a song, hear church bells and then tag it 'church bells'. And I want to be able to search for 'gregorian chant' and then see a list of the 1,000 or so songs in the world which feature that in them.
Imagine... being able to get key board, flute, choir, monks... whatever you want. Search cross genre.
What Google did for searching the internet, another site could do for music. All they gotta do is enable tagging.
Monday, February 7, 2011
I lost access to my email... fix it for me!
I've set up email for about a dozen people this year. Mostly because people have no idea what they are doing. "A computer, what's that for?"
Some of these people, I've set up their email clients THREE times!
Email programs need be simplified so that I can create a setup file and then say, "Here, just double click this."
Some of these people, I've set up their email clients THREE times!
Email programs need be simplified so that I can create a setup file and then say, "Here, just double click this."
So far
Spring Festival = Chinese New Year
Lots of fireworks the last few days. They go through the whole night with no hours of respite, even at times like 3 AM. They know when you're sleeping, and then BAM!!!
I went sight seeing with a friend from another city. It was nice. Watched a bit of a TV series called 'Taken', it's kinda like Steven Spielberg getting things right instead of flopping so horribly like he did when he made the 'Close Encounters of the _____ Kind' series.
Be sure to watch 'Eat Love Pray', it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. What makes it special is the philosophy and the life lessons in the movie.
For this week, I asked myself philosophical questions like, "What is love, really?" Could it be like an eight year old kid that loves his alcohol addicted loser-dad that never even makes time for him? Is it that moment when you hear someone go "mmh" during a kiss and then you just want to kiss them forever or more deeply than ever because that simply drove you nuts?
No kisses during my Spring Festival. That might have been a good thing. I'm confused, and a part of me doesn't want to be more confused than I already am. I'm not sure what's right for me to do. Being alone feels safe. A lot of people tell me that I should have a girlfriend (I hear this regularly). I think maybe I shouldn't. And that's that. It's just not a particularly good idea unless there's some reason that makes it a good idea to begin with.
Lots of fireworks the last few days. They go through the whole night with no hours of respite, even at times like 3 AM. They know when you're sleeping, and then BAM!!!
I went sight seeing with a friend from another city. It was nice. Watched a bit of a TV series called 'Taken', it's kinda like Steven Spielberg getting things right instead of flopping so horribly like he did when he made the 'Close Encounters of the _____ Kind' series.
Be sure to watch 'Eat Love Pray', it is one of the best movies I've ever seen. What makes it special is the philosophy and the life lessons in the movie.
For this week, I asked myself philosophical questions like, "What is love, really?" Could it be like an eight year old kid that loves his alcohol addicted loser-dad that never even makes time for him? Is it that moment when you hear someone go "mmh" during a kiss and then you just want to kiss them forever or more deeply than ever because that simply drove you nuts?
No kisses during my Spring Festival. That might have been a good thing. I'm confused, and a part of me doesn't want to be more confused than I already am. I'm not sure what's right for me to do. Being alone feels safe. A lot of people tell me that I should have a girlfriend (I hear this regularly). I think maybe I shouldn't. And that's that. It's just not a particularly good idea unless there's some reason that makes it a good idea to begin with.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Chinese spoons
I posted this in an expat forum.
Short story: I need a socket wrench with some fittings.
Long story: Three months ago, I returned to Nanjing and found that the room I had paid to be equipped with air conditioning had been given to another worker at my company. I had the living room floor in the dead of Winter.
As I sat under two blankets, a coat, thermal underwear, and a sweater... still shivering and unable to sleep due to it being too cold, I knew then that I might benefit from hiring an assistant and getting my own apartment.
A few weeks on the floor and I had an assistant.
Following that, a few weeks later, I had an empty place to live.
Things were looking up for me.
Of course, I often would sleep right at the office because it was a half hour walk to get home, and I'm not getting paid like a lao wai, I'm getting paid like a native. I'd rather smell funky and save ten kuai than lose another 300 kuai every month in order to pay to go to work and simply survive.
Another few weeks, and I was finally able to get a bike. (Note, it always takes a few weeks to get anything done in China, that's just how it is. That's why some people get frustrated.)
I knew that the bike needed some maintenance, so I said that to some people that might be able to help out.
It's three weeks later. The bike is unridable because the pedal falls off. And I'm back to sleeping in the office again. (The bike worked for like three days.)
Now it is Spring Festival. Everybody is gone. Might be looking at a few weeks again.
Yesterday, I decided I should get what is needed to fix the bike myself (at least do most repairs). This requires a socket wrench and a socket set.
I researched online for about two hours to try to find a map of Nanjing's bus system. That I did on my own just so that I can finally start to rely on myself more often. It's an example that show that us lao wai try, but often there's no resources that handle our needs. There's at least a decent guide about the bus system: http://www.nanjingnow.com/572/getting-around-by-bus/
Tomorrow, I will spend about two hours traveling to the nanjing railway station because I know I can get a map at that location. God help me if it doesn't show the bus routes on it, and instead only shows street names.
Back to my quest for a socket wrench: I finally just took the metro. Luck was with me, because I was able to find Wallmart almost immediately as I exited Xinjiekou.
But then, I went through the entire store and found that they do not carry socket wrenches.
Let is be known that Lao Wai try to be self sufficient. We honestly do. But we don't always speak Chinese, and that pretty much destroys us before we can even get started.
I have learned how to take the bus between home and work, so i haven't been sleeping at the office as much in an effort to stay warm at night or to save cash. However, I like to work when I'm awake, and home is boring because it's empty and there's no internet access. (We'll complain about internet access in another post where I'll detail why it's taken months and why it can sometimes be almost worthless to have someone as an assistant if they officially are there to benefit your work life.)
I like to work from home any time day or night (requires internet) and be able to travel between work and home in a reasonable manner at whatever hours I choose (requires bike because buses only run so late).
Lao wai have strange problems that are often easy to solve. Maybe you need a... spoon, but it takes three months to handle that need, and despite 8 hours of effort when ten minutes would work in your home country, you're still missing your proverbial "spoon". It affects your life, your comfort, your work efficiency. It damn near makes you want to go home.
My first spoon was a warm place to sleep at night.
My next spoon was a way to get there at any time.
My final spoon is a socket wrench to fix the second spoon because it broke.
Ultimately, this is my three month epic quest for a warm place to sleep at night.
I will now accept your pity and whatever may be thrown at me.
However what I am really hoping for is directions to a place that will unfailingly have a socket wrench.
Short story: I need a socket wrench with some fittings.
Long story: Three months ago, I returned to Nanjing and found that the room I had paid to be equipped with air conditioning had been given to another worker at my company. I had the living room floor in the dead of Winter.
As I sat under two blankets, a coat, thermal underwear, and a sweater... still shivering and unable to sleep due to it being too cold, I knew then that I might benefit from hiring an assistant and getting my own apartment.
A few weeks on the floor and I had an assistant.
Following that, a few weeks later, I had an empty place to live.
Things were looking up for me.
Of course, I often would sleep right at the office because it was a half hour walk to get home, and I'm not getting paid like a lao wai, I'm getting paid like a native. I'd rather smell funky and save ten kuai than lose another 300 kuai every month in order to pay to go to work and simply survive.
Another few weeks, and I was finally able to get a bike. (Note, it always takes a few weeks to get anything done in China, that's just how it is. That's why some people get frustrated.)
I knew that the bike needed some maintenance, so I said that to some people that might be able to help out.
It's three weeks later. The bike is unridable because the pedal falls off. And I'm back to sleeping in the office again. (The bike worked for like three days.)
Now it is Spring Festival. Everybody is gone. Might be looking at a few weeks again.
Yesterday, I decided I should get what is needed to fix the bike myself (at least do most repairs). This requires a socket wrench and a socket set.
I researched online for about two hours to try to find a map of Nanjing's bus system. That I did on my own just so that I can finally start to rely on myself more often. It's an example that show that us lao wai try, but often there's no resources that handle our needs. There's at least a decent guide about the bus system: http://www.nanjingnow.com/572/getting-around-by-bus/
Tomorrow, I will spend about two hours traveling to the nanjing railway station because I know I can get a map at that location. God help me if it doesn't show the bus routes on it, and instead only shows street names.
Back to my quest for a socket wrench: I finally just took the metro. Luck was with me, because I was able to find Wallmart almost immediately as I exited Xinjiekou.
But then, I went through the entire store and found that they do not carry socket wrenches.
Let is be known that Lao Wai try to be self sufficient. We honestly do. But we don't always speak Chinese, and that pretty much destroys us before we can even get started.
I have learned how to take the bus between home and work, so i haven't been sleeping at the office as much in an effort to stay warm at night or to save cash. However, I like to work when I'm awake, and home is boring because it's empty and there's no internet access. (We'll complain about internet access in another post where I'll detail why it's taken months and why it can sometimes be almost worthless to have someone as an assistant if they officially are there to benefit your work life.)
I like to work from home any time day or night (requires internet) and be able to travel between work and home in a reasonable manner at whatever hours I choose (requires bike because buses only run so late).
Lao wai have strange problems that are often easy to solve. Maybe you need a... spoon, but it takes three months to handle that need, and despite 8 hours of effort when ten minutes would work in your home country, you're still missing your proverbial "spoon". It affects your life, your comfort, your work efficiency. It damn near makes you want to go home.
My first spoon was a warm place to sleep at night.
My next spoon was a way to get there at any time.
My final spoon is a socket wrench to fix the second spoon because it broke.
Ultimately, this is my three month epic quest for a warm place to sleep at night.
I will now accept your pity and whatever may be thrown at me.
However what I am really hoping for is directions to a place that will unfailingly have a socket wrench.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Disappointed
Chinese people regularly disappoint me. They do it by forgetting to do simple, but important tasks.
More than a week ago, we needed to update rpgreseller to a new web host. It is getting too much traffic. The domain name need to have a simple adjustment, the IP address. It takes about five minutes, and it's not very technical.
This was never done. That means that the sever has been down all this time. If we were making $1,000 every day from it, then one person's negligence would have cost us a lot of money.
Last year, someone's negligence cost the company $14,000.
More than a week ago, we needed to update rpgreseller to a new web host. It is getting too much traffic. The domain name need to have a simple adjustment, the IP address. It takes about five minutes, and it's not very technical.
This was never done. That means that the sever has been down all this time. If we were making $1,000 every day from it, then one person's negligence would have cost us a lot of money.
Last year, someone's negligence cost the company $14,000.
Friday, January 28, 2011
My work today
When you want to make a video for youtube, you need to get the size right when you record it.
Else, the quality will be bad and it will look blurry.
Tonight, I made a visual guide in 'What you see is what you get' style because Youtube's own documentation is pretty bad.
View image in full size by clicking it.
Else, the quality will be bad and it will look blurry.
Tonight, I made a visual guide in 'What you see is what you get' style because Youtube's own documentation is pretty bad.
View image in full size by clicking it.
I miss my server
Rpgreseller was too big, and getting too many visitors and kept overloading the SQL server with queries that took too much processing time to complete... so I needed to find a new host. Our lead tech offered his VPS server. It's having some issues due to only having 16gb hdd, and the DNS repoint is taking forever.
I could potentially delete all the old posts, but that's what brings the traffic.
Dilemma. Might need to use paid hosting instead.
The road to hell and hardship is paved with good intentions.
Yeah, I'm a geek. I talk about stuff that most people wouldn't really have a clue what I'm saying.
If you read this far, congratulations.
It's three days in now. And I can't post anything. I can't share the benefits of my work and knowledge with the world. Stuff is backing up in my inbox as I send reminders of business guides, presentations, etc., that I want to share. That's what I really wanted to post about, but there's technical reasons and I hate it when people ask for the reasons because they usually don't understand, but here it is anyway. Now you know the technical stuff that didn't even interest you in the first place. Next time, don't ask. Just listen, then I can skip to the meaningful part: I can't share anything right now and it's bugging me.
So tonight, I think I'll try using my blog.
I could potentially delete all the old posts, but that's what brings the traffic.
Dilemma. Might need to use paid hosting instead.
The road to hell and hardship is paved with good intentions.
Yeah, I'm a geek. I talk about stuff that most people wouldn't really have a clue what I'm saying.
If you read this far, congratulations.
It's three days in now. And I can't post anything. I can't share the benefits of my work and knowledge with the world. Stuff is backing up in my inbox as I send reminders of business guides, presentations, etc., that I want to share. That's what I really wanted to post about, but there's technical reasons and I hate it when people ask for the reasons because they usually don't understand, but here it is anyway. Now you know the technical stuff that didn't even interest you in the first place. Next time, don't ask. Just listen, then I can skip to the meaningful part: I can't share anything right now and it's bugging me.
So tonight, I think I'll try using my blog.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
A chat with my buddy - taobao (EVERYTHING online)
Taobao.com is like China's ebay. Remember that Chinese people don't need big markups to do good business, so imagine all the 'made in china' products, nearly all of them, at your fingertips.
Stefano 11:59:50 AM
i have been thinking of buying everything on taobao lately
Stefano 12:00:03 PM
i almost do not understand why some people visit shops anymore
Stefano 12:00:52 PM
you go there, try to buy something, its out of stock or not right or whatever. ask the store owner to restock so you can come back. store owner opens taobao in your facem buys it there adds 100 yuan and asks you to come back on friday. what the f. lol.
klancy 12:01:16 PM
whoa, did that actually happen?
Stefano 12:01:22 PM
yes.
Stefano 11:59:50 AM
i have been thinking of buying everything on taobao lately
Stefano 12:00:03 PM
i almost do not understand why some people visit shops anymore
Stefano 12:00:52 PM
you go there, try to buy something, its out of stock or not right or whatever. ask the store owner to restock so you can come back. store owner opens taobao in your facem buys it there adds 100 yuan and asks you to come back on friday. what the f. lol.
klancy 12:01:16 PM
whoa, did that actually happen?
Stefano 12:01:22 PM
yes.
Sunday, January 23, 2011
China: You need a wife. Here, have my sister!
Westerners don't do this to others, and they usually don't appreciate it being done to them.
Do not tell us what we NEED.
We do not NEED a wife. We do not NEED a girlfriend.
If we are lonely, we know what to do. It is easy to make friends.
It is very awkward (even rude) for someone to suggest another person for dating or for marriage.
Think about it:
If we say no, then you get offended, right? But another person is not yours to GIVE. You do not own your sisters or your friends, right? So why do you try to give them to other people?
If we say "yes" to be nice, then we say "no" later on, you may assume that something is wrong with your sister or your friend.
If we say "yes" and date for a while, both your sister and myself and going to know that you will bother us for updates about every single date that we have. You will want to know the personal details of our life. You will even want to manage things by saying that we should be closer or we should not be so close, and what we should be allowed to do.
Even if things go very well and a marriage results, then what? You will tell us to make babies.
It is ok to introduce people and say, "I know of someone that you might like to become friends with, you have something in common."
It is NOT ok to say, "You NEED a girlfriend. Here, you should date my sister/cousin/friend now!"
If you say something like that, people know what to expect, and they know what kind of person you are.
Yup, you've just been judged in less than five seconds because you did something that is NOT acceptable in a different culture. Best advice: don't do it!
Do not tell us what we NEED.
We do not NEED a wife. We do not NEED a girlfriend.
If we are lonely, we know what to do. It is easy to make friends.
It is very awkward (even rude) for someone to suggest another person for dating or for marriage.
Think about it:
If we say no, then you get offended, right? But another person is not yours to GIVE. You do not own your sisters or your friends, right? So why do you try to give them to other people?
If we say "yes" to be nice, then we say "no" later on, you may assume that something is wrong with your sister or your friend.
If we say "yes" and date for a while, both your sister and myself and going to know that you will bother us for updates about every single date that we have. You will want to know the personal details of our life. You will even want to manage things by saying that we should be closer or we should not be so close, and what we should be allowed to do.
Even if things go very well and a marriage results, then what? You will tell us to make babies.
It is ok to introduce people and say, "I know of someone that you might like to become friends with, you have something in common."
It is NOT ok to say, "You NEED a girlfriend. Here, you should date my sister/cousin/friend now!"
If you say something like that, people know what to expect, and they know what kind of person you are.
Yup, you've just been judged in less than five seconds because you did something that is NOT acceptable in a different culture. Best advice: don't do it!
Spring Festival
Every year, my friends ask me what I plan on doing for Spring Festival, a lot of strangers also ask me.
Chinese go to see families or old friends, and usually travel a lot in the process.
For an expat, it is different.
Expats don't have friends here from their childhood or in different parts of China.
Expats don't have family that they can travel for a day or two and then visit for a week.
Westerners are also different about what they think is fun. If you ask them to visit your Aunt who lives up in the mountains so that you can have a week full of food and interesting conversations... you already forgot the first rule of expats. They generally don't speak Chinese. That means that a week in the mountains with complete strangers that they can't even talk to... does not sound like fun or happiness to them.
They will be lost, they will be unable to do anything that they like to do. Expats have very few things that they like to do with them which are available. You might find a few things they like in their apartment. It is hard for us to plan a Spring Festival because we can not read Chinese and can not speak it either. That means that we can not find out what to do.
Normally, we stay home, with the things that we like. Maybe we have books, a computer, a television. If we want to go out, we will find other expats and go to a party. It is not common that we will want to travel for three days to spend a week isolated from everything that makes us comfortable or happy to be surrounded by things that make you comfortable or happy, but which we can't understand or appreciate due to the language or culture barrier.
We also like sleeping in our own beds. Our beds are comfortable, and we usually have some kind of heat in the room. Your aunt might not have heat, might not have warm blankets, might not have a soft mattress that is clean.
Now you can understand some of the reasons about why foreigners decide to spend their Spring Festival at home, or with other foreigners. For us, our conditions are very different. If we understood language, we might actually enjoy a weekend away from the few comforts and the few things we have that make us happy.
Chinese go to see families or old friends, and usually travel a lot in the process.
For an expat, it is different.
Expats don't have friends here from their childhood or in different parts of China.
Expats don't have family that they can travel for a day or two and then visit for a week.
Westerners are also different about what they think is fun. If you ask them to visit your Aunt who lives up in the mountains so that you can have a week full of food and interesting conversations... you already forgot the first rule of expats. They generally don't speak Chinese. That means that a week in the mountains with complete strangers that they can't even talk to... does not sound like fun or happiness to them.
They will be lost, they will be unable to do anything that they like to do. Expats have very few things that they like to do with them which are available. You might find a few things they like in their apartment. It is hard for us to plan a Spring Festival because we can not read Chinese and can not speak it either. That means that we can not find out what to do.
Normally, we stay home, with the things that we like. Maybe we have books, a computer, a television. If we want to go out, we will find other expats and go to a party. It is not common that we will want to travel for three days to spend a week isolated from everything that makes us comfortable or happy to be surrounded by things that make you comfortable or happy, but which we can't understand or appreciate due to the language or culture barrier.
We also like sleeping in our own beds. Our beds are comfortable, and we usually have some kind of heat in the room. Your aunt might not have heat, might not have warm blankets, might not have a soft mattress that is clean.
Now you can understand some of the reasons about why foreigners decide to spend their Spring Festival at home, or with other foreigners. For us, our conditions are very different. If we understood language, we might actually enjoy a weekend away from the few comforts and the few things we have that make us happy.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
My Spring Festival
Start on Feb 2.
End on Feb 9.
It will be big. I will edit this post with details when things happen.
End on Feb 9.
It will be big. I will edit this post with details when things happen.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Snow
It snowed in Nanjing.
It snowed because it is cold.
How cold? Zero degrees celcius.
In the great words of Pastor Billsbury "Cold as a witches tit!"
When I turn on the AC, it never stops running. But that's because Chinese windows are single pane, and the wonders of insulation never really caught on here. There's this modern caveman thing where all the walls are made of concrete.
When I turn on the television, even the newscaster in the TV station looks cold. Hehe, I just said that after the witches tit comment. I'm going to hell where it will be warmer.
Concrete walls: If you ever visit China, don't touch the walls. Half the time that's only a base coat, and when you lift your hand, it will be covered in white. And of course, never lean all over a wall and rub your butt on it like I did. You'll come out looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
WARM!: In China, AC isn't used much. "Put on a sweater" is how most people deal with the cold.
Well, I'll have you know that I wear thermal pajamas, a sweater, a sweat shirt, and a coat (and a Tshirt beneath to absorb any sweat). I wear so much that if I put on any more clothes, it will damage or distort the fabric.
Aparently it snowed EVERYWHERE in China at once. I've got reports from friends in Shanghai, Changsha, and of course I complete the triangle in Nanjing. That is a BIG triangle.
To answer everybody's question. Nope... I do not really like the snow.
I loved it as a kid and even went snow boarding once.. But that was the USA.
It snowed because it is cold.
How cold? Zero degrees celcius.
In the great words of Pastor Billsbury "Cold as a witches tit!"
When I turn on the AC, it never stops running. But that's because Chinese windows are single pane, and the wonders of insulation never really caught on here. There's this modern caveman thing where all the walls are made of concrete.
When I turn on the television, even the newscaster in the TV station looks cold. Hehe, I just said that after the witches tit comment. I'm going to hell where it will be warmer.
Concrete walls: If you ever visit China, don't touch the walls. Half the time that's only a base coat, and when you lift your hand, it will be covered in white. And of course, never lean all over a wall and rub your butt on it like I did. You'll come out looking like the Pillsbury Doughboy.
WARM!: In China, AC isn't used much. "Put on a sweater" is how most people deal with the cold.
Well, I'll have you know that I wear thermal pajamas, a sweater, a sweat shirt, and a coat (and a Tshirt beneath to absorb any sweat). I wear so much that if I put on any more clothes, it will damage or distort the fabric.
Aparently it snowed EVERYWHERE in China at once. I've got reports from friends in Shanghai, Changsha, and of course I complete the triangle in Nanjing. That is a BIG triangle.
To answer everybody's question. Nope... I do not really like the snow.
I loved it as a kid and even went snow boarding once.. But that was the USA.
"Bunaglow"
Bungalow, I haven't heard that word in years. It's like one of those strange words that an author would dig up out of a dictionary because they're just weird like that, and they like their readers to have to do the same **** thing in order to know what on earth this highly sophisticated author is writing about. (All people that use big words are smart and sexy. Someone that used a lot of big words told me that.)
One of my dear friends lives in a bungalow. Without googling the word, I see a tiny house that Paddington Bear might have once lived in.
In order to keep his bunaglow clean, Paddington always ate his noon day sandwich on the lawn, unless it was raining. It also kinda looks like he was extra careful to make sure he never missed recycling one awry drop of his secret sauce.
Go go google awry. HA! Authorman.
One of my dear friends lives in a bungalow. Without googling the word, I see a tiny house that Paddington Bear might have once lived in.
In order to keep his bunaglow clean, Paddington always ate his noon day sandwich on the lawn, unless it was raining. It also kinda looks like he was extra careful to make sure he never missed recycling one awry drop of his secret sauce.
Go go google awry. HA! Authorman.
Monday, January 17, 2011
Flat mates
Still looking for flat mates. Everybody tells me they will be looking immediately after Spring Festival.
That is when everybody in China eats and drinks so much that they can't move for the next week so they just say, "Eh screw it!" and they have a collective mass vacation.
Many stores shut down. Services shut down (do NOT get a clogged toilet this week). And wise mothers buy lots of groceries in advance.
The lines to buy a railway ticket run just as long as the railways themselves.
You gotta buy ten days in advance, and if you're smart, you'll bring a tiny fold out chair with you.
Or maybe a 'hoppity-hop' would be nice.
If you want to see where the line ends, you might need a pogo stick.
And just to get through it unharmed, might I suggest a billy club?
Spring Festival is also when millions of people decide that they will light fireworks 24x7. Seriously, 24x7. You are NOT getting any sleep. Period.
Think you're safe at 4AM? Nope, that's the perfect time to send up more mortars.
Yes, mortars.
Think it's cool living ten floors up? MORTARS!
Well, let me tell you. After you've fished out anything that you nearly chocked on due to shell shock, you will be able to look out your window and see massive pyrotechnic amazement much closer than you'll ever see it again for the rest of your life. Oh yeah, keep your windows shut. Seriously!
After the massive Spring Festival vacation, drones of hammered people return to work ten pounds heavier. And that's when every single one of them will be looking for a new apartment. Until then, it's pretty quiet.
One of my old business partners is interested in coming over to China. I'm thinking of giving him a room. We've loosely talked for a few years, and I've helped him with some things. Now we'll do some biz together and see what happens. Running a forum has paid off. People recognize my knowledge base with ecommerce of digital goods.
That is when everybody in China eats and drinks so much that they can't move for the next week so they just say, "Eh screw it!" and they have a collective mass vacation.
Many stores shut down. Services shut down (do NOT get a clogged toilet this week). And wise mothers buy lots of groceries in advance.
The lines to buy a railway ticket run just as long as the railways themselves.
You gotta buy ten days in advance, and if you're smart, you'll bring a tiny fold out chair with you.
Or maybe a 'hoppity-hop' would be nice.
If you want to see where the line ends, you might need a pogo stick.
And just to get through it unharmed, might I suggest a billy club?
Spring Festival is also when millions of people decide that they will light fireworks 24x7. Seriously, 24x7. You are NOT getting any sleep. Period.
Think you're safe at 4AM? Nope, that's the perfect time to send up more mortars.
Yes, mortars.
Think it's cool living ten floors up? MORTARS!
Well, let me tell you. After you've fished out anything that you nearly chocked on due to shell shock, you will be able to look out your window and see massive pyrotechnic amazement much closer than you'll ever see it again for the rest of your life. Oh yeah, keep your windows shut. Seriously!
After the massive Spring Festival vacation, drones of hammered people return to work ten pounds heavier. And that's when every single one of them will be looking for a new apartment. Until then, it's pretty quiet.
One of my old business partners is interested in coming over to China. I'm thinking of giving him a room. We've loosely talked for a few years, and I've helped him with some things. Now we'll do some biz together and see what happens. Running a forum has paid off. People recognize my knowledge base with ecommerce of digital goods.
Cooking!!!!!!!!!
I got the kitchen all geared up and cleaned up.
Woks, frying pans, magic hot plate, cutting boards, garlic press, plates, bowls.... it looks like a family lives there and the kitchen has the finesse of a woman's touch along with the industrial power of a man. (Metal shelving units stacked up to the ceiling, steel S hooks everywhere, wall hooks mounted in every direction.)
Tonight, I went with a friend and we cooked together.
He knew a recipe for what I can only describe as a zuchinni hamburger.
My words do it no justice. How can anyone but a famous poet describe a famous painting?
The taste was legendary, but it was so simple too. I WILL be making this again!
My kitchen is serious, you know it the moment you walk in and see TWO rice cookers and TWO crock pots.
Yesterday, I started a crock pot soup. Here you can get duck leg for 8.50 RMB for 500g.
(That's like $1.20 per pound-ish) Cilantro, carrots, leafy greens.. But what really makes it good is this little packet of flavoring that is labeled 'DELICIOUS SOUP" - that's the only English part on the package, and when I saw that in the store, I thought "Well, that's exactly what I want!"
So I said, "Get IN to my basket! I am taking you home."
I had a taste. As my grandpa would compliment any fine dish, "It's good enough to eat!"
HA! My mom hated it when he said that. "What do you think of my wonderful dinner that I spent 3 hours preparing and only used the finest spices and this secret recipe book to make?"
"Hmm" (sip) "It's good enough to EAT!"
I'm very happy to be cooking again. This means that I'll be eating a little healthier.
Chinese food (most common complaint among foreigners) is TOO OILY!
Unlike most foreigners, I love Chinese food. It's good stuff. It's good enough to eat!
However, I also miss things that taste like America.
People sometimes ask me to define American food. I can't. America is a melting pot. I crave burritos that originated in Mexico. I miss pasta that came from Italy. I miss breads from France. I miss Mediterranean dishes. It's all fusion food, really.
American food is apple pie, hot dogs, tacos, burritos, CHEESE (anything with cheese), hamburgers, nachos, enchiladas, black bean soup, ham omelets, bacon, cream, sour cream, milk, chili...
I can't really cook many things, but I can run a mean crock pot! Throw meat and veggies in a pot, plug it in, add some 'DELICIOUS SOUP" mix, and BAM! I have delicious soup!
I'm going to be eating a lot of soup.
Woks, frying pans, magic hot plate, cutting boards, garlic press, plates, bowls.... it looks like a family lives there and the kitchen has the finesse of a woman's touch along with the industrial power of a man. (Metal shelving units stacked up to the ceiling, steel S hooks everywhere, wall hooks mounted in every direction.)
Tonight, I went with a friend and we cooked together.
He knew a recipe for what I can only describe as a zuchinni hamburger.
My words do it no justice. How can anyone but a famous poet describe a famous painting?
The taste was legendary, but it was so simple too. I WILL be making this again!
My kitchen is serious, you know it the moment you walk in and see TWO rice cookers and TWO crock pots.
Yesterday, I started a crock pot soup. Here you can get duck leg for 8.50 RMB for 500g.
(That's like $1.20 per pound-ish) Cilantro, carrots, leafy greens.. But what really makes it good is this little packet of flavoring that is labeled 'DELICIOUS SOUP" - that's the only English part on the package, and when I saw that in the store, I thought "Well, that's exactly what I want!"
So I said, "Get IN to my basket! I am taking you home."
I had a taste. As my grandpa would compliment any fine dish, "It's good enough to eat!"
HA! My mom hated it when he said that. "What do you think of my wonderful dinner that I spent 3 hours preparing and only used the finest spices and this secret recipe book to make?"
"Hmm" (sip) "It's good enough to EAT!"
I'm very happy to be cooking again. This means that I'll be eating a little healthier.
Chinese food (most common complaint among foreigners) is TOO OILY!
Unlike most foreigners, I love Chinese food. It's good stuff. It's good enough to eat!
However, I also miss things that taste like America.
People sometimes ask me to define American food. I can't. America is a melting pot. I crave burritos that originated in Mexico. I miss pasta that came from Italy. I miss breads from France. I miss Mediterranean dishes. It's all fusion food, really.
American food is apple pie, hot dogs, tacos, burritos, CHEESE (anything with cheese), hamburgers, nachos, enchiladas, black bean soup, ham omelets, bacon, cream, sour cream, milk, chili...
I can't really cook many things, but I can run a mean crock pot! Throw meat and veggies in a pot, plug it in, add some 'DELICIOUS SOUP" mix, and BAM! I have delicious soup!
I'm going to be eating a lot of soup.
Bike
I go to work in the morning, and stay late because it's the only place with an internet connected computer that's hooked up to what I like. At home, there's a television that doesn't speak my language. Not much to go home to.
I stay up late at work, just relaxing with a game or some media, but I'd rather be home.
Go home to early = bored.
Stay late = no bus, half hour walk in the cold to get home.
So I often stay the night at the office.
One of my coworkers generously took me out to get a bike.
He paid for the taxi ride.
He took an hour out of his day.
The bike was too big in the van when driving home, so he paid for a second taxi to go to his own destination afterward.
I have wanted a bike for months. I'm really happy to finally take care of this.
I stay up late at work, just relaxing with a game or some media, but I'd rather be home.
Go home to early = bored.
Stay late = no bus, half hour walk in the cold to get home.
So I often stay the night at the office.
One of my coworkers generously took me out to get a bike.
He paid for the taxi ride.
He took an hour out of his day.
The bike was too big in the van when driving home, so he paid for a second taxi to go to his own destination afterward.
I have wanted a bike for months. I'm really happy to finally take care of this.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Isolated
Every night, I go home to a concrete floor in an empty living room with no heat. It has been this way for a little over a month now.
There is a bed and some blankets, but this is still uncomfortable. There is no heat because only one room in the apartment has heat (the room where I paid to have heat installed before I left Nanjing last year). I have returned now. The room with heat belongs to someone else now.
Chinese people do not always use heat. I do not understand this.
Two of the three Winters I have had in Nanjing have been the worst single Nanjing Winter in the last 50 years of history.
I have experienced sleeping with a coat, long sleeve shirt, 3 sweaters, 3 pair of pants, and blankets... but it is still so cold that you shiver uncontrollably. If there is a draft, it can be so cold that you can only sleep for 3 hours in a night.
When you dress this way during the day, your armpits will sweat and you may begin to stink. But the rest of you stays cold. If you go to work and there is no heat at work (very common), then your fingers may hurt.
Sometimes I do not take showers because it is so cold. Sometimes I do not go home. I stay in the office because it is too cold to sleep. At about 3 or 4 AM, I will finally be so tired that I can sleep even if I am cold. This makes me late for work the next day, however.
I tried sleeping in the office. This made someone upset.
Right now, I have clothes on the clothesline that have frozen solid. It is cold.
I have paid money and rented an apartment that will belong to me for six months.
This apartment has heat, but is is empty.
I have had the apartment for a week now, and it will stay empty. I can not live there right now.
I need to move things to the new apartment, but I do not speak Chinese.
At work, I have an assistant. But when I asked for her to help me find an apartment, someone else got upset because they had given the assignment of that to someone else that does not speak my language. The other person was not doing a very good job and we could not talk to each other about getting an apartment.
I would like to have my assistant help me to move things out of the apartment.
I am worried that people will complain or get upset because they do not think she should not do things like that.
I am now looking for a stranger that I can pay money. They will help me to move my things.
I had planned that I would do the move during work time. I thought that others might understand that this is about life. If I do not have a good place to sleep, then how will I work well? I am not so sure that they will understand now.
For the Chinese people. They can go home to warmth, they can sleep comfortably. They do not feel pain because of Winter. I am different. I can not speak Chinese.
This is not the first time that I have had a terrible experience when I tried to get help from a Chinese employer when I needed basic survival things like warmth or shelter.
Anyone that goes to China should make friends quickly, get phone numbers. When work fails, your friends can help you survive and help you take care of your comfort.
There is a bed and some blankets, but this is still uncomfortable. There is no heat because only one room in the apartment has heat (the room where I paid to have heat installed before I left Nanjing last year). I have returned now. The room with heat belongs to someone else now.
Chinese people do not always use heat. I do not understand this.
Two of the three Winters I have had in Nanjing have been the worst single Nanjing Winter in the last 50 years of history.
I have experienced sleeping with a coat, long sleeve shirt, 3 sweaters, 3 pair of pants, and blankets... but it is still so cold that you shiver uncontrollably. If there is a draft, it can be so cold that you can only sleep for 3 hours in a night.
When you dress this way during the day, your armpits will sweat and you may begin to stink. But the rest of you stays cold. If you go to work and there is no heat at work (very common), then your fingers may hurt.
Sometimes I do not take showers because it is so cold. Sometimes I do not go home. I stay in the office because it is too cold to sleep. At about 3 or 4 AM, I will finally be so tired that I can sleep even if I am cold. This makes me late for work the next day, however.
I tried sleeping in the office. This made someone upset.
Right now, I have clothes on the clothesline that have frozen solid. It is cold.
I have paid money and rented an apartment that will belong to me for six months.
This apartment has heat, but is is empty.
I have had the apartment for a week now, and it will stay empty. I can not live there right now.
I need to move things to the new apartment, but I do not speak Chinese.
At work, I have an assistant. But when I asked for her to help me find an apartment, someone else got upset because they had given the assignment of that to someone else that does not speak my language. The other person was not doing a very good job and we could not talk to each other about getting an apartment.
I would like to have my assistant help me to move things out of the apartment.
I am worried that people will complain or get upset because they do not think she should not do things like that.
I am now looking for a stranger that I can pay money. They will help me to move my things.
I had planned that I would do the move during work time. I thought that others might understand that this is about life. If I do not have a good place to sleep, then how will I work well? I am not so sure that they will understand now.
For the Chinese people. They can go home to warmth, they can sleep comfortably. They do not feel pain because of Winter. I am different. I can not speak Chinese.
This is not the first time that I have had a terrible experience when I tried to get help from a Chinese employer when I needed basic survival things like warmth or shelter.
Anyone that goes to China should make friends quickly, get phone numbers. When work fails, your friends can help you survive and help you take care of your comfort.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
And.... ACTION!
I am going to help someone to make a pilot episode for a local television series here in Nanjing.
Part of the script is here. I'll help with writing and will probably be acting in it as well.
I think this will be fun, I'll meet people, and of course it'll look great on my resume.
http://www.hellonanjing.net/forum/6-general-classifieds/16268-recruiting-actorsaactresses-for-independent-movie
Part of the script is here. I'll help with writing and will probably be acting in it as well.
I think this will be fun, I'll meet people, and of course it'll look great on my resume.
http://www.hellonanjing.net/forum/6-general-classifieds/16268-recruiting-actorsaactresses-for-independent-movie
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