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11.14.03: Current Mood: Gelid
It's cold. Just simply cold: although, it's only about 50 Fahrenheit out of doors, it feels below freezing in my flat. One of the wonders of the Western world, I suppose, is central heating. What a novel idea. This will be a quick update because my fingers seem numbed from the boreal temperatures of this room. There also seems to be a breeze coming from the closed windows...it looks as if someone tried to insulate the windows with play-doh, so I suppose that's what you get.
I'm still not finished compiling the horrid music list. I'm going to another Karaoke place tonight, more than likely, so perhaps I can take more notes.
Got more pics. These are the pictures of my second birthday party with the students. It's always so much fun to be with the students, it fills me with life. I've found that one of the limitations of the digital cam I have, either a limitation or my lack of skill, is that in low light settings, it takes bad pictures. Most of the pics have demon eyes and bright faces, so forgive it.
11.07.03: Current Mood: Forest Gump
I was browsing websites today that similarly had "live journals" that supposedly gave updates on how a person was doing at any given moment...must be some sort of satellite, laser beam, big brother, Matrix technology that I'm not currently aware of because I now live in the middle of nowhere. Though, a redeemable aspect was that, besides the fact that it could pinpoint a person anywhere in the world and rape them of their conscious thoughts and post it on a website for the world to see, was it also was able, through some sort of brilliant technology, tell the emotional state of a person. I thought it was simply amazing. So, from now on, I will attempt to psychologically assess myself before doing an update to this site. Today my mood decidedly and empirically is Forest Gump as you can see from above.
I feel Forest Gump today because I am slightly ill at the lack of logic that bombarded with every single day while I reside in Langzhong. I have attempted to be objective and non-ranting as possible about things around here because of the cultural differences and whatnot, but today I've had enough. The floodgates are open, and here I come...read here to find out more.
Anyway, my rant about the horrible music nearly is finished as well. I want to be able to list all the horrid songs, so I'm doing a little research on it that consists of browsing one of the six hundred karaoke bars that exist here and looking at the track listings of English songs. I want to list in order of abhorrence, but that would take too much work since all the songs are truly that terrible. Anywho, here's two pictures of me.
By the way, thanks goes to everyone that celebrated my birthday with me or thought about me.
11.05.03:
Today is my birthday, or actually, it's 1:31 AM where I am...so it will be tomorrow for you; anyway, right now in this portion of the world, it's tomorrow already, so it's my birthday? Does that make sense? heh.
Anyway, I added two more galleries of pictures because I have nothing else better to do. heh. I enjoy taking pictures with my little camera too much. This time, I tried to take pictures of things that seemed inherently Chinese to me instead of just pictures of people; I suppose I've become desensitized to my surroundings already. I also magically added captions so you may have some idea of what I'm looking at. It didn't occur to me beforehand to do this for some reason. Look at the pictures of the park and of our friends if you wish. Expect more nature oriented pictures in the upcoming days.
A moment of reflection: have you ever been called a foreigner? It's an odd experience not existing within the normal, homogeneous bounds of a small American town. I've been here for over three months, but on a daily basis I hear "lao guai" (?) which means "white skin" (I was vicariously told today) or foreigner. To think...If I stayed here for three months or fifty years, I would always just be a foreigner. Where is home?
10.31.03: Merry Sabbat, witches, werewolves, vampires, mages, whatever sort of creature that your personality subscribes to, as well to all people and things that figuratively "go bump in the night" besides college freshmen. Oddly enough, it has been Samhain for about 9.45 hours here, and it has not yet reached US soil. The 12 hour time difference finally works to my advantage besides accomplishing the usual of just making me feel sluggish and in another dimension. I guess I'll get Christmas before you as well. By the way, this night, at least burn some incense to honor the spirits and make sure you carve your pumpkins well...gotta keep out those evil ghosts. Trick or Treat.... I finished another little writing about the noise pollution of the city in which I currently reside. Of the things listed that daily scar my eardrums, there are so many other sorts of noises that the litany would be inexhaustible. Please enjoy my brief listing of sounds that you don't have to suffer through daily. Music sucks here, and the topic of my next writing will be how bad it sucks. I mean, if you still consider Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" (popular 10 years ago in the US) as a great love song and listen to it daily, as well as Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" (you know the song…popularized nearly 20 years ago in the US), your concept of what's "good music" is in dire need of re-education, or you just have a sick sense of humor. Also, Rod Roddy died. What the hell? The Price is Right will have to go off the air now...what is that show without Rod? Hawk from the Road Warriors also died. How did I find out this obscure knowledge while I'm in China, you ask? Firstly, there is the Who's Alive and Who's Dead website as well as the Am I Annoying website. If it's just out of morbid curiosity, or you have the same depraved, deluded sense of humor that I have, these sites are pretty funny. AmIAnnoying.com has some fairly ignorant opinions about people, but it’s still relatively humorous. One last thing before I go, why are all the cool people like Johnny Cash and Rod Roddy dying and all the people that suck like Ben Affleck and Bryan Adams still alive? 10.25.03: Farewells are sweet when they are short. We spent the day with the student teachers in their hometown of Nanchong, and of course I had to take many bad pictures to commemorate the occasion of the short farewell. The bus ride wasn't too terrible, only two hours, although it seems that riding on the roads in China is like running blindfolded on the lip of an active volcano covered in gasoline. People seem to drive in sporadic directions to try to reach their destination as soon as possible even if that means pulling into oncoming traffic for extended periods of time. The ride is so bumpy that it's almost enough to shake the fillings out of your teeth, as well. heh. So many things about China are different. I guess I can't become desensitized to all of the differences in such a short period as 3 months. 10.24.03: A lavely (misspelled on purpose, not a typo) gallery of some of the nicest people in the Sichuan province has been added to the visuals section. A month or so ago, about fifty intern teachers came to our school and we quickly befriended the ones that joined our English Department. The pictures featured are of the one of the final dinners we had together and some pictures of general mirth. They left today, and we both miss all of the teachers terribly. Perhaps we will see them again soon....maybe tomorrow. heh. The links page is also in it's prototype form; I'm debating on whether to add some bells and whistles or just to leave it plain. So much JavaScript so little time. If you want to be added to the links page, feel free to email me and I'll throw some html in your general direction. 10.21.03: Well, the inevitable has finally occurred: I sucked it up and bought myself a lovely digital camera. It's a Canon Powershot a70, and it seems to be working great. I have only taken random, bad pictures of late, and I am now trying to learn how to use the camera more efficiently. Expect within the next few days to see some organized galleries of all things Chinese that I find interesting...which is nearly everything around. Here are some pictures for you. Nothing really fancy, but new material all the same...more coming very soon! Thanks goes to my good friend Frank in Shenzhen for helping out with the black market transaction! I didn't previously note it, but thanks also goes to Frank for taking nearly all of the Yangshou pictures with his digital camera. Although, I took the scenery shots on top of Moon Hill! ;) 10.13.03: A digital camera is on the way. A friend of mine that lives in a town in the Guangdong province is shipping me one directly off the black market. I feel so happy to have participated in such a transaction. Look for more pictures on the site early next week! Today was one of my student's birthdays, also whom I will have a picture of as soon as I can get my camera. Her name is Bessie, and we bought her a lovely cake and some presents. Happy Birthday again, Bessie! Johnny Cash has been gone for just over a month now. Please visit the official website and pay your respects on the forum, if you haven't already. 10.11.03: I am still empty handed when it comes to a digital camera. Ironically enough, the cameras in China that I've looked at are more expensive than the ones that I can buy in the United States. I automatically assumed that the close proximity with Japan would lessen the prices of certain items, especially items dealing with technology and computers, and also lessen the blow to my meagerly-stuffed pocketbook. You know what they say about assuming...it makes an ass....well, you know the cliché. My quest for a digital camera and a company from the US that can ship one out to me continues. I did find an interesting website, that reviews nearly every camera in existence and also helps with finding a good price. Too bad most of the companies featured on the site refuse to ship to anywhere other than the US....what am I to do? Any ideas? Let me know on the forum. It's always open...also feel free to contact me here via email or through my hotmail account as well. Sometimes all of the mail doesn't come through for some reason, so if I don't reply this could be one possibility as to why. Go figure. "Even in the future nothing works." 10.03.03: Welcome Home....Gotham City. This is to be my communication center with the outside world. As you know, a peregrination has occurred, for varied reasons, and I have left the United States. China is now my home, and I am here to teach English for a year at least. I may never return, so in case I don't, this is my journal to you, my friends, family, business associates, and enemies. There will be many modifications to this website in the upcoming future. Business and the lack of a digital camera keeps me from being able to update this website on a more frequent basis. With technology and our school's headmaster abiding, this website may actually become more interesting. Please leave me a message on the forum if you have any questions, and feel free to browse my current life. I have written a slight essay explaining why I am not in the United States, you may find it of interest: this was a logical choice, not some happenchance flight of fancy or escapism.
09.12.03:
Please, visit the official website and pay your respects.
No, JC doesn't stand for Jesus Christ, it means Johnny Cash! First June Cash, his devoted wife, passed on May 15th and now Johnny only 4 months later on September 12th....the music industry houses such poor talent these days, with Johnny's demise, the industry faces a major blow. For 50 years, Johnny Cash has been a household name and has been entertaining the masses with his unique stylistic blend of country and folk music. I'm slightly rambling at this point...it's 3 AM....and I'm in a state of shock and disbelief. You will be missed by millions. Perhaps now, you can "wear a suit of white"...
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