walk it off

so, got a little intense yesterday after reading about the diethylene glycol thing. sorry if i scared anyone.

managed to get to hong qiao feijichang and catch my plane on time... and i'm in guangzhou. well, to be technical, in foshan, about 30 kilometers away. (those of you who know this already... bear with me). it is fascinating, as usual. *scathing sarcasm* not much new to report. david picked me up at the airport with girlfriend in tow. since much of our communication consists of charades and sign language, i didn't learn her name, but we drove for what seemed like an hour and i'm here at my hotel, waiting for my uncle to show up. he should arrive in gz from hk around 6. i'm starving, but my hotel is in never never land. i'm contemplating busting into one of these noodle bowls they have here in my room. how many times do i have to remind myself to bring food when i travel? you just never know when your next meal is coming, esp if you hang out with my uncle. usually we tend to err on the side of over-eating, but hey. a granola bar is not heavy. wouldn't hurt me to think ahead once in a while. and here i used to make my living planning things out. oh, the irony.

i may go down for a nap soon. i bopped around until 3:30 last night for uncompelling reasons if you are not me - scrubbing newly-discovered mildew from my favorite canvas bag, blow drying the bag, cleaning out the fridge - and got up at 8. not used to actually needing to wake up at a given time any more. i need to investigate finding some of those silicon moisture-absorbing packs so there will be no repeat occurrence of last night's horror when i dug out my duffle. bay area kids really don't understand humid climates. and to find something growing on your stuff..? so gross. i immediately googled 'mildew treatment' and gots to scrubbing.

my sister wrote me with good news - we were able to successfully sign the new tenants to a 1-year lease on my condo, so yay! they are young (recent berkeley grads) but have steady income, good credit, plus i trust my sister's ultrasonic perception of people. two roommates, and they used to write for hardboiled! small small world. because i was one of the editors and knew the other editors far too well, i can't say that based on that relation alone i would have assumed they'd be good tenants, but one of the kids (the boy) just landed a financial analyst position, and that i trust. analysts are anal and deliberate. that was a good sign.

i tried to nerd out and start 'connecting' with people on xing today. (see what being in foshan will do to you?) well, trying to join groups, anyway. i try to negate the normal cynical carolyn from time to time by blasting random energy into being social and trying to act all cheerleader. i joined some media professionals group (mostly german-speaking members from the look of it) and then tried to join the women in business group, but they wanted me to enter some crap about how i 'discovered' the group (by searching under 'groups,' duh) and to share what i hoped to gain or what i was looking for by joining. are you kidding me?! for once i'd like a women's group that wasn't all fuggin kumbaya and lifetime network. jesus. just let me join the group already. they even said that they "share" what their members write from time to time. what?! hells no. i hit cancel. cut and run. i would rather be groupless.

i'm going to start a women's group. it's going to be called something like, 'for women who deplore stereotypical-female bullshit' or 'the anti-hallmark league' or 'no hand-holding required.' have you ever seen anything marketed directly for women without seeing the word, 'share' somewhere in the description or mission statement? not all of us sit around waving kotex pads and comparing emotional notes. god.