sometimes finding a time to calls moms and then actually reaching her is like banging your head against a concrete wall. argh.
on the good tip, our air con was successfully installed and i only blew out one power strip and melted one plug converter to do it. we had a hell of a time finding the stupid 16A plugs and had to go to 4 stores (well, cyn went to all 4, i only went to 2) to find them. we now have what is probably the most ghetto air con hookup on the planet, but it works and there have been no more electrical fires. (oops.)
it's amazing how much cool, dehumidified air can make everyone just a little more sane. a little happier. a little calmer. we're nicer to each other. we find time to do the little things in life, like scrub our mildewed shoes. (can you believe this shit? i found like 3 pairs of my shoes, in my room, cultivating mold or something. it was disgusting, i almost vomited. that shows you how fucking steamy it's been here without the air. god. that's so gross i'm still getting the heebie jeebies. i mean, these are not wet shoes or overly sweaty shoes, either. one pair i wear all the time, another pair i haven't worn since february, and neither pair has been wet. wtf? so so so nasty. nasty nasty nasty. gross. barf. sick. disgusting. ew. gross.)
ahem. sorry.
last night was sherry's full moon party. sometimes i'm in the mood for crazy, hyper-energetic parties where the attendees show up in pink wigs and mermaid dresses and there is belly and pole dancing to be watched. but other nights i'm tired, my tummy is doing its unhappy thing, and my roommate is ditching me to go somewhere else. i'm not excited about seeing bewigged people skidding around the place, and the cigarette smoke makes me want to extinguish the lighted sticks on people's faces. not a good time for me to be out and about. then i feel conflicted: do i stay by myself and not even try to make conversation with people milling about, and sit waiting for sherry to have a minute while i don't make a single attempt to not look bored, or do i just go home? normally, i sit and wait all night for my friend. but last night i had to channel some self-involvement and i took myself home. in bed with the air on.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
monsoon
omg, finally finished that pile of paper i was handed last week. i'd estimated two days, but then i'd forgotten how short my attention span is recently. i'm like a fruit fly. drosophila. glad that's over. repetitive corrections are not fun.... zzzzz....
so. tonight. sherry and bad cats team have 'capture the flag' tonight in fuxing park. (meeting by the marx and engels statue... i find it funny that there's actually a statue for those two, but i guess that's just due to my regionalism and macarthyist histories of said region). i don't think i'll be capturing anything, but i will attend for posterity. and support. it's pouring fuggin rain outside, tho. so the relative instability of the weather may preclude any actual decision-making on my part regarding whether or not to try and trip someone up for flag-snatching purposes.
if i'm not making any sense, it's because i've been editing website copy for three days. i'm lost in a cloud that is my head. and, because the air con is still broken at my house (new units being installed as i type), i'm not sleeping much. topping out at 5 hours a night. i woke up at 8:30 this morning and my thermostat read 89 degrees. in my room. not acceptable. i'd taken to scrunching up on the bottom left corner of my bed so i could at least feel a slight draft from my fan, as i was too asleep to try and understand how to properly point the stupid thing so it would actually provide some windage. windiness. wind. i've been staying out all day and as close to all night as i can manage because i've been avoiding the steambath that is our apartment. just being on the bus was more enjoyable.
yesterday went to some party that was supposed to be a 'private' (haha) company party for a big advertising company. private it was not, but party it was. they flew in the entire tokyo office for a week of partying, and also brought along hifana, this somewhat indescribable team of tokyo-based musicians-slash-djs. great show. we missed the bananas set afterwards because sherry, steph, and i hid upstairs in the air conditioning, but i saw dan again today so i guess my fly-by presence at his lunch with adele made up for it or something. not really, but you know.
the longer i spend in china, the more i appreciate japanese boy style. there were of course a ton of tokyo boys (not too many girls, i'm not just noticing boys because i'm depraved) last night and it's just nice to be around people who have good style and good rhythm and shit like that. you know, like dreadlocks and crazy outfits and good jeans and correct accessorizing. puts me at ease. there was also a mini version of bai ling dancing around, which was disconcerting.
deciding that i am almost certainly going back to niseko for some snowboarding come CNY. i'm a bit concerned that i'm going to suck because i never get to go here, but i guess i'll have to just suck then. falling on your face on a 20-meter base isn't going to hurt much. so then i need to go home to the bay to get my stuff, which i was planning to do for xmas. my sister's email to me today quashed that short-lived euphoria:
"I was going to suggest that you come home for Thanksgiving instead because as you know we are not celebrating Christmas, plus, most people have more time off for it than Christmas. I mentioned that to Dad and he said yup, unless someone has a baby really fast. Stupid. So I plan on not being there for Christmas at all. My protest against their ridiculous statement. The money I save on Christmas presents will go toward my ticket elsewhere. I don't care where else. Prob. D.C."
my parents are refusing to celebrate xmas until they someone (i.e. me or my sister) gets knocked up. we both find this absurd, and if i weren't so overly confident in my maternal-convincing skills, rather distressing. i will play the overseas daughter guilt card. i will. i must have christmas. it's what makes the world go 'round. thanksgiving is out of the question because it's too soon and i think we have some big brand launch in the fall, plus i kinda just want to go head-to-head with the stubborn rhino that is my mother. i will show her the error of her ways. i just refilled my skype account so she better look out!
since our house is the hub of holiday activities, my mom is denying her entire clan the pleasure that is our xmas (and xmas eve) dinner. it's absolutely my favorite time of year and i will be so so sad if my mommy goes through with her retarded blackmail strategy. it won't function to speed up the grandchildren any, but it sure will function to alienate her family. but, being my mom, this won't dawn on her, and if it does, won't faze her. i think a childhood of fending for her siblings has hardened my mom to everything, especially what makes her family happy.
**note: ck, these are specific instructions to read that last paragraph aloud to mom**
battle.
so. tonight. sherry and bad cats team have 'capture the flag' tonight in fuxing park. (meeting by the marx and engels statue... i find it funny that there's actually a statue for those two, but i guess that's just due to my regionalism and macarthyist histories of said region). i don't think i'll be capturing anything, but i will attend for posterity. and support. it's pouring fuggin rain outside, tho. so the relative instability of the weather may preclude any actual decision-making on my part regarding whether or not to try and trip someone up for flag-snatching purposes.
if i'm not making any sense, it's because i've been editing website copy for three days. i'm lost in a cloud that is my head. and, because the air con is still broken at my house (new units being installed as i type), i'm not sleeping much. topping out at 5 hours a night. i woke up at 8:30 this morning and my thermostat read 89 degrees. in my room. not acceptable. i'd taken to scrunching up on the bottom left corner of my bed so i could at least feel a slight draft from my fan, as i was too asleep to try and understand how to properly point the stupid thing so it would actually provide some windage. windiness. wind. i've been staying out all day and as close to all night as i can manage because i've been avoiding the steambath that is our apartment. just being on the bus was more enjoyable.
yesterday went to some party that was supposed to be a 'private' (haha) company party for a big advertising company. private it was not, but party it was. they flew in the entire tokyo office for a week of partying, and also brought along hifana, this somewhat indescribable team of tokyo-based musicians-slash-djs. great show. we missed the bananas set afterwards because sherry, steph, and i hid upstairs in the air conditioning, but i saw dan again today so i guess my fly-by presence at his lunch with adele made up for it or something. not really, but you know.
the longer i spend in china, the more i appreciate japanese boy style. there were of course a ton of tokyo boys (not too many girls, i'm not just noticing boys because i'm depraved) last night and it's just nice to be around people who have good style and good rhythm and shit like that. you know, like dreadlocks and crazy outfits and good jeans and correct accessorizing. puts me at ease. there was also a mini version of bai ling dancing around, which was disconcerting.
deciding that i am almost certainly going back to niseko for some snowboarding come CNY. i'm a bit concerned that i'm going to suck because i never get to go here, but i guess i'll have to just suck then. falling on your face on a 20-meter base isn't going to hurt much. so then i need to go home to the bay to get my stuff, which i was planning to do for xmas. my sister's email to me today quashed that short-lived euphoria:
"I was going to suggest that you come home for Thanksgiving instead because as you know we are not celebrating Christmas, plus, most people have more time off for it than Christmas. I mentioned that to Dad and he said yup, unless someone has a baby really fast. Stupid. So I plan on not being there for Christmas at all. My protest against their ridiculous statement. The money I save on Christmas presents will go toward my ticket elsewhere. I don't care where else. Prob. D.C."
my parents are refusing to celebrate xmas until they someone (i.e. me or my sister) gets knocked up. we both find this absurd, and if i weren't so overly confident in my maternal-convincing skills, rather distressing. i will play the overseas daughter guilt card. i will. i must have christmas. it's what makes the world go 'round. thanksgiving is out of the question because it's too soon and i think we have some big brand launch in the fall, plus i kinda just want to go head-to-head with the stubborn rhino that is my mother. i will show her the error of her ways. i just refilled my skype account so she better look out!
since our house is the hub of holiday activities, my mom is denying her entire clan the pleasure that is our xmas (and xmas eve) dinner. it's absolutely my favorite time of year and i will be so so sad if my mommy goes through with her retarded blackmail strategy. it won't function to speed up the grandchildren any, but it sure will function to alienate her family. but, being my mom, this won't dawn on her, and if it does, won't faze her. i think a childhood of fending for her siblings has hardened my mom to everything, especially what makes her family happy.
**note: ck, these are specific instructions to read that last paragraph aloud to mom**
battle.
Sunday, June 24, 2007
la vie en rose (la mome)
probably daily, definitely weekly, i thank the stars or fates or whatever that i have friends who influence me to see new things or do something i wouldn't ordinarily do. tonight sherry wanted to see one of the shanghai film festival flicks, which always sounds good in theory, but inevitably i get too lazy to actually execute on. tonight we had a little pseudo-date, went and hunted down the burrito place (rather inexplicably named new york deli) and then went to see la vie en rose (la mome), a movie about the life of edith piaf. yawn, right? who cares about a dead french chanteuse from the 40s and 50s?
no. see it. it's so good. really incredible. the acting, the writing, the direction, the cinematography. i haven't seen a movie that impressive in a long time. who knew she led such a captivating life? and to think i would have missed it if sherry hadn't wanted to go and see a movie.
footnote: my first movie theater experience in china. surprisingly civilized. no smoking allowed in the theater, i only heard one cell phone go off, and we went to the lawsons on the floor below and had them pop some popcorn for us, so you can pretty much bring in whatever snacks you want. we were expecting a lot of cellophane crumpling, loud convos in shanghainese, people lighting up. none of that, just us westerners guffawing at the funny parts.
later we walked to xintiandi, where apparently it was thai tranny night. we saw multiple groups of 'girls' fishing for dates, flirting with tourists. did we miss the memo? is there a tranny convention in town, or is this normal for a sunday night? we need to know. a lot of them had boob jobs (and generous ones at that), indicating A) they have some money and B) they're invested in their futures as women. finding good transvestites in shanghai is really tough - being from the bay i've seen the best of the best - and these girls were the sure thing. must be from out of town; the makeup and the hair and the clothes were too skillful to be from around here.
no. see it. it's so good. really incredible. the acting, the writing, the direction, the cinematography. i haven't seen a movie that impressive in a long time. who knew she led such a captivating life? and to think i would have missed it if sherry hadn't wanted to go and see a movie.
footnote: my first movie theater experience in china. surprisingly civilized. no smoking allowed in the theater, i only heard one cell phone go off, and we went to the lawsons on the floor below and had them pop some popcorn for us, so you can pretty much bring in whatever snacks you want. we were expecting a lot of cellophane crumpling, loud convos in shanghainese, people lighting up. none of that, just us westerners guffawing at the funny parts.
later we walked to xintiandi, where apparently it was thai tranny night. we saw multiple groups of 'girls' fishing for dates, flirting with tourists. did we miss the memo? is there a tranny convention in town, or is this normal for a sunday night? we need to know. a lot of them had boob jobs (and generous ones at that), indicating A) they have some money and B) they're invested in their futures as women. finding good transvestites in shanghai is really tough - being from the bay i've seen the best of the best - and these girls were the sure thing. must be from out of town; the makeup and the hair and the clothes were too skillful to be from around here.
fyi
i need to hear comments. write something to me, please. this is an unrequited activity, blogging. so i need to hear from one or all of you super-busy people that i love very dearly but never hear a fucking word from. throw a girl a bone, why don't you.
peeping at purple
once again. sipping coffee, reading the times. this is what makes my world function, despite the heat and the fact that my ears are sweating. small amounts of time spent with a certain degree of focus and quiet fuels the mental and emotional energy for a day. any day. every day.
how else do you hear about things like this?:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/24/fashion/24renegade.html
one wonders how i made it through 7 years of corporate life that began anywhere from 7:30 to 9 am. my boss and mentor understood that i couldn't and didn't function before approximately 10:30, so she usually avoided me until then, leaving me to quiet, hermit work like retail analysis or markdown acceleration. but she didn't come around until 2002, a full three years after graduation. i wonder how i survived. i wonder how my work didn't suffer. i wonder about people who bounce out of bed at the crack of dawn, ready to start the day, running in meadows and singing coca cola ditties while holding the hands of those similarly inclined as the sun rises. engaging in conversation with someone other than very close friends or family before i'm truly awake is a no-no. it commonly results with me either blurting out something awkward (one of my greatest talents) or somehow compromising myself by over-compensating for my lack of enthusiasm by committing to delivering this project in two hours despite back-to-back meetings all morning, or driving someone to the airport at 5 am. i am at my weakest in the morning. but don't try to pull any fast ones, you. because i do wake up eventually and i can either waste 30 minutes of your time engaging in the most uncomfortable, circuitous explanation of why i can't do what i promised earlier - and who on earth wants to hear that shit - or i'll just avoid you and pretend the conversation never took place.
so. the heat is here. we arrived back from the lovely mountain clime of niseko and deplaned into a ruthless wall of heat and moisture. the next 4+ months will be spent in varying degrees of sweatiness; from a fine veil we like to refer to as 'dewy' (lasts about 5 minutes after bathing) to a dripping sort of personal precipitation that encompasses your entire mental capacity and silly things like rivulets running down your back gain precedence over conversation (halting them) or hailing taxis (forgetting to). the latter is usually accompanied by a garfield-like thought-bubble floating over one's head, filled with expletives.
we in si hao lou, yao ling yao have yet to turn on the air. this is because we are actually too lazy to do it, in a roundabout way. our central air is so inefficient you barely notice it's on when indeed it is. so we have been meaning to run down to the management office and negotiate one of those standing ones (eyesores, yes, but critical to one's sanity in august) for the living room, plus get the lazy cheap bastards to install screens over the windows (mosquitos have taken to turning our legs into the bellagio buffet). but, crippled by our laziness, we sweat and curse the day.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
and the sky was falling
so hot in the studio today. i had this drill sargeant of a yogi who had the biggest j-lo ass i've ever seen on an east asian girl. i could've served drinks on that thing. she was mean, but for some reason took a liking to me and so focused her rather questionable attentions on me during the entire duration of the class. this entailed rapping me on the quadriceps and yelling at me to lock my knee, telling me to take off my shirt because i had my beater tucked up in my sports bra (it was hot like you would not believe), pushing me over in standing boat-pulling pose, threatening to take away my towel if i didn't stop fanning myself, and lecturing me about my water consumption. my mom is kinda like that so i don't take it personally. after class she gave me another earful about bothering to wear a shirt to class (don't) and then i saw her again later and she told me that i needed to drink a lot of water. was that commentary on my profuse sweating during the class?
after hot went down to fuxing lu to meet up with steph and albert. they'd been drinking since brunch and were well into their seventh or so round when i got there. whilst perusing the menu, the sky suddenly (and literally) opened up and a huge rainstorm came crashing down. it's still storming and thundering nearly 12 hours later. albert had designs on tapas, but after raindrops the size of quarters came barreling down, we overruled him and decided to just stay and order pub food. people kept staggering into the pub completely saturated and streaming water, and that was enough. sherry joined a bit later fresh from a nap, and joined in the gluttony.
halfway through our meal, a small blonde toddler came over to me, put her hand in mine, and then proceeded to cuddle. it was the oddest thing. her dad came running over apologetically and explained that i was wearing similar clothes to her mom (i wasn't). plus the baby looked right into my face before she walked over. that, of course, spawned multiple cracks about daddy's other 'mommy' that he brings home when real mommy isn't home, and then ayi jokes.
seeing a small blonde head on my lap - so jolting. obviously my kids will never be similarly pigmented, but to have a child sort of fearlessly and familiarly clamber onto me was really a strange feeling, once i got past the surprise. can't explain because i don't want to explore it right now, and probably won't figure anything out if i do anyway.
we eventually made our way to constellation on xinle lu. such a cool place. i'd heard about it a few times and it really is a cool, relaxing spot. at one point i was uncouth enough to just lay out on one of the sofas - poor albert came back from the bathroom and had to pull up a chair from the bar. i can see my mom shuddering at the fact that i was all cleopatra in a bar, but i guess she should know me well enough by now. all of the bartenders are japanese and the drinks are properly done and not expensive. i'm very pro-japan right now. good ventilation, very chill vibe, clean bathroom. check, check, check.
not much going on tomorrow. enjoying my last days of freedom. there are brunch plans and dim sum plans, but i'm not committing to anything. i like my days to be flexible.
after hot went down to fuxing lu to meet up with steph and albert. they'd been drinking since brunch and were well into their seventh or so round when i got there. whilst perusing the menu, the sky suddenly (and literally) opened up and a huge rainstorm came crashing down. it's still storming and thundering nearly 12 hours later. albert had designs on tapas, but after raindrops the size of quarters came barreling down, we overruled him and decided to just stay and order pub food. people kept staggering into the pub completely saturated and streaming water, and that was enough. sherry joined a bit later fresh from a nap, and joined in the gluttony.
halfway through our meal, a small blonde toddler came over to me, put her hand in mine, and then proceeded to cuddle. it was the oddest thing. her dad came running over apologetically and explained that i was wearing similar clothes to her mom (i wasn't). plus the baby looked right into my face before she walked over. that, of course, spawned multiple cracks about daddy's other 'mommy' that he brings home when real mommy isn't home, and then ayi jokes.
seeing a small blonde head on my lap - so jolting. obviously my kids will never be similarly pigmented, but to have a child sort of fearlessly and familiarly clamber onto me was really a strange feeling, once i got past the surprise. can't explain because i don't want to explore it right now, and probably won't figure anything out if i do anyway.
we eventually made our way to constellation on xinle lu. such a cool place. i'd heard about it a few times and it really is a cool, relaxing spot. at one point i was uncouth enough to just lay out on one of the sofas - poor albert came back from the bathroom and had to pull up a chair from the bar. i can see my mom shuddering at the fact that i was all cleopatra in a bar, but i guess she should know me well enough by now. all of the bartenders are japanese and the drinks are properly done and not expensive. i'm very pro-japan right now. good ventilation, very chill vibe, clean bathroom. check, check, check.
not much going on tomorrow. enjoying my last days of freedom. there are brunch plans and dim sum plans, but i'm not committing to anything. i like my days to be flexible.
Friday, June 22, 2007
air kisses suck
...i prefer real. this means that i usually end up smacking you one on the cheek when you were expecting a dry brush-by, but oh well.
went to a dinner party tonight and expected to be home before midnight, but you know how these things go. the host was a very tall czech friend of sherry's. i love being in european households. they always have the good food and tons of wine and bubbly, and andrea was no exception. she was exceptional in that her music selection was good. tall she is, this andrea. in fact, there were three andreas present tonight, and the tallest one was perhaps the tallest chinese person i've ever seen. alix introduced him to me while i had my back to them (stirring the risotto) and i turned around and just saw chest. he's from italy, and he must've thrived off the pasta or something.
not feeling drinky these days. had less than 4 bevies the whole trip in japan and just 2 glasses of bubbly tonight. i think the bikini night did me in. thinking about vodka continues to instill the dry-heave feeling. that's ok. some people are less happy about my partying ways than others (hi mom) so this little reprieve is welcome.
we had horse sashimi in japan. and emu sashimi. i prefer the emu. duc observed that the horse tasted exactly like you would imagine a horse to taste. a bit gamey.
i bought japanese toothpaste at the sapporo airport because of the whole melamine thing goin on with toothpaste manufactured in china, but little did i know that the baby rabbit holding a toothbrush on the tube wasn't your standard japanese cuteness, but actually indicated children's toothpaste. yuck. if there was a flavor that should not exist as part of a dental artifice, it's passionfruit.
heard from a former boy toy tonight. it's funny how people pop in and out of your life, like your feelings - not even feelings, inclinations - towards them remain constant despite the time lapse since the last time you spoke. his offer was not difficult to decline, but it makes me shake my head sometimes. i honestly wonder what people think of themselves, and of me. lots of things happen in very short time frames. it's no wonder that some people lose track of what it is they actually want, they don't even realize what they're doing day to day. get a grip.
i think my cold combined with the asthma almost killed me in japan, but i'm on the mend. don't go to hokkaido in the summer without arming yourself with beaucoup zyrtec and several inhalers. the clean air was a bonus, but i hadn't counted on the extreme pollen count, which is apparently as dangerous or more so than allergen cousins, pollution and smog.
doing the head nod while typing. sleep.
went to a dinner party tonight and expected to be home before midnight, but you know how these things go. the host was a very tall czech friend of sherry's. i love being in european households. they always have the good food and tons of wine and bubbly, and andrea was no exception. she was exceptional in that her music selection was good. tall she is, this andrea. in fact, there were three andreas present tonight, and the tallest one was perhaps the tallest chinese person i've ever seen. alix introduced him to me while i had my back to them (stirring the risotto) and i turned around and just saw chest. he's from italy, and he must've thrived off the pasta or something.
not feeling drinky these days. had less than 4 bevies the whole trip in japan and just 2 glasses of bubbly tonight. i think the bikini night did me in. thinking about vodka continues to instill the dry-heave feeling. that's ok. some people are less happy about my partying ways than others (hi mom) so this little reprieve is welcome.
we had horse sashimi in japan. and emu sashimi. i prefer the emu. duc observed that the horse tasted exactly like you would imagine a horse to taste. a bit gamey.
i bought japanese toothpaste at the sapporo airport because of the whole melamine thing goin on with toothpaste manufactured in china, but little did i know that the baby rabbit holding a toothbrush on the tube wasn't your standard japanese cuteness, but actually indicated children's toothpaste. yuck. if there was a flavor that should not exist as part of a dental artifice, it's passionfruit.
heard from a former boy toy tonight. it's funny how people pop in and out of your life, like your feelings - not even feelings, inclinations - towards them remain constant despite the time lapse since the last time you spoke. his offer was not difficult to decline, but it makes me shake my head sometimes. i honestly wonder what people think of themselves, and of me. lots of things happen in very short time frames. it's no wonder that some people lose track of what it is they actually want, they don't even realize what they're doing day to day. get a grip.
i think my cold combined with the asthma almost killed me in japan, but i'm on the mend. don't go to hokkaido in the summer without arming yourself with beaucoup zyrtec and several inhalers. the clean air was a bonus, but i hadn't counted on the extreme pollen count, which is apparently as dangerous or more so than allergen cousins, pollution and smog.
doing the head nod while typing. sleep.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
a little clean air, a little uni
'mother mountain' - mt. yotei
our lovely place - more chalet than cabin, i guess
reliving our day camp days with a little archery...
some fly fishing...
some swingin'
and a whole lot of eating
and eating
and more eating!
waders are hot, by the way
and, just because it's japan, some weirdness:
a sign for one of the many pensions in hirafu village
the train guy - this tiny little guy on the train back to sapporo with the biggest badass shoes
Thursday, June 14, 2007
one for the books
i love mornings when you wake up wearing your bikini, in bed not knowing how you got there, with a bottle cap, various kleenex, and a small drawstring bag you bought in japan scattered across the sheet. i vaguely remember sleeping on the bathroom floor for a while, but apparently i picked myself up, took my contacts out, and dragged myself to bed.
whoa.
i don't actually love these mornings. but sometimes, for the good of the psyche, they're necessary for blowing off some steam. some nights your friends see the look in your eye and they know that they're in for a big night, whether or not they want it, and whether or not you actually leave the house. and that's what friends do. that's who they are. they get pissed at the people that hurt you, they say fuck 'em when you're trying to be fair about it, whatever. they rally. and i'm so grateful.
whoa.
i don't actually love these mornings. but sometimes, for the good of the psyche, they're necessary for blowing off some steam. some nights your friends see the look in your eye and they know that they're in for a big night, whether or not they want it, and whether or not you actually leave the house. and that's what friends do. that's who they are. they get pissed at the people that hurt you, they say fuck 'em when you're trying to be fair about it, whatever. they rally. and i'm so grateful.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
yeah, that's right
so, things are happening. stars or planets or whatever are in alignment. people are doing things and going places and... yeah. mostly people are leaving for holiday and weddings in their home countries and good stuff like that. alvin is going back to indo next week and his mom will greet him at the airport with satay in hand. lisa and her friend ana are going backpacking across china (whoa). sherry's in hong kong (aka heaven on earth) and having a great time. i'm... i'm doing stuff. articles are submitted and payments have been collected and apparently i'm a valuable secret diner participant. can't beat that with a bat. ha.
so i lied and said i was going to bed. i am, in a bit. i have another interview tomorrow, kind of a random thing that spawned from a phone call this afternoon. apparently the CEO from one of the companies i interviewed with about a century ago is in town and wants to meet me. wtf? whatever. i'll meet a CEO just to get out of the house. things are so random here. i basically am going in for an interview tomorrow about a position i don't know about and for a reason that is unknown and i'm still not sure what time i'm supposed to go. huh? i should really go to sleep.
had dinner with the kids at le saleya again. it was nice; it always is. we sat outside on the terrace despite the rain, under the rather mildewy awning. we were next to (and by that i mean nearly on top of, saleya is tiny) a couple - a nice french girl and her obnoxious boyfriend. i'm going to say he was from one of the countries formerly known as the soviet union. he said, 'fuck' about 1000 times - and i'm not one to judge since it's a favorite of mine, too, but he really said it a lot - and said some not-so-nice things to her. our whole table felt a little bad for her. alvin is still in love with the chocolate cake they make and that's pretty much why we go there. that and the wine list is pretty great and generally the food is pleasing. but those are silly reasons, right?
ok, i'm tired. nighty night.
so i lied and said i was going to bed. i am, in a bit. i have another interview tomorrow, kind of a random thing that spawned from a phone call this afternoon. apparently the CEO from one of the companies i interviewed with about a century ago is in town and wants to meet me. wtf? whatever. i'll meet a CEO just to get out of the house. things are so random here. i basically am going in for an interview tomorrow about a position i don't know about and for a reason that is unknown and i'm still not sure what time i'm supposed to go. huh? i should really go to sleep.
had dinner with the kids at le saleya again. it was nice; it always is. we sat outside on the terrace despite the rain, under the rather mildewy awning. we were next to (and by that i mean nearly on top of, saleya is tiny) a couple - a nice french girl and her obnoxious boyfriend. i'm going to say he was from one of the countries formerly known as the soviet union. he said, 'fuck' about 1000 times - and i'm not one to judge since it's a favorite of mine, too, but he really said it a lot - and said some not-so-nice things to her. our whole table felt a little bad for her. alvin is still in love with the chocolate cake they make and that's pretty much why we go there. that and the wine list is pretty great and generally the food is pleasing. but those are silly reasons, right?
ok, i'm tired. nighty night.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
getting lost
cindy brought home a stack of dvds the other day, so now we have 'lost, complete thirdly season' running. i haven't watched the complete second or firstly seasons, so i'm pretty lost (har har), but i can safely say it's fuggin weird. watch it if you like cults and stupid bai ling acting like an exotic, overly sexed weirdo. poor bai ling, so typecast.
the fine recipient of yet another cold. i think this happens every month. i think some little fairy poured cement in my sinuses when i wasn't looking.
we decided to do some spring cleaning to rid our place somewhat of the many piles that have gathered. it's amazing how much crap you can accumulate here if you have even the slightest pack rat tendencies. just the free crap you get at all these random events is enough to make the landfills ache. and i discovered that we have a playstation!
okey dokes. sleepy time.
the fine recipient of yet another cold. i think this happens every month. i think some little fairy poured cement in my sinuses when i wasn't looking.
we decided to do some spring cleaning to rid our place somewhat of the many piles that have gathered. it's amazing how much crap you can accumulate here if you have even the slightest pack rat tendencies. just the free crap you get at all these random events is enough to make the landfills ache. and i discovered that we have a playstation!
okey dokes. sleepy time.
Monday, June 11, 2007
is AFI coming to shanghai or not?
currently listening to: aventura y monchy y alexandra
i can't figure out what the lineup is for earth live on july 7 at shanghai stadium. the promoters are fucking with me and leading me to believe that AFI might be in shanghai, which would be the equivalent of going to heaven on a first class train. i think they are not, tho. vegans can't exist in china.
went to a salsa class tonight. there were about 9 of us, and most of them were beginners, but it was such outstanding fun, anyway. i danced a lot with the teacher - some fanatic latin-dance german guy who's actually an engineer but moonlights as a dance instructor - and started learning how to lead, so i could dance with the girls. my first time learning to lead; it's such a good skill to have. i learned how to lead the hammerlock and inside and outside turns, which are basic, but something i've been needing to learn. the instructor kept referring to the moves in spanish (with a strong german accent), which throws me off because i only know the english (ballroom) terms for everything.
at the end of the class, he taught us the bachata, which is from the dominican republic. i think i've done it before in clubs, just didn't know what i was doing, but the music is friggin addicting. it's got this ping-y quality that i immediately became obsessed with, so i asked the instructor for some artist recommendations and i'm happily listening now. aventura and monchy y alexandra, for those who want to check them out.
the bachata is a simple 4-step side-to-side movement, but all we learned today was basic and left and right turns. dance classes could really stand to be three times longer sometimes. i think from now on i'm going to avoid studio classes and just go to the clubs. from what i've seen, the salsa classes at studios tend to cater to very beginners, and unless i'm highly invested in teaching a beginner to dance (a very willing beginner, ahem), i think i'd just have more fun in the clubs. however, there's something nice about being taught the basics in a small class environment and in a very regimented way. dots your i's, crosses your t's.
what else... spent the day writing this article. the salsa class was really more a cry for help - spending all day writing tends to sink me into a certain zone and mood where i can't properly socialize and spend too much time staring into space with my hands in my hair. cyn's the only one outside of my family that has seen me immerse in this self-depression in order to be productive, and i think i may have scared her a little, how distant i am. if i didn't before, i now understand why writers are such loners and tend to hole up in remote places in order to work on their stuff. you need solitude and, to a certain degree, you need to depress your own emotional state.
might try a tango class on wednesday. i did that one class in hong kong with allen, but it wasn't a proper lesson so i'd like to tackle it, conventional style.
getting sleepy... for once i'm attempting to go to sleep before 2 am, so here i go. night night, peoples.
i can't figure out what the lineup is for earth live on july 7 at shanghai stadium. the promoters are fucking with me and leading me to believe that AFI might be in shanghai, which would be the equivalent of going to heaven on a first class train. i think they are not, tho. vegans can't exist in china.
went to a salsa class tonight. there were about 9 of us, and most of them were beginners, but it was such outstanding fun, anyway. i danced a lot with the teacher - some fanatic latin-dance german guy who's actually an engineer but moonlights as a dance instructor - and started learning how to lead, so i could dance with the girls. my first time learning to lead; it's such a good skill to have. i learned how to lead the hammerlock and inside and outside turns, which are basic, but something i've been needing to learn. the instructor kept referring to the moves in spanish (with a strong german accent), which throws me off because i only know the english (ballroom) terms for everything.
at the end of the class, he taught us the bachata, which is from the dominican republic. i think i've done it before in clubs, just didn't know what i was doing, but the music is friggin addicting. it's got this ping-y quality that i immediately became obsessed with, so i asked the instructor for some artist recommendations and i'm happily listening now. aventura and monchy y alexandra, for those who want to check them out.
the bachata is a simple 4-step side-to-side movement, but all we learned today was basic and left and right turns. dance classes could really stand to be three times longer sometimes. i think from now on i'm going to avoid studio classes and just go to the clubs. from what i've seen, the salsa classes at studios tend to cater to very beginners, and unless i'm highly invested in teaching a beginner to dance (a very willing beginner, ahem), i think i'd just have more fun in the clubs. however, there's something nice about being taught the basics in a small class environment and in a very regimented way. dots your i's, crosses your t's.
what else... spent the day writing this article. the salsa class was really more a cry for help - spending all day writing tends to sink me into a certain zone and mood where i can't properly socialize and spend too much time staring into space with my hands in my hair. cyn's the only one outside of my family that has seen me immerse in this self-depression in order to be productive, and i think i may have scared her a little, how distant i am. if i didn't before, i now understand why writers are such loners and tend to hole up in remote places in order to work on their stuff. you need solitude and, to a certain degree, you need to depress your own emotional state.
might try a tango class on wednesday. i did that one class in hong kong with allen, but it wasn't a proper lesson so i'd like to tackle it, conventional style.
getting sleepy... for once i'm attempting to go to sleep before 2 am, so here i go. night night, peoples.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
all the cantos in the house...
so one of the 'attractions' at volar when we went on friday night was some beat-boxing phenom, killa kella or some nonsense like that. the flier literally said, 'world famous beat boxer in london!' the guy's world famous in london? apparently he's supposed to be decent, but all we heard him do was emcee. he kept asking where the ladies at, which is just annoying. he wasn't exactly onstage at a concert, he was standing in the dj booth (i.e. table) in the middle of the floor in a club. all us ladies had to laugh.
so today spent getting things done. met sherry at dlc for brunch, went to the stupid fabric market (ugh) for stuff to send with ross to jody in seattle, went to a hot class. then we went to hengshan cafe, which is a small chain (4 locations?) of restaurants that serve up canto food. dan came out at the end to chat w/ sherry and hand off cyn's old phone.
for us homesick cantonese spawn, hengshan cafe is heaven sent. and forgive me if this is some well-known spot that i'm noobing out on, but, well, whatever. i'm a noob. sherry and i ordered 4 dishes plus soup and just about polished everything off. plus dessert. when i say i am hungry, i mean it. rowr.
the stupid fabric market. i hate that place. it's like ripoff city... all the expats and/or tourists trolling the joint and getting sandbagged on prices. i mean, it's all relative, i know. and i have a coat that i adore that i had made there, which was so much cheaper than buying off the rack back home. i know. but that constant frenetic energy, the frisson of the hustle just permeates the place. you're treated like a total asshole because you're trying to give these places business. it's one of the experiences that makes me disgusted with this city.
hong kees have a certain prejudice (sherry and i were discussing) about shanghainese. hong kees are blunt as hell, but they're honest and just sort of put their feelings out there. the shanghainese, however, are known to be extremely 'tricky' (in my mom's words) or (in my words), conniving shitballs. i know there are lots of nice locals in this city, sure, but it takes one fucked up cab driver or one nasty fabric market vendor, and i want to fucking torch the place.
next time we're going to yuyuan where sherry's friends at the printshop say you can buy them wholesale and cheaper.
it's been over a week since i went to hot, so now i'm ready for a faceplant. plus it's past 3 am. whoops.
so today spent getting things done. met sherry at dlc for brunch, went to the stupid fabric market (ugh) for stuff to send with ross to jody in seattle, went to a hot class. then we went to hengshan cafe, which is a small chain (4 locations?) of restaurants that serve up canto food. dan came out at the end to chat w/ sherry and hand off cyn's old phone.
for us homesick cantonese spawn, hengshan cafe is heaven sent. and forgive me if this is some well-known spot that i'm noobing out on, but, well, whatever. i'm a noob. sherry and i ordered 4 dishes plus soup and just about polished everything off. plus dessert. when i say i am hungry, i mean it. rowr.
the stupid fabric market. i hate that place. it's like ripoff city... all the expats and/or tourists trolling the joint and getting sandbagged on prices. i mean, it's all relative, i know. and i have a coat that i adore that i had made there, which was so much cheaper than buying off the rack back home. i know. but that constant frenetic energy, the frisson of the hustle just permeates the place. you're treated like a total asshole because you're trying to give these places business. it's one of the experiences that makes me disgusted with this city.
hong kees have a certain prejudice (sherry and i were discussing) about shanghainese. hong kees are blunt as hell, but they're honest and just sort of put their feelings out there. the shanghainese, however, are known to be extremely 'tricky' (in my mom's words) or (in my words), conniving shitballs. i know there are lots of nice locals in this city, sure, but it takes one fucked up cab driver or one nasty fabric market vendor, and i want to fucking torch the place.
next time we're going to yuyuan where sherry's friends at the printshop say you can buy them wholesale and cheaper.
it's been over a week since i went to hot, so now i'm ready for a faceplant. plus it's past 3 am. whoops.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
one more question
...aimed at the guys, here. i've already talked to cyn and sherry and steph about this, and we've come to a singular conclusion.
can you think of any other reason that a male houseguest would leave your lotion in the shower?
be honest. i keep my lotion on the counter right next to the shower, so once you get out and dry off, it's right there. no reason to climb back into the shower to apply.
i mean, really. it's appalling.
can you think of any other reason that a male houseguest would leave your lotion in the shower?
be honest. i keep my lotion on the counter right next to the shower, so once you get out and dry off, it's right there. no reason to climb back into the shower to apply.
i mean, really. it's appalling.
some chick got hitched
cyn's looking at photos of a high school friend's wedding. it's funny to scroll through and see all the goofing around people do at weddings. this is much more fun than admiring the bride or the groom or flowers or whatever the hell else. mostly it's because we're sort of irreverent about the couple; i assume if you actually care about the people getting married, you pay a little bit of attention.
i think i'm lucky to be 29 and a girl and not really feel anything about getting hitched. i assume that when you meet the right person and you're ready emotionally, than you proceed accordingly. my mom's forceful reminders that she would like to see me knocked up as quickly as possible are unrelated to my unmarried status. she advises that i should just have kids out of wedlock. nice, mom. since i'm unemployed, now is a stellar time to think about kids.
no one in our close circle of friends is married, or even engaged. not even close, last i checked. we're all 28-31, happily bopping along: several in b-school, one doctor, one just finishing an MPP, a couple of slackers (me), one ph.D in comp lit, one in biotech, one architect, a lawyer, a couple kids running their family businesses. everyone's dating or whoring or something in between. once one falls, a few others will go quickly. it's inevitable. i am not looking forward to that day, although i'm not necessarily opposed to it, because i assume it will mean that one of my very good friends is really happy and is about to get happier. so on that rather simplified level, i can accept.
i mean lucky because i'm not there yet, and i don't want to wake up one day and feel like i need to be someplace i'm not. i've never been a goal-setter when it comes to things like that, and i get almost infuriated with societal pressures on women who hit 30. i have known far too many women who have become consumed with the idea that they're shitty, terrible, inadequate, lacking something, whatever, because they're over 30 and still single. i think it's bullshit. being single is not worse than being married, and is certainly not a negative reflection on anyone. if you're a lovely person in general, than chances are you're still lovely, regardless of age and ball-and-chain status. my aunt got married for the first time in her 50s, and she's giddy as all hell. everything in due time.
i had a boss, my first job out of college, who would refer to herself frequently as a 'spinster' and would sprinkle her conversation with self-depracating comments about how no one wanted her and that she was washed up. she even had a blown-up cartoon taped to her wall of a skeleton sitting on a bench, holding a purse, with the caption, 'waiting... for the right man.' i think she scarred me for life. i'd honestly never met anyone who so openly hated her life or herself, and it was friggin scary.
my mom doesn't pressure me about marriage. i'm not sure why, but i appreciate it. a lot of my girlfriends' moms do, openly, and sometimes not in a nice way. the whole grandkids thing is weird to me, coming from my mom. she's not particularly maternal, but i guess she does like to play with babies. i always thought, as a child, that my mom was too busy for her kids, but now that i've emerged somewhat from that petulant, self-involved childhood bit, of course i realize it was all for us. she's resorted to blackmailing my sister and i into having kids, but we don't succumb. she's instilled in us more strength than to fall for a silly trick like that. she's probably kicking herself now.
in other news... today spent spiraling in randomness. went and checked out the last dance studio on the list, so now i can sit my ass down and actually go about writing the article. met up with steph and her friend janet at a random art showing on fuxing lu. we spent about 45 seconds looking at the paintings and 1.5 hours drinking the free wine on the terrace. went over to 3 on the bund and strolled through the gallery on the third floor, where the art and the wine were much better. stalked the waiters and bumbled around the space, admiring some of the cooler pieces. met some intense fashion photographer named jeremy, who weirded steph out to the point where she excused herself to stare at a painting more closely. went to the weird place in the basement of 5 on the bund that replaced number five and had some fairly crappy bar food. albert and scott and a visiting friend joined us, then we headed to a rather outstanding yakitori place on shimen at nanjing.
instead of heading to pirates with everyone else, i elected to come home to drop off the laptop and change into something less daytime than a jersey skirt and my reefs. predictably, i'm still parked on the sofa. i don't have it in me to go all the way to xujiahui by myself to inhale lungfulls of smoke and drop another few hundies on drinks and taxi.
volar last night was lovely. really. nice scene, nice people, perfect cocktails, and you can't complain about the decor. but the cigars were killing me. there was one point when every inhalation felt like i was barbequeing my cilia. i could visualize the nice and healthy-pink tissues in my trachea withering and turning gray-black. ugh.
i think i'm lucky to be 29 and a girl and not really feel anything about getting hitched. i assume that when you meet the right person and you're ready emotionally, than you proceed accordingly. my mom's forceful reminders that she would like to see me knocked up as quickly as possible are unrelated to my unmarried status. she advises that i should just have kids out of wedlock. nice, mom. since i'm unemployed, now is a stellar time to think about kids.
no one in our close circle of friends is married, or even engaged. not even close, last i checked. we're all 28-31, happily bopping along: several in b-school, one doctor, one just finishing an MPP, a couple of slackers (me), one ph.D in comp lit, one in biotech, one architect, a lawyer, a couple kids running their family businesses. everyone's dating or whoring or something in between. once one falls, a few others will go quickly. it's inevitable. i am not looking forward to that day, although i'm not necessarily opposed to it, because i assume it will mean that one of my very good friends is really happy and is about to get happier. so on that rather simplified level, i can accept.
i mean lucky because i'm not there yet, and i don't want to wake up one day and feel like i need to be someplace i'm not. i've never been a goal-setter when it comes to things like that, and i get almost infuriated with societal pressures on women who hit 30. i have known far too many women who have become consumed with the idea that they're shitty, terrible, inadequate, lacking something, whatever, because they're over 30 and still single. i think it's bullshit. being single is not worse than being married, and is certainly not a negative reflection on anyone. if you're a lovely person in general, than chances are you're still lovely, regardless of age and ball-and-chain status. my aunt got married for the first time in her 50s, and she's giddy as all hell. everything in due time.
i had a boss, my first job out of college, who would refer to herself frequently as a 'spinster' and would sprinkle her conversation with self-depracating comments about how no one wanted her and that she was washed up. she even had a blown-up cartoon taped to her wall of a skeleton sitting on a bench, holding a purse, with the caption, 'waiting... for the right man.' i think she scarred me for life. i'd honestly never met anyone who so openly hated her life or herself, and it was friggin scary.
my mom doesn't pressure me about marriage. i'm not sure why, but i appreciate it. a lot of my girlfriends' moms do, openly, and sometimes not in a nice way. the whole grandkids thing is weird to me, coming from my mom. she's not particularly maternal, but i guess she does like to play with babies. i always thought, as a child, that my mom was too busy for her kids, but now that i've emerged somewhat from that petulant, self-involved childhood bit, of course i realize it was all for us. she's resorted to blackmailing my sister and i into having kids, but we don't succumb. she's instilled in us more strength than to fall for a silly trick like that. she's probably kicking herself now.
in other news... today spent spiraling in randomness. went and checked out the last dance studio on the list, so now i can sit my ass down and actually go about writing the article. met up with steph and her friend janet at a random art showing on fuxing lu. we spent about 45 seconds looking at the paintings and 1.5 hours drinking the free wine on the terrace. went over to 3 on the bund and strolled through the gallery on the third floor, where the art and the wine were much better. stalked the waiters and bumbled around the space, admiring some of the cooler pieces. met some intense fashion photographer named jeremy, who weirded steph out to the point where she excused herself to stare at a painting more closely. went to the weird place in the basement of 5 on the bund that replaced number five and had some fairly crappy bar food. albert and scott and a visiting friend joined us, then we headed to a rather outstanding yakitori place on shimen at nanjing.
instead of heading to pirates with everyone else, i elected to come home to drop off the laptop and change into something less daytime than a jersey skirt and my reefs. predictably, i'm still parked on the sofa. i don't have it in me to go all the way to xujiahui by myself to inhale lungfulls of smoke and drop another few hundies on drinks and taxi.
volar last night was lovely. really. nice scene, nice people, perfect cocktails, and you can't complain about the decor. but the cigars were killing me. there was one point when every inhalation felt like i was barbequeing my cilia. i could visualize the nice and healthy-pink tissues in my trachea withering and turning gray-black. ugh.
Friday, June 08, 2007
well, it's the end of the week
...and you know what that means. i slept for about an hour and a half last night, went to an interview, had a nice hour-long chat with the director of finance, ran some metrics for him, and chopped it up about tax laws in china versus the states. it was fun.
and now i'm watching endless episodes of grey's anatomy, waiting for sleep to hit so i can be worth a shit when we go out tonight. there are better ways to spend this time, had i slept. i could go to yoga. i could volunteer somewhere that needs non mandarin-speaking volunteers that can't tell her right from her left when barking at taxi drivers early in the morning, i could do something useful. but instead, i sit here, absorbed by fictional drama.
last night, despite needing sleep so that i could ostensibly rock mr. financial director's interview boat this morning, i lay awake, listening to snoring, wondering about what i will do if and when i return to work. as restless as i have been, as worried about money as i always am, thinking about going back to work stirs up anxiety. i'm afraid i'm going to look up one morning, riding on the metro next to someone with chernoble breath, or in a taxi stuck in traffic on a hot sticky day, and just want out again. what happens then?
i can hear you thinking. you just suck it up, right? no one wants to do the every day, they just do. people don't just quit their jobs and run to another country, hide from ex boyfriends or responsibility or the yoke of the mundaneness. people who do that are so very lucky to have the support systems or the money or both to indulge their compulsions. so i guess i'm a lucky, ungrateful, chickenshit princess-y type.
and now i'm watching endless episodes of grey's anatomy, waiting for sleep to hit so i can be worth a shit when we go out tonight. there are better ways to spend this time, had i slept. i could go to yoga. i could volunteer somewhere that needs non mandarin-speaking volunteers that can't tell her right from her left when barking at taxi drivers early in the morning, i could do something useful. but instead, i sit here, absorbed by fictional drama.
last night, despite needing sleep so that i could ostensibly rock mr. financial director's interview boat this morning, i lay awake, listening to snoring, wondering about what i will do if and when i return to work. as restless as i have been, as worried about money as i always am, thinking about going back to work stirs up anxiety. i'm afraid i'm going to look up one morning, riding on the metro next to someone with chernoble breath, or in a taxi stuck in traffic on a hot sticky day, and just want out again. what happens then?
i can hear you thinking. you just suck it up, right? no one wants to do the every day, they just do. people don't just quit their jobs and run to another country, hide from ex boyfriends or responsibility or the yoke of the mundaneness. people who do that are so very lucky to have the support systems or the money or both to indulge their compulsions. so i guess i'm a lucky, ungrateful, chickenshit princess-y type.
Monday, June 04, 2007
good morning
stellar article in the ny times today:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/worldbusiness/05fakes.html?ex=1338696000&en=8b35898d39f700ad&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
peeps in the times newsroom are really hammering at this. there's article upon article covering all aspects of the scandal. meanwhile us expats over here are trolling the FDA website for info on toothpaste, dog food, whatever, relatively nonplussed about the fish feed substitution, the melamine additives, the fake factory front. don't like being blase about stuff like this - it is serious and i'm not denying that - but it's just not surprising.
in other news... took a flow 2 class with bill yesterday. the only thing that got my ass up was the fact that it was bill and i'd only done hot with him before. what can i say? true to his reputation, and anyone that knows me well enough here knows that i'm his biggest fan. the first flow 2 class where i wasn't rolling on the floor with back spasms at the end, and although it kicked the shit out of me, i really liked it. of course. bill is somehow able to effectively communicate exactly what/where/how you need to hit, and the challenge just lays in getting there, not grappling with what the hell you're doing on top of how to execute, like my normal reaction to flow classes.
enough yoga head speak. i don't like sounding like one of the thousands of converted that roam around in stella mccartney lycra and jump on soapboxes at the slightest chance.
so i read this morning in perez that obama has his own reggaeton song? fuggin hirarious. he is, of course, courting the further left vote with his strong statement of opinion on gay/lesbian rights despite his own heavily christian beliefs, and going after the latino vote (hence the song). i have to say, every day that goes by convinces me that halle berry may have it right - obama '08. as a woman, i struggle with the hillary thing, but i think she plays the game too far in the middle and too highbrow and backstage-strategic for these times. obama's theme is 'hope,' which sounds kinda hokey initially, but you start to see why he chose it. as a child of post-mtv gen x, you're bombarded by hyperstimuli at every level. i talk about simplicity and purity all the time as if it's some unattainable goal, some figurative holy grail. sometimes a little hokiness speaks volumes.
i want to read his book. i think it's called the audacity of hope. i saw it in garden books a while back, but it's in hardback and i'm too cheap-slash-broke to spend money on things that don't involve vodka or transportation (kidding... kidding). i'm interested in a mixed-race senator running for president who grew up in hawaii and therefore has a sensibility about the mash of culture and an exposure to poverty. my indo friends also like to point out that he had an indonesian stepfather and lived in indo for a while. just the life history would be compelling, no?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/business/worldbusiness/05fakes.html?ex=1338696000&en=8b35898d39f700ad&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
peeps in the times newsroom are really hammering at this. there's article upon article covering all aspects of the scandal. meanwhile us expats over here are trolling the FDA website for info on toothpaste, dog food, whatever, relatively nonplussed about the fish feed substitution, the melamine additives, the fake factory front. don't like being blase about stuff like this - it is serious and i'm not denying that - but it's just not surprising.
in other news... took a flow 2 class with bill yesterday. the only thing that got my ass up was the fact that it was bill and i'd only done hot with him before. what can i say? true to his reputation, and anyone that knows me well enough here knows that i'm his biggest fan. the first flow 2 class where i wasn't rolling on the floor with back spasms at the end, and although it kicked the shit out of me, i really liked it. of course. bill is somehow able to effectively communicate exactly what/where/how you need to hit, and the challenge just lays in getting there, not grappling with what the hell you're doing on top of how to execute, like my normal reaction to flow classes.
enough yoga head speak. i don't like sounding like one of the thousands of converted that roam around in stella mccartney lycra and jump on soapboxes at the slightest chance.
so i read this morning in perez that obama has his own reggaeton song? fuggin hirarious. he is, of course, courting the further left vote with his strong statement of opinion on gay/lesbian rights despite his own heavily christian beliefs, and going after the latino vote (hence the song). i have to say, every day that goes by convinces me that halle berry may have it right - obama '08. as a woman, i struggle with the hillary thing, but i think she plays the game too far in the middle and too highbrow and backstage-strategic for these times. obama's theme is 'hope,' which sounds kinda hokey initially, but you start to see why he chose it. as a child of post-mtv gen x, you're bombarded by hyperstimuli at every level. i talk about simplicity and purity all the time as if it's some unattainable goal, some figurative holy grail. sometimes a little hokiness speaks volumes.
i want to read his book. i think it's called the audacity of hope. i saw it in garden books a while back, but it's in hardback and i'm too cheap-slash-broke to spend money on things that don't involve vodka or transportation (kidding... kidding). i'm interested in a mixed-race senator running for president who grew up in hawaii and therefore has a sensibility about the mash of culture and an exposure to poverty. my indo friends also like to point out that he had an indonesian stepfather and lived in indo for a while. just the life history would be compelling, no?
circle sauce
and yes, some introverts go clubbing 2-3 times a week. i don't go out every night. so ptthhhh....
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