Tony's First Birthday. Olympics End. Parent's anniversary.

• Tony was well-behaved at his birthday party yesterday night. He was excited but didn't overly concern himself with picking up the plates and glasses on the restaurant table as I expected.
• Tony later went to the Blue Bar. I had to drop in to make an appearance as it were. Tony really liked the cue ball on the pool table and cried when I had to take it away from him. Tony's crying was a big issue today.
• Not going to the pub much these days, I look at the crowd that was there last night and was disappointed. They were mostly a non-descript, boring looking bunch of strangers. I wonder now how I ever thought the Expat life was any different from the life in any of the places I had happen to be before. But, I am here and the life does have its advantages along with its many deprivations.
• Meeting other Expats isn't one of the advantages of being in China. You just can't escape humanity.
• Who is Joe Biden? He is now Obama's running mate. I had heard the name before and read it with a (D) beside. I assume the D stood for dumb... Biden is an old Washington hand which makes you wonder why Obama who wants to change politics in Washington would have chosen him.
• The wife and I took Tony to a studio to shot photos to celebrate Tony's first birthday. Tony was at his whiny best. He didn't cooperate at all with the photographer. Efforts to put a hat on him resulted in Tony taking the hat off quickly. (Why is it that babies don't like wearing hats?) Tony cried non-stop for the last half-hour of the session and did not stop crying till we had left the studio. And I thought I was whiny when having to pose for wedding portraits two years ago.
• The wife has a terrible time trying to feed Tony in his high chair because he won't sit still and would rather stand or make efforts to escape his feeding.
• I went to Nanchang market and found a stall that sold old movies on DVD. I bought The Marx Brothers go to the Circus, The Robe, Dam busters, The Flying Tigers with John Wayne, Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn and Elia Kazan's Panic in the streets. The six DVDs cost me 20 rmb.
• There is one book stall in Wuxi, China's Nanchang market that sells some old English Books. The proprietor of the stall knows me and has been letting me take some of the volumes away for free. "Lao Pengyou", "Old Friend" he calls me. He saw Tony and was impressed but Tony is most impressive when he is sleeping. Today, I walked away with a thirty year old copy of Analog Sci Fi Mag which I may give to the King of Wuxi once I have finished reading it.
• My parents, who live in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada will celebrate their 46th wedding anniversary on Monday. If Jenny and I celebrate that milestone, I will be in my late eighties.
• The Olympics are over. I caught parts of the closing ceremony. It was interesting to see Beckham and what looked like Jimmy Page performing a Led Zeppelin song.
• I didn't watch much of the Olympics as I should have. I was too busy with other things. I did see the Men's basketball final. America beat Spain in a very competitive game.