November 4: The day after observations.

• The day after what?  The U.S. election of course.  What do the U.S. election results mean?  I believe they are a repudiation of Obama.  I think the Repubics have benefited from the lame performance of the Dems.  The fact that there was a Tea Party showed the Repubics had been hopeless as well.  And even then, it could be argued that the Tea Party's showing in the election was modest.  Clearly, if you accept these assumptions, the election was a repudiation of Obama.  (But it could be said that the elections were a repudiation of Pelosi and Reid -- but still the voters were not forgiving of Obama)
• Spasms of anger -- the devil briefly gets a hold of me.
• Bystander -- that's me.  That is how I feel when I see Tony and his mother asleep together.  I say this not because I resent this -- Tony already plays one parent off another when it suits him.  I say I am bystander because I feel I am not doing enough for Tony and Jenny.
• Company students, leaving work and so not going to class, get an embarrassed look on their faces when I spot them.
• On the bus ride back from the Company, I saw a young shirtless man pick a brick off the street and chase another man down the street.  The company shuttle bus, I was on, was stopping to drop off some workers when the young man picked up a brick that looked to have been leftover from a temporary construction barrier.  The sight caused workers, who were about to get off the bus, to freeze in their tracks.  We all then saw a man run away, from the brick-carrying man, taking flight down the street and crossing at a crosswalk.  The young man and a companion sprinted after that man.  They caught up with the man near the crossing, and a scuffle ensued that I couldn't see from my vantage point in the bus.  The bus then drove toward the scene of the scuffle.  The man, being chased, had ran away down a narrow side street.  I then had a close up look at the young man, bearing a look of triumph as he returned to where he had picked up the brick.  The last time I can recall witnessing people attack others with weapons in their hands was in 1984 at a Brandon Wheat Kings -- Lethbridge Bronco playoff game.  Street fights, however, are not a rare sight in Wuxi.  I have probably seen at least a dozen in my time here and much more than I ever saw in all my time in Canada.
• I am not halfway through my third DVD of Madmen.  I assume I am in the third season.  I eagerly anticipate the 11/22/63 episode.  I just read an article about the Don Draper character written on the completion of the fourth season of the series.  It asks what Don Draper's motivations are.  I think he is motivated by whatever the writers of the series want him to be motivated by.  Certainly, it is hard to find any consistency to his behavior.  He has mistresses; and yet he at times has been the exemplar of virtue (he has nothing to do with his silver-haired colleague's shenanigans).  He is very professional in his work, and yet he goes AWOL for two weeks on a California business trip.  He has fallen into his role because of a tragic mix-up in the Korean War, and so it could be said that he is finding himself, which is how the writers get away with having a character that is all things to everybody.
• I saw a woman and a man having what looked to be an argument, or perhaps the man getting a scolding, as they rode an electric scooter down the street.  I was on the bus going home, when I witnessed them as they just happened to take the same route.   The man was driving the scooter as his female companion rode with him.  I saw the woman appear to punch the man in the temple, and then I saw her do it again.  And it became periodic as the woman struck him three more times.  The last time I saw her do this, my bus was besides them.  I saw the woman with an angry look, then saw the man wince as he was struck, and I then saw the bike swerve.  Not a good time to hit someone, Lady!