Don Cherry, Broke, Jeffrey Epstein, Despair, No Community, No Friends

• Don Cherry is a great Canadian. I supported what he said about immigrants and poppies. Being a second generation immigrant, I made a point of wearing one. And even if you could argue that he said was wrong, he still didn't deserve to get the sack. One of my great life memories was being able to get Don Cherry's autograph. He was at a Brandon Wheat King game. My brother Ron & I walked up to him and he graciously signed our program: to Andis and Ron from Don Cherry and Blue. (Blue was his dog.) For that, he will always have a place in my heart. To those who are offended by what he said: get a hold of yourself. You are destroying in the name of tolerance.

• If I return to Canada, I will be basically broke. So, be it.

• SPC Topic: Jeffrey Epstein didn't kill himself?

• When on the subject of Tony's education, I fall into despair. My wife Jenny and I have irreconcilable differences. She wants to go whole hog Chinese, tiger mother, torture kids so they don't have any time to themselves. I want Tony to go to school during the day, learn what he has to learn so he can write and be numerite, and have time on weekends and the evenings for the other aspects of life.

• No community in China for me. There would be the Wuxi Expat Community but it is not a real community in that it doesn't provide for the social and spirtiual needs of Expats. Being the vagabound, gypsy, fly on the wall that I have been, I have lived less a life than I have wanted. I spend my time, sitting with my head in my hands, regretting, how Tony isn't having the childhood I had.

• No friends either. Which must mean that I am a very unlikable guy. But, it can also mean that I only seem to meet unlikable people. I could leave it at that, but there are so many other reasons for my loneliness: my moving around a lot, my now living in what is essentially the boonies of Wuxi, my aloofness, my purposely being aloof, the decisions I made in my life that proved to be isolating like marrying my wife and choosing to be an English teacher, my living among species of humans different from myself, the fact that I had trouble making friends when I was younger and have never feel comfortable around people as a result, my choosing it as the cross I have to bear, and my laziness.