Saturday Mid-October 2009

So far

So far, I haven't much to say for myself.  So, I am going to have it fake it.

At Work

This headlined entry is being written as I am at work.  Currently, I haven't decided exactly when I will publish this post -- probably, this evening.  This afternoon, I have a public event to do for the school.  I will tell you later, perhaps, how it went.

Took the Bus

I took the bus to work so Jenny can use the electric bike.  It was crowded so I stood.

Reading and Standing

Multi-tasking isn't my forte, so it was unusual for me to be reading a book at the bus stop.  I thought to read on the bus, even while standing, but it seemed too daunting a task.  

Currently, I am reading the Wind in the Willows, A collection of Chinese Humorous Stories, the Holy Bible King James Version, and 300 poems of the Tang Dynasty.

Weather Forecast

A student tells me that the weather will become much colder on Monday.  The sunny warm weather we are having Saturday will come to an end till next year.

Sick Child

A student, I just had in class, tells me his four year old daughter is entering the hospital today.  She is scheduled to be there for five days.  She has a very bad cough.  Apparently, the girl has spent a lot of time in hospital in her short life -- half a year already her father told me.  Hearing that, my heart goes out to him and thank the powers-that-be for Tony's good health.

In Tony's bad books

I seem to be in Tony's bad books these days.  He refuses to have me accompany him to the bathroom.  He relishes joining in Jenny's lambastings of me.

However, he does show me the occasional kindness.  Last night, he brought me my doll.

Your doll? you ask.  Yes.  What happened is that we have bought two dolls for Tony.  The dolls are characters in this strange children's show called In the Night Garden.  Now, Tony really likes one of the dolls.  I took the other doll and was imitating Tony's actions with his favorite doll.  When he goes to sleep with his doll, I go to sleep with mine.

Jenny scolds me saying that Tony is supposed to copying me, not me copying him.  I defend myself because I am trying to create a ruse to get him to go to sleep.  And plus I don't want Tony copying me that much anyway.  He needs to be more grounded.

Anyway, back to last night.  Jenny told Tony to go to the living room to get his doll.  He did this showing his understanding of our words is improving.  But he also brought in my doll and gave it to me, showing he is capable of taking initiative and giving his dad the occasional kindness.

So.  How Was it?

I am back from the thing I have said I was going to do in a headline entry that is previous in this entry.

The School did a Expo English community event in an apartment complex in downtown Wuxi.  I can't bloody remember now the name of the place.  Suffice to say that is located along a canal that runs through downtown.  I believe that Zhongshan Road runs over it.  But it could be European Street.  It is in the general area of where Zhongshan Road changes into European Street.  You would have to be a Wuxi Expat veteran to understand what I am saying.  Not that it is important.

The event was attended, maybe sparsely, maybe not.  I did have this moment of supreme awareness where I was thinking that I had no inhibitions about singing in front of strangers.  Now I have to think of ways to get strangers to overcome their inhibitions.  To do it gracefully?  Or to do it badly with a wicked sense of aplomb?

Harper!

A taxi driver upon hearing that I was from Canada, said "Harper!"  Some guy named Harper is Canada's prime minister.  99.9 percent of Chinese don't know who Canada's leader is.  So needless to say, I was very surprised.

Let Limbaugh own a NFL team!

I may be Canadian but Rush Limbaugh is a hero of mine.  I have been reading accounts of efforts to stop him from buying a share in a NFL team because some ignorant and bigoted people, who probably have never listened to his show, have decided he is some kind of knuckle dragging KKK racist.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, if you look objectively, real racism and prejudice comes from the Left, center or far loony.  In this day and age, bigotry has just taken on another hideous form.