Friday, January 8, 2010

Your Weekend Edition

Your Weekend
It is your weekend; not mine.  That is why I call this your weekend edition.  You will have to pardon me for making it short.  You see, unlike you, I am busy.
 
Personality
I have meet some strange personalities in my time.  I have seen people who are incredible slobs, very unfriendly, very introverted, very argumentative, very full of themselves, very sweet, very dull, and very interesting.
 
Doing a personality conversation class at school, I ask the students about some strange or interesting personalities they have meet.

Last night, I asked the question about personailites, got many good responses and, of course, had one student tell me he couldn't recall any interesting personalities in his life. (I could say I haven't meet a true saint -- but I pray I will.)  But the others told me about strange types.  There were the people who were incredibly silent -- people of so few words that they struck everyone else as being remarkable.  Another personality type mentioned was the kind that always had to top anything anyone else said  -- so if you have gone to this place, this person would say they have gone to somewhere else that was much better.  Another personality I was told of  was  the simple but happy person  -- one female student's aunt had no schooling and was happy in the simplest of ways -- this aunt would do duties like clean dishes for everyone else without the hint of complaint, and yet this woman also possessed a frankness that could topple the sophisticates who were used to being criticized indirectly.  I also was told of a lady who kept all her valuables, like jewelery and cash, with her at all times, only to have a thief steal her bag.
 
No Towel!!
Last night, I noticed that there wasn't a towel in the bathroom.  I thought to myself then that I got to get a towel.  But I didn't, and so after I took a shower this morning, I remembered.  I shook off the water I could and shivering, ran to the towel closet.
 
Musicals
Novels, it has been said, are short stories padded.  Musicals, which have ceased to be a viable movie genre, were movie plots padded, and yet the padding when it was done well  made the musical movie enjoyable all the way through.  Movies today are too often padded with set pieces which are boringly predictable.  A story genre that has been padded are horror stories with more and more of them being made into movies.  Horror stories, they say, are best done in the short story form.  The padding in the horror genre can only be made more and more morbid.  I prefer the old musicals -- music never ceases to interest one and is a good way to pass the time.  A revival of the musical -- I don't see it.  What a shame.
 
It is Warming!  Damn!
The temperatures in Wuxi currently hover around a point where you can either be under-dressed or over-dressed.  Last night, I all of sudden became over-dressed and had to shed clothing as I was teaching.  Annoying!

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