October 2014 Thoughts

• A showdown in Hong Kong. Will the Chicoms put down the demonstration '89 style? What would it mean for me?
• I didn't sense any trouble when I was in HK in February.
• Unlike '89, there is no Disneyland nearby.
• What would happen if there was a massacre in HK? It would be a dark day. Would I have to leave China? Would Tony & Jenny flee with me to Canada?
• And I went to that reception marking the 65^th anniversary of the PRC...
• I rationalize living in a country with a Communist Government by thinking the government really isn't Communist anymore and that I am just a spectator anyway. I may no longer be a spectator. I may be dealing with it.
• I told a student that I could never adopt the mentality of the mob here in China. As I was saying this, I thought about how the reason this was so was that the mobs here are not my people.
• Who my people are is another story. I am a loner and a solitary.
• Are all Chinese drivers as bad drivers as Wuxi drivers? China, being a big country, and I only knowing Wuxi drivers well, I should avoid generalizing about China. But there can be no doubt that Wuxi drivers are bad. They are rude, selfish, and inconsiderate. In civilized countries, drivers are made to yield to pedestrians, but not in Wuxi. I think that anytime you meet a driver from Wuxi, China, you should immediately slap him or her in the side of the head, and tell them that is for being a bad driver!
• Insult me but don't insult any of the people I love.
• It is nice to be important but it is important to be nice. I heard this on a Gilbert Gottfred podcast. I think I'll ask the students if is important to be nice but nicer to be important.
• I live in a world where everyone has an irregular life style which deviates far from what would be considered traditionally moral. In this universe, the rules are murky and so being more stridently self-righteous than others is the way to seem moral. And being a man of reactionary views, or more traditionally moral minded, I feel that this world is a wasteland which I couldn't clean up, even if I had the courage to do so. My saying the truth aloud would only make people more stridently self-righteous against me. It would be like firing a 22 gun at an elephant.
• I have an idea for changing the Chinese animal birth years. I would drop the year of the chicken and replace it with the year of the Shark. The year of the sheep would become the year of the Barracuda. The year of the mouse would become the year of Rhino. The year of the pig would become the year of the Gator.
• No one will ask me what my thoughts are on the parliament shootings so I will just put them here. Obviously, it is a bad thing, but not a complete surprise. There was that case a few years ago involving Marc Steyn, Canadian Human Rights Commission and Muslims. Living abroad, it is interesting to see that the story is international and that the Americans are paying attention to Canada.
• Here is a thing you can do next time someone shows you a photo of himself standing beside a clown. You can look at the photo and say that the person standing beside them looks to be a little light in the loafers. When the person gives a what-the-heck-you-talking-about response, you can say, “I'm sorry, I thought you were wearing the clown suit.”
• I imagine this happening: A teacher comes up to me and tells me that he has killed one of his students during a class. When I ask him how, he tells me he pushed the student out the window of the classroom, the student falling to his death three floors below. When he asks me what he should do, I tell him to do nothing. “Let's see if you get away it.” I say, hoping I can do a similar thing myself.
• I had a sore leg for a short time in October and so I was limping around and I have to say that I really enjoyed limping and kind of envy those who limp. The feeling of suffering gives one's ego a certain elevation.