Tech censorship everywhere; Temper; Avoid Annoying; Another McDonald's Shuts Down; Exasperation!;

I had student tell me about how she has to be careful on Chinese social media, lest she catches the attention of the CCP Social Media police.  She told me for example that some words are restricted and if you try to type them something happens.  I then told her about what Facebook and Twitter were doing to the Hunter Biden Story.  Tech Censorship is everywhere.

I can't control my temper.  I sometimes get overcome with anger and explode.  I then feel quick remorse.  (Unlike some people I know who can stay in a snit for a long, long time)

However, I do try to avoid people who annoy me.  But that is usually a consciously made decision and has been thought through.  You have to avoid people who say stupid, stupid things; or are just supremely stupid in their outlook.  I.E. Shitlibs.

There used to be a McDonald's, at the corner of Xueqian and Zhongshan Road that was a two-minute walk from the school.  That closed down a few years ago, and so I had to walk to a McDonald's that was at Nanchang Temple which was a ten-minute walk away. 

I went to the Nanchang Temple McDonald's on a Friday recently to find that McDonald's had been shut down too.  I first had a hint of this, as I was approaching the restaurant location and someone standing by said something to me, a foreigner, in Chinese about the thing being no longer there.  I then saw what the local was talking about.  The place was empty.  I was about turn around and head back to school when I decided to take a photo of the notice that had been left on the door.  All the while, the locals were trying to get my attention.

Needless to say this was annoying.  I had been to the location on a few days before and never suspected that the place was about to close.

The Monday before the US Election was full of exasperation for me.  And was really annoying about it was that it was day off. 

Monday started off well enough.  I had my morning coffee and was able to get my readings done.  My wife then got up.  And the plan was to get the car washed and then go downtown so she could check some new coffee shop called the New Scientist.  I was quickly ready to do this, but I had to wait an hour for my wife to get ready.  In the meanwhile, I was getting antsy and annoyed, but I managed to check myself from complaining. 

We got the car washed at a whole in the wall joint that was at one corner of our apartment complex.  They did a thorough job for 30 rmb.

Next to the Car wash is a hair salon.  Jenny told me she wanted Tony to get a haircut at this place, and then suggested that I get one there right away.  I was reluctant but submitted.  I got annoyed because the haircut took longer than I would have liked.

That was my last bit of annoyance till all hell broke loose.  We went downtown, had coffee at the New Scientist and then a okay dinner at a Greek restaurant.  Tony, I figured would have liked to have gone to it.

Trouble started when Tony made his nightly weekday phone call from his dorm room at school.  I was in the bedroom and I could hear my wife swearing about some kid that was bullying Tony.  When my wife gets mad, I don't know which is worse:  the incident that is making her mad or her reaction to it, which is to say that she gets angry a lot.  What Tony was telling her about the bullying was something that she should be mad about:  this classmate of Tony is really making Tony's school life bad.  However, I can't help but worry that Jenny will do something over the top that would be the situation worse, not better.  So, after she finished talking to Tony, she handed me the phone, but instead of letting me talk to Tony alone, she had to stand beside me and glare. which was really disconcerting.  I told her this, but she got mad at me and said that she wasn't mad at me, and that I was not handling talking to Tony about this properly, before trying to snatch the phone from me.  It was all so exasperating.  Tony was listening in on this and put the phone down so he could cry.  I was scared when he wouldn't reply to my asking where he was.  We eventually got a hold of Tony and said good night to them.  And then we had a big argument.  Apparently, I am stupid and should be one with my wife in her anger and should not be mad when she interferes in my trying to find out what is going on from Tony.  Or something to that effect.  Since I have a low EQ, it seems I should take everything my wife says as gospel.  Or something to that effect.  She couldn't imagine, how other husbands, even foreign ones, would object to anything she does.  I don't think she understands what the word "reasonable" means.

And to top it off, when I told her of my exasperation, she talked about getting a divorce.  Which was enough to make me slam my slippers on the floor.  One day, I should ask my wife, who has a high EQ or so she says, how to deal with people who are exasperated.

Maybe not by bullying them.  In my married life, I am fighting battles on two fronts:  one against problems that life throws at me, and another against my wife's reacting to them.  I swear that if World War Three began, the war wouldn't be such a problem were it not for my wife getting angry about it and finding a way to make me feel guilty.

As for the bullying problem, I am communication, via email, with staff at the school.  I hope that they, Tony and the bully can come to some resolution of the matter without my wife feeling she has to exact vengeance.  I am all for solutions to conflicts where Tony and I don't become isolated.