Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Monday, December 10, 2012
Sunday, December 9, 2012
AKIC Blog Entry for the Week of December 3 to December 9
It was just another week at AKIC. Nothing special happened, which was probably a good thing.
Another week of silence, more or less, at work.
Be that as it may, I am filled with these sentiments:
Gratitude I realized I should be thankful that I am not in a place with Christmas-shopping-hellishness happening.
Acknowledgment I have committed a grave oversight. When it comes to Christmas shopping, I think only about Tony but not Jenny. I could make some excuses like it is easy to buy for Tony and not easy to buy for Jenny, but that just goes to show how lazy I am.
Request I hope that people think of the true meaning of Christmas – it isn't about shopping. (I tell the students that Christmas has become a month-long shopping festival which starts on the fourth Friday in November and ends on Boxing Day)
The Wuxi Corrupt Officials
Affectionately known to the locals as the Corrupts, the official NFL fantasy football team of the Wuxi Expatdom, lost their 12th match-up of the season, 81-62. Their record fell to 7-5 but they are still in first place in their division. With half the lineup injured, it looks like the Corrupts will need a miracle to still be in the first by the end of the season. The Corrupts 62 points was the lowest in the league for the week.
(You can see the Corrupts' logo in last week's blog entry.)
My Current Reading
Spiritual Provocations by Soren Kierkegaard
Pensees by Blaise Pascal
The Bhagavad Gita (I need to re-read it.)
Economic Sophisms by Frederic Bastiat
Ulysses by James Joyce
The New Testament (King James Version)
Canada ain't Cool
Canada is better than cool!
With no NHL hockey, Canadians can follow curling! Not exciting but Curling is a great excuse to drink!
Link(s) of the Week
A stirring blog post from David Warren. Warren has to be AKIC's favorite presence on the Internet.
Some Quotes liked by AKIC
From that David Warren Blog Post: We, in our youth, & we generally, made & make a foolish mistake when we work from the assumption that our opponents are all men of goodwill. Often perhaps they are innocently wrong-headed, & can be debated by the Oxford rules; sometimes we may even learn from them about our own delusions. There are dividends to be had by listening before speaking, just as from patiently buying low & selling high. Are there men of good will to be found in my life? Other than Harry Moore & Paul Rudkin & Hui Shan Michael, I wonder.
A man wrapped up in himself becomes a very small package. Guilty I am on that score!
Never think yourself safe because you do your duty in ninety-nine points; it is the hundredth which is to be the ground of your self-denial... I cut and pasted this from here.
Profound convictions are transmitted in silence. Another Don Colacho Aphorism. I can't tell you how much I like this thought. I should make it my credo!
Monday (the 3rd)
I didn't work.
I spent the morning working on blog posts.
I had a working VPN so I could upload Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China #33 to Youtube.
I put the finishing touches on Scenes from my Life in Wuxi, China #34. I wasn't able to upload it. The VPN, to use one of my favorite expressions, conked out.
I finished reading PSmith in the City by PG Wodehouse. I can say two things: 1) What a marvelous writer Wodehouse is! 2) You can find the book at Project Gutenberg.
I had little success as I tried to teach Tony some simple addition. He was bored to the maximum. Still, I liked trying.
I listened to the Frank Delaney ReJoyce Podcast with my copy of Ulysses open in front of me for reference. I should have been doing this as soon as I discovered the podcast, but I had misplaced my Bodley Head edition which I have had for twenty years.
Tuesday (the 4th)
I don't work.
The wife is up early so my routine is thrown off.
We go to a wholesale market on (Xicheng Road?) to buy light bulbs for our two bedrooms.
We then went to Baoli: Wuxi's original shopping mall. I had steak(?) at the Western (?) restaurant. We then did some shopping at Carrefour: milk, cookies, and bread.
All the while that I was out of Casa Kaulins, I read books and authors on my Ipod Touch like Kierkegaard, Blaise Pascal, Frederic Bastiat, and Don Colacho.
I took a photo of a strangely worded sign.
In Baoli, I then saw a girl with the knobbiest legs I had ever seen. The funny thing was that she was all dolled up in the fashion of a Wuxi girl who wears tight leggings to make her legs seem long and graceful – instead, the leggings made her legs seem all the more like twigs and her knees all the more prominent and knobbly.
Back at home, I quickly put the new light bulbs in place. It was wonderful to have light in the evening!
Wednesday (the 5th)
I work 1300-2100
It is my brother Ron's birthday today. Ron is plumbing away, literally, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Anyway: Lordy! Lordy! Someone is forty!
While I was shopping yesterday, I noticed how the Christmas decorations seemed minimal. At no time did I feel I was in Christmas shopping hell, even though I did see some Christmas trees.
"You look so upset!" said the girl who sits in an office across the corridor from me. So that is how I come across to people? I didn't know that.
In truth, I suspected. But I am fighting things internally these days. I haven't been giving thought to my external appearance – especially my face, where I have never noticed the scowling frown I had till it was pointed out to me.
I hope the indenting, that I am trying to use in this entry, shows up when I publish on Monday.
Thursday (the 6th)
The indenting is not as I would like it to be. This bullet is too far to the left. (It is not now!)
Anyway, I work 1000-2100. My long day of the week.
I plan to go to the nearby fancy toy store and see if they have a Toby train in stock. Tony had been saying that that is what he wants for Christmas.
Nothing profound to say this morning.
Do I ever have anything profound to say?
I did listen to two podcasts. One featured Marv Levy, famous football coach, as a guest. I was hoping that he would be more gruff in his criticism of the NFL game as it is played today. He should have complained that too many games were being played, and that commercials ruined the flow of the game, but he didn't. The second podcast was about the lexicographic wars started by the publication of the third edition of the Webster's Dictionary in 1961. So many vulgar mistakes I have been making, unawares, I realized as listened to the second podcast.
On my desk at school, I have a weekly checklist that I print out to keep me on top of what I should do and what I have been telling myself I should do. When these necessary things are done, I check them off with a number. For instance, if it is completed on Wednesday, I mark a "1" beside the task.
I did some Christmas shopping for Tony at the Baoli and Far Eastern department stores. I didn't find exactly what I wanted to buy Tony, but something reasonable close. You can visit here and here to see the toys that Tony will get.
Friday (the 7th)
I work 1100-2100.
I hate running into people whom I know while on the way to work. I will walk down alleys, or go to the other side of the street to avoid them. Like Larry David said in Curb Your Enthusiasm, I hate stop-and-chats. For me, it means I have to shut off my Ipod Touch.
Will today be a day of infamy? (I ask at 1030 am.)
Should I buy Tony one more train? They are fifty percent off at the shop I went to yesterday.
What is with the damn indenting? Now it is at a completely different spot on the page, and try as I might I can't put it back to the spot I want. The indentation is a little too far on either side of the spot I want it to be.
Saturday (the 8th)
I work 1000-1800.
I didn't know this, but it turns out that when my brother finished work on Friday evening in Winnipeg, Canada, I am going to work on Saturday morning in China. I only realized this because I wanted to phone my brother to belatedly wish him a happy birthday.
My wife got a new mobile phone. I stepped on her old one and broke it – she shouldn't have left it on the floor beside the bed.
One of the students told me he wanted to be a bum – the topic of conversation was People & Occupations. I told him about the word "hobo." a female student in the class told me that she thought "hobo" was the name of a dog.
I can skip on my feet so that I can make a galloping sound like a horse. I have been using this "dance" of mine in class to illustrate the idea of Cowboys and horseback riding. I have just had two young female students who witnessed my "dance," telling me that it is cool. Why? Apparently, it is similar to the Gagnum Style Dance.
Yikes!!
One student is a joy because he is very critical of the regime. The other students grimace as he speaks.
Visiting the Wuxilife website, I learned that the Blue Bar was celebrating its 8th anniversary. I probably attended its opening night – its 0th anniversary, as it were. I stopped going to the pub about four years ago. But more importantly, it goes to show that me that time in China has flown, and that I have been in Wuxi perhaps longer than any other city in my life. That is, Winnipeg, Shilo, Brandon, Chilliwack, Abbotsford, Aldergrove, Valcartier, & Oromocto: all places that I have lived, have all been shorter interims in my life.
Sunday (the 9th)
I work 1000-1800.
The coldest day of the week. I put my toque on my head when I was sitting in my office
In two weeks, it will be the day before my birthday.
My wife got an iPhone. Because we have the same Itunes account number, her setting up her phone has been playing havoc with my Ipod Touch. I have had to delete about 30 apps.
Jenny, my wife, has been taking photos with iPhone. Here is one and here is another.
I finally talked to my brother Ron in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
He tells me it cold – minus twenty degrees, lots of snow, and the road surfaces are like skating rinks. Would Jenny like this?
Ron doesn't seem saddened, in the least, by the NHL strike. Ron told me that he met a Winnipeg Jets season-ticket holder who told him that what seemed a privilege had quickly become a boring obligation. Every Jets home game, the season-ticket holder had to get downtown to see the game and wasn't arriving home till 1030 pm on evenings that he had to be at work the next day. Because he spent so much money on the tickets, the man just couldn't not go. He now wonders if the expense is worth it.
Ron predicts that Winnipeg may lose the Jets again.
(Alas, The indenting I used when typing this entry in my document program, hasn't shown in published version of the blog entry!)
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Blog Entry for The Week of November 26 to December 2, 2012
Welcome to the weekly blog entry of a lowly English teacher living in Wuxi, China! The entry has weekly features, as well as a daily chronicle of a Canadian's wasted time in Wuxi, China.
Gratitude Thank God, I have some critics. They are a godsend. One of them is my wife who doesn't criticize me as much as she really rightly should. To be the wife of Jenny and the husband of Tony doesn't involve so many real sacrifices. For instance, I don't go to the pub anymore. That isn't much of a sacrifice given my social skills. Marriage gave me something to do so that I didn't have to go the Pub. As it is, I still concern myself too much with trying to be well-read and a blogger.
Acknowledgment So much to acknowledge. So much to confess. What do I feel comfortable telling my few-and-far-between readers? I confess that all the vices affect me in some way. Now to be more specific, I will say that when I was growing up, I was a very greedy and self-centered child. I have reigned in some of the greediness as I have grown, but alas I haven't replaced it with a proper generosity of spirit. And one more thing! In person, you will find that I am not very likable. Contact with others makes me uncomfortable, and I leave people with the impression that I want to get away from them. And still another thing! Much as I hate certain aspects of my job, it is rather a comfortable life I lead.
Request Criticize me! Criticize me! Criticize me!
Wuxi Corrupt Officials Fantasy Football
The Corrupts, as they are affectionately known, are the only game in Wuxi town. If you aren't following the Corrupts, you are probably watching tiddly winks, European football, or some other effeminate activity.
This week, the Corrupts with a narrow 86-84 victory improved their record to 7-4, and took sole custody of first place, by half-a-game, in their division.
My Current Reading
Pensees by Blaise Pascal
PSmith in the City by PG Wodehouse
Don Colacho's Aphorisms (Complete)
Economic Sophisms by Frederic Bastiat
Spiritual Provocations by Soren Kierkegaard
Letters to the Romans (KJ version)
Quotes that AKIC Likes
1) Don Colacho: #2554 The continuous discourse tends to conceal the breaks within being. The fragment is the expression of honest thought. (*I like to think of this quote as justifying my blogging style. Of course, this aphorism is saying much more than that and its meaning is allusive, and yet I feel that it does express a profound observation about one's thinking.*)
2)From an article in Taki's magazine: My father's generation learned Latin for free. Today it costs tens of thousands of dollars to teach your kid to talk like a babysitter. (*I have heard too many English teachers talk like babysitters to the students. And it was just my luck that when I started going to the school in early 1970's, Latin was dropped from the curriculum.)
Canada Ain't Cool
AKIC does get homesick for Canada even though he criticizes the country a lot.
The headline of his weekly feature, Canada Ain't Cool, is meant to be a compliment. From AKIC's point of view, to be cool is not a good thing. Cool, believes AKIC, is the triumph of style over substance, and so AKIC believes that any attempt on the part of Canada to be cool is fruitless and stupid. Canada's charm, supposes AKIC, is that it isn't cool and is a land of substance.
Anyway, AKIC likes to believe that.
Alas, AKIC wonders if maybe Canada is cool or rather keeping up with the times -- a sin in the AKIC playbook. There is the fact that David Warren is Canadian to serve as a counter weight to Canada's supposed coolness. But then AKIC reads that England is hiring a Canadian central banker to head the Bank of England...
Here is a tribute to Canada in my WCE Blog.
Monday (the 26th)
I didn't work. I spent most of the day on the computer.
I listened to the first half of the Grey Cup game. The Argos had a big lead at half-time, and there was no way the Stampeders were going to come back. (and they didn't)
I uploaded Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China #32 to Youtube because I finally had a working VPN!
I continued with my Don Colacho project. That is, I was copying his 2988 aphorisms that could be found on the Internet and putting them into an Epub format so I could more easily read them and be able to constantly refer to them on my Ipod Touch. Each aphorism had to be cut and pasted individually, from my RSS Reader feed of the Colacho Aphorism Blog, to a document file which I could then convert to the Epub format.
I found epub editing software on the Internet: Sigil, and I can now have my Colacho Epub with click-able table of contents.
The previous week, there had been fallout on the Monday for something that happened with Tony on the weekend. On Saturday the 17th, Tony had gotten a black eye when he fell in a restaurant, and so he didn't go to school on the 19th. This week, the fallout was from Tony's pugilistic temper tantrum on Sunday, the 25th, which came as a result of his being told that he had to stop playing with a train simulator program on my laptop. Monday evening, I had to firmly reject Tony's pleas that I set up the train set for him or let him play with the train simulator. Mercifully, his pleas only lasted about ten minutes till he found another distraction to temporarily amuse himself with.
I wore my shoe with a hole in a heel as I accompanied my wife Jenny on a shopping trip to the nearby Tesco supermarket.
Tuesday (the 27th)
I am at aphorism #554 in my Colacho Project. That is, aphorisms #1 to #554 are cut-and-pasted into a document file. Other aphorisms are cut-and-pasted as well: I first started copying from #2988 down to #2200 or so. I have also cut-and-pasted vast swaths of the aphorisms in between #2200 and #554. But, I must have about a week to go of this. It is getting painful on the fingers and elbow.
Later: I finish an Epub with Aphorisms #1000 to #1.
Tony kicks me out of the study so he can do some coloring.
I take the E-bike for a round in the area. I take some photos. Ten of them can be seen at AKIC Wordpress. Here is the first one. Here is the last one. I will leave it to you to find all the photos in between. I enjoyed the ride. It was Sunny. I liked wandering through the countryside. However, apartment development was encroaching on the rural and taking away its sordid charm. I even liked wandering through the old residential areas with their narrow streets and intimate neighborhoods. (I read later that these tight neighborhoods were part a strategy of the Maoists to have the people keep close tabs on each other.)
Wednesday (the 28th)
I work 1300-2100. It is the one workday I can linger at home before I set off. Ah! What fresh horrors await me? Hopefully, I can avoid them...
Other than the fact that I overdressed, there wasn't much that was remarkable about this day.
Thursday (the 29th)
I work 1000-2100.
I took part in the recording of a commercial for the school. I got to be a bank customer opening an account and exchanging currency.
I have compiled 2,000 Don Colacho aphorisms into one document.
Students tell me they don't like the food at Ikea. I tell them I love the food at Ikea.
How can you get the benefits of quitting smoking if you haven't started smoking to begin with? Hmmm? (BTW, I haven't been smoking much lately. I am as good as a quitter now.)
Thought: What don't they call the Canadian Two Dollar Coin at Doubloon? It is called a Twoonie because the one dollar coin is called a Loonie. The "Doub" in Doubloon means Double. Since the Canadian Two Dollar Coin is Double the value of the Loonie, why not call it the Doubloon? Doubloon sounds more dignified and graceful.
I had breakfast at McDonald's -- a Breakfast Hot Dog.
I plan to have beef rice at a restaurant that is a block away from the school.
Friday (the 30th)
I work 1100-2100
I finish compiling Don Colacho's aphorisms. I will put them in epub form. If you are interested you can contact me (akaulins@gmail.com) about getting a copy. Now, I can get back to blogging (or blahging) and studying Chinese.
On my ring finger, I have two rings. My wedding ring and the wedding ring of my late father. It suddenly struck me, yesterday, that this ring had been on my father's finger for all the memories of I had of him and my life. The ring was present when I was conceived, when I was born, when I lived in New Brunswick in 1971, in Shilo in 1977, in Brandon in 1982, and when I last saw my father walking about in 2010. It was also present when I acted most selfishly towards him.....
The VPN was working on my school computer. Nice! The first time that has happened in months.
In my English Corner, all the students told me that they could smell strong odors coming from the nearby chicken restaurant and bakery. I could smell not even a hint of the two places. Either, I have become accustomed to the smells and don't notice them, or I am permanently stuffed up.
Saturday (the First of December)
It is December. Oh! How time flies when you are having a good time.
On the way to work, I feel pride that I can read on the Chinese on the 101 Hospital's main sign.
I work 1000-1800.
First class of the day will be a salon class about bucket lists. Usually, the students have lame answers. Later: and once again, they didn't surprise me.
Evening: I am home at Casa K. I have slapped together Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China #33. I don't know if I will be able to upload it to Youtube, but I have uploaded it to Youku.
I found my Bodley Head edition of Ulysses by James Joyce. I can read it as I follow the Frank Delaney podcast which goes through the text of the novel line-by-line.
Sunday (the 2nd)
I don't go to church. I work 1000-1800.
The city is wet from an overnight rain. Thankfully, I don't need to pull out my umbrella.
From the bus I was taking to work, I see a man & a woman having a quarrel. Or I assume it was a quarrel. From what I saw, the man was pushing and grabbing the woman. I took on a mental pose of indignation. How I would punch the fellow if I had the chance! I said to myself. As if, I really would do it.
Quiet in the office. No blah-blah from me. My one virtue. I prefer to blahg, if you know what I mean.
So much sin do I unthinkingly take part of in this world.
I repeated a student. That is, I failed the student which requires him to sit through the class again. Notice, I didn't say do the class again. This particular student, if he had been able to pull himself together, could have passed. And I was even going to pass him till he didn't understand what the word "fail" meant. Do you know what "fail" means? I asked the student. He said that he didn't know. I admit that I tell the students that it is okay to say that they don't know something. However, from now on, I should qualify that -- it is okay to say you don't know as long as you don't say it in an impudent or retarded manner!
After work, the Kaulins family goes to Pizza Hut for dinner or, as AKIC likes to say, supper.
They take the #602 bus home -- a wonderful thing because the seats are never all taken.
At home, Andis gets Youtube on his Ipod Touch. He watches the broadcast footage of the 1970 NFC Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. He is impressed by the half-time show which features singers, like Tony Bennett, just singing without an elaborate stage setup. Bennett does a wonderful rendition of his signature San Francisco song. Bennett and some other singers, including Tony Mathis, then do an impromptu performance in which they have to consult a lyric sheet. Andis thinks it is utterly charming – times have changed for the worst, he laments. Andis also observes that the quarterbacks have a adult swagger to them. The 2012 NFL quarterback carries himself like he is a little boy playing the part of a QB.
Then, Andis puts on a DVD of a Marx Brothers movie: A Night in Casablanca. Tony finds Harpo, the silent Marx Brother, to be very funny. There is scene in the movie, where Chico and Harpo engage in an elaborate, but silly, reunion ritual that involves shaking hands, hugging, jumping, waving hands, and finally turning around and bending over so their butts are facing each other, thus allowing them to put their arms between their legs and do a final handshake. Tony after seeing it, encourages Dad to replay the movie scene so he and Dad could imitate it.
Sunday, November 25, 2012
November 19 to November 25 Blog Entry
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- I don't work.
- Tony stays home because of a black eye he got at the restaurant on Sunday. Jenny says he looks too ugly to appear at school. I have to race to get my weekly blog entry done before he gets up.
- If you love something, you have to be willing to sacrifice for it and put up with inconveniences.
- I took Tony to KFC for lunch. He loves the spicy chicken wings there. Afterwards, on the K family E-bike, we rode around the area. I took some photos and video.
- You may see the video if I can ever get my VPN to work.
- One of the places we went to was the Wu Culture Park.
- I saw someone was repainting the monument to a Bill Clinton Postcard. I could only think of two words: pervert and rapist.
- It is cold in the apartment. My Chinese wife is opening the windows to air the place out.
- At the pond at the Wu Culture Park, I was able on one of my throws, to make a stone skip eight times,
- I don't work.
- Tony goes to school.
- Dang nab it! I can't get my VPN to work on my laptop. So, I can't upload any videos to Youtube.
- I will spend the morning on the computer typing entries for the Wuxi China Expatdom Blog.
- Talked to my Mom on the phone. She is living in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada where the temperature is minus two degrees Celsius and there is snow on the ground. We talked about current events. In the part of Manitoba she is living in, an oil company wants to set up shop. Like nearby North Dakota, there is oil to be fracked for underground.
- My mother told me about a controversial monument that had been erected in Bauska, Latvia -- the place of her birth. The monument commemorates a battle fought by Latvians against invading Soviets in 1944. My grandfather, her father, fought in the battle. Though, the Latvians ultimately lost, they delayed the Soviet occupation for a long enough time that my mother (she was the youngest sibling in a family of five children) and her family could flee to Germany. This was fortunate for me because I may not have been born had the Soviets been able to capture my grandfather. Now the monument is controversial because the Latvians were fighting with the Germans (the Nazis) against the Soviets. Russians in Latvia are protesting against the monument, as are Jews. The Russians are calling the Latvians Nazis. There can be no doubt that there were Latvians who probably reveled in being able to help the Germans in carrying out the holocaust. I can only hope that the Latvians who wanted that monument erected don't try to diminish their guilt on that account.
- When I was growing up, the Latvian dilemma from World War Two as I saw it, was a choice between two monsters: Stalin & Hitler -- ultimately two kinds of Socialism. Did Latvians have a third choice? My mother tells me that there were no Americans or Canadians or Brits that we could have allied with for help. I suppose we could have made a moral stand and extinguished ourselves...
- Alas, WW2 was a horrible time. While good prevailed in some circumstances during that war, a lot of darkness descended on the world -- some of was extinguished in 1989, but unfortunately it most circumstances it morphed into other forms or came back to life.
- This is why I have problems with people who label themselves as middle-of-the-road politically. For the Latvians, what was the middle road between Stalin & Hitler? There wasn't any. You couldn't be defined by either of these people. You had to make a moral stand or think of other ways not at all on the table.
- Alas, I am not happy with having to make excuses...
- I also learned that Mom was watching Doctor Zhivago -- it was the sixth time she told me. My favorite David Lean movie is Lawrence of Arabia. I haven't watched Doctor Zhivago all the way through -- I am too busy with blogging and epubs and Tony.
- In the afternoon, I walked to Tesco to buy bread, pineapple beer, and microwave popcorn. To get to the Hui Shan Tesco from Casa Kaulins, I passed through the local people's square and saw a man sleeping on the lawn of the grounds. I took a photo of this as well as a photo of the Hui Shan Wanda Plaza still under construction.
- I watched the first two hours of Doctor Zhivago on my Ipod touch, despite constant buffering problems or stall-outs as I call them. From what I have seen, the movie is not as good as Lawrence of Arabia, but it is a good movie nonetheless. (I haven't as of this typing, watched the movie's second half.)
- I work 1300-2100.
- For the first time in months, I will have a Wednesday where I don't have a company class to go to, so five classes at the school.
- It is raining out. It is one of those kinds of rains that looks like it will stick around for a while.
- I listened to the Chinese History Podcast episode 104. Laszlo Montgomery, the host, was doing his fourth podcast on the history of Hong Kong. As always, for Sinophiles and Chinese History Buffs like myself, it was very interesting. And if you listen to the episode #104 all the way through, Laslzo does a shout-out to yours truly for which I thank him. But I would recommend, if you haven't listened to any, start at episode #1 and listen all the way through.
- Next door, the girl is watching a video of someone doing the Gagnum style dance.
- I work 1000-2100.
- At 645 in the morning, I was in the bathroom getting ready for work when heard knocking on our front door. I thought that perhaps a neighbor was going to complain about something. I was naked and so I tried to get dressed, but the knocking also woke up my wife who ran to the door to see who was knocking. It was the meter reader. In Chinese, my wife told the man that it was f***ing early! I don't think such a thing would happen in Canada. I wondered if perhaps the man was trying to scope our apartments for the purpose of breaking into them. Either that or he thought that if he came in the mid-morning, no one would be home.
- November 22nd is forever etched into my mind as the date of the JFK assassination. One of my goals in life, which I was able to realize, was to visit Dealey Plaza in Dallas where the assassination occurred. I can't remember the exact year I went there. It was probably in the late 1980s or early 1990s. Here is a photo:
- As I was sitting on the bus that was taking me to work, I saw a shirtless man doing a handstand on a black fence-like barrier. I brought out my camera to take a photo of this, but I was only able to get one grainy image before the man came down.
- A student made this sentence for me: "People enjoy taking baths in bathrooms." The grammar was fine, however I had to groan because the sentence said nothing -- I would have been embarrassed to put such a sentence even in my blog.
- I work 1100-2100.
- It is cool and damp and depressing. It is raining for a third consecutive day. I have put on long underwear for the first time this fall and winter.
- My Ikea umbrella is not going to survive many more of these gusts of wind.
- One of my shoes has a hole in the heel. I suppose it was time it happened to these shoes. I have bought them in Chilliwack, B.C., over two years ago. I hate to have to throw away shoes in Wuxi. I am a size 47 and shoes don't come any bigger than size 44 in all the stores here.
- A student makes the following sentence using the word "smart:" My son is smart. Why do you say you say your son is smart? I asked the student. She then said "smart 什么 名字？" (shenme mingzi) to her classmate. She didn't really have a good idea what the word meant but she made a sentence with the word anyway.
- A good crowd at my evening SPC.
- I work 1000-1800.
- It is sunny but nippy. I wear my toque (knit cap) to work.
- I am working on putting all of Don Colacho's Aphorisms into a document file and eventually into an e-pub that I can put into my Ipod. Here is one of his aphorisms: A prolonged childhood—permitted by industrial society's current prosperity—redounds merely in a growing number of infantilized adults.
- So far, I have about 30 pages of his aphorisms in my document.
- In the evening I read on my Ipod Touch. Besides me, Tony watches Ultraman on the Ipad. I like these moments.
- A student tells me that she has milk delivered to her home every day. What do you know about that? I said. I think they stopped doing milk delivery in Canada in the late 1970s or 1980s. I remember having it when growing up, but there came a point when we started buying the milk at the supermarket.
- I work 1000-1800
- Rainy.
- To take a step back and not be high faluting about it -- a goal to be greatly desired.
- Tony had a terrible tantrum in the evening. He didn't agree with being told that it was time to stop playing with the train simulator software on my computer. I had to wrestle him away from the computer and he walloped me in the face a few times -- I had no choice but to be a punching bag because his fury was something to behold. It took twenty minutes to calm him down. I now have no choice now but to take the train software off my computer. Tony needs to be taught about gratitude and other things. His parents, Daddy especially, have to stop spoiling him.
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Blog Entry for the Week of November 12- 18, 2012.
- I don't work.
- I have a million ideas for my WCE Blog. So guess what I spent the morning doing! Here are is some of my work: Kiddie Porn, Chinese Obama Election Celebration, Breakfast Hot Dog, Choking on Condoms, Panegyrics for a Double Bacon Burger, and Who Goes With Fergus?
- Tournament Eight is down to its last eight teams. As I type this, I am playing games in the Final Tournament's second group stage. That is, there are two four team groups playing single round robins. The top teams in each group will earn a berth in the tournament championship semifinal. The second and third placed teams will play off for the other two semifinal berths. The winners of the semifinals will play in the tournament championship game on November 17. Currently, the sensation of the tournament is team W, which after losing its first game has gone on a ten unbeaten streak during which they have won a league championship, a wildcard berth in the championship tournament, and its first three match-ups of the championship tournament.
- I walked to the local Tesco grocery store to buy some pineapple beer, bread, and ham. On the way, I see three locals on the grass of the local people's square. One was sleeping, one was contemplating the passing scene, and another was squatting.
- A: What did you do this afternoon? B: Oh! I had a nap on the lawn of the people's square.
- I then took the family e-bike and rode around the area. I took video for a future Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China as well as photos that you can see here, here, here, here, here and here.
- There is a lot of construction going on in Yanqiao. The road to Yanqiao from my apartment is having several tall buildings erected by it.
- There are some temples, near Jia Zhou Yang Fang, that are built on a hill. The hill has a steep rock face on one side. The rock face, about two years ago, overlooked a pit in which there was a grove of trees near which ran a stream -- it was a pretty scene -- as pretty as you can find in the modern overbuilding China. Now, the trees have been torn down. The grove is now a field for subsistence farming. The stream no longer runs between the rock face and the grove. because of earth-moving, has become a big pile of dirt that now overlooks the pit from the other side. What a shame!
- I don't work.
- I will go downtown and get a haircut if my wife ever gets up. She told me she would get up at 900. It is 947!
- She got up at 1030.
- So we did go downtown by bus, but by a bus route that I hadn't taken before but will take again if the opportunity arrives. This bus takes me past what is known as European street.
- I went downtown to get a haircut and buy underwear. I am feeling almost civilized. Here is the before and the after of my trip to the salon!
- I have my Chinese underwear and my Western underwear. My Chinese underwear is brief and tight. My western underwear is larger and warmer, but very holy and sagging.
- I let Tony play Microsoft Train Simulator on the computer. Big mistake. Tony became whiny because the program was crashing and wasn't doing the things he wanted it to do. He left me with no choice but to turn off the computer. I did this about 730 p.m. Tony complained about this the rest of the evening till he went to sleep at eleven. I chided him for his ingratitude but I don't know if he understood me or not.
- To try to placate Tony, I engage in a bout of play fighting or, your could call it, play wrestling with him. I felt sore and late middle-aged when we were done.
- I work 1300-2100. The question, as I go to work, is whether I will teach at Sempelkamp this evening. They keep cancelling on me. (I don't!)
- I am still sore from my wrestling bout with Tony. I shouldn't have let him kick me ten times in a row.
- Tournament Eight. The Championship Tournament playoff match-ups have been determined. Team K will play Team E; Team ZZ will play Team T. The winner of the first match will play Team W in a one semifinal; the winner of the second match will play Team G in the other. Of the six teams left in tournament Eight, three have previously won tournament championships (E,G,K) and one has made it to the championship game (T which has three previous tournament championship final four appearances)
- I listened a podcast called the Fifth Column. People from foreign cultures in England, said the podcast, have it right when dealing with elderly relatives -- they don't put them in Care Homes like selfish Westerners do. This podcast struck home with me because of the death of my father this year, who spent the last month of his life in a Care Home. I will never get over the guilt I feel because I was in China during his dying days. I was hoping that marrying Jenny and having Tony would grant me some redemption for this shame of mine.
- With the company class cancelled, I instead teach a student named Glinda. I lasted but twenty minutes before bringing up the Wizard of Oz movie. I then had a student named Song. I tried to explain to him the difference between Parliamentary systems like Canada's and America's Republican System.
- The 18th National Congress is finished I learned. Xi Jing Ping is the President. Li Ke Shang or something is the Premier.
- 我 是 加拿大人。 我 太太 是 中国人。 我们的 孩子 是 五 岁。 他的 名字 是 Tony. I can make some simple Chinese sentences.
- 我 很 喜欢 和 啤酒。
- I work 1000-2100. 我 有 五 个 课。
- 1000 class. I have an indifferent student, more interested in going to the gym than going to class. This is the kind of student you can only entertain while despising all the while.
- On the bus trip to work, I stand and so I listen to a learn Chinese podcast. I understand a few words here and there, but there were stages where I understood nothing. All the work I have done and I still can't understand any conversations.
- Weather: Sunny. Mood: Ah! (I take a deep breath!) I would say it is prideful. That is, I feel some adrenalin and in my mind I am going to something big....
- I have a lot of free time. I will spend a hour studying Chinese flashcards.
- Lunchtime, I went for a walk around Nanchang Temple. I need some exercise I told myself. I looked around for books about Ultraman or trains for my son Tony. I didn't find anything satisfying. I did buy a truck driver simulator game on DVD for him. All the while as I wandered, I listened to a podcast about Glen Gould -- his was interesting for his eccentricity -- to bad he had to become hooked on drugs by the end of his life. A great Canadian nonetheless.
- Tournament Eight. Team K defeats Team E 7-4. Team K will play Team W in a Championship semifinal game. It is Team K's second final four appearance. Team K won the Tournament Six championship.
- Tournament Eight. Team ZZ defeats Team T 10-2. Team ZZ will play Team G in a Championship semifinal game. It is Team ZZ's first ever trip to the final four.
- I work 1100-2100
- It is an overcast day.
- Change in my podcast listening habits. I don't listen so much to political podcasts. I am a stranger in strange land both in China and the West.
- Tournament Eight Championship Semifinals: Team ZZ defeats Team G 4-1; Team W defeats Team K 3-2. They will meet in Saturday's Tournament Championship Game. I had been hoping for Team G and Team K to win. Oh well.
- It cold & damp outside. I am staying in my office.
- I didn't get home till 2300! Normally, I am home at 1015 when I work on a weeknight. On Wednesday & Thursday, I had just been getting to a stop on time to catch a #635 that would take me home - to get to this #635 stop, I have to catch another bus near my school. Tonight (Friday), the timing was all wrong. At the first stop, I had to wait a longer-than-usual amount of time for my first bus. I knew I then that I was not going to catch the early #635 -- when I got to the #635 stop, I waited for about forty minutes. So there I was at ten o'clock, still downtown. The #635 I was hoping to catch was already near my Casa Kaulins..
- I work 1000-1800.
- The weather: sunny & cool.
- My mood: I had an adrenalin high in the morning and I was determined to find my depressive urges.
- Tournament Eight. Team W beat Team ZZ 4-2 to win the Tournament Eight Championship. Team W took a 3-0 lead before Team ZZ cut it to one point. But an insurance point and no more scoring by Team ZZ saw Team W put the crowning touch on a remarkable tournament performance -- Team W finished with a record of 12-1-1 and also won its league's championship -- the first team to accomplish this tournament feat since team G won its league and then the tourney championship in Tournament Two. Team ZZ, made it to the tournament championship game despite having a 5-4-1 record.
- We were having a nice dinner at a restaurant in the Hui Shan Century Times Plaza until Tony hurt himself and got a black eye. He and another boy were playing Ultraman. Tony foolishly decided to do a kung fu kick in the direction of the boy. Jenny & I scolded him for doing this, but he then retreated and tripped so that his face went smack dab into a chair's corner edge. We went to the hospital. despite my and Tony's insistence that it wasn't necessary. The doctor told Jenny to put ice on the bruise --something I had told her do when we were back the restaurant.
- The whole incident served me right. I was going to make a point of how the Chinese tolerate children in restaurant. Under the circumstances, that plan had to be abandoned. Which was just as well as I was not so much trying to show the Chinese in a good light, as to score a point in a personal argument I am having.
- Be that as it may, after Tony's accident, the other patrons were all quite concerned, and several came to our assistance. The little boy, who had been play-fighting with Tony, made a nice little gesture of coming over to Tony and expressing his concern. Thinking he might have been apologizing, I told him there was nothing for him to worry about -- it wasn't his fault. This seemed to please the nearby patrons as well.
- One thing was annoying however. The restaurant had no ice.
- I work 1000-1800.
- It is bring Tony to work day -- Jenny has come to the school to attend a lecture. This imposes on my routine and makes it hard for me to concentrate.
- A lot of people asked me about how Tony got his black eye. He looked like Sylvester Stallone at the end of the first Rocky movie.
- The students are not at all excited by their country's change of leadership.
- Why is it that the same day, I tell myself to not lose my temper, I lost my temper. All I can say is that I never tell myself to not lose my temper with Tony and so I don't lose my temper with Tony except when it is that I do. Capeche?
- Tournament Eight fallout: Who had the greater tournament performance? Team W in tourney eight with its 12-1-1 record or Team G in tourney two with its 10-0-1 record? Team G won its group, its league and the tournament championship, and didn't lose a game. Team W lost a game and didn't win its group; but it went on a 13 game unbeaten streak after losing its first game, and had an 11 game winning streak after having had a draw in its third game.
- Tony got a haircut in the evening. I didn't like it, not even one bit. I think it was uglier than his black eye.
- I can't get my VPN to work on either of my laptops. Damn the Chicoms!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Blog Entry for November 5 to November 11, 2012
- I don't work and I don't sleep in. I have to be up at 700 a.m. to help Tony go off to school.
- In the morning, I finish and publish my weekly AKIC blog entry as well as do some other blogging.
- The cold has walloped me. I have a headache. I feel a pain in my chest. I have no urge to do anything.
- Strangely, I still have to blog. The urge allows me to overcome the pain and numbness I feel.
- I watched Asphalt Jungle with my Ipod Touch on the Youku site. I watched this old movie because I had just listened to a podcast about Film Noir on WGN Extension 720. AJ is a good movie with a good story but its claim to fame is that had Marilyn Monroe make her first screen appearance.
- I then did my reading. I read parts of five books!
- I also started to slap together Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China #32. (Thanks to Chicom Party Congress, it can't upload it to Youtube.)
- In the evening, I connected the laptop to the big screen television so Tony could watch Ultraman videos. At one point he drifted around the room in order to imitate the flying maneuvers of the super hero characters. Something that people who have viewed Scenes from My Life in Wuxi, China #32 may be familiar with.
- At bedtime, heavy eyelids stop me from reading and tell me it is time to go to bed.
- I don't work and I don't sleep in. As I did yesterday, I helped send Tony off to school.
- I wear three layers of clothes outside.
- The sudden onset of cool and cold weather has caused my wife Jenny & I to have colds. I feel stuffed up. Jenny has a cough.
- It is U.S. election day. However because of time differences, I won't learn the results till Wednesday Morning. This is what I hoped would happen.
- I work 1300-2100, more or less. I have an afternoon SPC and then I do a company class.
- I start following the election results at 1000 a.m. At lunchtime, Real Clear Politics shows Romney leading, but I think Obama will end up winning in the end.
- The election has me feeling giddy. That is, I can't concentrate on the task at hand.
- Obama wins! Concentrate on work -- I tell myself! What's done is done! So much for Hope!
- At least I was smart enough to not make any predictions.
- I am too numb to be upset!
- The wilderness, politically speaking, is where it seems I am. Unlike the other zealots, I am planning on throwing any real bombs, just barbs.
- On the bright side, I have discovered the voice control feature on my Ipod Touch. It is novelty, I don't know if it is useful in any way.
- Funny how all the psychic energy I had devoted to hoping for a Romney victory has dissipated. As David Warren mentions, Verily: our Kingdom is not of this world.
- I talk to Tony on the phone. We are still working at having phone conversations. He tells me that he wants me to buy him a Toby Train -- a character from Thomas & Friends. I tell him to wait till Christmas.
- I work 1000-2100. I have a company English Corner this afternoon. The topic? Advertising & Marketing.
- On the way to school and on the bus, I saw a man practicing cross-country skiing on a sidewalk's pavement near the Baoli Shopping Center. He had two poles and no skis. What he was doing was making the motions of skiing, swinging the poles like he was putting them into snow and stepping like he had skis on his feet.
- It is the day after the terrible election results. I have read that a few conservatives have given up on the political process while some are vowing to bravely fight on.
- I walked to Nanchang Temple Market at lunchtime. I was waiting for a phone call that I never received. I wandered through the Nanchang Book Market. It seemed a forlorn place. I wondered how the magazine merchants could make money these days. While I was there, I looked for something to buy for Tony but there was nothing with a Train theme. There were Ultraman books but Tony already had some. Just as I was leaving the market, it started to rain and I had not brought my umbrella. Thankfully, it didn't rain heavily enough that I got drenched.
- I did the class on advertising and marketing. I had an exercise in which I showed advertisements to the students and asked them to guess what products were for sale. One ad showed a sad looking mailman. In the corner of the photo was a blue pill. The students didn't notice the blue pill so they had no idea what the ad was trying to promote. They guessed express delivery services ties and bicycles I told them the blue pill was Viagra but one student, who had been to Australia for a few years, understood. He told the other students what the ad was for in Chinese, and they all said ah!!!! (Should I have done this? It was a display of vulgarity after all. I try to amuse as I educate. That is my defence.)
- My parting words to Tony, as I send him off to school, are that he be a good boy -- beating up only those who try to beat him up, and kicking their ass in this process. This morning, I said this to him and he said okay in response. Now, whether he meant or it not, I just don't know. The little bugger is passive around other children and lets them bully him.
- On the bus, I see a three minute long infomercial about my school. I made a very brief appearance in it, but I did see my work place. What a strange thing, to be greeted by video of your work place just as you take your seat on the bus.
- I work 1100-2100. I have an English corner at 1900. The topic: Mobile Phones.
- I am starting to get Tony to anticipate Christmas. It is less than two months away I tell him.
- Chinese students have their heads full of the knowledge that they need to pass tests. Unfortunately, they have the imaginations of soda cans. When they answer questions, they say what they think they have to say and seem to forget that the purpose of an English class is to increase their English-speaking abilities and not treat each question asked them as if it was a test question to be quickly gotten through.
- Election result thoughts: I should try to be defiant but I don't have the heart now. I should take solace from the fact that the Soviet Union fell and the Chinese gave up on full-blown Communism, and that maybe more such sterling moments will happen in my life time. But, alas, these things aren't going to happen in the near future or before I die. I am afraid I won't live to see them. (I suppose many Leftists who try to promote themselves as anti-Communist download '89 because it happened during a Republican Presidency.)
- I spend an hour typing this WCE Blog Entry
- I work 1000-1800.
- The others have the pub. I have my wife and son. So there!
- Tomorrow will be Remembrance Day. I have many things planned on my blogs to commemorate: here, here, and here.
- Meanwhile, tomorrow in China will be singles day because of of the date with all the ones -- 11/11. I can't go along with this local tradition since it would involve have to denigrate a more solemn one. The freedoms that the Chinese do have today can be attributed, not so much to their leaders, as to the sacrifices made by soldiers from Canada, England, Australia and America.
- I bought Tony some more stuff for his train set. I went to the toy store and found a book of suggested train track layouts for Takara Tomy. I snatched a couple and Tony was studying them at his bed time.
- I work 1000-1800.
- It is cold today. I may need to put on a sweater.
- No VPN all week. How, I curse the Chicom powers that be...
- I took a video of Tony acting. That is, he said something very clever and show-manlike for the camera. I had seen him do a interesting thing and so I asked him to do it again in a video and he gladly obliged. (Don't worry, I didn't ask him to run around the restaurant. In fact, I have heeded the advice of a rare reader, and locked him in a dungeon so that he never goes in public again during his childhood. He he he....)
