I can't read any blogspot blogs anymore. It is weird considering the first two days I could still read most of them. But it's been two days that I can't load any blogspot blogs anymore. However, I can still log on blogger and post!!! Talking about being frustrated. Also, I can't read any comments either.
The trip has been quiet. I mean, it is interesting to see how people's mind works when you are in a different environment. Here with the family, the goodiegoodie kinda strict family, all I see is the traditional family, the a good kind of Chinese middle class family should be. In this environment, I am very calm and I "gasp" read "gasp" during the day. I am on my second novel by Chuck right now.
The weather is so nice out today. Big fancy clouds are resting in the sky. I don't know. I think fat lazy clouds make people lazy too. It's been raining for the past three days so today is the first day that I see blue sky. I really want to have a jog in a park or a hike on the mountain nearby. But since my cousin is busy with her studying and I don't really know the direction well. I am gonna just keep myself busy at home I guess.
Yeap, as you can see, all I can talk about is the fat clouds and sky, it is how uneventful each day has been. It is just kinda nice, quiet, and calm here. I was talking about drinking and partying with my cousin and it is funny how distant those things seem to be right now in this kind of chill environment. So far so good. It is chill I like it, but if it never changes, I will go fucking nuts.
This is no shocker in China but it is just almost unbelievable for me. I personally do not think I have the capability of doing this but I guess once a person is locked up in this academic prison, he/she can do a lot more than what seems to be impossible.
I am talking about a local boarding school. The school is located in a somewhat remote area near the city. It is about 40 mins drive from my uncle's home. The school is literally built at a corner of the city since it is surrounded by a very big mountain from 3 directions. The one open direction faces a newly built road. We went there last night to pick up some review material for my cousin. The school, which was still under construction in the front gate looked like a black gaping hole that would devour everything and store its prey in its mountain belly. It looked almost like mythical creatures and the mountain eerily stood behind the school and watching over the little human beings passing by. The whole thing was just creepy and the place just felt chilling despite the fact that the air was warm and humid.
I got bit like 3 times by mosquitoes. The bugs here were skilled and persistent. They wouldn't back off or give up just because you strutted your arms like a chicken and hope that they would leave you alone. No. That is not going to happen. They would learn your strutting pattern and find a place that you apparently neglected and bite the shit out of you. Now they are itchy. I am scratching, hard. ARggggg...
Anyways, this is how the school works.
It is a high school. High school means a three years grueling journey toward college. In addition, high school also means National College Entrance Exam. There is a committee setup every year and the members of this committee are usually locked up for several months to design the problems in this exam. The exam covers 5 main subjects, literature, English, chemistry, physics, and combination. Combination is a mix of geography, history, political science, common chemistry and physics. Tests are spread over 3 days period and lasts about 2 hours each day.
Unlike the American system, your future here solely depends on the entrance exam. So, you have to know the questions, answer them fast, and you can't be nervous. Otherwise you can just kiss your future and your dignity goodbye.
Given the crazy condition, special measures have to be taken in the preparation of this exam. For this reason, local boarding schools come into existence. The students are literally locked up in the school 5-6 days a week and only be allowed to go home on weekends or just Sundays. 99% of the time school sends its students back to their homes using their school buses so that the students would not be able to go to any other places. For safety measures of course but also it helps to discipline weak parents who would tempt the students with delicious food or extra home time etc. School provides four bedroom suite, 3 meals, and a snack store on campus for its students. Even though it is co-ed, girls and boys are separated in their dorms. All students are required to wear uniform as long as they are on school premise.
Here is the schedule for the students at least for the Seniors since they are going to take the big test soon theirs is a little bit tougher than others:
6:30am wake up 7:00-7:30am morning exercise 7:30-8:00am breakfast 8:00-8:30am arrive classroom and study on their own 8:30-9:30am 1st period & 10 mins break (always 10 mins between each class) 9:30-10:30am 2nd period & break 10:30-11:30am 3rd period & break 11:30-1:00pm lunch and free time 1:00-2:00pm 4th period & break 2:00-3:00pm 5th period & break 3:00-4:00pm 6th period & break 4:00-5:00pm 7th period & break 5:00-6:30pm dinner and free time 6:30-7:00pm TV time, according to my cousin they watch political news. 7:00-8:00pm 8th period & break 8:00-9:00pm 9th period & break 9:00-10:30pm 10 period and study 10:30-11:30pm back to dorm 11:30pm lights out
You can petition for 12:00am lights out if you need to study more but you have to submit your petition beforehand.
This is how these people study and they have done second year college materials already. Because lots people's parents needed to work while they were young, their parents would fake their birth certificate dates in order to let them go to elementary school one or two years earlier. So a good % of these super kids are only 16 years old.
The school is literally out of no where, surrounded by mountains and the community has nothing but poor people who have no education or good jobs, is imprisoning these people according to their will. The prisoners are determined. Some of them are happy and driven to be here some of them are apparently forced to be here. Either way their emotions do not stand in the way. It is their revolution. Imprisoned, yes, brainwashed, maybe. But it is their choice. It is what it takes to be on top I guess.
It is overwhelming. I don't know if it is sad since I can't criticize it based on my environment. That won't be fair. But I am speechless nevertheless. I really do not know what to think.
It's been raining outside like crazy for a while already. The southern heat in China is pretty sneaky. The moist and heated air always consistently creeps into every room whenever there is an opportunity, a opened window or a loosely closed balcony door. Of course if we don't turn on the AC, the warm and humid air will just gradually materialize. It is disgusting. I don't mind the heat at all; I just hate the humidity.
It's good to see my uncle's family, especially my cousin. I think I haven't seen her for roughly 13 years. That is pretty long by any measure. She has become a young lady who doesn't resemble the little screamer that I used to know. She is young, energetic, beautiful and very smart. Apparently she's done sophomore university level of chemistry, physics, and math at age of 18. According to her, this is not so much of an accomplishment since her friends have done the same at age of 16.
I have battling the jet lag ever since I arrived. But everything has been worked out just fine. We've done some shopping and lots of talking. We've caught up and reconnected. It feels great.
There were many things that I wanted to talk about when I had those conversations with my uncle's family, my mom's friend etc. But I decided not to because a lot of them are very culture and political dependent subjects and I think it is rather dull to talk about and not to mention how long the post would be and now hard would it be for me to type it up and proof read. Yeah I am a lazy ass lol...
There is nothing too interesting so far. Mostly the family warm fuzzy things.
I already miss LA. I want to reconnect with my friends back there and also I want to keep networking with my new friends that I made this semester. These friends are really worthwhile to keep in touch since they are so smart and driven and they have unlimited potentials.
Yeap I guess I had another episode. I was on facebook and started to go through friend's profile and pictures, and then friend's friend's pictures and profiles then strangers... Online social network is a fascinating thing haha what can I say. I thought to myself, omg now people all parted their ways I really need to jump back right at the scene and stay afloat. Compared to this, my current trip rather useless. It is chilling but it is not something I want atm.
Man this post is not going anywhere. I guess it is the rain, or whatever, I just don't feel all that happy right now. Maybe I am tired. I gotta stop the rant
After 12 hours in the air. I am now in Incheon International Airport in Seoul. The trip wasn't nearly as horrible as I thought it’d be so far. See, I usually cannot fall asleep on an airplane. But today, I pretty much slept through the whole trip. I ate twice, no poop, and read 50 pages of Haunted and the rest was just dreamless sleep. There were two little kids who couldn't shut the fuck up. They cried through the trip. Screaming, kicking, and making a scene. The parents were utterly useless and incompetent. I am glad that I slept through the trip otherwise I would seriously lose my temper.
The book Haunted by Chuck Palachiun was entertaining. The part of how Gut-free, a guy who lost his large intestine to a swimming pool filter while he was masturbating underwater was utterly genius. I couldn't help but feel sorry for this fictional character. The entire process of how the meat whacking went incredibly well just like always, and all of sudden he realized that he couldn't swim up because his butt was stuck in the 400lb suction of the pool filter. He was about to drown. He was kicking and fighting. Eventually he kicked one leg up and started to swim upward. However he felt he was still pulled by the filter. He looked back and saw his large intestine swimming like a big sea snake and the corns, peanuts, and vitamin pills were still visible inside this moving organ. At the last second, he bent over and bit the intestine loose and survived the ordeal. However, he never gained a pound of weight since then. He was 13 when the whole fiasco went down.
At that moment, I was hooked on the book. I wanted to read more but I guess because of the late flight and the warm temperature inside, I just couldn't keep my eyes open.
It is cloudy and cold here in Seoul. Pretty much like LA early morning. But they kept the airport warm and cozy. Nothing too exciting really.
Now I am just sitting here, staring at the grey sky waiting for my next flight to southern China. It is about another 3 hours. Oh the dreary. At least, things start to gain some natural color outside. The morning grey that devours everything in its way is making its exit.
OMFG another kid who wouldn't stfu at the airport. I mean for god's sake I don't remember the parents were this incompetent before. They should just slap them cross the face and totally shock these little suckers and make them realize that it is not ok to be a little crying dwarves and behaving like an animal in public place. Ok I am just kidding about the slapping part but parents nowadays just seem to be so clueless about controlling their kids. They need to figure this shit out before they leave their house.
Then my plane will take off around 1:30am. I am going back to China for a month. For both pleasure and business. I hope I don't have to go to the business stuff with my mom all the way because that would make me constantly moving from cities to cities for about 10 days. But then I feel kinda guilty if I don't go along with her because that is kinda selfish. But I really want to spend some time at one place where my family is at. Oh well we will see what happens.
As for today... The weather was really shitty. The shitiness finally subsided when the sun set. Now it is the common evening grey enveloped LosAngeles. It is as depressing as it gets. I am getting nervous and a bit excited. Nervous because I don't like to fly that much anymore. I don't know exactly why but I just hate the idea that every time you fly you are taking a small chance of peace out. Excited because I am about to fly to a place that is far far away. Even though I have been back once already but still it is something different and there is a certain level of mystery to it and that is exciting.
I hang out with Dodo today again. We ate a shit load of food then got an hour long pedicure. It was really good. I liked it. We bid our farewell and now I am back home again preparing my departure.
I would love to blog all the time overseas but internet connection might become inaccessible at places. Maybe I should just sit there and do lots thinking. Maybe I will have a freaking epiphany or something. I highly doubt that will happen but it is a thought. We will see what happens. This time, there are plenty objectives and lots uncertainties. It might be a good trip. I definitely hope it will turn out to be good. But I don't know.
As you can see I am rambling again. That is because I am nervous and excited. Well... I am gonna go keep packing now and hopefully I can keep the blogging up. Unfortunately, I already know that there won't be any exciting events per se. Mostly it'd be boring family stuff and most likely depressing since lots family members have serious health problems as I mentioned a couple posts before. But again we will see what happens. There won't be any clubbing or drunken nights. I hope the blog itself, would be at least interesting.
Since I am leaving, and it is summer I did a little bit shopping. I mean who doesn't want to go shopping. I know, gays and shopping, who typical. Whatever, because I really don't think it has to do anything with being gay. I know plenty guys who loving shopping. Ok I should stop explaining now. I just sound gayer and gayer by the second.
Anyways, I didn't buy too much stuff since I am in financial crisis lately. I bought four items in Hollister at the mall for about 120 bucks. Now bad deal at all.
Hollister is a way superior brand compared to AnF now. AnF used to be good, well as good as it could be, like Hollister. Casual, all American, good graphic designs, less bold boring logos, and competitive price. The whole combination worked. Now AnF is just a very over priced and under-designed brand. It lost its appeal and edge per se. The business model is going after those of Gucci, Dior and Marc Jacobs. But guess what, AnF is not Gucci, Dior and Marc Jacobs. Their inventory system is very lagging and cost management is horrible.
Oh well, I digress.
So Hollister is whatever that AnF isn't doing and whatever Hollister is doing fits the business model, and most importantly their targeted consumer very well. Cheap, casual design and nice material.
I bought the following items:
I like American brands like this because despite I got a 6'1'' frame, I am still perfectly fitted in Medium sizes. Also, I really am glad now that I own those plaid shorts. I always wanted those shorts but once upon a time, I tried a pair on and it destroyed my confidence completely. I had to get sizes that are 34 and above and I could BARELY BARELY squeeze myself in a pair of 34 waist back then. Even when I squeezed myself in those sizes, I still looked very out of proportion. But now HARHARHAR, I still have some space when I am wearing a pair of 32 comfortably. I actually look skinny in them LOL~~~~~ Ok enough self indulging it is so disgusting I know. lol~~~~ Working out!!! YEAY.
Also I bought all white Ts because I have a lot of other colors. The only color that I really don't have is white. So white here it comes!!!!!
Update:
I just bought two albums on iTune. I was bored and I thought that it'd be nice to listen to some new cds on the airplane. I already got Snow Patrol and Modest Mouse for my trip to explore. Now I added these two albums.
Also, I bought a single, the BittersweetSymphony. I love that song, it is so bitter and sweet.
I wanted to name this thread something like FUCK THIS, SCREW YOU BITCH etc. That is like how I feel right now. But I figured that we can all be civil sometimes. Once in a while.
Our company's DSL line should have gone through on the 18th and we are still calling them today because the modem is not picking up any DSL signal. I called Yahoo SBC 4 times in two days now and each time I am "updated" with a different story and it just keeps getting worse.
First call, they told me that they haven't opened my line yet so there was no signal going through. Ok Fine. I thought to myself, I can deal with your stupid tardiness sometimes. I mean we are all late sometimes right. It is ok, we are all human, we can make mistakes, I am not a monster, I won't bite your head off if you just make this one tiny mistake.
Second call, they told me that they did more testing and realized that the external lines may be faulted in previous installation and they already dispatched technicians to check them out. Alrighty then, at least they are taking the initiatives. That is something I should applaud to right? See I am understanding.
Third call, they told me that the technician was scheduled in the afternoon, so I should be patient. In translation, just don't call us during the day since we don't know where our technicians are. I asked him if problems were going to be fixed today. He practically promised on the phone that it was going to be fine. The problem was that the new line was tangled with another cable so they needed to separate them physically. Okie then, at least he is nice I thought. See, patience is a virtue. I am doing just fine.
Then I called my mom right after the 3rd call, and my mom told me that the technician already came and left. I was like WTF. What happened to the schedule in the afternoon and shit. She said that the technician told us that the new line is also used by our alarm system so the DSL signal couldn't go through. We needed to talk to alarm company to switch the line to another phone line of ours.
So I made the fourth phone call to ATT Yahoo, and they said that the technician's feedback was simply no fault found in the external lines. WTF, he told us that we needed to call the alarm company!!! So I told the receptionist and she said that she could send a DSL internal line technician to help us out. The dispatching fee was $65 for the first half hour $20 extra each additional 30 mins. Possible 35 dollars extra charge if equipment is used.
ARE YOU FUCkING SHITTING ME. Yeah, they might just as well plant their crack on my face and squeeze their content within all over my mouth. They probably laugh at the mess they make too.
It ain't rape, but that is the first thing comes to my mind.
So now we are negotiating with the alarm company and they wanted to charge us $70 for line switch. Can we just get this shit over with already. I am fucking leaving on Tuesday god.... This is stressful. The weather today is horrible, reflecting my mood perfectly, it is cloudy, dark, and a bit chilling.
I promise you, this post is about animals. If you keep reading, you would think it is about philosophy but if you keep reading you will realize that you are wrong because my mind wanders around and if you continue the reading you would agree, it is about animals. Or maybe not, I don't know.
I will have to start it with a story about my sandals. Well, I bought a new pair of sandals! Rainbow brand. $45. They are kinda hard and at least for now they don't feel like they are worth 45 dollars. The girl at the counter swears that these are the best pair once I break in after a week or two. My friend also promises me that these would be the best pair of sandals I could get. We will see about that. This pair isn't horrible, it is just that the edge and sole are still kinda rigid. But the sole remains very dry. They don't make me sweat like my last pair did.
Well talking about my last pair of sandals... they've been with me for about 5 years. I could recall a lot of my past just by looking at them. I could recall the friends that I had, the friends I gave up on. I could still remember how the beach felt like years ago. I could still "gasp" conjure up the smell "gasp" of them. Don't tell me you never smell your own shoes.
As a matter of fact, I think despite the fact that human being has evolved so much, we still can't lose our animal traits. You know, like the casual sexual encounters, the competitiveness, and cruelty. What make us human, not just mere a breed of animals, is our sense of ethic and law. Our constant pursuit of justice which doesn't happen to other animals. I guess that is why people would use the word barbaric to describe something that is so inhumane.
Anyways, I am not writing this to discuss philosophy. Oh no. I don't think I am all that pretentious.
What I want to tell you is some of my observation and one gross story.
Let me start the story first. It is about my own sandals.
Once upon a time, I was a dedicated yogaer. Is yogaer a word? well I did yoga regularly for 3 months. I really liked it and it cured my lower back pain. Also I think yoga is kinda sexual. You know, people are in skimpy little shorts, sweating through them, guys' packages would be dangling inside those skimpy sweaty shorts. I bet half of the yoga guys were gay at Westwood near UCLA. There was one guy who had long dirty blond hair and an entire tree with red flowers tattooed on his back. It was very exotic, plus the glimmering sweat. hm....
Ok where was I going with this lol...
Well the smell. I think the smell was very raw. Especially when your previous yoga class finished their session. I would often walk in and have a head-on clash with the raw human wet sweaty smell. It is healthy in a sick way. It was great.
Also, I forgot to mention that I am a bit of a scandalmaniac. I think guys with sandals are hot and I think it is very exotic in a way. Well everyone wore sandals to their yoga work and bare feet in the yoga room. So the whole experience had always been some kind of exotic twilight zone kick to it. Exotic because of my special "taste" for sandals and feet. It is not "fetish" but it is the first thing that comes to mind. Twilight zone is because every time I did yoga, I felt like fainting. It was pretty fucking hard!....
Anyways, the special smell was like a drug to me. Even back then I thought to myself, human does retain a lot of raw animal like behaviors such as smelling things, getting aroused, attracted or disgusted by smelling. For example, straight guys find woman juice incredibly hot and enticing where when I am at it I think the smell and taste of cum are the best thing on earth but as soon as I get off I think they are gross. That is very animal like I think. I talked about this with a friend who lives in NY and he exclaimed "OMG I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY WEIRD ONE."
Anyways, what I am trying to say, is hat there is no shame of smelling things! We are after all animals. Animals who happen to learn faster than other animals. So one day, after my yoga class I came out feeling like from outer space, walked to the shoe shelves and picked up my sandals. As soon as I put my feet in, I knew it wasn't mine. It was a pair that was exactly like mine, same brand, same color, and same kinda worn out. The difference was the foot print that permanently imprinted in the soles of the sandals. To confirm my suspicion, I picked them up and smelled the sandals. Yeap, it wasn't mine for sure! However, I didn't get grossed out or anything. I put them on and wore them for another 2 years and half. In the beginning it was weird. It was also kinda exotic. Because these pair of sandals which were so close to someone who apparently worn them all the time, now belonged to me. It was like some weird cosmo destiny that were meant to be. I felt as if I could have some affect on his life experiences or positive energy. Yeah, I know it sounds kinda crazy now but it was only natural to think about it like that back then.
I wonder how my original sandals finished its destiny. That dude probably didn't wear mine as long as I wore his. It is like two shellfish who accidentally switched shell and kept on moving with part of the other shellfish's identity. I hope I am not the only one thinking about this incident like this. Otherwise I would seek out psychiatrist... maybe lol~~
So lately, I realized that I wasn't the only one who fully utilized the ability of our nose. My friend DODO smells EVERYTHING. Especially when it comes to food. She would determine if they are still good to eat, if they are still fresh, if they may taste good. She would also smell her in door trash can to see if they need to go. Dishes, utensils, makeup... I mean she wouldn't smell them as if it is her obsession. Usually, it is just a quick sniff, but I think that is so like animal like. And I love it!
Anyways, I could derive some "deep" philosophic shit out of this but that would be utterly superficial and pretentious. But I say this much, I love animals, they are the best, people are tiring sometimes.
Here I present you my new obsession, Modest Mouse. This single is Dashboard! I fucking LOVE IT! The best way to enjoy this song is to drive your car on the highway at a least 85 mph speed and blast the song! yes it is quite good.
