Untitled

Crystal Castles

2008-10-20T21:46:00.002-07:00

JoJosh introduced me to this recently; my favorite sound right now:

FDC

2008-10-04T18:50:00.000-07:00

I've listened to Delirivum Cordia thrice today, and about to listen to it a fourth time. For some reason, as much as I've listened to it in the past, its really impressed itself on me lately. Gorgeous composition.

My knees hurt like hell from biking. I've been pushing myself on a bike that is probably too small for me, and really paying for it right now. I'm really concerned I may be risking permanent injury, and that would ruin a lot of athletic goals I have for myself. I have one extreme goal ahead of me that I will share perhaps a few years from now when I get things set up for it. For now, I gotta take care of my achy, breaky knees.

?????

2008-09-30T17:39:00.000-07:00

Ok, I need everyone to read this story and tell me if there is some detail that they must be leaving out for some reason. Emphasis at the end is mine. Please comment with your ideas:

TOKYO - Police say 15 people have been killed in a pre-dawn fire at a building in Osaka in western Japan.

A police spokesman says the fire broke out early Wednesday in a video shop located on the first floor of the seven-story building. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing department policy.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the 3 a.m. blaze.

Kyodo says the victims were male customers of the shop and were found in rooms equipped with a TV set to view the videos.

Today I Set a New Personal Record

2008-09-15T15:17:00.000-07:00

40 laps (3000 feet) in 19:41. I beat my previous record by 1:02, set on May 7th, my last swim before I left for China.

I used a technique I read in Runner's World last week whereby I started swimming very slowly and then gradually picked up pace, increasing speed all the way to the end. In the past, I have started slowly, but achieved top speed relatively early in the swim, by lap 5 perhaps. This always caused me to struggle through the second 20 laps. I did not reach top speed today until perhaps lap 30. It really made all the difference, and I was able to hack off more than 5% of my time.

My goal is to swim a mile in 34 minutes by December.

I also biked a new high last week: 72 miles. This was even with having taken Saturday off. I am averaging 1 mph faster as well.

I have neglected running for some time now because it is so time consuming. I decided to start doing sprints once or twice a week to build strength, and then do endurance runs on the weekends.

Another Half Step Forward

2008-09-14T11:17:00.000-07:00

I tend to read books of quotes when I'm in trying times or in a conscious period of self-discovery as I am today. Advice columns often offer ambiguous solutions to petty difficulties, and no one is made the better, but a single quote of even moderate wisdom can change one's perspective on their problem, and therefore the way they feel about it, the way they think about it, and the way the approach the problem henceforth. It is the difference between chronic distress and the glory of steadfast resolve. Men and women are empowered when guided to a solution of their own formulation seeded by the wisdom of those who came before them, and insulted by those who hand them a solution, whose application is then a new and more perplexing problem. When dealing with our friends and colleagues, we should consider the best way to inspire them to their own ends, not to shove a means down their throat.

Luckily, my brother gave me several books of quotes distributed in his firm small enough to keep in my bag at all times. A few are helpful to me in the wake of my foolish behavior this past week:

"Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or it is nothing." --Helen Keller

Speaks directly to my situation, but in the context of another, I probably would have done myself a favor putting sunscreen on sooner than I did yesterday at the Dragonboat Races.

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation." -- George Washington

"What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." -- Aristotle

"You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it." -- Margaret Thatcher

CERN

2008-09-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

This is too great not to post. Be sure to read the comments, people are freakin' out:

Forward

2008-08-31T21:10:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Hong for interpreting:

1.Your whole life is just like walking on this teeter-totter

2.You always try to walk from the low end to the high end.The further steps ,the more difficulty.

3.The higher you go the more difficut for balance.

4.When you thought you were higher and higher,actually you were about to go down.

5.Then you realized that you can never stay on the highest point in your mind.

6.After so much struggling back and forth,you figured out that to be on the highest point is so hard since you were always not sure about the balance point.

7.Finally one day,you realized that the highest point is actually the balance point in your life.

8.If you want to stay on the highest point,there is another solution,that is there is someone is on the lowest end of the teeter-totter to support you,who could be your family,lover,or even the enemy you defeated.

Hibernating

2008-08-28T21:10:00.001-07:00

My blog is hibernating right now. Shhhhh... dormancy is a quiet activity.

Untitled

2008-08-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

Still one of the best excerpts I've afforded the time to keep and refer to periodically:

“To do nothing is, however, often the course which involves most risk. The world is never really standing still; and to leave things alone may be merely to drift on to unseen rocks ahead. The bogey of dangers in the path of progress is often raised by us from an unconscious desire to save ourselves the trouble of making up our minds and of beginning to move in new directions. If science points clearly to certain steps which could now be taken in order to benefit our nation in the future, do not let us fail to move in that direction out of a selfish regard for our own comfort.”

Its out, Folks

2008-07-26T14:15:00.000-07:00

Check it out.

Appended

2008-07-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

Interesting Imprimis issue discussing the 14th Amendment and how "birthright citizenship" to children born in the U.S. to illegal aliens has been grossly misconstrued by the modern government came with this gem vindicating what is said in the post below. Excuse any typos, I don't have time to fix them, emphasis mine:

"Mexican President Felipe Calderon was in California recently pushing for more liveral immigration policies. He assured his fellow citizens who reside in the U.S. that he is "actively working to defend their human rights." "No matter their immigration status," Calderon said, "They are human beings with dignity and rights that should be respected. We are working, with the full effort of the [Mexican ] government, to bring a halt to the campaigns that harass migrants." However much Calderon may be worried about the human rightgs of his fellow citizens, he is fully cognizant of the fact that Mexico's economy depends on the remittances of its citizens working abroad. These remittances have become Mixico's second largest source of revenue, trailing only its rapidly declingin oil revenues. It is far easier-- and politically safer-- for Mixico to export its poverty than to reform its own plitical and economic system."

This Product Not Fit For Human Consumption

2008-07-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

I realize I've been neglecting my blog for the past few weeks, but its difficult for me to post on what goes on with me of any interest on a routine basis because it is largely very private. I could report on all the mundane (however interesting to myself) events of my life, but I'm afraid I would lose more readers that way than if I were not to blog at all!

I recently told my friend Arcadiy that I believe it is the moral obligation of the Western world to democratize the rest of the world, by military force if necessary (and in most cases it is). The U.S. has taken a prominent and tirelessly criticized role in this since the end of the second World War, and to no shame or regret it has largely been in our own interest. Whether to liberate oppressed people, redirect control of resources, or improve our political positioning against a more dangerous enemy, and despite a long list of mistakes, the U.S. has been the benefactor of peace and stability more than any other single nation in history. Humanitarian efforts have their short term successes, but I'm afraid it often prolongs and intensifies the problem. When you don't couple food and medical supply delivery and school building with forcing the hand of an irrational and narcissistic dictator, all you do is make it easier for him to survive.

The wall along the U.S.-Mexican border is a good idea, but its not enough (especially for how poorly engineered it is; has the southwest ever heard of razor wire?). I don't have any issues with regulated immigration (its one of the few things I believe the government should have the power to regulate) but illegal immigration is intolerable for a number of reasons:
1. Honest Mexicans are outside the umbrella of free market forces and vulnerable to the worst America has to offer.
2. With honest Mexicans illegally crossing the borders comes drugs, criminals, disease, and of course terror agents.
3. Most of all, it allows the Mexican government to stay ever corruptive because Mexicans have a better alternative to revolution. Holes along the border through which Mexicans cross are like steam pipes releasing pressure from a power plant.

The latter is exactly what happens in nations throughout the world that we make possible through government sponsored international aid and humanitarian charity organizations.

To say that we are imperialist or fascist for influencing change abroad through military efforts is grossly hypocritical of those who support humanitarian organizations. Change does not occur in a vacuum; we're calming the potential angry, desperate masses in many nations, we are quelling potential revolution and liberation of people and are the best friends of the governments we mutually criticize the harshest. It's not unlike taxpayer fueled bailouts for failing U.S. industries, whereby the subsidized industry essentially becomes an arm of the government.

In any case, I've rethought what I told Arcadiy only a month or two ago, and democratizing the world may not necessarily be the obligation of the West, but I've only repositioned myself to find uncertainty rather than another, more moderate role for the U.S. and Western Europe. Always glad to uselessly opine for the ol' blog.

Dyooooonyuuuuuhhhhh Fishin'

2008-07-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

Colorado has been mostly fun, although traveling with my family is difficult and often very frustrating for me because I move at a much faster pace than any of them. I watch a few shows, downloading them online so I don't have to watch commercials and I only have to watch what I want to, but I loathe broadcast entertainment. Aside from a few admittedly indispensable virtues, television has been one of the most destructive forces in American and Western culture over the past 50 years. Its been on almost continuously since we arrived at the condo.

On Wednesday, my dad and I went fly fishing north of the tiny town of Kremling. We caught a number of Rainbow Trout, but despite what you may think, they were all straight fish. They were, nonetheless, Obama supporters, and considering their numbers its comforting to know they cannot vote. I'm not certain how long it will be before Democrats try to extend voting privileges to all living things, but if they have their way, the first black president may be an ant.

My friend Dunia came up from a dig in Nebraska last night and we went on a hike down the street from the condo. My sisters and dad hiked with us, but my dad got sick about an hour in and we had to turn back. I totally nailed Dunia with a dandelion. Since she only showers once a week, I bet she still has a huge yellow streak down the back of her arm. Hilarious. A special thanks to my sisters for telling Dunia embarassing childhood stories. I can't wait until those are amplified by the power of the AIESEC network.

Later, we went into Breckenridge and hung out at the Gold Pan saloon for a while. Unfortunately, we had to sign contracts with the bar not to repeat anything we spoke about on the premises or within 25 feet of either entrance, so theres little to relate about the remainder of the night, but lets say it was super fun. It was good to escape some of the tension that had built up with my family back at the condo, too. Dunia and I had fun with closed shop windows.

From 11,000 Feet

2008-07-02T05:57:00.001-07:00

I realized most of my photos are pretty crappy so far, so I'll try to do better for y'all. Promise.

I'm about to go fly-fishing! Look forward to pictures and stuff of that.

Having Fun With Strangers Online

2008-06-27T17:04:00.000-07:00

I recently filed a complaint with the Georgia State Rec Center because, as a swimmer, I have found their water to insufficiently wet for my needs. Following is the response, and then my reply:

Hi Sean,

I received your comment in our suggestion box about "dampening the water". If you could be a little more specific about this, I would appreciate it.

Thank you for replying, Nigel.

I have been in the water my whole life. While we all bounce around in our mothers' wombs for as much as nine months, surrounded by a thick, juicy enclave of amniotic fluid, I still consider this an important part of my own lifetime aquatic experience. In fact, most of my body is made of the life giving fluid we call "water." The Chinese, in fact, have named it "shui" (pronounced "shway," as in "get out of my shway"). Such a pronunciation really drives home the point of having water that is wet enough to support my body isotropically, thereby maximizing the efficiency of my swimming technique.

I hope I've clarified the problem, and wish that it helps us move forward to make a wetter, more watery experience for everyone at the Georgia State recreational center pool and spa. Please let me know if I can further assist you.

Thanks!

Sean

Result: No response

I also wrote to a band in Philadelphia that I want to see play when I go there in November. Following is my request, then the response, then my reply:

deer gang--

i happen to be coming to philadelphia in november and you are required to schedule a show while i am there.

if not, i will seriously come to your house and attack you with my huge claws, because i am a bear of some sort.

i will email you with the exact dates i'll be in town when i get a flight.

do not call animal control, it is no use. i have friends all over, so you will be fucked.

sincerely,

sean the bear

p.s. this is sort of what my claws look like

Hello there kind sir!
We would not like to be clawed, and hope that you will not claw us.
Hopefully we will be playing a show when you are here!
Thank you for the kind email. We would never call animal control on you.
xoxoxo
~~GANG

Sounds like a deal.

Just make sure you have no rabbits at your show. I am terrified of rabbits.

love,

sean the bear

Result: No Response

Here and there

2008-06-22T05:53:00.001-07:00

I went to the museum the other night, and when you buy a ticket they give you a sticker to put on your shirt to indicate that you have paid. Walking around the Houdon exhibit ("Houdon," a French sculptor, is pronounced exactly the same as a kind of Chinese noodle, thereby making him "Noodle Man" or "Noodly Artist," which is fitting because he did sculpt Noods), I noticed that a woman wearing a somewhat revealing dress had placed the sticker ON HER BARE BREAST. Classy.

For some reason, the hits to my video (which you can view below) have jumped from about 50 to about 600 views in the past view days. The culprit? Looks like I've become very popular in Japan for some reason.

Click!

My right arm went number at mile 3.5 on Sunday. I do not know why, but next time I will have to stop somewhere and try out that move I've heard so much about, "the Stranger."

I paid $3.40 for a 24oz bottle of Crystal Geyser water today at Starbucks in the Mariott Marquis. When did the most abundant resource on become more expensive than gasoline?

Wisdom from Randy Pausch

2008-06-14T15:57:00.001-07:00

If you don't know know who this guy is, YouTube him. I watched his lecture traveling throughout Asia, and these are some of the notes I took:

"Make sure you always bring something nice to the table."

"When you're in a place where you're doing something wrong and nobody's telling you, you're in a very bad place to be. That means people have given up. Your critics are the ones that love you"

"Experience is what you get when you don't get what you were expecting."

"The thing about the brick wall is that its there to stop the people who don't want it badly enough."

"If someone upsets or annoys you, it means you haven't given them enough time. You give them time, and they will almost always impress you."

"When you're doing something new, when you're pioneering, you're going to have to take some arrows in the back."

"Best way to teach someone is to make them think they're learning something else."

"Decide if you're a Tigger or an Eeyore. Always have fun, every day of your life."

"Never lose child like wonder. It's what drives us."

"Don't complain, just work harder. Jackie Robinson had it in his contract that he wasn't allowed to complain, even when fans spit on him."

Goals for Summer 2008 and into the New Year

2008-06-13T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hold me to these, public!

Teaching reading

I'm interested in learning how to teach, because the ability to impart your own knowledge on others effectively increases my ability to influence and broadens the power of the knowledge and skills that I have. I've chosen to help a kid read because it is an insurmountably important skill, it will make his life better, and he is in a position to benefit from it the most because he is so young. And investment in people is a very sound investment.

Coaching at Dale Carnegie

Coaching at Dale Carnegie a different kind of teaching opportunity because it will put different demands on the way I communicate with those I'm teaching, it will help me hone skills that I've only begun to work on, it may influence some people to coach once they leave the course, and it may help me to make some connections and meet important people. I also owe, to a certain extent, a debt to Wendy for having given me such an opportunity.

Make the trip to China/blogging/video a final success

I feel like there is still some work to do, some more to learn, from my experience in China, and I believe that completing the work will not only help me get those most out of this trip, but also plan more effectively for the next.

Building my body for racing

Projecting into the future, these marathons are stepping stones, oasi, to keeping fit. Its so difficult to stay fit just for the sake of staying fit, when I could otherwise stay reasonably not-unhealthy. I need a challenge in the forseeable future, a specific event on the horizon to keep in mind so I feel like I'm going someplace meaningful; marathons are perfect because they are so demanding, affordable, and they give me the excuse to travel almost anywhere. Additionally, because of the huge number of people who run them, it is very possible I could make important networking connections in the course of running them, if not simply find new great friends of all different backgrounds.

Work

While I have reached the professional limit of my job, it is important to maintain. For most people, this is a place to get halfway off, do as little as possible without getting fired, and it seems in the past year or so that’s what I've done. But I still have commitments to the lab, and I do my best to provide the highest quality data in the most efficient manner possible, teach my co-workers how to deal with circumstances in the lab and how to perform whatever task may be required of them, and add value to the lab experience.

AIESEC

I almost skipped this one because AIESEC has become a source of anxiety for me, mostly because it has not lived up to my expectations. But neither have I lived up to its expectations, so we have betrayed each other, and should therefore forgive and forget, and work together in tandem from this point on. I believe many of the things I came to AIESEC for actually are there, while some were not, and I've let things things that aren't get to me too much, and disregard the huge benefits there are still are to gain. I am still in a leadership position, I still have the position that will allow me to make connections with professionals, to put AIESEC out there, to raise money, to guide others to success and to help them achieve their goals. The principle thing I should be after: make sure that other people don't experience the same disappointment with AIESEC as I did. Give others the opportunity to grow, and therein I will as well. I am using the summer to pick up where I never started and create something out of ER unprecedented, I am using this summer to pick up and build momentum that will carry us through the fall and set up huge successes.

Studying economics

I believe almost ideologically that economics is the one common nexus connecting everything in the Universe, not just humans and civilizations and modern nations, but plants and animals, the physical world, from atom to galaxy, mind to body, across dimensions and metaphysics, everything can be described not merely in analogy, but directly in terms of economics. I have some trouble with the math, and I've never liked school, but I have an over riding compulsion to learn about and understand as fully as possible economic principles and how to apply them, how to understand the world better in the context of economy, and how not to manipulate the economy but use its properties to benefit those who abide by its laws. While I believe economics is the single most important pursuit in academia and private enterprise, I also believe, in accordance with my understanding of its properties, that many other fields including science and technology, psychology, business, medicine , education, and statesmanship are indispensible tools of a functioning, healthy economy and (on the most party) should be afforded almost equal status.

Starting a business

I am not as much of a movie aficionado as I probably should be. Most movies bore me. Perhaps I haven't been finding the right ones over the years, but through most of them I shift around and my mind wanders, and I yell at the director through the TV screen because he is a moron and lazy, but in high school I had great fun shooting and editing videos. I loved it all, but editing was my favorite. The thing I liked about it was that I was creating something from nothing with very disparate components. I was taking sound, light, action, story, form, time, emotion, and putting them together in a way that wasn't necessarily pleasant, but rather evocative, striking, attractive, unsettling, or vivifying. Starting and building a business seems like a very similar venture. Taking money, time, the talents of "actors" in a number of fields, a physical place, a vision, and putting them together in a way to produce a product or line of products or services to change the way people live and behave, to impact them in a way that is evocative, striking, attractive, unsettling, or vivifying, to impact their lives in a positive way, and create that from virtually nothing, is a very exciting and attractive prospect to me. I also adore the prospect of the movement from self-reliance to interdependence with my team, marking their lives in positive ways as much as my own. So this summer, I intend to make my first attempt at starting my own business, something small and which I can do largely alone, to both learn the fundamentals of business processes and help to finance school and...

Traveling

…travel. I never left the country until I was 26, a little over a year ago now, and in that time I've visited 4 countries: India, Germany, Netherlands (at least for a few hours), and China. I can hardly begin to relate my experiences here. Many authors fill books with stories of their travels over a period of decades, over the course of 30 countries or more, and I know that they could easily fill books with only a single visit to a single foreign country. Perhaps one day traveling around the world will seem blasé to me, more of a chore than an adventure, and I'm going to work very hard to make sure I get close to that point without ever actually reaching it. I am a map lover. I can stare at maps for minutes at a time, in all their boring geopolitical detail, but be transfixed with imagination at what its like at this point or another, how I would interact with the things I find there, and how they would interact with me. I would like also one day to travel to the Moon.

Learning Chinese

Of the travel I've done, China was by far my most enthralling experience. I absolutely loved the culture and the scenery, the energy, the noise, the atmosphere, the crowds of people. I felt at home in China, and I can't wait to return. It goes beyond a personal interest, I'm also attracted by its economic growth (as a model) and the business opportunities if I learn to effectually navigate the political and cultural gamut attached. Learning Chinese, which is an interesting language in itself, is absolutely necessary to meet each of those three ends. Japanese may be next.

Determining Course Path

School has been a thorn in my side since first grade. I've always been horribly bored with school, and have often fantasized about having a professor for all subjects, like Aristotle or Socrates, and walk with them and a small group of classmates to discuss and theorize and philosophize before removing to my profession. But, as it is, I'm at public university in modern day America and I must finalize my course path so I can finally answer the question everyone keeps asking, "When do you finish?" I'd like to know to.

Develop stock portfolio

I don't have a retirement plan right now. The opportunity to make contributions to a retirement fund at work doesn't seem as good as holding on to every penny right now so I can I can build up to having disposable income. I'm not scared of not having a 401K, but I do need to put together a stock portfolio so I have something accumulating over the next several decades or something to leave to a worthy friend or family member if I were to get hit by a car or something.

Learn to speed read

This, perhaps, would be an even better investment than stocks. I am a pretty slow reader, a little slower than average when I test myself, and I know I can read faster if I practice enough and in the right way. Given all the things I've outlined above, time is at a serious premium, and as much reading as I must do to achieve those things, the ability to cut that time by 50% or more will come back in huge dividends. So I will continue to study and practice speed reading techniques. Think how much more I'll be able to read and comprehend over a lifetime!

Compose a mission, vision, and values statement

This is one of the first things you're instructed to do in success literature, and I've only danced around it and made half-assed efforts to do it in a meaningful way. I make a few attempts, but don't always know how to start or continue with it, always afraid I'll leave something out. I have many other excuses too. I want to build a mission, vision, and values statement to understand myself better and understand my motivations. I understand that I will need to revise, update, and evolve them as I go through life, but to do that I must have something to start with. So before this summer's end, I will complete this heartily.

China 2008: Episode Yi

2008-06-12T16:30:00.001-07:00

If some of that Chinese food weren't strange enough...

2008-06-11T15:17:00.000-07:00

Today I had a sandwich with a smoked ham, pepper jack cheese, a fried egg, peanut butter, and hummus on wheat, and it was scrumdiddlyumptious, yo!

Bonus Blog for You!

2008-06-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Most of you have not run marathons (yet), but you are familiar with capitalism, I'm sure, and as capitalism dictates, anywhere there is a large group of people, there will be a small group of people trying to get them to buy stuff.

It is the norm at marathons for photographers to cover the entire course taking shots of every last runner throughout the race. I've run 3 now, all different sizes, from 150 runners to 15,000, and there are no exceptions. Those bib numbers? Yeah, what are those for? DecORaySHUN?

No.

They're for identifying you in photos and flooding you with emails linking you to pages with those photos for sale at laughable prices.

And that is what I got today.
Click my belly!

Retro-blog Time!!!

2008-06-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have blog material scattered throughout a OneNote document that I've been avoiding because I knew it would take some time to edit, but to my surprise I found some that were all ready to post, so here is one for y'all to read. The original date and place of authorship precedes the entry.

More to come!

5/19/08 Beijing enroute to Qingdao, 11:43pm

The past few days have been too much to document comprehensively. I've been waking up very early without much choice, as soon as the sun shines in my face at 4:30am, and going to bed very late on my own volition. I don't want to miss a moment, and there are many moments not to miss.

I'm sorry I didn't take notes throughout the day. I wish I could tell you a story, but the best I can do at this point is a pile of vignettes and observations. I'll try to be m ore diligent in the future.

I complained out loud on Sunday morning that the massive crowds of people I'd been promised to witness in China had not come through. I was unimpressed with Pinggu, not as a city but as an example of high population density. Although I'd already seen the huge complexes of residential buildings throughout Beijing, or one of its districts, I'd yet to see the people that filled them. The group of guys from LA I hung out with, whose names I could never get straight, observed with me that the restaurants, hotels, and retail shops were staffed by a disproportionate number of people for the number of patrons. The employees would outnumber customers 5 to 1 sometimes such that as you entered a shop or restaurant they would all scatter and clamor to serve you. (At some restaurants, 7 or 8 women would flank the entry way and do nothing more than bow and lightly greet you. Can you imagine 8 hostess at Chili's?)

I've spent all night on the train on the "soft sleeper." Only 50 dollars for 500 miles travel on a train, and unlike Amtrak it looks like we're going to be on time. The Chinese countryside is hard at work growing food for the aforementioned masses. Its not clear to be what crops are being grown, but it looks like most of what I'm seeing may be wheat.

Last night I went out with Guo Xiao, who I knew from when she did an internship with Deloitte in Atlanta earlier this year. Not only did I meet her, but 6 of her friends. They wanted to work on their English a little, which I didn't expect, and I struggled some to figure out a way to speak one- on- one with each of them, and encourage them to ask questions not only to practice their English but to teach them some about the United States. Dinner fluctuated between awkward silence (for me, an uncommon scene at a table full of college-aged women… they giggled when I commented on never having seen a table full of girls so quiet) and bright-eyed conversation about American Idol and whether Americans really think all Chinese look alike. I had this conversation earlier in the week with the guys from L.A., and we decided that many Chinese do look alike, but that we also encounter many white people that are difficult to distinguish in passing. Although, it is more common for white Americans to consider Chinese people to look alike, so I discussed both ends of the spectrum with them.

We dined on Beijing roast duck, in which you take a piece of sliced duck meat, dip it in a sweet soy sauce (which was actually salty) and place it on something like a crepe or small tortilla with celery and onions. You then roll it up and eat, with chopsticks.

Chopsticks were a neat little challenge for me. I've used them numerous times, of course, but being in China, I thought, would be a good opportunity to learn to use them correctly. I'd taught myself, imitating others, but decided it wasn't good enough, that I was going to use them the Chinese way. But Xiao assured me that any way that worked for me was okay, and that there was no proper way to do it. When I was a small child, my mother taught me what was the proper way to hold and use a fork, knife, and spoon, and it wasn't unnecessary. I'm glad I don't scoop up my food like a 5 year old, because I might otherwise. So it was hard for me to believe that there was no particular way to hold and use chopsticks, but there was no reason for me not to believe her, and no one else objected.

All of the girls had American names they had chosen in their English classes. It was very helpful for me because there was no way I would be able to remember even one of their birth names, but for Xiao whom I already knew. One girl named Jane sat next to me and seemed particularly interested in learning about whatever I had to teach her. Her English was pretty good, she was almost as proficient as Xiao (who had the best English of the lot, and who occasionally interpreted for me) but I often had to ask her to repeat herself because she spoke so softly. That is something I've found that many Chinese do, and I think its partly because they don't have a lot of confidence in their English, and partly because they speak softly even in Mandarin. I am not blaming them, though. The few Mandarin phrases I know I have been reluctant to use because then everyone starts speaking to me in full Mandarin sentence. Wo bu nu bai ni shuo shenme!

Gittin' Back

2008-06-04T15:33:00.000-07:00

Today, running in Piedmont Park, I saw a man with two navels. It was quite a sight.

I'm getting back to normal now, jet-lagged worse than ever. The new Queens of the Stone Age is a really good record, although its mostly "new" to me, having been released a year ago but downloaded to my hard drive in just the past 3 days.

I still have all these China blogs to post, but I've spent all my time sleeping and working since I got back. I'll finally have time tomorrow to work on it, I believe, but the lab is really begging my mousy expertise this week.

I made the worst mistake I've ever made yesterday... I rinsed twelve samples of T-cells with ddH2O instead of salt solution. So what, Seancy, its just water! Well, the cells don't think so, when all the salinated fluid inside them rushes out and makes their walls rupture and kill them. Sorry, little T-cells! It really was a gigantic fuck up, so I decided to wait a few days before I ask for more vacation this summer. My parents invited to me out to Colorado for the 4th of July.

I can't wait to do some hiking out there. I've never been to the mountains.

I can't believe myself.

Goodbye China... Hello Retroactive Blogs

2008-05-28T15:23:00.003-07:00

Well, these here are my last few hours in China, at least for the time being. I really dropped the ball on blogging for the past week. Since I've been in Shanghai, I haven't even been particularly busy, but the past 4 days I've been sick with a head cold and have avoided spending too much time looking at the computer screen. I cancelled my trip to Suzhou, but still managed to meander around town for a few hours a day. Yesterday I spent some time at the art museum, pictures of which I'll post when I get home.

I have tons of blog material to post ready to go but for some organization and editing, so get ready for some latent blogging over the next week, if you're all still interested. Videos and things are to come as well. I've gotta finish packing, flight is in 3 1/2 hours.

I have 19 hours in the air today.

Photos!

2008-05-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

See some of my photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8502959@N05/