(courtesy of ChinaSmack.)
I think this kind of art would make for great t-shirts in the States that could become popular here. There is a very famous contemporary Chinese Artist known for doing similar things with Chinese characters, I’ll have my next A Look at Chinese Art post be about him.
How is everyone? Its been about a year since I have seen most of you guys. Sometimes the times seem to pass by quickly, sometimes it seems to pass by slowly. I thought it would be good to just give a brief update about my life here. Basically, life here in Shanghai boils down to work, the politics and dramas associated with that, my mishandling of numerous relationships, as well as befriending other overseas Chinese such as myself. My typical day starts with work at 9am. I usually get off between 6pm through 8pm. Every other day, I go to a local gym for about 1 hour and a half.
Most week nights I go to dinner with random dates or a girl that I am seeing at the time. Once ever so often I find myself free to enjoy dinner by myself, this is actually one of my most peaceful times. I would take a book and eat somewhere alone. I am currently reading Moby Dick, I wanted to get away from the science fiction and quantum mechanics stuff that I was reading last year and shift more towards literature. But as you can imagine, once every week or so does not leave me with much time to progress much through the book, I believe I am still within the first 50 pages or so.
I have been running more ever since last year. Every other day I run about 30 minutes at the gym and then maybe go to weights. I am starting to see my age, if i am not careful or eat too much, I can gain a few kg within 2 weeks and develop a small gut. Notice I have already shifted to using kg rather than pound.
I am usually never home until 10pm on weekday nights. Once I am home, I sometimes watch a DVD and then go to bed around 12:30.
On weekends, I usually spend the nights with friends having dinner, in bars, and sometimes in clubs. Karaoke is big here and I actually find it enjoyable now that I have learned the lyrics to a few songs. I suppose I am becoming more Chinese. We play ultimate frisbee on Sundays fairly regularly, then afterwards we usually go for a big buffet dinner, often involving Japanese food.
At nights when I have nothing to do I still go on Kongregate to play those addicting tower defence games. Although I have to say Desktop Defender is still the best (others include Gemcraft, Protector, etc).
Oh and sometimes I still watch Starcraft proleague replays as well as SC2 replays. I have a Xbox360 at home hooked up to a nice samsung HD tv, although I havent had much time to play it.
flare, is this the reason u were so bent on getting your own place in shanghai?
The hard-boiled bachelorette, Ma Nuo, has gone on to become one of China’s most recognizable bai jin nu. Marry for love? Fat chance, said the material girl: “I would rather cry in a BMW than smile on the back of my boyfriend’s bicycle.“
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“My parents think it’s important…. They would rather I marry someone who owns his own property,” said Wei Na, 28, an advertising saleswoman in Beijing. “It just makes you feel more safe if a man has his own place. I think most women feel the same way.”
in today’s nytimes op-ed, a philosopher poses a question i’ve asked myself many times over: is coming into existence a good thing for a child?
apparently, dead philosopher schopenhauer took this question on and answered with a negative. he held that “even the best life possible for humans is one in which we strive for ends that, once achieved, bring only fleeting satisfaction. New desires then lead us on to further futile struggle and the cycle repeats itself.”
For RMB 150, I signed up for a Chinese on-line dating website. Prior to posting this, I spend almost 30 seconds contemplating the damage my reputation will sustain due to this public announcement. But, in the end, I did not wish to deny anyone the hilarity which shall inevitably ensue.
We had a small talk, and by small I mean it dragged on for two days fully integrated with abundant supplies of awkwardness and guilt. I am moving all my stuff out today, luckily it wasn’t too much, (just some clothing) and my own place is only a few blocks away. She was sad to see me go, and in an attempt to comfort her, I said that I would still be coming to visit all the time. She proceeded to ask that I didn’t take everything away as it would make her very sad. This is when the moment of sacrifice occurred. I don’t know why I did it, perhaps my mind was numb from the 2 day battle. My body was at that very moment positioned so that I was looking directly at it, and my mouth simply blurted out, “Don’t worry, I’ll leave my Xbox360 here.”
Why do you hate me so, mouth. Who is your master, and why does he wish to cause me such unnecessary pain?
Being a man of my words, I am forced to leave you behind today, my cracked and beloved child. I will try to visit you often, but do not worry, for before long I will attempt to rescue you from your predicament.
My friend’s girlfriend, a Shanghainese girl, recently gave him, an ABC, an ultimatum. By May, my friend needs to decide whether he will marry her or not. If he decides against marriage, or if he is unsure, they will stop seeing each other by May. Last week, the girl borrowed 2k from my friend. “To pay back credit card payments” she said. This week, the girl came around with a brand new double eyelid surgery. Guess where that 2k went…When asked why she got the surgery, the girl replied, “I did it for you, so I can look prettier for you!” I suggested my friend ask for a breast implant to go along with the eye lid surgery. When they began dating a year ago, he msned me and wrote “hey, I am really happy with this girl, she is cute and actually offered to pay for our meals!” Now he says, “One of the things I don’t like about my gf is that she never pays for anything, it really has me wondering what would happen if we get married. Would she just quit her job and sit at home all day?”
I have been seeing this girl, I stay over at her place quite often in the past month. I have my own place, but I suppose its easier and less lonely staying over with someone else. She’s Chinese, from Harbin (Northern China) region. she is cute, street smart, does house-work, has a good job. Sounds great right, well one of the problems is that she doesn’t get along at all with my English speaking friends. She does speak English herself, but the cultural differences are fairly noticeable. A few days ago she asked me to pay for rent since I have been staying over at her place so frequently. I declined, “no thanks dear” I don’t think its the money issue that’s the problem, but the implications of me paying a girl’s rent. That kind of commitment has me reeling and seeing stars. She’s a good girl, but the cultural differences are pretty difficult to deal with.
You would be surprised, or perhaps you wouldn’t be. Good girls are hard to find, even in a city like Shanghai with a 20 million population. They can be 1)hot, or 2)smart, or 3)nice, or 4)rich, or 5)fun, or 6)culturally similar. Rarely are they possessing two or more of the above characteristics. Being a guy, I know how guys really think. You don’t need two or more of the above! you really only need characteristic 1. If you had 1 + Any, you think you’re in heaven. If you had 2 of the above in addition to 1. You should be buying a wedding ring right now instead of reading this rant. But what if you didn’t have 1? ahhhh, dilemma eh? what if you had say 2+3+4? What do you do???? Well I’ll tell you what you do, you begin thinking about your future, justifying that she would make a good mother, and she can help you build your empire. But would you really be happy, or would you feel like you are somehow settling? Alright, show of hands, you have a choice between a girl who is 1+2 or a girl who is 2+3+4+5+6, which one would you choose?
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