Wackedy wack blog

Minutiae

I forget. I do. Had a title from some song, apropos peraps, now lost. Trivial. But interesting. Like the day to day. It's just life and work but it certainly is peculiar. It always has been. Mindfulness is a terrible thing to waste. Preaching Buddhism to the Chinese. Some know of course. Many do not.

Mark just bailed. My Irish friend, my last foreign friend. Must keep my eyes open, I need to speak occasionally. And my Mandarin does not suffice. I like it that way. It'll improve if I stay. Diclofenac says I should. And I gotta whole lotta bittorrent going on. I wrote the line ~god's in the details and heaven is in... what the hell was that line?~ referring, of course, to memory. Oblique? Well come to my whirled.

So now I have as much work as I want. More in fact. Teachers are fleeing, if I stay I'll be a wealthy man. Relatively. But I'll be tired. Performance. All I do really, all I've ever really done. But people only really care about themselves. Why I must tune the act so it registers with you, so you find something of yourself in it. Which may be a challenge if you've never thrown away your life for a beautiful midget and moved on to recoup in a compassionate gulag but let me assure you: our blood is the same color. My character development is lacking as ever but such is the nature of the beast. We R what we R. What is the silent letter in 'work'?

Classic English English vs. American English dissonance there. Ain't no silent letter bud. Except maybe 'haitch'. What? O I do go on. And on I hope. But don't count on it.

I suppose they might like to fire me. Supply and da man. What's going on? Well, I am disrespectful. And I don't like making lesson plans that are just going to get run over by a gang of raucus hoodlums. But the more I do the more I can do. Attempted 'rooms of the house' and 'parts of the body' lessons for grade-schoolers today. ~Head, neck, shoulders knees and toes~ doesn't get old. 'Cuz it's mine. My mutation, far as I know. I throw in ~cheek~ with the ~eyes, ears ~~ mouth and nose~ too. Radical, naw? Frankly the beat of the original is weak, my mod is a metrical improvement. IIMSSMS. I do.

Understanding is an illusion. Right understanding is a goal. Misunderstanding is guaranteed. Stick to the facts. They're sticky enough.

Eating bananas with my oatmeal lately. Instant coffee with milk working out, sorry it's Nescafe but the other available is Maxwell House which is really Kraft so pick your evil corporation, if I find a local coffee I'll drink it. Of course Chinese aren't big on coffee, I can get heaps of local tea. Speaking of which I now have a steeping pot from Yosef and some tea from Mark. As my buds abandon me they improve my quality of life. There's a conundrum for ya. I gots pillows, garbage bags and a 'brella too. All of which I'll have to simply abandon if I don't make a new acquaintance before I pack it in. Which may be years, let's wait and see.

To meet at the church by 7 I get up at 530. Stretching takes time. So does eating and ablution. Hit the elevators at 650, don't even bother looking at the watch when I see Cassy (real name?) across the street, I'm sure it's 7ish. Her mission, and she has chosen to accept it, is to get me to the school. Does so. Wrong side of the subway at first, we cross. Wrong subway exit, recovers by calling YuMing and asking passersby. I say 'may kwaan she' (no biggie) a few times. It's my primary Chinese. And Thai, and French and... just general MO I s'pose. Kinda cold these days. We arrive. Some confusion over where I'll sing and dance. But my schedule is authoritative I guess, they bow to it. Or YuMing's as the case may be. So I do 3.2. They want autographs. I see in one kid's book, Yosef was here, Mark was here. Someone I don't know... Mary? Anyway, the assertion that the school just decided to get a foreign teacher's obviously a lie. How much of a hard time does my karma entitle me to give them? I don't mind. The work will get easier, the money's ok and I may help you by giving you a hard time. Lord knows YuMing personnel are often rude. Why they lose so many teachers. Part of it, anyway. Cassy's not rude though. Advises me that all of them love foreigners, thinking otherwise is a fault in my brain. Lord also knows I have approximately a million faults in my brain so I'll accept that. Show her my 'Heart of a Buddha' book, we do make reality with our minds. And I'll prefer the reality where they love me. So try to teach the second graders my song. It's ok. Play my everyone gets a point for everything game. What's the point? Well, they're the first ones I can remember ever actually cheering for it so either I'm getting the hang of it or I've found my niche.

Home again home again jiggedy jig. The Tianjin subway will be awesome when it's completed. If we live that long. It's one long line right now. Tianjin may be the same square mileage as Philadelphia. Or the five boroughs. I don't know, I haven't seen it all, I won't. Life isn't long enough.

Up to the flat for a smoke, truncate that life stuff a little more and back down for dan dan mie. You heard me right, yes, I've found real live dan dan mie. No thanks to YuMing, thanks to a poacher named Anna who's story I may get around to telling but now all that matters is dan dan mie. 'Cuz they are delicious. And getting into the mall, up to the seventh floor and into a seat without a word is funtastic. Ordering does require a few but I've been saying dan dan mie since Manhattan. I don't order from the cart... is it dim sum? Not Chinatown dim sum anyway.

Back to the apartment, watch a little of the Tom Baker Dr. Who torrent, nap. Back out for kung pao ji ding. Via very little Mandarin. Mostly misunderstood. Don't really want rice. But I'll eat it anyway. Seems like it cost 2 Yuan (about ¢25) when I pay the bill so may kwaan she. Get a new wufu dessert on the way home. Can't say it's my favorite but after my request for 15 cream puffs that was interpreted as 15 yuan worth of cream puffs I'm staying away from the cream puffs. And I don't see the flaky heart cookies. And the cashier's napitating. And I don't feel like a chocolate cake. And I like to try something new. So there you have it.