1/12/2003

I haven’t written one of these in ages, hopefully there are still a few people out there reading. Everything is ticking along, the weather has cooled down quite a bit in the last week, I’m actually wearing a jumper at the moment, and struggling to keep my hands warm. I would much rather be dealing with this than some of those temperature readings from Toronto I’ve seen on CNN! Hope you guys are all still alive! The last two or three weeks have been a bit of a mixed bag. School has been good. I’ve gotten into a pretty solid routine now which makes things pretty easy. Have been trying to make the most of my spare time.... watching DVD’s, playing basketball, all things productive! In the last week I have been playing quite a bit. I think I was just in need of a bit a sabbatical. After three months with fairly sparse practicing, I’m being driven insane by the fact my chops are terribly out of shape! Ah well, all in due time.

We’ve been hitting the social scene pretty heavy the last couple of weekends. Adam and I have made a bit of a routine of not getting in until 5am on Sunday morning, making the most of it! Then of course I wonder after sleeping all Sunday I can’t get to sleep on Sunday night?? And end up feeling absolutely exhausted during my 8am class on Monday morning?? Nevertheless, I always manage to get my sleep cycle back on track by Thursday, by which time I am already planning how best to throw it back out of whack! The gang of foreigners have been good fun. We had tried to plan a get together to watch the rugby world cup final last weekend however it never materialized. I decided to head home and watch the delayed telecast by myself, probably better for the health of my English acquaintances (It’s too early to begin calling them friends again). It was nice to get a rash of emails from people I can barely remember rubbing in the defeat... even a bunch from New Zealanders??? They seem convinced that the fact they have the Bledisloe Cup counters the fact that WE BEAT THEM IN THE SEMI FINAL, MAKING IT 17 YEARS SINCE YOU LAST WON. Ah well, I guess the Poms can have their fun, as for those convinced that the Ashes are next..... please.

There is an older Canadian teacher here, Alistair, who lived in England for a period a while back, who seemed to enjoy getting into arguments about Rugby. Now there are many things I dislike (stupid people, among things!), but right around the top of the list would be people who argue without having a clue about what they’re are arguing about. Alistair took me up on Rugby (as most of you know this is a very bad idea). He got right stuck in, and I countered, before 5 minutes in he took the trophy with: “That Australian captain Regan is finished”. You can picture my reaction. Just to bury the hatchet I enquired as to who was the captain of his adopted England. “Jonny Wilkinson”. Case closed. It is situations like this that reinforce my already well ingrained believe that the majority of people on this planet are absolute idiots (apologies to those of you who aren’t). I didn’t really know what to say when he came to dish it out after the final, so I said nothing. I sure hope Regan isn’t disappointed in me!

My latest purchase has been a DVD player. I got a little tired of watching DVD’s on my laptop so figured is was worth the 500 RMB. It has been good so far, doubling as a stereo. I now have CD’s littered all over the room. The DVD player came right in line with the last few episodes of 24 – Season 2 (I bought the set), what a great show, anyone who hasn’t seen it, should. I also picked up the series Alias to see what that was all about. If you ever take any advice from me (which I wouldn’t advise...!), take it now. If you have the choice between showing up at the MCG to sing the national anthem realizing you’ve forgotten to get dressed, while sporting a nasty rash in the nether regions, or watching Alias, forget both choices and go jump of the nearest building. To think that there are humans in the world who somehow perceive this in any way to resemble some kind of reality, makes me want to down a bottle of Prozac with a pint of 80 proof rum (If you are one of the people who enjoy this show, apologies, if you are family and you enjoy this show, sincere apologies!). It is the poorest excuse for a show about espionage that I have ever seen. If it in anyway resembles real life, then take my word for it and make friends with Saddam and OSB, because they will be ruling the world before you know it!

Well I’m running out of things to write about, I hope my cynicism hasn’t overwhelmed you as it has me. I’ve haven’t really been using MSN as of a couple of weeks ago, I figured it was about time to let things figure themselves out. While it is a good way to stay in touch, it wastes a ton of time, and is very good into leading people to believe they have friends who do not exactly fit the definition of the word. If you want to get in touch, it’s not rocket science.

Everyone else here is doing well. Ian and Erin (another intern) are taking the University to task, they were hired as teachers, however have been downgraded to what more resembles administrative assistants, due to their “Lack of ESL training”, yeah, China really is full of it at times.... thankfully my High School Diploma stood up, shame their BA’s didn’t (but then it could be because they are from one of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges on the west coast of the US). Carol, Steph, Johnny, etc... are all good.

Cheers.