破釜Sink the Boats沉舟

So, there are a few reasons I've been pretty silent around these parts: I've been super busy and therefore haven't been doing much other than working and hanging out, I don't have a camera (the dog ate the old one when I was in the U.S. ... really) and the damned firewall. Even though I can get around it, the fact that I have to go to one extra site in order to access posterous seems to be enough to lower the amount I do so. 

A few photos from my good friend 缪子康, Matt, and his lovely gf-now-wife Pan Jiani, Jenny's, wedding.

             

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untitled.zip (5539 KB)

I've still just been keeping busy. In addition to all of the things I already have going on, I'm in talks with a company about maybe doing some part-time translation for them. This would certainly mean more work for me, but it's work I could be pretty excited about. But, more details on that when if and if it all works out.
The October holiday couldn't come any sooner. I was originally planning on traveling to Xinjiang with a friend, but it look likes I'll be between Nanjing and Shanghai instead. Much less adventurous, but that's alright. Spending the break in a relaxing fashion sounds great. Not to mention that I'll be going to Nanjing in order to be best man at my friend Matt's wedding, which I'm looking forward to. Good friend's weddings are always fun, this time around, I'm also his best ban. Should be interesting. As his '伴郎' I'll have to give a little speech and 'drink for him'. I think I'm pretty seasoned as far as baijiu goes, but this will truly test my limits. (or so I hear.) I'll post some pictures next month.
On the literary side of things, I'm about half-way through the book, 'China Wakes: The Struggle for the Soul of a Rising Power". It's written by a husband and wife journalist pair who lived and reported in China from '88-'93. Having read quite a bit on China, but mostly things published within the last ten years, it's interesting reading something from an early '90's perspective. The situation on the ground was much different (to say the least) and so much has happened in the last 15 years. Some of their predictions were spot on and some things seem to have turned out completely unlike what they expected.
Anyway, it's been a pretty good read so far. The bits about little Tibetan villages are getting me all the more stoked to be in Northwestern Yunnan this winter.

It appears that posterous may have been blocked by the great firewall. I can't access the main site or any posterous blogs without a proxy. Hopefully it's some other issue that will solve itself shortly and not another great site service that's been added to the 'list'.

**Update: Yep, it's blocked. Given all the proxies and ways around the firewall, it doesn't really change much, but it's annoying nonetheless. Another nice thing about posterous, however, is that posting via email is unaffected by the firewall. Cheers to that.

It's been a busy past two weeks. The new semester started only a few days after I got back and jumping into a new semester is quite the workload. Lot's of getting things together, planning, data entry and well, teaching classes. (I've got a lot of those this semester) In addition to all of that, I'm looking for apartments, arranging some financial stuff with the bank and doing various visa stuff. Also, my interwebs connection at home is inexplicably absent. Not sure what's going on with that.  All this adds up to a big decrease in internet use and life updating stuff. I'm definitely looking forward to some respite once I can get a few of these things off my plate in the next few weeks.
Outside of the busy-ness I've just been doing my thing and enjoying being back in Shanghai. Tea with Mr. Li, coffee at Geoffrey's, beers and Gypsy King covers down the street, balconies and what seems like dinner out every night. But hopefully more on all of that soon.

I'm reading Haruki Murakami's, 'Kafka on the Shore' right now. It's the second book I've read by him and I am still loving the stories this guy tells and the way he writes. In ways, his books are completely absurd, but he weaves them in ways that are hard to put down and writes with a certain unique descriptiveness that I really like. There are plenty of examples all over his books (many less 'romantic' than the following), but I liked this paragraph when I came across it the other day.

In my apartment in Shanghai after a fantastic vacation back home. What's on the docket for the next few weeks? Look for a cheaper, smaller apartment, tell the landlord I'm looking for a cheaper, smaller apartment, get ready for the next semester, readjust to the timezone, eat hotpot and start all over at the gym. 

           

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america_i_love_you.zip (5123 KB)

Been busy with seeing people, drinking and just hanging out. Went to the zoo today where my friend works and got to see all the behind the scenes stuff. That was rad. I also was introduced to a burrowing owl named Rupert. He was about 5" tall.