Day 24: The More Than One Child Policy

So China's loosened its one child policy. Whereas before only two siblingless spouses could have more than one baby, now if only one spouse has a sibling, the law will permit them to have two kids.

But the law never really stopped people from having kids if they had the money to pay the fines.

It did stop some other people from having kids, though. People in rougher parts of the country had to deal with law enforcers who brutally forced sterilizations and abortions.

So most people (inside and out of China) are happy about this step forwards.

Though some remain cynical, such as one blogger (whose comment was quickly deleted by... someone), who said, “It’s funny how human rights work around here. Our government took hostage our basic rights not to be tortured and to decide the size of our family years ago. Now that they are trading it back to us in tiny drips and drops, are we somehow expected to kowtow in gratitude and say our heartiest thank you?”


MY TAKE
There's no doubt that the one child policy was rife with injustice, bad interpretations of the law, and bad actions carried out. No wonder everyone hated it. No doubt the loosening of the law is an egalitarian step forwards.

But.

You probably know that i view everything through environmentally coloured glasses. And I am very very concerned about the effect that the human population is having on the planet. And the effect that people in developed nations have on the planet is much much bigger than those in 2nd/3rd world countries.

Hell, it takes a lot of resources to build our airports and ski lifts, to heat and carpet our homes, to bring us our French wine and imported quinoa. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. Etc. And you can bet that the growing Chinese population will also quickly develop their taste for imported wine and warm homes. Trust me.

I always think about my grade 12 biology class, when I learned about the population J-curve.

So in fact, i recall the above right-hand graph in reference to fruit flies living in a closed system whereupon they reached the point where they'd consumed their resources faster than the resources could be regenerated, and the J-curve essentially mirrored itself.

Slow rise, fast incline, peak, fast decline, then slowing down after the masses had died.

I fear the decline, and weirdly think about it a lot, come to think of it.

So human rights problems and all, I still support the one child policy for China. In fact, I support one child policies for every country. Yes, I know that's a huge simplification that doesn't address many developed countries and provinces with declining populations, etc, etc.

But still, I worry that on the whole, the planet's population is probably already beyond the planet's carrying capacity. Our at least for the way we live. And hell, who doesn't want to live the high life? Who wouldn't want to take a free airplane to Guizhou to run a 100km? Who wouldn't complain to the boss that Hey I Write for the Travel Section, So Why Don't You Send Me Somewhere? I admit it, I finally relented and stopped buying Chinese wine. It generally sucks, and there's places to get cheaply priced stuff from Australia or wherever.

In my heart, I feel that there will be a time when things on this planet will be very unpleasant for Humanity in general. I suspect that you and I will see a little bit of what that will look like. The one child policy is just one factor, but it's definitely a much much bigger factor than statusq choosing to use public transit/bike to go to work.



Pic by me, taken during the Guizhou race. 

It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)

No, I didn't see the movie. 

But like many people, I'm open to the possibility that December 21st, the end date of the Mayan Calendar may be (approximately) be an indication of some sort of spiritual shift in the collective consciousness. 

Considering that i actually have a deep dark beliefs about humanity catastrophically fucking the environment up the ass (not that there's anything wrong w/ making anal love for those who enjoy it), i wonder if we may be crossing that threshold of this "new era". 

I also wonder if we may shortly witness the end of capitalism (as we know it) and (imo) insanely narrowminded growth models. 
i don't expect these things to happen on Friday. i don't really expect anything to happen. Though apparently 20% of Chinese people are worried, buying candles and stuff. Luckily i already have some at home. 

This Friday, my plan is to finish work, then go to Beihai Park downtown w/ Yoyo and Derrick, and walk around to the top of the hill and have a view of the city as anarchy breaks out. 

At the very least, i think this Friday is a particularly good time to embrace the symbolism of the end of an era, the beginning of an era. i plan to stay squeaky clean sober, be (sort of) in nature and w/ loved ones. Maybe create something, but i haven't thought things through that far yet. 

Interestingly enough, Terrence Mckenna and hisTimewave Zero hypothesis is set to happen this Friday also.  (It was originally calculated for Nov, but he readjusted it to align w/ the Mayan calendar). Anyhow, he believes the universe is a "novelty machine", creating new, never before seen/had experiences, and that this Friday, we'll reach "a singularity of infinite complexity in 2012, at which point anything and everything imaginable will occur simultaneously." Unsurprisingly, he was on mushrooms when he came up w/ the idea. 

i think i may have had a similar experience (on mushrooms, incidentally), and it's truly truly truly like nothing you've ever imagined before. i was completely befuddled by an experience for which words seemed completely inapplicable. Later on i found that Zen Buddhists summed it up impressively with just 3 words: "All is One". 

So there i was walking the streets of Seattle, flabbergasted to experience this thing which was bigger than time itself, this thing which OBVIOUSLY predated the Big Bang and the universe itself. And yes, i still take it as concrete evidence that my experience was real, because of course my tiny little simple mind could never imagine something so unimaginable or REAL. But the incredible thing was that... everything was also totally NORMAL. i'd just noticed something that had always been there. Like noticing a little birthmark on your ankle. Oh hello, you've always been a part of me, but i wasn't paying you any attention.  

So. Just in case there is a shift, and you do notice a birthmark on your ankle, i hope that you can just smile and relax. Some people may see that birthmark and freak out, call the doctor, try to cover it up, try to hack it off.  But i think it would be better to get to know that birthmark, 'cause it's not about to go anywhere. 

But like i said: i don't really expect any birthmarks this Friday. 


For way more information about this than you want to know check out Wikipedia here. 

Bad News. Again.

Running in the snow w/ my running group this morning. An American woman joined us late, visibly distressed, and she informed us about the Newtown shooting. There was some awkward dialogue about other shootings and schoolhouse killings, and one oddly timed joke about gun laws, but then we kept running and talked about other things. 

Now at home, i read a bit more and the gravity hits a bit more. Yes, there's tragedy across the globe everyday of every magnitude, but somehow this particular narrative hits a bit harder. The Connecticut governor said the #1 way to help right now is to pray, so i did. In fact, i believe him. I believe that there's a global connectedness concerning this tragedy, and i felt tapped into that for a few minutes. 

Soon, i'll head out to a Christmas fair, and go about my preplanned weekend entertainments. And maybe you will too. 

Thanks for reading and participating in all the stuff that humans do, menial and otherwise. 

Condolences to all affected. 

Peace,

wiL

Day 9: National Congress MADNESS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well i really should say something  to welcome Xi Jinping, China's new Party Secretary and President. 

Well, the climate around Beijing is totally not hype. Everyone's like whatEVerrr. 

It ain't no democrat party. 

"Yoyo, what do you think about Xijinping?"

"I don't think anything."

"Does anybody in your office care?"

"No. Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping… they're all communists."

Ok fine, that's a magazine office, even if it's one that does focus on politics. 

But i work at a govt national news agency. Even the people who are covering it are uninterested, describing it as a lot of writing about nothing. Yes it's happening, yes it's important, no it's not interesting, and no there's nothing regular Chinese folk can do about it. 

It's bigger impact on the lives of Beijingers is that taxi drivers have been refusing to go near Changan Avenue to avoid security hold ups around Tiannanmen Square.

But of course, it is still a change. Xi Jinping seems more personable and confident than Mr Blendintothewallpaper, Hu Jintao. He's kept a clean slate (purportedly) in terms of staying out of corruption, and pressing the party to fight it. He's reasonably young to become the head of state, and presumably brings modern ideas w/ him. Even his wife was a starlet herself, belting out the commie hits, before hubby started squeezing into the upper echelons of the Party. 

Even Hu Jintao talked about the need for China to reform, more transparency, etc. No, China's not about to tumble into democracy, nor should it. But it can clean up it's act and work towards a more prosperous and harmonious phuture. 

Day 4: Dental Floss and State of Mind

In my life, I've noticed a pretty direct correlation between the times I floss and the times when I'm generally content. And didn't i hear once that some people on Oprah started flossing (and other stuff) and became more youthful and positive? 

i can't promise that flossing will make you happier. But i bet that it would. i bet that committing to pretty much anything and following through would give some sense of accomplishment. Like blogging for 30 days. (btw, i've encouraged Yoyo to write/draw in her notebook everyday this month, but she's got some catching up to do.)

i first started flossing after traveling in India. i decided i needed more commitment in my life. Then you realize, hell, it takes less than a minute!  Before you know it, habit is established, and commitment is no longer required. Incredible!

i note that there's already been two chunks of time in my life when i flossed. And then i fell out  for laziness, busyness, and self-loathing. A few weeks ago i started again. There's definitely some feeling about taking better care of myself.

A while ago, a friend said on a scale of 1-100 he was like 85: very happy. Which got me to thinking. For the moment: work, very good; new apartment: good; friends and lifestyle: good; health and activities: good; girlfriend relationship: very very good. i feel happy.

Thank goodness i started flossing. 

Here's more multimedia rhetoric for y'all:

Gutter Oil: It's Fucking Epidemic

I heard a long time ago from Q not to eat in cheap restaurants 'cause they use gutter oil. That's oil taken out of the sewers. But i didn't really believe her. And the cheap restaurants are too tasty to stay away from.
But then gutter oil started getting more and more press.
And one reporter even got lynched for covering it. Cause gutter oil across this massive country is worth millions of rmb to the gangs who run the operations.
But recently my friend and i stopped outside of any alley cafe to sip some wine, when along comes this guy. He yanks the manhole cover off of the whole and proceeds to scoop ladles of fucking sick-ass lumpy fat discarded by restaurant into a bucket. Of course, i whipped out my always dependable iPod, and shot some low quality footage. My friend asks him, "what are you doing? What are you going to do with that?" But she couldn't really understand his provincial accent.
One: gutter oil is disgusting. Two: gutter oil is carcinogenic. Three: after it's filtered and processed, gutter oil looks like normal oil. Four: don't expect the police to stop gutter oil.
And then just two days later, my co-host's co-host saw someone by our workplace collecting gutter oil.
Yuck.
But i admit that sometimes i still eat at the totally dirt-cheap place.

Dream Interpretation

i had my first ever flying dream recently. Or, close enough.

i was at CRI w/ a friend and a colleague, walking down a hall that suddenly ended in blackness. But i took a step out into the void and instead of falling to my death/infinity, i found that with difficulty, i could swim in the air. i slowly sank down, and some motion-activated lights revealed a dirt floor a ways below. So i landed and started walking around. My friend and colleague joined me.

We were in a huge room that had a bad odour. It was like a massive aquarium with no windows, but housing some "sea" creatures, like flounders hiding/covered with the dirt. They were sick. We were there to inspect the problem with the animals. But i was on such a rush from the swimming/flying, my mood was high as a kite. My friend was also happy, walking backwards, skimming along the surface of the dirt.

the end.

i discussed the dream w/ my brother, who's well versed with Carl Jung.

1. Going down = deeper into the subconcious. i stepped off the ledge w/out much hesitation, inadvertently revealing my ability to swim in the air.
2. i'm sure the massive, windowless fluorescent lit room with bad ventilation represented China Radio International. CRI stinks. It has problems. And not just the bathroom smell, which sometimes horribly infiltrates the office.
3. And it houses creatures who are sick, who've allowed themselves to get smothered in the surrounding dirt. This metaphor could hardly be improved.
4. But.
5. i'm there with a friend, and one colleague, who i barely ever see or know. He's an older Scottish fellow who is definitely the most positive person i've met at CRI. It's actually already obvious that it's possible to surround myself with good people at CRI.
6. And i can FLY / swim, which feels totally wicked. And i did wonder at one point why i was walking when i could've been flying-swimming. But i had a job to do, and i was doing it. i guess i already had the ability, but the strange circumstance at CRI allowed me to discover it...?

Anyhow, pretty interesting to unravel a pretty direct and surprisingly positive correlation between my dream and my work. One warning inherent in it: don't let yourself become one of those sick flounder thingies. That would truly suck.

Day 13 - It's Not Money; It's Momentum

What makes the world go around?

For the time being, i think it's just that we, and the systems which we are stuck in, are in so deep that we can't figure out how to make a figurative left hand turn.

My dad recently told me that nobody trades in stocks in denominations of less than 100, and advised me to quit pissing around buying 20 of this or that stock. (Hey, those 20 stocks cost me $500, Dad!)

So i'm presently selling off a bunch of losing stocks. Lots of the stocks, like Carmanah Tech, look like this:



i just threw a bunch of money at some green companies in an effort to get money out of the bank system, whose ethics ought not be admired. i looked at a few charts, and bought some stocks that didn't seem to be dying any faster than the others.

But.

Some really are dying faster than others.

Well that is annoying. For now, i prefer not to count up the total amount lost, or the equivalent number of hours spent attaining said sum.

i'm not big into money, since i grew up comfortably enough, and prefer not to think about it too much. But i know that that's exactly how the Wall Street CEO's like it. So i should be more informed and aware of money dealings. But fuck, is it boring.

Also, my financial self-education is pretty limited, taking cues from Youtube videos, like the one below. Which i suspect is true, though i still haven't taken his advice. My bad.

The Foshan Girl - Hit and Run

Warning: the video below is pretty disturbing. Not exactly graphic, but you can get the gist of everything happening.



I just watched the above video, having avoided it for some time. I post it here because it's one of those things (like the twin towers) where visually there's an impact that affects you in a rather different way than reading all about it.

In a nutshell, a 2 year old girl was hit twice by a van, and then hit by another. And too many pedestrians turned a blind eye to the girl. This certainly made headlines across the planet, not necessarily because it's important news but because it's certainly the kind of story that resonates with people and with people's impression of China.

Not that that's wrong. Chinese media's also been all over this thing. I think this Guardian article's got it right (by a Chinese writer) who connects the event w/ a population still struggling to get over the survivalist mentality of the cultural revolution. And embarrassingly, the courts here have in the past attacked rather than praised good Samaritans.

Personally, i was surprised at my reaction to watching the vid above. Often, in fact, when i see stuff like that my get craves for retribution. Where's the culprit? Where's their shameful apology? i don't know why i want to see that stuff so bad, but i do. So much for forgiveness. i might forgive after i see the tears of shame and guilt.

Detonate Intellectual War

I bought a can of walnut drink the other day. Quite tasty. Supposedly good for the brain. Marketed towards students.

I ignored the third word of the text which said it was Pulped Walnut Latex Product.

But below that, it stated quite beautifully: "POWER: Detonate Intellectual War."

Not quite sure what that meant, but I knew I had to drink it.

Bamboozled

China has a reputation for producing knock offs. Fake iPhones, fake Gucci bags, fake baby food, you name it.. There's also a lot of fake alcohol. Even a 60 cent bottle of 40% baijiu can be fake. Shots of tequila from the bar taste like tequila but they don't pack the same punch. Unless you're in a swank spot, it's always safer to stick to beer.

The other night i felt like drinking scotch, which i haven't had in a long time. So i went to buy a bottle from an int'l grocery store, but Qianqian advised me that the Russian convenience store would be cheaper.

It wasn't, but the selection was better. So i was able to choose a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt scotch, which was about CAD $40. Fine. My dad will be in BJ before long, so I don't want to disappoint him with Johnny Walker Red Label.

Upon returning home, I poured a couple glasses, toasted w/ my brother, and enjoyed. Mm good. But not that good. Sometimes i really enjoy my drink and other times not. But really. This should've tasted better than that. It tasted ok, in fact, but definitely did not taste like 40%. I was disappointed. Q said i should take it back and graciously offered to accompany me.

We went down to the store w/ a glass in hand, and said, “It's fake. We don't want it. You try it. Can we get our money back please?”

“No. It's real.”

“No, it's not. I've drank this before. It's not the same.” (Although my brain was actually struggling to recall whatever Glenfiddich tasted like).

A supervisor came in. Telephone calls were made. One converstion included suspicious information such as “He' a foreigner. In his 20s. Maybe a student.” I realized I shouldn't have dressed so casually.

We were told that the bottle would be sent for a quality control check up. It could take a week or so before we were notified of the result.

It was turning into too much hassle. I suggested to Q that we forget it and split, (to which she commented I was being a nerd).

She told them said we'd handle it tonight or she'd call the police. She said to me, “You're 100% sure it's fake, so why should you be worried?” To myself I thought, “Only 85% sure, actually.”

So what could happen? They send it off for quality check. Somebody says, “Sorry it's real,” and that's the end of it. I was scared that my tastebuds were going to be put to the test.

Five minutes later, a full refund was silently slipped onto the counter, which we pocketed before slipping out.

Success! I wasn't stuck w/ a $40 bottle of mystery scotch. We had beat the system. Or rather, Q had. She was admittedly annoyed that I had considered ducking out, after I had dragged her into the situation. But in her mind, of COURSE we'd get the money back, from this store which was totally loaded with illegally imported and untaxed goods. Well. What would the foreigner know about how things work?

The lesson: don't buy booze (cheap OR expensive) from the sketchy Russian store. Or other sketchy establishments, for that matter.

Potential Job Upheaval

For the record, i'd just like to say that it's disturbingly true. It's all about money.

There's not really any moral higher ground in choosing my school or the Chinese school. It's a scrap. Both sides have the gloves off.

You know i always have said that $'s not my key thing, but now i'm part of a group and money is the key thing. Because it'll be a shit show either way, but people will be more willing to put up with a shit show that pays, seeing as how people have already put up with shit shows w/out proper pay.

So i find myself in the boat where dollars and cents will be the closest approximation i can get to respect, freedom, and happiness.

That feels kinda wrong, don't it.

The Porn Addiction

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Happy Not So New Year

Well, that went by in a hurry. Sort of.

Was gonna do some sort of recap on 2010, but that seems like a lot of effort, and i'm a bit of a burn out these days. Ok, ok, i'll keep it short.

-met the gf's parents!
-glossy Japanese cityscapes!
-solitude in snow covered forests!
-mediocre performance on stage!
-and was offered payment!
-moved to dntn BJ!
-moved in w/ my gf and brother!
-got informed that another misstep will get me fired!
-revisited lots of loved ones in Vancouver, BC, Canada!
-got baked!
-got clean!
-got unclean again!
-ate stinky tofu and liked it!
-became buddhist!
-watched the moonrise!
-stayed up till the sun came up
-worked uncountable overtime hours!
-got my gf to toke up and swim naked at Wreck!

Well, that doesn't look so bad. Kinda makes up for all the ups and downs and stresses which i conscientiously omitted from putting on the list.

As for new year's eve itself, it was a bit weird. before dinner we visited L'Occidental, cause i got a couple bottles of stuff for Q for Christmas, but then she saw they were too close to the expiration date, so wanted to exchange them. At the store she realized that they were on sale together and was pissed off 'cause she thought i only got them 'cause they were cheap. Only partly true: they're actually much more expensive in China than in Canada, and so i did figure that getting them on sale was pragmatic, and why wouldn't someone want eye cream w/ Shea Butter?

But in Q's eyes, it was a major loss of face. Like buying someone food that's ready to rot. Not thoughtful, AND cheap. She was pissed off, and stated that she wanted to bail out on the planned trip to Qingdao the next morning. So i had to do some damage control to get things back on track.

Then it was like 11:30, and Derrick was like, "So are we going to go somewhere or what?" So we considered going, but in the end just meditated through midnight, not unlike my good ol' DIY Dharma gang in Vancouver.

Originally planned to go to my friend Yuqi's gig, but then we realized it was on Sat 1st, not Fri 31st. So that was a no-go. When i told a friend (who's in Yuqi's band) that we couldn't attend the party, he said, "Really? I thought you were opening for us!" Um... no...

Three Strikes Your ... Still In!

Well, since being employed by SinoBright School, i have (count 'em) three times talked about things in my classes which were deemed too sensitive, and word reached the Chinese staff, who in turn contacted my principals who in turn contacted me.

Once last year in Social Studies, i mentioned Tiannanmen.

This year I apparently overstepped boundaries by mentioning... either Tibet or Xinjiang or the Da lie Lamma or Liu Shiabo.

And the sex ed stuff.

And i am the first to admit, i have lacked cultural sensitivity.

And thus was not surprised when following two administrative meetings (neither one of which was attended by me), I was asked to sign a piece of paper which says i understand that should this sort of issue recur, it will precipitate my dismissal.

Sigh.

Oh well, i don't expect to tackle those topics anymore, and really i can easily teach the required concepts without delving into sensitive Chinese politics.

Sex, pbly no, but that's another can of worms, and one which i didn't really plan on opening in such a big way AT ALL.

And finally: received this email today from my boss to staff.

FYI

We will be given an in-service by the Chinese Visa department, in the near future- I assume, on the boundaries for sensitive issues/topics.

'Should be another interesting Chinese experience.

Apologies to my coworkers. Hope it doesn't take up too much of yr free time.

The Speed of Progress

When I came to Beijing in 2007, this is what the subway map looked like:




Today, the subway map looks like this:



Line 9, is almost but not yet opened, but slated to open this year, so they say. Last night i met some American dude who commented that Beijing is a surprisingly modern city. It is indeed. In fact, much more modern now than it was a few short years ago, as tons of development, money, and futuristic architecture have pummeled their way into this somewhat smoggy metropolis.

It looks good. But it is sad that a lot of historical hutongs and neighbourhoods are being wiped into oblivion because Versace and H&M need brightly chrome accented shopping malls to make their homes in.

I could use this opportunity to talk about "the bubble" or the heavy expectations that "if you build it, they will come," but frankly i'm a bit too tired today. So instead i'll just say that more subways is better, they get great use, they're highly subsidized ($0.30 to ride anywhere), and i almost never use them since i live downtown and have a bike now.

4 - statusq Does Not Stand Up for Freedom of Speech

Get a call from one of the school owners. Want me to come down to the head office. To talk about something. No explanation why.

This kinda makes me nervous. I meet up w/ the owner. He eventually discloses that an unidentified parent sent him word that a said Mr Wang was reportedly talking about Tibet in class.

Which i was.

Canadian Eng textbook: "Research an incident where a minority group in Canada was discriminated against."

So they did. Replaced "Canada" with "China" in an effort to stay relevant. Possible topics: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Xinjiang, Falun Gong, and Tibet.

And apparently (after all presentations were a fait accompli), some anonymous parent contacted the school.

The owner was notably shaken. I felt bad for him. i agreed in fact that i could have paid more sensitivity to the country i'm residing in, and agreed to drop said topics in the future. (insert frowny face).

Next day, i informed 2 students that they will no longer be researching the Dalai Lama or Liu Xiaobo for the Heroes project. "Why? It's ok, we don't mind." "Sorry, it's not my decision. But if yr interested you should learn about it on yr own time." i had given students a bit of advice about hopping the China Firewall.

Staff members were surprised to hear my news, since they all expected Craig to get the call. He's the guy who had every single gr 12 student researching Liu Xiaobo and China viewpoints, and rating him as a patriot or not.

His take is that for Social Studies, he would take the complaint to the BC Ministry of Education, believing that nothing less than Freedom of Speech is at stake.

i take his point, and he concurs that my position and situation is not worth "the good fight" per say...

But if he is asked to self-censor, i'm sure the fall out will be interesting indeed.

Day 2 - Workers of the World - Unite! i said, "Unite." "UNITE!" Oh, forget it.

Last wkend Derrick and i went to revisit suburbia and beyond. D was out to get some documentary footage of these recycling communiities we went to before.

We edged our way in and hung out for a couple hours observing people sort through massive mountains of plastic pop and water and cooking oil bottles. It was mind-numbingly repetitive work. They would glance at D's otherworldly tripod and camera set up, possibly smile, possibly not, and then get back to the endless task at hand.

That was the woman's work.

The men's work happened when some young and some old men started dragging these huge bags of sorted bottles over to a shredding machine. They started up this goddawfully loud machine, and proceeded to start heaving and dumping the bottles in, and the quickly scooping the plastic shrapnel into smaller sacks, and piling them up into amazingly vertical stacks, which could reach 2 stories in height.

Anyhow, a number of times i've been saddened about the lack of worker safety happening in China. A pair of ear plugs'd cost you 30cents and could save your hearing for life. Why isn't somebody making this available? Isn't somebody responsible for worker health somewhere?

And while they're at it, could they please also get those welders to put on some sunglasses? Geez, i pity those guys' retinas.

Anyhow, I can only assume that there's people who are better positioned than i who can (and are?) working to make these changes. Really there's little excuse not to get some cheap ass pieces of cotton or something into these dudes' ears, or some cheap ass shades onto the faces.

No comment on bike helmets today. Maybe for a later post.

Crickety Cricket

i had this great idea to purchase a cricket from the outdoor market by my house. They sit there all noisy chirping away and it seemed pretty crappy to be crammed into a cage which can hardly contain you and your thorny limbs.

So i bought one of the buggers. Me and my coworkers eyed, it, fed it watermelon, then took it outside to let it jump around.

It bit me through the cage, which caused me to shriek.
"Yeah right, i'll believe it if there's blood," yawned J.
Upon closer inspection, in triumphantly declared that the mofo had indeed drawn blood out of my left index. i gather s/he was not pleased to be jostled so much as of late.

It took considerable poking and prodding to get him/her to come out. When s/he did, i was rather disturbed to note that s/he was missing his/her left hind leg. Oh, shitty. How was s/he going to jump around and entertain us now? No, instead of cavorting instilling us with childlike shrieks, s/he just trudged around on the pavement slowly.

So i took a few pix, and then let him/her go in the dinky patch of grass next to my apartment, which is all the convenient wilderness to be found around here.

In the end, the whole thing was kinda depressing. Is it better to be "free" in an environment where (since yr a bred creature in the 1st place) you have no survival skills, not to mention no left hind leg, and your future is either waiting to get eaten by a bird or something? Or better to live in a cramped cage, cheerful that your missing left leg opens up the space in that feng shui kind of way, singing along with your buddies who all have the misfortune to live in little cages cramped with every natural limb that a cricket should have.

I unscientifically hypothesize that the bugger's got a max life expectancy of perhaps 3 days more. Shit, what a life to live trying to survive crippled in a bizarre and unknown territory. Yup, this teaching business is a cake walk in comparison! It made me a bit sad to think that i could've made things worse for him/her than if i just left him/her alone. Oh well.

Good luck, buddy!

Stupid SUV Drivers Ruining MY Air!!!

The other day, outside of my school, was a Porsche SUV picking up some student, who i most likely don't know. It was a not atypical day where the horizon and not so distant buildings had been bleached into various shades of white due to particulate matter in the air, particles coming from factories, and vehicle exhaust systems.

So i was thinking, "This is YOUR fault, Mr Porsche SUV driver! You are making this shitty air quality that everyone in the city (and beyond) has to live with."

Of course, after a moment's contemplation i remembered myself. Ok, so this dude has got a shiny expensive pollution spewing machine. He pbly got it in the last 2 years. Before the last 2 years, he pbly had a smaller pollution spewing machine, and when he was young, he pbly had none.

He pbly grew up in a time when luxuries were scarce, almost as scarce as conveniences. Maybe he grew up in a 2nd/3rd world country which held places like energy-consuming Canada up as the ideal.

More likely than not, my own life and lifestyle has contributed more to shitty air quality than his polished black Porsche. The number of times i've been air-born across oceans, the miles covered in auto-vehicles, the energy i've used to live in Canadian climates, goods produced for my consumption before resting in landfill sites, etc etc.

Point being, to get off my f'ing high horse.

No comment about the methane gas which comes out my horse's ass, far too frequently. Ka-ting!