Step 17 - Time for a micro-break?

I know, what the hell? I take too long, then I'm too quick. Whatever. I've got the thoughts to be written, and damned if I won't be writing them down now.

To begin, I recently installed a program on my laptop called Workrave. Sadly, it doesn't turn your workplace environment into a rave party, though if anyone knows of such a program, let me know. No, it has a very different function. To directly quote their website, Workrave 'is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)'. Last time I checked, I didn't yet have an RSI-related injury, so the good news is that the recovery function is somewhat lost on me. It's actually filling quite a different role - reminding me to do other stuff, or at least break up what I'm doing. I've started doing a lot more reading since I've installed it (eg, I've nearly finished a book that had been sitting on my window sill, that for the past 3 months or so had barely been touched). Basically, at whatever time-interval you set, it'll flash up on the screen with a little box that jumps around, reminding you to take a quick break.

Torn off my very own Desktop. Workrave is on the bottom left.

You can have multiple intervals and breaks established - In my case, every 10 minutes it'll tell me to take a 30 second break, and every 45 minutes, it tells me to take a 5 minute break. If you happen to take your own break, it'll notice you haven't touched the keyboard/mouse for whatever amount of time and will reset the count-down. This won't maybe be a wonderfully useful program to a lot of people, but if you find yourself looking at the clock on your computer and wondering where the time went, it might just help.That and you won't get RSI-related injuries?

It doesn't turn your workplace environment into a rave party

I've been eating a lot at the canteens on the university campus recently, it's dirt cheap and not half bad. Two mao (like, twenty Chinese cents, approximately 3 Australian cents?) get's you a plate of rice, with 3-5 yuan (less than or equal to an Australia dollar) getting you a serve of various meat and vegetable dishes. The thing is, there are canteens all over campus and they generally are serving different types of food. Since finding one of the 'rice + assorted goodies' places, I haven't explored many others, but I should look in to it.

It's cheap, convenient and altogether too easy

I've never been much of a person for buying music unless I thought the band/album really deserved my money, and even once that was decided it was a laborious trip to JB-Hifi or something. So it may come as a surprise to some to learn that I recently bought an album off iTunes. This album, to be exact. Oh, and 'Vi Sitter I Ventrilo Och Spelar DotA (Single Version) - Basshunter'. I figure I listened to that puppy enough to warrant giving away $1.69. What kind of scared me is the ease with which I could purchase music - much the same as using Steam to buy games. It's cheap, convenient and altogether too easy to make purchases, especially impulse buys. As I currently don't have a source of income, purchases need to be avoided! Grrr!

With all that said, Steam has been bugging the hell out of me lately with struggling to download games properly. Frontlines (gifted to me by Shane, lovely lad) and Stalker are two examples where the downloading process seems to be stuck in some sort of infernal loop, with completion never likely to arrive. Oh Steam, you've come so far since your inception, who'd have thought you'd even get this far? I mean, you're still frequently broken. Just less frequently broken than you've been before.

They didn't get it. Goddamn Americans...

One of the American brigades here are due to leave soon, in approximately two weeks time I believe. I say brigades, because the vast majority of Americans at 四川大学 are here from either PLU or UW (U-dub). Don't ask me exactly where PLU is, but UW is University of Washington. Both of these universities have agreements with this university and various programs they coordinate together. Much like the tour-group I went on through UWA (University of Western Australia - when I laughed and said we called our uni 'u-dub', they didn't get it. Goddamn Americans...) two years ago, it's not a very long stay in China. This paragraph seems a bit weird but I can't be bothered editing - you get the idea. A bunch of Americans are leaving. I think approximately half my class will be culled, at least one third anyway. It'll be a shame to lose some of them, others... not such a shame. Such is life. I tend to find myself saying that a lot here...

I have a problem with ... his reasons for doing it

Okay, on to the meat of my post. Or gristle? I don't know. It's something I've wanted to complain about anyway. One of the guys who I end up spending a bunch of time around, he has some really annoying traits. I know, I know - Don't we all? But I'm still going to bitch. He happens to be planning to ride some 3000+ km on a motorcycle or scooter, down from Chengdu to the South-East of China, then up to Shanghai via the coast. Now, that's fine. Wonderful even. Brave, foolhardy (?), adventurous. What I have a problem with is not that he's planning on doing this trip, but his reasons for doing it. Not once have I heard him comment on the places he wants to go, the possible experiences he might encounter/endure, the things he wants to see. Nope, everytime it's been about... bragging rights. He's been going on and on about the distance of the trip.

Dude, look at Google Maps for a second. That's the path I'll take. Huge hey? Like, really really far. When people ask me what I did over the break, I'll just drop it like, "Oh, not much, just rode a scooter some 3000km, no biggie"

You get the idea so I won't go on about it too much longer, other than to say he does it all the time. Seriously. All the time. He even said it himself regarding a possible trip to North Korea - 'I don't really care about seeing NK, I just want to be able to tell people I've been'. Maybe part of me wants to call him a fake..? Anyway, moving on...

My god, I just looked at my blog notes, and the next topic was bitching about him doing the same kind of shit at the weights room - he started going about a month ago, and now he's talking it up like he's been going for a lifetime, getting in buzzwords like you wouldn't believe and making it obvious he doesn't have di&k-f@ck idea. This is coming from someone who themselves has shit all knowledge on the topic, which should point out just how far his head is up his ass. I'll leave it at that.

It's time for a new series, or maybe a variation on an old series - basically I'll be taking pictures of buildings I frequently visit, giving a bit of a description and mentioning things that come to mind. For example, why I visit the building... (duh). As always, if you have an idea or suggestion, please mention.

Just quickly...
Oh lulz. Religion, you crack me up. When you're not not enraging me.

Step 16 - Snip Snip

I know, I know, it's been awhile since my last post. I'm having a hard time pacing myself, often wanting to post too soon, and then putting it off for too long. I'll work on improving my regularity.

Poop joke

Huh, maybe someone could make a poop joke about that...

Just going to draw a few things to your attention before getting to the gooey delicious centre of this post - I've added a few things to the sidebar of the blog. One of them is obvious, which is the 'Entertainment' block, which I'll keep updated with what my current favourite listening is, and my most recently consumed TV series/movie. The 'Wallpapers' block is a little less obvious - I'll keep this updated with pictures/images that I'm using as wallpapers on my laptop. Handily, Windows 7 has an automatic wallpaper change function built in, with my wallpaper currently changing every 6 hours. It's a nice little feature that I didn't ever feel was done very well by third-party applicatons. Anyway, the vast majority of the pictures are from my time in China, if you see one that you like and want to know more about it, or want it at a higher resolution, just let me know.

Alright, so to update on the latest happenings... not a great deal. I missed too much class last week, without finding myself feeling very guilty. When I asked people what I missed, invariably the answer was, "Yeah, still nothing. The class was boring, we just read the book, didn't learn anything new". Still, this week I plan on making an effort to attend every class. We'll see how long my fortitude lasts.

...some thermal underwear type gear...

The weather has been much cooler this past week, hovering between zero and ten. The inevitable counter to this colder weather was a shopping trip - on which I acquired a new heavier coat, gloves and a scarf. I also recently bought myself some thermal underwear type gear, and that has made the biggest difference. Of course, it appears the weather is going to get a bit warmer next week. Still, I'll be ready next time.

Speaking of next time, I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but my parents are going to be coming to China just after Christmas, and I'm going to spend around two and a half weeks traveling around with them. We'll be hitting up Shanghai (上海), Chongqing (重庆)/3 Gorges, Xi'an (西安), Beijing (北京)and Harbin (哈尔滨), in that order. I'm really looking forward to spending time with my parents and seeing some new sites, as well as revisiting some old places. I'm not exactly thrilled about returning to Xi'an, I've already seen the Terracotta Warriors and I don't imagine they'll have changed much since last time. That said, I've got a friend studying in the city, so maybe I'll let my parents go on that tour on their own...

My plans for next year have grown hazier, instead of clearer. While initially my plans had been to stay in Chengdu for a year, that evolved into going somewhere else, probably Beijing, and studying in a university there. I have a friend currently involved with a university there and it'd be good to be with him. But this got me thinking, why be in a university system at all? Currently my biggest 'problem' in China at the moment is that I really resent getting up for 8.30am class. I'm really not a morning person, and it shows. This influences the effectiveness of my learning in class, which kind of negates the entire reason for going to class. Anyway, I'm looking at studying outside the university system - getting a professional/decent tutor for maybe four afternoons every week, and doing my own study outside of that.

I've been enjoying this new resource, though it'll never replace a dedicated language textbook

To that end, I've purchased a subscription to Chinesepod.com. This is basically short Chinese lessons established in a format ideal for studying 'on the go'. What's available is a wide range of short lessons on topics generally more targeted to everyday situations and conversations, presented in a format you can easily view on your computer, or on your iPod/Zune/similar hand-held device. I've been enjoying this new resource, though it'll never replace a dedicated language textbook. Why? The depth in textbooks is that much deeper, especially in sections regarding grammar and so on.

The problems I'm considering about being outside of a university system are as follows. Firstly, Visa status. I'll no longer be able to call myself a student, so I'll probably move on to a tourist visa. I'll need to discover how long I can get one for, and how many times I can renew it. Also - where from? A friend mentioned something about not being able to renew your Visa from within China, though that sounds strange/wrong... Still, a lot to work out there. Secondly, accommodation is no longer obvious. I wouldn't be living on a university campus, so I'd have a much broader range of options, though at a much greater cost - especially in Beijing which is one of, if not the most expensive city in China.

There are exciting possibilities though - if I was to be sharing a house/apartment with Chinese people, I imagine my language would improve out of sight. It's pleasant in some ways living in the university dormitory, but everyone speaks English. I even feel awkward sometimes, thinking that if I try use Chinese I'll look like I'm a tryhard? Wow... in my head I knew that didn't really make sense, but writing it down, it looks even stupider. More likely would be that people would laugh at my relative inability to speak the language. Anyway, with Chinese housemates I'd probably not have the easy English option all the time.

Blast ye Apple

All food for thought - On a change of topic and a computer related note, I've noticed that whenever my iPod Shuffle is plugged in, all other flash/thumb-drives and external hard-drives basically stop working. Navigating folders takes minutes to progress from one level to the next, and forget doing transfers or streaming media off the device. All while, to my knowledge, there's no activity on the iPod. Blast ye Apple, blast ye to Hell and yonder!

Keep it real, people... If that is your real name.

PS, I got a bit of a haircut. It's kind of... yeah... Never saw that coming though...

After some sleep, I think the outcome is much better. But that's for everyone else to decide. I've had one Chinese girl tell me it's a very fashionable look...

Step 15 - The World Today

So I probably haven't mentioned this, but I generally don't see much news while I'm here. Sure I get the big stuff off the internet, but I miss my ABC/SBS news. So I've taken up podcasts, and try to listen to a variety of news programs, including the ABC Radio program 'The World Today'. Oh Australian accents, it's so nice to hear you again.

I went to help a friend buy a new bike yesterday - her old bike got stolen. Unfortunately, the bike was just about brand new. She had bought the bike second hand off another foreign student, who showed a scary amount of foresight and was selling it after getting too afraid of having it stolen. Therein lies the concern with buying a new bike in China - as a sparkling new bike, it's a very eye-catching target for would-be thieves. Buying a crappy old falling-apart bike - it's not a great target for thieves, and even if it does get stolen, you ought not get too stressed - it was after all, a crappy old falling-apart bike.

Women and maps... the battle continues

Anyway, we found a bike she liked (Pink, of course), and off we went. For those unawares, I think most major Chinese cities are built around the principal of main roads running north-south, with concentric ring roads emanating out from the centre. Now, my friend was riding home. She thought she was heading South on the North-South road, when she was actually heading West on the East-West road. It took her to the edge of town for her to realise her mistake. Chengdu isn't exactly small... so she rode quite a way. More amusingly, she also overshot on her way home, after discovering her mistake. Hilarity is compounded once you know that she was carrying a map the entire way, with roads marked both in English and Chinese.

I wouldn't be able to sit the end of semester exam

This week is actually a week of mid-semester exams. I'm not particularly stressed, which is refreshing. At my speaking exam this morning the teacher told me that if I missed anymore of her classes, I wouldn't be able to sit the end of semester exam for this class. Now, I'm really sure if this should concern me. I mean, sure, I it does, but I'm not really sure what the ramifications are. So I'll be looking in to that and in the mean time, I'll be going to more classes. Pretty gaaaaaaaaay. I wonder what I'll do when my parents come? I'm planning on missing like 2 1/2 weeks of class. lulzzzzzzz

 I've started wearing my retainers again, after a 1-2 year hiatus or something like that. Teeth kinda hurt like a bitch, but I think they're starting to edge back towards 'correct' locations. I can't even really remember why I stopped wearing them - I needed to clean them or something? And just never quite got around to it.

Speaking of things I'm getting back in to - I'm at the gym 5 days a week now. I quite enjoy it, though it's necessary to time your session - if you go too late in the afternoon, you'll end up waiting to use any/every piece of equipment as the gym is swamped with Chinese. I payed 120 kuai/20 Aus for a 2 month membership - to be honest I don't know if this is good or bad by Chinese standards for university gyms... Oh and the gym is about the only place you see 'big' Chinese guys. Speaking of big people, funniest thing in that 'Ancient Town' I mentioned from the trip was that we saw a huuuuuuuuuge Chinese guy. Seriously, he made Jaws look small.

Seriously, bigger than this guy.

Ummm so what else? We've had Halloween, which is basically only celebrated where there are foreigners.  Which makes sense really... Anyway, it was 70kuai/11 Aus all you can drink at one of the bars. It was a good night (I think. Memory allowing). I didn't bother with a costume, poor form, I know.

It's Movember of course, and I'm looking pretty horrible. Noone here has heard of it and noone understands it. Noone wants to understand it, even. Fools... (Although apparently an American believes that March should be the time to grow a mustache. Huh, crazy Americans.)

Yeah, reaaaaaaaaal pretty. Room-mate's head in the background too.

I'm still thinking about a haircut. Watch this space.

I got involved in a game of rugby over the weekend - I was only expecting to watch the game but ended up jumping in and playing for the visiting team (Chongqing) as both sides were wearing down their reserves and it was a pretty relaxed 'lets-all-give-it-a-go' atmosphere. For a few people it was their first game. Kinda wish I had gotten involved earlier, but such is life. Kinda have enough distractions from study already as it is. Amusingly, more important than the game is the drinks afterwards - the team is sponsored by a local bar (Shamrock) and Guinness - so it's free/cheap drinks afterwards and a 30 kuai/ 5 Aus all-you-can-eat buffet. Also the biggest collection of foreigners I've seen to date, though their origins and ages vary vastly.

That's a wrap.

Step 14 - Remember remember, the fifth of November

Yeah, I couldn't resist.

Speaking of things other things I can't resist, my urge to get this holiday series over is quite strong. So strong, I want to finish it as quickly as possible. In the shortest possible fashion...

Actual Part 3; A Hooker

Find some photos here, y'all.

Okay, I'm going to do this in bullet points just because it's been so long and there's nothing I really want to say about it.

• Near the bus-station we arrived at in Ya'an? Whole bunch of brothels/hookers. Yep. Lots. Not very discrete. 
• It's a pretty boring place.
• From Ya'an, we took a bus to an 'ancient town'. That wasn't actually that 'ancient'. Large cranes = new. Touristy as hell and not very fun. 
• Catching a mini-bus back from this 'ancient/modern' town, the guy reversed into another car. I probably could even have stopped it. I was literally looking back and commentating, 'Hm. Car behind us. He's going to reverse into it. *Crunch* Yep, we just hit it.'
• The next day, caught a bus back to Chengdu. Another friend went on to hike around a panda reserve that is apparently quite nice - certainly the pictures were nice - but I was sick of his company and desperate to get away.

Okay so that's about it. Pictures link is above, there's a few that make me laugh.

It would have been too rude to pack up in front of the teacher in the middle of her class

Moving on, what else is new? Today I'm just feeling pretty bad. Really, really tired. Got up and went to my morning classes, ended up putting my head down for just about the entirety of the 2nd class (10.30-12) because I felt sick. Really should have just gone home, but felt like it would have been too rude to pack up in front of the teacher in the middle of her class. So I waited, then got back to my room, ate a little and went back to bed. I've spent the rest of the day dosing, and basically feeling crap. I'm not really sure why. Sleep has been a bit of a problem recently so it could easily be that, but that isn't exactly thrilling me because there isn't an obvious solution.

Both the roommate and I generally go to bed around 11-12 midnight. I wouldn't want to go to bed earlier, and even if I did, he would still be up. Classes obviously remain constant at 8.30am every day. I've been coming up with crazy schemes as to how I might be able to arrange some sort of system where I can learn/get classes in the afternoon. Not being a full-time student per-se and getting a decent tutor for an hour or two in the afternoon has been my main thought I guess, but I don't know if that would work. I mean, I suspect it would. 1 on 1 is better than the class situation of around 15-20 (depending on the class), and having 'class' in the afternoon would be just... super. I know there's people out there getting up at 5am or worse to go to work, but frankly, not my problem. I'll deal with 5am when and if it ever becomes my own problem. Presently, 8.30am is my problem and I'm thinking of ways to get around it.

Class is killing me

It's occurred to me that I probably haven't really had early morning study, proper study that is, since high school. Sure I occasionally had an early-ish tutorial in my first year of uni (9am or something [oh, and apparently Americans don't know what a 'uni' is. University is fine, but not uni. Just not in their vocabulary.]), but first year was a) ages ago, and b) I tried avoiding those tutorials as much as possible (also because they were boring). Anyway, this is getting less coherent so I'm going to conclude that class is killing me. Yep, killing me. Jabbing a knife in my chest and twisting.


Doing my usual vaguely nerdy shit, I've been helping out friends setting up their wireless routers. It's made more difficult in that the router language is in Chinese by default, and more annoyingly, the friend's computers that I've had to use have been in Polish and French. I didn't realise that French keyboards don't have the QWERTY layout. Really annoying.

I don't know who decided this is how a French keyboard should be laid out, but I already wish they hadn't been born.

Getting really annoying with my room-mate constantly downloading Top-Gear episodes. One of my biggest mistakes was showing him a useful website on how/where to get them easily, because now the internet is constantly in use. I had to abandon a Skype phone call with my Mum on her birthday because the connection was getting raped. I could have done something about it, I guess, *imagines throwing the MacBook out the window* but it probably would have created too much drama. Speaking of drama, I haven't yet told him I'm thinking about going to a different uni next semester.


Come to think of it, have I mentioned that here yet? In brief, I'm thinking of going to Beijing next semester. Maybe 80% I'll try get into it. Again, their classes are at 8.30 so that's actually my biggest consideration right now. If it's possible to be avoiding starting at that time, I'll do it. I'll be sooooooooooooo much happier, and I'm pretty sure feeling better in general. And you know what they say - A happy worker is a productive worker!


Or something like that...


Brief apologies for lack of pictures, but the link is up there if you're desperate. I'm out, peace.