Nearly 3 full weeks later and I finally begin on a new blog post. What's gone on since my last post? I'll have to have a think about that.
So, I've been to Shanghai to catch up with a buddy. It was great to see her and she was super nice and brought me many a tasty treat from Australia. Namely, cheese and Dilmah tea. So much Dilmah tea. 1200 bags, exactly. <3. I didn't actually do that much in Shanghai, but it was my 3rd time there and I don't really feel like it has that much new to offer me. Maybe that's me being a bit too presumptuous, but Shanghai has never been very good at attracting me. First impressions count?
Back in Chengdu, I guess I've been feeling more homesick than ever. Whenever a negative event occurs, it only adds to my feelings of dislike (resentment?) towards China. I doubt that they're all valid complaints, but somehow they're more acceptable if they were to occur back home. Sometimes there are events that annoy me, that with greater reflection I realise would also easily occur in Perth. My most recent grievance against China begins as such - I awake to my roommate knocking on my door.
-Hey Liam, get up, I just got a message from (I forget) saying that someone at school was saying that Liam should go see the police. Apparently they think he has overstayed his VISA by like a month.
+Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. *sigh*
So I get up. The time is around 11am. I have a cup of tea. Mooch around for awhile I guess, just waking up. Around lunchtime I figure I'll leave and get some food on the way to the police station. My Chinese housemate stops me; 'Ah, Liam, I think the police station will be closed for their break. Maybe it would be better to go around 2.30pm'. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. *sigh*. I was fully used to the Int. Student office having long afternoon siesta's/lunch breaks, but I didn't realise that it also extended to the Police.
So I waited and bummed around, practicing some guitar, flopping around on the computer. Eventually I left and went to visit the 'Poe Poe'. The guy there didn't give two hoots about my Visa/Residence permit; just taking a few photocopies and getting my signature on a document confirming, yes, I was still living in China. So I get back home and figure it's all done and covered. Except that this morning, my Chinese housemate mentions to me that the landlord has called him and said that I should call the police. Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight. *sigh*.
I was already annoyed that the local police couldn't confirm shit with the Visa department - I mean, I assume they have a big file on me anyway, no doubt with a noteation of this blog and snarky recommendations that I should be fucked with at every available opportunity. But just listen to me, assumptions of celebrity and grandeur, thinking that my situation is shitty. I only need look around to see that there's plenty of Chinese get fucked every day by their government. Oh wait, there I go again, making parallels between China and Australia.
Anyway, I'm done ranting now. I haven't been taking pictures really, so I don't have anything much new to show. I've nearly finished the Vegemite my parents brought over for me, so that's sad for me. Perhaps I can find some strange sort of alchemy to convert tea into Vegemite.
I'm finding that my laptop is on it's final legs, in terms of gaming life/desktop replacement. It still functions more than adequately in every other function that I have for it, which is why it's so painful. If it were utterly useless, I'd have no qualms about replacing it right here and right now. Alak, it's still a generally healthy functioning machine and it still has use, so I have to watch it limp along best it can whenever I put it through the ordeal of modern gaming. I don't even attempt to run Battlefield: Bad Company 2 any more, it's just not worth the pain for either of us. Batman: Arkham Asylum is a similar story, though not quite so obviously... torturous.
In terms of my future/career, I've been finding myself more and more interested in the idea of video game journalism. God forbid my parents actually read this blog, I'm sure they'll shrivel up and die inside at the thought. A recent funny story behind that goes as such - I was recently chatting with my Dad on Skype, complaining as I have just done about my laptop failing at gaming.
[24/03/2010 6:18:43 PM] liam.jones08: hehe
[24/03/2010 6:18:58 PM] liam.jones08: you'll probably be glad to hear this
[24/03/2010 6:19:14 PM] liam.jones08: but i'm having trouble with hobbies of my own.
[24/03/2010 6:19:44 PM] Douglas Jones: Oh....what's that....home brewing?
[24/03/2010 6:20:08 PM] liam.jones08: playing computer games (the latest ones anyway) is becoming nigh impossible as my laptop just can't run them
[24/03/2010 6:20:12 PM] Douglas Jones: That's the normal student 'hobby'.....except for girls of course
[24/03/2010 6:20:25 PM] liam.jones08: you forget I'm a nerd, but anyway
[24/03/2010 6:20:26 PM] liam.jones08: haah
[24/03/2010 6:20:47 PM] Douglas Jones: That's an activity....not a hobby!!!
[24/03/2010 6:21:21 PM] liam.jones08: maybe i should check the definition of hobby
[24/03/2010 6:21:39 PM] liam.jones08: 'A hobby is an activity or interest that is undertaken for pleasure or relaxation'
[24/03/2010 6:21:58 PM] liam.jones08: Hmm, I think it passes as being a hobby dad!
[24/03/2010 6:22:16 PM] liam.jones08: despite you/mum's feelings towards it
[24/03/2010 6:22:17 PM] Douglas Jones: mumble mumble mumble
Yes, mumble indeed. Grumble is also appropriate. Anyway, this is just a relatively tame example of my parent's maligned attitude towards gaming and computers in general. So I did some quick searching, as I always do, to find out just about anything. Clogged toilet? Checking the internet. Stained clothes? Checking the internet. Mouldy walls? Checking the internet. You get the idea. Anyway, my search returned this article quite quickly. It made these 5 points (with greater detail, if you follow the link).
Be a gamer. (Tick)
Be a writer. (Tick)
Get a degree. (Tick)
Do work experience and/or put together a portfolio. (Cross, but in progress - as seen at 'The Rule', where I'm soon to be stepping up the standard)
Get a job. (Cross. On the flipside, I did my UWA work experience with two people who have at one stage or another been journalists and editors of an Australian video gaming magazine. It's not much, but it's better than not knowing anyone in the industry.)
For anyone that knows me, I'm about as changeable as the wind when it comes to having a clue about my future or what I want, so by all means take this with a grain of salt. Just... right now at least, this makes a lot of sense to me. Doesn't exactly tie in with me being in China/learning Mandarin, but I guess that's life. Let's see where I am next blog post...
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Step 34 - Vinegar!
Okay, as promised, an update.
What's been new? First week back at Uni has passed. My attendance has not been, shall we say, great. There's a combination of factors at work here. General ambivilence carrying over from last semester, poor sleeping habits from the break (for a period I was generally going to bed around 3-4am), and the increased travel time to class (from <= 5 minutes, to >=15 minutes). On the flipside, I've been doing more study at home. I'm not feeling worried about things because I'm much happier with the situation than I was last semester, and in general, still feeling more productive. A happy Liam is a productive Liam, perhaps.
In line with that, I've given my number to a nearby English teaching school. They aren't looking to hire, but said that they might call if they need a substitute teacher. Not the best result, but I'm happy that I've at least got that much going on so far. The next step is using my Chinese housemate to line up some 1 on 1 tutoring that isn't a Chinese - English swap. See, that's a thing here. They're very eager to not spend money (as am I), so they're very keen on the 'language swap'. Given money has become an issue for me, I'm more interested in a mix of language swap with a few people, and then recieving money from a few other people. We'll see what eventuates.
I've bought a whiteboard. It's been nice because I've used it to put out a few reminders for me to look at every day. I've made an exercise schedule (all body weight activities etc, as I haven't gotten myself back to the gym), an eating/dietary plan (reminds to drink heaps of water, 2 fruit + 5 veg, no sugar/minimal processed foods, etc), and a rough day plan. I haven't subscribed to any of these things perfectly yet, but I do like having them there, and they have been useful. I also bought a lamp. This is great, because for about a week I didn't have a ceiling light in my room. Why didn't I just buy a new bulb? Because the landlord wanted to replace the entire fixture. I'm actually glad they did, because now they're using nice incandescent bulbs instead of fluro. But yeah, the lamp now means I have a reading light for in bed. Great success.
Slowly but surely, this room is becoming my space. I still haven't put up posters due to lack of decent stickytape/blutack (hurrr D:) but whatever, I'm getting there. The other day I put white vinegar all over the mouldy spots on the wall, and gave it a good chance to soak in a bit. Hopefully I don't see that mould returning any time soon. I'm finding the air-conditioner actually makes the room a whole lot more humid - I should look to see if there's another setting I can use that leaves things a bit... drier. One set back I only realised last night was that my ginger-chili sweets that I bought in Yunnan had, despite being what I thought was pretty well sealed inside two plastic bags, gotten humid/soggy, so I now have a bag of concealed sticky ginger chili sweets. God damn. They were delicious. A friend has suggested I put them in the freezer, which actually seems like good advice - Just the other day on Lifehacker I was reading that if you spill water on a book, best place to put it is in a bag (not sealed) in the freezer. Supposed to pull the water right out of that sucker. Seems kind of obvious but Not something I'd ever thought of/realised before.
I'm getting more active with my guitar practice/learning, but struggling with my fat fingers. I'm getting better I think, but certainly frustrating at times. It's like doing anything else really (cough, damn you Mandarin, cough).
Oh, and I've said this to everyone I think, but the soundtrack for some PSP game called Shatter? Really awesome. Seriously, I love this album.
Finally, I've been pretty lazy more recently with adding photos and formatting the text on this blog. Can readers please get back to me on how much it matters to them? If everyone's in agreement that it looks better and makes for a more pleasurable reading experience, then I'll start doing it again.
What's been new? First week back at Uni has passed. My attendance has not been, shall we say, great. There's a combination of factors at work here. General ambivilence carrying over from last semester, poor sleeping habits from the break (for a period I was generally going to bed around 3-4am), and the increased travel time to class (from <= 5 minutes, to >=15 minutes). On the flipside, I've been doing more study at home. I'm not feeling worried about things because I'm much happier with the situation than I was last semester, and in general, still feeling more productive. A happy Liam is a productive Liam, perhaps.
In line with that, I've given my number to a nearby English teaching school. They aren't looking to hire, but said that they might call if they need a substitute teacher. Not the best result, but I'm happy that I've at least got that much going on so far. The next step is using my Chinese housemate to line up some 1 on 1 tutoring that isn't a Chinese - English swap. See, that's a thing here. They're very eager to not spend money (as am I), so they're very keen on the 'language swap'. Given money has become an issue for me, I'm more interested in a mix of language swap with a few people, and then recieving money from a few other people. We'll see what eventuates.
I've bought a whiteboard. It's been nice because I've used it to put out a few reminders for me to look at every day. I've made an exercise schedule (all body weight activities etc, as I haven't gotten myself back to the gym), an eating/dietary plan (reminds to drink heaps of water, 2 fruit + 5 veg, no sugar/minimal processed foods, etc), and a rough day plan. I haven't subscribed to any of these things perfectly yet, but I do like having them there, and they have been useful. I also bought a lamp. This is great, because for about a week I didn't have a ceiling light in my room. Why didn't I just buy a new bulb? Because the landlord wanted to replace the entire fixture. I'm actually glad they did, because now they're using nice incandescent bulbs instead of fluro. But yeah, the lamp now means I have a reading light for in bed. Great success.
Slowly but surely, this room is becoming my space. I still haven't put up posters due to lack of decent stickytape/blutack (hurrr D:) but whatever, I'm getting there. The other day I put white vinegar all over the mouldy spots on the wall, and gave it a good chance to soak in a bit. Hopefully I don't see that mould returning any time soon. I'm finding the air-conditioner actually makes the room a whole lot more humid - I should look to see if there's another setting I can use that leaves things a bit... drier. One set back I only realised last night was that my ginger-chili sweets that I bought in Yunnan had, despite being what I thought was pretty well sealed inside two plastic bags, gotten humid/soggy, so I now have a bag of concealed sticky ginger chili sweets. God damn. They were delicious. A friend has suggested I put them in the freezer, which actually seems like good advice - Just the other day on Lifehacker I was reading that if you spill water on a book, best place to put it is in a bag (not sealed) in the freezer. Supposed to pull the water right out of that sucker. Seems kind of obvious but Not something I'd ever thought of/realised before.
I'm getting more active with my guitar practice/learning, but struggling with my fat fingers. I'm getting better I think, but certainly frustrating at times. It's like doing anything else really (cough, damn you Mandarin, cough).
Oh, and I've said this to everyone I think, but the soundtrack for some PSP game called Shatter? Really awesome. Seriously, I love this album.
Finally, I've been pretty lazy more recently with adding photos and formatting the text on this blog. Can readers please get back to me on how much it matters to them? If everyone's in agreement that it looks better and makes for a more pleasurable reading experience, then I'll start doing it again.
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