Friday, August 08, 2008
Going for the gold
I'm watching the Olympic Opening Ceremonies as I type this. It's a politeness thing. If, in the next couple of weeks, any of my Chinese acquaintances e-mail me and ask if I've been watching the Olympics, I can honestly say yes. I'm assuming they'll all be tuning in during the games, as the Olympic hype was already going on back when we stepped off the plane in 2005. Of course, it could be that nobody back in Yunnan is watching--that they're going to be watching some other channel. My watching the show will have been for naught.
Well, not exactly. I could really care less about the Olympic games, but I am enjoying the spectacle. Real time interruption: Hmmmm, cool. The athletes aren't marching in according to Western alphabetical order, but rather in order of the number of strokes in the first Chinese character in the country's name. Anyway, I have to confess that I'm enjoying the show. Once again: Hmmm, the Taiwanese athletes got a real rousing reception by the stadium crowd. Of course, they were following the Japanese... Anyway, I'm not writing much. I could have written during the last annoying commercial break, but I ran upstairs to get a Pop-Tart. Hmm, and now I have another annoying commercial break in which to write. It's been a while since I've endured network TV. Anyway... I find that I'm getting a bit excited over this. I know the politically correct thing to do is to be wearing a frowny face and hoping that Hu Jintao will spill his beer or do something else embarrassing. But when I think about China gaining face over these Games, I don't think of the government that deserves a lot of criticism over its actions, I think of the kids I met in Yunnan who can bask in some national pride. So I'm hoping everything goes well.
Anyway, I'm going to shut up now. I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake during the next commercial block.
Well, not exactly. I could really care less about the Olympic games, but I am enjoying the spectacle. Real time interruption: Hmmmm, cool. The athletes aren't marching in according to Western alphabetical order, but rather in order of the number of strokes in the first Chinese character in the country's name. Anyway, I have to confess that I'm enjoying the show. Once again: Hmmm, the Taiwanese athletes got a real rousing reception by the stadium crowd. Of course, they were following the Japanese... Anyway, I'm not writing much. I could have written during the last annoying commercial break, but I ran upstairs to get a Pop-Tart. Hmm, and now I have another annoying commercial break in which to write. It's been a while since I've endured network TV. Anyway... I find that I'm getting a bit excited over this. I know the politically correct thing to do is to be wearing a frowny face and hoping that Hu Jintao will spill his beer or do something else embarrassing. But when I think about China gaining face over these Games, I don't think of the government that deserves a lot of criticism over its actions, I think of the kids I met in Yunnan who can bask in some national pride. So I'm hoping everything goes well.
Anyway, I'm going to shut up now. I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake during the next commercial block.
Labels: China, commentary, TV
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
January round-up
I know, I'm a couple of days early, but odds are I wouldn't find the time to blog in those two days. I'm a bit surprised that I managed to find time today. Interesting how much my blogging seems to spring as much from the time to write as it does from the desire to write. Ah, well. Anyway, during the past week or so, there were a few things that I wanted to blog about, so I should just write down the short versions.
+++
The last weblogger's meetup gave me the incentive to update the old blogroll. One interesting addition is My Shrapnel, where Gila is posting various writings dealing with her survival of a suicide bombing. Gila's a good writer regardless of the topic, but when she's recounting something so compelling as this, she's fascinating.
+++
A link at Unshelved led me to this blog, where I discovered this post about comic book super-heroes. All I can say is that Eric Burns has perfectly captured my own feelings on the matter.
+++
I got another e-mail from Bloatmeal the other week, asking me if I was ready to switch jobs yet. Surprisingly enough, I felt a moment or two of temptation. Those higher paychecks and benefits were nice to have. Of course, once I started recalling acid reflux and stress headaches and lack of sleep and corporate b.s. and all that, I had an easier time replying, "no."
+++
In a tangential vein, my current boss' last day is Thursday. The whole company is invited out to a dinner/retirement party after work. We're also taking up a collection for a farewell gift. I have to admit that I had a moment of resentment over that. He's the one selling out for big bucks, right? sigh. I can't believe I've gotten so stingy....
+++
I finished Season One of Stargate SG-1. It's so... American. Take the episode "Singularity", where the crew find out that the little girl they've rescued has a nuclear time bomb implanted inside her. A great bit of drama. If it were Farscape, the bomb would have exploded and the crew's anguish and sorrow would have played out over a number of episodes. Instead we get a bomb that magically defuses and dissolves away once the child ventures far enough away from the stargate. Not very satisfying television. Ruminator is right--I should be seeking out the new Battlestar Galactica.
+++
I had a busy Saturday: a Bible class, a memorial gathering and a program on making comics. The memorial was for Anita Rowland. It was nice to hear again how wonderful a person she was. She truly deserved to be loved by as many folks as she was. (Or should I say "as she is", since that affection hasn't gone away.) It did feel a bit weird being there, though. I really didn't know her all that well, and her friends and family even less. I kind of slipped in late for the program and then slipped out early during the socializing. I felt like a ghost mourner, come to pay my respects.
+++
Regarding the comics program, it did give me an idea for a creative endeavor. One of the presenters, David Lasky, gave a workshop on mini-comics, where we were supposed to create our own. While throwing out starter ideas, he wrote down the title "My Most Embarrassing Moment". It occurred to me that a mini-comic might be just the vehicle to tell the tale of my most embarrassing moment in China. It's something that takes up many pages in my writing steno book, but might be able to be condensed into a short, illustrated tale. Of course, if I don't have time to type in a blog, when will I find time to illustrate a comic?
+++
The last weblogger's meetup gave me the incentive to update the old blogroll. One interesting addition is My Shrapnel, where Gila is posting various writings dealing with her survival of a suicide bombing. Gila's a good writer regardless of the topic, but when she's recounting something so compelling as this, she's fascinating.
+++
A link at Unshelved led me to this blog, where I discovered this post about comic book super-heroes. All I can say is that Eric Burns has perfectly captured my own feelings on the matter.
+++
I got another e-mail from Bloatmeal the other week, asking me if I was ready to switch jobs yet. Surprisingly enough, I felt a moment or two of temptation. Those higher paychecks and benefits were nice to have. Of course, once I started recalling acid reflux and stress headaches and lack of sleep and corporate b.s. and all that, I had an easier time replying, "no."
+++
In a tangential vein, my current boss' last day is Thursday. The whole company is invited out to a dinner/retirement party after work. We're also taking up a collection for a farewell gift. I have to admit that I had a moment of resentment over that. He's the one selling out for big bucks, right? sigh. I can't believe I've gotten so stingy....
+++
I finished Season One of Stargate SG-1. It's so... American. Take the episode "Singularity", where the crew find out that the little girl they've rescued has a nuclear time bomb implanted inside her. A great bit of drama. If it were Farscape, the bomb would have exploded and the crew's anguish and sorrow would have played out over a number of episodes. Instead we get a bomb that magically defuses and dissolves away once the child ventures far enough away from the stargate. Not very satisfying television. Ruminator is right--I should be seeking out the new Battlestar Galactica.
+++
I had a busy Saturday: a Bible class, a memorial gathering and a program on making comics. The memorial was for Anita Rowland. It was nice to hear again how wonderful a person she was. She truly deserved to be loved by as many folks as she was. (Or should I say "as she is", since that affection hasn't gone away.) It did feel a bit weird being there, though. I really didn't know her all that well, and her friends and family even less. I kind of slipped in late for the program and then slipped out early during the socializing. I felt like a ghost mourner, come to pay my respects.
+++
Regarding the comics program, it did give me an idea for a creative endeavor. One of the presenters, David Lasky, gave a workshop on mini-comics, where we were supposed to create our own. While throwing out starter ideas, he wrote down the title "My Most Embarrassing Moment". It occurred to me that a mini-comic might be just the vehicle to tell the tale of my most embarrassing moment in China. It's something that takes up many pages in my writing steno book, but might be able to be condensed into a short, illustrated tale. Of course, if I don't have time to type in a blog, when will I find time to illustrate a comic?
Labels: blogging, China, comics, life, money, TV, work
