ISPS (Intergalactic Space Postal Service)

Someday we humans are going to feel really silly when we realize we should have included "Planet Earth" in our mailing addresses.

Dream journal

I have started keeping a dream journal to try to remember my dreams. I've always been bad at this and could never seem to remember my dreams, except on rare occasion. But now that I have a notebook and pen beside my bed, I seem to remember them. Magic? Is it simply because there is now a notebook there? Weird.

Anyway, I seem to be able to remember about three big dreams per night, and I quickly write them down first thing in the morning. I'm hoping this also leads to a better memory in general, because it seems these past few years I can barely recall anything at all! So I start with writing the most recent dream memory, and then as I am finishing that one the previous dream seems to come to mind so I sketch that down, and then the previous one and so on. It's like I'm working my way backwards into the night.

Maybe someday I'll sit down and type them all up into one big long nonsensical storybook.

Plumbing problems

My shower drain started draining very slowly over the past couple of days, and today nearly didn't drain at all. Then my toilet stopped flushing, and no amount of plunging was helping. I told my coworker and he arranged for a plumber to come over (since my coworker speaks fluent Chinese, and I do not). And here's what the plumber told me...rather, mimed to me after he realized me no speak mandarin (yet!)...



So no more flushing toilet paper down the toilet. Into the waste basket it shall go. This makes me somewhat sad, but I'll adapt. This was the custom in Guatemala when I visited a few years ago, and in areas of Nepal, and now I'm wondering... just how much of the world has this custom of not flushing toilet paper due to the sewage systems not being able to handle it. After doing some online reading and speaking with other travelers, it seems most places are like this, except for Europe and North America? Just curious.

Looks like I'll be making more frequent trips to take my trash to the dumpster.

Foods for thought

I've been reading a book called "The Human Situation" by Aldous Huxley, one of my favorite authors. I picked up this treasure in the wonderful little bookstore in Kathmandu, Nepal, run by the little old man who has read every single book in his store. It's really more of his personal library than a bookstore, with so many first editions you just stand in awe and try not to drool as your eyes scan the dusty shelves. I picked out a few books, and then based on what I had picked, he discerned my preferences and scurried off into one of the dark corners of his library and then reappeared with another book...



Here are a few passages I read today that really got me thinking...

"Nationalism uses all the devices of education to create an artificial loyalty to areas with which the individual is quite unacquainted and to people that he has never seen."
. . .

"We must bear continuously in mind that everything that is happening now, such as the explosive increase in population and the advancing technicalization of every aspect of human life, is happening in the context of nationalism. Consequently, it all takes on a very dangerous quality, precisely because it is taking place in the context of what appears to be the strongest quasi-religious fervor of our period, and in a world order which by definition commits those who believe in its theology to war with one another and to continual preparation for war.

This war ethos has been reduced to a kind of absurdity, as innumerable people, including those who are now preparing for war, are never tired of pointing out. War has reached a point where there can be no victors and where the only purpose which can be achieved by entering upon it is the complete destruction of the combatants and probably the destruction of large areas of not only civilization but life itself. Everybody knows this, and yet all the people in decision-making positions in the world today -- and there are not very many of them -- are so completely the prisoners of the theological-nationalistic system that they find themselves under a compulsion to go on willy-nilly preparing for something which they know must be disastrous. One has this extraordinary and paradoxical spectacle of unprecedented skill and knowledge and devotion and work and money being poured out on projects which can lead not to life, liberty, and happiness, but only to misery, to servitude, and to death.

The rationalization of this is in all cases the old Roman adage, 'si vis pacem para vellum' (if you want peace prepare for war)."

. . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . . ~ . . .

Today I also stumbled upon a short story by Kurt Vonnegut called "2BR02B" which is worth a read. It's really short and quick and is a good one to let roll around in your mind a bit...



I downloaded it for free to my kindle app on my computer...

http://www.amazon.com/ebook/dp/B004TRFNIE/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1329302949&sr=1-1

Happy Valentine's Day

qíng rén jié kuài lè (情人节快乐!) = Happy Valentine’s Day!

where does all the wax go

if I burn a thousand candles
and breathe the wax of a thousand candles
will you taste the scent of a thousand candles
on my lips
as the vapor of a thousand candles
escapes my waxy lungs

Don't Think Twice, It's All Right

I'm not sure why, but ever since I can remember, I've had this strong reaction to Bob Dylan's music…his guitar, harmonica, lyrics and voice…all of him. He is such a treasure, and listening to him makes me want to burst. You know, in a good way. Here is a gem I stumbled upon today while practicing harmonica...



Today's practice music on my favorite harp site…

http://www.harptabs.com/song.php?ID=1096

Umbrellaphobia

I'm starting to develop an irrational fear of umbrellas.



It's always raining here in Haikou and I'm always walking and people are always using umbrellas and I'm always nearly running into the points of the umbrella, face first.

OMG美语

I am starting to become obsessed with this girl's videos. They're awesome and hilarious and so much fun...

OMG美语 (OMG Meiyu)...which translates to OMG American Language!...is her account on Youku, the Chinese YouTube...

OMG美语

And here is a little bit more about her... http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/02/how-do-you-say-badonkadonk-in-chinese/252746/

Stop. Potty Time.

Today in my last class I learned the universal kindergartener face for "I'm going to stand here and pee my pants right in front of you, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

I was speaking to the boy and asking him to repeat the sentence, and he had this look of deep concern with a touch of fear in his eyes, a slight crinkle to his forehead. And I thought this was strange given that he was one of the more lively and talkative students just a few minutes earlier.

Then all of a sudden he grabbed himself and out came a big pee stream from the bottom of his pant leg. Poor kiddo.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Then after class as I was leaving the classroom amidst all of the kids leaving the classroom to take their bathroom break, I hear behind me a little boy shout "Bye Liz!" (that's my name here in China since "Elizabeth" is way too long for anyone here, even the teachers), and I turn around to say goodbye to him, and he is standing there in front of all his classmates with his pants and underwear down around his ankles and waving goodbye to me with the biggest silliest smile on his face. I nearly died.

Never a dull moment.