December 12, 2001

• Patience Danielson...

  
  

  For those of you planning to come to Shanghai, please bring your winter gear.  Yes, that means your gloves, your long pants, scarves and puffy jackets (sorry Ced).  Not only can it get quite cold (temperature currently hovers around 0C or 32F) but insulation isn't quite top notch here.  As I watch all the buildings being erected here, no where do I see any consideration for insulation.  Nothing but concrete slabs and bricks to make things look pretty.  That's the other thing with Shanghai (and I'm sure with most of China), there seems to be an obsession with outer appearances.  What they don't seem to worry about is what is on the inside.  It's quite hard to explain over this brief log, but all in all, whenever there is construction done, when there is food served, when there is something sold, things aren't always as they seem.  They work really hard on making sure the finish on the outside looks great, but if you were to ever look inside, 9 times out of 10 you'll find nothing but shyte.

  
  

  They have a market here that I'm sure they're going to close down soon (due to copyright reasons).  At the Xiang Yang Markets, you can find fake anythings.  Just to name a few, you can get fake DVD's (Harry Potter is out), VCD's, brand name pens (Mont Blanc anyone?), wallets and purses (Versace? LV?), underwear (CK? BOSS?), watches (Omega? Swatch?), Shoes (Nike's, Timberlands, Reebok) and jackets (North Face, Tommy Hilfiger).  But as fake as they may be, they look so real, the average person could not tell.  I myself have a fake LV wallet.  I have had it for a while but no one seems to have wondered whether it was fake or not?  The fake puffy North Face jackets they have here are sweet, except that they aren't really down filled and sometimes aren't really waterproof but they look real... sheesh.  And the people here will tell you almost anything to close a sale.   "Yeah it looks really nice on you.  This is the cheapest price you'll find it at.  It brings out your eyes.  You look cool in that jacket.  It's cold outside, this is a good investment.  Frank you, come again!"

  
  

  The sun is finally out, but it's too cold to take my mom anywhere.  I love her and all, but her old age makes taking her around to all the cool places in SH annoying.  I can't walk too fast.  We can't walk very far.  We can't stay up too late.  Well, it's not that bad, but everything I write on here is slightly exaggerated anyways.

  
  

  My chess match with Rebecca doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  I messaged her for dinner last Monday night (she has a break on Tuesdays) but she messaged back with, "I promised my mom I'd be home early tonight." (she's 21? and works till 10pm).  The one ray of hope was, "How about we go on another day?"  But is that just one of those hooks that people say to keep em coming back?  I'm such an impatient chess player.  Paul can attest to that fact (from our many Chinese Chess matches at bubbletea).  I'm all over the place, sacrificing pieces when I don't need to, going after useless pieces and taking forever to checkmate.  Hmm... let's think of analogies here...

  
  

  Bah, I think my interest is waning. 

  • 9:58 pm
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