Fff..F...f..ack!

My house is f..f...fuhreeezing right now.  The heater in my room broke down two days ago.  Thankfully the hot water is working now, but as I woke for my morning pee this morning, steam emanated from the toilet.

I spent 4 hours emailing people Christmas greetings last week on Christmas day while I was working at the office.  If you haven't received it, check your junk mail folder.  If you still haven't received it, I don't know where it disappeared to.  However, I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

I spent Christmas eve looking for a Catholic Church to go to for midnight mass.  Couldn't find a church, so I went clubbing instead.  But seriously, I've felt quite distant from my religion lately.  Actually since I got here.  This CnE (Christmas 'n Easter) stuff has got to stop.  I've realized that God likes to do funny things to me sometimes.  Kinda like the kid with the magnifying glass on the lone ant, except not really painful (physically anyway).

When I was younger, I swore I wouldn't do so many things.

For instance, I swore I would NEVER ever become a teacher.  All that talking?  Standing in front of a class?  Boring subjects? Low and behold, in China, I tought English one the side for one year.

I used to think marketing was such a joke.  Soft skills my ass!  Marketing was for people who couldn't count anything but rocks!  I am now an Accounts Manager for an up and coming marketing firm in Shanghai.

I HATED Chinese school when I was a kid.  Some of you Chinese Canadians / Americans / Brits out there can identify with me.  You know, Saturday mornings or afternoons at the crappy ass school with the crappy ass teacher.  I used to steal things from the desks I sat at teehee!  Two years ago, I was on the first plane to China and enrolled in an intensive Chinese course.  I COULDN'T WAIT to learn t' read.  I can read!  Mama I can read!

I used to think to myself, I'm never going to be that old guy at the club.  NEVER EVER.  Girls my same age.  All the way.  Okay, maybe one or two years my junior.  Maaaybe 3.  Or 5.  I really don't know how I'm going to dodge this one.

And all those times I said I wouldn't get so wasted I'd pass out/puke.  New Year's Eve is a really big bullet to dodge.

Some things I hope I stay true to.  No cheating, no killing (unless absolutely necessary) and no hair on my back.

Yes my friends.  Sometimes there is no point to my journal entries.

On a sidenote, Blogging has really taken hold in China.  My friend pointed me out to her own blog site.  Prompted me to start my own, I'll write in English of course, maybe if I dare to explore the wild side I'll punch in two or three Chinese characters... haha no silly, I'll copy my Xanga one and just paste.  I wonder what kinda readers I'll get...

Some of your browsers may not be capable of reading simplified Chinese text, you'll have to install that into the computer.  If you're wondering how I can understand the text, aside from having lived here for almost 3 years, there's this wonderful thing called the Internet.

Happy birthdays to Ivan, Jason, Jeff, Lawrence, Steve and Nick!

Nekkid

Man, that High Output Management book is so much more boring than The Da Vinci Code.  I've decided to keep it aside for a bit since I just got my hands on what seems to be a much more interesting book, 1421: The Year China Discovered the World.  Will let you know how that goes...

The weather has gotten considerably colder here in Shanghai.  It has been hovering around 1 or 2 degrees celsius.  I'm told that it is similar to a London type of cold, really damp and heavy, chills you right to the bone.  Central heating is not that prevalent in Southern China, my dinky ass radiator isn't really doing the trick for me.  Water heaters aren't that common either, our water is gas heated.  The problem is, the water heats to about 40 degrees celsius, hardly hot enough for a good hot shower.  I've been showering at the nearby hotel using my friend's gym membership lately.  It will suck when he is gone for Christmas.  The gym is part of a hotel by my apartment, it's in the Ritz-Carlton hotel.  Really nice high end hotel in Shanghai.  Problem is, is that I do not take my clothes around with me.  Taking a shower at the Ritz includes me going around nekkid European style.  Something that I've gotten used to, but still is a bit different from North America.

Holiday season is the worst in Shanghai because it gets a bit lonely.  For the past 3 years I've been in Shanghai during this time.  Many expats go home, and since I'm stuck here, there's not much left except a vacuum of emptiness.  In Canada, Christmas is such a happy family and friends time, it is around this time that I seem to miss them the most.  Is this fucking sappy or what?  I'm going to try not to spend another Christmas here.  If I do, I will have my family with me and my many children, the ones that my wives will bear (I couldn't put one woman through all that pain!).  I am kidding of course.  Or am I?  You see the funny thing about writing and not saying is that you, the reader, aren't sure where the emphasis in the sentence is and cannot see the expression on my face.  And you don't know which part I'm kidding about!  Teehee!  I'm so clever!

Happy birthday Mat.  Don't forget to take mom out for Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone.

So Much To Do

I have been finding it very difficult to strap myself down and be a good boy staying at home, reading etc.  Granted I have been out much less due to various reasons, there are so many functions happening in Shanghai that it's very hard to sit still.  Right... twist my rubber arm.

Shanghai's an interesting city for expats because it seems that many of us are pretty much in tune with what's going on in the scene.  Also the fact that I work at a marketing company helps keep us in the loop of things.  Fashion shows, store openings, product launches, music concerts, club functions, there's something going on here every week.  Last night was a CD launch party at JA and some international DJ was at Fusion Club.  Tonight, Miss Sixty's launch party, and 2 anniversary parties.  Next Friday's party at Fusion, the Durex party, will be interesting too - Grand Prize, a one night stay / stand at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, one of the most prestigious in Shanghai.  It's also kinda funny, all these events we're invited too, open bar, free food etc.  It almost seems as if the more money you have the less you have to spend.  Why buy a bottle of wine when you can get plastered for freeeeeeeee!

So many people think China is such an exotic place.  Many don't notice just how modern things are in some cities here in China.  Granted there's still a ways to go, but walking into the subway labrynth after lunch the other day, I couldn't help but think how exciting things are here, and look forward to how much better things will be in the next few years!

Shanghai's Downtown Area

Just look how cosmopolitan Shanghai is!  Buildings shooting up everywhere.  Cars all over the place.  Last week, the Shanghai municipal government decided to ban all bicycles on the major streets in Shanghai.  And events, events, events.  This Monday, Takuma Sato is coming to Shanghai for a press conference in advance of Team Honda's F1 event here next year.  2004 will definitely be a crazy year, the F1 is coming to Shanghai!!!

So when are YOU going to visit the Paris / NY of the East???

Bref Mince

I met a girl the other day, very cute.  Started chatting it up across the table.  Soon was able to chat it up beside her, when BAM!  A wave of stench eminated from her oral passages.  All I could think about was Tic Tac, Mentos, Listerine, bref mince!

Baby boy you stay on my mind, fulfill my fantasy (C' mon girl tell me ha ya feel)
I think about you all the time, I see you in my dream (Ya dun know da love is real)

Oh and here's another girl story I've been meaning to tell.  There are these two girls that I see every once in a while when I'm out partying, quite cute, seem nice.  They seem to be at a lot of the places I'm at actually.  Anyways, got to talking to them after a while, you know one of those "Hey nice seeing you again how have you been since last week's party" type of conversations. 

Anyways, couple weeks ago, I bump into them (they're always together) at Guandii, a club that recently started playing Hip Hop every weekend and is slowly starting to build a modest crowd.  We start chatting it up and Lina (one of them) says "Hey come with me, my mom is here" and proceeds to bring me to meet her mom.  Already, I'm thinking to myself that China becomes weirder by the minute.  So reluctantly, I follow Lina and her friend to the table where Lina's mom is stationed when I realize, hello, both moms are there.  Not only are they there, they are dancing to Beyonce's Baby Boy like no tomorrow.  So I say Hi, very tempted to add, "Your daughters are very bad girls, I see them everywhere with everyone, and they say naughty things to me", but I don't because now I understand where they might have gotten it from.  One mom grabbed me and started dancing with me.  I felt so dirty, and if you could have seen my face, you would have totally understood how uncomfortable I felt.  But hey, they're playing a song I like so I start dancing with this musta been 40-something year old woman.  All the while, I'm dancing while walking backwards and slowly fading from the scene towards the bar so that I can wash my corruption down with some cleansing alcohol.

Messed up right?  Well, I thought that was enough surprises for one day, until I asked Lina "Does your mom party with you all the time?  That is so strange!" Only to be dumbfounded by her response... "Yeah, she's on E right now."

"Riiiiiight... I think I have to go now."