Gay Marriage

I'm rather a little bit tired of this debate, but it seems that whenever we talk about politics, my dad and I lock horns (Lok horns even, ha ha ha) on this issue. For my moot team interview, I had to arrange my nebulous thoughts into something coherent and lawyerly, and this is what I said:

-We should allow gay marriage
- Because it is wonderful for that minority of society
- We do lots of things for many minorities and gay people should not be excluded
- Underlined by the obvious fact that what's good for a minority often translates into
- PUBLIC GOOD.

The only argument of my forbear that actually made sense

-We should not allow gay marriage
- because we have no idea how vast the societal impact could be (consider polygamy v monogamy)
- Since we have no idea, and it could be bad, best to not do anything drastic until the US has served as a petri dish for the rest of us. (God bless America.)

I have read in Microtrends (that horrendous and nefariously reductionist book by that Mark Penn) that since there are significantly more gay men than lesbian women, the outlook for the next five decades might be that there will be an upswing in single, older women who were never married. Spinsters! I wonder what kind of revolution will be on the horizon of our age. If there exists a theory that an excess of young, single men encourage war, what would an excess of single women do? (The teenager in me says "something aaaaaawesome!")



In other news, I got a job. A law firm internship. At Lovells . The interview was a bit interesting, especially the part where me and the person from HR began talking about crime / detective novels. Criminal law has proven to be rather a hilarious subject, and philosophically challenging. Has anyone read Malcolm Pryce? Aberystwyth crime series?

Tomato , Tomatii

Plural idiocy while waiting for the water for my tea to boil: has anyone else ever thought about...

Patio ... Patii?
Casio... Casii?
Ratio... Ratii?
Fellatio... Fellatii?
Mario ... Marii? (Is it possible to choose to be two Marii instead of Mario and Luigi at the same time?)
Impresario ... Impresarii?

And, I thought: "Has one ever tried to analyse the sum total of all of Chief Justice Li's Ratii Decidendi?"

I've also discovered that Ribena tastes good with Earl Grey tea. Cold of course.

Freshfields Open House Event

Spent the better part of yesterevening at Freshfields Bruchkhaus Derigner mingling and chit chatting with partners and lawyers. Had a nice time, because the hor d'eavues were yummy. And their orange juice was Tropicana and not that mediocre Mr. Juicy stuff.

I also got a nice pen that says FBD on it.

One of the partners told everyone about how he once lent Richard Branson a pound to go on the underground, and he never paid him back.

Humour

I'm usually not the person at the party with the best jokes and the sharpest wit, but yesterday in the car on the way to the links I finally made a good(?) joke. Made my dad laugh, so it passed the first test of wit, although his humour can be questionable at times.

While being angry about the Mainland dude at CUHK law that never, ever, ever raises his hand in class but opts to rudely yell out the answer, I questioned whether the dude thinks he's John McCain.

Well, maybe questionable humour runs in the family.

On the Subject of Flirting

I've been considering lately the boundaries of flirtation, and I'd say that it isn't something that can be defined by any one agony aunt. So, I'd forget about them columnists... what are friends for anyhow if we went to them for questions like this?

IMO, the boundaries of flirtation should be fixed by the couple that are in the relationship. Nobody outside of the relationship can be considered fully aware of what is going on within the relationship, whether it's on the rocks, open, closed, polyamorous etc so it's really up to the person with the ball and the chain around her foot to accept or resist flirtation.

Honestly, it's terribly easy to reject flirtatious advances. I wouldn't ever admit the minor quibble that the third (or fourth or fifth or sixth, depending on the structure of the ongoing romantic relationship(s) ) party is somehow culpable for 100% of any infidelity on the tied-up person's part. The only way flirting works is if the other person flirts back. If the other person doesn't flirt back, it doesn't constitute flirting in any solid , concrete sense.

In current metropolitan society, there isn't a completely clear "taken" or "free" sign, even if people are wearing wedding rings. I'd say, forget about the guilt. Men love being flirted with just for the heck of it, so it likely meant nothing. There might be a question of loyalty here... but I'd say that, as long as the flirtation wasn't constant and ongoing, I'd say, forgive yourself, we're all only human, everybody flirts.

It's rather fun, after all.

to guilt or not guilt....

This is probably something I could send to the NYT ethicist or Dear Abby or even that Savage guy at the Voice. But I want a relatively speedy response (assuming that you have the time to read personal blogs anymore).

This weekend, my friend's BF and his two other friends were in town for the Columbus Day holiday. My friend was not in NY and it was up to us (the nygang) to entertain them, or at least show them an okay time. It was also T's bday so of course everyone was busy getting him drunk. Not that it would've mattered that much anyway; the nygang is notoriously unsocial. I, however, took it upon myself to get to know these friends of his who were bored at the dive bar we were in and subsequently left the nygang to go with these visitors to a hip hop club where my shanghai friends were. Needless to say, the night got drunken but nothing happened, yet perhaps a touch and a touch there could have been misconstrued as inappropriate.

What do I do? I've been thinking about it for a few days now. I feel guilty, as if I should be telling someone. I'm sure it was nothing, but why do I feel this way?

My mom always seems kind of shocked and displeased that M and I do things w/o his GF, as if we were having some sort of illicit affair when the reality is that we're sitting on different couches watching movies on his awesome tv.

Perhaps these sort of feelings translated on to my feelings about this weekend's events. What do you think? help me, loklok.

Richard Li

Everyone knows who Richard Li is right? Yeaaaaahhh . Well, this is the cheapo who puts these shiny red labes saying "Compliments of Richard Li" onto every single one of the free copies of Financial Times that are given out at our Law School.

When I told my father about this, he said "you should make a rubber stamp of the text on the label, and stamp all of the toilet paper in the bathrooms exactly like that, so that when people reach to clean the poo of their anus..."

I would love to be a part of this prank. Any takers?

Suckers Up

I've always loved this very famous Gloria Steinem quote:

"The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn."

which became rather relevant during out legal writing and literacy class today. The prof was teaching us how NOT to write and draft like a lawyer, and how to use plain English. Somebody brought up the point that, there are lawyers who write and draft like lawyers!! That is, in a convoluted and sometimes antiquated fashion! Why are you telling us that what we did is wrong when that is exactly what our bosses have taught us to do?

Obviously, the better lawyer you are, the less likely you would need to use language like that.

But UGH! This horrible guy in our class decided that this was the moment to suck up like a vacuum cleaner to the prof and say "oh, when I was a journalist I saw a lot of bad writing too! And we don't need anymore of that. " Ok, so he said a little more than that, but the tone he used was so obnoxious, so condescending, that I feel as if it's something only a guy could ever get away with.

Conclusion: Hell is other people.

A snippet that transpired in an email to an English friend

"... Starbucks does free refills? Another reason to emigrate. Totally moving to London, just for the free refills. No such thing in Hong Kong. I think it's because people are pretty unscrupulous here when it comes to saving the very last dime instead of saving face. I could totally see people passing on their Starbucks mug to their friend, and that that friend passing it onto the next, and the next... so that they could all drink for free. Although, there is something quite sweetly socialist about the idea, now that I think of it. Starbucks can operate on a smaller profit margin, can't it?"

Chris' interesting links

Wellp. This a guy who always has interesting stuff in the 'status' section of his gchat profile. This is a post dedicated the care he takes in selecting things to put in that sacred space.

W.H Auden's Poem. From this interesting link http://www.feer.com/tales/?p=893  

Hongkong 

The leading characters are wise and witty;
Substantial men of birth and education,
With wide experience of administration,
They know the manners of a modern city.

Only the servants enter unexpected;
Their silence has a fresh dramatic use:
Here in the East the bankers have erected
A worthy temple to the Comic Muse.

Ten thousand miles from home and What’s-Her-Name
The bugle on the Late Victorian hill
Puts out the soldier’s light; off-stage, a war

Thuds like the slamming of a distant door:
We cannot postulate a General Will;
For what we are, we have ourselves to blame.

AAaaaah. Auden is too good.

My mind is in the gutter ALL THE TIME.

Just a few thoughts on what I think my law school is... 

Our email system is called CWEM. Hur hur hur!!! It stands for Campus Wide E Mail, but by god, they need to put somebody in the IT department that knows dirty words. (errr qwim anyone? Or quim?)

Our head of faculty is known as the Koala Bear. He is a Koala bear that needs a bib. Awww can you imagine how cute that is? A koala bear in a bib! Not, however, if you're sitting in the front row of the classroom. I feel as if I oughta go to class wearing a fencing mask, so mighty is his froth. You know what I mean. You've had a prof exactly like this one. Large. Grey. Spits.

I have no friends in school yet. Boooo. Feels exactly like gradeschool all over again. Except, no playground. And no coathooks with out names and photos above. 

Some Laowai's Just Don't Get the Olympic Spirit....

UGHHHH!! Loretta, I don't know about you but i love love lovvvvvvvvve the Olympics. I get all teary eyed when I see the masses of athletes stroll into the stadium. I buy into all of the hype - camaraderie, love, peace, world unity, blah blah. And this year I'm even prouder because its BJ08!! While I don't think it's quite alright for China to misappropriate the occasion to announce it's arrival (or rather, after 400yrs, its return) onto the new world stage, I am still so excited!

Just saw on BBC World News that a bunch of foreigners (mainly American and British) were detained and later deported after staging an illegal protest for Tibet and for democracy in China. WTF. Chinese people didn't go to the Oscars protesting AmerBlogger: Banana Mamas - Create Postica's involvement in Iraq. They don't shit on our (haha, I can say that now that I'm an American!!) festivities! Of course, the Chinese people were smart and stayed away from these crazy foreigners. Who wants to get detained by the secret police and miss the chance to see Liu Xiang hurdle his way to glory for China or Michael Phelp's hot body do laps around us??? not me for sure.

Oh and come on, US cycling team. Wearing masks after landing?? WTF. That was so not an "accident." Why can't you be like other athletes and put the masks on when the cameras aren't rolling! duh!! It's only polite. If you were so scared of air quality probs, then you should've waited for London'12!

Haha, wow. I'm not being very sensitive to the athletes. Their bodies are very important to them and anything to pollute it would obviously not only affect their performance but also their overall health. woopsh. But for the protesters. come on. Even the Dalai Lama isn't raising a ruckus at this time. He knows that there is a time and place for everything, and the Olympics is not the time. I keep thinking that these foreign visitors are like bad guests who come to your house, without taking off their shoes, muddy up your carpet, drink straight out of the OJ carton and try to stage an intervention for your problems. blah.

I don't know what the coverage is like in HK. My parents get TVB via satellite but I'm not sure if it's like the Canadian news broadcast or straight out of HK, so I couldn't tell you for sure. How is it like in HK?

Retail Site with Good Music

I like shopping online sometimes, though not recently, what with lack of funds causing me mostly just to surf and drool. (If I were I guy, that would mean something completely different...)

Retail websites usually have the stinkiest music EvAr but I finally found a site that makes me want to buy their clothes because of their website creators taste in music, as opposed to despite of.

http://www.dollhouse.com/index_exp.html#/about_us

Mostly cheesy and naughty dance music, but people gotta dance sexy to something with a strong, proper beat , ye ken?

Poem for the night

I had a really fun night out with last weekend, and this week I've been editing a poem that I wrote about that night.

Good Old Men

“He looks like my grandpa,” you said

at Ned Kelly’s Last Stand.

Floating in the watery jazz,

I imagined a sunbrowned boy under Philippine sun,

the trumpet player before us speaking something

soothingly, as good old men do, in tagalog.

“I’m 22.” “You’re so young!”

And I suppose that makes you an old man.

I don’t know many old men. My grandfather,

a shoemaker, his back hurts from bending

over the shapes of other people’s feet.

There was also something said

about paper boats and that they were empty, but

with the night so full it’s incidental.

You joke about wanting to fuck me.

The siren before us has just married a man named Brett:

What an American name, how American.

For Brett is a name which celebrates itself,

announcing in a maleness like the light

glancing off the trumpet as it solos –

Brett is a man, and he is here.

Chip-in-shoulder feminist attacks The Standard's layout staff with a knife

On July 2nd's edition of The Standard, Hong Kong's free English language newspaper, I noticed something rather sinister... two articles concerning women, one about the rise in the number of affairs committed by wives and the other about females on average being more picky about their travel packages, were printed in pink coloured / pink outlined boxes. The fashion and gossip section are also titled in pink.

WHAT IS THIS, THE MATERNITY WARD??? PINK for the girls and BLUE for the boys??? If this happened in America, it would be on Jezebel! WOMEN OF HONG KONG, we must REJECT this outrageous gender stereotyping that implies MEN cannot be interested in fashion or gossip!

FREE THE FLUFF FOR MEN!!!! PINK OUTLINES IN THE STANDARD FOR HARD NEWS!!!

Cleaning Up to Find "Love"

Sorry loklok. I didn't get your permission before posting this. woopsh.

I was cleaning out my laptop bag and I found a manila envelope with a few of your poems in it. I'm not sure how I got it, but I did. I like this one the best. It's called "Love." It's kind of appropriate at this time, since we've been talking on the phone and over gchat about such a thing.

Loklok, perhaps you should write more poems. I liked the ones you did for your portfolio.

Love

To Resolve bodies into planes and no further.

For, to suppose, that a body, a magnitude,
is divisible, through and through,
that division is possible, involves a difficulty.

What will there be,
in the body which escapes division?

Let it
have been divided.

What then will remain? A magnitude?
No, that is impossible. Since there will be
something not divided.

But, if it be admitted that neither a body, nor a magnitude
remain, and yet division is to take place,
the constituents of the body will be points or nothing.
An absurdity without magnitude.

For when the points were in contact,
to form a single magnitude, they did not make
the whole any bigger.

But suppose that, as the body, beign divided,
a minute section - a piece of sawdust, is extracted
evading division

even then the argument applies.

For in what sense is that section divisible?
For what came away was not a body but a separable form or quality.
Every contact being always a contact of somethings.
There is always something, besides the contact,
or the division,
or the point.

How much I hate Hong Kong and think everyone should abandon it's ship

As I was walking away from my driving class the other day, I thought of "The Second Coming" by William Butler Yeats. There are times when I cannot stand to look at all the ugly, ugly housing estates and apartment blocks in the lousier parts of town. I know I am of privileged stock, and saying all this can and will make me ridiculous and pompous, but people were not meant to live like this! If I have children, and bad luck befalls them, is this how low I want them to fall? Living in a Hong Kong housing estate isn't thoroughly hell, it's better than a slum, though there is still niggling at the back of my mind a constant sensation that I can't accept this for myself or any of my loved ones / progeny. This is wrong wrong wrong.

I want there to be a Second Coming for Hong Kong. I want there to be a crazy person, a person full of "passionate intensity" that would rip Hong Kong apart and cause a seismic shift in the whole damned city. I would like to feel that his thighs are lumbering towards Matilda International Hospital to be born. I think that she / he would be a bit like Shishigami in the Studio Gibli film "Princess Mononoke." If there could be somebody whose vision could explode over the whole of Hong Kong in a sort of idiotic death-sacrifice (there's this one scene in the film... ah, you should go watch it, it's lovely,) I think I would love Hong Kong again.

Jen, Hong Kong is already pining for your return...

I never saw the Beer Bong when I was in America but now I have.

China Quake Comics

Beijing based graphic-artist Coco Wang compiled newspaper stories of the China quake disaster and has turned some into comic strips. She hopes that her comics will highlight the human tragedy, not just the material loss, caused by the disaster. She hopes these stories could show readers "the love, warmth and courage of the Chinese people, also the sad and cruel reality of the horrible 5.12 Earthquake."

I am sure CCTV has been playing footage of the recovery effort nonstop. The stories they show of finding survivors are only small miracles amidst enormous grief. In a letter, she writes:
"I wanted to go to the front to help with all those people, some of my friends have already gone there, but I heard that the traffic needed to be kept totally clear for rescue transportation at the moment, people like me without knowledge of first-aid and experience of rescue operations going there now would cause choas and trouble... but I can't just sit at home and do nothing, I have been crying my eyes out in the past three days, I have never felt more proud of my country and people... their love, courage and kindness rock me to my core! I have decided to tell these touching stories by drawing comics."
I can certainly understand what she is going through. I personally experienced this after 9/11. My high school was blocks away from the site so we were not allowed to return to class. So instead of moping around at home, my friends and I went to volunteer at the Red Cross. I guess what was my way of coping, of contributing to the efforts.
Coco Wang takes a more artistic approach. The images are simple but the message is powerful and moving. Click here for the others.

Toilet Signs

What do you think about while in the bathroom? I've always loved the short story that Paul Jennings wrote called "The Velvet Throne" which is part of the short story collection Unmentionable , something of an amazing kid's book. In the story, all the little messages that people scrawl on a particular public bathroom wall comes true. Yes, sounds a little weird, but so is most of Jenning's fiction, you wouldn't believe it till you read it.

So, this is what I saw in a bathroom today. I was out having a coffee in Sai Kung with my mum. They do say that caffeine is a diuretic.



The person who did the translation obviously thought he was ever so clever, using "easy come, easy go" as a basis for reminding people to flush. *sigh* The wierd language fragments people pick up and reuse without actually understanding it's meaning. I just don't know how the hell to interpret this. Of course it's easy to go when you need to hurry to go to the bathroom, due to the call of nature being particularly shrill and urgent. But WHAT does it have to do with FLUSHING? Those poor gweilos are going to be so, so confused. I think most of them are going to have strains of the Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen running through their head when they're doing their number 2.


This is the other thing that was stuck on the cubicle wall. Juueeest sayin', those people at the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department in Hong Kong are a little creepy. I would not want a toilet that had arms, that had a face that could stare at my butt as I did my beeezzness. I would freak out.

Sharon Stone to Sichuan: "uhh You Sorta Deserved It"

via this post on Shanghaiist.com:



Sharon Sone doesn't like how China treats the Tibet issue and can't decide what to do about the Olympics because China isn't nice to the Dalai Lama, who is a friend of hers. When asked about the earthquake, she says the craziest lines:

"And all these earthquake and stuff happened and I thought: IS THAT KARMA... when you are not nice that bad things happen to you?"

Ugh. She is so freaking smug and confident about her answer. I can't believe that thought even came across her mind. It's like saying that Hurricane Katrina was Karma's way of telling America that it should have been nice and not invade Iraq. WTF. How can a natural disaster be "payback?" What a moron.

L adds: Fuck celebrities. What an airhead.

Crayon Shinchan The Adult Empire Strikes Back.

feeling too lazy to comment fully but i will just say that this is somewhere between lowbrow brilliant and highbrow despicable. haha. this clip just says so much about the way we live now. awesome.



i wish i was Google savvy enough to download the full movie. but alas, sigh.

L adds: This says so much about how much I feel like a larva in the moth filled adult world that is full of nasty sneezy moth dust, dead moths lining the windowsill, and bright lights that are dangerous and beautiful.


i.e. I am so lost. Crayon Shinchan, I identify!

What These Two Banana Mamas Like

So, it's been discussed that this blog aughta be more about what we like and not what we are angry about. Well. I like a lot of things that have nothing to do with anything. Currently, I am in love with Scottish actors.


Isn't he the most charming man? I didn't know I was into pasty complexions until I saw him in the movie Becoming Jane (a mediocre movie btw. When is that Anne Hathaway going to get a really good, meaty, complex role?) I think it's his nose. It's just got so much character in it, it's so big.... has anyone seen that Futurama episode where aliens mistake human noses as their sex organ? Haha well 'neways... 

Next on my Sexy Scots list is Ewan Macgregor of course, he's got an interesting nose as well, but not nearly as humungus as McAvoy's. Actually, I'm nearing the end of my list. There's Sean Connery of course, but that's a bit of an embarrassing crush isn't it, he's a bit old for me.


... and he sounds like a stuff in this interview huh? Still, the kilt is terribly attractive on him. I'd like to see more men in kilts. And for the love of St. Bernard will somebody write a Scotland based romance novel that isn't complete drivel. (I still read the ones that are complete drivel. If it is discovered that I have a brain tumour, it will be noted that the primary cause was reading drivelous Scottish romances while supressing their drivelousness in the back of my head, wherein the tumour is situated.)

The Post American World

I saw this episode of Charlie Rose a week ago. Fareed Zakaria, the editor of Newsweek International and just published a book titled The Post-American World, which I just ordered on Amazon.com. The screenshot is really funny but I swear it's a good interview.



Zakaria doesn't write about the fall of American power, but rather, the rise of the rest of the world. I opted for the free "super-saver shipping" and haven't gotten the book yet so I can't comment on how good/fair it is. The interview is really interesting because they touch upon so many topics that are important to us (well, me at least): the 08 elections, international politics, trade, globalization, being "green," America, etc.

Loretta says: Hong Kong is on the cover of this book!

Hong Kong TVB Journalists

I've wanted to be angry about this in this blog for about a month now, and I apologize for the massive delay - it's a news-related item dating back to April 8th, when the Olypic Torch arrived in Paris for one leg of it's international relay marathon.

TVB has created this documentary called (rough translation) "Broadcasting the Olympic Flame" which is a bit of a travel program dedicated to introducing the places that the torch visits as well as broadcasting the relay torch run itself. After watching the above linked episode (PLEASE note the episode "Paris Part 1" at about minute number 3 of the clip) I wanted to throw about ten empty water bottles at the TV (so as to make a loud noise to vent my anger, but not actually destroy the TV, or more likely, the wall surrounding the TV, I'm awful at darts and archery).

WHY WHY WHY are these journalists who REPRESENT HONG KONG speaking ENGLISH in FRANCE to FRENCH POLICE OFFICERS??? My father gets pissed of when I claim that there is a lack of intellectual spirit in Hong Kong, that I dislike how we're rather uncultured and rude (just like I hear some Americans complain about other Americans...there are so many comedic films and cartoons about how silly Americans look and sound) and I'd much rather live in New York or London, but honestly, this is too much. This is simply dangerous to my blood pressure.

The journalist in the documentary is trying to get closer so that the cameraman can film him running alongside the Olympic flame, I presume. There are black suited, black bereted police officers lining the street on either side of the torch bearer to discourage any violent disruptions. The Hong Kong journalist says "Hey, easy! Easy!" in ENGLISH to the FRENCH POLICE OFFICER when they to to push and force him back onto the sidewalk. He then tries to explain himself, saying "We're just the press, we're press!" To the police officer, again in English, who makes it clear that he's not going to put up with any more bullshit.

WHAT THE FUUUUUCCCK!!!!???? IF YOU ARE A JOURNALIST IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, CAN'T YOU AT LEAST LEARN HOW TO SAY "WE ARE PRESS" IN THE LOCAL LANGUAGE, AS A MARK OF RESPECT??? Bloody hell, everyone knows how proud and touchy the French are about their language and their culture, what were they thinking when TVB sent these two IDIOTS to Paris? I do NOT think it's too hard to learn two or three sentences in another language so you don't look like you're barging into someone else's country and expecting them to pander to you. It's your duty as a tourist to be respectful of the locals, and even more so if you're a journalist.

Hopefully My Last Thoughts on This

Whereas I've been hammering around the area, trying to hit the nail on the head only to be frustrated with the inability to say it out right (I will blame my developmental handicap! My vision relies on my right eye!), you and Carolyn (via comments on a post) totally got it!

Loklok, you said, "Democracy is for people with money." If one were toiling day in and day out trying to live another day, political freedoms would be last on her mind! This isn’t to say that poor, starving people are not entitled to these freedoms; their other needs must be taken care of first. Maybe CCP's ulterior motives for bringing in the bullet train to Tibet include importing Han Chinese into the area to increase its power hold. But the Han invasion (there, I said it!) also brings tourists who bring cash, cash that builds schools and hospitals and improves livelihoods and raises the status quo! Maybe Tibetan culture is being degenerated by the introduction of Han practices but the same could be said about Western culture “polluting” other“traditional" cultures. We live in a globalized world; “purity” in a culture is rare and won’t last. And come on, the Dalai Lama, himself an uberceleb, isn't exactly protecting the sacredness of Tibetan culture.

Carolyn made a great point about boycotting the opening ceremonies of BJ08. We should pressure China about its shady international relationships as much as we do about its internal struggle with Tibet. The world has forgotten about Darfur. Isn’t it so strange how genocide causes have become like fashion trends? Two years ago, everyone was like “Save Darfur;” today “Free Tibet” has been retro-ed and is once again chic.

I still contend that you can’t force people to create a government of Democracy if they don’t understand what the ideals of democracy are. American democracy wasn’t perfect from the beginning. For much of its 200ish years of history as a sovereign nation, democracy was restricted! First only white men and 3/5ths “others” (i.e., slaves), then white and black men (but mostly on paper), and then finally women and men of all colors!! Another example, a more Asian one, a true democratic government in Taiwan didn’t come until 1984, when Chiang Chingkuo lifted the martial law imposed since his dad, Chiang Kaishek, and the KMT took over the island in 1949! Baby steps!

I probably stuck my foot in mouth more than once on this post, so I better stop while I am ahead. I still want to move beyond this and talk about happier things (because there are other Asians who are angry about other things) but the temptation to talk this subject to death is irresistible. Note: these are just my personal comments. If they come across as being insensitive and slightly trite, they probably are and you be an adult get over yourself. Woopsh.

Democracy and China, Hotdogs and Ice Cream

Thanks to the lovely post by Pilar on some of the foreign perceptions of us 'commies' in China, I am reminded about a question I asked an Uncle about 7 years ago.

I once asked my Uncle what he thought of Democracy, and why China couldn't, wouldn't be Democratic, and he said "It would be like asking 1.3 billion people whether they would like to eat hotdogs or ice cream. "

That is to say, I don't honestly believe that western perception of what human rights are and their attached extreme importance, are what matters the most in the minds of an average, rural, Chinese farmer on a daily basis. I suspect that the majority of people who are self-righteously 'campaigning' for 'human rights' in Tibet right now do not understand the level of extreme poverty that plagues rural China. It's wrong, but there it is. In the States, living a hand-to-mouth existence just means to get paid badly. It may also mean that you are a boho artiste who spends the majority of your income on recreational drugs. It may ALSO mean that your are a black single mother with three kids, all of whom have to stay home alone for most or part of the day, depending on their age, as you work your minimum wage job far away in the next town. What hand-to-mouth doesn't mean is plucking ube straight out of the earth with your bare hand (if you've done this before you'll know that gloves are recommended, because the ube root has these tiny tiny hairs that make your skin itch. But, oh wait, you can't afford to buy a rubber glove!) and eating it that night for dinner after you've washed it in an untreated water source. What it doesn't mean is surviving off farming a piece of land smaller than the average suburban American backyard.

Let's get it straight: democracy is for people with money. People like Senator Hillary Clinton, who, at the drop of a hat, can inject several million dollars into her campaign fund when things go wrong, no sweat. Democracy is for people who have enough to eat, whose children go to school, who tastes meat, protein for chrissakes, more than once a year. Call me an idiot woman (hah I am reminded of that Dylan song Idiot Wind), but I do feel somewhat offended when people tell me China is eeeeebil because it is not democratic, that it 'doesn't respect human rights.' It's a cheap shot, because I deeply believe that Chinese people have had enough of bloody revolutions, bloody wars, bloody politics. We've had a 3000 year history of mostly infighting, wars, and this is not the time for another bloody revolution. I'd safely say there is a solid percentage of Chinese in China who would trade in their right to be represented in the government for cut-and-dry economic development. Bacon on the table, or, rice in the bowl. We do not need any more unrest. We need time and space to continue to develop, to improve the lives of every one of those 1.3 billion people our borders contain.

Apathy may be the greatest accomplice of evil, but until I see every single snotty, wet-behind-the-ears, verbose activist who at heart could not give a fuck about China or the Chinese put down some money for the economic development of rural China, including Tibet whose HDI is well below the national average I may add, I will ignore all this ridiculous hot wind about boycotting the Olympics.

Tibet probably needs schools and public healthcare much much more than it wants the vote. The vote cannot secure these things. Money can. (I can also be pithy and say money can also secure the vote, but, perhaps, this is not the venue to be talking about that.) The Chinese government is aware of it's own peril in this regard as well. It currently is taking severe economic measures to curb inflation and overheating. Deng Xiao Ping is lauded for his economic reform policies because he knew the communist government could not drift away from the basic tenet of governance - the way to continued power is surely through the nation's stomach. My only hope right now is that the Chinese government continues to heed this, to improve the lives of all the Chinese, to prevent our country from fracturing. Race hate is sometimes just about having enough to eat, and wanting to get rid of some perceived 'different' group in order to take care of your own.

Until half of the Chinese population has actually tasted ice cream, and the other half has tasted hotdogs, and they can each rant and rave about the relative qualities of both, I rest my case. Anyone want to foot the bill for half a billion ice creams? I think not.

Uhh what??

Uh.. I just read this on nymag.com. Color highlighting done by me.

"The minimalist composer Philip Glass, who wrote music for both the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2004 Athens Games, isn’t looking forward to the competitions in Beijing. “I think that we should pull out,” the noted Tibet supporter said at the BAM Spring Gala honoring Paul Simon, on April 9. “The Chinese are supposed to be taking care of human rights; they haven’t done it. The only reason we don’t pull out is that people are more interested in money than they are in human rights. I think the Olympic Committee should really pull the plug on it.” His anger at the Chinese government extends beyond human-rights issues. “Basically, the Chinese commies have been isolated for 50 years; they have no idea what the rest of the world is like. They think that we’re just another province of China and that they can do what they damn well want to. And they’re a bunch of losers. They make a distinction: As long as you’re not political, you can do whatever you want in China. But politics is about the way we live! They’re drawing the line on the very things that matter to us most.”"

What? Where is he getting these facts from? Cold War history books? Perhaps he is the loser who has been isolated for 50 years and has no idea what the rest of the world is like. Ugh, I hate these gross generalizations from public figures. We should boycott his movie soundtracks, you know really pull the plug on it.

People Politics

If you have ever spent any time with the Tai Tais (wealthy married women who don't work) of Hong Kong you will know that their favorite whine topic is their maids. We are so lucky in Hong Kong to have affordable (read: cheap, underpaid) legal domestic help, it sort of boggles the mind as to how bloody demanding they are. What boggles the Tai Tai's mind is how demanding their maids are. For a meager 3480HKD a month, it strikes me as a bit ungrateful to forbid it when your help wants to spend Saturday night out at her friend's place, or to stop working at 9pm instead of midnight.

I'm all for personal space and freedom, a little within the job and masses outside of it. The central crux, the tension surrounding control and cruelty toward each other in the maid-employer relationship is that the maid needs a job. The drama of your usual office people politics is magnified tenfold when it's put on a domestic level, when none of the verbal bitchslaps that are dealt ever leave the privacy of a home. We are all tied to our need for financial freedom, but I sometimes wonder whether I shouldn't just get my tubes tied and remove myself to a banana farm forever, so that I could avoid even a tenth of psychological warfare that goes on in any employer-employee relationship, when it turns bad. And everyone, everyone has one bad boss somewhere along the line. I think my bad boss was when I had this family friend employ me for a summer internship. He made me spend hours making an excel spreadsheet of the receipts of meals and taxi rides so that he could claim the expenses. I learned close to nothing that summer, and got paid next to nothing, so it was really all a boring waste of time for me.

Well, have wandered off topic... what I wanted to say was, I baked this pasta casserole the other day, and I felt bad because our new maid was only eating instant noodles for lunch. NOT that ramen hasn't been my sometimes meal of choice during my college years, when I felt like a bum who didn't want to cook anything more nutritious, but she's running up and down the stairs, scrubbing and mopping and washing etc and she needs her vitamins and minerals!!! She's been eating ramen and ONLY ramen, without veggies or meat or anything, for lunch every day for weeks! And, it's not like we're starving her, because we always have leftovers from dinner that are plenty nutritionally balanced, and before our family sounds like misers, let's just make clear that we love our leftovers. I eat them all the time. I bring them to the office for lunch in tupperware, stick it in the microwave for a couple o' minutes, fabulous. Especially stewed anything tastes really awesome the next day. Thing is, she won't have any of it. Our maid will not eat our leftovers for lunch like the rest of us. I just don't get it! If you've ever been to a Chinese restaurant, you'll know that all dishes are communal, nobody touches or slobbers over the food in the middle of the table, it's all aboveboard and doesn't really look like pig slop or anything!

Sorry, ranting... but, er, I felt like such a cad that day, I was making this yummy pasta (even though I too should have been eating the leftovers, but I love pasta, another college habit that I should be in rehab for) and I didn't offer her any. She went and cooked her tiny ramen noodles, and I confess I was a bit annoyed at her for not eating some veggies or something with her noodles. Maybe I was subconsciously trying to punish her for not eating leftovers by not offering her any pasta. Well. God sees everything, I suppose. I'll talk to St. Paul about it when the time comes.

Stuff Asian People Like

There's been a craze States-side of "stuff (insert race/ethnicity) people like" blogs. Here is the Asian one. Of course, the site seems to define "Asian" as encompassing the big three: Chinese, Japanese, Korean. Looking at it more closely, it looks like it's mostly Chinese. But I suppose that's because there are so many of us out there. haha. idk.

Some of the stuff is random and silly but then there are some good entries on Asians in the public eye, not just movie stars like Lucy Liu (a pretty interesting post) and Jackie Chan but also politicians like former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori (okay, he's more of a crook).

maybe we should start a "stuff these two girls like" section.

Free Tibet: Do You Know What That Motherfucking Means?!

Not surprisingly, the Olympic Torch Relay has met with much controversy and protest. Thousands of people in London, Paris, San Francisco demonstrated against China, calling for the freedom of Tibet.

Blah blah blah.

Ugh what makes these Tibetans so special? What about the other peoples suffering in China? And why China? What about your own countries? Parisians, didn’t you have massive riots in 2005? Don’t your people want to practice their religion openly too? Shouldn’t you let people wear heads carves if they wanted to? Americans, what about your “civil rights” problems? Did we forget Gitmo? How about the unfair treatment of minorities, immigrants? Ughh!

Watching the coverage of the protests made me slightly angry and curious. What is the majority of protesters demonstrating against? Q: “Free Tibet” from what? A: general “oppression.”

It’s like people are demonstrating for the sake of demonstrating. “Hey Richard Gere, look at me! I want to free Tibet too! I'm cool! Yeah! Fuck China! I’m so righteous!.... be my friend.”

I’m not trying to defend China’s handling of the Tibet issue, but really it’s an internal matter that should be left for the Chinese to figure out. Tibet isn’t something that was newly conquered, it was in the Chinese borders for hundreds of years; Peter C. Perdue’s China Marches West chronicles in obsessive detail the steps China took in expanding it’s borders during the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (read: 1616 –1911). It’s like everyone ganging up against Canada for not letting the French Canadians become their own country. I hate how the developed world has the need to “help” less developed countries with their “road to democracy.” Wtf man. You can’t really just force Democracy (with a capital “D”) on to a people who don’t understand the merits of democracy (with a lower case “d”).

Ughh. I hope this “Free Tibet” bullshit dies down in Argentina. I don’t want this to be the running topic of this blog. Well most importantly, I don’t want it to be the theme of the 2008 Olympics. Aren’t the Games supposed to be for celebrating humanity and camaraderie? I feel bad for the Torch relayers. They must have been so excited to be selected for the run. What was supposed to be a celebration of their accomplishment has been marred by negative political messages. And also what about the athletes? Why should their thunder be stolen? I heard that Hillary Clinton suggested boycotting the opening ceremony in protest. What? Why not just boycott the games in general? Why just the opening? What? Does she not like Zhang Yimou productions? Whatevs.

Oh and omg: The Dalai Lama: What Richard Gere Won't Tell You

Re: Tibet, I will remain calm. CALM I SAY!!!

I had this long post planned, wherein I edit and post this wonderful IM conversation I had with Pilar regarding the Tibet issue, but these two videos, forwarded to me by my boss of all people, seem to sum up how perfectly calm I am. Sure, the English is hardly grammatically correct, and the misc-en-scene is just a tad melodramatic, but otherwise, the dry facts remain the same.

Tibetans, stop the rioting and racial hate already. Rest of the world, China ain't gonna be the next Balkans, it's business as usual, bugger off and report on some leaked sex tapes already.

All Wong Kar-Wai'd out

Days ago, I read in New York magazine that Wong Kar Wai was in New York on Wed for a special lecture and screening of his first English-language feature film, My Blueberry Nights. I thought about going there but indecisiveness got in the way. Besides, the event was more than likely sold out, seeing that Ang Lee was going to introduce Wong Kar Wai (some cinephiles’ wet dream?).

Anyway, while reading The Moment, a nytimes lifestyle blog (is it me or is the nytimes obsessed with blogs? There are three blogs for the Dining & Wine section!) this morning, I came across Kanye West’s blog! Haha. The blog is interesting, mostly pictures of crazy-expensive designer shit, stuff he is working on, and viral videos. He also has extremely very well produced “Graduation Album Listening Experience Videos,” which takes clips from movies and sets them to songs on the Graduation album. One of the screen shots caught my eye because it was Carina Lau Kar-ling in the robot costume from Wong Kar-Wai's 2046! The song is called “Flashing Lights,” and works well with the movie because the electric beat mimics the sounds trains make when they’re chugging along on the rails. I know I’ve done my fair share of bitching about the Hollywoodization of non-Hollywood movies but in this case, it might just work. Judge for yourself:

GRADUATION ALBUM LISTENING EXPERIENCE PT. 6 - FLASHING LIGHTS from kwest on Vimeo.

Filial ... whaaaat?

If we're going to rant on the subject of filial piety and what it means in the modern setting, there's literally endless things to say. Certainly, Chinese people have institutionalized the idea of taking care of your elders in their infirmity into a religion. With the current fashionable movement to be 'innovative,' to 'break the mould,' to be against any and all institutions regardless, in addition to the ideology of democracy eroding into the Chinese tradition of age hierarchy, it's not surprising that people occasionally slip up and yell at their Grandpas. All the more appropriate to discuss the topic, with the timing near Ching Ming Festival, in which ritual tomb/grave sweeping and offerings of food, money and incense are made. (Well done Pilar, right on time!)

I just learned from my maternal grandmother that if you've relatives that are fresh in the grave, you have to visit them first, before Ching Ming day, in order to demonstrate that you haven't forgotten them so quickly. You visit the relatives that have been in the grave longer later, either on the day of, or after. The term for the newly dead isn't actually 'newly dead' - it's literally 'new mountain,' and 'old mountain' for the long buried. This is a nice way of pointing to the practice of having graves situated on hillsides or mountainsides, mostly for Feng Shui reasons. I think that if I were dead, I'd like a spot on a hilltop with a nice view too, frankly. (Pilar can you teach me how to insert Chinese characters? Ta.)

And, it all makes a lot of sense to me. If you've been dead for ages, you'd forgive your kids and grandkids for wanting to visit the people they remember more freshly, right? Though, with how intractable old people generally are, it's also difficult for me to imagine them being less than absolutely stubborn and demanding in the grave as they are in life. I have this strange image of a bunch of old dead people elbowing each other out of the way, to get the dibs on the freshest and best food offerings, just like I've seen real old folks do in the Hong Kong wet markets. (Chinatown NYC, Pilar?) Honestly, if you're that old, and that dead, no shame in giving your fellow ghost a shove, eh?

The Granddaughter Asian Grandpas Wouldn’t Want.

It’s no secret that I am a little crazy. I am easily agitated over random things. One of those things is my grandpa’s insistence on putting clothes in the dryer after they’ve been hanging to air dry for two days. It just doesn’t make sense to me. He claims that air-drying for two days first saves money because the dryer isn’t running for the full hour.

I wasn’t really in the mood because I had a really strange dream about rejection and woke up confused and slightly angry. (What else is really new?) I decided to wash the bed sheets because I equated clean sheets with good dreams but when I came downstairs, I saw grandpa stacking the clothes washed two days ago one by one in to the dryer -- apparently laying them flat helps the already dry clothes dry faster -- and I just went crazy and started complaining about it. And it turned into a full-blown argument with both of us yelling at each other. OMG and it must be a generational thing or maybe he has been watching way too many TVB shows but grandpa threw down that he can’t “忍 受” (rěn shòu, to suffer) the complaining about the issue anymore. He knew that we all thought his clothes drying methods were insane and chose to ignore them because he was stubborn. Ugh and then we ended up yelling at each other about how we should do our own laundry (which is fine with me cuz I think he’s insane).

So there you have it, perhaps the ultimate example of not being filial. Confucius must be rolling over in his grave. Hearing Grandpa wax poetic about how he is suffering the indignity of being lectured by his granddaughter made me feel bad. It was like reliving that sad Sutaitai moment again: the day when I vowed never to make the elderly feel so exasperated and defeated. woops. Looking back, I should’ve left it all alone. Both Dad and Alex have also made comments about his laundry method, but neither has been as aggressive as mine probably because they don’t spend nearly as much time at home as I do. I am probably having cabin fever and took it out on them. Still I should have known better. Grandpa and Grandma live in our home and I shouldn’t be looking at them as if they were mere guests. :sigh: This is yet another reason to find a job ASAP so I can move out and never have to deal with the guilt for yelling at people for doing stupid insane things again!!

Hollywoodization

Has anyone else seen both versions of the Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs? Pilar and I have. The concept is so simple it's revolutionary - a story about two moles trying to rat out each other. The comedian Eddie Izzard hit the nail on the head in the case of the Hollywood remake of Infernal Affairs. Pilar and I went to see it with a bunch of Americans who hadn't seen the original (gritty, intense, emotional, dark... a lovely movie, highly recommended, if only for the eye candy. OMG Tony Leung Chiu Wai please marry me, I'll do your dirty dishes). Afterwards, Pilar and I could not stop bitching about how the Hong Kong version was soooooo much more awesome. Our other friends got jealous about how much fun we were having and told us we needed to stop, because The Departed was a good movie. Was it bad form of us to bitch, when it was TEH TRUTH?

Any other tainted movies to mention? I would really love to hear from someone who knows a movie that was better after Hollywoodization. No, really, I'm eager to be surpised. I shall eat crow, if I am.

Where are your friends from freshperson year? To Josie Garza: a Most Stellar Dyke. I did love you, and I love you still.

Recently, I received news of the passing of a person that I knew from my freshman year at Hollins University, a woman of note (it seems strange to refer to ourselves as girls, though back then, I suppose we were), if only to me. First year at college was a bit strange for me, I don't know if I loved it or hated it: it was an eye-opener on American college culture, and on the variety and spirit of Americans. And because I find this obituary sadly lacking, I'm going to fumble one of my own...

Josie and I met during orientation, and spent the majority of our first semester doing... well, whatever it is people do during their first semester at college, I can't remember. Some drinking and dancing and talking about nothing, I think. I took two classes with her, and my strongest memories had to be of the "Female Cyborgs in Early Modern Literature" class during our second semester of first year.

Josie probably had no respect for the concept of 'off-topic' or 'on a tangent.' She was hardly the most conscientious student ever, none of us did all our readings, really, but she always added something amazing to our tiny seminar class, something wonderful and tenderly imaginative, like "Wouldn't it be great if... ?" or "Hey, what if...?" and since this was a class partly about sci-fi, you can imagine that what she said was always surprising, and sometimes laughable. It was the laughing that she incited, the genuine delight she found in sharing her non-serious, non-scholarly musings, that will always stay with me. She makes me remember the greatest thing about pure academia: that anything is possible in the mind. I don't think it mattered that we hardly ever talked about cyborgs in a scholarly way. I think it did matter that we laughed, and that Josie often had a hand in our laughing.

In my senior year, I wrote a thesis on the Image of the Female Cyborg in Film and Literature (are the caps a bit much? Yeah, they are a bit snobby aren't they, those big letters. I forgive myself. You don't need to. ) I miss that class, I miss that particular time, and I miss Josie making me laugh. I hope you're laughing now (you probably are, we look pretty ridiculous) , wherever you are, Josie Garza.

Su taitai, the Asian Grandmother I sometimes wish I had.

Not to say anything against my grandma; she is crazy and awesome in her own way, but Su taitai is really something else. I mean, how many tech-savvy, politically-opinionated, worldly grandmas do you know? Gosh, I hope she doesn’t Google herself one day and stumble upon this pseudo-love letter to her. Embarrassing!

Su taitai is an enigma for many students; she is definitely not the traditional little old Chinese lady that you see. There is hardly an ounce of “traditional” teacher in her. The worst Chinese teacher I ever head at Columbia was this guy by the name of Wang. In my mind, he was the epitome of everything stereotypical and horrible about a traditional Chinese teacher: rote memorization, rigidly structured quizzes and tests, points system based on participation, embarrassing the quieter students in front of the class, praising and doting on the non-Chinese students for their speaking abilities, etc. Ugh, what’s worse is that he had a feeling of self-importance – he was the best at everything, knew more than anyone, had infinite knowledge because he was the most learned scholar that China has ever produced in its 5000+ year history. (haha, bitter much, Pilar?)

Obviously Su taitai is the opposite of that. She genuinely cares about her students, even the ones who are quiet and don’t speak that often (i.e., me). She gave me a great big hug when she saw me in her Readings in Modern Chinese class. The work she gives isn’t hard but she expects 10000x the amount of effort you think is sufficient. She wants to push you to do your best; each writing assignment I emailed to her was returned, littered with notes and questions. No work is final until everything is discussed. And she does this with everyone’s work. Sometimes I logged on to my gmail and saw that Su taitai sent me a response at 3am. I found it especially hard when she finally broke down in class and showed us just how much we disappointed her. It was like telling your grandma that the trip she was looking forward to for weeks was cancelled because you’d rather sit at home.

Sometimes I wonder how happy she is teaching second and fourth year Chinese. In the years I have known her I have discovered a few personal facts: she was well educated in mainland China, continued that education in Taiwan, and in the US at Georgetown and Columbia. Although she enjoys teaching, I think someone of her intellectual background would much rather enjoy lecturing and discussing Modern Chinese literature without having to “dumb down” the works. I could totally see her having a Parisian salon, where she can invite people to eat, drink, be merry and talk about any and everything. Oh to be a fly at that party.

Here we are at a class dinner. Half of the class didn't show up but I think she was pretty happy anyway. Isn't she so cute?

Su Tai Tai (Look her up at www.culpa.info) and what American exchange students in China may need to take into account

This is a post dedicated to one of the most memorable professors of my college career, Su Tai Tai. As mentioned, Pilar and I met in her class, and she's probably one of the reasons we became friends, because talking about Su Tai Tai and her particular antics was so much fun.

The thing that the other American students I had the priveledge of calling classmates never understood about Su Tai Tai is that she couldn't be any other way even if she tried. She doesn't think that she is a lunatic, because her idea of being a teacher extends beyond the classroom. This is a quaint Chinese attitude, and personally, I believe Su Tai Tai carries it off with great aplomb.

Chinese professors, especially older ones, do feel the obligation to mold their students into responsible, ethical adults, which is a digression from the average professor at Columbia or Barnard, where the assumption is that you already are (though, from what I've seen... haha nah just joking.) Su Tai Tai also expects an unquestioned amount of respect above the threshold of respect that the average professor requires from his/her students, which I also think is Chinese. She meets with a lot of resistance because of her concepts and expectations of us, her students, and I feel bad for her sometimes. She gets outraged occaisionally, but she really is a sweetheart.

I recently talked to my professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong about the respect issue, and she admits she hates it when foreign students, mostly American, troop into her class wearing flip flops or tank tops, or when they put their feet up on the chair in front of them. She says that it reflects a total lack of respect for the class, their classmates, and herself, who put a lot of effort into putting the class together, encouraging discussions etc. I don't know whether to agree with her or not. But let this be a warning to all American exchange students in China: shoes and shirt are required, preferrably one with a collar. That, is the lesson of the day.

Indulge Me

What is the line between kindness and indulgence in the realm of sexual practices? I read Dan Savage and Mistress Matisse's Columns and Blogs and I find myself pondering the above question quite often. Dan Savage is mostly against bestiality, but very against it when you're tearing up a girl dog. He's generally against publicly flaunting certain kinks, if that means that you're forcing coworkers, family or friends to participate in your kink (omg, I have le not so secret diapers on and I... I... I... could be found out! *gasp* *hard-on*) . And I do see why, it's simply rude. I recently read an article about an British male taking a willing female sex slave and having her trail around on a chain in public. It's kind of like being a nudist outside of a nudist colony - just, well, uncouth.

It is mean and small-minded to denigrate homosexuality of course, but at one time, the prevailing thought was that homosexual people were simply indulging themselves in something unnecessary and amoral. Right now, we have established, in general, that involving outsiders in you and your lover's personal kink is asking for too much indulgence on the part of unwilling bystanders. But sometimes, and I WILL be beheaded for saying this, I'm sure, I vaguely understand when a certain people rant on about people wanting to marry their lamps and their pet gerbils next, in the context of arguing about gay rights. What that camp might be trying to say is "Perhaps we shouldn't forget that line between absolute indulgence and humanity. " There should be a line, we shouldn't indulge ourselves or other human beings in raping animals (actually, I just had the strange image of a lamp fighting off the sexual advances of a male like a Regency era lady... don't you think some lampshades look a bit like a frilly dress? "No, Lord Beckett, I must return to the bedside table, this tryst will ruin me!"), and... {insert here other examples of unindulgable sexual practices that that I can't think of right now}. But I'm annoyingly confused as to what exactly is unnecessary to indulge, in myself and others, and what should be given acceptance and/or dignity in the open.

And, to all the raving, foaming-at-the-mouth liberals that I've met over the years, I don't think I'm ashamed of asking either. There should be some hard and fast rules - it would , and is, remiss of the liberal camp NOT to think up something catchy like "what would Jesus do?"

Friendship Chemistry part deux: Or, Playing Catch Up, 12++hrs behind!

Gosh! Sorry loklok! I am totally behind. I log on to blogger and see that there already so many awesome posts. I hope all your friends know that I am not nearly as poetic as you are. Perhaps I am just more melodramatic. Hah!

Reading “Friendship Chemistry” was truly shocking! I am shocked that something like letting you sleep made you fall in love with me! I thought it was my wit, charm and stunning good looks!
I knew we would be good friends when I met you sophomore year, when we didn’t know how the sutaitai learning method worked. I wouldn’t say that we have a lot of similarities but there is enough that’s different to keep things interesting. Also, I think you are somewhat of an old soul. Sometimes, you have the most sagely advice, as if you’ve lived for decades and decades. We’ve had (shall I say extremely?) similar life experiences but somehow, you’ve always come out of them learning a lesson that is deeper than “don’t do that again,” where as I, on the other hand, am still wondering what/where the lesson is.

But mostly, I’m friends with you because you don’t laugh at my obsession with Doraemon and other stupid things. And you also tolerate me making fun of your obsessions with stupid things. =D

AND we like to think outside the box. Look how freaked out the adults in the back are! haha, the Chinese girls behind us look sassy. Awesome. I hope they're friends for life too.

Why I love Hong Kong

I never, ever get yelled at by construction workers in Hong Kong. We have the politest, most respectful construction workers in the world. They're all feminists, I'm sure of it.

Although to balance that viewpoint, I must recall to you all the one time my chest was oggled on the MTR. I complained about it to my brother, who was standing next to me at the time, and he just sighed and said "He probably had a bad day, L, just let it go." - WHEN did 17 year olds become so jaded about the world may I ask? Male honor? Common Chivalry!?!?!?

Chivalry for Women

A couple of weeks ago Dan Savage's column mentioned that All Men Do It. In my vision of a perfect world where men and women are true equals, women who started bawling and/or raving about discovering her boyfriend's porn stash behind the crapper would be denigrated and labelled Too Stupid To Live by older, wiser women. (This is not to say that your dear author is old, or wise - just opinionated.) As feminists, it's about time we got over the "Porn is Bad for Women" mentality that most likely springs from the insecurity about our bodies that, past teenage years, ougt to slowly fade away just like pizza face (Sorry, people who have post-adolescent cystic acne.) If women expect men to understand and tolerate the quirks of female biology, the least we can do is return the favor.

PMS for example: if we require men to cease patronizing us about it every time we get into a little snit about something, we need to step forward and accept that men can't help loving visual stimulation. Why make your honey ashamed of something that gives him so much pleasure? I believe a fig leaf can be taken from the books of swingers and polyamorists in this regard: the majority of women whose partners enjoy porn should learn to feel compersion.



Respect is a variable and personal concept, and lest I step into any pats of poo down that path, I won't go down there attempting to define it. (Wikipedia can weather the poo on my behalf.) But I do stand by respecting male biology if the vice versa were also true. If my honey doesn't think less of me when I grumble and bitch before and during my period, then I can't think less of him when I catch him hunched over a copy of Double Stuffed. I think chivalry exists for women too, and this is one way I think that women can be chivalrous. Not making guys pay for all the dates is chivalrous as well, IMO, but that's whole 'nother kettle of cold-blooded aquatic vertebrates.

Is pornography disrespectful? And how is it different from boob oggling in real life? Chivalry for women: does it exist?

Friendship Chemistry

This is the third blog that I've started in as many years, because although I LOVELOVELOVE checking in at my favorite blogsites every time I'm on the internet, and think that they're like, like, like COLUMNS but BETTER, I worry that the whole concept of having an online diary is a little too hubristic.

Self-consciousness aside, I had the thought that a rant may not be the most auspicious beginning to this, our blog, and wanted to introduce you all to my friend Pilar, by telling y'all how we met...

The short story is that we took Chinese class together in the second semester of our Sophomore year (natural alliteration! It doesn't happen often, it's like, penguins in your soup or something...) I'd bore you with the long story, but everyone knows there's such thing as friendship chemistry, so I'd like to say something about how my (non-sexual) crush on Pilar started out.

The true romance of our friendship began in Hong Kong, actually, when I fell asleep on an evening I was supposed to take her out partying in LanKwai, and she forgave me for it. It was unforgivable on my part because she was only in Hong Kong for about a week, and everyone knows that you have to squeeze every last minute of joy out of short trips, in order to placate yourself when you look at your bank account statement when you get home. That she let me sleep is true selflessness. She even gave me this purple scarf she bought during her other Chinese travels despite my callous succumbance to lethargy. Pilar is a SAINT I tell you!!!!! When I'm an wearing my Cardinal reds I'll be the first one to vote for her (they do vote, don't they?) canonization.

The rest is recent history. :) (actually, I shit myself when I use that phrase, because I don't really know what that means. What does "the rest is history" actually mean? Technically, everything that happened is history, but why does it feel right to point out that obvious absurdity / absurd obviousness right about now?)

CUHK Chinese Language Center : A Review

Am I actually a 'banana'? I wish I were, because it would make my identity a lot easier to market. The word has assonance, the concept is graphic... if I could get an angle on my lack of Chinese language skills, make it seem like I'm this yummy fruit that everyone would love to hire as a scriptwriter for an already successful TV show like - well, nothing comes to mind actually. Hong Kong TV sucks satan's sweaty scrotum.

Speaking of sucking, I really must suck on some more about the Language program I'm enrolled in right now. GIVEN that Chinese is a difficult language to teach - how do you make memorizing 3000 characters really Fun and Full of Fudgy Flavour and Rainbow Sprinkles??? ( or Hundreds and Thousands, if you're from across the pond) - I'm still irritated by the incompetance and general shabby attitude of the school which is supposed to have a prehistoric legacy in experience teaching Chinese.

Suck No. 1. I Did Not Get my Teaching Materials Until A Quarter of the Way though the Course.
When I signed up they assured that I could get traditional character teaching materials and that did not happen until way late. I had to continuously chase them up for the absolute basic things. Then it was suggested to me that , well, you know, simplified is a good option too! Why don't you change your mind and then we wouldn't have to do all this reformating and photocopying! ie. *you're an annoying customer, and we'd rather you CONFORM DAMMIT*

Suck No. 2. The teaching materials are designed ONLY to make you learn vocabulary. Some of the passages we read are so laden with four-word sayings that I could probably rap the thing out as for my oral exam (which is essentially a spewing out of a word-for-word recitation of the text. I have a vision of myself bringing a boombox into the exam room). It just doesn't seem like something you would normally read! Why don't I just make myself a bunch of vocab flash cards and save myself the money? (15 credits equals about 23,000 hkd. Do da math)

Suck No. 3. The campus is in the middle of nowhere. If you're an advanced learner, you have to travel all the way to Shatin for class. The commute is a bore.

Suck No. 4. The chairs are too small. My classmate, who is 6'3'' American with Swiss heritage, cannot possibly fit his booty into that chair and feel comfortable for the three hour class. They're an institute for foreign learners?! They should expect students of foreign sizes and adjust the seating accordingly so they don't get that 14-hour flight feeling?????

End rant.