such and such

So I'm in a creative dry spell now. Too many people are reading this blog. Not in mass numbers, mind you, but I'm the number one result of people searching for my company. That means I can't really rag on the company - not that there's much to complain about, but what there is is typically worth writing about. So new recruits, our competition, and even my school are reading this. There's too much pressure to make everything shiny-happy. That sacrifices a lot in the way of the entertainment value for you, the reader, and me the writer... it's just not as much fun to write about China right now.

So... I need to take a break and think about where I'm going next where Treyopia.

Thanks for keeping up. I'll get some innocuous pictures up soon.

And for those curious, here was my Christmas agenda:

Friday - The company takes us out for burgers, BBQ, and "Chinese" gift giving... and beer. It gets cheaper the more you drink, down to 50 cents for your fifth beer. Needless to say, most of us get to our fifth beer. Then karaoke. I destroyed Freebird.

Saturday: I organize an outdoor hot pot dinner [hot pot: a big bowl of boiling hot water, pepper, garlic, etc that you drop raw meat, tofu, and veggies into and pull back out. Usually insanely spicy and perfect for cold weather]. Africans and Americans unite for Christmas carols much to the bemusement of our Bai Shi Zhou neighbors. Confusion reigns about whether or not we accidentally ordered dog and dropped it in our pot. We wind up at an all-Chinese dance club, where later they cleared the floor for circus midgets in clown costumes.

Sunday: deliver Christmas gift to Hera. An ant farm and a pendant. She could care less about the pendant...

Monday: Went out to have dinner with Hera and the industrial wastelands of Longdan district... two hours away. Wow. I figured she and her coworkers needed some Christmas jeer. Their SOB boss wouldn't give them the day off. Bear in mind they work 10 hours a day six days a week, and sometimes more without overtime. It's time to burn that factory down...