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My internet connection has been exceedingly slow recently, even for China. I've been surprisingly patient with it, though. I've surprised myself. I suppose I'll check on it eventually if it goes on like this, though.
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I stopped using iTunes and immediately freed up about 107 mb of memory. I'm using foobar2000 now, but I ask myself, "Why did I ever leave Winamp?"
I still have mixed feelings about Apple, in general. Maybe I just have mixed feelings about electronics.
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The song "The War is Over!" by Back Ted-N-Ted. This is the definition of joy.
There's nothing like finally getting the album of an artist you've been using Myspace to listen to for the past 5 years.
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Late Night Alumni. New Album. Haunted.
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Where should I move next? I mean, it's probably more than a year away, but still... it's never too early to start planning, right? Meeehhhh... but really. And don't say Phoenix. Or anywhere in the American South.
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One of my students (named "Tury", by the way) thinks I look like Spiderman, i.e. Tobey Maguire. Also, I'll be compiling a list of my student's names, for your enjoyment. (Is that an ethical breach with regard to teaching standards?)
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You know you are in China when you are standing in the bathroom, hear the sound of rushing water, and honestly don't know if the noise is issuing from your stomach or the pipes.
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I had a dream recently in which I received a text message from a friend. It was in English, but all of the letters were scrambled.
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The voices (and music) of Sheryl Crow, Alanis Morisette, and Dolores O'Riordan (and the Cranberries) have the unique ability to instantaneously make me feel like I am 8 years old again. There are a handful of other artists who also possess this ability.
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There seems to me to be a point at which the use of the word "please" ceases to sound polite and simply begins to sound imposing, patronizing, and, at times, threatening. I would note that the use of "please" is much more likely to sound polite and kind when it is said with a smile on one's face and honesty in one's eyes. I would also note that it is fairly likely that I am making this distinction because I say "please" so often when I'm teaching, but it's more often out of forced politeness than it is out of an honest desire to be polite, e.g. 3-4 year olds are running around the room screaming and falling down, to which I am obliged to loudly and pointedly yawp "Please sit down!", etc...
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Also, I will now express the true exasperation, joy, and entertainment I receive while teaching 3-5 year olds who, at times, will fall out of their chairs for no apparent reason at all. I am dead serious. Everything's going well..."what's this?" "CAT!" "what's this?" "DOG!!!" "what's this?" BOOM! Lily, for no reason at all, is on the floor. It's like the top of her body just suddenly got too heavy, she lost her balance, and fell out of her chair. Incredible. And these chairs are about a foot tall. This will happen multiple times throughout a class, and to different students, and the best part is, the student usually looks as dumbfounded as I do.
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Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom is still a scary movie.
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If you, dearest reader, harbor any fears that China is going to "take over" any time soon, do not fear: they still use Internet Explorer.
On that note, I hate Internet Explorer so much.
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I've written it before, and I'll write it again: feel free to respond to anything I write here! You can write in the comments or comment on Facebook. The main reason I'm keeping this is to keep you somewhat informed about my life, and it's double the fun if you respond in kind!
Names: I could totally do the same thing, but I'm pretty sure I would definitely raise the ire of some. A taste of it: I've taught three kids in the same family by the names of Shyheim, Shaquel, and Shanice. I believe there's also an older one whose name starts with a "Sha-" prefix, if you can call it that?
ReplyDeleteOn Monday I used the impolite and very obviously imposing "please" to highly gratifying effect and managed to get a group of 7th graders in line. It was admittedly a bit fun.
KN:
ReplyDeleteYeah, I figure the situation is a bit different in America. I mean, we both know how unlikely it is that any of my students or their parents even have access to Blogger or Facebook, much less the ability to find my blog and know that I posted their child's English name on the internet for comedic purposes.
And I think your inference is well-founded: if the "Sha-" family has another child about whom you are not directly aware, it's very likely that their name starts with "Sha-".