The Update for Everybody Else

[anvi]

Well, to preview: I am going to have breakfast, then do some editing work and make an inquiry about visa application requirements for my trip to East Asia this summer, then go to the gym, then do some more editing work and write a recommendation letter, then go home and make dinner with the gf, and after that maybe practice on guitar and learn a few new songs.  It would be nice if I could perform all this without getting rained on while I'm outside today, which would be a nice change from the past week.  Exciting stuff, huh?  No wonder we read Bushie's threads.

[anvi]

I'm beginning to get excited about my immanent trip, so I'm bragging about it everywhere now.  On June 21st, I'm leaving for East Asia for three weeks, and several stops will be first-time visits.  Most of it will be to different places in China.  I'll go to a conference being hosted at a temple at Mian Mountain in Shanxi province, where I've never been, to give a paper first.  Then it's off to Xi'an for the first time to give a lecture at a university there and do some sightseeing.  Then I fly to Hong Kong to visit some friends.  The last stop will be Singapore, again for the first time, to give another paper.  I hate flying, and the trip there from Atlantic Canada and especially the flight back will be torture, so up to now, I've been dreading it a little.  But now I'm starting to look forward to it.  My supervision of the FC Chess tournament might be a little spotty during the days before I get to Hong Kong, but I'll look in on it when I can.

[anvi]

Sorry to hear that, Nathan.  I hope available treatments keep it mild.

Thanks Torie and Grumps.  And Torie, the kinds of priorities you refer to are not exactly lacking in my case, I just have to work them into a schedule.    But I used to be a lot freer for that kind of thing than I happen to be at the moment. 

[anvi]

Having earned a Ph.D. in the most useless of all the humanities, I'd just like to say that I have lifetime employment.  Thank you. 

[anvi]

Geez, tough days for lots of good guys on here.  Feel better Dukey; Wydoon, that sucks, but hang in there; TNF, hope your grandfather heals quickly (but congrats on your four articles!). 

An a different note, you're my hero, Kemp.

[anvi]

This is definitely a mob firm. All their clients are Italians or Greeks, and my boss told me the firm was super aggressive in the real estate market in Charleston and never apologizes for what he does because there's money to be had.

Also, all my coworkers hate each other and one had a mental breakdown and left for the day, so most of the work I was supposed to be doing isn't happening. This is going to be an interesting summer.

Sounds like the beginnings of a good novel and movie.  Keep safe but, of course, keep us posted, Duke!

[anvi]

Apparently the managing partner at this firm's nickname is "the devil."

He seemed nice to me...

When I was an exchange student at Tübingen University in Germany back in the mid-'90's, there was an administrator in the international office whose name was, you guessed it, Herr Teufel--Mr. Devil.  It's actually not such an unusual German name.  But we students used to make jokes about him..."Today I have an appointment with the Devil."  "I got great advice from the Devil today."  "The Devil told me I should stay in Germany another year and see if I can expand my opportunities." and of course "The Devil really helped me out today."

[anvi]

There is a cloudless blue sky above me in Halifax this morning, temperature 18C.  I'm going to finish my morning communications, run a few errands, go down the harbor, sit outside and enjoy a few drinks, and in the evening pack and prepare to leave tomorrow for my three-week trip to East Asia. 

[anvi]

Thanks!  I may post a few pictures when I come back.

[anvi]

A few pictures from my trip through mainland China for those who might enjoy them.  The first two are from a rather new temple complex built atop some old sites in Shanxi province called Mian Mountain (Mianshan).  The last one is of an old-fashioned hu tong neighborhood in Beijing.

[anvi]

Glad you like the photos, guys.  The first two and others like them required some hiking and climbing that were, for me, slightly on the scary side, but the pictures seem to have been worth it.  The last one of the hu tong or "town" is really just made out of formerly small family residence courtyards joined together into narrow alleys where people of various social classes resided in different directions in the alley.  They came to include shops of various kinds too, of course.  They've been around for more than five hundred years.  But during the modernization period in recent Chinese history, lots of hu tong neighborhoods have disappeared, but some are protected as historical landmarks, like the one in the picture, close to the Ho Hai area.  They're really neat little places, although in some parts a bit too touristy, so I like to find more residential ones.

[anvi]

Keep safe, Joe.

[anvi]

I am back in Canada after my trips to China, Hong Kong and Singapore over the past several weeks.  Had a very good time overall.  But the trip from Singapore to Nova Scotia registered a total travel time of twenty-six and a half hours.

[anvi]

That sounds bizarre.

The girl I have been seeing texted me this morning to tell me she was coming back to town this weekend and wasn't going to make any plans with anyone else so I could "do whatever you want to do with me all weekend. Your choice."

Not sure what I did to deserve it, but what a great start to the week!

Congrats, Duke!  I've always done okay with girls, but I've never gotten a text like that in my life, and I will now, in the pub I'm in, order another beer.  Have fun!

EDIT:  I did however get an email this evening from a married Chinese girl telling me that I am "cute," so, while you go ahead and get yourself into some fun trouble, Dukey, I have to stay out of trouble. 

[anvi]

Glad to hear that, Joe.

[anvi]

I've decided to begin applying for faculty positions in east and southeast Asia.  I don't want to disclose exactly where at the moment, but I'm going to try to become an ex-pat again soon.  I'd really like something to happen here, so please wish me luck.

[anvi]

I know you weren't satisfied in your last position so anything that makes it happier and best for you will have all of us pulling for you, anvi.......

Thanks, Grumps!    Yeah, I need to get out of my present situation before the ship sinks.  But the jobs I'm looking at are pretty appealing, both in terms of opportunities and location, so I'll buy the whole forum a few rounds if one in particular pans out. 

[anvi]

Thanks, guys.  And ear infections do suck, WD--feel better soon.

[anvi]

Dear Torie and Bacon, I've never once been disappointed in either of you until now.  Maps...really..maps?  For the love of God!   

[anvi]

Sixty-five hundred yen is not a reasonable price for half a kilogram of dried blueberries, be it a festival night or not.

Yikes!  No, that's not a reasonable price.

[anvi]

I'm a little puzzled why so many people read it so avidly.  I looked at a page or two way back when, but I didn't find it all that interesting, and have not been tempted to look at it since.  I read Bushie's comments on other political threads and they're fine and I've always found interacting with him there to be pleasant, but why his update threads capture so much attention from so many Forumites, I don't understand.

[anvi]

Very sorry to hear that sad news, Andrew.

[anvi]

Now you have to take a sh**t and lose 5 pounds

I'm kind of surprised this hasn't been marketed as an actual fitness plan yet. 

[anvi]

I've been editing papers like a maniac since I returned from my Asia trip.  Adds up to about six philosophy papers for a book I'm co-editing and two science papers on spinal interneurons from my gf's lab.  So, for those of you who wonder why I'm weird, let me assure you that reading papers on philosophy and neuroscience at the same time would, if you were not weird already, get you there but fast.

EDIT:  In the science papers, the authors go into great detail about how they kill and dismember the transgenic mice used in their experiments, and then put the parts they are investigating in various kinds of fluid.  So, it's not like there's no fun in it all.

[anvi]

Sorry, Grumps.  But, look at the bright side; compared to these mice, after you eat and walk around a little, you get to stay alive.