Told him I like the shirt + asked if he wanted to be internet famous!
PS I got our visas today!
Moving Out
Some thing about moving aren’t so bad. There’s a lot of fun stuff to use up before we go! Junk food, candy, my super-special lavender bath oil (Stick doesn’t think this is so special, he says things like “what’s all that goo in the tub?”) and sparkly lotion (again with Stick not loving this. Apparently the sparkles rub off on things).
Saving something for best goes so completely against my personality, but for some reason I had Kahlua, Tia Maria and amaretto that I thought were too good for everyday drinking. Er… not that I drink everyday.
Stuff I Wish I Had Last Time
Whenever anyone visited me in China, I asked them to bring deodorant, tampons and lotion-without-skin-whitener. (Thanks again, by the way, I really do appreciate the international tampon run)
Um, yes, that’s a dozen tissue packs and 5 bottles of hand sanitizer. . .
Something Seven Something
Whenever I heard someone speaking Chinese, I try to eavesdrop. It’s usually pretty unsucessful, I have trouble recognizing even words I know in a different context, so usually I’m all “Seven! He just said something seven something! Yes! I’m so smart!”
Cocoon Banquet
I found this on my fridge today, as I was packing up the kitchen. I don’t know who wrote it, or if it has to do with our impending trip. Hugo? Diana? Maybe Eric? It’s probably someone who’s going to be eating lovely cheddar and brie this year, while laughing at me!
There was also a dirty poem on the fridge, but I’m pretty sure that was Stick.
Posted in New York City
Tagged Chinese life, Diana, e3, Eric, Hugo, New York City, packing, Stick
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Beijing
Our new adventure starts next month! Stick has agreed to come with me to China, which still sort of boggles my mind, even as it’s progressed from vague possibility into packing and plans.
After some confusion over whether there was a job for me Yantai, and whether it would be a good idea to take one, I took Ryan‘s advice and found a job at a primary school in Beijing. Ryan connected me with my about-to-be boss, and he also had some words of wisdom about Chinese ex-pat life, about finding which Western imports are just distractions and which make China into home. I think the food is the hardest thing for me to deal with, and in Beijing, I’ll be able to have a nice Western meal when the urge for recognizable food strikes me. We’ll be close to better hospitals in the city too, I doubt we’ll ever need them but it’ll make both of our families sleep easier. And finally, I’m going to be working a regular Monday-Friday job, not language center hours with evenings and weekends.
Stick’s been hired at the same school, which makes things easier. Before he got the formal offer, I told him we could get a visa marraige, the kind where I’d support him in exchange for housekeeping and, uh, companionship. Then I remembered I get that anyway.
Posted in Beijing, Yantai
Tagged China, chinese, Chinese life, housekeeping, packing, Stick, Yantai
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We Also Have Three Latin-English Dictionaries…
“Stick, are we going to be together for a long time?”
“Why are you asking me this? Are you going to get all clingy now?”
“No, but we have two copies of Images in the Age of Augustus, two of Roman Civ, and two of From The Gracchi To Nero. And if we’re going to be together for a long time, we probably only need one of each.”
Posted in Books, New York City
Tagged Books, Chinese life, latin, New York City, packing, Stick
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One More Turn
Yesterday Stick and I picked up the new Civ 4 expansion. I don’t know how it is yet, but I do know that when I woke up about around 6AM, Stick was sitting in front of the computer saying he was coming to bed in one more turn.
Zoodoka
I was asked to look at Zoodaka, a new blog broadcasting service. It makes a blog’s RSS feed into an email, which can be delivered whenever there’s new content, or sent as a digest, weekly or monthly. They have fun widgets like a subscription counter, and ways to make your e-mails look pretty.
With any email marketing program, spamming is going to be a major issue. Any free, mass-mailing program has a huge potential to be abused. Zoodoka has a what they call a double opt-in method, which means you sign up on the site and then you receive a confirmation email to make sure you really want to get Zoodoka updates. I’m usually not a fan of confirming an action I just chose (honestly, VISTA, I wouldn’t have clicked “install” if I didn’t want to install NWN, and yes, I’m sure!), but we all get enough spam. Zoodoka’s also pretty actively deleting accounts of spammers, which makes me happy.
Zoodoka does everything that my dear, departed Bloglet used to do. (I’m still upset about that site disappearing off the face of the planet one day, and taking my mailing list with it.) Zoodoka’s been acquired by the guys at PayPerPost, which means they probably won’t be going the way of Bloglet anytime soon. It does mean that zany buzzwords like “customer love” are becoming more common.
Azeroth News
Azeroth World News asked me to write a couple WarCraft culture pieces, the first is here, there should be another up shortly.
Posted in New York City
Tagged Chinese life, New York City, WarCraft, World of WarCraft
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