Roses and duct tape.
Famous International Brand
Although I still have 3 weeks left of classes, it’s definately summer in Amherst. Stick decided to spring for an air conditioner instead of a fan, and he picked up and installed the new box with amazing speed. Actually, we now have two air conditioners… which means our rooms-to-AC ratio is swiftly tipping in favor of the air conditioners.
I came in to admire Stick’s new handiwork, and enjoy the nice cold bedroom, but I felt a vague unease about the rapidly-cooling room. There was something ominous about the AC, something wrong that I just couldn’t put my finger on.
This morning, I noticed that our new AC is made by Haier.
Although Haier is known to all my Chinese students as a “famous international brand,” I’d never heard of thm before going to China. Haier was the name (and the weird naked-babies logo) on the washer that didn’t work properly in my first Yantai apartment. I also had a moody DVD player made by them. It might have been the laowei model, since Ryan’s DVD player seems pretty tempermental too.
It’s not really that Haier are bad guys, I think, it’s more that the standards for appliances in China are pretty low. They tend to give out as often as Sims’ do. I had a (non-Haier) AC in my second Yantai apartment, which started smoking one midsummer afternoon. My landlady told me that was because I shouldn’t turn it up all the way or leave it on for more than a half-hour.
UMass Graduation
Stick’s graduation!
If you haven’t seen the Andrew Card
protest at the UMass graduation, you should watch this video.
Summer Issue of Bleech Magazine
My article on gaming and dating is in here!
PS. It’s Bleach, not Bleck.
Beating The System
Apparently, if you are an English teacher, people will come to your school and give you free books. (these people are called “representatives from various publishing companies” and not “people who really like Meg”) They also bring in cookies and fruit and coffee, in case I need to be bribed to come look at books. It’s meant to encourage bigger book orders for next semester, but I beat the system! I don’t have a job next semester!
We’re On First Names With The Insurance Company
This morning, Stick and I woke up to the sound of someone banging on our across-the-hall neighbors’ door. At least, we assumed it was their door, since we don’t have too many friends who make unannounced Sunday-morning visits.
It was actually the police. Late last night, someone hit our parked car (which is kind of unfair because it’s so new that the title only arrived yesterday). The drivers’ side door is a little concave, and when our car got hit, it hit the car parked next to it. Oh, and our neighbor’s car has a Meg’s-bumper-sized dent.
The officer was really nice to me, which I totally wasn’t expecting. They think the driver who hit the car was drunk, which explains the late-night crash and why they wouldn’t report it. I’m kind of hoping the person who hit the car will come and admit it when they’re sober (and only have the insurance hassle, not the drunk-driving charge), but Stick says that’s not likely.
But that’s ok. If I had friends who decided to come visit that early in the morning, then I’d really have a problem.
Variable Authors
I picked up Variable Star by Robert A Heinlein and Spider Robinson at the Jones Library yesterday. I usually hate collaborative novels, and collaborative sci-fi is usually the worst of the worst. Someone has a good idea, and someone else ghostwrites, sorry, co-writes, books four through twelve. I was even less likely to pick it up when I realized that Heinlein had died with the story unfinished, and Robinson had finished it… a collaborative novel that one of the authors might not even like?
I was dead wrong. Variable Star is typical Heinlein because it’s in a creative and clever ficton, with a developed main character surrounded by two-dimensional walk-ons. Robinson turns those secondary characters into an ensemble cast. Robinson needs Heinlein’s world-building; Robinson writes snappy dialogue between believable people, but ultimately his best books are about sitting in a bar. He also tones down the overt sexism that keeps me from being a real Heinlein afficionado.
Actually, I should say that this story is by Heinlein, Robinson and a ghost. Someone who had the book out before me was kind enough to correct H/R’s grammar mistakes.
I wonder if it’s ok to write in library books if it’s a public service to the next reader.
Posted in Books, Western Mass
Tagged Books, Robert A Heinlein, sci-fi, sci-fi Variable Star, Spider Robinson
Leave a comment
Semester Review
Much better class today. I told my students not to bother taking out their books, which put everyone in a good mood. I’d copied some worksheets from other books, so we could review the semester without boring everyone.
It was such a confidence booster! I wish I’d done other review days, it was so good to remind my students how much they’ve learned. I wish I’d kept their first papers to hand back now… they would be amazed at themselves.
We have a state exam in a few weeks, but since I won’t be here next semester, I won’t be rewarded or penalized based on their scores. I want my class to pass because it will bring them confidence in their English. But they tell me they successfully returned a defective item, talked to the superintendent, applied for a better job, got a better job, etc., and that’s much more valuable than a test.
Expendability
Sometimes my ESL lessons don’t go every well, and when that happens, they fail spectacularly. My freewrite today was a journal entry about one day in childhood, which I thought would lead neatly into a review of irregular past tense (my students get -ed verbs, but have trouble with was, had, ate, slept, got, etc.) Instead, it lead to really horrific stories about starvation, abandonment and refugee camps.
After class, my department head told me that there’s definitely no work for me this fall. I saw the writing on the wall a while back; my contract is only for a semester, and the department is losing some funding next semester. Stick and I are most likely moving this August, anyway. But it still sucked to have my expendability pointed out.
Spellcheck says “expendability” isn’t a word, but I’m an English teacher, and I say it is.
English-Language China Bloggers
Humanaught posted the other day on the lack of ladies on English-language China blogs. I think it has something to do with the lack of female expats in China.
I read the adventures of Anna Zhan in Taiwan. (I would say that’s my favorite blog on mt girls-in-China list but it’s a list of one) China Dirt is also female-written, but it’s more of a general rant about ex-pat men and pushy dates.
Even with the ones Humanaught recommends, it’s not quite enough to make a Gorgeous Ladies Of The China Blogosphere calendar.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bloggers, China, China blog, China Blogs, expats, General, Humanaught, other blogs
Leave a comment
