OK, yeah I know....The Backstreet Boys. Is there any worse humiliation? Probably not....but as I said... I haven't been myself lately. One, maybe two more weeks and I will be moved on and back to my old self. Superman Ressurected? no...but better anyways I think. Thanks to those who have supported me and given me some "what the f*ck is wrong with you?" butt kicking over the last month. Although I would have preferred someone to complain to, to tell my probelms to and a little sympathy...telling me I'm an ass for doubting myself is helpful sometimes too. If I had a mao for everytime I heard..."there is nothing wrong with you. I still think you are great!" I would be a rich man...and that's OK sometimes too. Ends up I am just rich in true friends, not in quantity but in quality. Thanks all of you :)

 

Still thinking too much about... but at least I feel like I can start thinking about the future again sometime soon.

 

My chinese lessons are finally starting to pay off. Last week I learned peng (fat) and qi (to ride).  So I put that with the chinglish I already know to say... Wo Peng. Bu qi xiao ma. ..."I'm fat. I can't ride a small horse." It reminded my of my trip to Inner Mongolia with Brooke last fall. I thought I finally learned something I could have used. See the picture for a reference. I am sure the horse was wishing I learned that phrase before my trip. But hey...I'm stubborn as a mule, so the horse will just have to deal with it.

 

I could tell you about the time I tried to have something delivered to a friend...by myself, in chinese. First I had to learn the word for "deliver", which is "song"... then I had to go to the internet to find the phone number of the company they worked at, then I had find the number of the office in BJ, and then I had to call and try to get the the builidngs address in Chinese!!! (by the way...I don't speak Chinese!!!)...and then I had to look up my old UIBE records to get the persons name right (pinyin is easy, but the chinese characters I haven't studied) Then I had to go to the market, tell them what I wanted and give all the information to the salesperson, arrange to have it delivered on the right date, at the right time, to the right place to the right person....man.... it is so much easier back home haha. It took a whole day to do what I could have done in 5 minutes back home. hahaha after all that...it didn't pay off like I would have wanted, but I did learn something about myself :P I leaned I really need to learn Chinese to have a happy life here.

Well the last two months have been eventful, although not always for good reasons. Anyone who really knows me already knows that I have not been myself lately. I've had a new friend leave way too soon, some old friends turn out not to really be friends, met a few old friends all over again, met a few new people, had the death of "Superman" and even had the return of Mr. Pappy, an "old friend" indeed. A picture of Mr. Pappy in all his glory is attached.

 

My school schedule is starting to pick-up a little again and I have even been offered more responsibility (and hopefully more money, although in China that is not always the case). I am spending more time helping out my friends at the marketing company in Beijing. We just did a presentation for Mitsubishi yesterday, which could be interesting...and they have been teaching me mahjiang after work. I will begin my long over due Chinese language lessons next week or so, just after I find an appropriate experienced teacher.

 

My plants are alive and doing well after 1 month...which just proves that I can take care of some things. My new TV is living up to my expectations, and with football season starting I am sure it will get a lot of use.

 

But even with all of that, I still have too much free time to think. Thinking about...