February 24th, 2016

February 24th, 2016

(Jordan referencing Editor's note: Hi Jordan -G)

(The below was written the morning of the 23rd)

I want to start the day by going, really, before the start of the day- my mission was to stay in bed and recover some. I seemed to have dreamed a lot of complicated stuff- the big one was this story about two alien races at war, and how this one soldier, a woman from a race of some sort of baboon/butterfly hybrids-- I don't know why I dreamed that as the combination exactly, she didn't have any wings or antenae or anything. Actually she looked more like if Skeletor had a little bit of flesh on his face- an empty hole where her nose should be, but prominent, fleshy cheekbones. The butterfly part comes in from how light and agile she was- anyways, she finds herself behind enemy lines and finds a society confusingly similar to her own, children playing, caring families, that whole thing. Despite the fact that they're descended from a bird/insect race (sometimes they had beaks, othertimes my mind skipped that detail) and look very different from the main character, she didn't clue in to the fact that she was somewhere she shouldn't be. She makes friends with someone there- this is where I got the clearest image of her face- it's not a face that you would think could smile, but she made it smile with this friend, excited for an adventure. They race away from some soldiers, until she decides to help them, to betray her people. So she agrees to go back to her side and set them up for a fall, but when she goes back she keeps offering for someone to check her bio-recorders: she has one in her foot (which for some reason is referred to as her life) and one behind her ear (which is referred to as her soul) but no one feels the need to check the recorder because they implicitly trust her.

And now for a sad plot twist: she's so moved about her peoples trust in her that when she returns to the other camp she uses a green flashlight/laser to kill all the enemy forces by surprise. I didn't see that one coming.

Oh man! I also dreamed about this experimental/mystical mech suit, large but somewhat effervescent with a few tron lines going on- it fights by clamping on to an enemy's back and taking a "spirit bite" out of the top of their head- it doesn't physically damage the person, but it wipes away all the negative things from a person- it turned a monstrous soldier guy, the guy you'd expect multiple war crimes under his belt, into this- mentally speaking- idealistic recruit that wanted to help out a cause for the greater good, on the side of the ghost mech, which was piloted by this vaguely pink woman (think Princess Bubblegum) who is some kind of wealthy person about town and has this mech stashed away in the basement of her tower complex at the center of the city, because of course she does- and she has a bubbly persona that falls away when it's just her and her robot assistant- Siri/Alfred type of deal. I remember thinking she was acting too mysterious and as though she knew everything, with this sort of secret knowledge, and I was all- come on man, that's like some stupid anime characterization. If she had glasses she'd be constantly pushing them up on her face with one hand, smirking while the glasses flashed light back at the viewer.

But fine, I guess I dream in bad anime characterization today. I'm impressed with my brain for coming up with that ghost mech- I can't think of anywhere I might have seen that before and  it was an insanely cool visual.

Last thing I want to mention that I dreamed: I dreamed that Harlan Ellison (er, I think that's the comedian's name, that, or I'm name dropping the one science fiction writer... but I mean the comedian with big ears. You know the one.) showed up at some house I lived at in the past (I'm not entirely sure what house this was) looking for a bathroom, and Jordan points him to this bathroom that's really far away. And I'm like "Jordan, there's a bathroom just behind you, what are you talking about?" And makes a movement like, yes, yup, I knew you were going to mention that, and then he says it all has to do with... "seatbelts."

That was so ridiculous I had to wake up and have a good laugh about it.

And I ALSO had to wake up at 3 am or so- someone called my Canadian cell phone and the signal reached me (unexpected since I failed at sending a text back home that one time)- my phone ring changed now that I'm "digitally roaming" so I didn't recognize the sound- I shot up out of bed, disoriented, but assuming it was some kind of fire alarm, only to see it was my dumb phone probably getting a call about winning a free cruise. In short, I do not know what the fire alarm sounds like here.

10:55 am on the 24th

First stop was to go to Bank of China to try and send all that money back to Canada to pay my credit card bill/student loans- I took some video of the subway system, paranoid of the security, but I'm told they wouldn't have cared. Even still, better to avoid them maybe. Bank of China really tried to turn me away because of my not having my passport, but I was insistent that, seeing as they already had a picture of my passport in their system after I recieved that moneygram a month ago, month and a half ago, they already HAD that picture, and as I was only sending money, it should suffice. They stuck to their guns, but so did I, waiting around for higher management to get involved so I could make my case. I said, look, you're telling me I can't send this money because I don't have my passport, but I could go out, find some schlub on the street with a passport, bring him here, and have HIM send my money out- it's all the same thing, the money gets sent, so how about we save a lot of time, and just send the money now?

Then they changed their tune, that maybe my photocopied passport would be okay, but I'd need the authenticating document that went with it (Vicky had to take that- it's apparently back in Wuhan now...) ALSO, and this is a direct quote from the paper the manager wrote on for me, I'd need "income proof", "tax proof" and "employment". I assume "employment" also requires "proof"- this is all for the purpose of of foreigner changing yuan into, I guess, American dollars- again, this is something I can perhaps bypass using a foreigner to send this money for me, but it was an effective smokescreen to get me to leave the building.

I subwayed back to Web and immediately informed Vicky that, first, there was no more drip in my bathroom, so I guess that problem went away on its own?, and then I asked for help in regards to this moneygram situation. She took down the info, bank of china number, etc. etc. and I told her that, if I sort of stretch my less crucial Wal-Mart and student loan payment times, I needed this sent and in my Canadian bank account for the third or so- really, I'm not sure what's going to happen with my BIG credit card when the internet bill hits it, I don't want to think about that. Yee-eesh. But enough about that, Vicky is on the case, and she's mostly reliable. She then asked me if I could take a trip to Qinqniwaqiao Web to get my fingerprint into the clock in system- I said no problem, but spoiler alert, I got there around 8pm and the HR person was gone- well, Vicky should have said a time I had to be there by, I was otherwise occupied.

And here is how I was occupied: I was approached by a new student, first day, Ivy- she wanted some advice for an upcoming interview she had with Peking University. We had a very long conversation, and she asked if we could be friends- of course we could! That was obviously an amazing segway (segue? sp?) to me talking about Kamen rider Fourze- regardless, she invited me to get some coffee, and I accepted. So we hung out in the coffee shop for several hours chatting, and I couldn't help but notice she was staring a little too intently into my eyes... and to be honest, I indulged myself in a fantasy of intimacy and looked into hers. It was a nice feeling, but in doing so I worry that I could lead her on. She is very sweet though.

We parted ways when I had to make my trip to Qinqniwaqiao (like "Chin ni wa chow")- I'm getting used to the subways system, but I still have a lot of trouble with the exit here- I second guessed myself, and came out the wrong end, unsure of which way was north, and walked the wrong way for a bit. There was a sign pointing to Huanghe Lu, which is north of where I was, so I knew I needed to turn around.

To my surprise, there was Dany teaching an English Corner! He's a busy guy. But no Tyler, no HR, so I had wasted some money on the trip. I stayed for the tail end of Dany's presentation before deciding to go to Victory Plaza for some boneless chicken, but it seems that whole place closes at 8- which was the time. So I popped back in the subway to go back to Xi'an Lu and who should be waiting for the subway but Melody, a student, and her friend who introduced herself as Margaret. It seems Melody just had a job interview, and Margaret came for moral support. So we got to practice the word "coincidence" a little bit, and generally have a nice ride until my stop.

Deciding I wasn't really hungry, and getting a kettle to try and improve my health was more important, I skipped Food Bazzar in favour of hitting up Carrefour. I purchased an 89 yuan kettle that, now that I've used it (not in my kitchen of course, no power in that outlet, so I have to use my phone station where a tv should be) it boils water in like two seconds, it's crazy good, way better than the family kettle back in Canada. You know, oatmeal with hot water is actually pretty good, eh? 

I also got some water (naturally), and someone waved some discount bread near me and I shrugged my shoulders and bought it. Then got some dried fruit stuff at the place outside Carrefour where I got those Trojan Apples (technical term). I returned home, dropped everything off, then crossed the street to the restaurant where I had that giant corn cake thing. This time I played it safe- 10 sticks of somekind of meat. Ah, the first five were kind of small, and I'm sick, I should get some kind of vegetables... okay, let's order that salad...

...and the salad was mostly nuts, I kid you not. Like, 12 yuan for that number of nuts is likely an amazing deal, but I couldn't eat all of them. Again, this restaurant defeated my iron eat-everything-on-my-plate will. I have to conclude that those higher priced, large plate items are meant to be shared- the portion sizes are out of proportion to everything else served EVERYWHERE in China. Like, there's no way this is the only place that gives a guy this much food. I took some video in the restaurant, and, defeated, paid my bill and left. The cashier used a little English and had such a warm, friendly smile, a nice end to the meal.

Er, well, but then I went home and had a ton of the medicine Alona gave me today, and oatmeal, and dried fruit, and a banana, and discount bread, so I ate a lot after I left the restaurant. I just couldn't deal with anymore nuts. Or the sauce. Or the red onions. Give me cucumbers(in my salad) or give me death! That's a saying, I'm sure it is.

I also got a call from my dentist back home in Canada alerting me that I'm due for a check up- it was nice to hear from them, they must have been the ones that called me that morning at 3am, but I told them I'd have to get back to them, you know, sometime later. Boy, my "digital roaming" mode phone ring is alarming to me.

And then I played pokemon and candy crush and went to bed! Full day! And now it's another day! And I'm all caught up on my posts! And in one of the last few days Alona had a birthday, and so Sylar bought a cake which I got to partake in at Food Bazzar, but I forget which day that was. And did I remember to tell you about the souvenir Steve got for me from his trip to Kumming? It LOOKS like a native person carved into a bull horn. Very uncomfortable for me, but thoughtful of him just the same. Ah, yes, thanks Steve, it's very... interesting, for sure!

I'm crossing my fingers that the people of Kumming just happen to dress similarly to certain first nations peoples and yet have zero history of being oppressed by anyone, but especially by white people. That would be great, super, really swell.

Okay, NOW I'm all caught up. Talk to you later! - 11:57 am