Sino-psis

ok, so i wussed out and succumbed to peer pressure and went out last night after the banquet. here's what went down. firstly, some friends and i went to scott's new apartment off campus, in a pretty nice part of town, and tried to find his landlady (compound noun) so he could get a key to the outer door of his complex. couldn't find her, so drank a little at his house and left the place. on the way out we ran into a lady who lived there and, upon talking to her, figured out that she was his neighbor, there was a place across the street that copied keys, and she would let him borrow her key tonight so that he could get back in later. a very eventful conversation where i understood most of it and even offered some information up as well. quite fun.

then we went a very short distance by cab, since lauren recently had foot surgery and is only now back in two shoes instead of one shoe and a boot, and came to the cotton club. pricey drinks that i hear tell usually have a lot of alkie in them, but this time they were very weak, disappointing. and the whiskey sour i bought came in a martini glass, that was odd. no, wait, strike that (but don't reverse it) jena bought me that drink and now i forget why... oh, right, something about an insult she threw my way earlier in the night and she owed me a drink for it. woteva. fun times at cotton club. there was a live band with two waiguoren, one long haired hippy on guitar and another on drums, and three chinese on sax, bass and trumpet. they were aight, but i definitely left mid-set.

and went to another bar, called time spinners i think. this one had a live band as well, three guys, all chinese, where the singer looked like that guy from that band... you know, that guy with thick rimmed glasses, young looking, they sing that song where the chorus seems to have the word asswipe in it and the music video has sumo wrestlers or something in it. big cheeeeese, bluh bluh bluh ass wipe. that guy. he was at the bar last night, but he was skillfully madeup to look chinese. and he was singing weird american soft rock oldies in a strained voice that wasn't quite pulling off the lyrics. you could tell which songs he was trying to sing, but the only reason you were gleaning any information from it was through using the viruses in your head to give you the subtitles as the music garbled on. a night for viruses.

i'm making amazing progress, i honestly feel i could get back to the xue from about anywhere in the city. i finally have down pat the major roads you have to know to direct someone here. i skillfully told the cabbie last night to go to one road and then i'd give him more directions from there, don't worry buddy. gah, you'd think i'd been taking chinese for three years now i was so good. scarlet called me just the other day, she's up in beijing having similar fantastical fiascoes and foibles, and it felt really good talking to her and getting the sense that i wasn't alone here. i don't feel lonely that much and there are plenty of new friends to draw off of here, but hearing her voice and knowing it was only a two hour flight away, that made me feel a lot more comfortable. i miss my gainesville peeps.

honestly, though, it's going to be weird whenever i decide to leave shanghai as a home and live elsewhere. this city is immense and it grows on you like that technological viney veiny organo-metal mass that streams out of tetsuo and consumes everything and everyone around him and i'm going to have to hop on a souped up red motorcycle and jet if i ever think i'm going to escape this place. no place in the states will ever be as fluid or as dynamic as shanghai. city of 20 million, bunch of chinese people and buildings, i thought i knew what kind of place i was going to, but i don't think i prepared myself at all. think of the area of jacksonville, but make everything taller, brighter, dirtier, and more chinese. and then throw in some dumplings. that's shanghai.

did i honestly just try to give a mental picture of shanghai using jax as a template? i don't know about me sometimes. just come and see it, that's the only way, then you'll understand. i'm probably going to get a futon up in here, so there'll be a place to sleep for anyone willing to throw away a couple thou on flight, food, and fun. well, i'll pay for the food and fun, so you, whoever you are, just have to deal with the easy matter of airline prices and entry into a country that Capitalises on every foreigner that walks through their doors.

that's all

goodnight to any of you that are still making their own saturday night a good one. i'm going to take a shower and a nap and then go find some food that'll most likely hit the spot.

e