I just finished the first assignment for my English course. Tomorrow I’ll do Chemistry, Physics, and Math assignments and then my registration will be nearly done. Once I finish this upgrading I’ll be able to enter the B.Sc. program upon my return to Canada. I don’t need the English to get in but I’m taking it because it’s free and I might as well get the credit for it, right?
Short update tonight, I’m pretty tired. Gonna head to bed here in a minute.
I’ve been playing EvE Online Poker whenever I get a chance to drop some money into it. It’s good practice because the people there generally don’t want to lose their money. Although it’s not the same as playing for real money it’s a step above playing for play chips on Facebook.
The other night I had quite a profitable game which saw me go from 42 chips to 830 chips. 10 chips = 1 million ISK, so I went from 4mil to 83mil in about an hour. Quite a respectable jump.
This left me with a decision to make. I could either buy and fit my Hound – a task I’ve been waiting for about 50mil to do – or I could buy and fit a Hurricane, finish grinding my Security Status back to neutral and reach level 4 missions with Republic Military. I chose the Hurricane because if I am stuck running level 2 missions in 0.5 space in my Rifter I won’t be able to fund a PvP Career. At least with the Hurricane I’ll be able to run L3s with ease and maybe even some L4s if I can get my Tech2 Drones finished.
So here is my Hurricane fitting right now. I still need the third rig and I need to finish skills for Tech2 drones. Bomb Launcher skill has been postponed until I finish this:
[Hurricane, Passive Shield Hurricane]
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Shield Power Relay I
Damage Control I
Large Shield Extender I
Large Shield Extender I
Medium Shield Extender I
Invulnerability Field I
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
650mm Medium Prototype I Siege Cannon, EMP M
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
‘Malkuth’ Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
Core Defence Field Purger I
Core Defence Field Purger I
[empty rig slot]
The DPS isn’t very high but it can tank pretty well. I used a similar setup for a Hurricane before (which later got exploded) in Level 3s and it did fine. I didn’t rig it though and I think I used another SPR instead of the Damage Control. I have to get to level 3 missions now before I can really test how it’s going to perform there. By the time I grind up to level 4s I should have Tech2 drones ready to go. Exciting!
I had a chat with one of my friends today (former students are no longer called students) about China and life. She’s been a good friend to me for these past 10 months, and even though she’s been my student we have grown quite close. She calls me brother, I call her sister, we talk about all sorts of things. Now that I’m not her teacher anymore we can talk about things that previously we couldn’t due to me needing to maintain a vague level of professionalism. Did I spell that right? Oh well.
Anyway, today I felt a little homesick and yet the thought of leaving China made me feel worse. Two years from now I’ll be back in Canada for 4-5 years getting school finished. In that time I’m going to never see some of the great friends I’ve made since coming here. Let’s face it, I didn’t have much of a social circle in Victoria. I have friends in Canada but they are spread out around the country and no matter where I live at most I’m going to be near one or two of them. Jesstival 2008 showed me that I have some of the most amazing friends in the world – but I rarely get to see them in person. Being in China or being in Montreal isn’t going to change the frequency at which I see them by very much. However, being in Canada WILL affect the frequency at which I see my new friends on this side of the world.
Joel, for instance, will likely only go back to the West for visiting family. This is a guy who is always there when I need him – and it’s not because we’re the only two white guys in town. That may be why we became friends in the first place but that’s not what built, maintained, and improved our relationship after all this time. He reads my blog, he’ll probably call me a fag for writing this and tell me to get off his dick, but deep down I know he’ll shed a secret tear for my sentiment. And it’s a mutual sentiment, though I’m not such a pussy that I’d shed a tear over it – not even a secret one.
I expressed to Angela (my ex-student, now 很朋友） that I didn’t want to leave. She said, quite simply, why not stay? If only it were that easy.. I have to come back to Canada to finish my education. I COULD go to school in China but I’d rather do it in Canada where I have help with tuition and I can get a B.Sc. I think Natasha was experiencing a similar issue before she left.. She once told me she felt her heart was in China but she was leaving because of responsibility. And even though going back to Northern Ireland (and from there, to London School of Economics I believe) would, in the long term, help her in her life she still felt bad about leaving.
Once my school stuff is sorted out I can come back to China and stay here as long as I want. I’d also like to spend some time in other countries but I think coming back to China will be at the top of my list once school is over. This place has been my home for the last ten months and it’s felt more like home than Victoria or Chilliwack ever did. That’s not saying anything negative about my family, but in the internet age it’s basically like I never left anyway. The only part of the family that I miss is hugging my nieces and nephew, but in a few years they’ll be too old for that anyway – I don’t want to be the creepy uncle who always hugs his 14 year old niece.
Well, I’ve got at least one more year to figure it out. I won’t have to worry about comitting to my third year until April. I can take year two of China and see what happens. It’s still possible that I come home after my second year to get the school stuff over and done with, but that’ll depend heavily on how my second year here goes. If year two is anything like year one I’ll probably put in my third year without hestiation – but maybe it’ll be filled with drama and horrible things! 
I got my passport today with my renewed residence permit inside. I am now a legal resident of China until July 10, 2010. Hooray for year two!
It’s 12:25AM and my marking is officially over. It took me a lot longer than I originally wanted due to my weeklong cold crippling me for about 4 days. I’m still coughing and tired but I’ve been sleeping for two days and today I finished my marking. Only a week late, but the school was at least understanding about me getting sick.
Today I got a visit from Angela, one of my former students. Angela has been a good friend to me since the very beginning, even though she’s been my student. I am very happy that I no longer teach her, because it means I don’t have to feel guilty for seeing her. Not that I ever did, but sometimes other students would get jealous and even a few times people suggested that Angela would get a higher mark in my classes because we were so close. I’m sort of happy that she didn’t get the highest mark in her class this term (she did last term – but she earned it) because it means people won’t be able to make that claim again.
It’s been hot. At 12:30AM it’s still 30 degrees outside – and I think today it probably got close to 37. Definitely sat at 35 for most of the day. Tomorrow looks like a 37 degree day. I thank the Fates every day that I have a working AC in my apartment – I forget it’s hot outside when I sit indoors. At least until I try to get lunch. On the bright side I don’t need sunscreen anymore – my sweet farmer’s tan protects me from about an hour of intense sun – as long as I utilize shady patches. At the end of that hour I can usually feel my skin heating up and I get inside quickly to avoid sunburn. So far, so good. By mastering my skin’s exposure limits I have avoided a sunburn so far this summer. I suspect I’ll get burnt at least once in August while I travel with Kyle – but even then I should be able to avoid it. The only difference between now and August will be a few degrees hotter – which means cut that hour in the sun to 30 minutes in the sun or continue to use my sunscreen.
My paragraphs and sentences are probably not making much sense. I’m pretty tired and slouching in my chair. I’ll post again tomorrow with more summer details.
This cold has absolutely destroyed me. I’ve gotten almost no work done the last four days. I remember marking for three straight hours 2 days ago but the evidence of that marking doesn’t exist. What DOES exist is two marked papers, one half-marked paper and then about 50 blank pages. What happened was I got three papers in and imagined the rest of it – I was tripping pretty hardcore 2 days ago.
I woke up today at maybe about 80%. I then took some medicine and regretted it almost immediately as my health declined – the side effects of the medicine were worse than the supposed problems they fix. I spent most of the day hovering between 35% and 40% strength until about dinnertime when I got the energy to go out. Now I’d say I’m sitting somewhere around 70%.
The plus side to being sick is that I’ve hit 110kg. I’ve been eating, but very little and not really eating junk food. I think I had a little chocolate yesterday and a Coke this morning (coke is like Drano for your throat phlegm).
So that’s me, tomorrow I’ll try and update again about my cold progress.
The pictures I have uploaded here are from the party I had today. Some of my former students came over for a big party before they go back to their hometowns. The party was awesome, I cooked for them all while they played Nintendo Wii. Guitar Hero was moderate success, but it wasn’t until Boxing, Smash Bros, and Mario Kart did it really explode. The girls playing the Wii (three of them) were screaming, laughing and jumping all over the place. The others were just as excited for a while until they started playing cards.
The food was good, I made pancakes and provided the girls with jam, honey, maple syrup, and peanut butter as their choices of toppings. I also baked some chicken strips and hot dogs (no buns, just meat). I showed them mustard for the chicken and hot dogs. Ice made some sweet soup which was good but I think by the time she got that out there everyone was pretty much full. I ended up not eating very much because every time I brought out another plate of food it was gone before I got to eat anything (everyone eats from communal plates, so that’s how I served lunch today). I also tried to make some fries but I burned them when I played a round of Smash Bros and left the kitchen unattended.
I’ve been getting sick for a few days and it wasn’t until a few hours after the party that it really peaked. I bought some decongestant medicine but it seems to be less about clearing up my nose and more about making me sleepy. Fighting the sleepy medicine has proved to be a challenge, as I’m currently melting while my laptop tells me it thinks I’m pretty.
Now my laptop wants some juice. I’m not stupid, laptop. If I give you juice you’re going to stop talking
Now you might think that the title of my post is too simple, but in fact it is the most accurate way to describe this:
Food
I think it’s peanuts (I didn’t buy it) covered in some sort of sugary coating. Your guess is as good as mine, but I don’t want to die from something I only paid 2.8 元 for
hi spacing, my name is blank line
la
la
this is kind of lame
because wordpress hates me
so i need to fill blank lines with white text
stupid picturesruining everything
should have uploaded as a gallery i guess
next time i’ll learn my lesson
at least this wa i stil gte keyword searches on things like white letters
who knows, maybe i’tll come in handy
I’ve been meeting with my students (I guess my ex-students now) over the last few days to do various things. Yesterday was learning how to play Chinese Poker while also introducing ten girls to Blackjack. Today was lunch and KTV.
I met with Ice and Jessica today after accidentally double-booking my lunchtime today. On Monday I agreed to lunch with Amy’s friend Skye (and Amy as well), forgetting that today I had already told one of my students she could come visit with her classmate(s) and we’d make lunch. Well anyway, I cancelled on Skye – very last minute to my everlasting shame – and met my students. We went to the supermarket and picked up a few supplies. Today’s meal was mashed potatos, baked chicken strips and chocolate milkshakes. The mashed potatos turned out well, the chicken wasn’t as good baked as it is fried, and the milkshake wasn’t very good because I used Yogurt instead of milk (used my last bag of milk on the potatoes) – but in my defense the yogurt here is practically milk-like anyway. Comes in the same bags and is liquid.
Anyway, after lunch we went to KTV where we stayed for three hours. It was good times. Here are today’s pictures:
