Musings of a Saturday Evening

July winds down towards its conclusion, and – save for the hellacious heat/humidity combo – it scarcely seems summer’s almost come and gone already. There was, not too terribly long ago, a drastic schedule change between summer, and those other three forgettable seasons. Now, - again, save for the mercury levels that would have Beelzebub sweating – it’s all just one relatively undifferentiated week from another.

It was yesterday that I officially renewed my contract with Longman Schools in Shanghai (I’ve been advised not to use "re-signing", as all too often I omit the hyphen, and it looks like I’m quitting). I’d made an appointment for 1:00, and soon found that apparently so had everyone else in the company. Shuffled from one office to another, and then shunted out of that because some hypersensitive Chinese teacher found my silent contract-signing too disturbing for her lilac of a student, it took a good 45 minutes to complete what would have, under normal circumstances, taken 15, maybe 20.

It’s the rare occasion that I’m exposed to other campuses. I’ve managed to carve an extremely insular niche at my own Chunshen campus, and consequentially am only occasionally exposed to the “rest” of the company. So infrequent is it that it can become all-too-easy to forget why I’ve spent the last two years doing so. This was a reminder. These people are crazy, and I’m lucky enough to have shielded myself from the majority of their nuttiness.

Still, I’ve come to the tentative decision that this may well be our last year in China (this is not, by the way, a unilateral decision). As accustomed as I’ve become to the country, there’s still a large piece of me that longs to return. This is assuming, of course, that there will be anything more than a smoking ruin to return to. That’s in large part why I signed on for another year. My intent is to try to ride this whole suicidal populist groundswell out from a safe distance. If in the next week or two the whole thing willfully goes to shit, well, viva la China. If somehow this whole default catastrophuck blows over, then homecoming is a very real option.

I’ve managed to complete my preliminary iteration of my Apples to Apples clone, and now just need to find the time to get it printed on the company’s dime. I’ve not done a page could, but 20+ full color would not be surprising, potentially double-sided… and then there’s lamination to consider. Makes me thankful I can write this off as a company expense.


(CS) TAW Out.

I'm glad I didn't know the way it all would end

Lions, and Contracts, and Beers! Oh my!

I'm in the process of "feeling out" the new MacOS - Lion... I think I'll call mine Mufasa!...Oooooohhhhhh... Do it again! Mu-Fa-Saaaa!! So far it's quite nice, and quite a good deal at $29.99. There's still a few features to get used to, though. The biggest on is the trackpad... they've decided to reverse it... so now down is up and up is down. It fits with their iPad-ization of the OS, but it's still a little disorienting. I'm still occasionally wondering why the hell the page won't scroll down... and then realize it's because I'm pushing the wrong way. Doh.

I've just concluded my latest round of contract negotiations. Though I'd been pursuing the idea of striking out on my own, it turns out it wasn't as simple as all that. Due to certain less-than-reputable individuals scamming customers and fleeing the country, the barrier to enter into the English business has increased dramatically. On a single salary, with a little guy, it's just not feasible at the moment to try to lay down all that groundwork.

So instead, Pearson and I hammered out a new deal... I got a 15-20% raise, depending on the numbers used (it's complicated), and I essentially will just keep on keeping on. We'll be moving out of Nancy's uncle's apartment in August, and so we're in the beginning stages of looking for a "new pad." I've made it clear what I require from any potential apartment:
1) rent at or below 4000/month... it can take some effort and negotiation, but it's feasible...
2) preferably at or south of Xujiahui... I wanna be close enough to work...
3) north of Shanghai South Station... but not so far from city center...
4) As close to Line 1 Metro as possible... no more 20 minute walks to and from the subway, tyvm.

In other news, I've been drawn into a family semi(not really)-competitive "cookoff" and have, as a consequence, decided to "up my game," both in terms of food I'm making, and the beers with which to wash it down. As a result, I've been discovering some of the remarkably delicious brews available to those willing to track them down in Shanghai :) It's not all Tsingtao and Suntory, after all!

(CS) TAW Out.

Hello again, friend of a friend