Felix my Muse

It's amazing how as soon as I start riding scoot scoot (aka "Felix") through the streets of Shanghai, I suddenly get flooded with blog ideas. It must be something about the pureness of smog-filled air blowing through my helmet, the constant honking of other scooters, bikes, and cars, the low-rumbling fear that an oblivious pedestrian will suddenly step in front of my bike causing me to be flung onto the sidewalk—that clears up the mind and allows it the safety to roam. Everything strikes my brain in this state, and if there were a typewriter in my head, this blog would be updated far more often!:
"Look, the camera attached to the traffic light just flashed at me as I scooted by. Is Big Brother tracking my every move? Maybe the same technology they used at the Olympics is being used here... face recognition, real Jason Bourne stuff!"
"Why are all the scooters, bikes, people, AND strollers, in the bike lane, while the side-walk is empty!?"
"How am I going faster than that gas powered scooter."
"Look at all these HUGE villas that are being built.... where did all the people who used to live here go?"
"Does a disc break lock really stop someone from stealing a scooter?"

And if non of the above ideas seem worthy of a blog to you, remember, of course, the above ideas are just the floaters... the ones that aren't smart enough to hide again as soon as the scooter-ride is over. The best ideas remain hidden in the recesses of my scooter-powered imagination, only allowing themselves to come out when my mind is truly free to contemplate all the things in life—when the honking and bustle of Shanghai rattles them free into my head where I can once more ponder them, and think about how, if only I weren't busy not crashing, I would type it up forthwith!

StoryPeople.com

I discovered the artist Brian Andreas in a little shop called Hands Gallery in downtown San Luis Obispo, and have LOVED his work ever since. He combines quirky sketches with short dictums about life, love, adventure, coffee, chocolate,...anything! Many times they are completely random (which is probably why I love them so much) but in some way they will always remind you of yourself, or someone you know. They also help to remind me about the little jewels of LIVING which we can so easily let pass us by if we're not careful to notice them.

I've recently subscribed to his "Story of the Day" e-mails, which means each day I get a new Story delivered right to my inbox! If you've seen me on buzz or gchat, you've probably seen more than a few of the particularly great ones posted.

I'll share this Story in honor of my Kunming host Amber. She can eat more chocolate than anyone I know, and rarely feels any repercussions from a chocolate eating spree at someplace like Whisk (which never ceases to amaze me). I'm pretty sure that she eats it just because it's yummy, and that it's not doing anything to make sure the wind doesn't blow her away (another amazing feat).

My favorite thing is the wind, she said, & my second favorite is chocolate but I just do that so I don't get too skinny & blow away

World Expo Opens in Shanghai

photo from guardian.co.uk


Today I got an e-mail from my mom saying that she saw the fireworks for the opening of the World Expo in Shanghai on National News, and asked if I had seen them. unFORTUNATELY, I was not actually in Shanghai for the opening of the World Expo---Which led me to investigate via the world wide web what the opening was like----which led me to this and this article, in which I discovered some interesting information:

1. "Temperatures in Shanghai today reached 30 degrees Celsius (86 Fahrenheit)"
What!? Before I left it was not "freezing" at worst, and almost "warm" at best. Ok, so that may be exaggerating a little. The day we left was almost nice. But I'm saddened to think that we may have had only 1--ONE--day of spring :(

2. "The broadcaster, a unit of government-owned Shanghai Media Group, also called on visitors to obey rules set out by expo organizers as it showed footage of people cutting in line, trash littering the grounds and visitors circumventing a barrier to pick flowers off a tree on display."
This just makes me giggle to myself. People not standing in line? People not using trash cans? People ignoring barriers to take flowers from a display? None of this would EVER happen in day-to-day C-land, I can't imagine why it's happening at the Expo. I'm just wondering why they left out "kids peeing on the sidewalk."

3. "China’s richest city estimates 70 million people will visit the six-month long World Expo, more than 10-times the number who traveled to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics. To ensure smooth operations for the fair, Shanghai has deployed armed police to patrol the Expo park, restricted sales of knives and given local residents a five-day holiday through May 4, during which they’ve been asked to say at home as much as possible." Yeah! that's me, we got our holiday extended by 2 days... Happy World Expo... I'm in Kunming....... woops... I must have missed the part where we were supposed to stay home as much as possible.

4. "Six people who protested about having their homes destroyed to make room for the Expo have been sent to labour camps, the Hong-Kong based Chinese Human Rights Defenders were quoted as saying by AP." It is amazing how C-land is able to "get 'er done." The Expo site is along prime property along the huangpu river in the center of Shanghai, not exactly "open" land. Very convenient for those attending the Expo, very inconvenient for those who used to have a home.

5. The expo breakdown:

Theme is "Better City, Better Life"

70 million visitors expected, mostly Chinese

192 countries and 50 organizations on show

20,000 cultural performances

First Expo in a developing country

Site is 5.3sq km, twice the size of Monaco

China says cost is $4.2bn - others say costs reached $58bn

Standard day ticket costs 160 yuan ($23: £15)

Runs from 1 May to 31 October

In related news. My roommate and I are thinking that this is prime time to do some apartment letting and pay of any remaining student loans. :D We think that we can beat the quality of "The Olympic Experience Hostel" in Beijing!

C-Land :: Journals!

One of the things I love about C-land are their journals. Actually, my roommate Andrea and I agreed that this is on the top of both of our "Things we like about C-land lists". Andrea, (who actually journals and has a little bit more of an excuse to buy said objects) frequently comes home with some new journal "finds" which she always eagerly shows me. Many times the journals have funny little sketches or images throughout the inside pages, and of course, no C-land journal would be complete without the Chinglish sayings.

Today, while looking through a bookstore in Kunming, I came across a whole table of little journals, calendars, notebooks, and the like. I spent quite a bit of time picking them up, flipping through them, reading the Chinglish, and commenting on each one, then came home with all of the above (it was hard to even widdle the ones I liked down to that many). These ones are "tame" as far as C-land journals are concerned, the inside pages are blank, or simply lined, and only the two with the travels scenes have any sort of ditty. This one reads:

Europe Tour
Like a great travellers
I have seen more than i remember
and remember more than I have seen


Ahhh precious.