Chapter 35

Another day in the glorious People’s Republic of Xijinpingland. This one started a bit late, I went to bed past midnight and slept in. Those soccer games finish late, and by the time I get home, I don’t want to go to sleep right away, I want to relax with a few alcoholic beverages. That’s why during work weeks I tend to take a nap beforehand.

I finished last night’s entry, uploaded it, then I worked out in my home gym, my routine of push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, handstand push-ups, and kettlebell swings. With that out of the way, I heated some rice, beef chunks and gumbo gravy, and ate it with a tasty Revenant IPA from Lost Coast brewery.

My brother sent me an article about the movie Slap Shot, my favorite movie of all time and an absolute cult classic among many hockey fans. It came out in 1977, chronicling the problems of a minor-league team in an era when hockey was plagued with violence, and is very much inspired by true events. The newspaper article was about a man from Quebec who played for the team that the movie was based upon, alongside the infamous Carlson brothers (immortalized in the movie as the Hanson brothers), reminiscing of stories from that time and how it was as outrageous as portrayed, if not worse. I saw the movie over sixty times and must have read everything written about it and some of the other colorful characters from that time, one of my favorite stories about the Carlson brothers is how one of them got in a fight with a big mustachioed goon named Gilles “Bad News” Bilodeau, near the rinkside announcer’s box, and grabbed the microphone to hit the big Quebecer, with the POCK! POCK! POCK! sounds from the microphone echoing through the whole arena.

It was very sunny outside, with skies of a rarely seen blue in this neck o’ the woods, so I had to go out with the dog and get some of that vitamin D. I brought a can of hefeweizen with me, why not, I worked out today, and am on holiday. I put on a Ryan Long podcast in my earbuds, his best one so far, I was laughing pretty hard at how he broke down a Vice article about autofellatio. He lamented how what was once one of the coolest, edgiest magazines devolved into pure clown world SJW garbage, and their tendency to find something done by a small handful of freaks on an obscure corner of the internet as being “the new trend”.

Back in my living room, I watched 7 Jours Sur Terre, I praised them in the past for their quality geopolitical analysis but they’re getting even better. If you understand French, do yourself a favor and check it out. The most interesting topic from this week’s episode was about the Arctic, how as the ice is melting there are opportunities for mining and transportation there, and the subsequent scramble by a handful of powerful countries to get their piece of the pie. Apparently Canada is really shitting the bed in that regard, neglecting the whole issue and letting the USA, Russia and even China step on its delicately painted toes (because it’s 2021!)

I turned on the PS3 and immediately I got stuck in a Dead Space 3 level. I was on some kind of elevated platform that was blocked by a giant dead alien monster and couldn’t go anywhere, I couldn’t jump over nor crawl under. Fucking dumb. I ejected the CD and put on GTA V instead, a game that doesn’t pull that stupid shit, with its limitless open world. I played as Franklin, shooting some snooty rich cunts in my Hollywood Hills neighborhood with a high-powered sniper rifle, and eventually getting shot myself by a policeman. The nerve!!! I woke up in the hospital, exonerated from all charges after it was proven that the cop was racist (duh!), beat up a group of pedestrians, mostly women, then stole a car, drove to the airport pursued by racist cops, and stole a small private jet to really stick it to those racists. I flew around until I lost the racist police helicopter trailing me, then jumped off the plane, parachuting on a beach where, after a few scuffles with racist rich kids living there, I took a parked car and took off. Vehicle ownership is rooted in capitalist white supremacy.

I listened to the Metal Minded podcast, the boys gave a dithyrambic review to the new Werewolves album. I thought the whole black/death/grind/tech/brutal hodgepodge was well executed and enjoyable, but even after listening to it one more time immediately after the podcast was over, I failed to see it as anything that special. Maybe I’m getting a bit burned out with metal, especially the subgenres I’ve been listening to for over 15 years now. I get more excitement with music I haven’t been exploring to such depths already.

With that in mind, I put on the album Zenyata Mondatta by The Police. I give myself a mission to go through the catalogs of classic artists this year, looking at various lists of greatest musical artists of all-time. Oftentimes I’ve heard a lot of their songs already, but not in an album format, and that’s the case with that British band. I like Sting’s distinctive voice and the various influences heard throughout the album, including some ska passages.

The girlfriend had an old friend visiting from out of town, we went to the Japanese restaurant together. The same Japanese restaurant we’ve been to three or four days ago, and where I bought my Kirin bottles yesterday. We truly are regulars. We had a nice dinner, the four of us (me, the girlfriend, her friend, her friend’s husband). I’ll count it as today’s Chinese language practice.

We got home fairly early, I put on a live set by Bérurier Noir, the legendary 80s French punk band, I mixed myself a cocktail with bourbon and crème de cassis, and then I watched an episode of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries. That one was in French, about some guy who’s the primary suspect for the murder of his whole family, as he disappeared off the face of the Earth at the same time they all got killed. I like true crime stories, but I have to say those are a bit frustrating, as per the whole concept you end up just wondering what the hell is the answer to all those questions.

I sat in bed and plunged into Homo Deus. I want to finish it soon, as I have quite a few books on my ever-expanding reading list.