Chapter 70

I woke up at 6, it was a bit harder than usual due to the sore jiu-jitsu muscles and the fact that I slept less than seven hours, after reading The Road Chose Me in bed. Dan was now in Ethiopia, and hated the scumfuck aggressive locals who would throw rocks at his Jeep. I’ve heard a lot of shitty stories about that country, but I also know people who love it.

I drank a whole pot of tea, did a tai chi routine and walked the dog. The weather has been ass for the past week or so, not a day went by without shitty misty rain, though it thankfully never pours. There are not many places in China where the weather doesn’t suck, it’s either too hot, too cold, too dry or too wet, and often too hazy. I heard Xiamen is the only city that escapes this fate, due to its seaside location in the southeast.

First two periods were a lab, and I put on some Beethoven. The students mostly did well. Then I had a double period of exam review with twelfth-graders. Nothing crazy exciting. During the break, I answered questions from an old friend and former coworker who’s looking to change jobs. The school where I used to work at and where he still is kind of sucked, and is getting worse, according to him. I have more hours at my current job, which is something that took a while to get used to, but I’m much happier here.

I went home for lunch, listening to the album Colored Sands by Gorguts. Gorguts is a very highly regarded band in the world of death metal, but I overlooked them for a long time as I thought their classic album Obscura is too avant-garde and cacophonic. Colored Sands is a more recent offering, and they toned it down a bit, while still keeping it very progressive and technical.

I stopped to buy crackers on the way. I don’t know if it’s exclusive to China, but here a lot of snacks are individually wrapped: you open the big bag, and every damn cookie is in a small bag. This peeves the fuck out of me, don’t we generate enough garbage already? And as a consoomer, it doesn’t enhance my junk-eating experience, to the contrary, it makes it more annoying.

I ate a homemade falafel wrap, and watched some news videos. Something about the American actress who married one of those fuckheads from the British royal family. I couldn’t give less of a shit. Why do those people still exist? I changed it to music videos.

In the afternoon I didn’t have any classes, so I did some writing and class prepping in the office. I went down the Top 500: Aretha Franklin was good, Radiohead’s In Rainbows surprised me, some parts were very good, and then it was J Dilla’s Donuts and its great beats. The Ramones’ album was repetitive and simplistic and boring, The Kinks was good, and then it was Massive Attack, a British collective that pioneered trip-hop. A good day of music so far, aside from the stupid Ramones.

I went home and took a quick nap with the dog, and reluctantly pulled myself out of the warmth of my bed. Our hash group (the drinking club with a running problem) is organizing a big regional event in May, and we had a “mismanagement” meeting scheduled at a bar on the other side of town, 4 km away. I rode my bicycle there, bringing the dog along. He ran most of the way and I put him in the basket for the last few blocks.

I ordered a burger and wolfed it down, and drank a few beers while the HHH chapter acting president delegated tasks for the upcoming event. My job will be to mark the trail for the Sunday hangover run.

A Polish friend made limoncello, and it was delicious. He explained how, that’s definitely something I will try in the near future. I had a few shots through the night, and must have gotten drunker than I thought. I then rode home, and this time the dog ran the whole way. He’s a tiny ball of energy, and seemed to enjoy the exercise.

Along the way, I listened to Ryan Long’s podcast, he was talking about the huge boost in attention he got after his “Woke guy and racist guy agree on everything” viral video. That’s how I, and many other people, first learned about him. It’s great to listen to all his podcasts in order and see the progression of his internet fame.

I got home around 11 and wanted to watch one or two YouTube videos just to relax before bed, but the VPN kept shitting the bed. Ah well.