Chapter 166

Up at 7, we packed our stuff in the car and had breakfast at a won ton fast food chain by the in-laws’ apartment. We had an appointment at the DMV to do the car’s annual inspection, a bit of an annoying bureaucratic process but one that has to be done. Then we drove the 400 km home, the girlfriend did the first bit and I did the rest. I put on random non-metal music, she particularly liked an album by Sizzla, a Jamaican dancehall reggae singer, and asked me for his name. Let’s just say that this kind of stuff doesn’t happen that often, the overlap between our musical tastes is a very thin line.

At some point there was a short traffic jam on the highway, the cars were funneled into one lane because a gnarly accident. At least ten cars and one truck were involved and scattered around the shoulder and the left lane, some with bumps and broken lights but at least two that were crushed like a soda can. If the people in those cars survived it’s an absolute miracle, it’s a wake up call as poignant as any and a reminder to drive prudently, especially on roads full of inept Chinese drivers constantly swerving lanes and doing dangerous shit.

We made it home in thhe mid-afternoon and I immediately hopped on my bicycle to go to the bank. I got a new bank card fairly painlessly, and there was a little bonus. The lady behind the counter asked me questions about my account to confirm my identity, one of them was “How much do you have in your account?” and I told her based on the text messages I get when there’s a transaction. But then she transfered about 2500 yuan more on the new card, because there was also a 400 USD in my foreign currency account I didn’t know the existence of.  

On the way home I got my new sunglasses, and then kicked back with a nice beer. I did laundry and cleaned a bit while watching the other fights from the UFC main card. We ate steak, asparagus and garlic food for dinner, and I had a pretty lazy evening watching stuff on YouTube and cartoon episodes. I watched a Dark Side Of The Ring episode about British wrestler Dynamite Kid, in the first 10 minutes I was wondering if I had seen it already because the premise was so familiar, with a young up-and-coming wrestler ruining his legacy with drug and alcohol abuse, conflicts with other wrestlers, and domestic violence.

I went to bed a little too late. Ah well, it's my birthday, and I'm on vacation.