Song-Song

So I got my music thing working again. It occurred to me that it would still work on the blog even if I can't listen to it in Japan. Its a hurtful reminder of my sad state of music these days. My vast personal library has been rendered inaccessible by malfunctioning hardware. I have but a tiny fraction of my stash on my actual computer but it mainly serves as a reminder of my loss. I hardly ever listen to music at home anymore. How depressing. That's also due in large part to my relatively recent foray into podcasts which is not a negative per se, but listening to music used to just be such a huge part of my life that its new absence makes me sad.

I imagine this has more than a little to do with where I live, but it seems like there are lots of trucks on the road in Japan. Like big trucks I mean. Not 18 wheelers exactly, but their smaller siblings where the trailer is permanently attached to the cab. Anyway, Route 2, my local thoroughfare, is crawling with them. It's at least a 1 to 1 ratio to cars. So I was thinking maybe that has to do with trains. In America no one rides the train. Not in Texas anyway. We use our railways for freight and cargo. Not so in Japan. Trains are probably the most common form of transport. And with people taking up all the space on the rails, all the cargo is relegated to the highways and byways. Or thats my theory at least.

Let Down

Until I can figure out my music situation, or give up and scrap the whole thing, I'm relegated to just telling you about the tunes. The soundtrack for this post is the reggae cover of Radiohead's 'Let Down' by the Easy Star All Stars featuring Toots and the Maytals.

I have lived in three countries in my life. One notoriously clean, one notoriously dirty, and one we'll call in the middle. In one of these countries there's a trash can every 20 yards. In public areas there are trash cans everywhere. I really liked that about this place. I never had to carry around trash for more than 5 minutes before finding a trash can to dispose of my refuse. In my current nation of residence, I can't find a trash can to save my life. Even disposing of my household garbage is a hassle. They have all manner of regulations regarding when you are allowed to dispose of certain types of garbage and even which trash cans you can put said garbage into. I have come to hate going out here because I can never find a trashcan in which I'm allowed to drop in a gum wrapper or tissue. I'm invariably stuck carrying a pocketful of trash around for hours on end until I finally find a trash can, only to discover it's only for plastic bottles or aluminum cans. And here's the kicker, this is the famously clean country. All these trash rules and regulations have in fact made me a worse litterbug. Not that I throw my trash willy nilly all over the ground, but I have been know to toss whatever I have into whatever trash can I can find.

2011

Against my better judgement I have made some New Year's resolutions. One of them is to give this blog another go. Scaled down of course. That is to say with lowered expectations. Not that I expect anything from this blog, but as a general rule I hold myself to impossibly high standards. Impossibly high. So we'll reconnoiter and reboot. I think I've been inactive for long enough that I shouldn't have any readers left. Regardless of truthfulness, believing it should help alleviate the (completely self imposed) pressure to be "on." SO... more to come. Sadly though, without musical accompaniment. It seems the music thingy on the side doesn't work from Japan. Or, more accurately "Due to licensing restrictions, some tracks may be unavailable in your country."

Free Jazz

I gotta be honest, this is really getting me down. The inability to interact with the outside world I mean. For as long as I can remember I've been told how lucky I was to be born in America. About how and why America was great. And I soaked it all in and parrotted it back out. As I furthered my education I learned a little bit more, things that weren't covered in the shiny ad-campaign-education I grew up with, and I became a critic (self criticism is one of my strengths.) I acknowledged those good parts that had been drilled into my head from elementary school, but I asked about those other parts that weren't talked about. I was uncomfortable with the discrepancy between the ideals that we advertised and the realities of our history. And that is pretty much where I stand today; I think it's important to acknowledge those realities, own up to them and take appropriate action to make amends and prevent recurrences. However, (I'm going to end with a quote, of myself from this very blog several months ago when it was still really cold) "I really didn't appreciate central heating until I didn't have it anymore."

I took a trip to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) a few weeks back. Here are some pictures. It was bee-yoo-tiful. And a really good time. On the way home we stopped at Hong Cun, a village that has preserved nearly all its old architecture and whathaveyou. I mean, they've wired in the internet and all, but it's as close as possible to visiting a Chinese village of 500 years ago. The Academy Award winning Wo Hu Cang Long (a.k.a. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) was filmed there. Maybe the coolest thing I've seen in China yet (and it'll be hard to top.)

Bodhisattva

Okay so this has gotten totally out of hand. I realize that and so I'm gonna stand up, like a man, and pass the blame to someone else. Or someones else as the case may be. The powers that be, you see, like to control the flow of information so that those unflattering things might be swept under the carpet (as much as possible.) Well it seems several unflattering things have been happening lately so you-know-who has really tightened the screws and battened down the hatches. And in this age of world wide interwebs any Tom, Dick or Harry can be an investigative and/or whistle blowing reporter so just about every outlet available to the people at large has been closed off.

So here are some pictures of myself and a friend at Guiyuan Temple. Its a Buddhist temple here in Hanyang. If I remember correctly my words are in brackets and Jessica's are in parentheses. Or maybe its the other was around, I can't remember. Enjoy. (and hold a good thought for unblocking some internets.)

Showtime

Man it's easy to blow this thing off when I can't do it myself; such a pain in the extreme lower back.

Wuhan is in central China. Cental China gets hot. Really hot. Wuhan gets really hot. "Because of its hot summer weather, Wuhan is known as one of China's Three Furnaces, along with Nanjing and Chongqing. Wuhan is by far the hottest of the Three Furnaces; the average temperature in July is 37.2°C (99°F), and the maximum often exceeds 40°C (104°F)." I hadn't given this much thought before I came. I mean, Dallas is in Texas. Texas gets hot. Really hot. "...the north central Texas region where Dallas is located is one of the hottest in the United States during the summer months, usually trailing only the Mojave Desert basin." (I couldn't find any stats on humidity, but here 75% is low.) So anyway I wasn't in the least worried about the weather and proudly put down any and all Chicken Little's with "I'm from Texas, I'll be fine." Well I now know that there was one variable I had not accounted for: Texas is air conditioned. Everyone and everywhere in Texas has air conditioning, I don't know how many times I've heard "you have to have air conditioning in Texas, you couldn't live here otherwise." Well actually, that's not exactly true. Texas without air conditioning is Wuhan and a whole bunch of people live here. One difference in climes is that Wuhan gets cold in the winter. I got here for the tail end of winter and quickly learned, from its absence, the value of central heat. Well that goes double for A/C in the summer. Its rough. And so of course mine went on the fritz the other day. Actually it had been working at about 50% for the past few weeks but then she leaked water all over the livingroom floor and we had to shut down operations completely until we could get a repairman in for a visit. Well, she's back at full health now, thank goodness, so as long as I don't leave the apartment... (thanks to wikipedia for the weather info.)

So a few weeks back we put on an English show. The English Department, or just the foreign teachers rather, put together a variety/talent-type show to be performed all in English. And I got to host the whole thing. Oh how I cursed this show. This was right around the time when I was having to write finals (one final exam plus an alternate exam for each class, that's 6 exams in total) and grade story analyses, and cram 2 extra weeks worth of material into the rapidly dwindling school year (that one was my own fault). I was stressed out, and the last thing I needed was another task to spearhead. Like a good little time bomb I supressed my rage and did it anyway and after it was all said and done I had a blast. I'm so glad I went through with it rather than unleash a blue streak across central China to rival the Great Wall. We put out the call for students to perform and we got some real talented kids. There was singing, dancing, skits, a one-act play, and the comedy stylings of yours truly. Here are some pictures.

When the Music's Over

Hola amigos. I know it’s been a long time since I rapped at ya, but things got crazy if you know what I mean. Let’s just see, when were we last together? I believe I was writing finals. I can’t find out for sure because….well that’s a whole ‘nother thing. So, I was writing finals, an arduous task in the least, unnecessarily made a tremendous pain in the donkey by the folks upstairs. I remember my professors complaining about administration. Saying their job was to convince others (and themselves) that they were necessary. I’ll let you know when I find evidence to the contrary. And in addition to writing finals I was trying to cram four weeks of material into two weeks of classes. It seems, you see, I can’t read a calendar. As I was mapping out the agenda for my classes I counted two of the finals weeks as class weeks so needless to say, though I will, we were terribly behind. In addition to that we were trying to put together an English show, some variety of performance put on by the English department featuring teachers and students alike. (And performed all in English of course.) Also around this time our internet went out, and when it came back I was (and am still) unable to access my blog. And I was sick. (Shameless fishing for sympathy.) So, I apologize for the delay, but I am now back. And will try my darndest to stay back. Connected via intermediaries. As some of you may notice there is no musical accompaniment for this post. I thought it best to remain silent for now in observance of my disconnectedness. Regularly scheduled programming will resume next time. A teaser for upcoming episodes: our English show, Guiyuan Temple, exploring Wuhan, and more. So stay tuned. Oh, one more thing, there is a (hilarious) allusion embedded within this post. If you can identify it you could win a prize! Please send all submissions (with proof of purchase) to jmattscott@gmail.com. Tob e eligible, entries must be completed and received on or by the closing date of the draw. Restrictions may apply. Void where prohibited.