Posted by Chuck Vose
Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:39:00 GMT
I have nothing of interest to post today but out of a dedication to keep people reading I post regardless.
Over the last week I’ve been spending a lot of time studying and researching for thesis, a requirement for graduation from this Chinese program. My thesis is vaguely related to the Internet as it exists in China; naturally it is pretty much a front for me to spend a lot of extra time playing video games in the Internet cafes (wang ba).
But the wang ba is a different beast from the Internet cafe entirely. In a wang ba there is no wifi (or if there is there’s no reason and nowhere to sit to use it), instead there’s row upon row of computer desks. The one we go to must have 150 computers in the main room. Each of these computers is networked to a fast network storage array with plenty of space for… you guessed it, VIDEO GAMES GALORE! I’ve hit the jackpot! Except I can’t read Chinese and the icons are usually different so I end up just trying random games every day. Those icons that I do recognize though I’m getting quite good at.
Now here’s the real difference between a wang ba and a LAN (local area network) center (which would be the American equivalent), all the games are 100% illegal which means that there’s no way to play online, right? Wrong! Through a clever loophole most games still allow LAN games even if they’re illegal. So there are multiple services in China that will allow you to set up a “LAN” game across the entirety of Shanghai so that any number of people can hook up to your “LAN” and play together. How freaking cool is that workaround?
Classtime. Fly safe everyone.
Posted in Life | Tags ba, China, clever, games, Lan, video, Wang | 1 comment
Posted by Chuck Vose
Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:15:00 GMT
Tale of three monks
In the beginning there was one monk on a mountain. There was a lake at the bottom of the mountain but his studies were at the top. When he was thirsty, and he usually was from carrying the water so far, he had to hike down and carry the heavy bucket all the way up the mountain.
At some point a second monk arrived and they lashed the bucket to a bamboo rod and balanced it between their shoulders. Their studies improved and they were less tired.
Thinking that more of the same would be a good thing when a third monk arrived they rejoiced but found that there was never any water when they wanted it. Everyone trekked down the mountain at some point but there was always some conflict about who would stay and rest while the other two hiked.
This is a loose telling constructed from what Ben told me. It may have missed some of the points but it came up when we were talking about why the dishes never get done. I believe the numbers are approximate and pretty much always work for numbers > 1. We see this all the time when we live alone versus living with one or more others.
What is the moral? Find a way to lash the task to a bamboo rod so that it is easier no matter how many people are in the house/group. When everyone works together at once there is no conflict. Of course this doesn’t scale at all unless by some fluke everyone in the house is home and not exhausted at the same time (a rarity in most college houses I believe).
There’s a lot of depth to this, lots to think about.
-Edit-
Ben suggests that maybe the answer is to sign a contract or kick one of the monks off the mountain. Watching him smile after he’s launched a very successful joke is just about the best thing I can think of.
Warm feet, cool head
This was something that Ben hadn’t heard of but when I told him about it he said that it made perfect sense considering the Chinese views on foot warmth.
The meaning is roughly that the way to success isn’t through rash actions but can be achieved through calmness and good self-care (self-care is a major part of Chinese life). The feet are the locus point for many acupuncture points and as such if they are cold perhaps your organs are suffering.
Interestingly enough, my Econ teacher independently confirmed the value of good foot care recently as well. He mentioned that in pre-college and in many areas of life sandals are considered poor form, not just because of the obvious fashion formality problems, but also because it shows a lack of respect to the person speaking. If you don’t take care of your organs then you can’t pay attention which means you don’t really care enough. So sandals are a sure-fire way to piss off your teacher and show them just how you feel!
773861 army
This isn’t a proverb, just interesting. When people started migrating to the cities for increased wages they say that the only people left in the towns were members of the 773861 army.
- 77 is a symbol for old people. Possibly related to the first day of the second Sino-Japanese war but I’m not sure about that. Ben says this is a plausible explanation but he’s also unclear.
- 3/8 is women’s day
- 6/1 is children’s day
Conclusion
China is cool. All those things about getting in trouble because of some weird thing are really true here. Also, never mention pork in Xi’an, there’s actually a chance that you’ll get beaten to death. It’s happened before.
Posted in Life | Tags 3, 773861, army, China, monks, numerology, pork, proverbs | 2 comments
Posted by Chuck Vose
Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:35:00 GMT
Okay, I’ve been writing little notes to Erica for the last couple weeks and I feel bad because I’m leaving out a bunch of awesome people. So with that I unleash to the world my twitter account. Please read my little thoughts there and I’ll try to continue to update the blog as well.
http://twitter.com/vosechu
Posted in Life | Tags twitter | 2 comments
Posted by Chuck Vose
Sat, 04 Apr 2009 00:18:00 GMT
It’s been about two weeks since I last wrote, I’ve been trying to spend most of my freetime with Erica on the phone but I just don’t get much freetime anymore. So I apologize but I’m also really far away so what are you going to do about it punk?
At rate, last night I had a dream. I’ve been calling it “Screw Ritalin” all morning and I would like to share it with you. Many years ago there was a woman in my life who constantly inspired me to do wild new things. She still inspires me on occasion just by looking back at how life was at the time, it was some of the best years of my life I think. I was utterly sexless (at least for a while), I was interesting, inspired, and I had a job that worked relatively well with my Adhd.
Last night in my dream I was at a new college. Every morning I would espouse my opinions, I forget what she called them but it was incorrect word choice I remember, something like ‘marketing’. And every morning she would fawn over me and respect me. However in the dream at some point during the year I started taking Ritalin and she disappeared. When I finally found her I asked why we didn’t speak and she told me that she missed my morning speeches, that when I started Ritalin I stopped making those wild speeches to her.
This is not the first time someone has told me this and unfortunately I believe the times match up perfectly to blame Ritalin completely. What worries me is that I wonder if I’ve changed also and Ritalin just facilitated the change. What if I’m actually boring off of Ritalin too and I’ve permanently made myself dull and uninspired?
In keeping with the title I’m stopping Ritalin today. I still need a stimulant of course, I’m American afterall, but I think that my stimulant of choice will be tea for a while. I’m eager to see how this works out.
Posted in Life | Tags adhd, inspiration, Ritalin, stimulant, tea | 11 comments
