It’s true–women like a-holes

It’s true–women like a-holes

bloggy

J: “I’m never dating a banker.”

Me: “I mean, they seem like scumbags but I’m sure there are some perks to dating them.”

J: “They’re gross.  They have massive orgies.”

Me: (pause to process aforementioned sentence)

“What? They have orgies?  Is this a banking thing I’m oblivious to?”

J: “Remember that Chinese douche, Bill, I was kind of seeing?  He worked in a big famous bank, but he was only junior associate.  He told me once ‘whenever we put through a big transaction, all the big-wigs celebrate with orgies.  I’m so jealous.’ read more

結婚願望 (The Lust for Marriage)

結婚願望 (The Lust for Marriage)

bloggie

I think for women, there’s only one difference when it comes to dating in your early twenties as opposed to your later twenties:

urgency.

Even the most liberal of us start to countdown to 30 and hear the impending doom of the ‘clock ticking’ after we surpass 25.  It’s when we start telling ourselves that we can’t goof around and date losers anymore.  Being in the same band or liking the same indie movies doesn’t constitute as appealing qualifications for boyfriend material anymore.  Instead, women start to look beyond the personality and into the ‘what he can do for you’ category: In other words, salary, job, social status, and age.  The things we used to tell ourselves didn’t matter look far more enticing after 25. read more

Going to Bali Alone (and escaping China)

Going to Bali Alone (and escaping China)

I’m running away from China and going here:

Bali… here I come

I really need to escape China.  Badly.  And I think anyone that’s lived here longer than a year can 100% agree with me.
Beaches.  Rice Terraces.  No masses of people.  No spitting.  No people shoving me every corner I turn.  Sunshine.  Clean air.  Clean water.  Food without fake meat (aka no fox meat substituted for beef).

Oh yes.  Please.

Getting Out of China First

As I type this I’m in the Hangzhou airport.  Since it’s National Holiday Here (国庆节) I decided to take the safe route and come early.  During National Holiday, the roads are usually plugged up with traffic and the wait to purchase a train ticket can take a few hours.  Although my flight leaves for Bali at 11:00 PM, I decided to get my ass out of Shanghai at 2:30 PM and come to the Hangzhou airport early. read more

What the Japanese Deem Romantic

What the Japanese Deem Romantic

Japan and the Moon

blogphoto3K and I were walking through the streets of Beijing.  We were with a loud, rowdy mix of foreigners and Chinese, and the feeling of summer was fresh in the air.  The district we just passed through was famous for Sichuan cuisine and outdoor eating.  The whole road was lined with red lanterns and hundreds of tables on the sidewalk, each filled to the brim with steaming hot fish, boiling red pepper hot pot or stir fried vegetables and meat.  The floor was littered in peanut and sunflower seed shells, the official snacks of China.  The street was loud, but in a good way, the way that makes a city feel alive.  Whole. read more

Singing the Same Melody

Singing the Same Melody

Courtesy of  Strait Times
Courtesy of Strait Times

What the Chinese think of my Job

I was on a flight to Beijing to attend a big-wig meeting for ad executives and be the live-interpreter for my CEO.  The flight was early, my eyelids were heavy and all I really wanted to do on that flight was nod off my head to sleep.

But Chinese people tend to be quite chatty on planes, especially with foreigners, and the young man next to me was no exception.  He introduced himself as Chang, we’ll call him, and said that he was a lawyer and represented the online video goliaths youku and tudou.  Wow, I said, and gave him a firm handshake—it’s great to meet you. read more

Hanzawa Naoki: The Japanese Salaryman’s Dream

Hanzawa Naoki: The Japanese Salaryman’s Dream

A new sensation is taking over Japan.  No, it’s not the herbivore man (草食男子)or another man marrying his digital girlfriend that lives in his Nintendo DS.  No.  It’s something much better.

半沢直樹

Hanzawa Naoki

Gonna F U over so bad, you won’t be able to walk for a week

Hanzawa Naoki is THE drama that is wrecking havoc all across that island we call Japan.  Everyone and their Japanese dog is talking about this show.  I’ve heard my Japanese friends rant and rave about it for the past few weeks, and last night the finale (10th episode) finally aired on TV. read more

Yong Fu Lu in Shanghai

Yong Fu Lu in Shanghai

Yongfu lu.  In other words, a Shanghai street filled with blurry memories and mornings of regret.  A street littered with beggars and their babies, with outsiders from Yunan offering marijuana to the flood of incoming foreigners.  A row of taxis wait outside of the night clubs and bars that make up this street, waiting to pick up the next foreigner and take them home–or to a stranger’s home.  It’s a street that every foreigner has frequented at least once, and it’s the place that all cab drivers know as the place of drunk, strange aliens called ‘lao wai.’ read more

Being 27

Being 27

There’s something about 27.  You already feel physically ill at the fact that you’re almost hitting 30 on your birthday, but then as the months pass by and you see your life not changing, you start to wonder.

Are things always going to stay this way?

Am I going to get the job I want?

Am I ever going to be at the place that I imagined I’d be after university?

I think we all procrastinate, but I’m really bad.  I tell myself that I’ll clean my room tomorrow, I’ll fix up that file when I get some time, I’ll start building my website during the holiday–everything to me gets put off. read more

One Night in Beijing

One Night in Beijing

So I literally spent one night in Beijing, as the famous song goes:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-E-qmtDPKk&w=420&h=315]

On a complete, random, spur of the moment instinct I hopped on the high speed train and took a five hour (no, you did not misread, five hour) train.  The first three hours were relaxing, a book in hand and some good tunes on my smartphone, but when I got the 4th hour on the train I was starting to go crazy.

Anyway, I made it to Beijing and it was amazing.  Beijing, I love you. read more

Inside the Mind of a Chinese Woman

Inside the Mind of a Chinese Woman

Image

Inside the Mind of a Chinese Woman

I was having dinner with my old classmate yesterday  and she basically poured out her soul to me.

Now usually when someone opens their heart to you; really, just spills their guts, you discover new things about people you never knew before.

You start to question your own life, your own goals, this world, the universe, why life and death exist.  Nothing is the same for you, for your friend–for anyone.

My reaction?

 Do all Chinese Women Want the Same Thing? read more