独一无二, 无尽的爱

What does “propos deplaces” mean? I just read on the net version of L’express that an MBC journalist has been charged with saying some “propos deplaces” about our dear Navin, the PM, while having a telephonic conversation with one of the policemen at the Clarisse House.

What I want to know is, what exactly constitutes “propos deplaces”, when do the “propos” become “deplaces”? Does the fact that he said something untowards the PM mean any Joe Public also can be sued under the ICTA for such stupid reasons? If I say ‘Bhai Navin ene trou f…, li nek conne faire Macarena’ would that be “propos deplaces” and the authorities can then sue me? Doesn’t that infringe upon our rights, the freedom of expression?

I have always had the illusion that all MBC employees are Yes-man to the ruling government, turning coats everytime a new electorate government is formed. Therefore in a sense it is refreshing to find that someone had the guts to try and diss the dear doctor for not including some words about social works in his speech. By the way, was the new year’s message as boring as always? Anyway, I find it hard that any MBC employee would make the suicidal career move of telling the PM (or rather the receptionist cop) that the PM got his priorities mixed up, and that he would use “propos deplaces” while doing that. Seems like another case of overzealous cop to me :(

Maybe I’m just having my knickers in a twist and should laugh it off.

A year gone, a year older, and yet none the wiser. My tagline used to be ‘a little older, none the wiser’. I guess it is still valid.

I got my new residence permit on the 31st of December. Actually my old permit was due to expire on 3rd of January, but since it’s public holidays in China from 1st to 3rd of the month, I had to get it renewed beforehand.

Fortunately things went smoothly and my colleague did all the necessary procedures for me. The work permit took a couple of days to process, and the residence one week. They will expire on Jan 3rd, 2010.

I’ve been working at a very low pace the last month, not because I didn’t feel like working, but because I hurt my arm while helping a friend move house. As she is a girl, and we were only 2 guys helping her, we had to carry the heavy stuffs while mamzel stayed in her apartment making sure we were taking the right stuffs and ensuring nobody else went in meanwhile.

I am not one of those exercise freaks. I am in fact a real potato couch. Lifting these boxes and luggages on an empty stomach could only have one outcome. Muscle sprain. Yeah, I knew what was coming, and yet I bravely did my best. Imagine not eating anything, and I mean anything for the whole day, and helping packing and carrying things from 5th floor (or 4th floor if you don’t count the ground floor as 1st floor), and then walking all the way up again each time. So tiring.

And all I got in return was a ‘thanks’. And a promise to take me to the movies later (I’m still waiting for that). Not even a massage for my poor arm.

Anyway, what I have learnt the most in 2008 is that you just cannot trust ANYONE in China. I am not going to publish the amount of money I’ve lost or am still awaiting refund from “close/good” friends. No more money outflow as from 2009, and I don’t care what financial difficulties you are in. Of course, the trust issue is not just monetary. Backstabbing, taking advantage of you, it’s unfortunately something I have found all too often here. Maybe the people I meet are not the right ones, but that’s my view of the society for now.

The only small good news is that LFC is top of the league at the moment. Hurray! Finally at least for the 1st half they’re the leaders.

I haven’t gone out to town to celebrate the end of the year. My sore muscle lets me know how painful it is when I am out in the cold, so I am stuck with lying down in bed.

My immediate project for the mini-holidays are:
Cleaning the house and do the laundry (done today)
Install Ubuntu (planned for tomorrow evening)
Start my comic strip (planned for tomorrow, during the day)
Meet T to give her the necklace gift which has been lying around for months (tomorrow or Saturday hopefully, or else later during the month)
Get a massage (need to confirm availability first)
Stock up on food&bev from the mini-supermarket nearby (tomorrow?).
Oh yeah, and watch at least another DVD of CSI (ongoing).
At least I’ve managed to get back to date on Naruto and One Piece, and finished Full Metal Alchemist among others (these are mangas, Japanese cartoons).

Oh, and I need to remember not to expect too much about film downloads. Recently, many of the downloads came out to be p*rn instead of the movie/tv series I wanted. Gets on my nerve to find out that after all these days of leaving my computer on, I got a crappy ‘yellow’ movie which I then have to delete. I hope the Madagascar 2 I’m downloading is finally the REAL one. Since I’m using bittorrent this time, most likely not to be disappointed.

Ok, new year, new start. And bloody need to pay ACCA and wriggle my way out of the CPDs. Damn.

One of the groups to which I am subscribed on Facebook is BLCU - Beijing Language & Culture University
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#/group.php?gid=2204458916

I was surprised this morning to find a mail from the admin of the group, which I have reproduced therein:

Dear All,

This is only the third time I have ever sent out a group message, and the first time since the group has grown beyond 1,000 members. This group started with 4 people in the summer of 2006, as we were trying to use the remaining credits on our pre-purchased Internet cards at BLCU. Now that the group is nearing 4,000 members, the administration at BLCU is demanding that they be given complete control of the group. One dean in particular, Li Wenmin, has even gone so far as to threaten me with the following message sent about two hours ago:

“do something or I will report you to the creators of facebook with help of government of People’s Republic of China!”

The “something” he wants me to do is make him the administrator of this group, so that he can control the flow of information being distributed to students. I only want to do what is in the best interest of everyone here, however I am extremely uncomfortable with the thought of PRC/BLCU-based administrators having complete control of all content in this group. The only deletions/edits I make currently are when people post pornographic notes and images, or when commercial entities attempt to use the group for mass advertisements.

If BLCU has complete control the content, I fear that they will delete any comments critical of the university, housing situations, analysis of the neighborhood, offers of help with tutoring (because they have their own in house), and many other discussions that they may not want to see take place.

I will create a group topic, and would like your opinions on how we should proceed. Let me know if you think I’m taking too strong of a position, and should give them the group, if you like the current structure, or if you’re interested in receiving notes and emails on a weekly basis (which is what BLCU wants to do).

Thank you all for your time, Ken.

This is interesting food for thought. Should BLCU be given access to the group because the group is about BLCU? Should they be allowed to intimidate people? Should the group refuse to give ground at all cost? What are the possible consequences? Can they really get FB banned? Who is that Mr Li? Does the letter and said content really exist?

In some ways it reminds me of our dear island blocking FB for a short while while they petitioned to get our dear beloved ‘honest’ politicians’ fake profiles removed from it. Bunch of w*nkers who think others are below them, and can’t take a joke or accept differences in opinions.

I’ll follow the events about the group’s future, although I don’t expect much/any change there.

For some time the webpage of Orange’s ‘ki news’ seem to have been abandoned by the site administrators. When I click on it, I keep seeing the following:

Orange.mu's 'ki news' webpage

As you can see, in the picture taken just a few moments ago, the latest article dates of Nov 27th. How come nobody has rectified it? Is the portal so bad that nobody (except me and maybe a few others) bother to try and catch some news of the island via orange.mu?

I don’t want to bookmark l’express or other newspapers from home…. Oh, sucks.

It’s December already. Soon it will be a year since I came back to Shanghai for work. How time flies. What have I achieved during that period? Not much, I have to admit. I am far away from completing my goals. Still lots of work to be done although progress are finally being made. Having 3 different minded bosses is something I was not really prepared for. Good lesson in knowing what to ask for when accepting this kind of job in the future (if I happen to change jobs later in the future).

My social life is practically inexistant, but it’s something I admit I have ‘encouraged’ by staying at home and not wanting to meet new people. Plus working 6 full days a week means I don’t really have time to go out and party. My love life is a mess, and unlikely to improve in the near future. I really need a long break and start figuring why I get stuck into such a ruck.

In fact, I guess I am feeling like Shanghai’s temperature. Rapidly crashing down, with weather forecasts for tomororw night to be -3C and following night to be -4C. Will I be able to go to work wearing just a t-shirt and very light jacket? Will see when I wake up tomorrow.

Weather forecast 4-6 Dec

Just saw on the orange.mu website that students cheated on their HSC exams, for at least 3 subjects. It was only a question of time before such things would happen.

In fact, at the time I was taking my ACCA exams in London, more than ten years ago, this was already common. We would have Malaysian students calling their friends at home, or receiving calls from them, telling them what topics came out. Due to the time difference the Malaysian would then have about 2-3 hours to revise said topics.

Of course, as we came aware of such events, the Mauritian students would try and find Malaysian friends who would pass on such valuable information. It was thought more as a levelling the ballgame between foreigners than cheating together. Evidently, it was not fair to other candidates.

However, there’s only so much it can help you with if you had not seriously studied before. The 3hrs cramming of main points can help achieve a pass mark if you’re a borderline failure, but if you’ve been a lazybum for the whole semester, you can’t expect miracles (normally). These students were more concerned with a passmark rather than winning the top prize remitted to the world’s best students.

Anyway, it is interesting that they’ve been using Facebook as one of the means of transmitting the tips. I guess the users must by now have changed all their personal data and probably deleted personal pictures. But how successful would the Mauritian government be in tracking them and what kind of punishment would be meted out to them? I still remember the government last year blocking the site and having the site administrators pull down the fake profiles of senior local political figures.

Just saw that today and couldn’t help smile. It’s common knowledge that China produces many fakes and uses brand names that are almost identical for these fakes. I was browsing through a website and found these pictures, that are supposed to be from Nanjing Shan Zhai 南京山寨. As the poster there said, it’s doomed to label the whole country (as a place for fakes and imitations).

It’s unusual to find so many imitations in the same street.

Nanjing WenAn Street

Nanjing WenAn Street

Li Ming (Li Ning imitation)

Bucksstar (Starbucks imitation)

Pizza Huh (no need to tell you from which company it is copied)

Haagon Bozs (fake Haagen Dazs)

T-Eleven (from 7-Eleven)

Ichido (from Ichiduo)

McDnoalds

Watons (from Watsons, the chain of convenience shop)

Shops in the street

Back after 2 months out in the wild. I was hiding from the tagging by Shah. Yeah, you can all blame him for that. LOL. Kidding.

Been to Guangdong and Meixian, place of the ancestors …. Not posting any picture here. It’s already on my Facebook account, and they were not good ones anyway.

I’m following a Gua Sha 刮痧 treatment for my back. It’s where the masseuse scrape your back with a jade comb-like object. Ok, it’s more like Dracula’s mouth with two protruding teeth on the side. The space in between is to allow space for your spine. I think. I was always lying face down, so no idea how they used it.

What can I say, my health is not that great, and I fracking love pain. I should try S&M one day. Joking.

For more than an hour the masseuse scrapes your neck, your shoulders and spine, and where she encounters some ‘knots’ she keeps telling you some bloody stories about this meaning some part of your body being sick (your liver, your spleen, etc etc, no idea what the hell they’re talking about since my Chinese is not that good) …. After my first session, the length of the area of the spinal cord was red/black. For them, that meant really bad health. For me it meant they’re fracking trying to get me killed. Haha.

I’ve enclosed a grainy picture of my back.

My back after gua sha treatment

I’m going to do a facial today. If the fracking rain stops. It’s been raining heavily during the last hour or so.

Ok, I need to stop watching Fracking Battlestar Galactica. Too many fracks.

Went to see The Mummy 3 (Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) last evening. Not a bad movie, although it could have been better. I saw it in Chinese dubbing with English subtitles! It was a bit strange to be watching an American movie like this. Haha. My friend was scared to see the gore parts and hid her head into my shoulder. Not a bad feeling to play the protecting knight. LOL.

Completely unrelated, considering trying Google Chrome, but I already have FF and Opera installed in addition to the default IE. Adding a 4th web browser would be too much. Maybe I’ll wait until it’s no longer in the Beta stage.

I keep having “Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding” error messages, following which the computer would lose its display. I have had it sent for ‘repairs’ twice, without success. I have just done a system restore. Fed up. I will see if I can get a desktop computer for not too much. Can’t continue like this.

Need to delete several files, then maybe I can have enough space to use for Ubuntu again. But I heard that having dual OS could reduce the speed of your computer. Wonder if it is true.

nvlddmkm driver error msg