I’m getting more and more sluggish at work. Need to pull myself to complete the June accounts asap.

A distant auntie wants to introduce me to a girl in Shanghai because an uncle apparently told her I am “lonely” in Shanghai.

At what point does the age gap between a guy and a girl becomes too important? Or is there no limit? No, I’m not talking of those gold diggers and old farts relationship, but real emotion/love relationship. And it’s got nothing to do with the point above.

Watched 《The battle of Red Cliff 赤壁》, like it so much that I decided to read 《Three Kingdoms 三国演义》, which is a classic Chinese romantic litterature. A bit disappointed as I discovered the movie is very different from the classic novel. However, the fact remains that as a movie it was great to watch.

Want to watch 《Storm Riders 风云决》 which is already out in the theatres. From the trailer, you would never have thought it not to be a Japanese manga. Looks awesome.

It’s so hot. 35-38C. Need to switch aircon everyday.

Want to buy an electric bicycle. Would cost about 1500rmb (about Rs6,000) for decent one. There is one model about 600rmb (Rs2,400), but might be of poor quality. Fearful of the risk of someone stealing it.

Haven’t played my Wii for ages. Nor watched DVDs for that matter.

The hairdresser that opened a few metres away from my apartment has massage services. Wonder if it is any good. Want to do a back massage. Or a foot massage. But I can’t remember seeing them advertising foot massage service.

Bought a new pair of shoes as the heavy rainfalls that took place in Shanghai last month resulted in my sole pair of leather shoes split open.

I agreed to have a friend staying at my apartment when she told me she wanted to move out from the house she shares with her husband. Later, I started thinking it might be awkward for me in the future if I have “guests” coming. But it was too late to withdraw my offer. I don’t want to reak my promise. Good thing she thought the thing over again and decided to stay with her husband.

Argh, switched the aircon off barely 5mins ago, now feel too hot and need to switch it on again.

Ok, enough pointless ramblings. Goodnight.

BEIJING TRAFFIC: as American Football
To help you understand Beijing traffic, and perhaps to one day navigate its hazards, I’ve come up with the following analogy. I hope you find it helpful.

BEIJING TRAFFIC: as American Football

Traffic lights: BAD QUARTERBACK

In Beijing, a traffic light is like a quarterback- an extremely bad one. It’s so bad, none of the players listen to it. If they don’t get what they want.. they’ll just audible audibly and bullrush the intersection. Because of this lack of respect for Mr. QB, you find yourself in an interesting predicament.

You: RUNNING BACK

As soon as the quarterback huts and the light turns green, you might as well find some holes in the defense and go for the endzone. Here’s what you’re up against:

Buses: DEFENSIVE LINEMEN

Slow to accelerate and overweight, you can usually navigate around these guys pretty easily. They’re mainly dangerous because they can block you from seeing over the line of scrimmage, sometimes allowing a strong safety to sneak up on you.

Cars: BAD CORNERBACKS

Nimble, but usually polite, a car will usually cede if you walk in front of it. Bad tacklers. Unfortunately, they can be easily confused with…

Taxis: STRONG SAFETY

These are the guys you have to really look out for- they can really lay the smack down. Quick to accelerate and extremely aggressive, they will stop at nothing to “invent” lanes to tackle you. Beijing taxis make Rodney Harrison look like Michelle Kwan. Naturally, they love to talk trash, and honk frequently.

That’s it for the defense- let’s look at what’s protecting you from this monstrosity.

Other pedestrians: OFFENSIVE LINE

Strength in numbers, but I can’t tell if these guys are for or against you. On the one hand, if you can get sandwiched between a group of 5 or 6, you’re usually good. On the other hand, if you’re only with 1 or 2, they can be very hesitant. This might be because they perceive themselves as running backs and you as their offensive line. Luckily, there’s one last offensive player, and it’s the best.

Bikes: FULLBACK

Hands down, your biggest asset. These guys are big, bad, and have been in the league for years. I mean it takes balls just to WALK in Beijing… to bike here is Chuck Norris ballsy. So, if you can walk quickly with a bike protecting you from those nasty strong safeties, you’re all set. Touchdown.

Anyway, a few pictures from my phonecam.

2. Stop being afraid to press the light switch on. Fuses blow up, it is normal. Just keep a candle around.

3. Keep trying to learn Chinese.

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Last week I got a message on my QQ, of all people it was sent to me by my Chinese ’sister’ now living in America. It called for the boycott of Carrefour on May 1st. This kind of message has now been posted for on many Chinese forums and circulated via msn/QQ.

And today, the Chinese MSN users are displaying a (L)China (that’s Love China) on their name/message. See my picture below. It’s apparently a sign of Chinese unity towards the Olympic issue and against France/Carrefour.

Also, I saw on a website a guy saying the cops stopped him when he was illegally riding on his motorbike. And the question the cop asked him was “are you French?” before seizing the bike. He isn’t French, but it shows the animosity Chinese people are feeling towards the French.

Of course, it’s not all towards French. As I said, the Chinese are not happy with the Western media and China has apparently requested for a CNN commentator to apologise for having said bad things about China.

The anti-Western sentiment that has been brooding lately (even before the Tea bet thing) is now getting worse. Visa checks, registration, renewals etc are all getting tougher.

Will this keep going until the Olympics? Who knows. But some expats are starting to complain that because of the actions of people outside China, they (the foreigners in China) are suffering unnecessarily.

I guess we’d better keep low profiles this year.

À partir de 2009, tous les foyers mauriciens devront avoir un décodeur pour capter la Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) en numérique. “Les Mauriciens devront obligatoirement avoir un décodeur pour capter ces émissions” …. d’ici 2015 la télévision analogique sera appelée à disparaître dans le monde. Un calendrier a déjà été préparé par l’International Telecommunication Union. Pour l’Afrique, la date arrêtée est de 2011-2012. Mais pour Maurice, précise-t-il, cela se fera dès 2009.

I might be wrong, but the way I understood the article, analogue TV channels are going to be stopped, and the local populace will be forced to fork out to buy a decoder box. Maybe as from next year. (Note: digital channels already being offered by MBC for a certain fee)

I support the move to offer digital channels to the Mauritians, and to make them pay for that. After all, those who want better variety of programmes and entertainment are already subscribing to satellite channels, and they have no problem in finding that extra money.

But I am totally against the MBC’s plan to force people to subscribe to their digital channels. We are already imposed a monthly (quarterly? annual?) fee to have to watch real crappy programs (90+% of the contents sucks, no decent local production, the foreign movies are of yesteryears). Now we will have to pay for a decoder box? I don’t care if they say it’s a one-off charge, these things will need to be updated/upgraded constantly, and they can break down. No need to say that we will probably end up disclosing some info about ourselves on registering. They are an additional charge to the low-income families.

If there is no more analogical (sp?) channels, am I allowed NOT to pay the monthly TV fee if I only watch channels from other satellite providers? After all, I won’t be able to WATCH OR RECEIVE MBC if I don’t have the decoder box. Right? So would I still be charged for a service I can’t receive?

Will the people in Mauritius really care about what I just wrote? Probably not. Nowadays we have become really apathetic and just put our hand into our pocket to pay while grumbling about poor or useless services. We are currently paying a TV fee irrespective of whether we do watch the MBC on the charge that our TV sets can receive the broadcasted channels. We will just accept the changes, think the MBC is more crap than ever (because we will hopefully see the programmes more clearly), then get on with our lives. After all, that article is over 6 months old, and nobody said anything meanwhile.

Servihoo article: Here

Wii - more ads, looks more ‘fun’ with its stupid games, more ‘in’?
Xbox - better game resolution.
Both have Guitar Hero 3.

I went to Ikea today and bought a little over RMB300 of small stuffs. Spent over 1.5hrs although I knew exactly what I wanted to buy. (Sidenote: Aline, yes the place is big). Ok, where I wanted to buy only a couple of things, I ended buying a dozen. Haha! It’s life. I had already done a first trip the other week.

My visa procedures are practically over. I should get the passport with the residence permit in it during the week. It’s taken me some 3 weeks to get it all over.

It’s been a long time since I posted anything. Been busy/lazy/whatever ….

I am now in Shanghai, feeling darn cold. I will spare the rants about Air Mauritius’s lack of Chinese music and movie channels not properly identifiable. There is no HK destination on the list of flights.

I moved into a small apartment, which is not bad, although the toilet/bathroom could be better, and the kitchen’s got no window, meaning that the apartment would for hours smell of whatever I cook. Will decide whether or not to get satellite channels later. There is already a satellite dish affixed, courtesy of former resident.

I got internet back on, although I have to leave the darn modem on all the time. If I shut it off, the laptop has problems connecting to it for the first 5-10mins. I tried changing the network name and password of my wifi modem, but there was apparently a problem, and the password is no longer recognised. I tried resetting it, but that doesn’t seem to be working. WTF? No wifi for the moment, need to connect my laptop to the cable directly.

My HP laptop’s fingerprint scan recognition feature’s gone bonkers. Can no longer use it to log in or redo new fingerprint scans. The laptop’s only a few months old.

I still haven’t bought all my stuff. Too lazy to go out in the cold knowing I would have to fight to get a cab back home afterwards, while carrying awkward bulky stuffs.

Went to a bath/sauna/massage place last Friday. My friend, who is a flight attendant, had dropped by in Shanghai and we decided to go there as soon as she reached her hotel in Hongqiao. It was then around midnight, and after picking her up, we went to the place. Left there after 3am, went to sleep around 4am, then got up at 7am to get ready for work. Felt so sleepy on Saturday (I work full day on Saturdays). I dozed off several times in the afternoon. Good thing not much to do that day.

I now enjoy having a daily drink of Caffe Latte by Suntory. Best drunk cold. Doesn’t do much to your sleepiness.

Oh yeah, I did a physical test as part of the visa procedures, and among other things the diagnosis was:
Suffer from high blood pressure (well, that’s not surprising)
Fatty infiltration of liver (whatever that means)
Abnormal liver function (WTF? I am not a heavy drinker, what abnormal FUNCTION?)
Hyperlipidemia (i.e. likely to suffer from bad cholesterol)
Abnormal electrocardiogram (Didn’t precise what abnormality)
Abnormal cardiovascular system (WTF? Why no details?)
Just reading it makes me wonder if my time’s almost up in this life. Haha.

Looking for a gym in my neighbourhood. Part of my new year resolution of having a better lifestyle and be more fit. Didn’t find any interesting gym on the net. I should walk/bike around looking for those not on the web, but too lazy for that. Best option is to go to Xujiahui’s Physical (on 5th floor of Metro City, just above Xujiahui metro station). However, it is not that big and if I go there after work, the place would be packed and difficult to find free machines. I am considering going there early morning. Get up at 6am, arrive there at 7am when it opens, do an hour of exercise, take another shower, then get to the office by 9am. Feasible in THEORY, except that I know I’m so lazy.

Work has been slow because Mauritius office is closed till January 8th, so I can’t get the information I need to work.

I still have to open a bank account. My passport is currently at some governmental office where the work certificate thing is being processed. Should get it back tomorrow. Then, if there has been no problem, it will be a trip to the PSB to get my residence certificate, and I will be hassle free for about a year (I think).