LOL
13 September 2007
Appropriately Named Club
My housemate-for-a-while; when he was here in Beijing, Ben took the following picture taken out the front of a popular nightclub here. I think it's interesting that it's allowed to stay open... =)
LOL
LOL
19 August 2007
Awesome email from Marcia
Heh, this is from my ex manager Mark at WACCO... he's a real champion - he's a contributing factor to why I miss my life back in Tas so much =)
"
Jon
On a cold overcast day I returned to what once was Starwood. The grey sky reflected my feelings about returning to the site, the memories once repressed came screaming to the fore like mad rabbits on steroids. I didn't know whether I would be able to handle the terror. Murray was accompanying me on this visit, we were only two of about six people on site. We signed in at the engineers lunch area near 'rough cut' then climbed the stairs where Grahame had dropped a 19" monitor, and proceeded towards the control room. Every office was empty on the way, not a sound could be heard.
Nothing.
We opened the door to the second story walkway between the engineering managers building and the maintenance offices, and had my first glimpse of what once was the MDF production line. It was completely gone, they had ripped it all out and only a very large yet empty warehouse remains. Murray and I hurried to the control room, again completely empty. Network switch gone and its cabinet ripped out of the wall. Fibre optic and copper cable dangling from a jagged hole in the wall a young girls first night as a woman.
Silence.
We were there to test the fibre optic cables for the new owners in order to provide them with the cable routing information. Murray went to one (suspected) end point of the fibre and I was at the other with a light source attached to the cable. Murray measured the light received and thus we proceeded in this manor around the vacant plant. It was eerie returning to a largely empty set of warehouses. The portion in front of the control room was warped and melted in parts from the heat of the fire that closed the plant. Eventually we arrived at the old server room, the 'Dolls house'. I ascended the stairs with a heavy heart, could I bear to see it again? I passed the training room portion of that second floor and entered the server room. Only the MDF tables remained, all servers, switches, rack and UPS's were removed.
The room felt like the heavily used, discarded, crusty underpants of a forgotten once mighty deity. There remained nothing, all that was good was removed.
Except........ no!
But yes, there it was. Alone. Unwanted. Forgotten.
One yellow sticky note, attached to a wall with the following message:
Sad.
Regards
Mark"
"
 |  Mark OMeara |
| show details | 18:38 (8 hours ago) |
On a cold overcast day I returned to what once was Starwood. The grey sky reflected my feelings about returning to the site, the memories once repressed came screaming to the fore like mad rabbits on steroids. I didn't know whether I would be able to handle the terror. Murray was accompanying me on this visit, we were only two of about six people on site. We signed in at the engineers lunch area near 'rough cut' then climbed the stairs where Grahame had dropped a 19" monitor, and proceeded towards the control room. Every office was empty on the way, not a sound could be heard.
Nothing.
We opened the door to the second story walkway between the engineering managers building and the maintenance offices, and had my first glimpse of what once was the MDF production line. It was completely gone, they had ripped it all out and only a very large yet empty warehouse remains. Murray and I hurried to the control room, again completely empty. Network switch gone and its cabinet ripped out of the wall. Fibre optic and copper cable dangling from a jagged hole in the wall a young girls first night as a woman.
Silence.
We were there to test the fibre optic cables for the new owners in order to provide them with the cable routing information. Murray went to one (suspected) end point of the fibre and I was at the other with a light source attached to the cable. Murray measured the light received and thus we proceeded in this manor around the vacant plant. It was eerie returning to a largely empty set of warehouses. The portion in front of the control room was warped and melted in parts from the heat of the fire that closed the plant. Eventually we arrived at the old server room, the 'Dolls house'. I ascended the stairs with a heavy heart, could I bear to see it again? I passed the training room portion of that second floor and entered the server room. Only the MDF tables remained, all servers, switches, rack and UPS's were removed.
The room felt like the heavily used, discarded, crusty underpants of a forgotten once mighty deity. There remained nothing, all that was good was removed.
Except........ no!
But yes, there it was. Alone. Unwanted. Forgotten.
One yellow sticky note, attached to a wall with the following message:
Jon DeBoer
Sad.
Regards
Mark"
13 August 2007
Also ... KTV rocks!
LOL, last night when we were hammered we did KTV (Karaoke TV, pretty much identical to Norae bang in Korea) and it rocked. I only got one picture as I was singing all the time, I'm a KTV whore.
12 August 2007
Times in Beijing
Hey,
Well, it's been more than a month, and two trips here from Erin, since my last update. Things are really moving along a frantically busy pace, which I guess in some ways is better than a 'medium pace' and in others not. I think that I have settled into my routine for work here somewhat and am developing a social life, so all's coming along ok.
I've done a few things with my time other than work over the passt 5 weeks or so, which has been nice. Esmarelda came up mid-July for an opportunistic business trip which was really reallly nice =) We went to the most famous duck restaurant in Beijing - called Quan Jude - for Peking Duck and it was awesome. They are so famous here lol, that you get a certificate of authenticity for the duck you buy and it's meant to be numbered since the first duck they ever sold. Ours was number 400,000 odd, I can think of some distasteful WWII jokes with a poultry focus now lol. It was realllllllllllllllllllly nice to catch up with Esmarelda even though it was only for one night and the evening went really quickly.
After that, I had a pretty intense re-negotiation of my work/salary/conditions here over the full month of July that eventuated in nothing. The company here simply wont pay a reasonable salary, period. I guess there's nothing for it but to accept that being here is goinng to always be simply experiential, never financially viable.
I have learned that ignoring a direct question is a perfectly acceptable response to a direct work-related question here. It's about the face that's lost when someone cannot do something versus not actually saying that you cannot do it. That, or it's also acceptable to say you can do something but then dont. This is an interesting phenomenon her ethat I am having a lot of trouble adjusting to lol. I mean, ffs when it's work-related and you're dealing with a fireigner, it's OK to say you dont know/cant do it/etc.
I went to Chinese opera here at Chaoyang theatre with a dude from work and his partner. Chinese opera is an interesting experience and in my opinion an acquired taste, but cool to do at least once. It is loud, with traditional Chinese instruments and the voice of the lady who sang was almost IDENTICAL to the stupid voice Dee used to use when role playing the character of her puppy Chyna lol. I couldnt help laughing at it when I was in the theatre as all I could see in my mind whilst listening to the girl sing was Chyna shaking her pompom and attempting to kill her fluffy (wool-thing-toy). Priceless.
Some friends and I have been going on a gastronomical tour of Beijing over the last several weeks, heading to as many awesome and varied restaurants as possible. We're going to really classy modern places like Alameda (voted 2007 best restaurant in Beijing) and Hatsune (same in Japanese, VERY good) as well as local street dives to get the best experience possible. For instance, on friday night just gone, we went to a dark restaurant and it was awesome. You select from the set menu options and then eat in pitch black. It sounded interesting to us because:
and so you really had to judge the food on how it tasted, the smell and texture. It was really cool as the fu-yuars (waiters) all had military-esque night vision goggles to lead you in a congo line to your seats and help you/serve you etc. The food was actually nothing to write home about, like one of the courses tasted exactuly like a gently cooked piece of cartilage but it was ok. I highly recommend the experience to anyone.
I've found a team with which to play soccer, near my place at Chaoyang Park. I met the dudes when buying tickets to go watch Barcelona play against a Beijing team. It was a really cool experience to see Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho all play and I got some footage of Ronaldinho scoring a goal =) The parl that we play on here is outdoor, but with fields the size of indoor and the turf is like a fake grassy thing. It's interesting as becuase it's just soooooooooo humid, playing tow 15 minute halves seems like you're playing an hour each. It' really nice to be doing something active again as I've lost my fitness that I had when I was playing outdoor soccer at home =/ I need to harden the eff up again and lose some of my jelly. LOL, even though I'm a little fatter than I was at home now, I'm about 10kgs lighter due to muscle loss!
Esmarelda came back this weekend for a business trip! She flew here on Friday so that we could actually spend some time doing something this time and we met on Saturday. Our first point of business was to try and find a tailor that would be able to copy a dress for the bridesmaids at her and Eltonnah's wedding but it actually would prove cheaper to buy the mass-produced dress than have the tailors (here) copy to size. Oh well I guess, but we ended up at the Silk Market here after putting that idea to bed and we ordered a suit each. Erin got a nice business suit and I ordered a really gooky black blazer and pants. I am a really hard bargainer here and my reputation preceeded me. I had bargained hard for some things for Erin, and when she was talking to a person and I wandered off for a bit, she told me that a lady said to her "you are with a short guy, pale-shirt, really hard bargain!" LOL. At least it proves that they're all in on it and if you set the precident that they'll learn you wont stand for too high a price. I ended up buying some rip-off soccer boots and had the suit tailored, and Erin got a purse, jacket for her and her mum and her suit too. All in all it was a cool experience and I will go back there for another suit if this one turns out cool.
For Saturday night, Esmarelda and I went out to dinner with a couple of dudes and it was cool. We did Korean and had bulgogi, galbi etc and then hit the town. We started out at a bar called Black Sun and drank Long Island Iced Teas while playing darts and 8-ball. It was a great way to start the night and Trev really showed us a lot of the Beijing night scene. We went to about 4 or 5 bars total, and headed at about 3am to a club called Propaganda in Wudaoco which is the university district. Propaganda was awesome as it's really the place to be here and then we finished at a beer garden eating chu'ar (bbq skewers of 'meat' dusted with cumin). After that, Trev, Erin and I got a illegal cab home. LOL, Erin said to me that she wanted to be totally shitfaced, and boy did we deliver on that. I put her to bed at about 4:30am and came out to chat online with Trentles who was just having his morning shower back in Tas =) Wicked night.
Today, we woke up at about 11am and we were hung OVER, but I know Erin was worse. Es and I decided that before we headed to the Wall we needed to have hang-over grease so we went to an institution here among the expat community, Steak n Eggs. They serve up all-day breakky food that's fantastic, really exactly what the young expat drunkards need after an intense awesome Saturday. We ate grease then negotiated a cab to the Wall at Badaling. It was a good experience and we cable-carred it up to the high-point at that spot which was pretty impressive, then walked the Wall and got a toboggan train down to a low point. then, we had to negotiate a illegal taxi to take us tot he one we'd negotiated in order to get to Badaling, as we were a fair way from the cable car when we finished. One thing about China is that EVERYTHING is a negotiation.
After that, we headed back to Es's hotel and she had a shower and got ready for dinner and our suit fitting. Dinner was very nice and the suits are coming along well, so fingers crossed when they deliver them to my office they're ok. When we were leaving the Silk Market again, the heavens opened and it POURED. I have experienced the lack of taxis in the rain here before so I immediately ran to the first available cab, got in, waited for Es and then proceeded to tell him where we both wanted to go. The dude was a racist dick though, and feigned that he did not know where one of the most popular and well-known streets was in Beijing. I didnt believe him and made him talk to Erin's hotel receptionist and they full-on argued for like 5 minutes before the receptionist told me she couldnt help any further. Without anything else that we could do, we left his cab. I hate that racism like this, like they simply say they no to taking you and take someone else, even when you can show them the way! and having to pay completely unrealistic prices for shit as a Westerner. Anyway...
Wow, this has gone on for a bit lol, I had better finish up for today. I'll try and update more frequently than I have lately, I hope you're all doing well and are happy. I miss you guys, keep it real etc.
BTW - FYI, my mobile number here is +8615810398463 and it receives SMS from home. Can you guys SMS me your numbers as I dont have anyone's in my new phone.
Well, it's been more than a month, and two trips here from Erin, since my last update. Things are really moving along a frantically busy pace, which I guess in some ways is better than a 'medium pace' and in others not. I think that I have settled into my routine for work here somewhat and am developing a social life, so all's coming along ok.
I've done a few things with my time other than work over the passt 5 weeks or so, which has been nice. Esmarelda came up mid-July for an opportunistic business trip which was really reallly nice =) We went to the most famous duck restaurant in Beijing - called Quan Jude - for Peking Duck and it was awesome. They are so famous here lol, that you get a certificate of authenticity for the duck you buy and it's meant to be numbered since the first duck they ever sold. Ours was number 400,000 odd, I can think of some distasteful WWII jokes with a poultry focus now lol. It was realllllllllllllllllllly nice to catch up with Esmarelda even though it was only for one night and the evening went really quickly.
After that, I had a pretty intense re-negotiation of my work/salary/conditions here over the full month of July that eventuated in nothing. The company here simply wont pay a reasonable salary, period. I guess there's nothing for it but to accept that being here is goinng to always be simply experiential, never financially viable.
I have learned that ignoring a direct question is a perfectly acceptable response to a direct work-related question here. It's about the face that's lost when someone cannot do something versus not actually saying that you cannot do it. That, or it's also acceptable to say you can do something but then dont. This is an interesting phenomenon her ethat I am having a lot of trouble adjusting to lol. I mean, ffs when it's work-related and you're dealing with a fireigner, it's OK to say you dont know/cant do it/etc.
I went to Chinese opera here at Chaoyang theatre with a dude from work and his partner. Chinese opera is an interesting experience and in my opinion an acquired taste, but cool to do at least once. It is loud, with traditional Chinese instruments and the voice of the lady who sang was almost IDENTICAL to the stupid voice Dee used to use when role playing the character of her puppy Chyna lol. I couldnt help laughing at it when I was in the theatre as all I could see in my mind whilst listening to the girl sing was Chyna shaking her pompom and attempting to kill her fluffy (wool-thing-toy). Priceless.
Some friends and I have been going on a gastronomical tour of Beijing over the last several weeks, heading to as many awesome and varied restaurants as possible. We're going to really classy modern places like Alameda (voted 2007 best restaurant in Beijing) and Hatsune (same in Japanese, VERY good) as well as local street dives to get the best experience possible. For instance, on friday night just gone, we went to a dark restaurant and it was awesome. You select from the set menu options and then eat in pitch black. It sounded interesting to us because:
- you could not read the menu
- you could not ask what was being served
- you could not see what you were eating
and so you really had to judge the food on how it tasted, the smell and texture. It was really cool as the fu-yuars (waiters) all had military-esque night vision goggles to lead you in a congo line to your seats and help you/serve you etc. The food was actually nothing to write home about, like one of the courses tasted exactuly like a gently cooked piece of cartilage but it was ok. I highly recommend the experience to anyone.
I've found a team with which to play soccer, near my place at Chaoyang Park. I met the dudes when buying tickets to go watch Barcelona play against a Beijing team. It was a really cool experience to see Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o and Ronaldinho all play and I got some footage of Ronaldinho scoring a goal =) The parl that we play on here is outdoor, but with fields the size of indoor and the turf is like a fake grassy thing. It's interesting as becuase it's just soooooooooo humid, playing tow 15 minute halves seems like you're playing an hour each. It' really nice to be doing something active again as I've lost my fitness that I had when I was playing outdoor soccer at home =/ I need to harden the eff up again and lose some of my jelly. LOL, even though I'm a little fatter than I was at home now, I'm about 10kgs lighter due to muscle loss!
Esmarelda came back this weekend for a business trip! She flew here on Friday so that we could actually spend some time doing something this time and we met on Saturday. Our first point of business was to try and find a tailor that would be able to copy a dress for the bridesmaids at her and Eltonnah's wedding but it actually would prove cheaper to buy the mass-produced dress than have the tailors (here) copy to size. Oh well I guess, but we ended up at the Silk Market here after putting that idea to bed and we ordered a suit each. Erin got a nice business suit and I ordered a really gooky black blazer and pants. I am a really hard bargainer here and my reputation preceeded me. I had bargained hard for some things for Erin, and when she was talking to a person and I wandered off for a bit, she told me that a lady said to her "you are with a short guy, pale-shirt, really hard bargain!" LOL. At least it proves that they're all in on it and if you set the precident that they'll learn you wont stand for too high a price. I ended up buying some rip-off soccer boots and had the suit tailored, and Erin got a purse, jacket for her and her mum and her suit too. All in all it was a cool experience and I will go back there for another suit if this one turns out cool.
For Saturday night, Esmarelda and I went out to dinner with a couple of dudes and it was cool. We did Korean and had bulgogi, galbi etc and then hit the town. We started out at a bar called Black Sun and drank Long Island Iced Teas while playing darts and 8-ball. It was a great way to start the night and Trev really showed us a lot of the Beijing night scene. We went to about 4 or 5 bars total, and headed at about 3am to a club called Propaganda in Wudaoco which is the university district. Propaganda was awesome as it's really the place to be here and then we finished at a beer garden eating chu'ar (bbq skewers of 'meat' dusted with cumin). After that, Trev, Erin and I got a illegal cab home. LOL, Erin said to me that she wanted to be totally shitfaced, and boy did we deliver on that. I put her to bed at about 4:30am and came out to chat online with Trentles who was just having his morning shower back in Tas =) Wicked night.
Today, we woke up at about 11am and we were hung OVER, but I know Erin was worse. Es and I decided that before we headed to the Wall we needed to have hang-over grease so we went to an institution here among the expat community, Steak n Eggs. They serve up all-day breakky food that's fantastic, really exactly what the young expat drunkards need after an intense awesome Saturday. We ate grease then negotiated a cab to the Wall at Badaling. It was a good experience and we cable-carred it up to the high-point at that spot which was pretty impressive, then walked the Wall and got a toboggan train down to a low point. then, we had to negotiate a illegal taxi to take us tot he one we'd negotiated in order to get to Badaling, as we were a fair way from the cable car when we finished. One thing about China is that EVERYTHING is a negotiation.
After that, we headed back to Es's hotel and she had a shower and got ready for dinner and our suit fitting. Dinner was very nice and the suits are coming along well, so fingers crossed when they deliver them to my office they're ok. When we were leaving the Silk Market again, the heavens opened and it POURED. I have experienced the lack of taxis in the rain here before so I immediately ran to the first available cab, got in, waited for Es and then proceeded to tell him where we both wanted to go. The dude was a racist dick though, and feigned that he did not know where one of the most popular and well-known streets was in Beijing. I didnt believe him and made him talk to Erin's hotel receptionist and they full-on argued for like 5 minutes before the receptionist told me she couldnt help any further. Without anything else that we could do, we left his cab. I hate that racism like this, like they simply say they no to taking you and take someone else, even when you can show them the way! and having to pay completely unrealistic prices for shit as a Westerner. Anyway...Wow, this has gone on for a bit lol, I had better finish up for today. I'll try and update more frequently than I have lately, I hope you're all doing well and are happy. I miss you guys, keep it real etc.
BTW - FYI, my mobile number here is +8615810398463 and it receives SMS from home. Can you guys SMS me your numbers as I dont have anyone's in my new phone.
Erin's in town
Fuck me, it's 4:30am here and I just put Ezmarelda to bed =) she said she wanted to get shitfaced, we've accomplished that and more tonight =) Further post to come soon when I sober up...
08 July 2007
New pics
Hey peeps,
I have put some new pics online from my new apartment and some others. I have more coming from my day out to Hohai (Emperor's personal lake, very cool to check out when you come up here) yesterday soon...
My Flickr site.
I have put some new pics online from my new apartment and some others. I have more coming from my day out to Hohai (Emperor's personal lake, very cool to check out when you come up here) yesterday soon...
My Flickr site.
03 July 2007
Sydney trip
Hey peeps,
My sister Sarah as you know gave birth on the 22nd of June to a healthy baby girl. The due date was however a little later but she couldnt wait to get out into the world I guess.
I made evil plans for a surprise visit and made it down to see them in Sydney last weekend. It was a complete surprise for them, and Dad n Kristy also made it up to meet me =) Sarah and Josh were really shocked to see me as we just were waiting for them at their house when they got home from shopping - the secret was really well kept =)
It was great, and here're some pics of the weekend:
and
My sister Sarah as you know gave birth on the 22nd of June to a healthy baby girl. The due date was however a little later but she couldnt wait to get out into the world I guess.
I made evil plans for a surprise visit and made it down to see them in Sydney last weekend. It was a complete surprise for them, and Dad n Kristy also made it up to meet me =) Sarah and Josh were really shocked to see me as we just were waiting for them at their house when they got home from shopping - the secret was really well kept =)
It was great, and here're some pics of the weekend:
and
My ID Card @ Sinocode
Heh, we had to give them a pic and a nickname for the ID cards at the office now. It is to make us more professional-looking or some shit and also to make it easy to swipe our prox cards at the reader.
What else was I going to do ... =)
What else was I going to do ... =)
29 June 2007
Hahahha
Hey peeps,
I have had my first drunk-scapades here in Beijing - YAY!
Last night after work we (Aus workmates) went to a restaurant called 'Red Rose' and had OK muslim food. They did a really nice leg of lamb and the chunks of meat on the skewers were really nice too. They had belly-dancers as well and they were cool. One of them did her dance with a snake and the young 5y.o. son of one of the dudes hid under the table lol to get away from it.
Wow, I was drinking 600ml Heinekens during tea and was relatively charged by the time we left. We decided that (apart from the family) we'd go out on a Wednesday night. We went to a bar area here called Sanlitun, which is apparently where the Aus embassy is located too btw. lol. Anyway, after much harrassment from ho-dealers we managed to get into a bar that had a decent guitarist playing and we had a few more beers. then we went to a few other places and mixed drinks a bit but by the height of the evening we were drinking at a cheap street-vendors tables and started a massive beer-fight. It was cool, and they didnt care at all whilst we kept buying more drinks... I guess R.S. of A. doesnt exist lol. Anyway, after much Hi-5! attempts at random ppl we went to another club area. There, the alcohol started to catch up with me and a dude came and found me passed out in the loo =)
On the way home, I was spewing out of the taxi window and the driver was (apparently) not too happy but he didnt stop. Now, MY recollection of the cabby was that he was really nice and friendly - he even got out of the cab and gave me a hug when I left. The dude that took me home however informed me that he was realllllllllllly pissed off and was trying to hit me up for cash but I just gave him a hug and walked away. Then, I realised that I wasnt at my apartment building after all, so someone walked me home from that building lol.
Work was HELL today.
P.S. Apparently, yahoo's scrabble game Literati doesnt recognise the word 'pimp'... wtf.
I have had my first drunk-scapades here in Beijing - YAY!
Last night after work we (Aus workmates) went to a restaurant called 'Red Rose' and had OK muslim food. They did a really nice leg of lamb and the chunks of meat on the skewers were really nice too. They had belly-dancers as well and they were cool. One of them did her dance with a snake and the young 5y.o. son of one of the dudes hid under the table lol to get away from it.
Wow, I was drinking 600ml Heinekens during tea and was relatively charged by the time we left. We decided that (apart from the family) we'd go out on a Wednesday night. We went to a bar area here called Sanlitun, which is apparently where the Aus embassy is located too btw. lol. Anyway, after much harrassment from ho-dealers we managed to get into a bar that had a decent guitarist playing and we had a few more beers. then we went to a few other places and mixed drinks a bit but by the height of the evening we were drinking at a cheap street-vendors tables and started a massive beer-fight. It was cool, and they didnt care at all whilst we kept buying more drinks... I guess R.S. of A. doesnt exist lol. Anyway, after much Hi-5! attempts at random ppl we went to another club area. There, the alcohol started to catch up with me and a dude came and found me passed out in the loo =)
On the way home, I was spewing out of the taxi window and the driver was (apparently) not too happy but he didnt stop. Now, MY recollection of the cabby was that he was really nice and friendly - he even got out of the cab and gave me a hug when I left. The dude that took me home however informed me that he was realllllllllllly pissed off and was trying to hit me up for cash but I just gave him a hug and walked away. Then, I realised that I wasnt at my apartment building after all, so someone walked me home from that building lol.
Work was HELL today.
P.S. Apparently, yahoo's scrabble game Literati doesnt recognise the word 'pimp'... wtf.
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