Jing xianshen!  Nihao.

That was some of the best greasy chinese food I’ve had, ever.  I guess you can never really get rid of your roots, huh.  Danchaofan (egg fried rice, arooz bil baed il maqlee), suan niurou (garlic beef, lahma bil tum), and zhajiang mian (Beijing sauce noodles, makaroona bil [mish arif il kalima li ‘sauce’]).  Chinese food does something magical for Chinese people, no matter where they are.  It like restores some sort of mana and energy or something.  Lucky you work at a Chinese restaurant in Egypt.

I really enjoyed hearing your perspectives on life and your experiences looking for work outside of China.  I will be honest, it was hard to understand your shenyang accent at times.  Did I fool you?  Probably not.  Just to make sure though, you talked about how your friends in New York were having difficulty finding a job, an Egyptian immigration official let you off the hook, you looked for work in Israel, you were going to work at a rival Chinese restaurant in Dahab but the owner of that one screwed you over, your name is Mr. Jing right?, and there are a lot of forms to work in the US and that in 2005 they let in a lot of Chinese immigrant workers.

Also, I have a question.  I couldn’t help but notice some animosity towards the other Chinese lady, the one who married the Egyptian owner of the restaurant and had a kid.   Do you have such feelings?  It was weird.  I can definitely see lots of reasons a Chinese man would harbor such ill will towards a Chinese women far away in Egypt though.

I look forward to seeing your Skype invitation.  I’m going to have a busy year though with my dissertation (luowen) and school,.  Perhaps email would be a better way to communicate?

Zaijian,

Weisong

Did you really think I was 41?  I have never gotten that, but I will take that as a compliment.  Maybe I look wise and learned.  Or something like that.  If I had to guess, I’d say you were about 60.

I must say I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation.  And the two mints you gave me from the pack that you bought from a seller on the train.  Your statement “Djibouti has a lot of money and cheap food.  The UAE has a lot of money and expensive food.  Djibouti is better) is very simple and deep insight.  Some of the most direct and clear analysis I’ve heard in a while.

I wish the best of luck to you as you continue working.  Africa, Yemen, Oman, UAE, and Saudi are quite impressive.  Construction (or painting walls, I couldn’t tell) has a somewhat awe-inspiring effect on me.  Tough work and long hours, for some reason, appeal to me.

And remember, it’s only about 6 hours to China by airplane.  So maybe, in shah allah, you will get the chance to go there.  Gimme a call if you do.  I’ll try and help set you up.

Good luck,

Willy

We’re now on a rooftop terrace cafe in Marrakesh next to the apothecary stalls.

dayuumm

fuckyeahmashups:

Clockwork - Office Musik (Dwight K. Shrute vs Weezy)

AMAGAD!! Day Week Month has officially been made. This is almost too much for me to even begin to comprehend.

Yo

I’ve taken a hiatus from blogging, and it will continue until I get back from Georgia.  Yup.  My family’s gonna go to an ultimate tournament to look at some players for our underground pay per view ultimate league.

So when I get back, I will write about that.  I’ll also write about all the cool things that warrant a tumblr post.  They are:

• Phantom of the Opera
• Green Zone
• Sports Day
• Wiffleball
• My meds and supplements

So I couldn’t resist.

Listening to “midnight train to Georgia” by Gladys Knight and the Pips,

Willy

The good news.  WBCs are continuing to rise.  The WBC count is at 3.3 and neutrophils are at 1.3.

The bad news.  My hemoglobin dropped from 12.7 to 12.3  My RBC also dropped from 3.46 to 3.39.

The weird news.  My reticulocyte (young RBCs) continues to rise.  But they haven’t become full fledged RBCs yet.  They say that the life cycle of a red blood cell is around 120 days, so if it’s improving, it would be at a much slower rate than WBCs.  Makes sense.

Just to make sure I don’t have this other thing that kills red blood cells while I sleep, I peeed in a cup and they ran tests on it.  I don’t have that thing.  But if YOUR pee is coffee colored in the morning, you should get it checked as there may be dead RBCs in it.

So this is understandable.  Recovery’s not going to be swift and continuous.  There will be peaks and troughs.  But as long as the overall path is upwards, we’re all good.

I’ve been kind of out of it lately.  Maybe it’s because of a small sickness (my throat isn’t feeling well).  Maybe I’m just pent up and haven’t been active lately.  Dunno.  Gonna go to bed now and try to get some rest.  Spring Break means people are coming back, so I gotta be on top of my game!

Good luck with finals, UChicagoans.  Listen to your teacher for exam times, not the website.

Listening to “Oh my God ft. Lily Allen” by Mark Ronson,

Willy

I watched this Sunday night.  I figured it was time to put the TV into use, and so I hooked it to my computer.  No antenna or cable yet.  I thought I deserved a break after spending the entire afternoon working on an application essay for this conference in Taiwan that came up on the IS listhost.  Anybody else applying to that?  GIS?  I’ve never actually been to Taiwan, but I wanna go.  I’ve heard somewhat good things about it.  I also want to go to Korea.  Japan, kind of.  Vietnam, not too much.  India, yes!  Nepal, sure, when I am more physically fit.  Kazakhstan would be cool, too.

Anyways, this movie was brutal.  Sure it may be cool and all owning a criminal empire and living a rich lifestyle, but man does being the owner of it all tough.  To even get to that position you must’ve long ago forsaken any semblance of morals or values.  I won’t spoil anything, but damn…

On spoilers.  I had a friend who read Harry Potter 6.  This was back when we all had Xangas.  He opened his post with “SNAPE KILLS DUMBLEDORE!!!” and proceeds to summarize the rest of the book.  Then at the very bottom, he puts in a warning about spoilers.  I think he reads my posts, too.  Hopefully he’ll see this and recognize himself.

Listening to “Songbird” by Katie Herzig,

Willy

Yesterday, I did nothing.  Why?  I think the biggest reason was the weather.  It was cloudy and rained all day.  The lack of natural light prompted me to turn on indoor lights around 2 PM.  And that throws off my productivity.  So I just sat in the harsh yellowish light in front of the computer until I got a headache.  And then I went downstairs and slumped in the couch and watched half of the Italian Job.

After dinner, I practiced guitar for the rest of the night.  I guess that counts as doing something.

No GCI.  No essay-writing.  No nothing!

Listening to “Sweeter than This” by Katie Herzig,

Willy

Yesterday, Brian and I went to Asian Festival hosted by Plano West Orchestra.  I had a great time.  I also saw many, many Asians.  There were a lot of Asians, from middle school and older.  I have never been with so many Asians in America.  It was a sight to behold.

Most of the attendees were high schoolers.  As a 2nd year college kid, I wonder if I was ever like that.  It’s not really annoying, but definitely grinding on the nerves.  But there’s also some amusement in there.  And nostalgia.  I’m not even in my 20s yet and I feel like I’m at a different stage of life.  Damn.

The festival consisted of a dinner portion and a show portion.  The food wasn’t bad.  Just your generic Asian food.  Beef noodles, fried tofu, egg rolls, vegetables, and white rice.  Dinner was good.  And I ate 6 fortune cookies to top it off.  I loooove fortune cookies.  Just not the chocolate ones at Noodles.  Bah.  The fortune cookies helped me later in the night.

I had come in knowing there was a raffle.  They had some pretty amazing prizes.  A ps3, an HDTV, a Karen Dillard’s scholarship (local SAT prep magnate), designer purses, lots and lots of gift cards, and cool stuff.  So I made it my goal that I would win something.  Er, maybe it’s not a goal if it’s up to chance and not you.  I guess I made a fantasy that I would win something.  So I laid down my $4 for 4 tickets and proclaimed “I’m gonna win”.

They announced winners between the acts.  And the acts were all very good.  Singers, two breakdancing crews, more singers, dancing, and more singers.  Lots of pop music, which I didn’t claim.  Due to the large amount of people (Asians), the clapping from the audience that accompanies many songs often overpowered the performers.

So during the raffle announcements, I was not winning.  And I got more and more dejected.  One girl had bought $100 in raffle tickets and was winning everything!  I was reminded by when we went to the KSO date auction last year.  I jokingly brought $10 thinking that I’d make a bid, and if I had to follow through, I’d have $10 to back me up.  Not a single person, girl or guy, went for lower than $40.  Some went for over $200!  So here I was again, getting pathetically outbid.

I texted my friend Emily who was the raffle ticket box shaker to please give me a lucky shake.  And so on the last round of prizes, they announced my name for the HDTV.  :)

In the spirit of the Oscars, I would like to thank God for His watching out of all His creations.  I’ve always thought He might have a sense of humor.  But you know, material things do not even come close to the treasures enjoyed in Heaven.  I’d also like to thank Emily for helping me with a lucky shake.  And Brian, too, for agreeing to go with me.  I would never have gone as an uncomfortable 2nd year college kid by myself.  Oh and 6 fortune cookies couldn’t have hurt.  Now I’m just gonna get bad luck for a year or something.

Listening to “My Boo ft. Alicia keys” by Usher,

Willy

Reading!  I picked up another book.  Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage, Leadership, and Brotherhood by Donovan Campbell.  Ahhhh Books are amazing.  They really do transport you to a different world, sometimes much more fulfilling than a movie.  I think when I have a kid, I will make him or her watch DVDs or whatever they’ll have of Reading Rainbow.  The books might be 30 or 40 years old, but they better understand how awesome books are.

This one had much more combat and storytelling than One Bullet Away.  Makes sense though, as that one was specifically about leadership while this one has story in its title.  Great job, sirs, following through on your purposes.

And boy was it excited.  Joker One was Mr. Campbell’s platoon that patrolled as part of 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines.  They faced daily attacks in throughout the summer.  A platoon (40ish men) joined with 3 other ones to form a company.  This 150 man company patrolled Ramadi, a population of 300,000.  It was quite the task, and by the end of the deployment, the battalion had had the highest casualty rate of any service in any war.  Yet, they never gave up Ramadi.

The battles portrayed are chilling and to the point.  Yet with all the violence and despair encountered in war, Mr. Campbell never lets the Marines (or us) forget the higher goals and aspirations of their mission.  They were sent to protect the people, to help them to a better life.

I dunno if it’s just me, as I know I’m really empathetic, but I teared up as Campbell goes through the deaths of one his men.  The gut-wrenching and onerous burden of responsibility is present at every moment, and the reader feels what Campbell feels.  It’s also excellent writing.

So give it a read.  I think I’ll take a break from war books now.  Lord of the Flies maybe?

Listening to “It’s Yours” by J. Holiday,

Willy