This caught my eye the other day, so much so that I went in to look at the price.
Of course, at $2500 USD, it’s not in the budget.
Seeing this though, made me wish there were more thrift stores in China. But they are not so much a thing here.
China has had such tremendous growth in the past 40-50 years, that a lot of people are middle class now, or maybe even wealthy, and they aren’t in the mood for second-hand clothes, which is totally understandable.
Something that I liked to do back in the states was to go through Vogue, Harper’s B, and see what outfits were hot. Then, I’d go to the thrift stores to replicate the look.
I’m pretty sure if I could find a trenchcoat here, and some good scissors, I could cut this down and have a simlar look for cheap.
If I do try this, I’ll have to buy a coat retail, cut it down, and hope for the best.
A $20 mistake I can afford to make, but an $80, not so much.
Maybe someday I’ll be home again and I can try this.
In China, WeChat is a really popular social media app. You can use it to buy stuff, which is my primary use for it. I also use it to communicate with people. There’s an interesting feature where you push on the message, and if it’s in Chinese, you can choose to translate it. So it’s helpful to communicate with people if you are Mandarin-challeneged. It’s a bit slower to communicate, but the Chinese can do the same thing by translating English. So both parties can communicate in the language they are comfortable with, and WeChat will hande the pretty accurate translation.
The other day someone messaged me and asked if I’d traveled a bit this summer. I didn’t recognize the sender, but school is starting soon, and since they addressed me as “teacher” I figured it might be a new student.
Nope.
This person started getting pretty pushy with me, saying that he could swing by my house and pick me up and take me to some interesting places here in Fuzhou.
I know I don’t make videos very often, but I finally pieced together clips I took when I went to Hong Kong Disneyland.
Part of my problem with making videos is I don’t do it a lot. I WATCH a ton of YouTube, and I see some really funny stuff, but I’m not completely familiar with my editing program. Something I wanted to do for this video didn’t happen the way I wanted, so I had to modify it a bit. My editing program isn’t exactly user friendly, or intuitive.
I think another issue too is not having a paper instruction manual.
And I don’t know how to ask for stuff. Like if I want my video clip to go backwards, I’d be asking, “how to make stuff go backwards.” Instead they have something complicated by calling it “reversing objects.” “Making something go upside down” would be called “inverting objects.”
What I’ve been able to do is just screwing around with it. I made a quick guide so I could do very simple things, but that’s it so far.
And editing takes hours and hours, not to mention the “rendering” of the finished video. And an added extra chore is making sure I save it a certain way. If I save it as a project, it messes up when I try to upload it. That happened last night, so I had to resave (export?) it, and save it to a certain folder to see if that would do the trick. It did. Because if I save the video to the app project folder, it saves it a certain way which interferes with uploading it on YouTube.
And uploading. Let’s talk about how uploading a 10 minute video seems to take eight hours or so. Either I’m doing something wrong, I have the world’s slowest computer, or that’s just the way it is.
So I try to make things easier on myself when I edit. Starting with getting the raw footage. I try to record voice over as I’m filming the shot so I don’t have to add it in later. I try to think of shots I’ll need and do it while I’m out filming, so I don’t have to do it later.
I try to film stuff in order, too.
Then, when I’m ready to make the video, I get my clips together and number them and title them. Then I drag them into a folder and usually everything is lined up and ready to go. I usually have to trim a second or two from the beginning or end. I try not to screw up the middle. If I do, I just refilm it, if possible. Trimming the middle of a clip has always been a problem for me. What makes sense to me when I clip it is usually the opposite of the program’s designer. So I end up keeping what I don’t want, instead of trimming it.
I downloaded all sorts of memes and sound effects, but when I need one I don’t have, I cue up YouTube, record the sound on my camera, and then import it. Sometimes I use recordings of music I already have. Sometimes I use my own original music.
And my other computer blew up, so I had to wait until the new one was ready, then look for the program on my external drive, install it, look for the four year old email for the serial number, reinstall stuff that I thought had been installed, then try it.
I tried experimenting with what I’d wanted to do, but I couldn’t get it to work right, so I gave up and went with a different effect instead.
Other videos I’ve done include the following. This is not an all-inclusive list, I’ve done about 58 videos and most of them suck.
Putting on a swim cap: Funny, because it wasn’t scripted and there’s a lot of sexual innuendo regarding swim caps and how mine was “ribbed” (for my pleasure?). See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ois9skxnULY
Pictorial journey of my first year in China. I used a music editing program to mash up “West End Girls” by the Pet Shop Boys and “Jump” by Madonna. I’m really proud of this musical editing mix. Also proud that I was able to modfy the beats per minute for one of the songs so they would sync perfectly. Not the most complicated remix, but not bad for a beginner either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTBZGQ6qJFE
A video of Chinese practice. By far the most funny of the videos I’ve done. Pronunciation is SO important, because with the wrong inflection, you can start a war. See it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUsrL-7Mn2U
If you’ve struggled to walk in high heels, give this video a watch. NONE of the “how to walk in heels” tutorials I watched mentioned this important foot issue. Once I figured out what kind of stride I had, I bought some good, solid, WIDE heels, and I cracked the code. Learn here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0FpwIXkfkQ&t=380s
I know I look better when I smile, but I have resting bitch face. I explain this to my students, and tell them not to be afraid to approach me because I look like I’m having the worst day of my life.
It’s just my face.
But today, I tried a little bit of an experiment. I smiled at three men today.
Only one smiled back.
It’s not the first time I’ve done this, but guys, I got a little secret for you.
We’re on guard.
It’s always been dangerous to be a woman, but it seems like nowadays, it’s awful.
We don’t know if you are going to be civil.
We don’t know if you’re going to kill us randomly.
We don’t know if you’re going to sexually assault us.
And a smile from us doesn’t necessarily mean we want sex from you, but an awful lot of you, after being smiled at by a woman, are like, “she totally wants me.”
We don’t.
I do smile, but it’s exceedingly rare.
But unfortunately, there’s not enough day-to-day joy in my life to cause me to beam mindlessly as I’m walking down the street.
I’m just not a smiler.
But when I smile at men and I get nothing, I wonder why the hell I bothered.
Do better guys. Either throw us money or buy us something. But when you whine at us that we don’t smile enough, it never occurs to you that we don’t feel like smiling, or have nothing to smile about.
I tend to be weird when it comes to men. I feel I can go for literally weeks or months without seeing someone I’m attracted to. So I solved that problem by putting up pictures on the wall of an actor I think is the ultimate.
I don’t care that I’m acting like I’m some love-struck teenager. Damn it, this guy looks good to me. And sometimes when I’m looking at his pictures, I’ll smile.
In the meantime, stop telling women to smile. Try doing something above and beyond to get us to show you our teeth.
I grew up during the Cold War era. For you younger folks, it meant dealing with the threat of a nuclear bomb being dropped. And the threat was real. In my English class, we had to watch The Day After and I remember my dad not being happy about that. (He ruled the remote, and because we were poor, we only had one televsion set.) Nena’s 99 Luftballons was supposedly about nuclear destruction.
I haven’t thought about this in a while, but someone I stumbled upon Barefoot Gen on YouTube. I’ve been spending hours watching all sorts of clips, but this one was particularly horrifying. I’d never heard of Barefoot Gen before, but it is loosely based on a survivor’s memories of the Hiroshima bombing. He’d stayed away from this topic. But after his mother was cremated, her bones turned to ash, because of all of the radioactive cesium that was there. The creator of the manga series, which eventually had three films made plus several novels and movies of his work, was so upset about his mother’s bones that he finally decided to write about it. It ran in several magazines from 1973 to 1987, maybe not exactly the height of the Cold War fears, but pretty damn close.
The brief clip I saw was from when the bomb actually dropped and the few minutes after it. It has to be one of the most disturbing things I’ve ever seen. And I’m not easily hurt by watching “disturbing footage.” I was raised in a time where “trigger warnings” didn’t exist. We watched and read all kinds of stuff and had to deal with it.
It was just unbearbly sad. But to me, art needs to stimulate something in me: disgust, hatred, sadness, joy or make me think. The worst thing I can say about someone’s art is that it doesn’t do anything for me.
And that’s the worst thing you can say about my writing or photography. That it doesn’t do anything for you.
The brief clip was a reminder that in war, eveyrone suffers. And you can argue all you want about the moral implications. If we hadn’t dropped it, more people would have been killed, the war would have dragged on, yada, yada, yada. It’s heartbreaking to see two little kids looking up into a blue sky, seeing an airplane…
But what was really fucked up was A-bomb survivors were looked down upon. Can you imagine surviving that, and facing discrimination after that?
I swear, if I come home for good, I’m getting a pool.
I went swimming again at Fuzhou Straits Olympic Center. I thought it wouldn’t be busy on a workday, but I had seven swimmers in my lane. And we all swim at different speeds, so we had a lot of people going around each other.
And every lane was like this. That’s why I don’t go on the weekends, because it’s probably twice as bad.
The crowding is a shame. It’s starting to turn one of my favorite activties into something I feel like I HAVE to do, not want to do. Instead of enjoying my laps, I have to worry about accidentally kicking someone in the face, or someone kicking me in the face.
Today I was thinking of maybe doing six extra lengths to increase my endurance, but I was just relieved I did my 24 lengths of the pool and was looking forward to getting out.
I don’t like that feeling. At all.
At least swimming is better than doing nothing; but I wish I could do it more. I’m very conscious of my money right now. I paid for blood tests in July, and my computer blew up the same month, so having to outlay nearly 5000 rmb to take care of these things really wasn’t in the budget.
I’m trying to save, trying to get ahead, but it’s hard. For a while, I felt like I could afford swim memberships, and the odd outfit now and then. Now, it feels like I’m living at home with the same low wages. Only I live in an affordable country. That helps, but it’s starting to get old. Or maybe I’m just spoiled and don’t have any patience.
Anyway, that was my Monday. Dinner was excellent, and I’m proud I was able to wait until I got home to make dinner. KFC is right near the swim complex, but I didn’t cave this time, so yay me!
I’ve been sleeping very, very late lately, and that has to stop. So when I got out of bed today, I decided to go for a walk. There was a nearby park, and I wanted to feed birds for some reason. I thought I might find some there, or some fish in what is quite a large pond.
But I got sidetracked. I realized there was a small amusement park I’d been meaning to check out. What caught my eye was a gian Ferris wheel that looked like it was barely moving. I made my way over to the park.
It was a bit odd. Apparently, admission was free. That was nice if you were the designated child wrangler, or just didn’t want to go on any of the rides. This park was definitely kid-oriented, but I decided to give it a shot. Exhausted from walking and not eating anything for breakfast (I know, I know) I stopp
I function better at night. This doesn’t help if you have a day job, but I suppose I’ll get back into the swing of things.
I just got back from a walk. I need to do yoga and a few other things before I feel I can go back to doing whatever it is I want to do.
It seems to have stopped raining. I’m sure I would have walked more this summer, but it seems when I finally wanted to venture out, it would downpour. I got caught in one the other day, but I felt it would be over soon and it was. I had my umbrella with me, but my shoes got soaked. I threw them in the washing machine when I got home.
So I walked north tonight. I didn’t see much of anything different. There’s a hotel with a really nice pond and it’s landscaped. There’s also a place where you can sit. Occasionally, I see people doing karaoke there.
It’s fake wildlife, even the ducks. But…the fish are real!The little pavilion where people do karaoke. No one was there tonight, but there was a group of people enjoying some singing a few hundred meters south.
This would be a nice place for a photo shoot. There’s a wall behind all of this so street sounds are muffled, and cars won’t ruin the background.
It was a really nice night for walking, and I passed a few people as I started out on my walk. The Chinese seem to be more health conscious than Americans are. Part of it is the food. There’s junk food here, but not as much of an assortment. That helps. If I want a decent brownie, I have to make it myself. Along with cornbread. Chips Ahoy makes a chocolate chip cookie with cranberries baked into it, and they’re good. Nice and soft. Still, days if not weeks go by without me eating cookies.
I try to start my day with a fruit or vegetable. My goal is two cups of fruit/veggies a day. Sometimes I make it. Sometimes I have to make up with extra portions the next day. And yes, I know two cups a day is not nearly enough. It seems like I can maintain an exercise routine, but not an eating healthy routine. And sometimes, I can eat healthy, but I won’t keep up with the exercising. It’s frustrating I can’t do both at the same time. I’d rather swim every day, but having to change two subways in order to get to the pool is a bit of a time challenge. And it seems like the sports I enjoy always involve SOMETHING. If you swim, you need access to a pool. If you horseback ride, you need a horse at the very least. I wish sometines I liked soccer.
Before I went to bed last night, it was August 16, and it’s still August 16, which is Madonna’s birthday. I remember when she became big, I didn’t like her. I didn’t like the underwear as outerwear look. I was also squeamish about sex, and I still am. I still don’t understand why people need to be oozing sexiness all the time. I guess it’s an enjoyable bodily function, but I also get pleasure from a really good bowel movement. I feel cleaner. Why don’t people make a big deal about that?
Anyway, I guess it was Desperately Seeking Susan and “Into the Groove” that won me over. I wasn’t so much into her super early period, with “Holiday” and “Angel.” I really liked her stuff from probably March of 1985 through “Vogue.” When I heard “Justify My Love”, I thought, “it’s over.”
I was turned off by the droning music, her whispering voice. There was nothing fun or ironic about it. It was also pretty sexual, with the “banned” video earning her an extra few million for those dying to see it.
So many videos these days are pornographic, I sometimes wonder why musical recording artists don’t just come out and make sex tapes. Madonna came out with her sex book, so I guess that’s the closest any artist might come (sorry!) to making something like that. Unless it’s some sort of leaked sex video. But I wish these artists would just admit they’re making porn. Maybe no one is actually having sex in these videos, but being half naked and humping something pretty much screams sex. I always wonder what actual porn actors and actresses think when they see this stuff.
Anyway, I’m not sure how I feel about Madonna. I’m happy she’s successful, but her attitude is off-putting. She just seems mean. I’ve read instances about her being mean. And I guess she can be mean if she wants to. But I wonder what her motive for wearing revealing outfits is. Yes, she’s got a great body she’s worked hard for. I get the feeling no matter how old she is, part of her will always be a twenty-something brat, being mean to people, but when people are mean to her, she doesn’t see that maybe they’re trying to get even?
One thing I find ironic about her is that she has so much money, but she can’t seem to keep a guy. I can’t imagine becoming someone so big, they become too big for anyone. There’s a saying: there’s someone for everyone in this world. I think it’s a bunch of shit. Some people love and lose, love and lose. Some people never find love. And if there IS someone for everyone in this world, how do you know you’ll meet them? You don’t. The absolute perfect person for you might be living thousands of miles away and your paths won’t ever cross, especially if you aren’t particularly interested in visiting Australia, or Russia, or Canada, or Uruguay or Kenya. Maybe they’re OUT there, but it doesn’t mean you’ll ever meet.
It’s a sad thing to consider, but it’s something I always think of whenever I see some genius on the internet say, “there’s someone for everyone.”
In Madonna’s case, she’s had dozens, but no one permanent.
Then there’s Abby and Brittany Hensel. I first found out about them in Life Magazine a long time ago. I guess Abby got married. I can’t seem to wrap my head around this situation. And they had a baby, I guess. I remember her father worrying about what would happen when they got older. I guess if he was worried about them dating, he shouldn’t have.
Wondering about the shelves? I promise to put pictures up, but I don’t have enough shelf supports. I also want to buy boxes, so the shelves have a neater look to them. But I’m really happy with how they turned out. The walls in my apartment are a very bright white, and the shelves look great!
I also want to thank my newest subscriber! My blog numbers seem to be going up every day, and I think posting daily is helping. I’m sorry I wasn’t posting for a while. I was depressed, I had a financial crisis, and I was really feeling hopeless. I feel just a bit better, but I’m still dog-tired. Anyway, thanks for reading!
So my shelves, a combination of rejected wardrobe doors, came today. I think what I’m using for supports will work. Done on the cheap, but what else is new?
They’re not perfect, but they’re pretty decent, especially for $87. I went over budget by $4 and change by having them delivered. But I’m happy. I’m a huge slob, but even I was getting tired using my sagging moving boxes as shelving. I usually don’t care about that stuff, and no one ever comes to visit, but seeing the saggy moving boxes with stuff spilling out of them and stuff flying off was getting on my nerves.
I’ve lived extremely frugally for the last couple years or so. It’s not fun. I got rid of the shelves I’d waited so long to get in order to get my moving bill down. I also realized how much stuff I have and how I hardly use any of it. I’m a handbag junkie, and I have at least five handbags I’ve purchased here that I barely use. I’m ashamed of that. But old habits die hard I guess. I carry backpack handbags for the most part. They’re big enough so I can carry three cell phones, and I can shove a bottle of water in there. Then there’s my Coach wristlet, sunglasses, and the little mesh bag where I carry soap, a small mirror, Vaseline (great for softening cuticles and doubles as lip gloss), and three lipsticks. I also try to cram a pack of wet wipes in there as well, when my hands feel grubby, but there’s no sink in sight.
I’m so proud that I avoided a store last night when I was in Three Lanes, Seven Alleys. It was downright mouth-watering: a shop devoted to leather handbags. But I glanced from the sidewalk and moved on.
My main goal is to save as much money as possible. And the double whammy of fried computer and blood tests in July didn’t help. I waited on the computer, as my newer Samsung was enough to provide computer access. Plus, it was kind of nice not having a computer. I feel like I did more because I wasn’t sitting for hours, eyes glazed over, at my computer screen.
So today was laid-back. I waited at home for the shelving to arrive, then went back to sleep. I eventually got out of bed and got the shelves unwrapped and started stacking them against the only available wall. I’m not quite finished yet. I need more supports and I also want some boxes so things look a little neater, but that was today’s project. Pics to come, I promise.
No Way! Laowai! 
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