Sorry…

Computer took a dump on me today. Not sure whats going on. But there was a burning smell. When I took the bottom panel off, there was a bunch of dust and fuzzies on the fan. So I cleaned that up, but when i put everything back together, the fan wouldn’t stop running. So i unplugged the battery. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of this, and it will be a quick, inexpensive fix.

Hong Kong Diary 2!

April 30, 2025

What an emotional day. Stayed up kinda late talking to Ben, my roommate.* He seems like a nice guy. However, when I got back tonight, he was gone. There is a woman staying here now. So I feel a bit safer. Hope Ben has a good life. Hong Kong Disney was good. I was a bit cynical at first, but I really enjoyed it and got emotional riding Hyperspace Mountain, which is a cross between watching the battle scene from Star Wars and riding Steel Vengeance. The theme music was playing and I half expected to see the opening credits roll as we were going up the hill. It was also an enclosed roller coaster, so the ride was in the dark. The lighting effects were really good too. That got me all emotional. The fireworks and light show got me going too. They had music playing and that got me too.

I was thinking about the past a little bit and remembering times when I was little and how secure I felt. It’s weird not having a family. Felt a bit lost and lonely, but hopeful for the future. I am super tired though. I think maybe that is why I got emotional. Felt sick today too. Didn’t eat breakfast and I probably should have. I ate popcorn and it was good. But later on I felt a bit nauseated and I thought I was going to throw up. One girl did, right into the sink. I finally stopped to eat and my first sip of Coke I thought I would vomit but it passed. I slowly had a burger and fries and kept that down. Overall it was a good day.

*Because I didn’t book far enough in advance, the hostel where I normally stay in Hong Kong, Ashoka Hostel in the famous Chungking Mansions, was out of private rooms. However, I love Hong Kong so much, I probably would have bought a tent and set it up in the park in order to stay there. So putting up with a roommate in a 12 foot by 6 foot room was something I was willing to do. To add to the fun, it was a shared mixed dorm situation, which meant I could have either a male or female roommate. Given my bad history with men, it seemed a recipe for disaster, but all three of my roommates, one American man, one Frenchman, and a muslim woman, were super nice and chill.

The only thing that would have made the vacation better was if I had a room to myself, plus an in-room bathroom, but it was still one of the best vacations I’ve been on.

Hong Kong Diary!

April 29, 2025

I’m in Hong Kong! After checking into my hotel, I went to Outback, and my God, everything was so good. My salad had a vinaigrette of some kind, but even so, it wasn’t bad. Bloomin’ onion was great too. And the bread, oh the bread! Fabulous! So I decided to go to Disney and buy a ticket for tomorrow. That was a bit more complicated than expected, but I got an “E” ticket and should be able to get in.

I went to Victoria Harbour to take pictures and enjoy the view. It was a perfect night weatherwise. Then back to the hostel.

My roommate is a very nice guy from Phoenix. We chatted for an hour and I don’t get any bad vibes from him, seems like he’s got a good home situation and has some interesting options.

Sigh…

Sunday night into Monday morning I had a dream. I dreamed I was working at a fashion magazine. There was something wrong with my skirt. I usually never wear skirts, but the outfit I was wearing was quite different than what I usually wear.

I felt like I was in The Devil Wears Prada or something. Total fish out of water. I remember going to the cafeteria. And what was really weird about it was the stairs. The stairs were practically ladder steps. I had to slide down the stairs because they were literally a wall. So steep. I made it down without hurting myself though. Another thing that was weird is I’m not sure what my role was there. But it’s nice to be dreaming again. I changed up my diet a bit and I’m sleeping better, certainly deeper. And that’s a good thing.

As Seen on YouTube, or I Swear I am NOT Making This Up

A green card holder originally from Canada was detained at the Canadian/U.S. border because of a couple of charges he had from 2004 and 2007. Driving with a suspended license and pot possession, I think. He paid his fines, and has been a good boy since.

He got his green card when he was three, and is now 44. But on a family vacation to Canada, they looked up his charges and said, “sorry, you’re not coming in.” Dude says he has to go through a judge now in order to have a chance to get back in.

His take: “[It’s] very uncertain for me right now. Who knows if I’ll have the right to reenter the United States at this point?”

No shit, Sherlock!

What’s hilarious is of course he supported Trump, (couldn’t vote for him, because he’s not a U.S. citizen) probably thinking “illegal” meant all those brown people that steal glamorous jobs like picking fruits and veggies, or cleaning hotel rooms, you know, all those jobs Americans go to college for.

And about his support for Trump: “Now, I feel a little differently.”

This white as snow dude could have it worse. At least he’s in Canada. Providing he can get a manufacturing job (what he did in the U.S.) he’ll have better health care, and his life expectancy just increased by seven years. At least he won’t get shipped to El Salvador.

But—now that everyone knows he supported Trump, I’m not so sure Canada will welcome him with open arms. They just might beat the shit out of him.

I do wonder why he never bothered to become a U.S. citizen. He had like 41 years to do it. Or maybe, just maybe, he didn’t quite trust the United States enough to become a citizen.

Another case of “Fuck Around and Find Out,” brought to you by Bad Judgment. Bad Judgment: What happens when you drink too much, or drink too much Kool-Aid.

Watch this Canadian bad boy here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lGY24khwas

My Journalism Rant

Hey! It’s my 400th post!

I love writing. I’d love to be able to make a living at it. I used to be a full-time reporter. I made a whopping $5.05 after taxes, but that was over 30 years ago, when $5.05 could get you something.

Anyway, on my daily YouTube romp, there was a CNBC video wondering why tourism to the U.S. was declining.

Really? REALLY?

You think deportation has anything to do with it? You think the slightest suspicion about you that could detain you has anything to do with it? Not to mention people just being full out whack-jobs, and the gun violence? Do you think THAT has anything to do with it.

No. Couldn’t possibly. “They” just have no idea why people from all over the world aren’t coming in droves to the United States.

I’m beginning to wonder if reporters are really as stupid as they seem, or if editors/publishers are paying them to just act stupid. After completing an internship at one of the daily newspapers in my home town (the paper that went defunct, naturally) I wondered if I wanted to be a journalist anymore. I see some really well-written pieces about topics I’m interested in and wistfully think, “Maybe if I’d stuck it out, that could have been my name in the byline.”

But probably not.

After an editor asked me to hype up something I thought was un-hypeable, that’s when I thought maybe it wasn’t worth it. Maybe journalism wasn’t for me anymore. I was too smart, too headstrong, too interested in the truth.

A lot of people are noticing the “journalists” in this country seem to be dumb or not doing their jobs. Or both. I don’t necessarily blame the journalists, because they have to appease the editors, and the editors have to appease the publishers. Contrary to popular belief, journalists CAN’T write about anything they want. They CAN’T bring the painfully obvious, the bullshit we all have to deal with to the table so there’s a national discussion.

It’s like when Luigi Mangione shot the UHC CEO. Why, oh WHY did he do such a thing?

Because Luigi was fucking fed up. Pay your premiums and you STILL have to fight to get care that you PAID FOR. And it’s totally legal for them to take your money, and keep taking your money and not giving you what you paid for in return. And if the CEO can save a few bucks and deny care to some faceless folks out there and literally kill them, well, who cares?

Lots of other people are fed up too. But do the nations journalists talk about the health care insurance crisis in this country? No. I’m sure they know, but they’re not allowed to.

Same with why the airports are empty and normally busy attractions in the U.S. aren’t these days. Who wants to come to the states where if you’re not deported/detained as soon as your plane lands, your odds of getting shot just minding your own damn business in a park, grocery store, church, mall, nursing home, hospital, fast-food restaurant, hotel room, car, or basically anyplace in the U.S. went up just by entering the country.

Vacations are supposed to be relaxing.

This is the video that triggered this particular rant.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INvtiqflxZw

How to Walk in Heels!

How many times have you seen a killer pair of shoes, and told yourself, “There’s no way I could walk in those?”

Or maybe you had a really cool dress, but flats just didn’t look right?

Or you had a well-meaning male friend suggest you wear a pair of hiking boots with that dress or suit?

No kidding, I knew someone like that. He literally had ONE pair of shoes, and those were hiking boots. He wore them everywhere: job interviews, running errands and to the beach.

But let’s face it, a lot of straight, white men have no sense of fashion at all.

For years, I couldn’t walk in heels. I’d try them on at the shoe store, I even bought a pair I THOUGHT I could walk in to appease a boyfriend (never again) but I just couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I actually felt not as feminine because I couldn’t walk in heels.

Some women reading this are probably thinking, “Who gives a shit! Wear what you like!” And ladies, I get it, I really do.

But if you’re on the short side and want to gain a few inches, it’s either tease your hair, or wear some heels.

It took me nearly a lifetime, but I finally figured out why I couldn’t walk in heels and look normal.

Oh, I watched YouTube tutorials, but they didn’t really help.

“Know thyself.” As I get older, I’m tuning into myself more, and really studying my feet and my shoes paid off.

But I needed a bit of motivation, which came in the form of Frye Zelda Seam Clog sandals. They had rock-solid platforms and sturdy-looking heels. They would look great with either jeans or a dress. Versatile. I thought I could probably walk in them, as the heels were about an inch and three-quarters wide. Stilettos these were not. But you gotta learn to walk before you can run.

I bought them. They were a bargain at $30 on Baopals.* And if they were fake, these were the highest quality fakes I’d encountered.

But first, I examined my feet and my shoes. I tended to walk on the outside edges of my feet. I had the callouses to show for it. And my shoe heels were worn way down on the outside edge, but the inside edge?

Looks like I’d never taken them out of the box!

So I Googled the details and found the terms pronation and supination. Click here for a more detailed explanation.

It was nice to know my particular situation (supination) had a name. I don’t know why I developed this, but it explained why when I tried to walk in heels, my foot would skid inward, leaving the shoe (if it stayed on) at a 90 degree angle.

Clearly, I had to walk flat-footed if I wanted to walk in heels. Heel-toe, heel-toe, but flatten those arches like a tire.

It means you have to think hard about your feet and make ‘em flat. Obviously, if you have pronation, you have to make the edges of your feet turn out a bit more. Basically, you have the opposite problem I do.

It helped a lot that I had some solid shoes to practice with. And you DO have to practice. Work up to at least an hour a day. Wear them around the house. If you’re afraid of making the carpet/floors dirty, tape the bottoms, then take the tape off when you leave the house. Practicing means any problems with your feet (blisters, etc.) can be prepared for. Extra bandages, or add-ons to make the shoes a bit more comfy.

But don’t start with stilettos first. Get used to the idea of walking in heels and what you need to do, then try something more daring.

If you want to see the video version of this post, go here.

And whatever shoes you wear, be fabulous!

*Baopals. Like Taobao, but in English. Check it out!

Stormy Weather

One thing I have learned from living in China is things can change quickly. So if you have plans, have a back up.

For example, yesterday, I felt like going out for a walk, after being incredibly lazy for most of the day. However, when I finally got myself out of bed and dressed, it was windy. I went out on my balcony to see dark clouds and I heard some thunder. I knew right then, I wouldn’t be walking for a while. I enjoyed the breeze and seeing various things flying through the air: Leaves, trash, laundry. In the entire six and a half years I’ve lived here in China, I’ve not known anyone to have a clothes dryer like you see in the United States. If there are “clothes dryers”, they look like those portable wardrobes, but they have a fan installed at the bottom.

So everyone hangs their laundry outside on the balcony. I remember my mom hanging the laundry out on the line, and how my sheets smelled of sunshine. So seeing laundry reminds me of childhood. The problem is, when the wind picks up, so can your laundry. Fortunately, I was home, and the wind wasn’t directly facing my balcony, but some residents of my complex weren’t so lucky. I saw a few clothing items take off. Some landed on our grounds, some landed in the street, and someone’s pants ended up on the college campus across the street. I’ve been lucky not to lose anything. But there are times when the wind was facing the wrong way and my freshly washed clothes got drenched from a southwestern storm heading north. But Sunday was someone else’s turn for their laundry to get wet, or literally fly the coop.