YouTube is Better than Cable!

I’m in China trying to save money, so I don’t have streaming services. I have internet, and occasionally I buy something on Google Play (only to be disappointed, most of the time), so I rely on YouTube for entertainment.

What!? I thought YouTube was banned in China?

It is, with a host of other sites, but one can get around that. And lots of Chinese do, along with expats. Don’t believe everything that you hear, kids.

That being said, here are a few channels I’ve come across that have some mind-bending, hilarious, as well as horrifying stuff. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.

Chris Chan–83 Episodes and Counting

Chris Chan: A Comprehensive History—Oh. My. God. Do you want to know what happens when you don’t fully address your child’s mental health and cognitive functioning issues because you’re too old/tired/abusive to do so? Check out this insane, horrifying, fascinating and heart-breaking documentary, which makes Ken Burns and Bud Greenspan look like the laziest storytellers in history. I stumbled on this gem a couple days ago. I have several weeks of vacation from school, which is great considering there are 83 segments to this (approximately 40 minutes long) and I haven’t even gotten to episode 30 yet. At the same time, binging this entire series may destroy me. Yet, I can’t stop watching. It’s on channel GenoSamuel2.1.

She’s Just Like You and Me, but She’s Homeless…

Girls Sleeping Rough—Another documentary series, but this wasn’t nearly long enough. The BBC III series stopped after three seasons for some reason. The show follows a handful of homeless women and their partners in the Brighton, England area. We get to know Kelly, an aspiring singer, Charlotte and Lance, who are expecting a baby, Becky, recently homeless, Susie and Arna, who comfort each other by a shop window, Maria and Tony, heroin addicts, and several others who are trying to get back on their feet. Viewers might be infuriated by Ocean, who seems to be throwing away chance after chance, and heartbroken by Paige, whose child was forced into adoption. This series is on the BBC III channel, and also a channel called theworkprogramme.

Why Don’t You Have a Seat?

The Predator Chronicles—If you loved Dateline’s series on sexually desperate and dumb men, you’ll absolutely LOVE Mista GG’s take on this. He picks apart each segment and pokes fun at both Chris Hansen, the decoys, and the predators. The edits he adds in are gold. Someday, I hope to be as good at editing as this guy is. A regular feature of his dissection of derelects is the “Pedo Mix”, a seminal (sorry) song combining sound bites and clips over original music. Hilarious and horrifying, just the way I like it. Recently, Mista GG combined ALL the episodes for a seven-hour marathon of masculinity gone mad. I frequently go to sleep with this playing. Find it on Mista G Dubs.

I’m Ready for my Glamour Shots!

Love makeup and movies? Jaime French is your bitch. Her “If Beauty YouTubers Had Existed in 1987” is a blast from the past. She NAILS the 80s look from huge hair, to blue eye shadow, topping off the video with a shoot from Glamour Shots and a few lyrics from Cyndi Lauper. She nails a few other decades as well. I like her brand of humor. And why not? She’s a Midwestern gal like me. Don’t miss her alter ego “Tammy.” Don’t be fooled by imitations! Relive Rave hair spray and Lee Press Ons at Jaime French.

Shameless Self-Promotion!

I have more channels that I watch, but I’m going to save them for future blog posts. So stay tuned. You can check out my lame ass channel at NowayLaowai. The swim cap video is the funniest clip I have, with the Chinese lesson a close second. And NONE of this was scripted!

Welcome, New Subscribers!

Just found out I have a couple of new subscribers to the blog! Thanks, and welcome!

I try to post on Sundays. I had computer problems this fall, and that didn’t help at all with updating. I’m thinking when I have extra time, I’ll post on a daily basis, and when I don’t, I’ll post on a weekly basis.

I’m also considering posting on a daily basis with diary excerpts from the past five years. I’ve been doing some cleaning, and thought I could look back five years ago with a diary post dated from 2019. That means I’d have something to write about. But that doesn’t mean it would be particularly interesting. I want to feel that stopping by my blog is time well spent.

Also, what would YOU like to see more of on the blog? Money-saving tips in China? Food experiences? More store reviews? Believe, me, there’s a LOT I’d like to talk about, but I’m saving those things for the memoir! Let me know!

Shopping for Makeup Isn’t Fun Anymore

A short while ago, I had a sty in my eye. Normally, when I have had them, they’re small but tough blisters on my eyelid. I scrape them with a toothpick and they’re gone.

Not this one.

This one lingered and went into my upper eyelid. I had drops and it finally went away. But not without some really bad pain. One night, when I squeezed my upper eyelid, I was rewarded with some of the worst eye pain I’ve ever had. I was convinced there was something in my eye. The mother of all eyelashes maybe.

That “something” turned out to be a tiny glob of skin from the blister I’d popped. The skin was trapped between my eyelid and eyeball, and I fished it out with a cotton swab. I took a photo. It was small, yet big enough to be agonizing.

Imagine THIS being trapped between your upper eyelid and eyeball!

I was glad it went away, but not happy with having to repurchase eye makeup. It’s one of the reasons I try not to spend a lot of money on mascara, eyeliner and shadow. Because… WHAT IF?

So I went makeup shopping. And it was disappointing.

Back home, I’d just go into Ulta when I wanted something. Their clearance racks are legendary, and NYX has become my go-to brand. Urban Decay had a shadow called “Lounge” that was game-changing.

Here, things are a little different. I’m exposed to a lot of brands, many of which I can’t afford. Dior. Chanel. Tom Ford.

Which is why I was thrilled to discover Wow Colour, and The Colorist. Back in the day (five years ago or so) I walked into Wow Color and nearly fainted. Imagine a store with literally dozens of different makeup brands, some known, some obscure, plus a bunch of beauty tools. Add in a place for bored boyfriends to hang out, and you’ve got the gist of these stores.

Shopping bags from the stores that originally won my heart.

I LOVED them. They also carried a tiny selection of some more expensive brands (samples, mostly) but they seemed to have it all. Except for one thing. The eye shadow seemed the same.

It didn’t matter what brand it was, it seemed like every single eye shadow palette featured warm pinks, peaches and browns, with some orange thrown in. Blushes tended to be warm, as well, and sometimes neon pink. The eyeliners featured a huuuuuuuge (sarcasm) range of brown to black. And for a long time I was baffled.

Then, it hit me. It was because basically everyone looks the same. I know it sounds mean, but it’s rare that you see a young person with blonde hair, or anything other than black/brown hair. And for the girls, it will be in a ponytail. Add in similar skin color, and it’s obvious I’m not in Kansas anymore. Or Toronto. I’m sure that I was Wow Colour and The Colorist’s oldest customer; a quick glance around the store and I was the only foreigner as well. But I didn’t care. Let the older Asian women go to Carslan and SKII. I wanted a bargain.

Alas, that was before.

Years ago, seemed like both shops carried American as well as Asian brands, one had Wet and Wild, the other had L.A. Colors. I found a Wet and Wild palette with ten colors that were actually differemt. They had a couple shades of green that were great, and a sparkly brown. I should have taken a picture of it before I threw it away, because I don’t think they make that palette anymore. It also had some lighter shades as well. But not wanting to risk another infection, I threw out all my eye makeup, and the brushes. I even threw out my recent Make Up For Ever eyeliners, which I’d had for less than four months. That hurt. It’s not like they’re $5 apiece.

So I replaced everything, but I had to go to four stores. And as for eye shadow, I had to get that online. Sephora, MAC, KKV and Make Up For Ever just weren’t cutting it. And “Lounge” is nowhere to be found.

Another annoying thing about the more upscale stores is that you look around and think, “geez, this is a lot of makeup.” On closer inspection, you see the displays tend to repeat themselves. Every time you think you’ve found a new collection of eyeliners, you realize it’s the same stuff you first looked at when you walked in the store.

And why didn’t I go to Wow Colour and The Colorist you may ask? Well, I did. But they’ve shifted their focus to more skin care than makeup. The makeup brands hardly feature any western names at all. And Foccalure, which actually had purple eye shadow at one time, vanished. I remember their eye shadow display boasting a 16 square-foot assortment of eyeshadows that nearly made me gasp. They were individual colors, which I like because you can put together your own collection, instead of having to buy the palette for the one color you want, and wonder how you’re going to use the rest of them.

Even going to KKV, which fascinated me when I first discovered it a few months ago, wasn’t very impressive for their makeup selection either.

As for blush, I’m not out of that. But because I just can’t seem to find what I want, I used a Kiss Me lipstick as cream blush, and it works. It’s the right color, a cool, deep pink instead of the neon girly pink I seem to see a lot of.

You also may ask, “why didn’t you check out Walmart?” Are you sitting down? You sure? Because here’s why:

Walmart does NOT have a cosmetics section.

I’ll repeat:

Walmart does NOT have a cosmetics section.

Some Walmarts may have an in-store kiosk dedicated to L’Oreal or Maybelline. But mostly, it seems that the Walmarts (always located in a mall, I’ve not seen stand-alone Walmarts here) usually have makeup kiosks meters away from their mall entrances. But the stores themselves devote what would normally be the makeup aisles to skin care. I loathe Walmart, but when I get back to the states, I might just go to one and drift around the makeup aisles and soak in all the fabulousness. Then, I’ll go to Ulta. God knows what I’ll do there.

The eye shadow palette (“Jean Miss”) arrived today, along with a set of mini brushes and eyelash comb (in package on top of eye shadow). The rest is my haul from Wow Color, KKV, and Make Up For Ever (I got the powder for free).

Random Thoughts on a Sunday Evening

404 Error

I’ve been plagued with computer problems this past semester. This thing is only around two years old, but in tech speak, I guess it’s ancient, right? I don’t know. I’m of the generation that expects stuff to last, but this thing has been giving me problems almost since day one. Internet connectivity issues, wacky keyboard, cords not charging (I think I’ve been through six cords now) and it was literally falling apart. Something to do with the hinges. Arrrgh.

Poverty is Depressing

If you’re wondering if I’m still on my money “diet” I would say yes. It’s not as intense as it was this summer, but having regular paychecks coming in helps. But restraining my spending HAS worked. However, talking about my poverty is very depressing. I could cut out eating out altogether. I SHOULD. It would be more money in the bank. But I’ve got to eat, right? And with my favorite Mexican restaurant in Xiamen closed (the owner claims it’s coming back, but I’ll believe it when I see it) I’ve been sticking to fast food type places.

Rice to Meet You

Speaking of food, I discovered a fried rice place near the uni. You’d think that living in China, I’d have plenty of places to eat fried rice. However, I’m cursing them. As soon as I find a place with fried rice the way I want it to taste, the restaurant closes. So far, there’s been three places that have had good fried rice, reminiscent of Chen’s Restaurant for you old school Fort Wayne types. That’s where I developed my love of Chinese food; that wonderful place barely a mile from my home. My family ate there several times and got takeout a couple times a month if not more. But here, the place near my first apartment here in Xiamen closed, the place a couple doors down from it (not as good, it was a bit too oily) closed, and Xiao Tan Li, which I think translates to “Little Fields” closed as well. It’s enough to make me wish Panda Express would open up near my place.

The Hawaii of China

Tomorrow will mark two consecutive years in Xiamen. It’s scary how fast time flies anymore. But it was a welcome return to my first city in China. It reminds me of home in a way, the laid-back friendliness of Xiamenians. Beijing was polite but formal (and a bit too big) Guangzhou had great food, but the people had a weird way of grunting at you when you said “thank you.” Xiamen is home away from home. Only a lot prettier. Richard Nixon himself called Xiamen the “Hawaii of China.” I’ve never been to Hawaii, but if it’s like living in a garden, then I can see why Nixon said it.

STYmied!

I have had an epic sty in my eye for about a couple weeks. I’ve had them before, but usually a good scrape with a toothpick destroys them. Not this one. It stayed in my upper eyelid. I gave it a good squeeze one night. PAIN CITY! I was positive something was in my eye—felt like the eyelash to end all eyelashes. So I got my magnifying mirror and saw something white. I got a Q-Tip and fished out skin. Yes, skin. Trapped between my eyeball and eyelid was a wad of skin that had no business being there. At least my eye stopped hurting once I got it out. But damn!

Insomnia and Unrequited Love

I’ve been having problems sleeping, so when I DO sleep, it’s great. Problem is, sometimes I have bad/vaguely disturbing dreams about people from my past. For a while, I dreamed my parents were alive and building a huge house. My parents never really had money that I can remember, so in my dreams I always wonder where the money is coming from. Other times I dream about men from my past. As the Queen of Unrequited Love, I’ve had really, really bad luck with men. So dreaming about these guys is unpleasant. It made me wonder about a former crush, so I looked for him online to find out his name was linked with a guy’s name for a marriage license. It didn’t exactly make me feel better. Straight or gay, men don’t like me. It was a weird situation. In eighth grade, I found him annoying. When he finally made it to my high school, I thought he was cute. Rejection city. I remember saying something to him I shouldn’t have, so it wouldn’t be a good idea to reach out to him.

Triggering the Triggered

I may elaborate on one of these topics in the future. Maybe I can get back to posting on a regular basis. But sometimes it’s just nice to not report on anything. It seems like whenever I say something anymore, it pisses people off anyway. At least the ones who are listening, or claim to be.

Wo Jiao MiniSo! Ni hao Fort Wayne!

I was scrolling through FaceCrack, and discovered Fort Wayne now has MiniSo. I guess it’s a global thing. But I was shocked and delighted this store is now in my hometown. It’s sort of dangerous though. It’s part Dollar Tree, part Five Below, with a generous sprinkling of Target. If you like any of these three stores, you’ll fall in love with MiniSo. They have a core inventory, but seem to constantly get new things in.

The ultra essential Hello Kitty nightlight/bluetooth speaker.

And it’s practical stuff too. It’s a mix of cute things you don’t really need (like a Hello Kitty nightlight/Bluetooth speaker) with handy stuff like cotton swabs, packets of wet wipes, hand sanitizer, bandages, dental care, and socks. But there’s also a huge assortment of toys, figurines, slippers, perfume, makeup, sunglasses, lunch kits, hats and cell phone accessories.

Dental care!
Hello Kitty perfume!
These 007 sanitary pads almost make me wish I still had my period. Moneypenny would no doubt declare them “bloody good!”

The store itself seems a bit cramped, which might not seem so in U.S. stores. But they are brightly lit. I expect the red winking logo will become iconic, much like the Target bullseye. It’s the kind of store that even if you come for cotton swabs, you’ll probably end up winding your way through the store just to see what they have. It’s a lot like Target, where you go for paper towels, and before you know it, you’ve blown $40. I’ve not done a whole lot of pricing when it comes to stuff there, but I think the most expensive thing I’ve seen is maybe $14 or so, and that was for a black, wireless Bluetooth speaker that’s a pretty good size. I still have both of mine, and sometimes I bust one out when I want to listen to Youtube while I’m cleaning or something.

It’s the mid-1980s all over again, I guess. Can the Cabbage patch kid revival be far behind?

One of my favorite things I’ve bought there is my Coca-Cola tote bag. My Boken Fitness bag was falling apart. My Coke bag is showing slight signs of wear, but at least it’s better made than my Boken bag. I use it to carry my swim stuff back and forth.

Enough room for all my swim stuff!

I went today to my nearest MiniSo to see what they had this week, and I guess the Care Bears are back. MiniSo has several tie ins, as you can see from the photos featuring Chip and Dale makeup. Barbie stuff is still there of course, and whatever is coming out this summer will probably make an appearance in a few months or so. I managed to get out of the store without buying anything today, because I’m still on my buy as little as possible trip. I’m trying not to buy anything I don’t really need. I’m a bit fed up with some of my clothes, but they work, so I’m keeping them. But it’s a bit frustrating to know exactly what I want, and not be able to find it, either online or in the stores. Ah well.

Chip ‘N Dale makeup. Just when you’re tired of Mac, Urban Decay and Maybelline, cartoons take over your face.

Well…

I guess it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

I’ve been doing my best to maintain, which means a lot of stuff has gone by the wayside so I can function. But that can backfire. I forgot to pay my phone bill. So one morning, I was trying to request a Didi, but couldn’t. I was late to work, and as a result, I’ll have $350 less in my January paycheck.

My computer literally fell apart on me a few weeks ago, and I had to cope with that, plus other computer ailments.

And daily blogging has taken a backseat, obviously. I’m still penny-pinching, however. It’s been a year and a half since I bought a bunch of new clothes. I bought a couple of tank tops and some lightweight pants this past May, but that’s it. My leather flats are shot. My Pumas are not necessarily fashionable, but I alternate those with my combat boots.

I see tons of stuff that looks nice, but I always remember that I’m renting pretty much everything I don’t consume. I indulge in food, because I need to eat. Sometimes I indulge with transportation as well. That sort of backfired yesterday. On my way to the island, my driver hit something. I’m not sure what it was, but it did minor damage to the car. I was a bit nervous, he pulled over to the breakdown lane on the bridge. Did the other motorists merge to the center lane? No, they did not. I thought about walking the length of the bridge just to get away, but we were able to get rolling again, and stopped at the police station to report it. Just in time, the driver emerged, and we were on our way again. I realized that by opting for a Didi instead of the subway, it actually took longer. Oh well.

It was a quiet Christmas Eve. There are decorations up, of course. And I’ve been going swimming again. I usually go on Friday, but since I’ve bought a new membership, I’ve been going Sunday afternoons. I was supposed to go out and celebrate last night, but one of my friends has been sick; the other one didn’t confirm we were going anywhere. So I came home and worked on grading. It’s final exam time, so I’m wrapping up the semester with tallying grades and answering questions from my students. I’d like to get all the grades ready to go, so I just have to drop in the exam and essay scores and that part will be over.

I had trouble sleeping last night, so I slept super late today, then indulged in some fast food. What the hell? I don’t do much celebrating, and nothing much has sounded good, so I had onion rings before swimming, and a fish sandwich and fries and a chocolate sundae after. The water was fairly warm, although the pool room itself seemed a bit chilly. I decided to take my break in the sauna. Because it is COLD. Or rather, it sure feels like it. I just checked, it’s 11 C or 51 F for you Americans. I think what made it feel so cold is it seemed there wasn’t a gradual cooling down. It seemed like it went from 30 to 10. A week ago Friday, I was saying how my classroom felt like a sauna. A few days ago, it wa obvious it was winter. But it feels like it’s freezing. I busted out my North Face jacket, something I hadn’t worn in over a year. But I’m sure glad I bought that jacket.

I haven’t had a refrigerator for two weeks now. I noticed things not being as cold as they should be, and the landlord is supposed to send someone tomorrow. So I’ll be spending Christmas day waiting to see what’s wrong with the refrigerator. Hopefully I can get a bit of cleaning done, as my living room looks terrible. Chock-full of papers and bags strewn on the floor. But as I said earlier, I try to conserve my energy. It was a busy, productive semester, but I am ready for a break for sure.

The holidays have put me in an odd mood. The past few weeks I have been dreaming about men/boys from my past, which is strange to me. Sleep comes hard for me; to dream about people from my past doesn’t exactly help.

So yeah, it’s been a while. It’s not that nothing has been happening. It’s just that I haven’t wanted to write about it.

Sunday, November 5, 2023

Still Being Frugal

So much for posting every day. But having a bit of cash takes the drama out of daily life.

Not much of an excuse, I know. I love talking about work, but realize I shouldn’t be doing it on this platform.

I’m still being frugal. Indulging in food a bit, but as for buying unnecessary stuff, I’ve backed off on that quite a bit. I’m trying to delay purchases to the next weekend, or the next payday.

Four Grocery Stores and Seven Years Ago…

Another grocery store opened up on my street, which brings the total to four. Around the corner is yet another grocery store, the biggest one within walking distance with a collection of saucepans and kitchen utensils. That doesn’t include the two fruit markets down the street, and the veggies/eggs/meat shop. And occasionally, the corn guy sets up on the corner. Or the egg lady. When they do, I buy from them if I’m in the mood for corn or eggs.

Another way I can save is by not wasting food. I get the urge for bacon and eggs, and so I buy 10 eggs. I eat two. The rest go to waste. Luckily, here I can buy one egg if I need one. That’s super helpful. However, I know I can freeze eggs if I need to. Just scramble a couple together and put into a freezer back and mark the number of eggs and the date on the bag.

Still More Computer Problems

One of the reasons I haven’t posted is computer problems. I won’t get into that today though, I’ll save that for tomorrow.

It will give me something to write about. And maybe I can get back into the swing of daily posting.

Oh hey, I just published another article on Medium.com. Check it out! https://medium.com/@gloriajanelldiaz7/why-do-women-like-bad-boys-anyway-3f032ea7c16d

Sunday, October 29, 2023

10 29 23 blog

Had one of those rare nice days yesterday. I am having more computer problems, but for some weird reason, they went away on their own. After I got home from my computer guy’s place and the Lenovo shop, I started to download some drivers, and the keyboard started working. But I’m not entirely sure the drivers were the problem. I think there’s simply too much crud in the keyboard. And it’s not like I can clean it like I could with my old one. Each key is individually sunk into the metal.

Art Amoy International Art Fair!

Anyway, the computer guy is right up the street from the convention center, so I got to see the Art Amoy International Art Fair. Not much photography, but lots of really cool paintings I wouldn’t mind having. Some pretty amazing ones—a couple looked like photographs of broken glass, until you got right up to the paintings and saw the individual brush strokes.

Then, as I was getting ready to cross the street, a couple of young ladies approached me. They said they heard me talking to someone in the art fair, so they decided to chat me up at the stop light. They were happy to practice their English, and so we rode to their subway stop. We exchanged WeChat information, so now I have a couple more friends in Xiamen. They like karaoke, so I suggested we go sometime. I LOVE to sing, even though I’m not good at it. And karaoke here is not like in the states where a bar hosts a karaoke night.

Karaoke Here has RUINED Me…

And I will say karaoke here has RUINED me for karaoke back home. Here, it’s an industry. There is a chain, KTV, and a typical location consists of dozens of suites of rooms, from cozy to corporate. They are decorated with various themes. They usually have a couple of computers where you can choose songs, and there are two microphones and sometimes a tambourine. There’s booths and chairs and tables, and you can have food delivered to your suite. I’ve never paid for an entire room for myself. I have no idea how much it costs. I have chipped in for the cost of a room, but it would seem silly if I just went up there and got a room for myself. Maybe someday if I have some extra money, I’ll indulge. But I can sing by myself at home. Of course, there’s no sound system there, and I can’t see how on tune I am, but whatever.

I’m 10 Pounds Away from My Goal Weight!

So yesterday was one of those rare good days where it felt like I got a lot done. For whatever reason my computer keyboard is working again.

Oh—and I’m 10 pounds away from my goal weight. Environment DOES play a big role in weight loss. I’m still stressed out about things, but I’m not eating nearly as much as I was in the states. Not sure why that is, but I’m not.

So yeah, yesterday was awesome.