Peace of Mind

I am drinking "Mountain Sage Oolong" at the Lotus Tea house. Its the chill spot no one knows about. I can ease back and be online, drinking my tea and doing what i please ... all day ... and no one can find me.

This tea is a rare oolong from Guangdong Province ... it starts sweet and looks like honey, changes to amber and becomes a tart dew. then back again ...

You can get with this, or you can get with that

Test Runs for the Big Show

Wass happenin ya'll? Its been an easy few days recently. My cats are in heat again so the dirty toms are serenading us all from the backyard. Big Tenz had a rough day of chess yesterday hehehehe ... he brought his projector to the Farm and we have been enjoying wide-screen Planet Earth sessions. The neighbor girls are really curious and want to know how much such an entertainment system costs.

I just finished the book Generation Kill, which is probably the best Iraq War book I have read so far. What amazes me every time is the nonchalant listing of casualties and destroyed military vehicles and aircraft. Does anyone remember hearing of 20 Black Hawks going down outside of Nasiriyah during the first week of the war? Or the 100-odd Marines killed and wounded in those first days?

Today, it became slightly apparent what the Chinese government has been up to with these weekly warnings of massive aftershocks coming to bury us all under cement and brick. Yesterday, SMS buzzed through the stratosphere telling everyone that the government officials of Guangyuan and Dayi counties predict a 7.5 earthquake to hit between 3 and 4pm. The other day, when a 5.8 aftershock hit the area, the government released information about the 400,000 buildings which were destroyed by that aftershock, just an hour or so after the fact. No quake hit yesterday.

The Mass Panic of last week, when the entire city of Chengdu emptied out into the fields around Third Ring Road, was followed by a series of aftershocks which reportedly destroyed 75,000+ buildings. Now we all figured that this was your typical government bullshit. Numbers spat out to create a semblance of order.

The whole scaremongering seemed to be the familiar crude tactics of a government that completely disrespects its people and considers them to be morons. Alas ... how wrong can they be?

I hold out hope that these weekly fire drills are not just to keep the minds of the people off of the Mandate of Heaven and dead school children, but a sneaky and effective training session for a possible massive flood. This NYT story bolsters my optimism.

Tonight i will write a story entitled: Will Autumn Ever Come?

gotta ease back

Tomorrow is chill out time with my kitties. Ima ride my bike around and beat Tenzin in chess.

mad love

Chillin in Flower Village

Well the tremors have picked up now and rumors are rife about another large earthquake. But rumors have been flying all day about no water, polluted water, airport open then closed and so on.

its safe out in my little farmhouse and I got a crew out there and some kitties to look after. Charlie's story is starting to circle around the web, despite the mercenary nature of his "companion" on the trip. That dude is hoarding all the images cuz he sees his big chance coming up. Very unprofessional, very selfish and very stupid. Had he made everything public, he would already be ... famous I guess.

Anyway Charlie and me are going to head out to the country side and ease back.

shaky chach

its all good everybody. the buildings shook for about 5 minutes. there was an aftershock 20 mins later and all of the buildings withstood the damage. All the locals are out in the streets chillin on the curbs or sittin in circles. radios are letting people know that all is good. the quake's epicenter was 100km north of here in Wenchuan in the tibetan area of Aba -- it was felt all over asia, from beijing all the way down to bangkok ...

here are some pics. mad love

Rationalism is Bleak

Today has been another magnificent day in Chengdu. I am sitting in the Bookworm, a fine place to ease back and read/write be smart with myself and I am using my OWN computer. For the past three weeks, I have been using any computer I could because I lost my damn power source while up in Jiu Zhai Gou chillin the in the mtns. But now I have it back.

If you are in China, peep this site for buying stuff. You might need a Chinese homie to help you, as you need an account, but the goods here are super cheap and as far as I have heard it is governed less by strictly enforced rules than a code of conduct.

here are a few news items regarding the past few months in China and how they affect the international community, Chinese people themselves and the Olympic Games.

The situation is tense, but Lord Almighty does time move quick in our epoch. The whole world changes on a day to day basis.

China has agreed to talk to an envoy of the Dalai Lama, and this, more than anything will defuse the situation and tilt it in China's favor. Should have done this a long time ago. But we shall see, the Chinese side is not giving the talks much space to breath:

”It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks”

I was telling my cracker friend Himmler earlier that it would take only one more incident to get people here really pissed at the Western media/political establishment. And although it is actually a very small minority of people who are vigorously protesting in defense of China (mostly students and young people) the take-no-prisoners approach of these patriots makes it difficult for anyone to discuss the issues with them. Especially difficult for other Chinese.

i must say

today was a good day.

didn't even have to yell or scream. no violent threats, no mean muggin. I spent the last three days in my fine little farmhouse ont he outskirts of town and chilled. my Shifu came through unexpectedly as he always does and we got to training. he taught me how to raise my kicks higher and we both grunted with the "The Wheel" (peace to my ninja Big Scott).

A sweet little girl named Zhang Yu Shi moved in for the next two weeks and it is real nice to have her around. She cooks good stuff and keeps the house smellin slightly girly and her giggles are contagious. She is studying for her Journalism Final and thought my place would be a good spot to get some work done. Me and my new roommate Oliver be teaching her the Ways of the Vagabond and she reminds us to keep our mouths closed when we chew.

Boogie moved out .. he's my man, but I gotta thank the Lord. My house is much cleaner now. And the rent is paid. All weekend I read Hari Kunzru's novel "My Revolutions" about an old man remembering his revolutionary youth.

He considers himself a fool for being young and idealistic. He knows the world doesn't work that way. But his heart rebels with every beat. Depression and Detachment are his world now, instead of Action and Defiance. He despises the rebel he once was, not because he was a rebel, but because he was only a half-rebel. He should have died with all the other real hard core revolutionaries. Instead he is a lone survivor in a world where revolutionary means organic foods and hemp fibers in your dresses. Capitalism with a heart. He should have ripped the heart out. But he didn't. And now, at age 50. He is lost.

Lord protect me from such a fate.