to all the beauty in your life

back in Shanghai, listening to Christmas music. i had a small panic attack in the vancouver airport as i watched asian people be asian and realized that my ass was headed back to China to live for a while and be a father and all that. started trrrrriping. in my own head of course. was waiting for the whole world to shimmer and disappear. probably had something to do with the fact that i was still drunk and loopy after a night at Beckett's with my man Big Scott. It was a rough morning. but as soon as i was on the flight it was all good and now that i am back in the old familiar hallways of China, all is good and as it should be.

i watched the movie Public Enemies and that was a good one. Special Agent WInstead's message to Billy at the end really got me. busted out in tears, but no one saw me do it.

also watched 9 and that was enjoyable. I couldn't help myself and watched the Time Traveler's Wife (Aliya really wanted to watch that one) and it is sweet and lovable and emotional too. got a little teary there too. i am a sensitive guy you know.

Chillin at the Shiraz in Shanghai

My Persian homie Amir took me and Said to Ali Baba's spot in Shanghai. Ali Baba is a true Perisan Pimp and he got us faded offa his homemade brew, fed us yogurt with sweet raisins and took a pic of me puffin on that yummy yummy shisha. Peep my clean dome.

Back in China

Shanghai is a sea of skyscrapers as far as my eye can see. There are pockets of two-story blocks of old school homes with laundry hanging from lines strung between houses. The glow of the sun is like that of a streetlamp through fog. When i see the orange orb in the sky it looks as if its shining through the aftermath of the apocalypse.

Two or three days chillin with Ferchak, Mario and Amir then I am off to the Dirty Du, my third home.

how my people do

this is my brother Mike Jones.

this is how he do.

bend knee and pay tribute.

Beijing 2008

I am finally in Beijing. After several months of talking about it and changes to the plan on a weekly basis, I am now officially part of the whole "one world one dream" experience in Beijing.

Yesterday was a beautiful day. The sun shone all day, the sky was blue and white lazy clouds hung in the still air. The dozens of new glass buildings sparkled. I saw some of the crazy buildings they put up here for the big party: the birds nest, the CCTV Tower and a few others on Chang An Blvd where the heart of the party will be. I live right off of Chang An Blvd in a pimp pad on the 17th floor.

Today i bought more dress clothes and some shoes and such. I bought some already, but I guess i have no sense of suit-class cuz my boss took one look at me, shook his head and took me to the genuine copy market down the road to buy some almost real threads. I got two pairs of geek pants, three nerd shirts and some dork shoes for about USD140. I blabbed with the Anhui girls that run the market and convinced them i wasn't gay. I think i did anyway. They kept bringing these shy young boys up to me and saying "try on! try on!"

Peep it:




Today is a typical China day: gray and oppressive, slightly drizzly, stankin, humid, hectic. My preliminary perspective is that Beijing is a big Chengdu. There are a lot of Westerners here and they have a Hooters, all the restaurants of the world, all the banks etc. but this city is still a huge small town. I have to say, Shanghai has Beijing beat in terms of worldly pimp-ocity and straight baller-ism-fication. (translation for non-Americans: shanghai is better.)

but let me just say here that I am down with Sichuan and the Dirty Du for life. I represent peasant pimps in the SW hills. I ride with sichuan hua spittin, sunflower seed splittin, hot booty hittin, moonshine sippin, funky pipe hittin players from the Land of Abundance. Chengdu is the bomb. Its a village and such and provincial and all that and everybody is a damn farmer no matter what they do or what they drive, but I am down with it. If i could throw up gang signs in Blogger I'd be reppin right now, fo real. Shit. I am ready to jump out of this cubicle and kick a Beijing-er in the jaw for actin funny and not respectin Chengdu like he should.

Ahem. Excuse me. Just had to let ya'll know how it is.

But for now I have to listen to this garble they call "Beijing Hua" and wear super dork clothes for a while. Its a small price to pay for bein in the middle of the mix in 2008.

here is a good lil blurb about the complexities of life and the importance of history.

Blogger up in China!

Well i'll be damned. After all this time, China has decided(?) to let blogger do its thing. So i am visible in China. This is a good thing.

I am in shanghai now and chillin with my man Ferchak. I love his house. And his style too. A true gentleman scoundrel of the most elegant and sordid sort. Last night I went around Shanghai and enjoyed myself. From Attica on the Bund I smoked la and gazed at the skyline with my man Rizlee and his woman Candace. He has been the food writer for this area for years. Now he is headed off to Thailand -- or maybe south america -- to continue being a food critic (Q, if you read this, i know your dream).

Its hard work. eating, writing. thinking. eating. writing. maybe some drinks. thinking ...

Shanghai is very interesting, but nothing for me. There are thousands of foreigners here -- many of them very very young -- and it seems like a big college town on friday nights. reminds me of nights in Minneapolis drunkenly chasing drunkeness down the sidewalk to Santana's for burgers and fries. Shanghai has good burgers and fries at a place called Beaver that also has Rogue Beer (from OR) and Dead Guy Ale. But Shanghai aint got santana's.

There are beautiful women everywhere being targeted by a growing force of pirates, bush pilots and aces.

Its like if San Francisco were a football and you turned it inside out, so the Asians in the Bay were the majority ... but not as chill. So young. A very young city. A wanton woman in her 20s, defiantly throwing her skirt up at the male gaze.

yeah.

i actually encourage all young kids to roll through china and have as much sex and fun as possible. I did it. and now we pass each other in the revolving door of shanghai as i exit stage (P-town foo'!) west and they enter stage east.

i head back to the Dirty Du tomorrow and start bidding farewell. On wednesday i start working on the torch relay convoy.