Saturday, March 27, 2004

Haha. Its been a while since I've been back. Let me start off with a variety of music:

~~~ Zion I feat. Grouch - Silly Puddy ~~~
~~~ Elefant - Misfit ~~~
~~~ Duncan Sheik - On a High ~~~
~~~ ????? - ??????????????~~~

Been busy. Edwin was here. Edmund was here. Ronny was here. Seriously been exploring Shanghai quite a bit I must say. I dunt think it would be possible to even describe much of what I have experienced and went through over the past couple weeks....haha, I guess the best way to put it is that theres way too much to talk about and can't be bothered to. LoL.

Although I don't do that many things everyday, I often feel tired. I have a feeling its cuz I mentally work myself out everyday. Probably a combination of worrying, stress and striving to absorb everything my 5 senses allow me to. Even though my bed is stiff and hard, I somehow sleep incredibly well every nite. (Damn my hard bed!!)

I've been culture shocking. Haha. Seriously, every once in while I go through these random culture shock moments. Its like, I'm sick and tired of all this chinese around me. I'm sick of pronouncing chinese words, sick of speaking it and seeing it all over me. I feel like I need a break from it all. Just one day of english..only speaking and reading english. Even my cantonese is starting to turn into mandarin, its insane. Sometimes, I have to cut back on what I say (haha, yesh, we all know I always have a lot to say) cause i just can't figure out how to say it in mandarin. Man, I'm sick of having to translate everything I say in cantonese or english before I say it....

I'm going to Beijing and Xian next week. Gonna be great.

Erik - haha. ended not talking about any of the acutal experiences.

- I mentioned that Chinese music is a long way behind other parts of the world. I think I have to take that back. Maybe I'll talk about it next time -

Friday, March 12, 2004

Its been a while already. But Chris Webber is back!! Sadly though, on top of an nonexistant NCAA basketball (MARCH MADNESS!!) TV program here in Shanghai, I probably won't get to watch that many games of the NBA playoffs this year. That really sucks. Any chances of me getting to watch any of these games is if I wake up early in the morning (assuming I skip classes), decide to stream it on my laptop (laggy and bad quality), and that Shanghai sports channel decides to air that game I want. So yeah, it sucks to be missing out on the sports life. All they show here on the sports channel here is soccer, ping pong and volleyball. Boo.

I got a hold of the new zero 7 CD. Not quite as good, but i'm satisfied. Theres a lot more going on around here that has taken me away from sitting down to appreciate an album top to bottom. But anywayz, my recommendations for the album are 'somersault', 'speed dial no.2' and 'the space between'. I've only heard of the album through once, so that list may change.

I joined the guitar club here! HAha. People are not especially good here, so I fit just good among them. They only play chinese songs....but its cool...I'm just glad there are people to play with.
I guess this brings me to the point.... that the music scene here in China is musically (in terms of its structure, style and form) still a long long way behind compared to the music from other parts of the world. Playing the guitar here in China has such a folk feel to it, its all about strumming very basic chords and singing along to it. Its very simple and it has a strong emphasis upon self satisfication from playing. Argh, I dunno. Whatevaz. LoL.

~~~ Watashi Wa - All of Me ~~~

Ok. Done With.
Erik.

- Letz all take a moment of silence for every innocent life that was taken away by the 'cruel realities of the world' in Spain yesterday -

Monday, March 08, 2004

~~~ Mae - Summertime, Skyline Drive, Runaway ~~~ Recently made my fav bands list.
~~~ Belle and Sebastian - Seeing Other people, Burning Flies ~~~

I really should continue with my food experience in Shanghai right now. But i don't feel like it, i've already been a full day of work. So f*** it cuz its my blog and not yours.

I feel mellowed out. =) Its probably that 'Mae - Skyline Drive' song thats chilling me out right now. I like it....but anywayz, so yeah....where should i start...
Not much breathing room here in Shanghai, I've been constantly out and about most of my time here. Haha, in some way like the way I do in Hong Kong i guess, but different in another that I'm (supposedly) in school around here and I'm abroad in an environment very different than I have been over the past half of my life. I'm content tho. I don't ask for much in life...haha, ok maybe I should take that back...lets just say I am easily satisfied in the short run most of the time.....

Some japanese girls (maybe guyz too, but dunno them yet..wuhaha) are cooking dinner tonight. I think I'll take part in that. Haha. Hey, every man needs to eat too right? I'm too lazy and its too cold to go out anyways. As I said earlier, I'm tired...I had a full day of work. Pretty good class rate today. Went to 2/3 classes today, not bad considering I went to 3/11 last week when my older brother came to visit me.

ARgh. How come I always need to go half way during my entry?

Erik.

Friday, March 05, 2004

My diet has been very exciting over the past month. Yeah, and I think it would be safe to say that I've had an incredibly wide variety of food during my first month in Shanghai. Everything from the street food that can cost less than 2USD altogether, to the 20USD 'all you can eat' japanese cuisines.
Maybe I should start with the 'all you can eat'. HAha. Basically its all you can eat japanese cuisines or tepanyaki. Its pretty crazy stuff, on top of the 'all you can eat' you also get to order 'all you want to drink' too. And I'm talking about all you can drink hot sake, japanese beer, fruit juice, blah blah blah. I mean, seriously, 20USD for all you can drink is not bad already, but thats not even the best part. The best part is that the food is legit stuff!! Like, real japanese food. All you can eat japanese cuisine includes all you can eat uni, horse sashami, raw beef, raw prawns, and the list goes on just like every other japanese restaurant. This is same for the tepanyaki restaurant: private rooms, a chef cooks in front of you, and you can order anything on the menu (codfish, clams, different types of beef, blah blah blah). You point at anything on the menu and they will bring it up to you and cook it right there. So yeah, we're talkin about living like the king. Haha.

Crap. to be continued...