A Friendly Letter from our Landlords
Having been an R.A. and being dumbfounded by students who smoke cigarettes or pot indoors even after they know there is someone alergic to it living in the same hallway, I found this letter strangely gratifying, and with the housing crunch our college often faces, there’s a part of me that wishes the school took this sort of approach.
Anyway, here’s the letter (grammatical errors, typos and all, I’m afraid — but emphasis is my own):
Hello,
Please be advised that I have received complaints about someone smoking inside their apartment. If you have any knowledge of who might be smoking, please call or email us immediately. Your information will be confidential. We have been checking apartments and will continue to do so until we find the culprit. This person will be immediately evicted and will lose their entire security deposit which is in accordance with your rental agreement. I will also let everyone know who the culprit is and who would rent and agree to in writing not to smoke since there are people that have asthma and other health related problems that exacerbate by cigarette smoke.
You can be guaranteed that I will tell you what apartment this person lives in and will be very happy to evict them, hopefully, it will be very cold and rainy that day. We all can make his or her live miserable.
I am appalled over the fact that someone would smoke knowing that it is making someone else ill. This person is a selfish, inconsiderate low life that I will enjoy evicting.
Together, we can find out who this person is. If you walk by a door and smell smoke or see anyone smoking on the decks, please let us know what apartment it is immediately.
Sincerely yours,
[names of landlords]
Dear Red States (a forward)
I found this an funny and intriguing bit of text; not sure about these stats (because stats can always be manipulated or just plain invented, especially in the world of email forwards), but … wow.
Dear Red States:
If you manage to steal this election too we’ve decided we’re leaving. We
intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with
us. In case you aren’t aware, that includes California, Hawaii, Oregon,
Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast.
We believe this split will be beneficial to the n! ation, and especially to
the people of the new country of New California.To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave
states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches. We get the Statue of
Liberty. You get Dollywood.
We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss.
We get 85% of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.
We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay
their fair share.Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22% lower than the
Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of
single moms.Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and
we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need
people to fight, ask your evangel! icals. They have kids they’re apparently
willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don’t care if you
don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home. We do wish you
success in Iraq , and hope that the WMDs turn up, but we’re not willing to
spend our resources in Bush’s Quagmire.With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80% of the
country’s fresh water, more than 90% of the pineapple and lettuce, 92% of
the nation’s fresh fruit, 95% of America’s quality wines, 90% of all cheese,
90% of the hig! h tech i ndustry, 95% of the corn and soybeans (thanks Iowa!),
most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors,
all the Ivy and Seven Sister schools plus Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88% of
all obese Americans (and their projecte! d healt h care costs), 92% of all U.S.
mosquitoes, nearly 100% of the tornadoes, 90% of the hurricanes, 99% of all
Southern Baptists, virtually 100% of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob
Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.
Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually
swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the
war, the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory,
53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe
you are people with higher morals then we lefties.Finally, we’re taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they
grow in! MexicoPeace out,
Blue States
Teaching in China This Spring
There was an opening at the university I wanted to teach at in China for the spring. While not totally unheard of to find university English teaching positions for a semester, they typically do not offer airfare reimbursement and a travel stipend bonus like the full year positions. This one did, which this year might not be out of the norm; due to the Olympics, visa regulations were tighter, and consequently the university I’m going to has had no native English speaker this academic year.
So, I decided to sign up. (I think “sign up” is a better word for it than “apply”; they need someone and I don’t think they’ve had other people inquire about the position, it’s not a famous university in a city that doesn’t attract foreigners, I’m an excellent candidate with excellent references from within their university and coming from a college they have a longstanding study abroad/exchange relationship with, etc.) I’m going to start teaching mid-February, and I plan to continue teaching in China, if not at this university, for the 2009/10 academic year as well (because three semesters is a happy medium from one year being a little too short and two years just seeming too long).
I’m very excited about it, not only that I’m going to China, but also that I’m going to the one place in China that’s familiar to me. That may seem unadventurous, but I like the familiar, and it takes me a while to warm up to new places and new people; I want to make the most out of a relatively short time in China, and I want to have a familiar home-base from which to travel to lots of other areas. Also, with how much is possible with personal connections in China (or more importantly, how much is extremely difficult without them), I think I’ll have more opportunities in a place where I know people. I don’t want to take advantage of the system with my guanxi/connections (which is generally more acceptable in China, but can be also be seen as trying to subvert the proper order of things, and is something that I don’t want to abuse); however, there’s a lot to be said for little things like:
- someone helping me find a store to buy x
- a dinner at someone’s house meeting their family and seeing another modern Chinese household
- help figuring out the best way to travel to x
- having a friend to accompany me to a local event, movie, market, travel excursion, etc
- getting more insider information about culture (especially cultural faux pas that I hope people aren’t too polite to not tell me about)
- possibly continued erhu (Chinese violin lessons) that I had with a professor last time I was there
Not to say that all this couldn’t be done elsewhere … but it will be easier in a place where I know people, and it will be easier sooner. For me, this trumps the adventurous side of adapting to a new place.
Also, I like not being surrounded by other American laowai (foreigners), not only to force me to hang out with Chinese people (and not only for the Chinese language practice), but also because a lot of Americans annoy the hell out of me.
I should also state that, for the record, I am SO ready to be a teacher and not a secretary.
Visiting Idaho
I got back last Sunday from visiting my mother and sister in Idaho; haven’t had the time or energy to post anything until now because I was quite tired from traveling, going directly from the airport to a housesitting gig (instead of home), and having a very busy week at work.
In Boise, Idaho
Anyway, it was overall a really great week, which is atypical for me. Normally when I’ve gone, it’s been around the holidays, and there’s so much pressure and intensity around everything being perfect (i.e. more purchases than necessary), coupled with the stress of my mom not being able to handle her finances despite having decent pay, especially for the relatively low cost of living in that area. The time of year also limited what we could go out and do; it was cold and every place was in busy holiday shopping fervor.
This time, everything was more laid back in late summer lull — both the general atmosphere of people and the internal family dynamic. My mom and I went through old boxes of my stuff to decide what to keep for me and my future kids and what to give away or throw out; though it was a little boring and we ended up watching lots of episodes of “The Office”, it was nice seeing lots of books, toys, etc that I hadn’t thought of in years. It was such a different part of my life, even though the separation of pre-college/post-high school was only five years ago. We also did some sewing/craft projects (tarot bags!) that utilized some pieces of her mother’s old jewelry.
My sister's new dog
I also spent time with my sister, her husband, and their dogs. One, Sophie the white Pekinese, I have known and adored for a while. My sister got her after graduating from college five years ago, and despite any stereotypes of small dogs, Sophie’s always been that dog that everyone envies my sister for: happy but calm, friendly towards any stranger but doesn’t jump or get too close until invited, loves to play but hardly ever barks (except when play-fighting with her new packmate, Kate). The other, Kate the German Shorthair, is about as energetic as one could expect from a five-month-old bird-hunting dog. My sister’s husband has to bike ride laps around the neighborhood with her running alongside every morning just to keep her sane and manageable. Other than being a little crazy-energetic, she’s also a doll, and quite entertaining to watch as she attempts to play with every toy and be in every place in the house at once.
One thing I’d forgotten is how beautiful Idaho is, especially since every time I’ve visited since starting college it’s been wintry dead brown with little snow. This time, there was a pleasant mix of late-summer greens, early autumn golden-yellows and reds, and harvest browns.
Some photos:
(More photos of Idaho or my sister’s dogs.)
I’m glad I had a positive experience with Idaho, after so much personal angst towards growing up there. It’s going to be a while until I go back again, and I’m glad we parted on good terms for the time being.
Seven-year-old boy goes on killing rampage at the zoo
It’s time for a disturbing news story! From the BBC:
A seven-year-old boy has been filmed going on the rampage at a popular zoo in Australia, killing rare reptiles and feeding live ones to a crocodile. …
The attack happened on Wednesday morning after the boy entered the zoo by jumping over the security fence and evading sensor alarms.
Over the next half hour, he bludgeoned some of the animals to death with stones and hurled others over the two fences surrounding the crocodile enclosure. …
Just … wow. I mean teenagers and adults have done worse things, but a seven-year-old kid?!
Also on the BBC, towards the bottom of this article about last night’s VP candidate debate, there’s a word cloud of the words most frequently used by Palin during the debate. What an interesting way to look at candidate’s jargon and theorize what this means about their priorities, though I’d prefer them also using most commonly used phrases like “Main Street”. (Did anyone notice that every time Palin said “Wall Street”, she said “Main Street” once or twice within the following sentence or two?
Keeping Cool
Lately I’ve been feeling really tense. I don’t think it’s just me, either. Most of the people in my life are facing the double-whammy of tenseness: on one hand, the general state of things in the economy, which I’m sure is wearing most Americans thin. Sure, I’m not biting my nails and having anxiety attacks over it, because what good would that do? But it adds a burden, an extra pile to the heap of stress in one’s life, contributing to one feeling just a little more tired, just a little more helpless, and making the future just a little less predictable.
There’s also a distinct level of stress at my alma mater and place of employment, which I don’t think is only the economy. Recently (like last-few-years recently) there have been a lot of administrative changes in the college, and a general push for values of more customer and professionalism — minus the pay, benefits, and support that makes one feel inclined to give it 110% and believe oneself to be a true professional. Sure, there’s only so much one can pull the “I’m not paid enough” card, but it makes a difference. I hate that if I were to get up and go to China right now and B was still working at Hampshire, he would not be able to afford our inexpensive-for-one apartment, less-than-10-mile-commute, frugle, and low-entertainment-fund lifestyle. We are both college graduates with bosses and colleagues that think we work well above our experience level and are highly competent at managing the challenges of our work, including tasks we do that go above and beyond our job responsibilities — and neither of us could afford to live a basic lifestyle without a roommate. That’s just disgusting.
And yet here we are, working our asses off, coming home stressed from a super busy work day, and feeling generally tired. We’re not the only ones, and though we’re on the lower end of the payscale, no one likes getting any amount of salary when they know they are not being paid enough for the level of work they’re doing.
This week, it’s been really getting to me. Expectations of others for me to do work well beyond my job without a please or thank you, snippy comments and actions from some particularly bitchy and self-righteous faculty, and never having nearly enough time to do half the things I’m assigned are all getting old. I’m ready to not need to decompress after my underpaid job that, while I enjoy, there’s only so much I should be caring about after I leave the office. I feel myself being downright pissy towards others, even those that I really like, and reminding myself to be nice is not really effective. The problem is deeper than being nice.
I need to find the joy, and ignore the crap. I have a reputation for being the collected one, and somewhere along the line that got lost. It’s time to recollect, to ground myself, and to let the tension and bitchy comments roll off like water over stone.
