Author: Jeff

Much Ado About…

Jeff, , ,

well, everything!  Lot’s of stuff going on, and I’ve been too busy/lazy to update.

I got my first paycheck this Tuesday, and although I had to pay taxes (well, technically the money is witheld for now), it was still pretty exciting. It’s good to be finally making money again, since commuting and eating in the city are not cheap.  I also just witnessed one of the most exciting matches of the World Cup this year: a 2-2 tie between USA and Slovenia. Although USA were down 0-2 at the half, they came back strong and tied it up. They actually scored a third goal, but the ref overruled it, on the basis of a foul (on Bradley?). Personally I thought it was a terrible call, since it’s clear in the replay that the US players are not comitting any fouls; on the contrary, several of them are being tangled up by Slovenian defenders…if anything the call should have been the other way around. But despite the fact that many fans felt that the US were robbed of a game-winning goal, it was still a great effort by the Americans, and definitely the most exciting match I’ve seen so far. Let’s hope that the US can beat Algeria and move on to the knockout stages (assuming England doesn’t get upset by Algeria, which I’m not ruling out completely…)

Aside from the World Cup, I’ve been rewatching an old Chinese wuxia series: Return of the Condor Heroes. Though the special effects are not of the best quality, it’s still one of my favorite wuxia series (I love Jinyong’s works in general).

Here’s to a wonderful weekend of exciting soccer and of course, Happy Father’s Day!

Enough messing with timestamps

Jeff, , , ,

Just updated the blog going back to May 18th, and because I’m OCD about this sort of thing, I changed the timestamps so they reflect when I actually wrote the entries. Been up early because of jetlag. Will probably rest a lot this weekend, catch up on Bleach and Naruto, and hopefully get in some tennis and soccer before work starts next week.

Departure

Jeff, ,

I can’t believe my stay in China has already reached its end. I’m usually here for at least six weeks or more every time I visit, so this year has been an exception. Added to the fact that I spent a portion of it in Shanghai (I’m usually only in Beijing), and staying at both my uncle’s and grandma’s place, and my visit this year seems especially truncated. Luckily, I was able to meet up with Ben again before leaving China, as he just arrived in Beijing yesterday. I’m quite grateful because he has also offered to drive me to the airport tomorrow, which means good company in the car and a lot of money saved on a taxi. It’s certainly good to have friends who can look out for you even when you’re not in your home country.

I really wish I had someone traveling with me on the way back, because I’m really not looking forward to the trip. I have to make two transfers, one in Tokyo and one in Minneapolis (with two-hour layovers in between), before I’m back in New Jersey. I miss the no-hassle service of direct flights, especially my experience from last year, where I managed to purchase a relatively cheap business class return ticket with my “frequent flyer” miles—needless to say, it was hands down the best flying experience of my life. But then Delta merged with Northwest and the latter’s partnership with Continental ended, along with any chance of my using my miles to purchase a direct ticket to and from Beijing. All in all, it’s going to take me around 24 hours to get home, though with the time difference, it’ll still be Thursday, when I get back, which is weird when I think about it. Anyway, I still have to finish packing and take a shower before going to bed early; I have to be up at 5:30AM tomorrow, and I prefer to do so with a full night’s rest.

Reality

Jeff, ,

As it turns out, I only had around 30 unread messages. Not bad, but still enough to give me a headache. I just got back from Fan Wei’s house, where I was able to go on the internet for the first time in over a week and also enjoy some home cooking. Afterwards, we chatted and played Monopoly on Xbox 360. Apparently there’s an alternate version of Monopoly called “Richest” which goes a lot faster but also involves significantly more luck. There is a set number of rounds, and at the beginning of each round, a number of dice are rolled (equal to the number of players). Then, a mini game is played to determine turn order. Each player chooses which dice to choose, and the value of the dice determines how many tiles on the board you draw. If you draw a property that hasn’t been owned yet, you get the property, but if you draw someone else’s property, you have to “pay” them by giving them one of your existing properties. Thus, it’s advantages to choose bigger numbers at the beginning of the game to increase your chances of hoarding property, but probably safer to go for lower numbers towards the end to prevent the possibility of landing on other people’s property. Like normal Monopoly, you can upgrade to houses and hotels once you have established a monopoly, which results in other players paying you more (in property) every time they land on the monopoly. If you’re out of properties, then you don’t have to pay. The exciting thing about Richest is that it is fast-paced and dynamic. Chance, Community Chest, and Tax tiles have been modified so that instead of paying or receiving money, you have to pay in property (or have the chance to steal others’ properties). At the end of the game, the winner is the person whose total real estate is worth the most.

Dream

Jeff,

Last night, I had a dream that I checked my email and there were over 50 messages in my inbox. Unfortunately, considering that I have not had internet access in a week and that I probably won’t have it for another couple days, that is entirely possible. Oh, how I miss the net.