June 13, 2005.

I woke up at 7:37 and flipped on CBS evening news. Man they keep shuffling people around which only adds to my mad mad frustration with network news. See also: 60 Minutes (Mike Wallace still takes notes in charcoal on the backs of shovels. Too bad about his brother, Ug ... falling into a tar pit is a rough way to go.). Then I was too lazy to take a full shower - it's not like my students do... ever - so I washed just my shaggy head of hair and brushed my teeth with extra whitening paste.

Filling my water bottle from the Culligan sized jug in my kitchen, I grab a notebook and class list and prepare to say goodbye. This is finals week. I've had the same students for a whole year and today is their last class. They're good kids... well, enough of them are, at least. The final? In groups of 4: Invent a NEW product that people need but is not yet been created. Then, perform a 5-minute commercial telling all about the product and selling it to the class. Class: listen closely as you must ask 2 questions about the product after the commercial.

Some skits were good, some were marginal. Ex: Super Chair 2005! (a lazy-boy recliner with tank wheels and: tv, mp3 player, umbrella, storage space and a fish tank. why? EVERY chair needs a fish tank. THAT's why.) Others were mobile phones that are also face shavers, Super Umbrella, Smart Watch, Magic Shoes and Incredible Clothes! They all made poppa proud. Very proud considering they could bearly peep during the first week!

Then I went to a coffee shop and drank coffee, ate a bacon and egg sandwich (with mayonnase... we're going to have a 'to mayo or not to mayo talk tomorrow) and talked with some other foreign teachers. After that, I walked to a Muslim restaurant for hand pulled noodles. Mmm... la mian... mmmm. Best 6 kuai in town!

After lunch I had another final class. My English majors are really cute (90% women, too) and their English is good. Here, we learned about the Magical Hat, All-purpose Pen and the Universal Mobile Phone (with A/C). Sweet. My favorite was the "Egana: 'It's a case? No, it's a skateboard! No, it's a stool! No, it's a deck chair! You're all right! You'll be alright with Egana!" They rule and we took a grip of pictures after class. I'll post those online soon!

Then I spaced out and watched a movie called Slim Till Dead, from Hong Kong. It was alright, nothing special though. Ryan, my Chinese friend Benson and I went to a restaurant for dinner (I splurged for 20 kuai ~$2.50). After returning home, game 2 Spurs vs. Pistons was on. I knew the outcome but still got mad when DetRIOT lost.

At 8:30 a friend picked me up to do some voice-over work for Bella Sewing Company, Ltd. They make thinner trimming machines. I have NO idea was I was talking about; a bunch of really poor English and technical knowledge that not even a living sewing machine would know. It was like reading a trouble-shooting manual on the radio. Thrilling. It took 2 hours to record about 4 minutes - because the script was soooo poor. My favorite line was: 'Maybe change carbon cartridge every three month . If no to do this may , result in circuits of the shortageing out and by it on fire . " Note: 'Maybe' and 'if no... by it on fire.'

I got home, changed my carbon cartridge and decided to tell you about every 10 minutes of my day.

Loving, missing. paul.