Monday April 26 0859

I went to the ocean on my bike this weekend, was fun!

Me and my bike.

The beautiful day.

The stair-tower vantage point I went up. Very few handrails!

Ocean in the direction of Seattle!

Friday April 23 0937

After noticing that I was able to see a little bit of bone-definition by my sternum a week ago, being unable to lift much weight, and after long having an ache-y back, I've been trying to be a bit more healthy lately. Towards this end, I've started stretching before and after sleeping, going on more walks, and even doing push-ups lately. When I first started a week ago, I could only do 3 proper push-ups before the burn was too much, but this morning I did a full proper 25 before I had to stop. The stretching (mostly focused on my arms, neck, shoulders, and sides) is helping me sleep better at night too, so apart from my little hay fever, I've been feeling overall more healthy as of late.

Although I doubt I'll end up lifting weights, doing pull-ups, or even being particularly muscular, at least my energy is up and I ache less!

Tuesday April 20th 1730

It is impossible to find salted peanuts in China: only MSG ones. Although they taste alright, they bring a sweetness to the snack that I am not looking for when I'd much prefer an over-salty/dry legume. At least you can get them de-shelled but still have that papery-brown membrane on the kernels.

This weekend, I'm going to ride out (rain permitting) to the ocean by Shanghai on my moped and see what it is like. I'll actively lower my expectations over the week though, because smart money says that the ocean probably looks as polluted as the Huangpu.

I've been playing a first-person shooter game called Counterstrike with the people at work: it's Artists vs. Programmers/Designers, and it is very fun to be able to shoot my bosses through the head with a semi-automatic.

Humidity, poor air quality conditions, and stagnant-feeling rain are causing mold to spring up into the air here in Shanghai, and so I've been struck with a kind of hay fever which has left me all stuffy. I've been taking care to air-condition my room (de-humidifies) and casually ride my bike (moving air) to ease the symptoms.

Monday April 19th 0948

I am now the proud owner of a 130cc motorbike.

It has a top speed (artificial engine pin limit) of 70kmh, and is black with red stripes (pictures forthcoming). It has a small gas tank, and it looks like it's 90km/City, 120/Country. It rides just like a bicycle, except goes about 10 times as fast. I've ridden 100km on it around the maze of streets this weekend, and am hoping to get my plates in a week maybe, and maybe a helmet. This is certainly a lot different learning-to-drive experience than highway driving in a sedan! I've only had one "Eek!" moment so far (a mean chinese guy tried to run me off the road), but even that I handled with (I think) excellent reaction time. I sincerely believe that if I can learn to drive in Shanghai, I can drive anywhere.

It's registered under my chinese name Ai De Hua, which apparantly means 'the love of words' and sounds vaguely like 'Edward'.

And yes, I'll be very very careful ;-)

Monday April 12th 0948

Ahoy!

All the new programmers have arrived, so have been spending lots of time meeting new people, which's been nice. I've gotten quite good at ping pong, so the new opponents are appreciated.

And some geekiness: I've been sinking my teeth deep into a game of Emperor of the Fading Suns using the Nova patch: I'm playing a random galaxy as House Hazat, and am stomping over Holy Terra and the other Houses, waging planetary war on the Church, Al-Malik, and Hawkwood simultaneously with universal warehouse off, which is quite a logistical feat given the roughly two hundred troops I am ferrying towards the respective targets (primarily hover tanks and marauder legions). You can't run away with sceptors in this patch (they can't be transported), so doing raids on the palaces have to be full-on occupation efforts. I have 20 out of the 35 sceptors in the game, but I had promised departments before this, so I am actually doing all these massive invasions while fighting against the Imperial Navy and the Stigmata Garrison (Aragon is right next to Stigmata in this galaxy >_<) with my own home-grown fleet of invasion landers, meson starbases, and battle cruisers loaded with Prophet torpedoe fighters: I am particularly eager to make headway against Hawkwood so that I can get access to Delphi's gem resources so I can get more ships made. I hope to take Holy Terra, Delphi, and Ishtakhr within thirty to forty turns, and will declare myself Emperor once I've conquered them and assassinated their nobles on Byzantium II, although I might delay it if I feel like doing a Reconquista on the Symbiot worlds. Fun =)

Tuesday, April 6 0958

It was a three day weekend, since Monday was Qingming, translated to me as 'Tombsweeping Day' or 'Mourning Day': it's about remembering ancestors and visiting gravesites. Sean, Chris, and I spent the day walking out on BeiDi road and then BeiQing Highway and walked straight out of Shanghai Municipality: roughly 50km on foot through construction and countryside. At the end was the 'communist china' one sees in movies, with people walking out of factories which look out over fields of safflowers with peasants planting. It was really cool, and I had brought my camera, but sadly I didn't realize I was out of battery power =(. Total fail on my part, but oh well: we're hoping to take mopeds down the coast to Hong Kong in a couple weeks, and so I should be able to see similar terrain and take good pictures.