Two Outstanding Speeches

Probably the second best speech I've ever heard about the world we live in. Remarkably given by a politician. Let's just go over some of the bullet points:

- Secrecy is repugnant in a free and open society.

EVERYTHING is triple protected with usernames, passwords and secret questions FOR OUR CONVENIENCE. I hate these things because I am a free and open person. I don't require secrecy and have very often wondered at people, businesses and countries who are so desperately concerned with hiding, concealing and keeping things secret. Secret codes, secret bank accounts, secret clubs, secret societies. These all smack of things other than freedom and openness if you ask me.

-The dangers of unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweigh the dangers which are cited to justify it.

How do people justify secret actions? It's for the good of the _____ (insert completion of lie here). Company, country, world? Secrecy is a very large part of deceit. I am getting a crash course on that as you may have been reading in my recent blog entries and can read below. Just one of the dangers of it is a nightmarish society in which greed is good, kindness is weakness, lying is considered necessary, and brotherhood is sacrificed at the altar of the almighty dollar. And Kennedy was right. Nowadays few people are honest and genuine. Most secretly want to stomp you into the ground and steal your fair share to gain themselves one that is unfairly large.

-... an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to increase its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.

Before the announced need for increased security will be SUCCESSFULLY seized upon, fear must be strategically sown. Enough fear to convince people that illegally levied taxes are "needed" to pay for the increased security. Invasive attacks on personal rights and freedoms are also needed. Then the fear mongers and freedom thieves, who are or represent the companies and corporations that will provide said increased security laugh all the way to the bank at the gullibility of their frightened, but obedient benefactors.

Here in China I am astounded by the general public's fear to stand up, speak out or even THINK about what is fair and honest for fear that they might be offending the powers that be. Those very powers who created that fear and censorship for their personal gain. Even in the midst of cruel and unconscionable treatment by their employers, I've seen people who are so afraid to lose their jobs that they can effectively repress reality and continue trusting in the confidence pedlars for whom they work.

- For we are opposed around the world by a monolithic and ruthless conspiracy that relies primarily on  covet means for expanding its sphere of influence. ...On subversion instead of elections... Its mistakes are buried, not headlined. Dissenters are silenced, not praised.

People, the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist. Whether you learn that from The Usual Suspects or Charles Baudelaire, it's a truth that applies to everyone's lives. There IS a conspiracy, a WORLD conspiracy, but the most effective means of its concealment has been the writing off of any of its whistleblowers as conspiracy theorists.

I wish he had gone a bit more into the "covet means" part to show how this world conspiracy is fed by GREED.

It relies on subversion rather than elections. I don't believe there has been a fair election in North America since this man was elected in 1960, with the possible exception of Mexico. JFK predicted half a century of fraud deceitfully disguised as freedom of choice. And what happened to all the information found about these "elections" being PROVEN false? Buried! Forgotten about. We all just went along in the guise that it never existed. Exactly how the U.S. is living day by day under the MOST fallacious of fake presidents to date.

The saddest part of this speech is the last line in which he effectively predicts his own assassination. "Dissenters are silenced, not praised." The world will never know how many dissenters have been silenced. It's one of the secrets. But John Kennedy certainly deserved praise, not assassination!

- For as a wise man once said, 'An error doesn't become a mistake until you refuse to correct it.'

Other than false elections we continue to stage, (and pay absurd amounts of money for), how many mistakes do we keep repeating and repeating without correction? All they need is a person in a position to correct them, and ANOTHER person who knows how much money the first person will accept to delay their correction. This, friends, is euphemistically called "lobbying," when it should be called perpetuating the conspiracy. It is not only practiced, but actually respected!

Greed crashing the stock market. "Oh, we promise never to do it again," say the people who got rich while everybody was losing everything. They are foolishly believed and they do it all over again.

"Oh, THIS time we really NEED to go to war," say those same war mongers from above. And they are believed again after probably staging some false flag show to encourage public outrage.

"We promise to for surely be more environmentally friendly," says the conglomerate that is once again believed and not taxed for its pollution.

"We are definitely right now putting together a plan to pay fair living wages to all our employees," lies the filthy rich company after putting "Outsource India" on hold to tell this lie.

"We DO care about the filthy, little, lower and middle class, and we are going to implement a plan to make disgustingly rich people piles more money so that their crumbs will be more substantial for you putridly poor creatures. HONEST!"

The only reason this is not public knowledge is the efforts of our rulers, that monolithic and ruthless bunch of scumbags, to conceal it and to ensure us all that it is all conspiracy THEORY, not actual conspiracy.

Then the part where he talks about the world getting smaller and news being more important to keep people informed and educated. Well, that didn't happen, did it? We went completely the other way! And now, the BEST speech I've heard about the world we live in during which George Carlin talks, not quite so elegantly, about this conspiracy too.

It's a big club and you ain't in it.

I may not agree with the writing at the end, but George Carlin was right on the money!

As for me and my ongoing attempt at dissent in this world of conspiracy, I just quit my job for the second time!

Yup, this time for good. I am just tired of representatives of what Kennedy called the "covet means" lying right to my face and stealing my money. The latest was a beaut! They call me in to work a little bit early. They have a new girl working with me named Doris whose English is better than the other girls', (except Faith's), and she seems like a nice girl. They know I like her. They also know I can't stand the new HR girl. There I go using that redundant word "new" again. Everybody where I work is new. I worked for them for 9 months and everybody but the owner and Mr. Liu, the brass, was replaced at least twice. Anyway the HR girl knew it would be a good tactic to get Doris to call me in early. They didn't tell me it was for a meeting with her. In fact Doris said, "We want to meet with you." And I asked who "we" was. She just said her co-worker. I guessed then.

What I didn't guess was the topic of the conversation or the fact that my class had been cancelled. They got young, innocent Doris to lie to me and say the parents all at the same time, half an hour before class, called to cancel. Poor girl. She believes in honesty. She'll be eaten alive at this place. Like I was. So, what happened, and was kept from me, was the class was cancelled. But this HR bitch can't stand it when I have free time! She's been ordering me to work on holidays, and on my weekend since she started. That's why I hate her. So instead of text me, which would have been no problem, they devise a way to waste more of my time and money with this meeting.

I got there and they told me they wanted to talk about the recent classes I didn't teach. One was a sick day and one was a holiday. We'll start with the sick day. If you've read my blog lately, you'll know I wasn't expecting to be paid on Oct. 15th, my payday. Well, I wasn't. In the heyday of my employment with Huasheng, they paid on a the Friday before the weekend if the payday fell on the weekend. Oct. 15th was a Sunday. No pay on the Friday or the Sunday. I was not surprised. But on the 16th I had nothing in my account and I sent messages to Mr. Liu, Diana, (the owner), and this HR bitch. Nothing nasty, just "when will I be paid," and "why haven't I been paid?" NONE of them replied for two days. Completely ghosted me! So on the night of the second day I looked drank 22 beer and called in sick. I didn't bother to fight the unwinnable argument about going to the doctor and getting a note in advance of the sickness. They said they were going to charge me 400 RMB per hour for my absence. That's about 80 bucks and I missed two hours. So it is 160 bucks. This from a company that very recently offered to pay me about 20 bucks an hour.

I laughed that one off because there was nothing I could do. An all too familiar feeling when working at Huasheng. Helplessness as they steal my money. Next she brought up the part in my contract where it says I am supposed to get all Chinese public holidays off. And she launches into how I will be charged for refusing a class ON A HOLIDAY. Not only was it a Chinese holiday, Oct. 8, it was a Sunday and it was Canadian Thanksgiving. AAAANNNNDDDD, I worked 4 hours that day even though I didn't have to! "Don't care, want more!"

I repeated several times that I didn't have to work that day because it was a holiday. And that, in her idiom, she had scheduled the three classes in the LEAST convenient way possible. ON PURPOSE. There was one in the early morning and two at night. All two hour classes. I pleaded with her to change the morning class to the afternoon but she just kept demanding I teach it. In the end I said I would teach the afternoon classes or none at all. Then she hounded me with several messages ordering me to teach and I ignored her. She even called former employees who had quit to call me and get me to respond to her. I didn't. Finally she messages me and says, "Okay, cancel the morning class?" I responded, "Yes." Well obviously, the bullshit Asian way to defend yourself when you are completely wrong was needed: I had cost her face. So she must punish me. I'm sorry but I hate working there already, I'm not going to have an ongoing pissing contest with a zero like her!

So anyway, 800 more deducted. Ignore the fact that YOU just told me I didn't have to work at all that day, I will be punished for not working that day. Absolutely astounding, isn't it? So then she, (through the translation of Doris), asked if there was anything else I wanted to tell the management. Mr. Liu and Diana are trying to establish Doris as a buffer because when I contact them directly, it is usually about my being cheated by them and they don't want to deal with that. It takes them out of their happy little fantasy in which they are good businesspeople and good people.

I said to Doris that I DID have something to say so as not to make this trip to the office a complete waste of my time and my 50 RMB taxi money. If I wasn't 100% sure before this ambush, I was now, so I told her I officially quit. I was asked for my reasons and went over several. Like the fact that this capitalist monster beside her was complicit with management in delaying my pay and ignoring my inquiries about it. I showed her the exact text with the exact time. It was two days later that I got paid. I asked shitface why she didn't respond and she just bowed her head in guilt. So Doris saw this and her stealing my money and lying right to my face. But STILL Doris refuses to admit that these people and this company are not good. She continues to defend them.

In my letter of resignation I mentioned how trust was lost and I told Doris to mention to her owners that my last day will be Oct. 31. I have 2 hours of work on that day with over 100 students. It's a huge amount of money for the company. Doris relayed my message to HR Rottencrotch that I will not teach that class unless I am paid by Oct. 30. This was a week in advance. Of course HR Rottencrotch says the insanely absurd, but expected, "There is no way we can pay you at that time. We have a system and we can not change it just for you." And she got Doris to relay this message. And Doris naively believed it. My pay will be something in the neighbourhood of 6000 RMB. That's 1150 Canadian. That's with the bullshit deductions. I am never going to see this money. I have told Doris this repeatedly. I have given her several examples of people who were stiffed for their final paychecks by Hwasheng, I have given her wechat contacts, I have told her the legends that Faith has told me, and she just tells me she doesn't want to contact any of them. She doesn't like hearing about how this company has destroyed its reputation by not paying and that's why it's going into the toilet. Because she is afraid. Afraid that the world really IS this highly organized and monolithic conspiracy. Afraid she won't ever escape it. Afraid that even her country, that she was taught the opposite about in grade school, is a willing participant in this world conspiracy. Poor kid!

So now that I won't have to work on Halloween, (I probably would have worn a costume and the kids would have LOVED it!), I have worked my last for Huasheng and I feel ABSOLUTELY GREAT about it! All day today I have been humming a happy tune. The fact that they have stolen from me, or cost me the depressing amount of about 15000 bucks, probably more, I have to chalk up to experience like all the other rip-offs I have endured in my ESL career. How am I doing that? The way I always do: I am travelling. I'm gonna go to Korea this weekend and visit Amber, DB, Heather, Mike and the kids and Gord is flying there from China too. He's my friend who has worked at the Australian school in Shenyang for years. So we will all drink some good Korean beer, watch some Korean Series between the Kia Tigers, (DB, Amber and my fave), and the Doosan Bears, (Heather, Mike and family's fave). I will also stock up on much needed supplies and probably get a couple teeth filled.

Then I'll return to a much easier schedule with infinitely less stress. And heat will be on by midweek too! I'll have a little over a month to teach then I'll be done for a couple months or more. Then I'll either continue working for the university by transferring my visa to them, or go to the job in Shenyang and get a whole new work visa. This nightmare with Huasheng will fade to just an amusing few blogposts.

 But the fight against injustice in the world will go on! Fear not, readers. Even if I land that job in Shenyang and love it, I'll find something to write/complain about.

On My Own Over Here

Feeling a bit lonely. Don't rush for the box of Kleenex just yet, I'm not the kind of guy who would go on Survivor for a week then bust down into sobs when I see a family member or friend I haven't seen for seven days. Those are always the WORST episodes!

I'm not like the guy from Mr. Robot, who curls into a dramatic ball now and then and just cries from his loneliness. I wish I were him. I'd take the loneliness if I could hack my employers and put them out of business. I have a hoodie. Wearing it now cuz I have no heat in my apartment. By the way, GREAT show!

I go years without seeing family and friends with narry a tissue worth of tears. It's just survival. Forced onto me by a country I just outgrew. I have always had a yen, (pardon the pun), to see the world. I loved Rupert The Bear, Tintin and a few other books where you can find pictures of other countries. They seemed like other planets to me as a boy.

 

Here's Rupert with Tigerlilly. Her father is a conjurer and they fly in the clouds and find a dragon. I forget most of the story but it was one I loved to re-read when I visited my Grandmother and Grandfather's house as a boy. We didn't have Rupert books at home. I still remember wishing I could meet a real life Tigerlilly on my own.

But we DID have some Tintin books. Both of these series' are old, even by MY standards, but nostalgic for me. Even old enough to have a little bit of racism in them. But I didn't notice. I loved the architecture and the total foreign-ness of the pictures. Like this one:

 

It shows things a lot less crowded and cleaner than what I have experienced, but the Chinese hustle and industriousness is accurate. The architecture and clothing, though some is more modern, is still almost as foreign today. And I just love the adventure of seeing different cultures!

But I have to admit feeling a little bit like the Thompson brothers. I'm trying to fit in and get along here but feel less like a Wae guo ren, (foreign country person), and more like a Laowei, (slang, offensive term more commonly used. Like "gringo" in Spanish.), all the time.

Right from the very first day I was in China and my employers virtually abandoned me saying, "Welcome to a huge city in the most populace country in the world where you don't speak a lick of the language! You're on your own! Find your hotel with no directions from us and don't be late for the meeting early tomorrow morning even though we won't tell you how or where to find us."

I thought I was going to be okay when I moved to Taiyuan because Faith showed some intelligent concern. I say that because it's remarkably uncommon. I sometimes get asked by students if I miss some things from home. I usually talk about the food I miss and they always have the same, unhelpful answer: "Just buy it online." It's not, believe it or not, just the fact that all the online websites for buying stuff here, (Taobao and Ali Baba are the main ones), are impossible for me to use due to my Chinese illiteracy, it's also got to do with banking. Foreigners have special accounts that do not have the privileges you get if you're a native. Then if you can navigate THOSE problems, you need a mailing address. That's notoriously undependable. And if it's a package, you have to go to the right location, which will be on the card in Chinese and you won't know where it is so you'll need someone to help you with that. And people have told me that even if you go to the right place with the right card, and see your package behind the counter, they STILL might tell you there is some more paperwork or bureaucracy required. It's just not worth it. Like just about everything in my experience so far, and I'm serious about that, just about everything is at least twice as hard to do here.

I just got up to get a glass of water. Let me run down the procedure to illustrate what I'm talking about. To GET drinking water in the first place, I have been given a card. I wave it in front of a sensor on a wall-mounted water machine then choose hot or cold, (the Chinese and their hot water!!!), put a container under the spout and get the water. It's up one floor in my apartment, but at least I don't have to go outside to get it. There's that "at least" thinking again.

In my old place I brought jugs to work, filled them up and carried them home. So far the water has been fine. As far as I know. I usually get it at night here, which causes a bit of trouble. See, the hallways are not lit up. The lights are on sensors. Not motion, but noise sensors. Chinese volume noise sensors. So in order to see if my jug is nearly full I have to stomp my foot or yell or cough really loud to get the light on. I'm sure it's annoying to the people who live on the third floor.

Since my fridge no longer works and, despite my telling the correct people, despite asking for the use of one of the two in the spare room on the third floor opposite the water machine, I still haven't been given permission. My fridge is just a lighted storage box for food. The weather here is cold enough now so that it's warmer than just keeping the food out. My freezer is a bit colder than fridge temperature so I can't keep the water in there, but I can't make ice cubes really. I make cubes full of water. So that's what I put in my water so I can have a cold glass of water. When I'm done, I'll fill a tub with hot water in my shower, put it in with some other dirty dishes and wash it beside my bathroom sink, rinsing it under the same tap where I wash my hands, shave, brush my teeth etc. As I always say, it makes for fun stories, but it really sucks while you're going through it.

I'd like to go shopping and buy some stuff like cheese, milk, meat, ice cream, just think of all the stuff that you can't buy without a functioning fridge! It's forcing me into eating habits I don't like. And eating, as anyone who knows me can testify, is very important to me. But I do most of my own cooking. Even in Korea where I like ALL the food, I didn't usually eat out. Here, where I have yet to find anything that has wowed me, it's even rarer for me to eat out. And I'm being nice. The fact is, I don't like the food here. Everything is street food. And it's not even GOOD street food like chicken skewers in Korea or yaki mandoo or beef/cheese ramyun. It's average at best. I eat it just to fill up. By far the biggest discovery to me has been the little chicken burgers one place on campus sells. I usually buy one of their burrito bread wraps so they aren't insulted at my only buying the chicken burgers, (which I think they buy from a 7-11 somewhere). The wraps have egg, cucumber and lettuce, which I like, then there's a strip of mystery meat that is marginally better than spam, some brown sauce painted on, some unidentified pickled veggies and a squeeze of spicy powder. They're not bad, but I can't see myself ever buying one if necessity didn't dictate.

And it's not like I'm not trying things. I have tried MANY things that I couldn't even finish. I mean spit out what's in your mouth and throw away the rest bad! Like today with the shrimp chips I bought. I like Saewoo gang, the Korean shrimp chips. The ones I bought today were spicy shrimp chips and I nearly puked when I bit into one. They're at the bottom of my garbage bag as I type.

This is what I'm talking about. The Chinese ones were shaped identically and most likely made of similar, but cheaper and easier to mass produce stuff. And the flavouring was a nightmare! Awful!

Even the one meal that I need to eat to get my veggies and cut down on my bread, my chicken stirfry, has become more challenging for me. There are easily bought veggies right on campus. Fruit too. So if I wanted to really health out, I could just eat them. I actually did that on my day off. I cut up some cucumbers, carrots, green peppers, celery and just made a dipping tray. What, you might ask, did I dip them in? Well ranch dressing can't be found. Dip mixes are not available. A cream cheese and spice mixture would be good if I could purchase cream cheese, spices or other dairy products needed. Even milk is at a premium here. But, I find myself doing this constantly too, I improvised. I had made some pasta with Ragu roasted garlic and parmesan sauce. I put bacon and green beans in it. It was excellent! But I didn't use all the sauce and my "fridge" wasn't keeping it cold so I needed to use it. It became veggie dip. Not bad, but just not the same.

But my stirfry is now not as good because I have to cook it in the wok that I explained in another post, has the stickiest cooking surface known to man, but it's the only kind of cookware I can use with the electric burners I have. Oh there's a gas stove here, but no gas. "Could I get that hooked up?" I asked when I move in here. I think the answer was something like, "Hummina hummina hummina."

The more I think about this place, Taiyuan University of Science and Tech., my GOOD employer, the more I get a twinge of being completely on my own here. And it pretty much started right away too. I was put to work in late August and I still have not been paid for those hours. I have confronted the person in charge of that by text and in person about 5 times and so far have received nothing but the runaround. I think she wanted me to think she FORGOT about it and not say anything. She's an Asian woman. She's an Asian woman who has been put in charge of accounts so is even better with money, presumably, that other Asian women. This means she would push her best friend into the mud to get a 1 RMB coin they both saw on the ground at the same time. Chances she forgot to pay me: less than zero. One time I texted her and got the reply, "I'm not in town right now." Then the other day I bumped into her on campus and she asked if I'm doing okay so I reminded her of the money. She quickly excused herself to get a taxi she said was waiting and mumbled, "I told George not to give you hours in August." Funny thing is, she was AT the table when I was told by George that I should start right away. She didn't say anything. She printed out my schedule and it included August starting dates for some classes. She went with me to get my bank account and mentioned that we need to do this so we can pay you this month. THAT month. That month was August. Chances that there really was a taxi waiting for her: improbable.

I went up to talk to someone in the office two floors above me. Cindy and a guy I call David are the two people up there who have offered to help if I need stuff. So I mentioned that I have no heat. David came down and fiddled endlessly with the air conditioners, explained the settings to me, didn't answer my other questions with anything concrete, then left. The aircons were on for a few hours and the place was no warmer. But the heat will be turned on at the beginning of November. We'll see how good that is.

I asked about a new fridge and was ignored. I asked if something could be done about the shyte internet and how I have had to alter lesson plans repeatedly because of it. He thought it would make me feel better knowing that THEY are having trouble too. He mealy mouthed about someone maybe coming to fix it but it's no better. I also asked about the computers all over the school and explained how they have messed up one of my USB flashdrives and cost me some important files. The response was that he'll ask George to ask if there is a technician...blah blah blah. Nothing will be done. George, the guy who speaks English the best of the three, is the guy who did most of the talking at the meeting when I agreed to work here. He scheduled 6 hours of classes for me at the South Campus and didn't tell me where to catch the bus there or how to get to the room where I teach. He also neglected to mention two scheduling changes and gave me the wrong starting time for one of my classes. He assigned me a TOEFL class and a Survey of Major English Speaking Countries class and I requested books or ideas or any help at all. I got it AFTER the classes had started. It really didn't help for either class and, here's that lack of intelligent concern again, he told me to meet him in the pink building beside the library. Well it was just dumb luck that I knew where the library was. Of course Chinese people all go there, but why would I? There are no English books and I can't yet read Chinese though I have been here studying once a month for over a year now.

There are pink buildings on both sides of the library. I just chose one. He gave me the room number. In English. But the rooms didn't have numbers in English. I know it sounds weird because the Chinese use the same number we do, but they have characters for their numbers as well.

Okay, one to three I have under control but if I'm looking for numbers, I'm certainly not going to notice them. His office had the room number in Chinese characters. He didn't think to mention that. We ended up having to call each other and meet outside the building, (I had chosen the right one and actually walked past his office). And HE was the one who acted annoyed! Like I should have been able to locate him. He might as well have given me the hand signals. Yes, they have those too and they are not the same though the general public will assume you know them. One little shithead at one of the stores near my old place, where they actually ripped me off a couple of times, charging me the Laowei price, tried a few times to tell me the price in the hand signals. "I don't know your fucking hand signals, but here's one for you!" I wanted to say. I didn't say that because, like the Thompson brothers, bless their bumbling, Belgian behinds, I was trying hard to fit in.

Liu is 6. I know that one cuz they, borrowed/stole the hang loose gesture from some creative genius Hawaiian surfer, (I'm guessing), and say liu liu liu to mean cool. Interesting... cool in China is 666. Isn't that a familiar number??? It's one that appears on the spawn of some evil, evil entity in the world. Who is it again???

Ha ha ha ha!

Anyway, I can rest unassured that THAT problem will be solved at any time in my future. And twice while he was here I mentioned to David, the little scam Cindy ran on me with the August pay. It's not a lot of money, but I am already thoroughly sick of being ripped off here. He got this weird look on his face, a kind of, "hmmm... what's going on here," look but gave me the perfunctory, "I'll talk to Cindy about that." And once again, these are my GOOD employers. I'm getting paid 7000 a month here for full time hours. That's a bit over a thousand American bucks. I prefer to think of it as 1300 Canadian. But still I have to go WAAAAY back to my salad days to remember a salary like that. You'd think the apartment that comes with that would be palatial! I can't even get a fridge that works, heat or a kitchen sink!

And then to add to my solitary melancholia, my original employers. Since the massive screw job, you'd think they would be treating me like gold, not slashing my profits to nothing. I seriously have been here for 8 months and am just now reaching the amount of money I had when I came here. And when I quit, it was made quite plain to them that without me, they have nothing. I'm their only teacher. So I AM gold. But if anything, they've been worse. Not a week goes by without some major fight. This week was payday. Because they have the month and a half stagger, (used only by crooked employers who know their employees will quit and leave suddenly, because of being mistreated no doubt, and they, the employers, want a whole pile of the employee's money when he/she takes off), I have made 12000 RMB by payday, that's close to 2300 Canadian dollars! So I don't want to be stiffed for that! But a month ago, when I was paid 5 days late and 3000 RMB less than I'd earned, I suspected I'd be ignored at payday this time. As it got closer, and we had argument after argument, I was feeling worse and worse. This is stress I don't need working 9 different classes with about 350 students.

Payday was on a Sunday. Back in the good old days, when Huasheng actually WAS paying me, I think there were two paydays that fell on weekends. They paid on the Friday before. This time, they didn't. But I didn't get too worried thinking it must have been the new, useless and thoroughly annoying HR girl they have there. I think she's in charge of putting money in the bank. Then Sunday rolled around. Nothing. Again, I was going to give them the umpteenth benefit of the doubt. My doubt is running out of benefits for these guys, lemme tell you! Monday nothing. Tuesday nothing. I tried to reach three people and was ghosted for two days by all of them. I was pretty sure they had just decided not to pay me. 12000 RMB down the toilet. "Hey, a whole case of beer beside, (not inside where it should be), my useless fridge. Why, I think it's about time to do the end of employment day off." I says to myself. This is something I've only done a few times at places where I had totally decided to quit. I drank about 22 beer.

The next day my phone was ringing off the hook! Because it was time for me to make THEM money. NOW they had to stop enjoying the little game they were playing. When they called me and told me I had to work I told them I was sick. Here's how much I hate the Chinese lying culture and will NEVER be able to fit in: I drank my face off so that I'd be able to half honestly say I was sick. A hangover IS sick, sorta. They annoyed me all day long asking if I was feeling good enough to work, asking if I could go in and just not say much... I just told them there was nothing they could do. At the end of the day I went to check my bank account. Guess what.

Once again, be an asshole and you get rewarded here in China. At least where I work. But I can't keep this up. I have a bit more than a month left in the semester at TUST and my contract with Huasheng. I really want to just quit right now because I STILL think Huasheng will stiff me one of the next two paychecks. I think TUST will pay, but who knows? They're all part of the same hypocrisy. And just when I thought I was out, they keep dragging me back in.

I am REALLY hoping that I can get on at an Australian uni up in Shenyang where my friend Gord works. I have been in touch with them and given my CV and they have said I would be a suitable candidate. We are waiting for word from above, but once she receives it, Donna, the girl who I hope will be my boss soon, will call me in for an interview and we'll get some paperwork done and by next semester, in late Feb., early March, I might be out of the Chinese wok and onto the Australian barbee! EVERYTHING about this job is better. I sure hope it pans out. So in my solitary darkness, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I hope it's not an oncoming train.

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The Whole World Is Failing Kindergarten

I read a few polls taken in China, ranging anywhere from 2% to 49% in things like being "engaged" in your job, "job satisfaction," "liking your job," and a couple other ways to describe being satisfied with one's employment. Factored in here must be the chances of getting accurate information out of China, which, admittedly, isn't as hard as it once was, but still not easy. Also all these people surveyed HAD jobs before the survey and there are MOOOOORE than enough people to replace them AFTER the survey. If you know what I'm saying... So I'm absolutely shocked at the results of this survey done by Gallup that came up with only 6% engaged in their jobs! And probably 5% of those were just too scared of losing the jobs they hate to say anything against their jobs that could be construed as grounds for firing.

And it's not only boring factory jobs like this poor sod in the pic. It's lots of other jobs too. Jobs that are sometimes interesting. The main reason, I read in another article like this, for dissatisfaction is the main reason anyone gets a job: money. Chinese are still woefully underpaid even though salaries are going up around the country. I did a speed dating exercise in a class where some of the boys were chosen as eligible bachelors and several groups of girls had to interview them, (like the job interview you get on a first date), then decide which bachelor they wanted to date. I told the bachelors to lie all they wanted to make the girls love them. Of course one of the questions asked by all the girls was about salary and even though I had wild and outrageous lies being told like one guy was a North Korean spy, another was the father of 42 children, the most fantastic salary given was less than I'm making here. And I'm making less than anybody I know. I kinda felt a bit sorry for those kids. Because with that kind of thinking, I know they'll all get jobs standing in front of restaurants in the summer heat dancing around in a teddy bear suit full of their sweat for 12 hours and they'll be deliriously happy with a few bucks an hour for that. Until they realize how much more they should be making. Then every second in that sauna suit will haunt them.

I want some people around here to like their jobs. I need the bus driver who takes me 4 times a week to and from the South Campus here to be ENGAGED in his work. I don't want him grumbling under his breath, "Look at this guy. Thinks he's so big, well, he IS big, but thinks he's so great cuz he's a university teacher. He's no better than me. From Canada. Who cares? I could go to Canada. If I had just ONE more mark on my university entrance exam. One lousy mark, or just the money to bribe a person to give it to me! THEN he wouldn't think he's better than me. THEN I'd have a job where I don't have to work holidays and weekends to feed my four kids. Oh curse my superior reproductive genes! Curse the one child policy! AH TA MA DE!!!" Then he jerks the bus off the bridge or into oncoming traffic. I don't need that right now in my life. The driver's wife and four kids don't need that. The other people on the bus don't need that. The thousands of friends and family members of all involved in the accident don't need that in their lives. THEIR friends don't need that.

So, pay a bus driver a little bit more and make thousands of lives better. Could it really be that simple? It certainly could, and it is just as simple in reverse. Screw a worker a little bit more and make thousands of lives worse. THAT in a nutshell is why life sucks more and more in direct proportion to the increasing income disparity throughout the world. I'm sure of two things: this, and that I'll never be able to prove this. But can you disprove it? Can you prove that the reason a friendly stranger said hello to you today wasn't because some cardboard collector in China just discovered recycling depots are paying a little more per kilo of cardboard? It could be! Or can you prove that the person who put gum in the pay toilet coin slot didn't do it because some Chinese businessman had to sacrifice his golden week family holiday to go into work three days in a row without pay? That could be too! The butterfly effect they call it, isn't it? I didn't just think this up.

It does my head in that the solution to all the indescribable suffering in this world could be so simple. What did it say in the Bible? Something like "From the mouths of babes and sucklings comes perfect praise." Yeah, cuz they haven't been infected by the avarice and greed of the world yet. If you want to know why the world is so full of pain, anguish, horror, squalor and filth, it's basically because all the people with any power, the rulers, leaders, dictators, bankers, captains of industry, and the owners of the companies we work for, are almost all failing kindergarten.

Everything we learn in kindergarten, (and I've worked in several kindergartens in several countries, we all teach our kids the same basic things), gets replaced with euphemistic phrases that mean essentially the opposite. Let me give you the example I hate the most: In kindergarten we're taught not to cheat. "Cheaters never win. Winners never cheat." When we get out into the business world and learn that adults HAVE TO cheat, we then start saying, "It's just business." In kindergarten, we're taught not to bully. In real life we say, "Hey, don't take it personally. I'm an equal opportunity asshole." In kindergarten we're taught to not do bad things. As an adult we say, "If I didn't do it, someone else would have." In kindergarten we're taught to be patient and wait our turns. As we get older we learn that he who hesitates is lost. We pride ourselves on spontaneity. But it has been wisely said that "intuition is the suspension of logic due to impatience." Patience is but the art of concealing our impatience. But it seems a lost art in the fast paced world of today. Lost along with our childhoods I suppose.

And what about honesty is the best policy? That's about as rare nowadays as an alien abduction insurance policy. (And those actually DO exist!) Honesty as a policy though, I'm not sure IT still exists. If it does, it has to be in a little child who hasn't yet learned to lie. And how can you blame the kids for learning to lie? We lie our asses off to THEM! Santa, Easter Bunny, fairies, ghosts, you can do anything you put your mind to, and then we ask, "Did you take the last cookie? Be honest." The kid should  just say, "Should I be honest or should I be as honest as you've been to me?" BAM! Cookie earned!

My Mom used to call it, "Telling stories." "But Mom, I think I saw Jeff opening the cookie jar." She'd say, "Are you telling me a story?" "No, really! He had chocolate on his hands too! I saw it!" "If you're telling me stories, you'll get it!" I usually WAS and I usually DID. I put my faith in the story over the truth because in the story, I was such a nice little boy! Even sometimes when I got cracked with the wooden spoon I would feel a little self-indulgent outrage having almost completely convinced my SELF I hadn't taken the last cookie. I believe the mental ailment that allows people to ignore simple rules of honesty and morality in favour of their selfishness, is when they become such horrible people that they either completely deconstruct due to self-loathing, or they slip into a mental state of defensive conviction that they REALLY are good little boys.

I am living in a society that actually encourages the latter! It's bizarre! Not long ago, when I quit for the first time, I talked to some people here at the university about just quitting the other job I have and working for them. But since they pay a very low salary, I wanted them to allow me to work part time elsewhere. The person I was talking to knows another friend of mine here and I received a call almost immediately from her. It's Faith. I have mentioned her before and have said that I have faith in Faith. This day my faith took a bit of a hit. She called me up and said, "Dave, don't tell TUST that you will be working somewhere else part time." I said, "Why not, honesty is the best policy, right?" She gave me a scoff I had received from a few Chinese people who heard me use the words honest and business less than a thousand words apart. She says, "Everyone knows everybody teaches part time a little bit, you just don't tell them!" I said, "Why not? It'd be fun to start a new policy here, wouldn't it?" Another, "Oh you're so naïve!" chuckle.

The unnecessary lie. I have seen so many examples of it over here in Asia! What do you say about a place that has so blatant a disrespect for honesty? Why would ANY dumb schmuck do business with them? Ahem...

Another example. Three times I have tried to buy a Kia Tiger jersey in my size. Three times I have been guaranteed the product and three times after waiting, (even after sending a shirt my size and not receiving it back!!!), they couldn't do it. That shirt I blogged about? The reason I call the movie, "The Big Short," "The Big Shirt?" THAT'S the shirt I lost. Of all the shirts I could have sent and lost, it's the only one with a story behind it! And why? Because of this culturally pathological imperative to avoid any unpleasant truth. Even though we all learned how to tell even unpleasant truths in Kindergarten! But as the saying goes, "If you practice anything a lot, you get good at it. Including B.S." And it must have taken endless gruelling deception workouts to come up with the following gem of self-cleansing: "It's only a lie if you get caught."

Call it what you will, "statement recalibration," "spinning," "massaging the facts," it is a lie whether you get caught or not. Simple. And I love these people who start statements with things like, "In all honesty..." "In truth..." "To tell the truth..." "I'm gonna be honest with ya..." like it's an exception to the rule. It certainly has been over here in Asia in my experience. That's why when people say, "Why, you must have had some great experiences over there!" I sometimes say, "Yeah, I have some stories. Yeah I have some doosies!" Meaning stories the way my Mother used the word, of course. The job I'm working right now is like the Stephen King of stories!

Then, of course, the big one. Playing well with others. Be nice to one another. As Bill and Ted said, "Be excellent to each other!" Again, kindergarten simple. So why is it so hard to do as we get older? It's because of greed. It's been infecting the minds of the white man since he came to North America. The American and Canadian natives had words for this disease of the brain. "Wasichu" or "one who eats the fat. Like Cartman who eats all the skin off the KFC while the other boys are helping bring the groceries in then leaves. Washichu.

 

It was also called "Wetigo." The white man suffering from it was called a Windigo and was said to comsume others souls and his own with greed. The natives understood this mental illness better than us because they were more advanced than us.

But what do we call it today? "Ambition." What do women call it? "Goals." When they say they want a man with goals. A man going somewhere. They want a mentally ill, selfish Windigo who will probably just be a big asshole. They don't know it because we're not very advanced. We're all FAILING KINDERGARTEN! But why are things like this?

Because we have this notion that good behaviour is childish. Kindness is weakness. Honesty is infantile. Being a good person is naïve.

But we start every child off with the exact opposite advice because we want them to succeed in life. Look, there are two logical things we could do here: Either stop lying to children and tell them that life is hell and teach them how to cheat people and get more than their fair share of everything to ease their suffering a little bit, or to have the adults stop being assholes to each other.

Now that I've written this out I realize which one of those would be a million times easier.

Talk about yer all time blog backfires!

War War is Stupid and People are Stupid

Trump is still in office. Of all the things labelled with that most overused of overused words, "amazing," THIS fact is perhaps most worthy of the word. And he's showing again and again the kind of support for the issues and the people who, (allegedly), got him the position. I still don't think there are enough reactionary douchebags in the U.S. or the whole world to get a guy like this voted into office but then I've never been to most of the states that were reported to be instrumental in his presidential victory. If you can't tell from the carefully worded start to this post, I don't believe for a second Heir Strumphmeister was fairly elected as president. But I haven't believed many of the elections in North America since I started following politics. (For the purpose of this post I'll say I have no idea about the elections in Mexico. You'll understand that later). I KNOW for a fact two elections in the States were faked. And the same number in Canada. This is in all probability the third for the US. But what do I know? It could be way more than that. I'll eat my underwear if it's less. How long before people stop nervously clutching their cherished belief that there actually exists a democracy in the North America? Actually, for all I know there could be one in Mexico, but then who the hell cares that they're part of North America? Do you think of them when you hear "North America?" Do you even think of Canada? The Mexicans might just be the most democratic nation of the three for all I know! Maybe that's why I DON'T know!

 

As for the States, apparently the very far right got Pumpkinhead elected and it was in the states that I've never experienced. I've only been just over the border to where Americans are very much like Canadians. Not down to where people are pluckin' at banjos and telling outsiders to squeal like a pig. So this would make him the president of the American reactionary douchebag. POTARD for short.

 

War Dogs. The bad guy in that movie. When he was arrested, did the arresters ask themselves, "Should we give him 4 years in prison or 4 years in office? In case you haven't seen it, it's a true story about one of these anti-social psychopathic guys who has no empathy for even the closest people in his life and how he became a huge hit in the anti-social, fuck everybody but you, business world. It's actually not a recent story either. The environment today is worse.

The very beginning of the movie is a stating of a fact that puts a whole lot of things abruptly and harshly into perspective. It's not a new fact but it's stated in a more matter of fact factual way. "What do you know about war? They'll tell you it's about patriotism, democracy, or some shit about the other guy hating our freedom. You wanna know what it's really about?" 2 million soldiers fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. One soldier's gear costs $17,500. It cost 4.5 BILLION dollars each year just to pay the air conditioning bills of these wars. War is an economy. Anyone who tells you otherwise is in on it, or stupid."

There aren't many things you can say about one country that include the phrase "more than all other countries combined." For instance, my country, Canada, has more lakes than all other countries in the world combined. Nobody knows that. Not even Canadians. Cuz we don't like to brag. But it's true.

It follows that Canada has more private fishing licences per capita than any other nation. It would be almost impossible, due to our low population, to have more fishing licences than all other countries combined, but just about everybody has one in Canada.

Australia plays more sports than any other country. For a country of 24 million, Australia punches well above its weight. They've won the World Cup in Cricket, Rugby League and Union, Netball, Softball, Women's Basketball as well as the Asian Cup in Soccer. Australia has dominated the medal tally in nearly every Commonwealth Games ahead of larger nations like England and Canada, and has finished in the top 10 in every Summer Olympic medal count since the 1992 Olympics.

You can't find an Aussie who doesn't play a sport. I've met a ton and never one who doesn't play a sport.

China executes more people every year than the rest of the world combined. And, as I have reported, albeit a bit tongue-in-cheek, they have ridonkulously low value for human life, other than their own. I am not going to post videos of babies being run over and people just walking by, because I have standards. But I can think of only a few countries where this can happen and China is one. I'm not kidding, I have the footage. They don't wait for other people, they don't care for other people, they don't bat an eye when they see other people in obvious need. I have seen Chinese people helping those in need so I don't believe the entire country is sucked into this evil just yet, but it's rare to see the good Chinese.

And the U. S. of A. has consistently spent more on its military, war, and weapons of destruction, mass or not mass, than all other countries combined. They have more school shootings than all other countries. They have more personal guns than anyone. Statistically everybody owns more than one. And they participate in more war than any other country. Watch the movie "War Dogs." It's their number one industry.

What my point is, is that a country's number one industry has massive effects on the character and culture of its people. This can be said in large countries about their provinces. The province of B.C. where I'm from has been known for forestry for a long time, but the REAL number one industry is a smaller tree carefully grown in hydroponic grow ops in Kelowna and pretty much every city in the province. B.C. bud is our biggest industry. And it follows that the top two cities where people are likely to smoke weed are Vancouver and Victoria. Both in B.C.

Indeed the U.S. is actually the most prolific producer of products in the whole world! There is not a single person in the world who would guess that except maybe a soldier. What the average person sees is electronics made in China, plastics made in China, toys made in China, clothes made in China, machines made in China, appliances made in China, even food made in China, but according to this article, the U.S. outproduces China by 40%. It's not the most reliable of sources and it strays away from far and away the nation's number one client for manufacturing, but, I've already told you, watch the movie, "War Dogs." The U.S. manufactures more MILITARY goods than China manufactures goods. That's why it's not mentioned in the above article, because it's not something most people can feel overly proud of.

According to this article the U.S. has lost over 42,000 factories since 2001. The Chinese make five times the steel the Americans do. Technology, tools, clothes, the article lists all the industries that America has gone from world leaders to lagging behind China in, but it doesn't mention the one reason America is still kicking ass in world production. The Chinese even make more CARS than the U.S. now. Can you name a Chinese car? So how are they still outproducing China and why don't you and I see, "Made in the U.S." labels on very many items? Unless, unlike me, you have been on the market for a firearm or ammunition lately.

So then, the question begging to be asked is, "How does this affect the culture of the U.S.?" I think the world has seen repeated and blatantly obvious examples of the effects of being a country obsessed with war. Las Vegas is just the latest example. Ironically, in the movie, "War Dogs," you find out that Las Vegas is the home of massive weapon shows every year. But the U.S. is not going to put any restrictions on its number one industry, public or national. Just like the Japanese won't abandon electronics, Russia won't abandon natural gaz, the U.S. won't abandon war as its number one resource. They will find newer and more convincing ways to justify it, but they won't abandon it. They have abandoned all their other industries to strengthen it. They've basically put most of their eggs into the war basket. In all other industries, there's some other country that can outperform them. Wait, no, in healthcare costs, private prison and war. And, again, we can see the obvious results of all three. But I'm ripping on war right now.

It is NO coincidence that the POTARD is Donald Trump, a guy who has already shown no hesitance to blow some shit up. So, Trevor, when you ask when the time is to seriously talk about gun control in the U.S., this is probably your answer. Not until they totally reverse their economic plan of the country for the past couple of decades. Until then, remain scared and armed. That is all.

I suppose it's safe to say that the U.S. is not ONLY depending on war for its economy. That would certainly be disastrous if for some reason there were no wars. And if the American government were honest and ethical in maintaining world peace and avoiding war, like they claim to be, it could be disastrous to their economy. If only there were a country to compare it to. A country that scared its citizens to death about possible invasions from, oh, let's say Greece and Yugoslavia just for fun, spent all their national food, social program, employment and development budget on building bunkers, training soldiers and arming the country to the teeth. Then nobody came to the war. What a sadsack country THAT would be! ha ha ha.

Oh, wait. That's Albania. Again, watch "War Dogs." But that's not going to happen to the U.S. They've perfected the anti-Albania plan. If war doesn't come to them, they just manufacture it. They're number one in the world at it!

So don't expect to see a drop in fishing tackle sales in Canada. Don't expect to see Australians staying indoors and taking up knitting. Don't expect to see the Chinese, well, bad example. We don't really see them doing what they do. One of the top reasons for secrecy and this crappy internet I have here. And don't expect to see the Americans getting along with every country in the world. They'll be in on wars they have nothing to do with. It's their bread and butter. It's their hot dog and apple pie. And, I hate to point out the obvious, don't expect anything but a coincidental drop in these mass murders in the the U.S. It's terrible every time it happens, but like the terrible storms that are increasing, try your best to get used to them. They're only happening because rich people want to get richer. And who are we to stop them?