Dinner

So it appears the 7.8 rict. earthquake killed thousands yesterday (also reported at 7.9 and 8.0).

In my apartment, the building swayed and I thought it was just me at first until I noticed my clothes that were hanging up were swaying left to right quite a bit. I was having a Chinese lesson at the time, and I told everyone to get out of the building, fast!

We got downstairs (6 flights, no elevator), and noticed we weren't the only ones who felt it. I had thoughts on the way down that it was caused by the nearby construction of a large apartment building, but I wasn't sure. I had a Mcgyvver moment, and decided to check the man-made river nearby to see if the water level had marked the stone wall of the channel, to help identify the nature of our experience. I couldn't see any water marks above the water level, so I was left to assume it was the nearby construction, but I still had doubts as the swaying of the building was very noticable, and it didn't seem possible that the construction had anything to do with it unless they hit our building with a wrecking ball, which also would have been loud and a much shorter physical experience (about 4-5 seconds of swaying vs. sudden impact).

None of it mattered because just after that, my Chinese teacher received a message on her cell, confirming it was an earthquake. Looking back, that's one of the remarkable things I noticed. Minutes after the event, millions (I assume) received the same text message. Whether it was a direct result of government panic control, or cellular service competativeness, we all knew what happened. Well, save for anyone who can't read Chinese ( ... like me. I get texts daily about the weather ...).

Today, I looked at my time and how I was spending it. Considering travel time and a few other things that consume time, I now realize just how booked my time is from Friday-Sunday. Considering all the things I need to take care of, I need to push my tasks back to Monday-Tuesday to stay on top of things.

I'm off to grab dinner.

Note 1: I have enabled comment posting, but pray I don't get random blog spams from strangers like "Nice post! Check out this porn site ...", etc.

Picture: NO PICTURE!!! ... I hate my ISP. So inconsistant, so unreliable.
Picture: Email me for a zip of photos from this day 13-05-2008.

The 7.8

I don't know, but I'm sure my internal richter scale isn't that sophisticated. That is, I couldn't tell you its value from my location, but I can tell you the swaying effect on the building I was in had me thinking I was about to faint.

To my family: "I'm fine, stop worrying" ... oh and "Please send money!"

I normally don't work today, but I did. I was hoping to track down my next appartment, but with work and class, I haven't been in one place long enough. I'm hoping one of my near future posts begins with "TASK COMPLETED!"

Tonights objective: Homework.

To my mother, "Happy Mother's Day!"

Picture: No picture. I still can't upload pics to my blog from this location.

... alas ...

8 days since my last post. I have tried every day to make a post, but from my current access to the net, it's next to impossible. I have limited and unreliable access to my blog at the moment. I can survive with the limited part, but the reliability part really drives a wrench through my happiness.

I'm still in deep water, as I have not yet found a new apartment. I did find one for more money than my 1st apartment, but smaller, less appealing, empty, and dilapidated. I found another, but it didn't feel right. I'm going to have to resume my search Monday. Saturday and Sunday are my heavy work days.

Although I have Monday-Thursday with no work, I would prefer having 4 straight days of heavy Chinese study. However, I must refrain until I find a place to stay.

If you're reading this post, then I'm rejoycing.

Picture: No picture. Limited functionality, remember?!

Checkpoint!

Ok, so it's Sunday, and I'm chewing away at my online studies. In fact, I had just sent an email to my instructor about a 9/10 on one of my previous assignments. I wonder if my great and amazing instructor Paul Gibson (he reads my blog) will permit and entertain a debate on the topic of the assignment in hopes of demonstrating my understanding of the course material pertaining to the assignment, and thus acheiving a 10/10.

I've moved my things from my old appartment to my first Chinese appartment, where my friend Chris still dwells. I'm only here temporarily, and this evening I'm off to look at 3 appartments. I don't exactly have a time limit on how long I can remain here, but it's important to me that I'm out on my own.

I managed to get my Friday/Saturday student evaluations completed, and still have 2 more classes remaining. It's surprising that it takes so long to write a paragraph for each student. Or maybe it's just in this way of keeping everything unique and personal, as opposed to generic copy/paste methods.

I haven't been to a hospital for my recent trend of allergy symptoms since last week, and I've decided not to bother taking any of these medicines. None of the 9 medicines I paid for are actually designed to deal with my symptoms, except for the 2 I hand-picked myself. Most of my symptoms are all but gone, save for the occasional sternutation.

Looking back, the only highlights of worth that haven't been mentioned yet are few:

1 Yesterday, during one of my last trips moving my things from appartment to appartment, I had flagged down a taxi, who told me not to get in, and proceded to ask me if I was from France. After I said I was from Canada, he got out of the car, and helped me load my suitcases. ... politics.

2 I named my kittens. I wanted to name them something awesome like "Butch" Rarrrrrrr!, or "The Stealth-paw" Vrooooo-shhhhh! However, they are both big sucks, so I went with "Sugar" for the white one, and "Pepper" for the dark multi-coloured one.

Picture: Pepper!