I’m really digging the work over at Laowai Comics. It says A LOT about what it’s like to live as an expat in China, and in fact, if you’re considering going there, you might want to check it out. Just start at the first post and go from there. With the visual medium, it’ll do a better job at preparing you than any written guides out there.

Highly recommended.

I’m tired of tone jokes.

I call them “tone jokes” for lack of a better term. You know what I’m talking about. Whenever a mainstream media outlet wants to demonstrate how difficult Chinese is, they find a syllable with the same sounds but different tones, and the tonal difference gives the syllables vastly different meanings.

The use of this trope betrays any real knowledge of Chinese at all. Depending on the word, it is very unlikely that in context a native speaker would take 问 wen4, to ask, with 吻 wen3, to kiss. Not only can I not imagine a context in which someone would take 请问 qing3 wen4 to mean May I kiss you?, I can’t even imagine why you’d have to ask in the first place.

Kissing is just one of those things where if you have to ask, it’s probably a bad idea.

“Mama! Mama!”
Among gunfire. The smell of death.

It is December, 1937. The Chinese capital is a bombed wreck. A young girl has become separated from her family, and with the help of her spirit-guide, she must find her way through the warzone. Set against her are the Japanese soldiers, and a far greater horror who stalks her through the ruins.

Available for $0.99 on the Kindle! Click here to buy!

UT football may be heading down the tubes, but the Alumni Association is still on top of their game. As a college graduate, you’re a prime source to replace the their dwindling state-provided funds.

One of them called me the other day. Here’s what happened:

Caller: Hi, as an alumnus of the University of Tennessee, would you like to consider making a donation to the university?

Me: I was a French major.

Caller: Sorry to bother you sir.

And that’s that. Haven’t had another call from them since.

To the three people and the cat who visit this site:

First off, thanks. I’ll give you people some beers, and as for the cat, how does a bowl of warm milk sound?

I’ve written a new article for Lost Laowai entitled A Few Signs your MA in TESOL Program is a Bad Choice, but on a macro level, it’s about grad school — specifically, who should pay.

I’ve given some thought to doing an MA in TESOL. After all, I taught it in China, liked it, so why not earn 5,000 RMB a month instead of a mere 4800?

All I need is a golden ticket.

Luckily, I found one, via a Google ad on a message board.

Read the rest here.

As for why I never update this site, two good reasons. I don’t like talking about every minute detail of my life. And besides, my life sucks. Who wants to hear about that? I once read a blog, written by a girl I knew. She accidentally dropped her cellphone in the toilet, and went on for over five pages about how horrible she has it. It has since been my goal in life not to be anything like her. So, no bitching about any “problems” I have.

The better, and truer reason is that I am working on a lot of stuff. Any leftover energy I have goes to articles for Lost Laowai or other expat sites (i.e. sites that have an audience). While I do hope this changes, for now, I have very little energy to devote to this place.

None of which of course means you should not visit each and every day. :)