Vacation - Part 3

Macau.

Vacation - Part 2

Taipei.

The Eventual Murder-Suicide Will be Hillarious

There was an episode of the Simpsons a few years ago where Homer watched a TV cop show where the character had the same name as him and he became a minor local celebrity because of it. These jackasses (not exactly as pictured) take it to another level. If you click on the link, you'll see they kind of look like brother and sister, which makes it more creepy. I wonder if they'll name their kids with all the same name.

Are You Fucking Kidding Me?

For some reason, which I have yet to grasp, I like CSI Miami. I prefer the original CSI, because, while still highly implausible, it's got a bit more grounding in reality. CSI folks don't shoot criminals, they don't arrest people, they might not even really carry guns in the real world, but on TV they're like a SWAT team. I'm starting to think I like it because everything David Caruso says or does makes me cringe. His lines and delivery are completely ridiculous, to the point where you think the writers must be laughing themselves silly trying to come up with even more inane things for him to say. In the several seasons it's been on, his character has literally murdered a dozen people. Granted, they were criminals, but he's a complete sociopath. And what's the deal with him and kids? Anytime an episode has a small child in it, he sits down next to them and tries to comfort them, but again he delivers his lines like he's talking to a murder suspect. TV. Meh. You strange addictive bitch.

My Vacation

I've been on holiday since Saturday, and I have done very little in terms of celebrating my temporary freedom from servitude. All of my close friends have left Hong Kong for their home countries, so it's been a little boring. There are still some distractions available to me, but they get quite tiring very quickly. So, now I'm trying to make a decision as to where to spend at least some of my time off. Some friends of mine have been asking me for awhile to come back to Taiwan and hang out with them for a few days, which I probably will do, but I'm not sure as to when. End of this month, maybe early August. I also want to go to Thailand for a few days to chill out at a beach resort. I've never been there, but everyone I know loves it, so it's a definite possibility. A little boring to travel on my own, but I'm sure I can find some form of entertainment in Thailand. After that, I think I'll head to a hotel in Macau for a few days, or maybe just a weekend. I'd like to spend some time at the casinos playing Texas Hold'em. Soon enough I'll be back in a classroom and waiting for the next holiday, just like every other teacher on the planet.

Editors note: I picked the slutty flight attendant pic for this posting because I couldn't find any other picture to encompass my feelings or intentions concerning my holiday. It's not a fetish of mine or anything like that - I've dated flight attendants, and the one thing they all had in common was their unending complaining about their jobs. Not very sexy.

Who's Watching Me?

I can see you, Bunny.

Stupidstition

When I lived in Taiwan, there were certain days during the month when businesses and citizens would burn copious amounts of "ghost money", essentially monopoly type money, to appease ghosts and to give their departed family members cash for the afterlife. I dated a lot of women in Taiwan who were terrified of ghosts and thought they were everywhere. To me, it's a ridiculous idea, and not just because of the pollution it adds to the air by burning all that fake money. Superstition is simple ignorance.

Since moving to Hong Kong, things have gotten even weirder in terms of belief in the supernatural. Recently, there's been a huge trial over the estate of a dead billionairess, and whether or not the money should go to her feng shui "master", who by all accounts is a lying douchebag, and is claiming to have been her lover. Feng Shui masters actually encourage people to burn real money, and not just a little, to help increase their fortune. Chinese people don't seem to see the contradiction in this.

And now, there is a father searching for his missing 15 year old daughter, whom he says fell in love with a ghost during a seance and probably went to join him by drowning herself in the sea. The local papers report this as if it were something reasonable, rather than speaking out against the dangers inherent in such dangerous beliefs. Sadly, she probably did kill herself over this, and I'm just shaking my head at it all.