Bare Naked Larry

Back Home

It's been a few days since I made a post. I had real good streak after getting back from China, but I had taken a lot of notes while there so there had been a lot to say. There have been a couple of items in the news the last week that I had meant to say something about. Maybe I'll get to them this weekend.

Tomorrow I hit the road to visit relatives back in my hometown of Rock Island, Illinois. My Aunt Donna and Uncle Jim are from my mom's side of the family and I hadn't maintained very good ties the last 30 years or so. Last year's reunion after not having seen them in over 20 years was like being a comma victim that wakes up to find everyone around them is much older.

Nian will enjoy next year's Christmas with them I have no doubt. Her desire to be part of a warm loving close nit extended family is very palpable; a pity I can't provide her with more living relatives to satiate this desire. I am an only child both of whose parents have passed away. Nian is not close to her own parents and Chinese family ties seem based more on loyalty and duty than love.

I know I will feel awkward and out of place where I am going. A solitary soul among people whom I once knew well, but am now a stranger to. If Nian and Aiai were along it would feel more like a family get-together and less like trespassing.

On last thing that is a bit jarring is to spend time in a house that I hadn't visited in over 30. With all the things that have changed it is odd to realize there are still a few that haven't. It is sad also, knowing eventually my Aunt and Uncle will no longer be with us and this touchstone will be gone as well.

For close to 30 years I've been making my way through life largely alone. Now that I'm married it seems I will be sharing my life with more than just my wife and daughter. Family seems to demand more family and fraternity.

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I got lazy and didn't post this before I hit the road.

It was an enjoyable visit, but now I'm back home. Hopefully I'll be a bit better about getting some posts up this week. I have a couple of topics rattling around in the back of my mind -- some people would say "no wonder, there's plenty of room" :-)

Ghost Chaser

Nian is taking Aiai to the hospital today. Last night she had a high fever. Fortunately it doesn't appear too serious, her temperature is lower today, but they are going to give her some kind of inhalation therapy anyway; I'm assuming there must be some leftover congestion in her lungs. Aiai seems to get fevers and colds a little on the frequent side in my opinion, but Nian thinks it is a normal amount for a child of three.

During the night Aiai had complained about ghosts in her room and about them sprinkling grit in her eyes. She had wished for her daddy (me) to come chase them away. From Nian's description it almost sounded like fever induced delirium. Still I wish I could be there to do just that. I suspect my absolute disbelief in anything paranormal lends me a spirit-repelling aura to both Aiai and Nian.

I had mentioned before that many Chinese believe in ghosts and spirits, I had also mentioned before that my wife is somewhat equivocal on the issue of the existence of ghosts and spirits. I'm sure it's not a unique observation to suggest that fearing spirits hovering around the sites of the sick and dead is evolutionary adaptive in keeping people away from contagious areas in the absence of a modern theory of bacterial pathogens. Given how well abstraction works at solving other problems, it is not much of leap then for people to abstract all sorts of forces about them, good, bad, and benign, affecting the course of events and fortune.

Yes, I am saying an evolutionary trait that was good at motivating people to stay away from disease may have left us mentally susceptible to accepting the mythology of most major religions when it comes to explaining all the coincidences and ambiguities about us.

Perhaps I shouldn't be indulging in such dry academic pondering while my little girl is sick.

Heading Out

--- (the last catch-up post) ---

Actually yesterday's post was the last catch-up post, but I discovered one last post, the very first one I wrote as I set off to see Nian. After 20 posts I end up ending with the beginning

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I'm sitting at Willard Airport in Champaign County. I had been told that it had free WiFi service and had hoped to finish a few online chores before leaving as well as make a post to my blog. It turns out the WiFi is only free for U of I students and faculty, so I'm stuck only being able to make notes or play Tetris. I did bring some books, but I had really been counted on checking my bank account and 401K before getting in the air. Last night had been too busy with obsessing whether I had everything packed or not to get much else done. I do have a half-finished post from early yesterday, but now I can't get to it.

I was trying to multitask last night and tried to cut videos of our last family vacation, but my video editing software fought me at every turn. I paid too much for the computer, but it had been outfitted as a video-editing rig. Now after numerous OS upgrades the video software no longer seems to work completely (it won't burn the Mpeg's I made to disc) and when I visit the manufacture's website for patches to try and fix it they try to extort more money from me in the form of an upgrade that shouldn't be needed if they or Microsoft had had their acts together.

Three years ago when I purchased the Dell system I was going to do all sorts of marvelous things for the Canopy Club, but somehow those plans languished and my investment in computer gear was not well utilized. Though I was probably the first person in my area with HDTV and this though a homebrew setup with my computer. Now HDTV's are everywhere in my area and nothing special. My NEC 1350 projector was keen too in its day, but I had it for two years before there was any HDTV to display on it, which is what I bought it specifically for. Now it seems passé compared to HDTV's at Best Buy that sell for less than half the price and are far more practical in size and weight (my 1350 is over 200 lbs.!).

It seems doubtful Detroit Michigan will have free WiFi, but if they do I'll post this then. If not, there will be a quick series of posts from Guangzhou from the notes I'm taking along the way to my beautiful and anxiously waiting wife.

Last Leg

--- (another catch-up post) ---

Post 19 of my journey, I'm about 15 behind still in getting them up on the net. [actually now I'm only one behind :-) ] I'm on a twin engine Saab again on the last leg back from my China trip, perhaps the very same one that had started this journey, this time back to Champaign from Detroit instead of from to.

I feel vaguely I have let Nian down in some way in that I have been powerless to prevent these months long separation while we wait our her CR1 application. I had tried briefly to get a job abroad to make the two-year wait more palatable, but it seemed destined not to be. Our plans are now at such a stage that it is best I keep a firm grip on my current job while getting my financials in order for a house purchase in the upcoming spring or summer. I think a commodious private dwelling is the single largest inducement for Nian coming to America, apart from her love for her husband that is.

I don't feel I've done a very good job chronicling this journey though I've done far better than attempts in the past. It did seem as though we wasted much time together and yet other than our trip to Disney Hong Kong we didn't do much long traveling or see exceedingly exotic sights though we did take in a couple of museums which I think I neglected to mention. I think it was working on Nian's laptop and reinstalling windows that was the unanticipated time sink. I lost track of how many times I rebooted the contraption and swapped out its hard drive for various reasons. Activities spelled out perhaps in a little too much detail in previous posts.

Now I'm about 30 minutes away from returning to my quasi-bachelor life. I don't think I can relate just how much I know this separation is wearing on Nian. I sometimes wonder if it was fair to put her through all this waiting to be together permanently. Still I can't imagine a life without her now so it will just be a matter of racking up the frequent flyer miles to make our separation as bearable as possible.

The Puppet Show

--- (another catch-up post) ---

On Sunday, my last day before leaving China, we took an hour-long bus ride to the other side of Guangzhou to attend a puppet show with Aiai. Nian is most fervent that Aiai attend these culturally relevant events whenever practical. Luckily Aiai enjoys them immensely. They are certainly a spectacle to behold. While not Circ De Soliel they are elaborate enough for their setting which would remind you of a auditorium for a grade-school of perhaps 200 which is what I would guess the seating to be about. Today's attendance is sparse with maybe 50 adults and children total. The children of ages between perhaps 3 and 10(our Aiai being at the bottom of this spectrum) all sit in rapt enjoyment. Given the children's delight in the puppet show I can't make out why attendance would be so light -- a once a week one of a kind performance in a city of over 8 million.

I can't imagine a show of this kind being anything but sold out day after day if performed in a large American city, despite the rather hard to follow story lines of ancient Chinese folktales which take incredible turns of events motivated by magic for granted. Maybe this total break from reality is what fascinates the children so. I'm sure there are subtleties of underlining symbolism I'm not catching. Nain loves these stories as well, which surprises me a little since she holds my fascination with Science Fiction in disdain. She likes books and shows with situations that could occur to us today.

One story told in puppet form is an excerpt from The Monkey King. It disturbs me a little that this part of the ancient tale centers on a ghost that can change form to appear as ordinary folk, but whom the Monkey King can perceive and then dispatch. It is not hard to imagine Salem like witch trials in ancient China were ordinary peasants are accused of being ghosts in disguise and summarily executed. I wouldn't call belief in the ancient Chinese gods an organized religion, but belief in these phantasms echoes through China even today. Nian while Agnostic like myself is a bit equivocal on the issue of whether there are true ghosts and is apprehensive of entering unfamiliar regions in the dark. While this may be a practical foreboding for more mundane reasons, it is not fear of Earthly assailants that makes Nian falter in the dark.

Another vignette by the puppet masters was taken from The Dragon King. A tale Nian had tried to explain to me as we watched an animated version of it the night before with Aiai. Bear in mind I had only Nian's partial translation to help me follow what was going on, but it too was a tale with disquieting messages about family duty and sacrifice. Nian told me that she noticed love to be a theme missing from most Chinese children's stories. I found this a bit ironic in that she takes great pride in China and believes many of its ways to be superior to the West's. Yet in many ways has felt deprived of love most of her young life and eventually led her to marrying me, an American, who while far from perfect is at least open with his love.

Anyway, back to the puppet show. It was put on with four main types of puppets. First some small hand puppets, then some marionette, then some medium sized puppets controlled from beneath with hands and stiff wires, and finally some larger version of the same about 3-4 feet in height. There was also a very brief demonstration of shadow puppetry, which while not as large and intricate as a shadow puppet display we had seen in Singapore did have the benefit of color. Thee Chinese maiden portrayed was made in a traditional fashion from translucent stained donkey skin. The colors weren't vibrant like a modern photo gel, but still easy enough to make out.

After an hour's ride to the show and an hour back the day was well shot by our return home. I had computer matters to sort out as mentioned in the last post and after my last official Chinese dinner prepared by Nian's parents I bid my farewells to them and my daughter Aiai. Nain and I took a taxi to a motel for one night of privacy before I was to leave. Nian lied to her parents about the need for a motel room, as we billeted no where close to the airport and probably saved no time in transit. I love my daughter and respect my in-laws, but fair welcomed our night alone -- a melancholy time of joy and pain. Too bad exhaustion prevented taking more full advantage of our solitude.

Off Track Again

--- (another catch-up post) ---

When last we left the Calmer-Yang family they had been on an outing to the Arcade in one of Guangzhou's huge malls when Larry, your intrepid writer, went off on a nostalgic tangent about gaming.

OK, on with the story...

Nian had been upset with me for not having chosen a special song for us. I had made the mistake of letting it slip that Richard Marx's "Right Here Waiting" was Kathleen (my second fiancée) and my song at sometime on a past visit. It had been playing on the PA at a mall in Guangzhou, China. I tried to explain a special song isn't something you choose, but something that comes along. With that she opined that the theme from Phantom of the Opera could be our song to which I gave weak ascent.

After our trip to Disney Hong Kong I had taken to whistling several Disney tunes for our daughter Aiai and while at the arcade in the Mall it finally struck me that "I Will Show You the World" should be Nian and my song. I informed her of my idea later that night at home at which point we both got a little emotional, I guess I finally got something right.

For much of that last week I futzed with Nian's laptop, installing Windows from scratch, installed several vital apps to various degrees of success and succeeded in getting a valid key from Microsoft, though my first attempts had all failed. I should have arranged to get a newer install disk. My Dell disk was well over 3 years old and at a pre-Service-Pack-One level. It took at least a half dozen download/reboot cycles to get the laptop up to Service-Pack-Two level, which was crucial to getting Microsoft Office 2007 to work.

All this work nearly went down the drain at the last minute. I only got Service-Pack-Two to download after about 3 tries and even then some components may have been missing. I had to shut off the Sygate firewall to get the update sequence to complete and in that short time (short being relative here, as it took hours and hours for the updates to download even with broadband) a couple of nasty viruses slipped in under the radar. Service-Pack-Two Windows installs its own firewall and Sygate and the Windows firewall didn't play together nicely, not to mention the viruses that had snuck on board. With less than an hour to go I finally killed some processes that where keeping me from cleaning up the startup registry. I got one last update date downloaded before the taxi arrived to take Nian and I to the Hotel for our last night together before a 8:30am departure from Guangzhou.

I pray I have left her laptop in a usable state, but at least I also cleaned some viruses off her old hard-drive as well, so she can go back to that if my new install doesn't pass muster. I really would like to have had one more day of troubleshooting and shakeout to be sure it was stable.

--- OK I started to lurch off point about three paragraphs ago (again) so unless you are up for five long additional paragraphs about dealing with Windows technical problems and advice about OS upgrades I would just stop here and wait for my next post ----

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Still reading Huh??? OK, you were warned.
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I have an older brick of a laptop at home with Windows-98 on it, but I haven't even powered it up in the last year. Mostly because it's screen is broken and I have to use an external monitor, make it far less useful than an ordinary laptop.

I'm conflicted about Nian's machine. The hardware is fast enough and capable enough to do whatever she needs done, but Windows XP is such and ugly beast to maintain. Windows-98 crashed more often with normal use, but required far less upkeep. Then again, perhaps my old laptop would be instant chowder for the new crop of viruses and bots out there waiting to pounce on it if I ever actually put in on the net again (it hasn't been networked in over 3 years).

Vista is coming out soon. Nian wants to wait maybe a year after she gets to the States for a new laptop, but I'll be happy if we can just get along until she is here and splurge on a new laptop for her. Vista will have been out for over 6 months and any early bugs worked out, and we we'll get the max usefulness out a new release cycle. I definitely find buying new hardware at the beginning of a major OS cycle to be the best value. Microsoft has already dropped support for most everything before XP service pack 2. Apply patches is one thing, completely replacing the OS with a newer one is problematic for a multitude of reasons including quite a few I encountered over the last week in just trying to reinstall to the same OS.

My main work horse machine at home is no longer supported by Microsoft, only a little over 3 years old and now an orphan. I'm stuck at Service-Pack-One because of the BIOS I believe. Every time I try to install Service-Pack-Two I get the dreaded BSOD (Blue-Screen-Of-Death) and have to restore back to the last Service-Pack-One install point. I got brave about a month ago and was going to flash the BIOS to something newer, but I found my floppy drive no longer works. I have instructions for how to re-flash using the floppy, in fact I saw no instructions for doing so without. It seems maybe I should be able to flash from a USB dongle, but maybe that only works with newer machines (which mostly omit the floppy these days) and I would need to re-flash the BIOS before I had that option (a chicken or egg problem).

I have an older PIII machine scavenged from work to test porting Windows-XP to before I tried anything on Nian's laptop. Things went smoothly, but maybe because I was using a Dell XP restore on a Dell machine. Instead of a Dell XP restore on a Toshiba laptop as I had done for Nian. Anyway, I may swap out the floppy out to get my main machine's BIOS flashed so I can upgrade to service pack two so can keep getting updates that hopefully will keep the viruses away. Home computing shouldn't be this convoluted and hard. If Microsoft doesn't make maintenance easier with Vista I will definitely switch to Linux for home computing. The only real reason I stuck with Windows the last time was it seemed the only affordable path to video editing.

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Damn, I'm off point again! Oh well, see the next post for the rest of what went on Sunday.

Still in the Air

--- (another catch-up post) ---

I've had a short nap, maybe a half an hour, now I'm awake again. I hope I get drowsy again soon so I can sleep most of the remaining 9 hours to Detroit away. It is hard to know what enough sleep is, but if I get just enough sleep it will allow me to get re-synchronized with Central Standard Time more easily. I synchronized to Guangzhou China time quickly. I arrived late in the evening and was ready for bed. I ran out of steam early the second night, but after that I was good for the remainder.

Nian will be a little disappointed that the U shaped pillow she sent with me didn't work so well. It has a leak and didn't hold air long enough to bother with. She did also give me a pen to take along at the last second, one of slightly sentimental value as we found it on the floor of a train in China on the way to visit her grandmother. The pen I'm getting good use out of; first for forms leaving Guangzhou then for a Customs form on this flight. I never remember to pack a pen for these flights, although this is the forth time in a year I've traveled by air overseas -- a pace not likely to slacken until Nian's CR1 comes through and we are together again permanently.

Dinner is coming soon; I'm crossing my fingers about the quality. It doesn't smell bad, but its counterpart on the trip to China had been cold and unappealing. So far Northwest gets bad marks for food compared to United or Delta, though the stewardesses provide it in a timely and pleasant fashion.

In the choice between chicken and beef this time I told the stewardesses it didn't matter which and whichever one wasn't running low. This response seemed to get an inordinate amount of praise for being courteous. Not too worry Nian, the Stewardess is in her mid-50's and no where as cute as my sometimes jealous wife.

The first few bites of beef are not bad. If I remember correctly it was the second meal of the first flight that had been truly terrible (mostly because it was cold}, but Northwest dodges my food complaints at least with the first meal on the way back. And with that I will conclude this post to concentrate on eating my meal to be followed by what will hopefully be a long sleep.

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No nap yet, but I did finish my food. Except for some raw fish it all went down well. I'm sure the fish is tasty to most, or at least the mostly Japanese passengers on this flight, but to me I had to chew hastily then swallow quickly before experiencing a gag reflex. I think is more the slimy texture than the taste.

Since I'm still up I should say something about my last couple of days in China. I didn't have a chance to jot down many notes as the days were filled with activity from beginning to end. I can't remember if it was Saturday or Sunday that we spent a long afternoon at the Mall. We took Aiai to a loud noisy arcade on the top floor an proceeded to dump coin after coin in various machines of games of chance and games of skill. Though games of skill is a bit of misnomer when it comes to carnival type games as they always appear to rely on skill, but in the end it is random chance that plays a larger role.

I got a chance to satisfy my curiosity about the state of the art of video gaming in China, which would be on about a par with any large city in America. Though this arcade certainly had an over abundance of the simple kiddy games that were mostly variations on Whack-A-Mole. I didn't play any of the more adult shoot'm ups; which I saw getting their fair amount of play. This was fine because the outing was for Aiai anyway, but I was just a little disappointed that the games in Guangzhou weren't on some next level of gaming experience with more immersive features than in the States. Arcades seem to have stalled out in general as to what is offered. To be fair the arcade in Guangzhou blows away the arcade in Champaign Illinois where I live. That arcade, "Tilt", is a dark, drab, shabby affair with very old machines that all have various degrees of wear and image burn on their screens.

I remember in the late 70's and early 80's I would visit the arcades quite frequently just to see what was new, even thought I actually did little gaming. I just enjoyed watching other skilled players play and trying to piece out in my head how the programmers has programmed the games the way they had to work. While I still like to watch gamers play today, I no longer worry about trying to figure out the underlining programming which is now large and complex and no longer written from scratch, but based on 3D gaming engines that are tweaked and coupled tightly to hardware graphics accelerators. Gone are the days of the lone programmer with a clever idea for a simple game. Tetris was probably the last simple 2D game to gain wide popularity and it is probably over 20 years old.

I have a Tetris clone on my Nokia 770, but having seen TUX Racer in the arcade in Guangzhou I feel compelled to down load this game just to see how good a job by Nokia does at rendering a 3D game. I had noticed this title among a list of maybe 25 games available for free download for my Nokia. Plus Aiai would probably enjoy seeing her mom or I steer the little penguin down the snow slope gathering tokens Mario Brothers style. We'll let her play of course, but it is easy for a three-year-old to get frustrated with games that take a little hand eye coordination.

I also wouldn't mind a Pac-Man clone for my Nokia (maybe someone will port one soon) I know there is an Asteroids clone. Maybe it is just my age, but the 2D classics from my youth just seem more fun than running through 3D landscapes shooting things that the majority of today's games seem to consist of.

OK this post has definitely gotten off topic and out of hand, so I will finally stop here and start another post about my family's Sunday outing.

A Quick Jaunt About Norita

---(another catch-up post)---

I got to stretch my legs a little at Norita Airport in Tokyo. My flight in from Guangzhou China landed 20 minutes early so I had 15 minutes to stroll about before boarding. The food on the last flight was as unappetizing as it was unfilling though I had forced myself to finish it all. Nian would have been happy with me for the large exotic mushroom I downed. I now felt like getting some kind of American snack but everywhere I looked it was Japanese cuisine. I finally found a chocolate covered ice-cream cone with crushed nut sprinkles. Of course State side we just call them "drumsticks".

With less than five minutes to spare I strolled back towards my gate which I had already scoped out to double-check the boarding time. On the way I spied a McDonalds's sign that read "200 meters ->" Somehow I had missed this bastion of American fast food in my circumnavigation of the terminal. Just as well I suppose as the ice-cream cone was quite tasty, but had I spied the McDonalds's first I'm sure I would have gotten at least an order of fries.

Even though I was on a connecting flight I had to go through two more security checks at Norita, both thorough, but not as intimidating as the ones at Guangzhou where I thought perhaps they were going to ask me to submit to a body cavity search. Has something happened the last two weeks I'm unaware of to make security so tight or do I now fit some profile?

Our plane's boarding was delayed by 5-10 minutes for reasons never given. The Japanese flight attendants swarmed the first class and business class passengers to get them on the plane quickly and orderly, but we economy class hoi polloi were told to form a single file line on the right in an area that wasn't 1/4 the size to contain a single file line. I had seen exactly this same confusion at Norita last time. Tokyo is supposed to be a very modern airport, but why they designed the lounges the way they did is beyond me. How about a reasonable assembly area OUT OF THE ISLE WAY and with crowd control ropes to guide the travelers into an orderly queue? All they while they seem impatient with the economy class passengers for just taking up maybe a foot and a half square of floor space while waiting. I've been on crowed dance floors with more personal space. I guess the multitude of languages makes boarding by blocks of seat numbers impractical, but you'd think they'd devise something better than herding people around like cattle.

Maybe on my next visit the flight attendants will been issued cattle prods to keep restive economy class passengers in line. Of course if it comes to that I'll start to worry we are being ushered in to some Japanese abattoir to feed exotic Japanese tastes. I wonder what I would taste like wrapped in seaweed? Maybe it isn't Norita to blame, but Northwest Airlines who I will mention here so you know what to expect if you fly through Tokyo with them.

Top Ten Signs You Have Radiation Poisoning

It's been 5 months since my last Top Ten List posting.

I'm not sure of in how good a taste this week's Late Show Top Ten Contest category is, but I have none the less created my own Top Ten from it:
Top Ten Signs You Have Radiation Poisoning

Maybe this is the week I win a Late Show Top Ten T-Shirt.

Gotta Hand it to the Bible

I've been posting a lot of "catch-up posts" the last week and a half since I've gotten back from China. I have a few more to go before being totally back in "real-time", but here is notice of a new entry in my Slashdot Journal Judeo-Christian-Values Omit the Value of Freedom, an entry inspired by the recent treatment of Keith Ellison over his desire to be sworn into Congress with his hand on the Koran instead of the Bible.

Fire Machine From Leave To Throw In Box

--- (another catch-up post) ---

The title of this post may seem a little nonsensical, but that was the label on a clear plastic bin on my way to check-in at Guangzhou International Airport. The large collection of discarded lighters clearly visible at its bottom clarified what it was for. Had it not been made of clear plastic I might not have immediately ascertained its purpose.

Departure this time was sad as always, and a few tears leaked out of the corners of Nian's eyes as I made my way to check-in, but not nearly as bad as our previous partings. Then again there were plenty of tears in the hotel room we stayed in last night, one night totally alone before my trip back to Champaign Illinois and more waiting for Nian's CR1 visa to be approved.

I didn't think Nian and I had cut it too close to get to the airport, but there was a very long wait in line at check-in and after I had shown my passport there was the most thorough security check yet I have been through. Every inch of my carry-on searched, and despite having removed my shoes and belt and completely having emptied my pockets the walk-threw metal detector still went off. It seemed to go off for everyone. I can only assume its sensitivity was dialed up so high that just the metal in the zipper of my jeans was setting it off.

Having made it past the gauntlet of security I was immediately pounced on by a shuttle service provider who insisted I must board in order to make it to my gate on time. Only after seating myself did they inform me that it was $2. I paid and expected to be zoomed off, but no, we spent a couple minutes boarding a couple of other passengers in the small electric cart. I didn't understand the Chinese said, but I pretty much imagined they were being convinced they had to board the shuttle to make it to the gate on time. When we did take off, it was much faster than a brisk walk and it probably did save a minute or two, but I'm also fairly convinced I was in no danger of missing my flight, though it was mostly boarded when I got to the gate; no time for gift shopping or snacking. Five minutes later I boarded, but not before yet another security check and another thorough search of my carry-on on the entrance ramp.

Once on board there was a half-hour wait before they closed the door. They might have closed it sooner, but made an announcement at about the 20 minute mark they where waiting for a couple of final passengers to board. The plane taxied out 5 minutes after the doors closed, right on time for an 8:30am departure, but then we sat on the tarmac for another 15 to 20 minutes.

Maybe all the rushing is to get an earlier start on the taxi to avoid getting stacked up behind other planes and then delayed on the ground.

Next Stop Tokyo and probably another rush to get to my connecting fight. These thoughts all fade to noise however -- I'm already missing my Nian.

[Despite having taken better notes this time, there are still several small anecdotes about my time with Nian I have neglected to mention and hope to report on later]

Bittersweet Thanksgiving

--- (another catch-up post) ---

Today is Thursday, Thanksgiving and Nian's birthday -- my time here is growing short. My back and sore rib finally seen to be really improving today after 3 or 4 days of inconvenience, though I didn't let it stop us from doing things.

Right now it is lunchtime and we are eating at home. Nian's parents are laying out a HUGE lunch spread, ten items at least and they may bring out more. It is a special lunch for their daughter on her birthday.