Oh Mister Sandman…

Alright, I’ve been hiding behind the guise of working on my Web site for the last couple hours… but the time has come where I must owe up to the simple, undeniable fact – I’m afraid to go to bed. Very occassionally strange things happen to me while I’m asleep. I don’t sleepwalk so much …

Miscellanea

So, some things are finally changing around my site. As you may have noticed, I’ve worked out a different colour scheme. Now before I get loads of e-mails crying, “But Ryan! I like green…”, I’ve done this because I want a bit more coherency between my blog and my actual site. The site itself is …

Arrrg me matey!

China Imprisons Two Americans For DVD Piracy I’m sort of indifferent to the whole thing, but I’ll be a little disappointed if these guys have pooched my ability to send my steadily growing DVD collection home at the end of my time here in China. It’s also amusing that it stresses the “Americans arrested” angle… …

The Life Aquatic With Lei Rui An

“Simply click the link below to confirm your relationship with cristy.” God if the rest of life was this easy… Anyone else sick of getting these “Please join my mobile phone network” messages? The strange bit is each e-mail I get has a link at the bottom that says I only need to click it …

The Talk of Seychelles

Top 12 of 12 Total Countries#HitsFilesKBytesCountry1645341.37%332437.89%16418334.80%Network2312720.05%200522.85%9317319.75%Unresolved/Unknown3198012.69%106812.17%7630616.17%US Commercial4183111.74%130014.82%8811618.68%China512658.11%4915.60%212494.50%Canada65053.24%2963.37%138662.94%Australia72071.33%1721.96%49071.04%Japan8760.49%740.84%34050.72%United Kingdom9720.46%430.49%24130.51%New Zealand (Aotearoa)10390.25%380.43%21140.45%United States11340.22%340.39%20590.44%US Educational1280.05%40.05%60.00%Seychelles So, with a few hours to kill between cleaning my apartment and Sarah’s arrival, I’ve been cruising around my site checking statistics and stuff. The above chart lists all the countries visitors to my site logged on from during the month of March. …

So political

So, the recent nomination of my friend Derrick’s page Mask of China in a UK Web magazine has made me realize a simple, painful fact; I need to start adding value to this site if I want anyone more than family to read it. Adding some useful sections has been something I’ve been tossing around …

Where’s The Shenyang Gang?

I just got this somewhat belittling e-mail from Viv Evans at the Visa application department of the Australian immigration office. Basically it said (in not exactly these words), “Hey dummy…. you got a Transaction Reference Number when you applied for your Visa… stupid. But well, considering you’re such an idiot… here it is anyway:” I …

Jinzhou Jumper Party

Well, it’s gotten cold again. Perhaps I have softened over the last couple weeks and am just whimping out – but more than likely it has to do with the fact that it’s damn cold and now what little heat that was being hydrolically pumped into my apartment has been completely shut off. It is …

Love The Loveseat

There have been no sweeter words whispered in my ears since arriving in China than an early afternoon phonecall from Maggie asking if I was interested in a sofa. I had dropped a hint about a month ago to my manager Sherry that if the school’s renovations didn’t include space enough for the couch they …

Chinese Quality Control

It was a small victory for the Matthews last night when I finally had something negative to say about China. Basically it’s been growing in me for a little while now, and this recent bout of sickness brought out my hostility in a completely mild-manored Canadian way. I’m just realizing now the downside of all …

The Scene Scene

I think one of the most prevalent bits of realism that I’ve encountered through my course of travelling is just how limited in scope the cinematic experience is in Canada. When I was wandering around last year, meeting loads of interesting people, I was always amazed at how much movie knowledge they possessed. With two …