Rants, updates, reviews and whatever else.....
HOLY SHIT! What this poor, devastated crushed young man must have suffered through! To HELL with the chick - she almost destroyed our proud town's football tradition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They released one of the Steubenville, Ohio rapists today......
.....but, I was just floored about what this kid's lawyer was saying regarding the trials and tribulations and hardships this kid has gone through - while NOT ONE TIME mentioning guilt or sorrow or sympathy for the victim and her family!!
Sometimes, it's people (and there ARE A LOT OF 'EM) that HAVE this sort of entitlement mentality that really make me reconsider if The United States is really a place where I want my children growing up.....and, if they MUST grow up in The States, it just makes home-schooling look better and better.....and I SWEAR I thought I would NEVER EVER make a statement like that EVER (because, in the past, I had always been scared of home-schooling, linking it to wacked-out Libertarians and Branch Davidians)!
READ HIS LAWYER'S STATEMENT UPON THIS ASSHOLE KID'S RELEASE!
It's just truly bizarre.......
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Overall, Chengdu was awesome. Tam and I both really, really enjoyed the city and we both really got into it! Now, while we both DO realise that going to a place on a four-day vacation is much different than actually RESIDING there, I have been pretty much dead-on about places that I had initially visited for a few days and then proceeded to live there! Chengdu gave me that feeling. IF the English Language instruction market in Hai Phong continues to be controlled and skewed in the manner that it has been over the last year-and-a-half, there is a very good possibility that we will end up going to Chengdu (or to possibly another city in Southern or Western China) for the short term.....at least until shit clears up here or the jobs scene in The States finally comes back to something resembling normalcy....
The situation really kinda sucks - I DO wish to return home to The States, and while I encounter frequent bouts of homesickness (ESPECIALLY after the Blizzard of '14 in Buffalo and the entire Polar Vortex thing), there are upsides to being stuck in Hai Phong. One obvious one being that I can (USUALLY) make a decent living here while I constantly read about the major crisis of the long-term unemployed back in The States (and I DO KNOW some who have been without work for more than six months). The fact that I AM able to work for myself in Hai Phong and not be somebody's little bitch and can avoid amazingly half-assed and sheer and utterly useless regulations that overwhelm any poor soul in The States that tries to make a go of working for him or herself does pay dividends in terms of personal sanity.......
.....but.....yeah.....it ain't home!
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We're in the dead zone right now between Thanksgiving and Tet (Lunar New Year) where everything drops off as everybody just works to save money (Vietnamese so they can really enjoy the forthcoming holiday of Tet and Tây to save ca$h to git the hell OUTTA here during Tet) - so gigs and clients are nearly impossible to come by!
The way that I HAD previously ran things was where private groups of students arranged by a client and business clients were pretty much my bread-and-butter, and I had one single class that I myself owned and operated! This class was actually a stress-reliever and was always performed for my personal happiness than for any sort of reasonable financial remuneration (I got awesome students in this class)!! Well, with the English Language instruction market being contorted like it has been in Hai Phong, we all know what happened THERE.
On a brighter note, however. It seems that I'm getting more and more new students joining this one class, and am going to be opening a second class directly after Tet! A couple more classes like this set up and thoughts of The States or Chengdu could be only a memory!
Did I ever mention to you just HOW stable freelancing is??
Believe me, it's NOT for the faint of heart, and whilst it IS immensely satisfying working for yourself and taking pride in your own efforts, there truly is something to be said about the simple stability of being somebody else's little bitch and KNOWING that that individual (or group of individuals) is going to toss you a regular and consistent paycheque every week......
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Was at the bar this past Saturday talking to a close friend of mine here from India. He was INFURIATED (as all of India is) about the entire strip-searching episode of the Indian Consulate worker in New York City. I had to explain to him that I actually CAN totally understand why what was done was done! The strip-searching part of it all, though, I really dunno about, but the rest - hell yes!
It had been repeatedly suggested that she simply be contacted and be requested to report to The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. COME FUCKING ON! After knowingly falsifying a United States Visa application, do you truly believe that she's actually going to SHOW UP? Her ass would be on the next flight to Delhi!! It would be explained as a simple "Foreign Ministry Personnel Transfer"!
My friend passionately argued that U.S Embassies and Consulates are United States soil, so that United States laws apply there! Therefore, since the same holds true for Indian Embassies - the house servant should not have to be subject to United States minimum wage laws and instead should be subject to Indian wage and salary regulations!
Which is a great thesis, 'cept that the house servant would never be allowed to leave the residence of Ms. Khobragade because THEN, said house servant would be OFF OF Indian soil and therefore subject to United States minimum wage laws (so no picking up the dry-cleaning or running errands). And the purpose of a Foreign Ministry's or Department of State's embassies and consulates is NOT to run an indentured-servant sweatshop!! I mean, like this house servant could go and grab a bite at McDonald's or pick up a gallon of milk for herself on THREE-DOLLARS-AND-THIRTY-ONE CENTS PER HOUR??? As IF......
Plus, being an International traveler and an ex-pat, there's one thing I discovered: DON'T FUCK with the VISA!! It IS thee holiest of holies! It IS a sovereign nation's identity, and visa fraud is MUCH MORE a psychological blow than an actual economic one to a nation! I mean, some grandmother lies on a visa application to get her grandkid into The States or some American does a sham marriage to get somebody in....THAT is bad enough!!
But for an employee of a nation's foreign service to do it??? In THAT position and capacity, you just don't pull that kinda shit......ya just don't!
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Trying out for the JEOPARDY ONLINE QUIZ tomorrow. Apparently, they draw contestants from the pool of those who successfully complete this quiz. This should be great forra laff, and personally, I'm not expecting anything at all out of it except a chance to sharpen my mad pub quiz skillz!!
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Annnnnnnd......finally, a few VietGlish pics taken from my local supermarket -
This fone was an amazing machine....but I paid a high sexual price for it! I just feel so.....so....so....so USED!!
....because, we all know how over-rated Route 66 is! It's high time that we start to boost Camp Road and the entire Village of Hamburg! And hats off to Big C in Hai Phong for taking the lead in this endeavor!!
Waaaaai......wait! You want me to WHAT on WHOSE bed while eating WHAT???
Arrrr......go france yourself!!
More next week......
-E-
HOLY SHIT! What this poor, devastated crushed young man must have suffered through! To HELL with the chick - she almost destroyed our proud town's football tradition!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They released one of the Steubenville, Ohio rapists today......
.....but, I was just floored about what this kid's lawyer was saying regarding the trials and tribulations and hardships this kid has gone through - while NOT ONE TIME mentioning guilt or sorrow or sympathy for the victim and her family!!
Sometimes, it's people (and there ARE A LOT OF 'EM) that HAVE this sort of entitlement mentality that really make me reconsider if The United States is really a place where I want my children growing up.....and, if they MUST grow up in The States, it just makes home-schooling look better and better.....and I SWEAR I thought I would NEVER EVER make a statement like that EVER (because, in the past, I had always been scared of home-schooling, linking it to wacked-out Libertarians and Branch Davidians)!
READ HIS LAWYER'S STATEMENT UPON THIS ASSHOLE KID'S RELEASE!
It's just truly bizarre.......
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Overall, Chengdu was awesome. Tam and I both really, really enjoyed the city and we both really got into it! Now, while we both DO realise that going to a place on a four-day vacation is much different than actually RESIDING there, I have been pretty much dead-on about places that I had initially visited for a few days and then proceeded to live there! Chengdu gave me that feeling. IF the English Language instruction market in Hai Phong continues to be controlled and skewed in the manner that it has been over the last year-and-a-half, there is a very good possibility that we will end up going to Chengdu (or to possibly another city in Southern or Western China) for the short term.....at least until shit clears up here or the jobs scene in The States finally comes back to something resembling normalcy....
The situation really kinda sucks - I DO wish to return home to The States, and while I encounter frequent bouts of homesickness (ESPECIALLY after the Blizzard of '14 in Buffalo and the entire Polar Vortex thing), there are upsides to being stuck in Hai Phong. One obvious one being that I can (USUALLY) make a decent living here while I constantly read about the major crisis of the long-term unemployed back in The States (and I DO KNOW some who have been without work for more than six months). The fact that I AM able to work for myself in Hai Phong and not be somebody's little bitch and can avoid amazingly half-assed and sheer and utterly useless regulations that overwhelm any poor soul in The States that tries to make a go of working for him or herself does pay dividends in terms of personal sanity.......
.....but.....yeah.....it ain't home!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
We're in the dead zone right now between Thanksgiving and Tet (Lunar New Year) where everything drops off as everybody just works to save money (Vietnamese so they can really enjoy the forthcoming holiday of Tet and Tây to save ca$h to git the hell OUTTA here during Tet) - so gigs and clients are nearly impossible to come by!
The way that I HAD previously ran things was where private groups of students arranged by a client and business clients were pretty much my bread-and-butter, and I had one single class that I myself owned and operated! This class was actually a stress-reliever and was always performed for my personal happiness than for any sort of reasonable financial remuneration (I got awesome students in this class)!! Well, with the English Language instruction market being contorted like it has been in Hai Phong, we all know what happened THERE.
On a brighter note, however. It seems that I'm getting more and more new students joining this one class, and am going to be opening a second class directly after Tet! A couple more classes like this set up and thoughts of The States or Chengdu could be only a memory!
Did I ever mention to you just HOW stable freelancing is??
Believe me, it's NOT for the faint of heart, and whilst it IS immensely satisfying working for yourself and taking pride in your own efforts, there truly is something to be said about the simple stability of being somebody else's little bitch and KNOWING that that individual (or group of individuals) is going to toss you a regular and consistent paycheque every week......
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Was at the bar this past Saturday talking to a close friend of mine here from India. He was INFURIATED (as all of India is) about the entire strip-searching episode of the Indian Consulate worker in New York City. I had to explain to him that I actually CAN totally understand why what was done was done! The strip-searching part of it all, though, I really dunno about, but the rest - hell yes!
It had been repeatedly suggested that she simply be contacted and be requested to report to The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. COME FUCKING ON! After knowingly falsifying a United States Visa application, do you truly believe that she's actually going to SHOW UP? Her ass would be on the next flight to Delhi!! It would be explained as a simple "Foreign Ministry Personnel Transfer"!
My friend passionately argued that U.S Embassies and Consulates are United States soil, so that United States laws apply there! Therefore, since the same holds true for Indian Embassies - the house servant should not have to be subject to United States minimum wage laws and instead should be subject to Indian wage and salary regulations!
Which is a great thesis, 'cept that the house servant would never be allowed to leave the residence of Ms. Khobragade because THEN, said house servant would be OFF OF Indian soil and therefore subject to United States minimum wage laws (so no picking up the dry-cleaning or running errands). And the purpose of a Foreign Ministry's or Department of State's embassies and consulates is NOT to run an indentured-servant sweatshop!! I mean, like this house servant could go and grab a bite at McDonald's or pick up a gallon of milk for herself on THREE-DOLLARS-AND-THIRTY-ONE CENTS PER HOUR??? As IF......
Plus, being an International traveler and an ex-pat, there's one thing I discovered: DON'T FUCK with the VISA!! It IS thee holiest of holies! It IS a sovereign nation's identity, and visa fraud is MUCH MORE a psychological blow than an actual economic one to a nation! I mean, some grandmother lies on a visa application to get her grandkid into The States or some American does a sham marriage to get somebody in....THAT is bad enough!!
But for an employee of a nation's foreign service to do it??? In THAT position and capacity, you just don't pull that kinda shit......ya just don't!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Trying out for the JEOPARDY ONLINE QUIZ tomorrow. Apparently, they draw contestants from the pool of those who successfully complete this quiz. This should be great forra laff, and personally, I'm not expecting anything at all out of it except a chance to sharpen my mad pub quiz skillz!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Annnnnnnd......finally, a few VietGlish pics taken from my local supermarket -
This fone was an amazing machine....but I paid a high sexual price for it! I just feel so.....so....so....so USED!!
....because, we all know how over-rated Route 66 is! It's high time that we start to boost Camp Road and the entire Village of Hamburg! And hats off to Big C in Hai Phong for taking the lead in this endeavor!!
Waaaaai......wait! You want me to WHAT on WHOSE bed while eating WHAT???
Arrrr......go france yourself!!
More next week......
-E-
4 comments:
You want to pad the bank account a bit? Every time you stumble across those weird t-shirts, buy them ALL and sell 'em online. TONS of money to be made on those types of shirts! No self-respecting hipster/Master of Irony would pass on buying any of those shirts.
Seriously. It could be a goldmine. Import/Export is a real business, yo. Consider it.
Cheers!
- V -
Ya know whass really funny?? MY NIECE actually ASKED me to find and buy a VietGlish shirt for her for Christmas!!
NOT a bad idea.....
Import exert import export … it could be your techno disco techno disco. Seriously, those t's could sell for $25-30 in the US.
If you make enough money at it, you could reduce your workweek from 12.5 hours/wk to 10 hours/week.
- V -
Import exert import export … it could be your techno disco techno disco. Seriously, those t's could sell for $25-30 in the US.
If you make enough money at it, you could reduce your workweek from 12.5 hours/wk to 10 hours/week.
- V -
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