Man I get it poppin in the club, everybody show me love

No no, no club this weekend. Saturday I ate breakfast around 10:10 and met one of Ruru's friends at La Mode. I retired to my room, watched 2 wonderful hours of the Sopranos and set out to watch Fast and Furious at Tiger City. I hooked up Gold Pass, ~30 USD for 2 tickets; included is your choice of food for about 12 USD (We got tea, fries and a spaghetti bolognese) and the seats are like business class; they recline to about 70 degrees!!!! Madd comfortable!

I enjoyed the movie; full of action, pretty good story; I just watch movies for the fun anyway; if they elicit emotion I enjoy it.

TB continued (I'm feeling dizzy looking at a computer screen)

That's so novice, I'm so polished, I got a little right to be snobbish

So young Tsuizzie karaoke'd "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and received applause; believe it!!!! I was told my deep voice would sound real nice for chinese songs and that I look like some asian singer? Who knows. I'll let you know which one when I find out the name and google.

Today I felt real dizzy due to lack of sleep and my stomachache from yesterday. I had a bought with KFC and lost (too much oil). I woke up today at 4AM w/stomach pains. During the day I really just couldn't focus and had to call it a day at 3. Went home and slept for 3 hr.

At around 7 Ruru picked me up to go eat at her bro's restaurant. It was a buffet of sorts. I got some mongolian cooked beef, fried noodles, an apple hand roll, salmon sashimi (a must) and some pastry w/frosting. It was all pretty good, but I ended up getting too much food and not finishing a lot due to my stomach. In asia, the people get pissed at you if you buy their food and waste it; the busgirl gave us a nasty face when we said we were done. Her bro even told me 3 times not to waste food although he knew my stomach was all jacked up. Oh well.

Afterwards she drove us to a cliffside where we enjoyed milktea and coffee while relaxing with a mystical view of the lights of a city (not sure which) below us. We basically pulled up to a cart on the side of the road; it has its own dirt parking lot w/plastic lawn chairs facing the city below. Really beautiful and soothing to relax after a long week of work with someone you enjoy spending time with. It really was just what the doctor ordered.

We spent maybe 2 hours there and eventually she brought me home. I think we're gonna go see a movie tomorrow at this theater where I believe the seats recline 100% flat like first class. I'll let you know how that goes...

It's the Abominable Ho Man

"747 410's, my cell phone just overloads"

So the last couple days have been very nice to me numbers wise. After the night market on Monday night. Aside from the the standard 1 day wait to contact, that morning I went down as usual to breakfast. There are 3 cute girls at the breakfast buffet working; 1 was there the first day as the hostess who is a little more curvy and uses her 9 rated smile alot. There is also a girl in white who usually cleans up after tables who looks really mysterious as her hair falls over her face over one eye. I think it really helps her attractiveness level; the closer she got, the worse it got (but she still is a 6 when all is said and done). The last one died her hair a bit reddish/copper color which works very well for her. I really like the tuxedo she rocks; really makes her seem extremely sexy and takes attention of her body which is really just not there.

I'd say that's a wonderful lineup to work with every morning. I noticed her eye contact with me lasted longer than the usual Hi, it's nice to see you; why are you looking at me so long, F you, look. This was more of a, I'm interested a bit in you because you're so tall, have such a sexy voice, look like a baller and most of all are so so pretty, but maybe that's just me. I was able to chat a bit with her, and used the opportunity to point out that I had not seen her the past couple days. She noted it was because she took vacation (looked happy I noticed) and said she attended a friend's wedding. She followed with, "It kind of sucks because I don't want to get married so sometimes I don't like weddings because my family members and friends start asking me." I recognized this from somewhere (hint hint: my ex-gf). This is a great comment to hear from a lady. I cut off the convo and went to work.

Wednesday was judgement day. I strutted into the breakfast area to find Ruru there smiling as usual. I really got talked into Ruru; I feel in life, sometimes when there is census telling you to go another way, I Follow the census; this happens w/music sometimes and w/chicks. I did notice the other two at first, but really got a lot of vibe from Ruru. When I left, I made good eye contact w/her and she actually talked to me to the point where I had to stop and stay behind. We discussed a bit about the fact that I'm not really great at Chinese. SHe then had to take a customer to a seat, and I walked off (the best thing to do is to NOT wait around for a lady.) I saw her go back to the hostess desk and waited a minute to walk back confidently, "Would you lke to hang out sometime?" "Yes" "Well can you write your # down? What's your name?" "Ruru, here it is."

We discussed that Friday would probably work; I left it at that. That afternoon I texted my girl Tutu and eventually got on the phone w/the youngster. I told her in the evening around 7 that I was indeed off from work and for her to call me after work (possibly 1230) if she wasn't tired, and if I wasn't asleep, I would go out w/her. She aked me several times if I was sure (as it is textbook for girls to attempt to talk a guy out of doing something w/them) and I emphatically answered, "Yes."

I fell asleep around 930 and woke to ringing at ~12:45. The date was set; she would scooter to my hotel and we'd cab it over to a bar w/live music. The musician/band was extremely entertaining. The lead guy was really funny and would (for example) bow after the female sung a solo. The female asked, "Is your back ok?" "Yeah it's fine, I'm bowing because people are clapping for me." "Nah, they clappin for me homie." HUUUUUUH!!!!!!!

I enjoyed a Kahlua while she enjoyed some sort of fruity cocktail. We munched on fries and chatted during/between and through sets they played. It was extremely enjoyable. At one point a dark black dude walked through the club that I could swear was my coworker, but it ended up actually just looking like an exact replica of him 10 yr older. He looked like the dude from "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" who is the leader of the black gangsters and doesn't really speak much; he just wears that big black hat.

We eventually left around 3:45 when it was about to close; Tutu nicely told me that instead of cabbing back to the hotel to scoot home, we'd get a cab, take her home, then I'd go home from her place (I preferred her coming to my hotel). I agreed but still offered (and was rejected) my bedroom to her as it WAS getting a bit late. She told me she'd call a cab instead of use a st. cab because the phone cabs are safer and won't steal your money (as in they won't drive around aimlessly and collect more fare than what should be collected). I thought this was very admirable and kind of her. I dropped her off and said, "Hug?" She politely and awkwardly looked and said, "Uhhh, bye bye." Rejected again.

The night still was a success. Now I lay in my hotel bed, ready for a nap before a big date w/Ruru. I am starting to really like it here.

11th day of Taiwan statistics:

# total: 4

Contact made: 4

Dates: 1

Night markets snap Tsuizzie's weekend slump!

If there is one thing to remember about Taiwan, it is the night markets. There are a few night markets per big city (well I only consider Taipei and Taichung big cities since those are the only 2 I really have been to). They are open until midnight on weekdays and 2AM on weekends. You can buy almost anything you want here; there are dozens of restaurants, the streets are littered with stands selling jewelry, food, clothing and the sidewalks are lined with games, arcades and other shops.

Before we begin, I attempted to call Alice and was unsuccessful; for some reason texts would not send, and phone calls would not go through. This was the same girl I asked to call China, so I went downstairs determined to have her help me again; this time w/her own number. "I need help again, this time with a Taiwan number." "Excuse me? What was your question?" (I think she must be hard of hearing or something because I've had this problem more than once with her; I'll skip these hard of hearing responses in future convo details) "I need your help dialing a Taiwan number; it hasn't been working." "Sure, let me see what I can do. Well, it looks like this isn't a complete number, you need a 6th digit at the end." (mind you she's looking at her own phone number) "Oh really? That's odd, that's why it hasn't been working. Does the number look familiar?" "Huh? Ummm.... Oh... that's my number... hahaha"

We all laughed it out and I told her I'd tried to call her over the weekend. I asked if tonight after work was a good time and she said that tomorrow may work better, though she had to get her computer fixed after work ended at 8. I said I'll call you and set it all up. Hopefully it works out.

Back to the night market. I managed to purchase an interesting V neck buttoned shirt; it looks decent over a button down and am not sure what else. The main objective was to hit on chicks; boy is this the place to go for that. There are probably 100s of chicks walking around at all times; the university is literally a block away. My first approach was a good one; I stepped up to a cute little girl with long long hair and auburn color dangling from the ends. She helped me look at a couple business card holders and eventually I bought one for 5 USD (I saw similar ones online for 30). My coworker usually says she's my older sister and is helping translate chinese for me as I'm from America and my language skills are weak. She followed suit today and we made a decent team. I eventually commented that I liked the youngster's hair and she really was pleased w/the comment. Her coworker flashed from behind a door in a weak attempt to cockblock, but i immediately engaged her in convo and frightened her away. I then stepped back up (took a bit too long) and asked if we could be friends after wondering aloud what she did on weekends (doesn't like dancing because the music is too loud, but loves to drink and relax). I told her this was perfect because my hotel has a really lax bar we could chill at. She said ok, and I got her #. She called her phone from my number and typed in my chinese name.

Eventually I took a little bit long to leave, but got out unscathed. I'll probably call her on Wednesday to set something up for either that day or Thursday night. It'll be tough since I'll have a lot of work this week; hopefully i can get everything done and get little big Ken some action as well.

Over the next 1.5 hr, I kept swinging and missing at an assortment of offspeed and high fastballs. Really just got torn up, although I really did make a good effort, engaging many different females of all different heights, weights and tones. I learned a valuable lesson during one exchange where I asked what the girl did during weekends and she told me she played mah jong. Instead of saying, "Wow, I play, can I play with you and your friends?" I should've said, "Wow, I play... if you have enough money, I might let you get in on our games." In retrospect, both sound terrible... I'll keep thinking.

We ended the night by spending 100's (each 100 = about 3 USD) on an archery, gun and baseball stand. Man, who knew paying 3 dollars for 15 balls would be so much fun. We threw them at these strikezones made of 9 boxes, 3 across and 3 down. The most I knocked over was 5 with about 20 balls. It is really tough!!!! Shout out to Chien Ming Wang, the Taiwanese sensation who probably couldn't even hit 5 right now.

I've run out of gas; on the 8th day of Taiwan I'm now:

# total: 3
Contact made: 2
Dates: 0

Unlikely pen pal

The last day of my Hong Kong weekend started with a bang. I woke up to what I thought was my 10AM wake up call, but instead was Lynette telling me Stanley St. was 30 min away via taxi, so we'd have to leave earlier than 10:45AM. I quickly showered, and called them to see if they'd be ready. THey said 5 min, so I decided to go downstairs and check out while they gathered their belongings. After about 15 min it was about 10:45 and we were ready to leave; luckily I had found out from the front desk attendant that Stanley St. Luk Yu Teahouse was actually only 10 min away via cab.

WHen the cab driver dropped us off we tried to walk in the front door only to be turned away and told to go upstairs. I didn't see my Aunt anywhere, so I went back down to look for her. She arrived and told us to go downstairs instead. I was confused. After I gathered everyone we went down and that was when I realized Auntie Ling Ling has juice at this place. Basically only ballers or VIPs can sit downstairs and she was ordering around waitors like she owned the place. She explained she had been tipping them 40-50% of the bill for the last 27 years (before I was born) every single morning for tea and breakfast.

Auntie Ling Ling is a riot. She talked up a storm and correctly guessed Lynette is Singaporean (impressive) and that Eric was from the US (not difficult). I then told her about my lady soaking ways and instantly she began going through her mental roladex of Mandarin students (she is a mandarin teacher in Hong Kong). She began listing all the pretty ladies she teaches who are all lawyers, accountants, etc... all having no time to find men, all working late into the night every day of the week. She actually got one of them to come out to meet us later for some afternoon tea which was nice of her.

We then walked around a large shopping district with lots of little stands. I managed to purchase a t-shirt for my sister for 59 HKD, 2 bracelets and 2 necklaces for 250 HKD (a set of which was mine), a belt for 40 HKD and finally a monkey T shirt for 40 HKD. All in all that is 390 HKD for a grand total of? 53 dollars (pretty nasty!!!).

Later we met up with Auntie Ling Ling and her student (who was not as impressive as she made seem) and were faced with a monstrous chocolate buffet (delicious, but too much chocolate). We then returned to the hotel, picked up our things and headed to the airport. The flight home was a tiring one. There was one 6.5, and two 6's (flight attendants), none of whose numbers I accumulated which left me with a grand total of 0 through my weekend of HK. I really struck out big time on Saturday amassing a golden sombrero (0/4 4 stikeouts).

I really enjoyed HK though I must say I believe I like China a little better? Maybe it's because I had more people taking me around China and it's so much less expensive. I tried calling Alice, but for some reason my phone would not call/text her number. We finally realized her phone must've been off, or there was just something wrong w/my phone. Really annoying. If there's one thing to take away from my blog, it's that phones in Asia SUCK!!!! No voicemail really just kills me (maybe it's just taht I can't read chinese so I feel really lost when faced with a phone).

Anyway, the last thing I'll offer is this. I really miss my friends. Can you please include me in some freaking emails?!?!?!?!?! Would it really kill you?

I forgot to mention that my cleanup hitter emailed me again. She mentioned she quit and I told her hopefully it wasn't cuz of me and my coworker (we are auditors) that she quit and also mentioned though that we didn't really talk to her, so it coudlnt' have been. For some reason she responded and said yeah, she quit for personal reasons, but asked if we could still be friends... really not sure what's going on with that.

My results so far after day 7 of Taiwan (including HK):

# total: 2
Contact attempt/made: 1/1
Dates: 0

Horrible.

Thursday Night

Lets rewind a bit as I am not in the mood to sleep yet. Thursday I had just finished dinner on the streets of another city 20 min away from Taichung. When I got back to my room, I realized I needed some pressed shirts for next week, so I got my laundry together and had specific instructions for my seersucker blazer I was getting cleaned up. I also was planning to call my girl from Shenzhen, but really couldn't figure out the country codes and protocol to call. I decided to go downstairs to the front desk, hope the girl who I think has a thing for me was available, and get her # in the process.

I went downstairs to find her the only one of 4 front desk workers who was not busy. She got up when I made eye contact with her and I proceeded to give her details of my laundry. THen I showed her my cell, asked her how to dial my girl's # in China, and she proceeded to actually dial and call!!! "NO NO NO!!!!" I shouted and quickly hung up the phone before disaster ensued (actually no real disaster since I probably won't see that girl in the near future, but I still would feel bad).

"I have one last question, are you allowed to hang out with hotel guests?" "Huh? What did you say? Could you please repeat your question?" "If I wanted to hang out with you, would that be ok for you?" "Yes, we work in shifts, so when my shift is over, yes we can hang out." "Well, then I guess I need your # to call you when that happens." "Yes, I will get you a business card." When she returned with it, I said I'll give you a call when I come back from Hong Kong this weekend and was off.

Any thoughts? I will probably give her a buzz during the train ride from Taipei airport to Taichung.

Soon as she go to the bathroom, playa I'm gon holla at her...

It's been a solid past few days. I must just say, I love to travel. I was just in Shenzhen last Saturday morning, flew to Shanghai for a day, flew to Taiwan the day after and now I find myself in Hong Kong watching the Yankees play the Indians Live (whatever that means here). This afternoon around noon, we drove to the high rail from the office and it literally took 30 minutes from Taichung to TaoYuan (where the airport shuttle was). The rail is so so smooth, really quiet, and really comfortable. Just an all around great experience. The Taipei airport smelled pretty bad, like someone had just cleaned a carpet, yet the floor was tiled. Very very odd. We went through customs and ate at a little semi fast food restaurant (terrible food). We walked over to the gate and I approached the agents. "Hi, do you have any non-window non-middle seats?(I don't know how to say aisle seats)" Ummm sorry sir, the flight is full." "Well, how about you take all those people and don't let them fly, so we can sit in the aisle" "Ummmmm huh? Uhhh, you'll have to talk to them after we board." She clearly didn't realize I was kidding, but I asked what are D and E seats (I had D)? "D is aisle." That's all I had to hear as I turned, fist pumped emphatically and sat down.


The flight was not bad; noodles and fish lunch was good (it really is weird to me seeing food on a 2 hr flight, but hey, this isn't america). I then watched part of a solid "Yes Man" with Jim Carrey.

We touched down and took the scenic taxi ride from the airport to Hong Kong's city center where our Marriott Courtyard awaited us. First of all, Hong Kong is just naturally so beautiful. There are mountains, trees, water, everything you could want. The bridge we took to get to the city I learned was built to commemorate Great Britain giving the city back to China in 1997. It was one of the most beautiful structures I believe I've ever seen.

Our hotel is pretty top notch as well; maybe there aren't so many free amenities, but the room looks really new with dark wood all over the place, glass desk, automatic blinds, and a huge glass shower (LOVE THOSE!!!!). All in all just really modernized with a view of the water (a nice plus).

We went to "The Peak" for dinner at some cafe that is very famous for it's delicious food. I tell you anyone can go to this place and enjoy themselves (aside from of course Andrew Trilling). There was anything from burgers and salads to seafood to indian food!!! I made the wonderful choice of an appetizer sampler (I dunno about you, but these usually taste terrible). It had the usual calamari, quesadillas, and shrimp cocktail, but it also include smoked salmon Naan and fried softshell crab. DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!! Then with another stroke of genius ordered the tandoori Sea Bass. I don't think I"ll ever eat anything as tasty. The fish literally felt like I cut through butter. It was so tender, it literally melted in my mouth. I got a berry pudding that had a very interesting almost breadlike texture, but was pure fruit. Oh it was so so delicious!!!

The view of downtown Hong Kong from the Peak is literally magestic, as you are looking down at all of the tall skyscrapers. I suggest taking a date there. We decided to go to the street with many many bars and were shocked to see people just flooding the streets. There are a lot of mixed racial people and the ladies were looking right. I did my usual thing of being a bitch by not talking to any of them even though they were (not) begging for it.

I actually write this the day after as we got back late and I really just needed some time to catch up with friends. Today, we went to Macau (the asian las vegas). My coworker Lynette is both the worst and luckiest blackjack player I've ever met. She told me as we were going into the city that she was horribly unlucky at casinos, but i then found out why. The first time I sniffed out something fishy was when she hit a 14 on a dealer's 6. The 2nd time was when she hit a 17 on a dealers 9. Really outrageous play. She ended up pissing off all the people at the table. The funny thing is, that in Asia, you can put your money on anyone else's hand and whoever has put the most money on the hand controls what is done w/the cards. So after an outrageous hit on 16 when the dealer showed 6, a guy mumbled to himself for 5 min and put 200 on lynette's chips from across the table to assume control of her hand. HILARIOUS.

Later, we moved tables to sit across from a younger more aesthetically pleasing dealer. Once the dealer realized what kind of "strategy" Lynette was using, she began asking her if she wanted to hit on 20!!! Even though I lost ~$300 (2000HKD) in the process, that really just made my entire trip to Macau. In the process of losing, anyone who has gambled with me knows how excited I get when I win a minimal money hand (~$7 US). People were lining up behind our tables, probably thinking we were high rollers. Here was their thought process:

"Wow, those guys must be high rollers," they arrive at the table and see the 50 HKD min hand (~$7 USD). "Odd, this is a really low limit table, maybe they just got on a roll and are putting down 2k per hand." They notice us each playing 50 HKD two handed. "Wow, these people are just annoying." They leave.

The saturday really was a disappointing one, or one that showed significant improvement from the night before (however you'd like to look at it). On one hand, I went 0/4 in pick up attempts. On the other hand, I had 4 pickup attempts.

Tomorrow morning I'll be meeting my Aunt Lingling for lunch, so I gotta hit the sack now. Enjoy!

Groundhog Days

The last couple days really have been mirror images of each other. I've gotten back to the hotel fairly late and not gotten as much sleep as I'd like. I have also not fulfilled even close to my quota of numbers, but haven't really seen much that I can work with. I still will remain hungry for numbers and will remain aggressive at every chance I get.

I think I may post up what happened on my date Friday. There really hasn't been much else going on except good eating the past 2 days (hot pot and Thai). I also made phone contact w/this older lady today and she said she'd be coming to Taichung (2 hr away from Taipei) on Friday, obviously the day I'm going to Hong Kong... great.

My results so far after day 3 of Taiwan:

# total: 1

Contact attempt/made: 1/1

Dates: 0

Setting New Goals

My new goal for this Taiwan trip is a # a day and 2 dates per week. Let me clarify this; I will expect to obtain a flat rate of 1 # per day, so if I get 2 numbers on Tuesday I will still need to get 1 on Wednesday. I may have to adjust this because remembering ladies' names in Chinese will be REALLY DIFFICULT. We'll see. I don't think #'s will be tough, but 2 dates will be tough because I will not have much time for them as we go to dinner every night with coworkers, so there will be no time to go on dates. Then again, it's not hard to go on dates with little time... not unless you a bitch.

On to what happened today. My flight? An excellent one (Bruce Buffer). I got to the airport on time; what a vast airport. The ceiling is so high. I walked over to Air China check in, and for some reason there were 3 gate agents doing nothing while a line of about 10 people were standing looking like they were waiting for lines to open up. Do you also see what was wrong here? I asked the guy in front of me why the hell weren't people moving. He wasn't sure and had not and did not ask anyone else(typically passive). I turned and questioned the security guard; he said they must not be opened yet. This confused me since I had 40 min until my flight took off, it was past noon and the check in line didn't open yet?!?!?

I immediately made eye contact w/the cutest gate agent who was very far away and asked what the deal was. She asked, "Where you flying to?" "Taiwan." "Then come over here." So confusing; I asked her why the other people weren't moving. "We told them they can't check in and to move so it woudln't confuse other customers, but they didn't move." Who asks people to move, it doesn't happen, and nothing is said?!?!?!

Anyway, I got my ticket and headed towards security. Everytime I go through security in the US, I'm always well prepared and never get a beep from the metal detector. In Asia, for some reason, I always get beeped. I think it must be my belt or my jeans?? Really not sure. I made it through in little time despite being searched (the lady grabbed my belt in front, you know where my package lied 4 inches below). I walked through to get 87 and literally went on 3 horizontal escalators (moving walkways?). I think Asian airports (at least the good ones) always have enough of these walkways that you actually walk on more of these than regular ground. Also, the great thing is, you don't have to pay for the luggage carts, and they are really smart in the engineering of the carts. There is a valve that is the same width of the handle bars, but is just a strong wire w/rubber over it. You push this valve down and clutch it w/your hand comfortably as you hold onto the bar below w/your thumbs to unlock the wheels of the cart. If you do not hold the valve down, the cart will be locked in place. Awesome idea!

Anyway, I finally made it to 87 and as I waited I noticed a racked up older (a lot older, i.e. 40s) lady walking around who didn't look interested in anything but getting on the plane. I got on the 30 min delayed flight and to my surprise, that lady sat down right next to me. I waited a bit to strike up conversation. I forgot what I opened with, but anything works. It of course got to the point where she guessed where I was from and I told her America. Typical conversation for me "Your Chinese is pretty good" "Thank you, yours is too" "Of course it is, I'm Chinese" "I was just kidding" "I know (shut the fuck up)" "(Noted)".

I chatted her up and found she was visiting fam in Taiwan. She is a big time HR person in her company that "makes" fruit. I asked her how a company can "make" fruit and she found that an appropriate time to slide me her business card. We conversed some more, and I started noticing her staring at me in that certain way (you know what i'm talking about) after I finished sentences. I think she asked me if I had a girlfriend, and I told her my sob story; "you know it just makes me chase girls even harder here." She laughed and replied "you'll have no problems."

Later she said she wished to learn English because it would be so beneficial then suggested we trade english for chinese lessons (I was hoping to swap fluids). I found that a good oppportunity to tell her about my next potential employement opportunity. Teaching tennis and english over in China. She looked incredibly happy when I mentioned tennis and said she was eager to learn. This was perfect; not only do I have a potential customer instantly, but the other benefits are pretty obvious.

I then gave her my old PwC card as I do NOT like giving out my current work card to anyone other than business contacts. I'll probably call her tomorrow during the day to see what's poppin.
My results so far on day 1 of Taiwan:
# total: 1
Contact attempt/made: 0/0
Dates: 0

That being said, we'll end on a quote from Coach K of Duke University. I freaking love this:

"I like when your women stick up for you, you know," Krzyzewski said, laughing. "That's the cool thing. That's a really good thing. As a guy it makes you say, 'Maybe I still got it, whatever I have, I got.' "

Great couple days leading into the weekend

Lots have happened over the past 3 days where I wasn't able to post much.

1. Date with the 2nd girl from the massage parlor; we walked around my hotel area, had a quick bite to eat at KFC and returned to my hotel room.

2. Went to the airport later that day and had all sorts of trouble. If your bags are overweight, you don't just pay at the counter, you have to go to a special counter for all overweight bags, present the payment stub, pay (in only cash), take that receipt to the airline agent, and then you will receive your ticket. Oh yeah, and you don't bring your bags to the special counter, so why woudln't you just pay for it w/the gate agents?!?! No clue. I also decided to save some weight by putting this box of tools into my carry on, then realizing that duh, you can't bring tools on an airplane, so I had to run back, check those (the agent said they already stopped accepting bags on my flight, so if it wasn't delayed it'd go on the next flight... MEATLOAF), then run back and try to catch the flight.

Fortunately, the flight was delayed... unfortunately, it was cancelled 2 hours later. I've never seen so many pissed off people before. People were surrounding the gate agents only an hour into the delay yelling at them. When they finally cancelled the flight due to weather in shanghai (later confirmed that the weather was fine in Shanghai, no clue why they cancelle the flight) all 75 passengers had to all go to the customer service desk (2 people) and change our flights and book hotel rooms. Unfortunately with my lack of superb chinese skills I felt really lost, so with Shoddy internet got my coworkers number, and she was nice enough to come help me figure out a flight. The gate agent said i woudln't be able to get a refund that night, I'd just present my receipt tomorrow to the next airline I'm taking (booked on Shanghai Air instead of Air China).

3. My girl worked from 8-4AM and came over after til 6AM when we had to leave so I could catch my 7:45AM flight.

4. Get to the airport and they tell me in fact I have to get a refund for my overweight luggage at the original terminal (yeah, i had to walk to the other terminal) then walk back to this terminal, and pay for the luggage weight (it was different since this time I left the tools in the check in bag).

5. I finally got to Shanghai and met up w/my friend Alba and her husband Pablo. We ate with their work friend Ye Fen who took us to a crawfish place (much like crabs in baltimore) they put all these crawfish in bowls and you just rip them up and eat them yourself. It was freaking delicious. In Chinese they're called small lobsters and they really tasted as such.

6. Went to Xin Tian Di (the high class bar area where foreigners like to chill) and drank some Lagers. Yes, I DRANK A LAGER!!!! It was pretty good. I actually Gan Bei'd with my friends (chugged half a beer, an abnormal feat for young tsuizzie) and was toasted by the end.

7. After maintaining the ability to walk a straight line, we cabbed over to Chen Hwang Temple to have the best Xiao Long Bao's in the world (no joke). It was freaking delicious; unfortunately Pablo burned his mouth because he put one in his mouth right when they came out. It was freaking hot and there is soup inside the small bun, so yeah, it was hot.

8. We then took a nap at their place and just talked for a while before agreeing on breakfast tomorrow around 9 AM. It's gonna be a doozy. Already almost 3AM, wakeup call at 8AM. FML

9. Can you believe I was in Shenzhen for a month, I'm now in Shanghai, and I'll be in Taiwan in 12 hours?

10. I miss my friends!

Mah Jong me

Just got back from a marathon 3 hr Mah Jong session. Pretty sick game. There are 128 pieces in all; 4 players and each player stacks 32 in front of them, 16 tiles long and 2 tiles high. Basically it's like gin rummy with some different rules. It's awesome playing w/the tiles.

I just found out today that the cleanup hitter is getting married soon... why didn't anyone tell me this?!?!?! My friend said she knew, and thought I knew. Wow, hilarious. If I had known this, I definitely would NOT have called her up. Odd that she didn't mention this at all during our date?!?!?!

Just booked my room in Shanghai at the Rendezvous Merry Hotel near my buddy Alba. I haven't seen my girl for about 7 years??? We met during a summer camp (where I met my girl Ashley) after my freshman year of college (I was 19!!!). Wow so me and Ashley have been friends for 7 years too!!! Anyway, Alba is a spaniard who was just doing a quick foreign exchange program over the summer in the US to learn some English. We got to know each other over a month and other than that have been emailing/sending mail back and forth over the pond for the last 7 years. Last year when I was in Taiwan, she was in Beijing working; I called her up to talk. We hadn't spoken on the phone probably in 6 yrs. Just so happened this year I was able to finally be in the same city as her, and after 7 years will finally see each other again!!! Really pumped about this. Any of you have a friend like Alba where you haven't seen each other for x yrs because you live in different continents!??!?!

...and baby don't bring your girlfriend to eat...

Congratulations to me for going on my second date (1st date w/masseuse). She decided to bring along her coworker/roommate which was fine (obviously she felt more comfortable that way). I realized that if I in fact want to hang out with girls I really need to start making a concerted effort to do so. I basically just tried to talk her into coming to my hotel and eating with me w/o me bringing her over (this just is really unlikely for passive girls to do; I'm really lucky it actually happened). I had numerous phone and text convos with her since I first met her, so it really was hard work getting her to come. Fairly sure had I gone to the parlor or went to her place, it would've been much easier.

The date went pretty smooth. Chinese girls seem SUPER passive and conservative (based on this one and the other few I've conversed with); she kept looking at me and smiling. Her and her friend sat on one side of the table as we sat down for some Japanese. I thought it'd be a good idea to eat something they hadn't tried before, but then I realized it may be a disaster because it's hard for me to read the menus and can't explain what things are in chinese! Things went ok though as I got them to try sashimi and other things. They seemed to enjoy eating and I was able to engage both in conversation (Hitch says always treat the friend like royalty). She took a picture of me and I took a picture of her and her friend, and that was that. She went to work, and I went back to the hotel to start on the afternoon grind.

For dinner I dined in "Le Marais" a nice restaurant in the Coastal City Mall. It basically looks like every restaurant in the US on Valentine's Day. There was a lot of red, pretty dark, numerous candles and had a very romantic feel (yeah I don't have a GF thanks). Thank goodness the food was amazing. Delicious steak, scallops, simmered Cod and asparagus!!! I did order a souffle' but will never again because I just really don't like souffle'.

A special congratulations goes out to my ex-gf while writing this she decided to contact me after a week or 2 of no interaction. Why you ask? "Please do not say I miss you on my facebook because it makes me feel uncomfortable". What do you think about this? I think I learn two things here: 1) She needs to get over herself 2) yes, it definitely is a good thing we no longer date. If that was the only contact in like 2 weeks I ever attempted (in response to her saying happy birthday), you think I'm trying to talk her back into dating me? I'm in China... What am I gonna do? Laughable.

Ain't Sayin Nothin' New

Today was an extremely unproductive day from all aspects of life for me. I was supposed to have lunch w/the masseuse and friend, but they apparently woke up late (or forgot to tell me they were teases) and had to back out. We have just been sprinkling some texts during the day back and forth. I actually thought cleanup called, but it ended up being a false alarm and made me look like a stalker (maybe I am one?). I sent her a text askin if she called and got "no I didn't" in response.

I got a few things for work done; downloaded a lot of stuff to prepare for next week in Taiwan. I really miss Taiwan, although I was in Taipei and this time I'll be in Taichung. Here's a link to the hotel if you're interested. 5 star once again.

I ate 1 jalapeno spicy noodles today. I say 1 jalapeno because there are 0 to 3 jalapenos at the ramen place 0 being not spicy to 3 being the most. By the end of the bowl I could barely take two bites of the noodles; my mouth was on fire!!! I bought 3 mini tarts to munch on when I got home as I prepared to embark on my first poker in a couple weeks.

After about an hour and 20 min of free poker, I busted out of the 2700 person tournament in 353 a long ways away from the 27 that actually get paid. I really miss poker. Recently my account got locked by Bodog because I attempted one incorrect password over here. I had played the night before and actually won pretty nicely, but the next night a one password try lock out?!?! Come on!!!! I was thinking maybe in China poker is illegal so that's why they did it, but the poker site still works as does Full Tilt. Who knows what's going on. I better not have that money taken away from me. It's taken me almost 4 yr to build up that bankroll!!!

Tonight I got a bit tired of looking at a screen, so I went downstairs to take a walk, but spied the singer was entertaining guests in the lounge so I stopped by to watch. The hostess was a tall one, so I spoke to her a bit about that fact before I changed my focus to the singer. As I walked in, she saw me and did her customary wave to me (I haven't seen her wave to anyone else, although I never really looked at anyone else). Throughout the 20 min or so I was there, she'd look at me, smile, do an awkward dance step on purpose and laugh with me and also did a "all I'm thinking about is You" finger point while singing. All positive signs. I didn't feel like waiting more so I decided to go out for a walk, come back and maybe see what she's up to tonight or for the rest of the week. As soon as I walked outside, I realized it was raining, so i turned around and here I am numberless.

I'll leave it at that for tonight. Until tomorrow.

Shot Down Again

Sunday went about as well as Saturday did.

I reluctantly woke up after somewhat of a late night at around 9:45 to catch the ending to the terrible Nova/UNC game. I unfortunately did not get to see the MSU/UCONN game as the highlights looked pretty solid. (Note: Stanley Robinson got severely facialed in this game... do you remember who got facialed in the 2008 big east tournament by Joe Alexander? You got it. Stanley Robinson).

After the game I decided to try givin cleanup a call. She picked up not knowing my number (as I had just gotten a sim card for a cell phone) and told me she was searching for a dog to buy on the internet. We spoke for a bit and I asked her if she had time today to chill. She politely shot me down saying she was going dog shopping later; I asked the next obvious question and she replied, "No, I am goin to Hong Kong tomorrow" WHEN THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TIME THEN????? "When do you have time to hang out then?" "Well, I guess you're leaving Friday, so does Thursday work?" Horrible. I just told her this was ok, but I'd only see her Wed at work and Thursday night before I left. Who knows what she thinks now. This was pretty frustrating as I was pretty sure I could at least do something with this chick. I even took my friend's advice and tried to talk her into hanging out w/me instead of the plans she had, but she said impossible. I asked if I could "cut the line" and she laughed and said no. I just told her to give me a call if after she mulls it over. Any ideas here? I think I'm just gonna ignore her... even if she asks me to hang out during the week. I am just pretty frustrated with that situation because I discussed w/her friday that I would schedule something w/her. Am I expected to call her every night while the holiday is going on??? I Don't know. I think it's pretty clear she doesn't want to hang, because she made plans on Sunday instead of keepin it open, but I did contact her last min... We already discussed it though!!!

Enough with that. I ended up walkin around the mall and into a Jack Jones (Euro brand) store. The workers kinda swarmed me (everyone asks me where I'm from and is very interested once I tell them not from here). I was feelin a lot of love and I eventually just asked the one girl who was helping me out if she wanted to have dinner w/me after work. She seemed confused; I realize now it's due to the fact that Chinese girls really are not used to being chased that hard. I think there's a checklist you must follow to get w/a chinese girl: 1) talk to her for at least 5 minutes about anything when you first meet. 2) Ask for her phone number (they will always give it to you) 3) Call and talk on the phone 4) Ask her out on a date after you talk on the phone at least once or twice (still not sure how long you have to do this as I haven't pulled a date yet using only phone). 5) Uncharted territory, nothing else to note.

Well after getting 3 rejections w/in 24 hr I thought I'd take it easy a bit and work out. I did some biceps and squats (the usual) but this time I followed it with a cool shower and 15 min in the steam room (very interesting experience). I followed that up with another cool shower, sat by the pool for 15 min, then took a dip in the pool for 15 min (I should mention I learned this technique from a girl I met at a sauna... this is supposed to be really healthy not only for your skin but for your body as well).

I began watching the Sopranos today; very interesting show with the psychological aspect and the excitement that goes along with each episode. Guy surprisingly has a real tough life with a lot of problems.

Not much else for today before I hit the hay. May do some work or watch one more episode before I take it down. Thanks to whoever has been submitting answers to the polls. I really think that's a cool gadget to add to my blogs.

Shot Down

The weekend was supposed to be a good one; I spoke with the cleanup hitter on Friday and understood that she'd be busy that night and Saturday due to the holiday. I hammered home the reason for the conversation with, "Well I'll have to schedule to meet up with you this weekend because I want to see you." She kind of did a step back laugh of disbelief (this is how I took it). What do you think? I guess there aren't many details for this, so it'd be tough to analyze. I am just running with the fact that she drove to see me last time and knew it was just us 2.


Well Friday night my coworkers and I ate a delicious lobster and noodle dinner; he told me on Saturday that Chinese people actually prefer shrimp to lobster because the shrimp meat tastes fresher and is smaller which makes the middle more easily cookable. I couldn't believe this because I freaking love lobster.


When I finally finished stuffing myself, we walked to the hotel, dropped my bag off, changed and headed out to the massage parlor. I reported the price wrong last time; the 1.5 hr foot massage was about 11 USD while the 2 hour body massage ends up being about $15 (so sue me). The foot massage at the same place last time was terrible as the masseuse just didn't have enough power to get to the muscle below all those corns on my feet (joking.. just had to make sure). For the body massage, I elected to go with the girl I had last time; she did a wonderful job and did so again this time. I fell asleep and when I woke up they all told me I was snoring. Good thing too because she massaged my neck last time and it hurt like crazy!!!!! Once she hooked up my back and legs, she asked if I wanted to get my back scraped. I was not feelin this, but my coworker said I should, so I tried a little. After it not hurting, I decided what the hell, and went for it. It wasn't really bad, and in the middle when they scrape the skin over your bones it pretty much hurts but not too bad. They told me after they were 3/4 the way done that it was illegal in the US (thanks). After the scraping, the girl proceeded to light a bowl on fire, put her hand in the bowl, and transfer flames over to my back literally wiping my back down with flames. OOUUUUUCHHHHH!!!! Actually I'm overreacting; not all of it hurt, but sometimes it would really feel like my skin was on fire. She must've had ammonia on her hands, as it didn't seem like she was hurt. This was really unbelievable though; I watched in horror through the mirror as my back literally had flames on it. Needless to say, my back looked like those bodies in biology that only have muscles and bones (disgusting).

My Saturday was just walking around the vicinity of the hotel through the mall and such. I ran out of cash after buying a papa john's pizza for lunch and for heavens sake there are no freaking construction banks around the Kempinski (later found one). The difference between taking out money at a Construction Bank and any other ATM is about 7 USD (am I just cheap???). Note all you BoA holders, go to construction bank in China and Scotia Bank in Canada (not sure about other countries). Anyway, I wanted to buy some cool T-shirts for my sister, and my mentee which I recently just got in contact with.

Around 9PM I went out for dinner w/my coworker downtown. We literally were the last customers at this pretty nice restaurant and the hostess seating us had this nice reddish hair and a nice set of teeth (having a nice set of teeth in China is like have double D's in the US... rare). As soon as she seated us I proceeded to ask, "What are you doing when you get off work?" "uhhh, why?" (I think this chick must've been dumb, why would I ask this?) "Because we want to hang out with you later." "Why? (confused)" Before I could respond, my coworker decided to answer, "Sorry, he just stepped off of a plane."

I am really confused at why he decided to cock block me here. I am thinking he thought it was getting a bit awkward and maybe the workers would get pissed at us because I was hitting on one of the hostesses? Really not sure. I wasn't pleased at all that he interjected while I was spitting my game. I would've kept pushing and if I wasn't successful, I would be unsuccessful, but you gotta let me do my thang. He later said, "In China we don't do that, we start talking and then maybe ask for a number later" I responded, "Well the restuarant is closing and I need to make sure she doesn't leave before I get her #, so I need to do that shit immediately!!!" He didn't seem to understand so I stopped all explanations. Basically all you need to know is women in China do not like to be openly hit on without at least having some sort of interaction for 15 minutes.

Funny thing happened later. I believed the red head left and when our waitress came back to collect our stuff when we were done I asked her where that chick went. She didn't respond at first then said she got off work. I said oh ok, and then said thank you for cleaning up and she didn't respond; pretty icy. My coworker said if you ask girls about other girls they get extremely upset at you... I could tell. I figured that since they all work together and they all saw me attempt w/the red head, that of course I should be inquiring about the red head; if I tried to kick it to that waitress, woudln't that make her feel like 2nd place? I thought girls would want to help each other out... maybe that's just my house.

Later my coworker brought me to 2 bars that just didn't cut it. The first bar I guess was live music or karaoke, but it was 30-50 yr old cow night. The second had young ladies, but was a live music bar with seating. I was wondering, How does one hit on girls when they are all sitting at a table together talking with other dudes? It really didn't seem conducive to number acquisition, and about 2 hours later, it was confirmed it was NOT conducive to number acquisition.

The night ended with me going back to my room, talking to my #2 slot for a couple minutes and heading to bed.

I'ma get on this TV mama... I'ma, I'ma put shit down!!

What can I say; after a full day and a half of birthday well-wishers I really wanted to take time to shout out all my friends. In the end, to me, life really is all about your friends and fam. Me and my boys, we's be in the club actin a foooooool. I really enjoy my friends due to the relentless advice I get, the trust we have w/each other and obviously the best part is the inside jokes/trash talk. Thank you all for always being in my ear, wishing me well and getting my back!

My whole birthday was pretty packed up. I rose from my bed early for work and got through the day w/o too much heartache. My lunch was delicious and the GM made sure he came since he'd be unable to make it to the party that night (due to a business trip to Shanghai). We ordered some noodles since in China the birthday guy should eat long noodles to lengthen your life (I was hopin for something else since us Chinese guys... well you know... lets just move on). The Finance Department supervisor surprised me with a fruity cake w/apricots, kiwi, lychee and dragon fruit (maybe more) with blueberry syrup inside the cake.

For dinner we went to a real nice restaurant in a private room and again had some noodles. I also drank maybe 3-4 small small glasses of wine. They wanted me to "dry glass" with everyone at the table (about 8 people). I sheepishly explained to them that this was simply not a possible feat for Young Tsuizzie. I did, however, initiate my own dry glass with everyone at the end and 5 min thereafter was feeling quite a bit toasty. After successfully gettin' red (see facebook pictures for evidence), I was surprised with another cake and a birthday gift of 3 chinese music CD's. I had wanted some chinese pop music to bring home to enjoy, so this was a really thoughtful perfect gift!!!! The people at MAS China really are too nice and have been super hospitable to me for the 3 weeks I've been here. I can't say enough about them.

Soon after dinner we drove to the Crowne Plaza Shenzhen V bar whose logo is basically "bar" flipped over and written upside down. The A in bar has no dash in the middle and is an enlarged red V. Real cool place where we were able to Soak in women again. We had a total of 7 people; there I ordered a delicious Kahlua (the first of my career), since I did not find a white russian (yeah i know, drinkin something for dudes don't hurt, not unless you a bitch).

When we arrived at the bar, there was a nice R&B mixture goin on from the DJ booth setting a nice groovy mood; unfortuantely the bar made a horrendous decision to go with a band that sang pop rock English songs that basically killed any shot of anyone dancing (not so many people at that point anyway).

Our party decided to play some dice for the next 30-45 min. Here are the rules: each person gets a cup and 5 dice. Lets say we have 3 players; each player rolls dice and only looks at his own 5 dice. One person starts by guessing the total number of dice showing a certain number (for example: there will be 4-2's). The 1st player must guess a total dice number equal to or greater than the number of players playing (you at least must guess 3 of any number). Then the player to her right must guess that same number of dice but for a higher number, or a number of dice of any number higher than the number of dice first guessed (so next player can guess 3 3s or 4 6s). This happens over and over until any player decides there's no way there could be that many dice and basically says bullshit (in chinese it is called opening the player up). Everyone turns up their dice and the total is counted. If the player who opened up the other player's is wrong, the incorrect opener is forced to drink. If the player who is opened has guessed incorrectly, he will then have to drink. The player involved who is correct starts off the next round with a guess. These are the basic rules to dice in the bar. A couple other rules are that 1's are wilds, so they are added as any number that is guesed. If a person guessing uses 1's in his guess, then 1's will no longer count as any other number later in that round. Really fun game to play w/a lot of people if the music in the bar BLOWS.

Upon completion of dice we decided to check out the outdoor portion of the bar. There was an enormous (I'd call it a) tent set up as a canopy over maybe a football field's worth of space. There were 2 pools, one of which had a pool bar where you can swim and sit on stools underwater. This wasn't open but it was nevertheless cool to check out. The pool was freaking enormous and there were probably at least 30 tables to lounge at on one side. After a few minutes we went back in as the band finally stepped off and started dancing w/the natives. This is the point where all my coworkers found out how much I like men since there was a chick that popped up out of nowhere, clearly wanted to cut the rug w/me, yet I politely declined by looking awkwardly at her and at other places desperate to find any guy to dance with instead (not sure how untrue this actually is). I did make eye contact w/a real cute girl and not act on it too... a real smooth young tsuizzie. I believe that the reason I was such a bitch was because a) I feared rejection in front of my coworkers (but by not trying i looked like a bigger fool) and b) i figured maybe if I tried to hop on chicks in front of them they may talk at the office and spread stuff (don't know what). I think I'll really need to step up in the future cuz lets be honest, who cares.

We left around midnight, and when I returned to the hotel, the hotel entertainer (singer) was getting ready to go out. A few weeks back the hotel customer service director invited me for a drink to discuss some of my interests and how i'd like my stay at the Kempinski to go. I was able to choose a daily wakeup call, tell them things I like and dislike so far about the hotel and make other points I have easily forgetten since then. We were in the hotel bar and the singer and pianist were busy entertaining a sparse crowd. I later saw the singer a couple times and waved and exchanged what's up's with her. We were able to speak a few times just saying what are you doin, but I noticed she seemed to be a little more than interested in what I was doing (some of you'd say this is cuz it's her job to "entertain" and get people to like her, but I beg to differ).

Well we spoke for a hot minute and I told her to check out the Crowne as we just came back and there were a lot of people. What I should've done was just go right back out with them, but then how could I update my blog and get up for work the next day. So what I really shoudl've done is gotten her number in hopes to potentially enjoy a few nights of my last week here in Shenzhen, but why would I do something so reasonable?

After we finished, I went back to my room to find my 3rd birthday cake of the day, left by the hotel just for me. If I were to pick a dream day to enjoy w/o my friends for my bday, this is basically what I'd select (obviously w/o the 8 hours of work and with a PRO at the end of the night... but that's just me).

That does it for today; later this weekend, fun at the massage parlor, a convo w/Air China and analyzing a date securing conversation.

You sweat her, and I ain't talkin bout a Coogi

Can you guess the songs where I get my titles from? First person with correct answer gets a shout out (and possibly embarassing story) in the next post.

Good afternoon East Coastans; I currently am here in the Shenzhen Kempinski typing away after a full 24 hr of Bday action. Thankfully it's still my Bday over in the US and I got about 13-15 wall posts already on facebook; KEEP EM COMIN!!!!!!!!! Don't be shy. I think I'll write a note about my friends tomorrow once everyone gets to chime in to me via email, twitter (I see you Niv!), facebook and whatever other means you can (phone number here is 86-755-8888-8888, room #1916 for those that wanna holler at me... I'd appreciate that big time even if you wake me up). (Do I really think anyone's gonna call me? No...) (Well I wrote that hoping people would want to prove me wrong; maybe I shouldn't have wrote that I wanted you to prove me wrong... I'll stop now).

On to more important matters people actually don't care about; I acquired some very important information about my cleanup hitter during lunch the other day that leads me to believe she indeed has some interest in young Tsuizzie and simply felt extremely uncomfortable on the ice during our date. It really was a relief (I think) finding this out, although it is not that great of news for our young fawn. May release the details sometime, but really not appropriate right now.

That being said, our hero decided that a Wednesday communication about a 2nd date during the coming weekend would be the ideal situation as-of course-we need to follow the "~3 day rule." Contact w/the lady after a date/obtaining the number cannot I repeat CANNOT be established before 2 days, nor after 4 days. The reasoning is fairly simple; anything less than 2 days and you'll be in the following scenario: lady thinks to herself as she listens to screened call voicemails, Why is this dork (for lack of a less politically correct name) calling me so soon; does he think I want to hang out on a Tuesday? Doesn't he have something else to do with his life?" whereas a greater than 4 days scenario sounds something like this: "Who? Saturday? Oh, yeah, I can't really talk right now. I'll call you back la..." We all know how that ends. The third day or hump day are clearly the two best days to lock up dates. The lady is beginning to wonder why the mysterious guy at the bar has not called her yet, "Doesn't he want my action?" but has not yet forgotten who you are between the thousands of suitors calling her everyday.

This goes back to "the game" we play. I understand some people may not be down w/playing games, but when you tell me you don't "play games" I think you're missing my point (well I havent' thought really hard about this). If anyone would like to discuss this point, let me know and we shall in a future post!

Back to the real juice; I stepped up and hollered at our young fawn. Gotta start off with small talk; in this case I used the "being a bit tired" routine; " I want to go out to enjoy some fresh air (I was at work)." "Why don't you just go, the door is open." "Well if I go, I ain't comin back" We both laughed (My laugh was hoping she'd just laugh at my laugh rather than at the lameness of what I had to say). At this point I basically did my normal back down post up move, followed with the ineffective pump fake, but actually turned into her, pushed her back w/my weight and went up strong (for those of you that don't know, I play basketball much like I approach women, like a bitch) which is abnormal for myself (please let me know if you don't understand these extremely vague analogies).

"Do you want to come out with me this weekend?" I ventured. "Hm, but it's our Chinese Holiday (where almost everyone goes back to their parent's house and pays respects to people who have passed)." I quietly berated myself (Justin usually helps w/this) for overlooking this fact. I quickly responded "Oh... well I'll call you anyway just to see what's up." Not sure if this was the right move. At this point I was already thinking she was feelin me, but I feel it may be too much attention for her. It's painfully obvious that I like this girl though, so I really wanted to get something together for the weekend.

"Ok, that works, and if I have time, I will let you know and we can chill." "LETS GET IT!!!!!!! " I shouted to myself in my head. "Ok, we'll talk later," I did not shout out loud as I cut communication off shortly after. I think calling during the afternoon/evening may be the best move here as I really need to secure something preferably Friday since Saturday is the actual holiday. Not sure though as tonight my coworker said we should go out tomorrow and "Soak in women" (direct translation; I love chinese). Clearly though, I'd rather soak w/my target, than soak elsewhere.

I just remembered I promised myself and my coworkers that I'd schedule my weekend up and down Wednesday night (meaning w/my ladies), but clearly forgot as we got home late (around 10PM). Sinec I definitely value talking to friends over scheduling activities with females I'm becoming fairly certain I love men (and as Anand points out correctly, young children). I'm not sold on the fact that it was a huge mistake though; I wasn't calling Air China due to reasons in my April Fool's Day post, nor would it make a difference to call my #2 as she usually has no time to chill (I'm hoping for a weekday morning hang out next week when I don't have to go to the office). The most frustrating of the bunch has been my best all around hitter (baseball fans know this is the 3 hitter). I got her number and after 3 calls have not been able to get a hold of her. The first was a non-pick up, and the last 2 were phone offs (probably at work). Are you getting as frustrated with the lack of voicemail as I am?!?!?!?!!

To summarize my feelings tonight, I think I really value time with the 4 spot since a) she's the only one I've had a date with, b) she's overly attractive, c) she's the only one I've had a date with, d) I really can't get any momentum going with the other three.

Shout out to Elyse for being the only person who comments on my blog. Elyse is a friend from HS; we've known each other probably since we were 17 (i'd love to say since I was 16 as an allusion to "The 40 yr Old Virgin" but it simply wouldn't be true). I'm pretty sure we met during our days in Photo Class w/Ms. Kreiger??? I don't exactly remember the name. Those were the good times w/the C Table (C TABLE WHAT!?) w/Chris, Tanya, Noemi, Carolyn, Dennis. Senior Year of HS was the best of those 4 years. It's kind of odd; right now, I honestly hang out w/mostly people from South B. Just a great crew; mostly brown, nevertheless great. Holla!!!

"Oooo; she wants it... so, I gotta give it to her"

I believe my blogs will detail my life about 24 hours later than real time, almost how I am living life 12 hours earlier than all you fools on the east coast. I think this delay allows me to gather my thoughts during work, think about things to write about and ultimately turn the material into a readable work.

That being said I received a surprising email from my leadoff hitter (call her what you please, Jose Reyes, #1 Stunna, or my personal favorite Air China) yesterday afternoon (for you guys, 2 early mornings ago; I'll remind you of the time difference a couple of times before I expect you to fully understand I'm, again, 12 hours ahead of you). It was a simple note, "Hi, i have check my flight, i'm sorry, not rest on 2rd. When you will fly to bj? 2rd or 3th?" I really don't want to make fun of someone who knows more about bilingality than most of you, but lets face it, we all love laughing at people's inadequacies which are our strengths (maybe that's just my house).

This email was in response to my previous one days ago. In my 2nd to last post I surely felt this was a lost cause. With this reply though, I feel maybe she was busy, flying too much, or just didn't feel like tapping her English roladex to write an email to someone she served for 3 hours and only conversed with for literally 3 minutes of her life. She must have been planning to email me once she found out her flight schedule for the beginning of April as I had requested. I originally planned to layover in Beijing to visit the Olympic sites (I freaking love the water cube) before I returned home on Sunday, but found out later that I'd have to work in Taiwan.

I'm not sure whose voice was in my head that evening, but I decided to dial her up from the hotel (definitely should've waited). When the line opened, I heard some music as someone said Hello which indicated to me that she knew who it was. I still began with, "Ni hao, wo shi Cui Kai Ning (Hi, I'm Ken)." "dsjfkadgjk;awhrjkak (I know who it is because of the out of town number; it actually is not a good time for me to talk right now)". "Ok, so when is a good time?" "Maybe 2 days, actually, tomorrow after 10PM".

Ask any guy who knows anything about talking to women, "When should I call her?" and he will reply with, "When is the next Olympics?" NEVER call a girl during a time she allots for you; I cannot stress this enough. My feeling here is that I was being kind of a bitch by asking her when was a good time to call back, but I mitigated that by not calling her back tonight. The guy's job is to set the schedule, making sure he is in control. This works the same for ladies too. You ladies should also exercise this right. Anytime someone doesn't go to plan, it brings up a red flag, "I wonder why she didn't call me?" Maybe this is just how I feel, but I"m assuming other guys MAY feel the same way??? No clue...

This brings up a good point; many people say "I don't play games" or "I don't like playing games". I'll only drop gold here and there, so please listen; YOU MUST PLAY THE GAME. I think "the game" gets a bad rap just because of its name; is it really some optional dialogue and behavior some people choose to manipulate other people to the best of their ability? When I play "the game" I am just using human nature to my advantage. Some people say everyone is different; no two people are alike; come on, people have similarities. It doesn't have to be everyone, but most people feel the same way about certain things. If you get cut off while driving, most people will get pretty upset and unhappy. If someone you find attractive pays you a compliment, you naturally get excited.

Well I'm telling you right now that similar to these feelings you personally have, other people experience them too! I don't know why I'm giving out free advice like this, but please use it! I get unhappy when my friends tell me they don't play games because I think it's really necessary to get farther in all aspects of life. I actually am guilty of not "playing games" at work. I sometimes feel I should be able to do/say/wear what I want without reprecussion; which frankly is not true. The quicker I realize this, the quicker I will achieve less chance of getting canned.