Blog Is a Crazy Word Anyway

Personal blogs died a long time ago. I used to read a few. One by one, they all disappeared. Some made an announcement that they were done. Most simply stopped. Now, it seems like most blogs are businesses. I'm sure Facebook had a lot to do with it. It is easier, you get more comments and, most importantly, you can collect more “friends”. I could go on and on about the Facebook definition of friendship versus mine, but that is not the point of this post.

I don't like Facebook. I never have. It always felt too intrusive to me. Most of my early concerns have since proven to be more accurate than paranoid. But beyond all that, I simply don't like the way Facebook breaks everything down to the lowest common denominator. In a blog, or at least the blogs I used to read, people could get into whatever they wanted to talk about in depth. On Facebook, it is a picture of something no one cares about and a sentence or two. More often than not, a Facebook post is simply some cartoon someone copied from someone else's post. Most of the typing happens in comments and most of the comments are horrible. I never met a sociopath on a blog. It looks like Facebook is littered with them.

Facebook is also highly censored and its rules are enforced arbitrarily. You can say anything you want on a blog, and I have seen pictures that would get a Facebook user banned for life. Even I have posted things that would cross the line on Facebook. And I am the most vanilla person I know.

The point of this particular blog, as far as I know, has always been to document my life in Hong Kong. As hard as it is to believe now, there was a time when I did not live here. Once upon more than a few years ago, Hong Kong was new and exotic to me. Now, it is simply where I live. No place is exotic when you live there long enough. The top news story right now is the big extradition protest. I have posted nothing about it. Protests are so common in Hong Kong, they are pretty easy to ignore, even when news outlets in other parts of the world make it sound like the entire city is on fire. If my health were better, I probably would have gone out into the middle of the action once or twice just to see what all the fuss was about, just like I did during the umbrella movement a few years ago.

Every once in a while, I read a long forgotten post that I wrote years ago. I like the fact that I wrote down something while it was still fresh in my mind, and I realize I should do that more often. The more my brain fails me, the more important it is to record memories. If I were smart, I would write down a little something every day, if only to keep track. But I don't. This blog would be so much better if I updated it every day, or at least once or twice a week. There would be a lot more to look back on. But I have never had that much free time. That might be one reason Facebook is so popular. How long does it take to upload an image and type “lol”? But then, what is the use of reading that post a few years later?

Then there are health issues. I want to document everything while it happens, but I know how tedious it is to read about someone else's medical problems. If I do not want to read something somewhere else, I certainly do not want to read it here. Unless that person is a doctor or nurse. They can often talk about their problems and give useful information at the same time. The rest of us know what we are told. I can go on all day about how to perform a craniotomy, but only from my experience. There are probably a dozen other ways to do it, and some might be better. Medical professionals also have better inside information about staying in hospitals.

I have no intention of shutting this blog down. For now. But I have no strong desire to keep going. I think posts will be infrequent and not necessarily about any particular subject or theme. I was posting some of the dreams I wrote down after the craniotomy, but I don't really see the point of doing that anymore. They are old news.

I might get interested again some day. There could always be a burst of activity out of the blue, followed by another slow period. Or I could have a lot I want to say for a longer time. Who knows. Anything can happen, which is why I am not closing up shop entirely. But I think I will be taking longer lunch breaks.

lol

Get Smart

For Christmas, my roommate gave me a new phone. That would not normally be something I would even mention, but I have actively resisted “smart” phones. Lily has been trying to convert me to the newfangled technology for years. I always insisted that my 2009 Nokia did everything I needed a phone to do. I have never had any particular loyalty to Nokia, but it was a good phone. I dropped it more than a few times without complaint and it never had any problems with sudden Hong Kong rain showers. If I needed to use a computer, I had one at home. My phone could always get a signal to send and receive phone calls. Back in my day, that was what phones were for.

A few months ago, I was in a bit of a car accident. My passenger and I came out of it in a few pieces. Everything we had with us was lost, including my trusty cell phone. There is no way to know if it survived. It could be lying in the weeds somewhere or broken into a million pieces. Maybe it even found a new home with someone who picked it up and thought it was a Star Trek communicator.

Whatever the fate of the old phone, I needed a new one. As it turns out, no one around here sells 20-year-old cell phones anymore. They have “retro” phones that look like old cell phones, but they have all the “smart” bells and whistles. I was open to not having any kind of phone at all. I used to live my life without being tethered 24/7. I'm sure I could do it again.

Lily went and got me a new phone anyway. It looks new, it feels new, and it does a million things that I will never use. The first thing I did with it was delete all the apps that wanted me to download/setup Facebook, WeChat, Twitter, Alibaba, Google+, Taobao, Instagram, Pinterest, Didi, Foursquare, WhatsApp, Linkedin and a million other things I will never use. It has Skype, which I used to use on my computer fairly frequently. But I thought these new phones were supposed to make Skype obsolete.

Now I can text like everyone else. My old phone could send text messages, but the numeric keyboard required redundant typing. “Good night” was 46666663066444444, and you had to wait for the letter to appear. If you typed too quickly, it would simply rotate through the options on that key; G, H, I, 4, G, H, I, 4. It could receive texts, but none of the smiley faces ever showed up.

Being able to hold text conversations does not impress me. I hate the way most people type like 5-year-olds when they text. I always read “ur” as “err”, and I really don't care wmam. Gaby Hoffmann's acronym crazy character in Sleepless in Seattle was supposed to be a joke, not a premonition.

The only thing I like about the new phone is the camera. I also lost my camera in the accident. It was a decent SLR, and I knew I would miss it more than the phone. The phone camera is not nearly as good, but it is convenient. I will probably use the maps the next time I go somewhere new, but I certainly don't need them here.

2009-2017
RIP

Hailey's Novel Diary – 7/25/17

I wrote a scene about two of the characters trying to make an online video go viral. I guess that answers the question on whether this story should be contemporary or set in the recent past. Did they have viral videos in the 1990s? I'm guessing no.

There are a few other mentions of people using computers, but we had those in the '90s. They were just very different from today's computers. And no one kept them in their pockets or took self portraits with them.

I think I mentioned a cell phone at one point. But that could be any time after the '80s. Cell phones were not nearly as smart in the '90s, but I never wrote anything about anyone taking pictures of their dinner for Facebook. I think I had them talking on the phone as if it was a phone. That sounds more like the past than the present.

I'm pretty much torn at this point. I want the story to take place in the past. The story wants to take place in the present.

Ancient technology

Blugger

I tried to upload some videos from Disneyland. There seems to be some kind of bug with Blogger. It is definitely not the first time. As soon as Google bought them out, pictures became more difficult. It only makes sense that videos would also be a problem.

Sometimes the videos are up, sometimes they are not. Sometimes they play, sometimes they don't. I have no idea why they all have the Youtube stamp. None of them were uploaded to Youtube, unless Blogger uploads them to Youtube without my permission. I know Google wants everyone to use Google Chrome, but I'm not going to. It's like signing into a website with Facebook. If I have to join them or else, I will simply go somewhere else. It may be a small world, but it is a pretty big internet.

Jerusalem Live

I am not the most dedicated blogger in the world. I don't know if anyone is anymore since blogs are mostly dead, but even before everyone went to Facebook, this blog was never a priority in my life.

When I take a trip somewhere, I will usually mention it after I get back. That makes the most sense to me since I can't really describe the trip before it happens. Sometimes I might post pictures of the trip, sometimes not. It got harder to post pictures after Blogger was bought out by Google. I read somewhere that Google does whatever they can to force people to use their browser. Apparently, it is much easier to post pictures if you use Chrome. But I'm not changing browsers yet again just because some corporation tells me to.

Another thing that changed since I started this blog is the definition of the telephone. It has only been a few years, but phones can do a lot more now than they used to. I don't know what percentage of people use their phones to go online more than their computers, but I know that almost everyone I see walking the streets of Hong Kong has a phone in their face.

My phone was built in 2009. It is not what you might call a smart phone. It cannot go online and is not much of a computer replacement. It can send and receive phone calls, which is what I want my phone to do. I have never felt the need to replace it. If I want to go online, I use my computer.

For the Jerusalem trip, I will be borrowing Lily's modern computer phone. She wants me to be able to keep in constant contact with her, as well as look at maps and look up information that I could never do on my phone.

With her phone, I can blog about the trip while everything is happening. I don't know how much I will, though. I assume I will be busy working and seeing the sights. Having the technology to blog before I get home will do nothing to make the blog a higher priority. But maybe I will be able to post pictures. I have to figure out how to use her phone first.

I'm leaving Wednesday, so this will either be the last blog post until I start reporting live from the field, or this will be the last post until I get back. We will have to wait and see which.

Spam

Blogger is pretty good at blocking spam. Almost all of the garbage automatically goes into the spam folder. If I ignore it, it is eventually deleted by magic internet fairies. Sometimes I will look at the spam folder because sometimes they put legitimate messages in there. Today, I found this:

My wife and i have been very more than happy when Raymond managed to conclude his homework through the entire ideas he received out of the web page. It is now and again perplexing to simply choose to be giving out tactics that many most people might have been selling. We really recognize we have you to thank for this. All the explanations you have made, the simple site navigation, the relationships your site make it possible to instill - it is most impressive, and it's really making our son and our family consider that that concept is interesting, and that is pretty pressing. Many thanks for all!

I don't get it. What are they trying to sell? Most spam lets you know right away why it is spam. Take this snake oil to make your dick bigger. Give us money to win the green card lottery. This one is obviously spam since it has absolutely nothing to do with anything on this blog, but what is the point? What does the spammer have to gain here? There was no link to any website. There was no phone number or e-mail address to contact for a quick scamming. Clearly, it was written by someone who does not speak English or, even worse, by Google translate, but how do messages like this benefit anyone in any way? What if I saved it from the spam folder and let it post. What good would it do the spammer? Now that I have posted it where people might read it, what good does it do them?

I don't understand spam.

Please Stand By

Due to technical difficulties, today's post no longer exists. I typed up something and the internet exploded temporarily. I don't feel like typing it all over again, but rest assured, it was brilliant and hilarious and would have made the world a better place for all of humanity. Oh, well.

Technical Difficulties

I had to buy a new computer. The old computer was working perfectly, up until it wasn't. I was minding my own business, going about my day when I got a message from Windows telling me that the hard drive was about to crash and that I might want to back up everything before it all went south. I thought it was nice of Windows to let me know.

Fortunately, I always back up whatever I don't want to lose, so that part was never a problem. Unfortunately, I had to buy a new computer.

You might think that living in Hong Kong makes it easier to get things like computers. Hong Kong is well known for electronics shopping, as well as every other type of shopping. The problem is that a lot of the electronics in Hong Kong are crap. Most of it is made in China, and the cheap crap they make for export is a much higher quality than the cheap crap they make for the locals. There are plenty of Japanese brands around, but most of that is also made in China. Had I bought a new computer when I was in Tokyo last year, I could have gotten something better than what I can get here. But I did not need a new computer then.

As it turns out, I know someone who works in electronics. Kevin works at a big electronics company on the island. That is one of the million reasons I know not to put too much faith in Chinese electronics. He put me in touch with someone who builds computers for a living.

Ordinarily, I would want something put together in a factory and not by some guy who considers himself an expert. Most of the self-appointed computer experts I have ever met don't know nearly as much as they think they know. But this guy put his money where his mouth is. He said that if the computer crashes or craps out in the next two years, he will give me a full refund or build me another one. If a program or application does not work the way it is supposed to, he will replace it for free. If he does not stick to his word, Kevin knows where he lives.

My old computer was a laptop. When you are an expat living in a strange country, a laptop seems like the way to go. You never know when you are going to be on the move. But the old computer never went anywhere. It stayed on my desk the entire time I had it. So I figured I might as well get a desktop. At least if something falls apart, it is easier to fix. Replacing something on a laptop requires finding a part that fits that model computer. Replacing something on a desktop is a simple matter of opening it up and swapping parts.

So far the new computer is working perfectly. It is faster than the old computer, but that has always been true whenever I have changed computers. What is state of the art today will be obsolete tomorrow. The most obvious change is that I'm now looking at a large high definition monitor instead of a small laptop screen. It seems huge to me now, but in a year or two it will be small.

Mean People

Why are people so hateful to each other? I guess I can understand people who know each other and have a reason to hate each other hating each other. Maybe something happened between them that they just can't get over. What I don't get is total strangers screaming their hate at someone they do not even know.

The woman who does http://housewifedownunder.wordpress.com just announced her retirement from blogging. I'm not exactly her biggest fan. I don't even know her name, but I've been reading her blog occasionally for over a year. She has great stories to tell about being an expat in Australia. If you are thinking about moving to Australia, check it out.

She is done with blogging because she got tired of all the hate people send her online. When you have a blog, or any kind of website where people can comment, you will get negative comments. Sometimes it is constructive criticism, but only rarely. Usually it is simply people who want to make everyone else as miserable as they are.

In her announcement post, she defends her decision to not post the ugliest comments. I don't think she has to explain that at all. It is her blog. She does not have to post any comments at all if she does not want to. We have gotten so used to being able to say anything to anyone at anytime that we have forgotten the fact that not everything in the world is an open forum for any and all opinions.

I used to keep comments on my blog open to everyone no matter what crazy thing they wanted to say. The only comments I ever deleted were blatant spam. If you want to increase your manhood, you don't need to read about it here. Just check your e-mail.

Then I started moderating comments. Someone got really angry about something I said. I don't even remember what it was about. I just remember thinking that I should probably do something about it as soon as the death threats started. I never took any of it seriously. Most of the angry people online are all talk anyway, but there was just too much negativity to ignore. I don't need all comments on my blog to be sunshine and rainbows, but I think there is already enough hate in the world. There is no reason to post more here.

Blogs are easy enough to deal with. You can moderate comments, block certain people or turn off comments entirely. What is harder are other social media sites where you have no control. If you interact with people online, you will be subject to hate. It is inevitable. They say movie stars should never read their own press. Reading too many negative reviews can get to you eventually. Online, we are all movie stars, in a distorted way. People can and will feel free to say to us whatever pops into their heads. For whatever reason, a lot of people are more free with their negative comments than they are with saying something positive.

I wrote a couple of books. I will probably write more in the future. I know having a few books available in a few places is not anything like having a New York Times bestseller, but I enjoyed writing them and I don't see any reason why I should not continue doing it. When you write a book, whether it sells or not, you have to expect a few bad reviews. Nothing in the history of the world has ever been written that everybody likes. I realize that the things I write about are not going to excite everyone. I realize that my writing style is not everyone's cup of tea. The funny thing is that when you look at the reader reviews of anything by Shakespeare, people complain about his content and style. I read a review about Romeo and Juliet complaining that the two families should not have been fighting. That's pretty much the point of the story. Someone is going to complain no matter what.

I know it sounds like I'm complaining about negative reviews. I'm not. I do not have enough to complain about. What I'm really complaining about is how the negative people share their opinions more than the positive people. I think most people in this world are generally positive, but they are a silent majority. They are more likely to keep their opinions to themselves. The angry people are the minority, but they share their opinions far more often.

It has reached the point where you have to have very thick skin to be online. No matter where you are online, people are going to share their hate with you. Some people will join in the hate just to fit in. Hopefully, most people just ignore the hate. Too many people hate everything and everyone. If you are sensitive to what total strangers say about you, you will just have to stay offline. If you are a sullen teenager just looking for any excuse to kill yourself, you should really throw your computer away. The internet is like a loaded gun in your mother's dresser.

There used to be a time when unhinged people were confined to their basements. Only the walls and their imaginary friends heard their ranting and raving. Now the internet lets everyone connect with the rest of the world. You don't have to have all your marbles to talk to people or give your tirade online. You can harass a blog writer until she gives up and quits. You can even write a book review with absolutely no ability to form a coherent sentence. That is like a blind person writing a movie review, but that is how the internet of citizen critics work.

Cyber Bullies

I don't like bullies. I mostly feel sorry for them. Can you imagine how pathetic your life would have to be if you felt the only way you could express yourself was to pick on people weaker than you? Outside of politicians, who does that?

Bullies in real life are mostly cowards. The best way to defeat a bully is to stand up to them. They feed off of fear and if you are not afraid of them, they don't know what to do. When you see a cat about to knock a cup off a table and you pick up the cup, the cat will just walk away. It's the same with bullies.

Cyber bullies are a little different. Because they are anonymous, or at least think they are anonymous, standing up to them does not really work. It's a different dynamic. Schoolyard bullies want to hit people who will not fight back. Cyber bullies want people to talk to them. If no one talked to them, they would be invisible. The worst thing you can do to a cyber bully is ignore them.

What I don't understand are teenagers killing themselves over cyber bullies. I know teenagers love to be martyrs – everyone is out to get them, no one understands them, life is so hard on test days, doing homework takes away from their free time. When I was a teenager, people talked about suicide all the time, but it was just talk. Most of us knew that suicide was the stupidest way to solve a temporary problem.

Teenage bullies used to be limited to your own neighborhood. Now you can meet bullies from all over the world. The big difference to me, and where I really get lost in all this, is that bullies at school can be very difficult to avoid. They are physically in the school you have no choice but to attend every day. Sometimes they are in your class, sitting next to you. That is hard to avoid. Bullies online are exceptionally easy to avoid. If someone at school is harassing you and the adults don't care, you are pretty much on your own. If someone online is harassing you, why not just ignore them?. How do you get to a point where you think suicide is a solution, but you never considered not going to that website anymore?

People should never have to stay away from certain websites just because of troublemakers, but if going to that site is making your life that miserable, why keep going? Who is forcing these children to go to these websites? I do not pretend to understand today's teenagers, but isn't everything you do online voluntary?

Now some people want to outlaw some sites and send the owners to jail. Isn't that like arresting the producers of a TV show because someone did not like it and killed themselves? Who is responsible when they don't change the channel? Or better yet, turn off the TV and go outside once in a while.

No Comment

People are weird.

For two and a half years, my blog was wide open to anyone and everyone. Anybody could read it and leave a comment without having to type in a secret code or wait for me to approve anything. Now because of just two people, that's all changed. Comments are now moderated.

I seem to have offended someone when I said bad things about terrorists. A very hateful comment was left on my blog. They were even more offended that I deleted it. Then came a flood of pure hate and hostility, in comment form. I've never said a single word to these people. I've never done anything to fuel their anger, except for saying that terrorists are bad people and deleting all of the hate speech and bullying comments. During this string of hate, one of them wrote “get a life” in response to all the comments I was deleting. I thought that was kind of funny. I almost didn't delete that one, but it's not as funny without the context of all that hateful ranting and raving.

I don't know what set them off. It can't just be because I don't like terrorists. Is anyone pro-terrorist? Is it really controversial to say that terrorists are assholes? Either these two people are playing a game I'm not interested in or they have a psychological condition I'm not licensed to treat. I sincerely hope they get whatever help they need. I also reserve the right to delete any and all comments as I see fit. This is my blog. No one is forced to leave comments here, or even read it. If you think my deletion of your comment infringes on your freedom of speech, feel free to contact your congressman and tell them the United States government is violating your First Amendment rights because some stranger in China deleted a blog comment. See how well that plays.

I'll never delete a comment just because I disagree with an opinion. But I will always delete hate speech, threats of violence and bullying. You're going to break into my house and stab me while I'm sleeping? First of all, no, you're not. Unless you're a 10-year-old, that's just stupid. Second of all, delete.

I probably don't care about your political opinions, and if you genuinely feel the world needs to know every talking point that you copy and paste from your favorite partisan websites, there are a million other places to post that. You can even start your own blog and post whatever the hell you want. In the meantime, hate is not welcome here.

And to reiterate, terrorists are asshole.

Offline Online

I finally got the internet turned back on. It was off and I still don’t know why. No one can answer that question. The TV also goes off all the time, but I still get to pay the full bill. Sometimes the internet shuts off for no reason. It can be off for minutes, hours or even days. The attitude of everyone seems to be that this is simply the way it is. I think I should get a discount when I don’t get a full month’s service, but they never seem to agree with me.

The internet never shuts off while I’m using it, but sometimes there is no connection when I try to go online. Then I have to make a few phone calls and eventually it’s back up and running. No one has ever explained to me why this happens. I don’t think it’s just poor customer service. I think no one really knows and they’re not too bothered about it.

When things shut off while Ryan is here, he gets mad. Especially if it’s the TV. He hates it when it shuts off for no reason while he’s watching some game. It’s always an important game, but they all seem to be important. I don’t get mad, but I do wonder why none of the people who work for these companies seem to care. They’re also customers and it must happen to them, too. It simply doesn’t seem to matter to them. I just want what I’m paying for.

Very Inspiring

I’ve been nominated for a very inspiring blogger award. I don’t know what that means. I’m sure my blog has never inspired anyone. Has any blog ever inspired anyone? But as they say, it’s an honor just to be nominated.

Rule #1 – Post the award logo. No problem. I can do that.
Rule #2 – Link back to the person who nominated me. Ok – http://housewifedownunder.wordpress.com
Rule #3 – List seven things about me. Oy vey.

My resume says dancer/singer if I’m trying out for a mostly dancing part and singer/dancer if I’m trying out for a mostly singing part. I consider myself more a dancer than anything else. I also do a little acting, but that’s usually in conjunction with singing and/or dancing. I have studied lyrical, jazz, tap, contemporary, ballet, Baroque, Flamenco, and Gaelic and First Nations folk dances enough to put them on my resume. Vocally, I am a coloratura mezzo-soprano and have been working on my lower register.

Drums were my first instrument and I learned scales on piano so I could practice singing without an accompanist. I never did anything organized in jr high, but played quads and alto sax in my high school marching band, drums and soprano sax in the jazz band, and tenor and alto sax in the concert band.

I took French in high school. Or j’ai pris le français au lycée. What I don’t remember would make my teacher say mon dieu.

I love cheese. I grew up in Minnesota, which may not officially be the cheese capital of America, but we tell ourselves it is. So naturally, I moved to Hong Kong, where cheese is never the first thing on the menu. I got a big box of American cheese for Christmas last year. It was one of the best Christmas gifts ever.

My family tree can be traced back to 12th century Scotland. I’ve never been to Scotland, but I know about our clan, coat of arms, tartans, motto and family history. One of my ancestors helped form the Chattan Confederation. We were big shots a very long time ago, but lost most of it by taking the wrong sides in a few wars. My grandfather was really into all of that and taught me everything he knew about it. I don’t like to talk about my family, but I have great memories of my grandfather. He was a professional jazz drummer and before that, was an army sergeant with the 1st Infantry Division and part of the first wave that landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day.

I was born near and raised in Minnesota, but I don’t have the stereotypical accent that people who know nothing about Minnesota expect me to have. Most of us don’t. It’s only some people in small towns up north and in movies. Though inaccurate for the sake of comedy, Fargo was still a great movie. But I do sometimes say “oh yah”, “boughten” and “what the hockey sticks”, as in H-E-double hockey sticks. I also know what a popple is and always wore Sorels, choppers and a toque to climb them.

I used to own three pairs of choppers. Now I have none. It’s never cold enough here anyway. This isn’t interesting or inspirational, but I guess I’m not interesting enough to come up with seven things.

Rule #4 – Nominate 15 other blogs. That’s the hardest part. I don’t read 15 other blogs. I don’t even know about 15 other blogs. So here are a few I’ve read and a few I just found at random. I don’t think randomly listing blogs is in the true spirit of this thing, but 15 is a lot of blogs.

http://thisgirlsaysow.blogspot.com – American girl in Denmark
http://reykjavikharbor.blogspot.com – American girl in Iceland
http://www.americangirlinjordan.blogspot.com – American girl in Jordan
http://jordanasimone7.blogspot.com – American girl in Israel
http://meirabaterachaim.blogspot.com – Israeli girl who’s a soldier in the air force
http://architart.blogspot.com – American in Hong Kong
http://www.mywanderinglife.com – American in Shanghai
http://meigourenadventures.blogspot.com – I think this guy is a famous writer, but he doesn’t give his name
http://www.landofnocheese.com – Hong Kong photo blog with a lot of pictures
http://www.hongkongblong.com – Weird things about Hong Kong
http://thehungryegghead.com – I don’t know anything about this one, but it’s got a lot of Hong Kong pictures

Rule #5 – Notify these bloggers. I can do that.

That’s enough inspiration for now.

Untitled

I added titles to all of my posts because Blogger changed the whole system. I didn’t want titles because I wanted this to be like a diary. Who puts titles on their diary entries? But the new Blogger layout makes it harder without titles. I guess they assume everyone has them. So now I have titles. It’s nothing fancy. I was just going to number them all, but then I noticed that I have several posts broken up into different parts. I don’t really like the titles, but I don’t feel like changing them right now.

Ryan in China Again part 7

Ryan & I were talking on Skype and I started to do a little striptease for him. We haven’t touched each other in a month. That’s a record for us, and we’re both pretty horny. We’ve never spent this much time apart and I’m really not sure how much more I can take. While I was stripping in front of the computer and doing a sexy little dance for my man, his connection went out. It was beyond frustrating. For both of us. I’m ready, willing and able to turn him on, but his Skype keeps turning off. I can only imagine what it was like for him. He was just about to see something good and then it all went black.

We talked on the phone like we always do when his internet goes out and I finished my striptease over the phone. It really wasn’t the same. It was more funny than sexy. Funny is good and I’m glad that we can laugh about these things, but he needs to see me naked from time to time. Just telling him I’m naked doesn’t do it for either of us.

Ryan in China Again part 6

Ryan got his Skype to work, but it’s terrible. The picture is always crap, the sound goes in and out, sometimes the video turns off on its own, sometimes the whole thing disconnects on its own. We don’t know if it’s a China issue or just an internet issue. His internet isn’t very reliable either. A lot of sites are completely blocked and even when he can get on some, he gets disconnected at random.

We still talk on the phone all the time because it’s hard to talk on Skype. Half the time we can’t understand each other because the sound is so bad. It would be nice to see him. Isn’t that the whole point of this technology? We’ve got all the bells and whistles of the modern age and we’re still talking on the phone like animals.

Ryan in China Again part 4

Ryan can’t get his Skype to work. Mine works fine. I called Disneyland and talked to Minnie Mouse. That’s not as strange as it sounds. I know Minnie personally. She’s more Chinese than you might expect, and she’s definitely not sleeping with Mickey, let me tell you.

Lily & Kevin Skyped their families in Canada. It’s all free anywhere in the world as long as you’re calling another Skype user. I think that’s pretty convenient. The technology is remarkable, when you think about it. But the more you think about it, the more you realize that Skype will be obsolete in no time. Sometime else will come along sooner or later.

Ryan can’t Skype me at all and mine always says that he’s offline, even when we’re on the phone and he says he’s online. I don’t know if it’s a government censorship issue that can’t be resolved or an internet issue that will be resolved eventually or just some temporary issue that might resolve itself. It would be nice if we could see each other. What’s the use of all this science fiction technology if it doesn’t work? At least we still have the phone. Sometimes old school works best.

Ryan in China Again part 2

Ryan & I talk on the phone every day, sometimes more than once a day. We put Skype on our computers before he left, but he doesn’t have the internet connected yet, so we’re still using the phone. We don’t know what kind of internet connection he’s going to have there. We know China likes to censor the internet, so news sites, Google and blogs are out, but Skype should work, maybe. There’s never a problem with his phone. There is always a signal, so I suppose the government doesn’t mind if people talk to the outside world. They just don’t want anyone going online and reading about the outside world.

Blog Bugs

I’m not so sure about this new blog layout. Either it’s not working properly or I’m just not adapting to it very well. I’m hoping they’ll work the bugs out soon or at least I get used to it

Steve Jobs

RIP