Iun

Today, or rather, the remainder of this afternoon and evening is the last of my summer holiday. back to school tomorrow. But worst of all, WORST OF ALL: we have a new office and my desk is likely to leave me with my back to the door, something that sets off my anxiety.

I often eat alone, what with Mrs Iun and I having slightly differing schedules. I prefer it sometimes as there's a little peace.

Back to work next Thursday. Sigh. Never mind, a 7 day working week, 3 days off, then a 6 day week... Somehow that doesn't make sense.

Seeing as I have been out of the UK for almost a decade (SAD SMILEY FACE) I have no idea how this has worked, whether or not it has led to people quitting or that a new stigma has become attached to the habit... All I can say is that here in China, there are 350 million smokers and they will light up anywhere and everywhere - buses, underground, trains, train stations, shopping centres... so I support a total blanket ban. I also support anyone who smokes on public transport or in small enclosed spaces being repeatedly tasered until they crap in their pants.

Congratulations @nightwolf! Fair pay for fair work = Win.

I used to have the same problem with sugar free polos... KAA-RAKKAAA-BOOOM!

Congratulations to you both!

I have to admit that I'm falling out of love with my Wii U. I did not find Smash as engaging as Melee or Brawl, MK8 is just obscenely frustrating with the excessive rubber-banding, I'm sort of enjoying Bayonetta 2 but it doesn't have much of a "wow" factor, Splatoon is pointless for me as I can barely get connected to the internet these days due to the Great Firewall of China and I have never enjoyed any of the Mario platformer games. I want to enjoy the console, I spent a fortune on it, yet I can't find anything outstanding to truly love. Still, I'm looking forward to Zelda, I suppose.

I had a similar problem with Nintendo when, on the first day of purchase, my ex-girlfriend's ASSHOLE OF A CAT chewed through the wire of my sensor bar. They hadn't been given prices for replacement parts, so they couldn't help. And they weren't given prices for about a month. I ended up using two clip-on lights from Woolies. Then I got a new sensor bar at the end of January. Mid February the Wii itself got a corrupted memory error. And they wouldn't send it to China once they repaired it.

Started playing this. Because there's basically nothing else available that I haven't already played. It's fine. Not great. The story hasn't wowed me.

I don't think anybody does, really. We've had so much of the same thing at school - days off are set out at the beginning of the year, so you make your plans, then suddenly, you're working late five nights to cover for a day off that they say was put in by mistake. And you know what else? If you clock in here a minute late or leave a minute early, there's an automatic, non-appealable deduction from your salary. And if you voluntarily stay late for a few hours... that's your own stupid fault and you don't get any credit for it.

Sorry to hear that @Cube, my grandfather passed last year from cancer after being given the all clear. I hope they are able to ease the pain at the absolute minimum. @EEVILMURRAY I am genuinely considering relocation from China to the US. There are two hurdles - teacher licensure, which is doable but means being a substitute for the first year. Then there's the actual salaries, which are piss-poor in comparison to what I earn now.

First World Problem Alert! So, went to Vegas a couple of weeks back for ten days... loved it. came out up $200 from the slots and tables, stayed out all night just walking around, talking to people, went on a helicopter, rode the High Roller, the coaster at New York, New York... now I'm back, I desperately want to return! There's so much I missed, and all I can do is think about being there again. Such a beautiful city surrounded by beautiful country.

@MadDog Holy heck, I hope you get sorted, that's an enormous amount to be going through.

Happy birthday!

Yeah, I'd actually do something about this @Animal Drag him in front of the Area Manager, if no joy there, take it to court. SAY NOTHING PROVOCATIVE between now and then.

@Animal Absolutely, report the bugger.

Very much so @EEVILMURRAY And the hilarious thing is here... the shitty, squeaky, does-fuck-all-wheel gets the grease. Then: Head of EAL - farmed out all his classes to his subordinates, basically spent his days watching videos and having meetings where he wasn't prepared. NOW: Vice principal of our newest campus. Then: Head of Bilingual department, never turned up to her classes, never bothered telling anyone. NOW: Head of Admin in our leading Shanghai campus. Then: Other head of Bilingual stream, did fuck all herself, but took credit for everyone else's hard work, even going so far as to put her name only on a jointly-authored article that was later printed throughout Asia. NOW: Principal. Then: Slimy, rat-fuck ex-army guy in charge of our most popular campus, runs it into the ground... NOW: Headof two campuses, including the new most-subscribed. The decent people get absolutely dicked-over sideways and the pricks get promoted.

I'm on holiday for two months, biznitches! WOOOOOOO! But the bad news is, I have to go back and have "The Conversation" with the department coordinator in September. i.e. "This department is a bit of a dead-end for anyone who wants a career, so what are you going to do about it?". Which is a bummer, because it's a relatively simple teaching job (Year 1) and the pay is good, but there's quite literally nowhere to climb up the ladder. There's not even a first rung. Heck, I think they threw away the ladder too.

Excellent, let them be as fucking miserable as I am! with their sexy tight t-shirts, perfect hair and really awesome house parties.

Yeah, definitely giant fish. Command was okay, certainly better than Adventures or Assault, but it just wasn't much of a "Starfox" game. At least to me. *shrug* But that, said, I'm basing most of my opinion on loving Starfox and Lylat Wars - maybe THEY were the aberrations and everything else was normal?

Also, a disclaimer at the beginning CLEARLY STATING that neither Assault nor Adventures happened. Ever. What little story the Starfox series had up to that point was ruined for me by those games. I'm not counting Command because... well, because it was not a terrible game, I just can't remember what happened... something about invading fish?

Haps, yo! Have a good one!

Term is almost ovrr, just need to pack up the office... but the resource room has no boxes. Good job, guys.