Iun

Actually, it's just the WSJ now, China Law Blog used to be blocked, but now it's accessible. Groovy! Yes, but (a) it's costly and (b) the VPN/Company sometimes cease working altogether, and as it is a legal grey areas, there's no recourse. Yeah, Madame has to prove a certain time spent working in China, the intention to return to China etc. every time that she gets a UK tourist visa. It's a good thing. I'm not anti-immigration, but I can promise that the UK and Europe as a whole would be inundated with deluge of unskilled workers if visa restrictions were lifted. Interesting aside - my brother in law is a policeman, and he is legally prohibited from travelling outside of China unless on a strictly-controlled, state-sponsored training exercise. And that is a rare thing. He has never been outside of China. Employees of state-owned enterprises are subject to similar restrictions. There's a fear that they will divulge sensitive information that could damage China's competitive edge. I'm interviewing somebody to take over my job today. I hate interviews.

You're going to laugh - two out of three of the links are blocked by the Great Firewall surrounding the internet. It prevents access to the following sites: Facebook Youtube Twitter The Guardian (Don't care, but as the government here is supposed to be full of a bunch of peasant-loving lefties, ironic) Wall Street Journal New York Times Human Rights Watch Google (This is a kicker: I have to use Bing, which routinely censors search results to keep the government happy) Intermittent access to: The UN (occasionally, when China has been censured) BBC (blocked during "sensitive" anniversaries) Anything that suggests Taiwan is an independent state Anything that suggests that PRC control of Tibet is wrong or less than completely legitimate Also, stop DECORATING my GOAT with festive CREPE PAPER every Sunday MORNING.

Everything about that picture makes me so angry... first of all, that person is alive when someone really awesome like Rik Mayall is dead. Secondly, that person has a book published when I don't and that person clearly writes in crayon, thirdly, I'd like to beat that person half to death and I'm not allowed to. The wife is going away for a week, so I don't have to eat rice for several days. That's great news for me!

Everything IS cool when you're PART of a TEAM. My BINS: Stay AWAY from THEM.

@MoogleViper My goodness, I thought the limit was 50k a year... 35k is miserly. @EEVILMURRAY I'm pretty sure it's per person, but even then I'm sure there would be some attempt at imposing extra tax/processing fees. Thanks for your suggestions guys, but you're proceeding from a false assumption: China is not a country ruled by law, and therefore if someone with a modicum of power doesn't want you to do something, they will simply stop you. In the UK, the law is written down and you can hire a solicitor to argue your case before a judge - and sometimes the way that someone has broken the law is so blatant that you don't even need to do as much as that. Here the law is whatever is expedient for the ruling Party - whether it be to suit their own selfish ends, their friends, family or whatever. The PRC constitution is a lengthy document guaranteeing judicial independence from the executive,freedom of speech, assembly, the right to collective bargaining, free press, democratic elections, multi-party representation... with one clause at the bottom of the document that says "Ignore All of the Above". No cheques here (do the banks in the UK even accept them any more anyway?) as it would be a guaranteed way of losing money - I can promise you that if a Chinese person in China does not pay for something immediately, or when you pay that person for a service that they have yet to render... that money is completely lost. Yeah the 50 GBP note thing is frustrating - I'll change 600 squids at the bank and get back the Slimmest Envelope Ever. GODAMMIT, that's a LOT of money! Give ME it ALL in TEN POUND NOTES. AND STAY AWAY FROM MY BINS.

Hah, both of which are prohibited! You are NOT allowed to send any kind of money through the mail here, again, they're petrified of it ending up out of the country. The smaller accounts thing does not work - people have tried it before and had all the money seized as "evidence" and never been brought to trial...

It's been a hell of a week -I've chosen to come off the anti-depressants, which has led to the return of the horrific dreams. I won't detail them, but they're the usual people-are-trying-to-kill-you-but-no-one-believes-you kind of trauma or being kidnapped and so on. Then I got the thunderbolt: my parents are seriously going to sell their house. Fair enough, the noise from the farm and the main road has finally gotten to them, but it was without doubt a beautiful and well-appointed cottage in a fantastic village (with the exception of the farm and the A258) with a gorgeous interior and exterior, working fireplace, 3 bathrooms, 4 bedrooms, living room, dining room, sun room, massive kitchen and gardens all the way round. I didn't really "grow up" there as I was sixteen when we moved in, then I went to Uni, came back for all of two years then moved to China... ... but the word "home" is that house to me, no questions asked. A roaring log fire in the winter, barbecues in the garden til late in the summer, the smell of the rain on the trees in the surrounding forest in Autumn and Spring. Sigh. Thing is, I would love to buy it, and Mrs Iun would agree. The sale of our apartment here would cover about 50-60% of the cost of the house as well. We'd buy to let and move there in a few years time. The main problem is, I don't have QTS in the UK and neither does the wife, so moving there as teachers would be tough as we'd spend the first year dicking around with more training (because ten years of teaching experience means absolutely jack shit if you don't have another piece of paper) ... oh, and the OTHER problem is that the cunting, bastarding, child-murdering Chinese government will not let you move that volume of money out of the country. We'd have something like 250k in the bank that we just couldn't get to an account in the UK, which as I said would cover 50-60% of the 400K value. It's my money, dammit. I guess I'm just so miserable because that anchor to my life in the UK that I thought would always be there, that one hearth and home I had always dreamed of going back to will be taken away from me, and the chance I have to hold on to it is so real, but so impossible just guts me. My family will find a new place to live, I'm sure, but the home that we all made together (parents, siblings, cats) will be gone, forever. Sigh. Oh, and I have two more weeks of my horrible job here. It took me two hours to get to work today in the pouring rain.

Happy birthday, Stadium's Coolest Groover!

I've found in recent years that my circle of friends has diminished considerably. And it's my fault. During secondary school and university, I saw my friends every day, so it was easy to stay invested in ther lives. Since I became a workaholic, it's gotten harder and harder to find the time to take an interest in everyone else. I've myself to blame, and maybe you have to? I don't know the particular of your situation, but you get what you give.

Finally saw this today, and while I enjoyed it, I knew without even reading a single thing about it or seeing his name in the credits that Bryan Singer was the director. How, you ask? Because Bryan Singer can't direct action scenes for shit. The man can get incredibly emotionally intelligent performances from his actors, but every single action scene passionless and uninspired. They always feel like an afterthought, as if he's just filling time between character beats. And in a superhero movie, that's just crap. In many ways he's the antithesis of Raimi in his Spiderman movies: most of the performances in those movies are more like caricatures than characters, but his action is really breathtaking and thrilling. I even felt the same way about Superman returns- great character moments, yet the action was flatter than pre-pubescent breasts.

I have had two weeks in agony every time I lie down - there's a problem with my left shoulder, and it means I wake up several times in the night because of the pain. I've not had a straight2-3 hours sleeps since it began. Doctors have given me pain killers, but with my high drugtolerance, they don't really make a dent. TEven better, I've had thundering diarrhoea for five days. Every time I eat or drink, it all comes out again 20 minutes later. Went to the doctor for antibiotics, which were useless, going back again today.

Good luck @Animal, go for it!

Very sorry to hear that.

Well, this is a shock - what was the cause of death?

@Animal I know this may not be what you want to hear right now, but can I strongly suggest that you listen to the song "Animal" by Def Leppard. It rocks, and so do you.

Happy birthday, may your loins be full of fruit! ...what?

Only on you, darling. Only on you. EDIT: Gah... It's 3:20am and I've not slept since 11pm, thunderous diarrhea. I've been to the bathroom five times already. There can't be any water left to poop out...

Not sexually frustrated per se - they have their pick of prostitutes, because they charge protection money to the pimps to keep the brothels from closing down. They're power hungry certainly, but also incredibly lazy. I suppose the best way to characterize them is bullies in uniform.

The APEC meeting is coming up in Shanghai next week, and whole sections of the city are closed off. Also, there are police EVERYWHERE. Interesting, given the fact that the authorities here always claim they don't have enough police to enforce basic laws, but happily arrest people for "picking quarrels" and "disturbing public order". Makes me sick.

I'm just too worried about the sudden and unexpected ocurrance of penis.

OH. SHIT. I handed in my final assignment for my PGCE about two weeks ago (well before the deadline on the 10th) and I just got an email from the teacher saying that an ENTIRE SECTION IS MISSING from the essay. I checked and yep, I forgot to copy/paste the section in to the main body from my notes. CRAPCRAPCRAPCRAP. I have sent him the updated document and the missing section, but OHBOLLOCKS this could mean that I fail the module. Which KIND OF FUCKING HIGHLIGHTS THE POINT I MADE TO THEM BEFORE: They teach us that there are numerous different means of assessment - essays, reports, continuous assessment, coursework, oral testing, presentations... and yet everything on this course is pass or fail on a final essay. If there had been some kind of continuous assessment of our work, then I would at least have evidence that I'm not a complete an total MORON WHO FORGETS TO PASTE SECTIONS OF AN ESSAY. It's 9:15pm in China, and I know I am not going to sleep because of this. EDIT: Just got an email back from the Lecturer: He says it's okay because it won't have a huge impact on the final grade. Which has gotten me worried.

So, any resolution to this? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have a new suit jacket, and I happen to look terrifically smexy in it, so everyone says.

I'd call their bluff. If you think the drink is lousy, then it's your opinion and you've got a right to it. If your review was defamatory, however, such as "I think they made this with the semen of a thousand orphaned goats" then, yeah, you could be in trouble. If it was me I'd do this: OPEN ON HAIRY BEARDY FAT MAN SITTING IN OFFICE WEATING A SHORT SLEEVED SHIRT. HE IS WRITING ON AN A4 NOTEPAD WITH A CAN OF "SemEnergy" TOTAL SEMEN AND ENERGY DRINK ON HIS DESK. HBFM: (looking up, as if noticing the camera for the first time) Oh, hello! I didn't see you come in. I was just writing down a lengthy review of SemEnergy Total Semen and Energy Drink... But I'm sure you've haven't got time to read it (throws the A4 notepad off camera left) so let me break it down into two words for you (camera zooms in on HBFM's mouth) It's. Shit. HBFM: Too quick for you? Let me slow it down a little: (we snap back to the close up of HBFM's mouth, this time playing at half speed) Iiiiiiiiitttttt'sssss. Shhhhhiiiiiittttt. HBFM: (Now with forearms on the desk, interlaced fingers.) But don't take my word for it, listen to these testimonials: CUT TO A PEDESTRIAN PRECEINCT, CLOSE UP ON 20-SOMETHING BLONDE TAKING A SIP FROM A CAN OF DRINK. Blonde: (in revulsion) oh.... It's shit. CUT TO A BAR, SOME LADS ARE PLAYING POOL IN THE BACKGROUND. A MAN WITH A FLATCAP, WAISTCOAT AND HUNTING SHOTGUN BROKEN OVER HIS LAP TAKES A SIP OF THE DRINK. Flatcap: (Disappointed, gesturing in mild disgust to off camera barman) I say, barkeep! This is shit! CUT TO AN ELDERLY MAN IN A COMFY CHAIR, FACE AND TORSO HIDDEN BY A NEWSPAPER. A CAN OF THE DRINK IS ON A SIDE TABLE TO HIS LEFT. HIS LEFT HAND APPEARS FROM BEHIND THE PAPER AND SLOWLY TAKES THE CAN BEHIND THE NEWSPAPER. A FEW SECONDS PASS. Elderly man: (In a weak, feeble voice) Elsie...Elsie... This is shit!

I feel for me that the biggest issue is that I have become institutionalised here -I'm used to the same way of doing things, the same routine etc. But that's a hugely negative aspect of this job for me: I'm bored where I am now, and I want a new challenge. I wonder however if I am biting off more than I can chew.

Yes. I've spent many a happy hour gazing lovingly at Uranus.