Iun

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.

I think you might possibly mean soag? If my memory isn't playing up, he was also into cross-dressing and his GF had a baby.

I would keep it to yourself until after they make an offer -or require a reference. But that's just me. In other me news: I resigned today after 7 years at my school to move on to a MUCH bigger school (think 10x the number of students) with AMAZING benefits and a FANTASTIC salary. So why am I not happier?

Shocked really, doesn't seem like any age at all. I think he was a massively underappreciated British actor, who was always great in everything he was in - whatever the overall quality of the rest of the movie.

WHERE CAN I BUY THIS? I WANT TO BE BURIED IN THIS.

I have caught a few episodes of this on our satellite hookup (Totally illegal)and I've enjoyed what I've seen. Is it wrong that I have the hots for Susan Strong?

FLinkenstein, I know what you're going through. So sorry for your loss.

Schadenfreude for me, sorry. Man United fans were just intolerably smug throughout my childhood, and the late-to-the-party glory hounds were so wearing. "Man U!" As the answer to the question "who do you support?" Was the stock answer for anyone who didn't know anything about football, or wanted to seem cool. It's nice to be reminded that the great Red Devils are actually mortal. Sorry for the real supporters, but then again, no-one has a right to success, it must be earned.

That reminds me of something Edouard Said wrote in an essay about "Inscrutable Orientals". He believed it was prejudicial to dismiss athe act of a person from this culture as being explicable only to those from the same culture. His point was we needed to understand and investigate rather than objectify. Which is interesting, because every time you get into an argument here, they always play the "You don't understand China! You can only understand China if you are Chinese!" card. No sir, I understand well enough: you're being a dick because you're losing the argument. I had a great one once: We were buying the fixtures and fittings for the house and were having lunch with a friend of Mrs Iun. I said to him I wanted English-style coach lamps for the balcony and the friend said "No, it's impossible, you will never find those here!" I took out the brochure I had picked up from the home deco place and showed him the exact style and told him that it was possible. His reply was "That's not what you meant, what you said and what you showed me are two different things. Obviously you have problems adjusting to Chinese culture." Whut?

I'll admit that I have no idea if "Oriental" is considered a racist term here. What i do know is that Oriental is a word that was used to refer to anyone from the Middle East to Japan. As such a blanket term, it could be considered offensive as it tries to homogenise all these different peoples. But then, that's me looking for reasons that people would be offended. It would be better to hear it from the horse's mouth.

Sorry to hear that, sending good vibes you and your grandad's way.

@King_V I agree with you to a certain extent, but the extent itself is difficult to define. And if you think THAT sounded silly: Kwertzwaddle. I love free speech, I love being able to call a spade a spade, or a shovel a shovel, or carrot a kwertzwaddle. However, I do not believe that free speech should be the freedom to threaten or, abuse, harass or offend. Now, this is where things get hazy: how do we define what is offensive? Who should decide what is offensive and cannot be said? *deep breath* Take the word "nigger". It's a hateful word, a wrong word and people using it are just...awful. BUT: there is a section of the black community who have reappropriated the word for themselves and use it in every day speech, particularly in the US. I feel that ANY use of the word by ANY person is wrong. If I say I am offended by it, will people stop using it in any context? Will it be labelled a no-no word? Or am I restricting the freedom of expression of the people who use it? I agree with you that there should be a universal standard, but its practical application is complicated. On another note, the CCP in China is actually attempting to construct "Chinese" as a race. Firstly, they want to label any criticism of a Chinese person as racism so as to have a wild card in all arguments. And secondly, it fits their aims of asian expansionism - they can in the future "do a Russia" and claim any non-Chinese national as thei colllective property (if they speak Chinese) and encroach on sovereign territory belonging to other states. Chinese is a nationality, and within the nationality there are many different ethnic groups, but "Chinese" itself is no more a race than "Canadian" or "French". God, I hate the French... What do you think of this?

I personally am extremely racist - I hate whites and non-whites with an equal passion. In addition I particularly hate people who are taller than, the same size as or smaller than a horse. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was subjected to racism during university -there was this UNREASONABLY GORGEOUS girl from Trinidad and Tobago who used to get on the bus into the town centre every Sunday who once struck up a conversation with me. We went out for a date and I jokingly asked her mother when I should bring the girl back - she replied "Oh, about 10pm) with a smile and I thought all was fine. We went to the movies, had dinner... then 10pm rolls round and she gets a screaming call for her mother "Are you still out with that white boy? I warned you they are all the same..." etc. etc. etc. Then I got the message that "Because you don't go to our Church we can't be together, it's not because of your race." Whatev'. So we decided to stop seeing each other but soon she started hounding me and was desperate to go out and stuff, we went out again a few times... then one day she called and said "My mum doesn't want me to see you any more because you are white" - so I just called it quits (There was a lot of drama in between as well) and started dating a long-legged redhead. Racism is pretty much the norm in China - "Look at that black bastard, keep your hand on your wallet/I wonder if he has any drugs with him today?" or "Hey, a white guy! Look, he has a Chinese girlfriend, I bet he can't get a woman the same colour as him because he's retarded or something." Moral of the story: Bitches be crazy, and don't come to China if you're sensitive about race.

Yes, mine too! Happy Birthday!

Am I wrong to say I thought he was already dead? :/ He was important to me as one of the early stars of WWF, and I am saddened by this.

SWEET MERCY! I want all of these! With the exception of the "Rebels" line. I don't know who they are. Nor do I care.

Welp, we have free VIP tickets to see Lionel Richie here in Shanghai! Am I in the right thread?

Happy One-Day-Closer-To-Death-Day!

What about being buried alive with a spider? Or being buried alive BY a spider? Or being buried alive with Mel Gibson in a spider costume?* I'm really freaked out by saliva. Terrible, considering China is the homeland of the Common Spitting Peasant. *Sorry, what happened there was: "What about being buried alive with a spider who kept whispering anti-semetic comments. Then I thought "What about being buried alive with Mel Gibson?" Then... Mel Gibson in a spider costume.

Just like I do with my strongly held belief that the whole world is just a figment of my imagination. You'd think I'd have made myself taller...

I can never get the perfect cherries to sprout in my town - I guess it's because I never harvest my native cherry trees all that often. @ChloboShoka If you want a sure-fire way to make money, head over to the island after 7pm and just collect as many beetles as you can. Even the cheap ones are worth about 1000 Bells each - the best ones are the Golden Stags though.

Belated Birthday Fishes.