Iun

I feel terrible for the staff, I used to be one of them. There are so many die-hard enthusiasts who believed that working inside their favourite hobby would be a dream job for life.

But it is easier to make blanket legislation covering this: "If you say it, you will be prosecuted as if you intended to do it..." if you simply "investigate" the people and try and find out what their intention was, it's a waste of time and resources. I believe people should be banned from thinking about parsnips. Parsnips are the Devil's Willy.

I'll tell you what I tell all the Chinese nationalists who hate the West, white people and anyone different from themselves: Freedom of speech is a privilege, and not the right to abuse, harass or threaten others. Period.

Hey, you did it to me, little lady! Still love you, though.

Hey, normally if Chuck Norris wants something removed it just gets up and quietly removes itself.

Oh look, everybody, it's a tired Internet meme! Besides, a Merc is what, 4 or 5 terabytes? A SmartCar is like 500 gig, but who would be seen in one of those? Gary Numan?

Precisely why I like girls and not porn... I like the way they smell. As for everything else... movies and TV, yes - if it makes them cheaper. Books no, I like the feel of a book and I have to wear glasses to look at a screen but not to read a regular book. Video Games... well, having an iPad is awesome and I already have downloaded games on that, so yeah, sure, why not.

Come to China! Beer is 30p for a can or 50p for half a litre! Beer has to be cheap here because LIFE is so gosh darn DEPRESSING. It tastes like sucking on a rusty sword but IT'S SO CHEAP!

This. Take that bitch to laser tag. Bitches love laser tag.

Oh-ho-ho-HO! I am legally changing my surname to "Winky" specifically because of this! "Large latte, Mr Winky!" "Hot chocolate and extra cream for Mr Winky!"

With you all the way up to the part about therapy. I've never found therapy to help with releasing the pain or solving the problem. But then again, Bipolar Disorder is different to regular depression. For regular depression, yeah, just be there. It's hard on you as someone who loves them to watch them in so much pain, but most of the time, they really don't know what is bothering them, why they are feeling this way or how to solve it. If they suggest an activity that might be considered "outside" of depression -e.g. they never want to leave the house when they are depressed but suddenly suggest breakfast at a greasy spoon, then accept it. Don't ever say something like "What? You want to go OUT?" as if you think either (a) they are mad for suggesting it or (b) you think that suddenly everything is alright. Most depression cures with time, and it takes a while to readjust yourself back to normalcy. Again, this waiting for you as her brother is tough, and I'm sure you want to help ASAP, but just wait. Make sure she knows you're available for what she needs. As men we are handicapped in a way: when we see a problem, our brains immediately say "Problem? MUST SOLVE!" and it's frustrating when the answer is neither obvious or if we feel it's being kept from us. I recently had a bad up/down cycle: about a week ago I was in absolutel despair, like an ugly lump of putty on the sofa, just completely unable to stir myself into any kind of action. All Mrs Iun could come up with was "BE HAPPY!" at different degrees of volume. Then on monday, the mania set in. It took every single iota of willpower I had not to put my underpants on my head and try and run the whole length of my district in Shanghai in less than 5 minutes. I was absolutely desperate to see how fast I could go, or maybe paint a damn HUUUGE picture... ...anyway, I was doing my best to push these urges down and keep them from bubbling over. As it was, I ended up talking like a Salarian from Mass Effect. The best Mrs Iun could come up with was "Snap out of it, I'm happy and you're making ME unhappy!" Needless to say, that doesn't help. Yes, it's tough on family members, but don't make it worse.

Going to see Roxette in Shanghai tonight! Woooooooooooo! Been a huge fan of them since "Joyride" and we started using "The Big L" for our warm up routine in my gymnastics team.

Never had a problem with same sex marriage. And also fully support them adopting. Let's face it: a couple who can't naturally have children are likely to provide a more loving environment than people who take it for granted that they can have children whenever they want. Also: homosexuality is genetic, which means its a natural disposition rather than an environmental one. Finally: Cortez in ME 3 was married to man, and Shepard was okay with it. If its good enough for Shepard, it's good enough for me.

We are punching above our weight, and we need that European money much more than anyone else above us. Without more money in the Swear Jar, we're not going to be able to strengthen. Ad then we will be mid table again.

Jammy, jammy BASTARDS. Still, at the end of the day, if we expect to win, we should do everything for that win and not moan when we get CHEATED OUT OF A POINT AT THE LAST MINUTE BY A BUNCH OF JAMMY BASTARDS. It's ok, I'm ok...

Oh for goodness sakes... I already cared about this whole "Koseph Jony" thing this month, and now you want me to get all riled up about something else? Could you not have waited until next week at the very least? I'm all out of "giving a crap" right now.

Don't get me started, it's been almost exactly 13 years for me. The pain never stops, but the best you can feel is that it's a scar that will only occasionally remind you. As for the rest ... alternative provider for the insurance, but it means losing my full cover. I've a few recurring problems that won't be insured. For the studies, I'm genuinely considering a local place, if they offer supervision in English. And I spoke to Madam last night. Didn't clear the air or anything, but we spoke about how unhappy she is. Naturally we didn't speak about my unhappiness, we never do.

Argh... Medical insurance provider here looks like it's going up the swanney. Just got an email from the broker saying that the largest expat hospital here will no longer accept direct payment from the insurance company ( go for treatment, sign a form and the nuance handles the payment ) without back up from the patient's international credit card - and by that, they mean only Visa and MasterCard issued overseas, not in China. Then I have to think about my PhD studies - either I go back to the UK and continue my study, or transfer to a University here. Either way the costs are horrible. Oh, and I want to divorce my wife.

We were certainly told to, something to do with showing legal proof of domicile and right to sell the games in question.

Pre owned is so... Sticky. I was always glad when working there that we didn't do cash for old games. Then about six months before I left, they started with the cash - ID plus address required. Society's Dregs: "I want to exchange this bag of definitely not stolen games for cash." Me: "Certainly sir, and may I comment on how beer-like your cologne is today, kudos! Now, your ID and proof of address... Let's see, an expired drivers licence and a letter from a methadone clinic asking why you missed your last appointment... *sigh* here's your money, the dealers are in the alley on your left as you leave the shop."

BWARK! BWARK! ABANDON SHIP! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! BWARK! BWARK! ABANDON SHIP! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! BWARK...oh, well, that's a drill... But still, y'know... Abandon ship. And all that.

Something about not letting diabetic people polish their shoes at work because of a hygiene problem... Look, don't push me on specifics, it's just gone 7:30 here.

Raining, slather this guys nuts with honey and then tip over a beehive. Or: take him on a shark diving weekend and pour caviar into his wetsuit: "Aaah! A shark is biting my ass!" Take pictures, it'll be classic.

Yawn, what a dull little article. Perhaps there should be one entitled "Dumb Crap Poor People Say" "oh, I can't afford to take care of all these kids!" "cigarettes and booze are so expensive!" "why does everyone look at me like I'm scum when I go to Tesco in my slippers?"

Can't access Vimeo in China. Can I pretend to be outraged in order to feel like part of the fun?