ほんとづす。
So this is my first blog post containing some of the very little Japanese I know. I am sticking to hiragana (ひらがな）because I was finding it simply too difficult to learn the kanji and learn to speak at the same time.
If you don't see the JP characters, you'll need to install JP language support on your system.
You may want to learn to read/write Japanese yourself, as I intend to write some of my blogs in this language as I learn more.
Saturday, October 07, 2006
Thoughts about Thinking
I was sitting at the cafe at the hotel I stay at in Penang, working through some simple math exercises from a book I purchased for the purpose of brushing up on my math skills. It occurs to me that if I'm to help my children with their math, I'm going to need to know it myself.
While I was working through the exercises, I began visualizing an interaction w/my son in which he was working through the problems faster then me and understanding the concepts better then me. I pictured this raw intelligence, filled with potential and yet ill-equipped to handle life on life's terms, given his lack of experience.
This process set me to thinking about about the difference between a child's mind and an adult's mind.
It seems as I get older, my tendency to calculate answers to various questions decreases and my tendency to rely on experience as my guide increases. This makes sense. I have built 39 years of experiences from which to draw conclusions about the world around me. A child is bare of many of these experiences. His mind must make calculations about the world around him since in many cases the inputs and circumstances are new to him.
Perhaps there is some line between the "calculating" mind of a younger person and the "experiential" mind of an older person. It seems that the natural progression is for the calculating mind to make a shift toward the experiential mind as one's body of experiences grows. Perhaps, there is a benefit in this - One's ability to make the correct decision quickly in any given set of circumstances is enhanced if all one has to do is draw on memories of previous cause and effect, and act accordingly. If one had to calculate the cause and effect each time one was faced w/a given scenario two things might happen: Firstly, one might come to a "correct" conclusion in some cases, and an "incorrect" conclusion in other cases. Secondly, even if one were always correct, the calculation takes time and decisions to act would be made more slowly.
On the otherhand, there's something to be said for holding on to one's ability to calculate. If my experience shows anything at all, it's that I can't always trust my conclusions about previous experiences. Life is not so black and white as to ensure a similar outcome each and every time one is faced with what appear to be similar inputs and circumstances. It remains important to be able to examine a situation, determine if anything about it is new (relative to previous similar experiences) and then make adjustments to one's response if necessary. These, in a sense, are the same calculations the child's calculating mind are making all the time.
The tendency is for adults is to turn more and more toward the experiential thought-process as they grow older. This is probably fine, depending on an individual's body of experience and ability to retain memories. But brings up the question of what happens once one begins to lose his ability to remember. Does the mind begin again to rely more heavily on calculation? Perhaps so, though it's a losing battle given the fact that the calculations themselves must be based on some fundamental set of facts, the size of which is constantly decreasing as the mind deteriorates.
So, my little act of trying to refresh myself on elementary math has yielded an entirely new line of thought (at least for me). I have no idea if my conclusions have any merit, and I'm not sure it matters, in any event...
While I was working through the exercises, I began visualizing an interaction w/my son in which he was working through the problems faster then me and understanding the concepts better then me. I pictured this raw intelligence, filled with potential and yet ill-equipped to handle life on life's terms, given his lack of experience.
This process set me to thinking about about the difference between a child's mind and an adult's mind.
It seems as I get older, my tendency to calculate answers to various questions decreases and my tendency to rely on experience as my guide increases. This makes sense. I have built 39 years of experiences from which to draw conclusions about the world around me. A child is bare of many of these experiences. His mind must make calculations about the world around him since in many cases the inputs and circumstances are new to him.
Perhaps there is some line between the "calculating" mind of a younger person and the "experiential" mind of an older person. It seems that the natural progression is for the calculating mind to make a shift toward the experiential mind as one's body of experiences grows. Perhaps, there is a benefit in this - One's ability to make the correct decision quickly in any given set of circumstances is enhanced if all one has to do is draw on memories of previous cause and effect, and act accordingly. If one had to calculate the cause and effect each time one was faced w/a given scenario two things might happen: Firstly, one might come to a "correct" conclusion in some cases, and an "incorrect" conclusion in other cases. Secondly, even if one were always correct, the calculation takes time and decisions to act would be made more slowly.
On the otherhand, there's something to be said for holding on to one's ability to calculate. If my experience shows anything at all, it's that I can't always trust my conclusions about previous experiences. Life is not so black and white as to ensure a similar outcome each and every time one is faced with what appear to be similar inputs and circumstances. It remains important to be able to examine a situation, determine if anything about it is new (relative to previous similar experiences) and then make adjustments to one's response if necessary. These, in a sense, are the same calculations the child's calculating mind are making all the time.
The tendency is for adults is to turn more and more toward the experiential thought-process as they grow older. This is probably fine, depending on an individual's body of experience and ability to retain memories. But brings up the question of what happens once one begins to lose his ability to remember. Does the mind begin again to rely more heavily on calculation? Perhaps so, though it's a losing battle given the fact that the calculations themselves must be based on some fundamental set of facts, the size of which is constantly decreasing as the mind deteriorates.
So, my little act of trying to refresh myself on elementary math has yielded an entirely new line of thought (at least for me). I have no idea if my conclusions have any merit, and I'm not sure it matters, in any event...
Sunday, September 10, 2006
Update - No Reason For Concern
The video I linked to in my recent post, No Reason For Concern, no longer appears to be available for free at www.lauramansfield.com. Sure, you could pay her subscription fee, but why?
I was all set to go find it somewhere else but I don't have the time or energy to fuck with it now.
Maybe that's why.
I was all set to go find it somewhere else but I don't have the time or energy to fuck with it now.
Maybe that's why.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
No Reason For Concern
Here's a link to the most recent tape put out by your favorite neighborhood Islamists - Al Qaeda!
The video is long... but it's worth the listen. It starts with Ayman al-Zawahiri blathering on in Arabic w/English sub-titles. It gets interesting when he turns it over to his American buddy, Adam Gadahn, better known as "Azzam the American". He's apparently starred in some previous Al Qaeda features.
Don't be daunted as he starts off with a prayer in Arabic. Once he concludes the prayer, he actually delivers an interesting, intelligent and well-thought-out explanation of why we should all join Islam.
It's easy to dismiss this plea as the ravings of a fanatical fundamentalist. To be certain, it is much more. It is at once a classic piece of war-time propoganda, and at the same time a clear example, provided in English, of why Americans should not limit our concern to Islamist terrorism and terrorist attacks but should perhaps be more concerned about the belief system that drives Islamic thought and Islamist terrorism in the first place.
Are you done listening yet? Did you listen to the whole thing? If so, now go on to read my own ravings.
I suspect many American Muslims would cry out that this man does not represent their beliefs. I believe, however, that most Muslims would be hard-pressed to disagree with Gadahn's point of view. I have yet to have a serious conversation with a Muslim that didn't in some way refer to the superiority of Islam and which didn't include their unwavering certainty that Islam represents the only valid way to live life. And while they may or may not feel compelled to destroy me as an infidel, I'm a firm believer they have been every bit as concerned that I think and believe as they do, as this is a fundamental tenent of Islam.
Of course, one might make the same comment about fundamentalist Cristianity. While I personally find it to be distasteful, I am not threatened by it. Sure... plenty of Christians are worried about my etneral soul and it's place in Heaven or Hell. Yet, these people - even in their passive or active attempts to bring me to their version of the Light - do not appear to believe it is part of their charter to destroy me in this life. Rather, they are content in their certainty (arrogant to be sure) that they will reap the rewards of Heaven, even as I travel down a sure road to eternal misery.
Nor do Christians (for the most part) believe that the laws of the State should be dictated by the laws of their religion. I accept, as every American must, that our laws are guided by Judeo-Christian principals. But we also have embedded into our psyche a firm belief that our religous laws and our civil laws should remain seperate.
In his talk Gadahn makes it clear that Islam ignores this separation. Islam does not make national distinctions, and it is for this reason that all people who consider themselves to be "American" or "Canadian" or "British" or any other nationality should be concerned. There is a growing number of people in the world who believe these national identities are meaningless; that there is only one identity; that there is only one way to live.
In short, the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam presents a full-frontal attack on the most basic idea of our civilization, namely that we are American first, and everything else second.
It would be fine if this interpretation were limited to a small subset of the whole, but I don't believe this to be the case. The range of difference between "middle of the road" Islam and fundamentalist Islam is very small. This perspective is the basis of my concern. I fear Americans in particular, and westerners in general will be dismissive of the vocal, demonstrative few without realizing how similar they may be, in spirit, to the quiet many. We should not be mislead to think they will not wish to be heard soon.
When they do speak out, we will have difficult choices to make. There will come a time when Americans will be forced to make decisions which go to the very core of our national identity, for we are a nation of individuals from various cultures, religions and ethnicities. Our diversity is the very fabric of our American soul and is the core of our strength.
It was not always so. I'm certain our founding fathers weren't so different from each other and probably weren't so different from the country they revolted against.
But we have become a nation which is defined by diversity. Without it, we have no basis of existence. We are a nation that defines itself in terms of secular laws which bind together people as different from one another as night and day.
We must ask ourselves the question that may have no good answer. How will we defend ourselves without losing our national identity in the process? I don't pretend to know the answer, but I'm certain it won't be pretty. I find myself fighting notions which harken to the very insanity that killed so many of "my people" in Nazi Germany. Of course this is madness. If we Americans ever participate in such a campaign we will have lost any right to continue as Americans. On the otherhand, if we don't figure out a solution we may well find ourselves surrounded by a world of people who are content to help us on our way to our eternal misery.
The video is long... but it's worth the listen. It starts with Ayman al-Zawahiri blathering on in Arabic w/English sub-titles. It gets interesting when he turns it over to his American buddy, Adam Gadahn, better known as "Azzam the American". He's apparently starred in some previous Al Qaeda features.
Don't be daunted as he starts off with a prayer in Arabic. Once he concludes the prayer, he actually delivers an interesting, intelligent and well-thought-out explanation of why we should all join Islam.
It's easy to dismiss this plea as the ravings of a fanatical fundamentalist. To be certain, it is much more. It is at once a classic piece of war-time propoganda, and at the same time a clear example, provided in English, of why Americans should not limit our concern to Islamist terrorism and terrorist attacks but should perhaps be more concerned about the belief system that drives Islamic thought and Islamist terrorism in the first place.
Are you done listening yet? Did you listen to the whole thing? If so, now go on to read my own ravings.
I suspect many American Muslims would cry out that this man does not represent their beliefs. I believe, however, that most Muslims would be hard-pressed to disagree with Gadahn's point of view. I have yet to have a serious conversation with a Muslim that didn't in some way refer to the superiority of Islam and which didn't include their unwavering certainty that Islam represents the only valid way to live life. And while they may or may not feel compelled to destroy me as an infidel, I'm a firm believer they have been every bit as concerned that I think and believe as they do, as this is a fundamental tenent of Islam.
Of course, one might make the same comment about fundamentalist Cristianity. While I personally find it to be distasteful, I am not threatened by it. Sure... plenty of Christians are worried about my etneral soul and it's place in Heaven or Hell. Yet, these people - even in their passive or active attempts to bring me to their version of the Light - do not appear to believe it is part of their charter to destroy me in this life. Rather, they are content in their certainty (arrogant to be sure) that they will reap the rewards of Heaven, even as I travel down a sure road to eternal misery.
Nor do Christians (for the most part) believe that the laws of the State should be dictated by the laws of their religion. I accept, as every American must, that our laws are guided by Judeo-Christian principals. But we also have embedded into our psyche a firm belief that our religous laws and our civil laws should remain seperate.
In his talk Gadahn makes it clear that Islam ignores this separation. Islam does not make national distinctions, and it is for this reason that all people who consider themselves to be "American" or "Canadian" or "British" or any other nationality should be concerned. There is a growing number of people in the world who believe these national identities are meaningless; that there is only one identity; that there is only one way to live.
In short, the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam presents a full-frontal attack on the most basic idea of our civilization, namely that we are American first, and everything else second.
It would be fine if this interpretation were limited to a small subset of the whole, but I don't believe this to be the case. The range of difference between "middle of the road" Islam and fundamentalist Islam is very small. This perspective is the basis of my concern. I fear Americans in particular, and westerners in general will be dismissive of the vocal, demonstrative few without realizing how similar they may be, in spirit, to the quiet many. We should not be mislead to think they will not wish to be heard soon.
When they do speak out, we will have difficult choices to make. There will come a time when Americans will be forced to make decisions which go to the very core of our national identity, for we are a nation of individuals from various cultures, religions and ethnicities. Our diversity is the very fabric of our American soul and is the core of our strength.
It was not always so. I'm certain our founding fathers weren't so different from each other and probably weren't so different from the country they revolted against.
But we have become a nation which is defined by diversity. Without it, we have no basis of existence. We are a nation that defines itself in terms of secular laws which bind together people as different from one another as night and day.
We must ask ourselves the question that may have no good answer. How will we defend ourselves without losing our national identity in the process? I don't pretend to know the answer, but I'm certain it won't be pretty. I find myself fighting notions which harken to the very insanity that killed so many of "my people" in Nazi Germany. Of course this is madness. If we Americans ever participate in such a campaign we will have lost any right to continue as Americans. On the otherhand, if we don't figure out a solution we may well find ourselves surrounded by a world of people who are content to help us on our way to our eternal misery.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
What is happening to me?
I got this list off another blog I was randomly looking through...
Memos from your child
1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that i ought not to have all i ask for. I'm testing you.
2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it; it makes me feel more secure.
3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.
4. Don't make me feel smaller than i am. It only makes me behave stupidly big.
5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.
6. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.
7. Don't nag. If you do, i shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.
8. Don't make rash promises. Remember that i feel badly let down when promises are broken.
9. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.
10. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.
11. Don't put me off when i ask questions. If you do you will find that i stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.
12. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when i discover you are neither.
13. Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.
14. Don't forget how quickly i am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please try.
Memos from your child
1. Don't spoil me. I know quite well that i ought not to have all i ask for. I'm testing you.
2. Don't be afraid to be firm with me. I prefer it; it makes me feel more secure.
3. Don't let me form bad habits. I have to rely on you to detect them in the early stages.
4. Don't make me feel smaller than i am. It only makes me behave stupidly big.
5. Don't correct me in front of people if you can help it. I'll take much more notice if you talk quietly with me in private.
6. Don't protect me from consequences. I need to learn the painful way sometimes.
7. Don't nag. If you do, i shall have to protect myself by appearing deaf.
8. Don't make rash promises. Remember that i feel badly let down when promises are broken.
9. Don't be inconsistent. That completely confuses me and makes me lose faith in you.
10. Don't tell me my fears are silly. They are terribly real and you can do much to reassure me if you try to understand.
11. Don't put me off when i ask questions. If you do you will find that i stop asking and seek my information elsewhere.
12. Don't ever suggest that you are perfect or infallible. It gives me too great a shock when i discover you are neither.
13. Don't ever think it is beneath your dignity to apologize to me. An honest apology makes me feel surprisingly warm toward you.
14. Don't forget how quickly i am growing up. It must be very difficult for you to keep pace with me, but please try.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Walking in India
If you ever get the chance to travel internationally, don't miss the unique opportunity to walk among the people in that new place. If, after taking this walk you don't come away with a different view of the people in that place, then you've either been there before, or you weren't paying attention. Sure... You'll see alot from the hotel car or the taxi cab. But you can't really know it until you've walked in it.
My impression of India before arriving was that it was overcrowded and dirty and filled with poverty-stricken, hungry people. I've never been here before but I do have a television...
Yesterday I decided to walk the 1 - 2 miles between my office in Bangalore, India and the hotel I'm staying at. Don't get me wrong... 1 - 2 miles between a hotel and an office building in Bangalore India doesn't make me an expert or anything close to it, and yet even this tiny experience has made an impact on my perceptions.
Walking in India
When a person is hungry they get a certain look in their eye. It's an intense, penetrating look conveying single-minded focus. It may be accompanied by a smile. It may not be. It doesn't matter. If you are paying attention, you can't help but wonder if the person looking at you is thinking he might like to eat you.
In India, you see this look alot. There is no hiding from it here. If you venture outside, (and you will have to go outside, after all) you will be surrounded by it, even in a city like Bangalore which, by Indian standards is doing well.
*** Time Warp ***
Okay... so I started writing that one and then stopped because I didn't have any energy to finish it (walking in India can do that to a person...) At this point, I really don't remember enough detail to actually finish it with any integrity at all. I figure I'll just wait until the next trip to India to finish it off.
My impression of India before arriving was that it was overcrowded and dirty and filled with poverty-stricken, hungry people. I've never been here before but I do have a television...
Yesterday I decided to walk the 1 - 2 miles between my office in Bangalore, India and the hotel I'm staying at. Don't get me wrong... 1 - 2 miles between a hotel and an office building in Bangalore India doesn't make me an expert or anything close to it, and yet even this tiny experience has made an impact on my perceptions.
Walking in India
When a person is hungry they get a certain look in their eye. It's an intense, penetrating look conveying single-minded focus. It may be accompanied by a smile. It may not be. It doesn't matter. If you are paying attention, you can't help but wonder if the person looking at you is thinking he might like to eat you.
In India, you see this look alot. There is no hiding from it here. If you venture outside, (and you will have to go outside, after all) you will be surrounded by it, even in a city like Bangalore which, by Indian standards is doing well.
*** Time Warp ***
Okay... so I started writing that one and then stopped because I didn't have any energy to finish it (walking in India can do that to a person...) At this point, I really don't remember enough detail to actually finish it with any integrity at all. I figure I'll just wait until the next trip to India to finish it off.
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Cheesy Girl Bands
One interesting aspect of travel in Asia is the apparent proliferation of very specific form of musical entertainment which I shall refer to as "Cheesy Girl Bands" or CGB's for purposes of this essay.
This is somewhat of a misnomer because at the heart of every CGB is a male seated behind a slew of keyboards, drum machines,mixers and a microphone. The rest of the typical CGB consists of 3 female vocalists dressed identically in outfits designed to maintain a suitable level of focus from the audience, which is almost entirely male.
CGB's are also characterized by some other common traits:
1. They cover everything from country to disco to current pop.
2. They alternate lead singer between each song. The lead singer rotates to the center of the trio and takes her turn and then turns it over to the next one for the next song.
3. Every so often, the guy behind the keyboard gets a turn to sing a song.
4. The girls have a choreagraphed dance for each song. The choreography appears to be very similar for every song.
5. The singing is very bad. Luckily for the girls (but not necessarily for the audience), the music, not to be outdone by the singing, is worse than the singing
6. The guy behind the keyboards is not actually playing anything. He's pushing buttons to trigger pre-programmed musical tracks.
During the sets, (but after the drinking has begun in earnest) the girls will exit the stage and ask various audience members to dance in front of the stage for brief intervals. Then, at the end of each set, they do an elaborate "flourish" and jump off the stage to go talk to people in the audience.
There has been speculation among the group as to whether they are using this time to setup "external contracts". In my experience they are simply chatting up the various middle-aged business travellers as part of the overall experience:
"How are you doing?"
"How is your trip going?"
"Have you been to Penang before?"
"How long will you be here?"
"Do you have a wife?"
"Can I come back to the United States with you?"
Just kidding Tina. They've never asked me how my trip was going.
This is somewhat of a misnomer because at the heart of every CGB is a male seated behind a slew of keyboards, drum machines,mixers and a microphone. The rest of the typical CGB consists of 3 female vocalists dressed identically in outfits designed to maintain a suitable level of focus from the audience, which is almost entirely male.
CGB's are also characterized by some other common traits:
1. They cover everything from country to disco to current pop.
2. They alternate lead singer between each song. The lead singer rotates to the center of the trio and takes her turn and then turns it over to the next one for the next song.
3. Every so often, the guy behind the keyboard gets a turn to sing a song.
4. The girls have a choreagraphed dance for each song. The choreography appears to be very similar for every song.
5. The singing is very bad. Luckily for the girls (but not necessarily for the audience), the music, not to be outdone by the singing, is worse than the singing
6. The guy behind the keyboards is not actually playing anything. He's pushing buttons to trigger pre-programmed musical tracks.
During the sets, (but after the drinking has begun in earnest) the girls will exit the stage and ask various audience members to dance in front of the stage for brief intervals. Then, at the end of each set, they do an elaborate "flourish" and jump off the stage to go talk to people in the audience.
There has been speculation among the group as to whether they are using this time to setup "external contracts". In my experience they are simply chatting up the various middle-aged business travellers as part of the overall experience:
"How are you doing?"
"How is your trip going?"
"Have you been to Penang before?"
"How long will you be here?"
"Do you have a wife?"
"Can I come back to the United States with you?"
Just kidding Tina. They've never asked me how my trip was going.
Monday, February 20, 2006
Chinese Fire Stomach
Hello Everyone!
I had meant to write in another entry sooner, but my plans were thwarted by a bad case of the Chinese Fire Stomach. I know it's Chinese Fire Stomach as opposed to Malaysian Fire Stomach because I had not yet eaten anything in Malaysia when the troubles began.
I should probably back up. On Wednesday night of last week, we ate at a restaurant famous for "Hot Pot". Basically, this is 2 vats of soup (one spicy, one mild) heated in the center of the table. You then cook various meats, seafood, vegetables and eggs in the soup after it comes to a roaring boil. Let's say you've got a nice slice of schnauzer you want to consume. Just scoop it up w/your chop sticks and put it into the vat for awhile. Then, when it's done you pull it back out and eat it.
Spicy soup and mild soup. It's a relative thing. They are both spicy. But the spicy soup is VERY spicy. It's spicy beyond anything any Caucasian can possibly imagine. Think about rectangular vat of soup, about 6 inches by 18 inches covered in red peppers w/the diameter of your basic okra. These peppers have been cut up into small slices and the process of boiling them extracts the oils into the soup. Once you decide it's spicy enough (we let it boil for about 5 minutes) you then scoop out all the peppers and discard them… At this point you can start cooking.
Did I mention it's really spicy?
I ate exclusively out of the spicy soup with the exception of the shrimp balls, which got cooked in the mild soup.
All of this detail… really only one outcome: Chinese Fire Stomach.
The next day I had the worst indigestion I've every had in my life. Was it worth it? You're damned straight it was. Absolutely the best food I've every had in my life. I especially enjoyed the shrimp. These little guys are alive right up until the point you dip them into the vat. One actually hopped out of the bowl onto the table in a desperate attempt to make it to safety.
I guess I thought that would be it for the gastro-intestinal distress. I figure anything that hot would kill anything else. Unfortunately it was not to be the case. Over the next couple of days I ate literally anything and everything that came my way. I felt fine the whole time (once I was done w/the Chinese Fire Stomach). On Saturday morning I hopped on a plane bound for Penang, thinking I was free and clear. Once at the hotel, I felt a little more tired than I would have expected but I chalked it up to a day of flying and went to bed hoping to get up on Sunday to catch up on some work and maybe go out and about for a little bit.
It was not to be. I woke up on Sunday at about 7:00 a.m. with the worst diarrhea and vomiting I can ever remember. My day consisted of sleeping and purging, purgin and sleeping. I was unable to regulate my own body temp… either too hot or too cold… It was awful. I had to meet one of the Dell people at the airport at 5:00 and so I woke up and got a shower and made it without "incident" Then I went to the local clinic and got my hands on electrolytes, anti-diarrheal medication, anti-vomiting medication, anti-biotics and abdominal pain medication. The doctor admonished me to begin eating breads and porridge immediately and to drink as much water as I could because I was dehydrated to a dangerous level. She told me that if I did as she instructed I would feel fine by today.
Feeling fine is a relative thing. I feel fine if the baseline is how I felt yesterday. I'm able to keep down the food. I've not had any more "episodes". On the otherhand, I'm lethargic, I have a headache and I can't think very clearly. I don't know, but I feel like I may have lost several pounds. It really was a bad scene, but all seems to be better now.
God only knows what I ate that put me through it. None of the people from dinner on Friday night appear to have gotten sick, so I can only think it was something from the airplanes or the airports.
Anyway, that's it for now.
I had meant to write in another entry sooner, but my plans were thwarted by a bad case of the Chinese Fire Stomach. I know it's Chinese Fire Stomach as opposed to Malaysian Fire Stomach because I had not yet eaten anything in Malaysia when the troubles began.
I should probably back up. On Wednesday night of last week, we ate at a restaurant famous for "Hot Pot". Basically, this is 2 vats of soup (one spicy, one mild) heated in the center of the table. You then cook various meats, seafood, vegetables and eggs in the soup after it comes to a roaring boil. Let's say you've got a nice slice of schnauzer you want to consume. Just scoop it up w/your chop sticks and put it into the vat for awhile. Then, when it's done you pull it back out and eat it.
Spicy soup and mild soup. It's a relative thing. They are both spicy. But the spicy soup is VERY spicy. It's spicy beyond anything any Caucasian can possibly imagine. Think about rectangular vat of soup, about 6 inches by 18 inches covered in red peppers w/the diameter of your basic okra. These peppers have been cut up into small slices and the process of boiling them extracts the oils into the soup. Once you decide it's spicy enough (we let it boil for about 5 minutes) you then scoop out all the peppers and discard them… At this point you can start cooking.
Did I mention it's really spicy?
I ate exclusively out of the spicy soup with the exception of the shrimp balls, which got cooked in the mild soup.
All of this detail… really only one outcome: Chinese Fire Stomach.
The next day I had the worst indigestion I've every had in my life. Was it worth it? You're damned straight it was. Absolutely the best food I've every had in my life. I especially enjoyed the shrimp. These little guys are alive right up until the point you dip them into the vat. One actually hopped out of the bowl onto the table in a desperate attempt to make it to safety.
I guess I thought that would be it for the gastro-intestinal distress. I figure anything that hot would kill anything else. Unfortunately it was not to be the case. Over the next couple of days I ate literally anything and everything that came my way. I felt fine the whole time (once I was done w/the Chinese Fire Stomach). On Saturday morning I hopped on a plane bound for Penang, thinking I was free and clear. Once at the hotel, I felt a little more tired than I would have expected but I chalked it up to a day of flying and went to bed hoping to get up on Sunday to catch up on some work and maybe go out and about for a little bit.
It was not to be. I woke up on Sunday at about 7:00 a.m. with the worst diarrhea and vomiting I can ever remember. My day consisted of sleeping and purging, purgin and sleeping. I was unable to regulate my own body temp… either too hot or too cold… It was awful. I had to meet one of the Dell people at the airport at 5:00 and so I woke up and got a shower and made it without "incident" Then I went to the local clinic and got my hands on electrolytes, anti-diarrheal medication, anti-vomiting medication, anti-biotics and abdominal pain medication. The doctor admonished me to begin eating breads and porridge immediately and to drink as much water as I could because I was dehydrated to a dangerous level. She told me that if I did as she instructed I would feel fine by today.
Feeling fine is a relative thing. I feel fine if the baseline is how I felt yesterday. I'm able to keep down the food. I've not had any more "episodes". On the otherhand, I'm lethargic, I have a headache and I can't think very clearly. I don't know, but I feel like I may have lost several pounds. It really was a bad scene, but all seems to be better now.
God only knows what I ate that put me through it. None of the people from dinner on Friday night appear to have gotten sick, so I can only think it was something from the airplanes or the airports.
Anyway, that's it for now.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Live from China
It's Wednesday morning here in sunny Dalian, China. I'm finally feeling adjusted to the time zone. I woke up at 4:00am this morning as opposed to the 2:30 a.m. I've been waking up every night since my arrival on Sunday.
First things first. The flight over from US to Japan was interesting. I sat next to a man who I would later come to understand is involved in the defense contracting business. He had his laptop open through much of the flight and made no attempt to conceal his work which included words like "Raytheon" and "Kim Jung Il". He and I talked about business travel and it was interesting because he literally travels all over the world developing contracts with this or that small country who might need various and sundry hardware products for various and sundry needs ranging from crowd control to domestic defense to guerilla warfare.
He seemed like a nice man. We compared notes on travel from the hotel to the office in various parts of the war. Did I say war? I meant world. I described crazed taxi bus drivers and frantic pedestrians jaywalking into certain death in Brasil and Penang. He described commuting via armored columns in Islamabad, Pakistan and Dubai. We also had a good conversation about how the US has a responsibility to help build up 3rd world countries.
China is much different than I believed it would be. I thought there would be nothing but bicycles and motor scooters piloted by people in dark jumpsuits. I imagined they'd all either be either going to or returning from cumpulsory exercises and education sessions. It is not that way at all. Basically there's a bunch of Chinese people running around, living their lives - school, work, money… My understanding is that this city is relatively well-off compared to other areas of the country. There are plenty of BMW's, Mercedes, Lexus and other expensive vehicles, as well as plenty of smaller middle-class type cars. This isn't to say there isn't poverty, but on the whole, this is a fairly standard large city - at least from the outside looking in.
It's also a dirty city. But from what people tell me, it is clean relative to either Shanghai or Beijing. In anycase, the air is very polluted given the large number of coal plants and cars. China is basically going through it's industrial revolution. I guess I shouldn't expect it to be a clean place.
No birds… okay… some birds… 2 birds… Maybe they went south for the winter? (It is pretty damn cold here) Maybe they got killed off in a massive bird-kill related to avian flu? It's hard to say. All I'm saying is - there aren't a lot of birds around here. Come to think of it - there aren't a lot of animals running around. It's of no real surprise given what I've seen in the restaraunts here. Basically, if it was once alive, there's a decent chance you can find it for sale at a restaurant or food store. They don't really even have to have been alive. In some cases they are still alive while you select them. (I have only seen live seafood at this point, but I'm given to understand you can also pick out your dog or cat in some of the finer establishments…)
There is also plenty of access to crickets, spiders, beetles, worms and other forms of creepy crawlers to delight the pallete.
In an effort to jump the cultural divide, I have made the blanket declaration to all involved that I will eat whatever is put in front of me. Last night I was encouraged to order and eat "Fried Butt" but alas, they were not serving "Fried Butt" on the "all you can eat plan" we purchased. It turns out "Fried Butt" is nothing more than fried halibut or "flatfish" as it may be called by some.
Do I have anything else to report? OH… Television. Very interesting. I'm really not sure how the People's Republic is going to keep a lid on things. They allow hotels and foreign residents access to channels like CNN world, BBC World, Bloomberg and HBO. They are more restrictive of their own citizens, who only have access to official State-run television. One of these is in English. Very interesting stuff.
Strange to say that from my new perspective in China, Penang feels like familiar territory.
First things first. The flight over from US to Japan was interesting. I sat next to a man who I would later come to understand is involved in the defense contracting business. He had his laptop open through much of the flight and made no attempt to conceal his work which included words like "Raytheon" and "Kim Jung Il". He and I talked about business travel and it was interesting because he literally travels all over the world developing contracts with this or that small country who might need various and sundry hardware products for various and sundry needs ranging from crowd control to domestic defense to guerilla warfare.
He seemed like a nice man. We compared notes on travel from the hotel to the office in various parts of the war. Did I say war? I meant world. I described crazed taxi bus drivers and frantic pedestrians jaywalking into certain death in Brasil and Penang. He described commuting via armored columns in Islamabad, Pakistan and Dubai. We also had a good conversation about how the US has a responsibility to help build up 3rd world countries.
China is much different than I believed it would be. I thought there would be nothing but bicycles and motor scooters piloted by people in dark jumpsuits. I imagined they'd all either be either going to or returning from cumpulsory exercises and education sessions. It is not that way at all. Basically there's a bunch of Chinese people running around, living their lives - school, work, money… My understanding is that this city is relatively well-off compared to other areas of the country. There are plenty of BMW's, Mercedes, Lexus and other expensive vehicles, as well as plenty of smaller middle-class type cars. This isn't to say there isn't poverty, but on the whole, this is a fairly standard large city - at least from the outside looking in.
It's also a dirty city. But from what people tell me, it is clean relative to either Shanghai or Beijing. In anycase, the air is very polluted given the large number of coal plants and cars. China is basically going through it's industrial revolution. I guess I shouldn't expect it to be a clean place.
No birds… okay… some birds… 2 birds… Maybe they went south for the winter? (It is pretty damn cold here) Maybe they got killed off in a massive bird-kill related to avian flu? It's hard to say. All I'm saying is - there aren't a lot of birds around here. Come to think of it - there aren't a lot of animals running around. It's of no real surprise given what I've seen in the restaraunts here. Basically, if it was once alive, there's a decent chance you can find it for sale at a restaurant or food store. They don't really even have to have been alive. In some cases they are still alive while you select them. (I have only seen live seafood at this point, but I'm given to understand you can also pick out your dog or cat in some of the finer establishments…)
There is also plenty of access to crickets, spiders, beetles, worms and other forms of creepy crawlers to delight the pallete.
In an effort to jump the cultural divide, I have made the blanket declaration to all involved that I will eat whatever is put in front of me. Last night I was encouraged to order and eat "Fried Butt" but alas, they were not serving "Fried Butt" on the "all you can eat plan" we purchased. It turns out "Fried Butt" is nothing more than fried halibut or "flatfish" as it may be called by some.
Do I have anything else to report? OH… Television. Very interesting. I'm really not sure how the People's Republic is going to keep a lid on things. They allow hotels and foreign residents access to channels like CNN world, BBC World, Bloomberg and HBO. They are more restrictive of their own citizens, who only have access to official State-run television. One of these is in English. Very interesting stuff.
Strange to say that from my new perspective in China, Penang feels like familiar territory.
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