Let's see, what have I been up to.
I am getting tired of posting to a blog site which is banned in China. I thought I might try switching back to my old Livejournal account, since I saw how good the picture capability was at Jenny's blog, but I couldn't find a feature to post updates to a listserv, and I don't have a camera anyway.
Yes, I've been feeling a bit poor lately since I had to pay for six months worth of rent up front, and I have been spending money on random things that my apartment needs. I bought a wireless router so that I wouldn't have to drag this ethernet cable all the way into my bedroom, but I still can't configure my wireless card to work under Linux so it's a waste of money for now. I could go and buy a wireless card that works under Linux, but actually what I really want is a Macbook. I think my boss should buy me one, or at least buy one for the office for me to use, but I think she would find this humorous. She wishes I had a laptop which I could use for business, though, so she really should get me one. I have the impression that this is what they do in real companies. Unfortunately I have no work permit and still have the feeling that neither I nor the company actually exist.
I've been meeting all sorts of random people who do work for our company, and when I inquire about their relationship to the company, I am told that it is very complex and I would do better to not ask. The other day I was told to go represent my boss at a meeting with a President Wang. Nobody was inclined to explain to me just what company he is president of, or what the meeting was going to be about. Unfortunately I had decided to wear shorts and sandals to work that day, and as soon as I met Mr. Wang he asked me why I came to work dressed so casually. But there was nothing to be done, so I just followed him around to this meeting, which turned out to be a tour of office space for rent in the adjacent tower, which we apparently have our eyes on. He kept dropping me hints during the following hour or so that I still had a lot to learn about Chinese culture, which I take to mean that the sight of bare legs and feet is offensive, especially when they are hairy. Oh well. Today I am wearing a shirt and pants, and a pair of slimy-feeling dress socks which I bought at Carrefour, two for the price of one.
President Wang seemed to be a pretty interesting guy though, and he seemed concerned that I was living all alone in my one-bedroom apartment and offered to take me out clubbing in the future.
This goes against my better judgment, but for your gratification, I feel I ought to mention that I've been dating a girl for the past week. I only bring this up to explain that I have in fact been spending a good deal of my time in a social manner, and to assure my relatives that I am not entirely abnormal. That's all I'm going to say about this at this point, though, and please don't ask me about it, because I won't tell you.
In other news, my boss has been in Taiwan for almost two weeks now, making it nearly impossible for me to get anything done at work. There's quite a lot coming up next week, when these guys from England will be coming over to meet with us on a few projects including: our planned shopping channel on China Web TV which we will probably hook up to a 3G mobile advertising platform, some kind of profitable copyright protection association for the China music industry, and a deal on herbal facial masks. Then the LA crew for the big movie are coming over on the weekend to begin their month-long location scout, which should be very exciting, assuming I don't screw up the airline tickets for them. The cigarette thing is apparently being pushed back a week or so since Mou still isn't back from Taiwan.
In the meantime, I may decide to play a game of Go online today. After I get back from lunch. And take a nap.
I am getting tired of posting to a blog site which is banned in China. I thought I might try switching back to my old Livejournal account, since I saw how good the picture capability was at Jenny's blog, but I couldn't find a feature to post updates to a listserv, and I don't have a camera anyway.
Yes, I've been feeling a bit poor lately since I had to pay for six months worth of rent up front, and I have been spending money on random things that my apartment needs. I bought a wireless router so that I wouldn't have to drag this ethernet cable all the way into my bedroom, but I still can't configure my wireless card to work under Linux so it's a waste of money for now. I could go and buy a wireless card that works under Linux, but actually what I really want is a Macbook. I think my boss should buy me one, or at least buy one for the office for me to use, but I think she would find this humorous. She wishes I had a laptop which I could use for business, though, so she really should get me one. I have the impression that this is what they do in real companies. Unfortunately I have no work permit and still have the feeling that neither I nor the company actually exist.
I've been meeting all sorts of random people who do work for our company, and when I inquire about their relationship to the company, I am told that it is very complex and I would do better to not ask. The other day I was told to go represent my boss at a meeting with a President Wang. Nobody was inclined to explain to me just what company he is president of, or what the meeting was going to be about. Unfortunately I had decided to wear shorts and sandals to work that day, and as soon as I met Mr. Wang he asked me why I came to work dressed so casually. But there was nothing to be done, so I just followed him around to this meeting, which turned out to be a tour of office space for rent in the adjacent tower, which we apparently have our eyes on. He kept dropping me hints during the following hour or so that I still had a lot to learn about Chinese culture, which I take to mean that the sight of bare legs and feet is offensive, especially when they are hairy. Oh well. Today I am wearing a shirt and pants, and a pair of slimy-feeling dress socks which I bought at Carrefour, two for the price of one.
President Wang seemed to be a pretty interesting guy though, and he seemed concerned that I was living all alone in my one-bedroom apartment and offered to take me out clubbing in the future.
This goes against my better judgment, but for your gratification, I feel I ought to mention that I've been dating a girl for the past week. I only bring this up to explain that I have in fact been spending a good deal of my time in a social manner, and to assure my relatives that I am not entirely abnormal. That's all I'm going to say about this at this point, though, and please don't ask me about it, because I won't tell you.
In other news, my boss has been in Taiwan for almost two weeks now, making it nearly impossible for me to get anything done at work. There's quite a lot coming up next week, when these guys from England will be coming over to meet with us on a few projects including: our planned shopping channel on China Web TV which we will probably hook up to a 3G mobile advertising platform, some kind of profitable copyright protection association for the China music industry, and a deal on herbal facial masks. Then the LA crew for the big movie are coming over on the weekend to begin their month-long location scout, which should be very exciting, assuming I don't screw up the airline tickets for them. The cigarette thing is apparently being pushed back a week or so since Mou still isn't back from Taiwan.
In the meantime, I may decide to play a game of Go online today. After I get back from lunch. And take a nap.