Sunday, October 08, 2006

A Workday, Beautiful Blog

I have no pictures for yesterday. I spent all morning at my desk catching up on e-mail and feeling a little stronger mentally. It's funny how determination is like a muscle that gets fatigued. So although there may seem to be nothing preventing me from answering e-mails or doing research, my determination muscle just isn't up to it sometimes. Yet the distinction between "rest" and "atrophy" is hard to draw... which is to say, I'm lazier than I should be.

In any case, yesterday I was pretty full of determination. I answered e-mails and did blog updates and a bit of research for LGs's project. I had lunch in a Yunnan place nearby. A typical Yunnan dish is a bowl of tasty broth into which they put a variety of things at table, always including tiny little raw eggs and lots of noodles. The bowl is hot and the broth is boiling hot, and everything cooks and heats up nicely. The people in the restaurant were not very polite or friendly, but the food was good. I sometimes wonder if these noodle soups are fattening or just filling. In any case, I felt really satisfied.

After lunch I made a plan to finally visit the Starbucks that is right next door to my building. It is on the ground floor of a giant office building devoted to some sort of technology. It is right next to the Mei Mei Xiaochi food-court where my favorite pulled noodles are to be had. I'm not a huge fan of Starbucks at home, but being in a foreign country has a funny effect on one's tastes. One just likes familiarity. The Starbucks was familiar all right. Though the menu was in Chinese, the prices were just as in the U.S., if anything a little higher. On the upside, the staff were much more polite and friendly than in any American Starbucks I've gone to. I had a pumpkin latte, the Starbucks sleeper hit of the season according to some business report I'd read. I agree, it was pretty good, despite my having to pay $3 for a small one.

It was a very big Starbucks, and had many comfortable chairs (my favorite). I would have taken a picture but, inexplicably, photography was on the list of banned activities--along with smoking and outside foods and drinks. Go figure. I sat in there for several hours and got a surprising amount of work done. No doubt I was paying for atmosphere, but it turned out to be a good buy. Some atmospheres are just nicely conducive to work. During this time, a small procession of employees came by with a free sample of--I think--hot chocolate, followed by a mercifully small free sample of a ham sandwich. I say mercifully because it seemed to be ham with cinnamon mayonnaise, not a happy combination of tastes. The hot chocolate was nice though.

At evening, I went to Carrefour for supplies. I realize I'm very tired of eating in restaurants, especially eating in restaurants by my lonesome. Even though restaurant food is both better and cheaper than anything I can make myself, I'll buy the atmosphere! I contemplated another try at a decent pot, but discarded the notion and stuck with things I could boil: pasta, potatoes, jiaozi, ingredients for miso soup. I also got some fruits and snacks and more Orion pies.

They were still selling soft-shell turtles with their pointy piggy noses. One was very actively dashing back and forth in his (dry) tank. He clawed his way up the side until he was all the way vertical, lost his balance and fell on his back. I thought he was going to require rescue but no, with a smooth powerful motion he flipped himself back over easily. I think the soft shell, which is really more leathery than shell-like, isn't much of a hindrance for his long strong legs. Well, he still requires rescue in a larger sense, but isn't likely to get it.

I felt so awfully sad. And very guilty for buying Queequeg and Yojo, who were clearly meant for the pet trade instead of the meat-trade anyway, when I could have saved a life instead. I mean, some of the grocery store turtles were clearly not long for the world anyway--sluggish, dehydrated, or visibly wounded. But lively inquisitive ones…. If my regular diet were turtles, I suppose it would make a vegetarian of me. But I have a hard time working up that much sympathy for a chicken or a fish or a sheep. I know, I'm just like the king in the Mencius who hears the lowing of the sacrificial cow and, moved by pity, he orders them to change it for a sheep. Mencius points out that the sheep is just as much a pitiable living thing as the cow, but despite the inconsistency still commends the king for his impulse of compassion.

As usual, I wore myself out very thoroughly at the grocery store and walking home with all the loot. Spent the rest of the evening reading blogs, which is remarkably entertaining. My absolute favorite (since the demise of the racy "eve's curse") is by a Japanese man whose English is rudimentary in a way that is so charming that it approaches poetry. It seems perhaps he is a soccer player? He is newly married. His posts are few and brief, but many of them are gems. Take a look here, and make sure to read the earliest ones, especially the pre-wedding ones.

No comments: