Ah, my third day of endless food and heat. The freshness of the city is still very much upon us. Even the rice tastes better.

Insects of home:

The cicadas are so cute. They chirp in waves. One of then starts and the others also start in competition and it gets louder and louder and then suddenly. . . .it breaks off and there is silence. Only to start all over again a while later.

The dragonflies are really enchanting too. It's been years.... I totally remember lying in the grass looking at those pretty wings before they flit off again. . . ah, beautiful childhood, how great to re-live it again.

Some things never change. I'm still a mosquito magnet. have about 20 odd bites all down my left side because i usually sleep on my right.....it doesn't really itch though. I am older, wiser, and can exercise more self control over the itchiness.

Food of home:

Went and had a NJ classic today 鸭血粉丝汤 (Duck's Blood with Vermicelli Soup) and 小笼包 （um...dunno translation, little buns with soup and amazing meaty filling in them). Due to the abscence of my dear, gigantic laptop, I am unable to post any picture until I upgrade my person in HK, but I will see what I can do. As I am the slowest eater in the family (some things never change) ....I was the last one left to clear the table..... of course I would not let good food down to waste...

Sigh, fingers crossed that the sweating will protect me from pigginess. News says that it will rise to 36 degrees tomorrow, but then, they also said we might typhoon, which luckily didn't occur.

TV of home:

OLYMPICS!!! Behind the scenes, intro of athletes, movie/song stars, the dodgy director 张艺谋（Zhang Yi Mou)....everything. Say what you will, but this is going to be awesome. Actually, I have heard some people discuss whether it was all worth it. All the money, politiking, etc for what? A few athletes to come to this city, see who's the fastest, strongest etc? Because, pragmatically, that is what it is. I.e., is there indeed as great a significance attached to these games than the Chinese people would like to believe? I thinks so. I mean, we humans cannot completely live in the pragmatic world. This is our coming-out party. We are here to prove that we are not 1984 barbarians. Never was, never will be. It's not even the new China. Everything is still here. Just that the hardware has changed a little.

Actually, (ok this is a little off track), another thought that I had today is that the traditional course if life for the average Chinese, traditionally hasn't changed in hundreds of years. We are born, study, if we are good, we get into a good institution that pretty much guarantees you a comfortable life, meet a suitable spouse (temperament, social standing) have kid (ok, no "s" for the most part now, I suppose that's different), give that little cutie your all, retire, and play chess, collect stamps, have a menagerie, play mahjong, become an antique expert, paint...... all those things that one does not expect to make money out of.

I think that is why I like this society. Sometime, having infinite choice can be a bad thing. Here, there are mentally disturbed people of course, but for the most part, there are no emos, no taggers, no...rebels without a cause. Tried to watch that on the plane lol, but, you know those things that get remade so many times it just gets cliche?

I have strayed waaayyyy to far off topic. Comments welcome. It makes me feel less like I'm becoming one of those mentally disturbed.