Seasons

By this time next week my family and I will be on our way from our hotel to the National Airport in Beijing. From there we depart at 430pm on a flight via Vancouver to Edmonton, arriving at 4pm, a half hour before we left. We'll be in Edmonton for 6 months, quite a long time, and the first time I've been in Edmonton in the summer time in 4 years. Edmonton in the summer is dandy.

It hasn't been the easiest last few months here in Xining, though it feels as though this city is buzzing with reality and a lot of good things are happening here. That being said, we're sad to be leaving this place yet happy to go home with the restored desire to grow. We are happy to say that we are not going home weary, but renewed.

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This weekend is our friend Carrianne's 32nd birthday party. I say 32 not to embarase her but because that is the name of the party being held in her honor. It will be at a local bar, whose English name is "Material Life". It's actually "Material & Life" but us foreigners seem to think that "Material Life" has a nicer ring to it. Most of us just call it "That bar by Jeff and Carrianne's house". They put the English sign up backwards.

This party will have a live band playing at it and that live band will have me in it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Our band includes Myself, Jeff and Carrianne, Ashok from Nepal, and Hua Sheng from Xining. We're playing a half dozen songs that we've been practicing for about a month now. Here's the list:

Undone (The sweater song) by Weezer
Zombie by The Cranberries
Autumn Existence Words from my poem put to music by Jeff and Carrianne
Diamond Ring by Jeff
Tears on my Guitar by Taylor Swift
Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan

As you can see, its quite an eclectic mix. I'm hoping to video a bunch of it and turn it into a birthday gift for Carrianne.

It's pretty funny some of the stuff foreigners can get away with in this country. We made friends with some of these people that hang out at this bar and now they're letting us perform and throw a birthday party there!

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The Oilers lost to the L.A. Kings last night, 2-1, eliminating them from playoff contention. I hope they find a way to clean up this mess of a team in the summer. Too many mistakes. (see photo below)

Falling Apart

The week that was was a week of falling apart...

#1

First I must talk about the Xining Art Society meeting. It is a meeting of people who like to share in the enjoyment of creating, critiquing, and appreciating all kinds of art. The rules of the Art Society:

1. You do not talk about Art Society.
2. You do not talk about Art Society!

Just kidding... talk away!

3. You can come and check it out without bringing any of your own art.
4. After that, if you want to attend, you must bring your own art.

This month, Barbara and I were the hosts. 5 women showed up, and after trying in vain to convince Joel to get his lazy self over to help even out the male/female ratio, I realized that I was on my own.

It was a good time, though. There were 5 pieces. 3 paintings, one birdcage display, and a song. We spent a good while talking about each piece and it seemed as though we all learned a little more about art and a little more about the artists themselves.

The proof the the good times is as follows:

To the right is the first piece, Amy G's birdcage/painting/notebook layout. Is it a mind? A brain? The universe? Another world above the stars?







On the right, Barbara takes a long look at Heather's tree painting. The orange sky had us all wondering if the tree was breaking free from the blackness, or settling in.








Above is everyone taking a good, long look at Heather's piece after moving it to a different wall.



To the left is Sarah's piece. The "tape cassette with sneakers" is quite an interesting work. This was Sarah's first time at the meeting and we're all very amazed by what she brought to the table.






And finally, the painting from the short film that Carrianne made. Quite an amazing painting for a first time oil painter. Check out the film on Facebook.







To understand the theme of "falling apart" you kind of needed to be there. So, be there next time! I won't be there, but you should. In all, we've had 7 or 8 meetings and this one was definitely in the top 2.


#2 of falling apart...

Is it too much for a guy to ask that his hockey team make the playoffs so that he can watch a few games when he gets home? I didn't think so.

The Oilers continue to climb the monumental ladder into mediocrity. After today's loss to the Wild, the Oilers sit 2 points out of the playoffs. With all of the other teams reaching for a playoff spot literally playing their best hockey of the season, one has to wonder; what happened to the Oilers?

Even with a little bit more 'bite' in their game over the past 2 weeks, we could be talking about them challenging Vancouver and Calgary for the division. Yet, here we are. Same old same old.

There are a lot of fingers to point in this situation and a lot of faces to point them at. But the main thing is that when a team plays on home ice they should be good. The Oilers are not. They are bad.

Flash Back...

Last year I bought a half price ticket to an Oilers-Sharks game for 90 dollars. I went by myself because they only had single seats available and I don't know anyone else who's stupid enough to buy anything for 90 dollars at half price to go with me.

The weather was particularly bitter that day, my friends. I beleive it was February. I parked at the Clairview LRT and boarded the train hoping that my car would start when I returned. At the game, the Oilers produced 13 shots on goal and lost 4 to 0. I boarded the train back to clairview and, thankfully, my car started.

As I waited for my cold car to warm up I couldn't help but think about something:

"What was Ethan Moreau doing at that moment?"

He was probably eating his post-game meal from a catering company, or soaking in a hot bath. Or maybe he was spending some of his salary on a new house or small country.

And there I sat, 90 dollars poorer and feeling like I just got ripped off by some sort of scam.

Fast forward to a year later...

and the Oilers continue to refuse to reward their fans. They have 20 shiny wins on the road and only 16 at home. Maybe they need to hurry up on building that new arena. This current team is tainting all of the great memories people have of that building before it was called Rexall Place. If Wayne Gretzky were dead he'd probably roll over in his grave.




#3 in falling apart...




We've had a leak in the upstairs bathroom for a few months now. I tried to get the maintenance guys to fix it but they failed at that. So I ripped the tub out with my hands and saw that it was indeed leaking. After about a month of no leaks the leaks returned. I was convinced that the new problem was in the heating pipes that run under the floor. Sure enough, after smuggling the only maintenance guy I like up to our apartment, and after about 3 hours of digging in the floor, we found the leak! He is repairing it as I type. Lets hope it works!

UPDATE: It appears as though the leak is fixed!






Thus, the week of falling apart.

A bunch of idiots doing nothing constructive

This week was the 3rd Annual 老 外 (Foreigner) Fantasy Baseball Keeper League Draft. If your not familiar with fantasy baseball then you've never really lived....... in the self-realised fantasy of owning a baseball team sort of way. Everyone picks real players to be on their own team through the MLB season and the guy with the best statistics at the end is the champ. This year, since most of the guys are in town, we decided to do a real-live draft in person instead of the on-line thing we usually do.

One guy in our league has been into fantasy sports since the AOL days back in the 90's and probably even before internet. He's always wanted to do the draft with a "Big Board" where everyone selects their team by pinning up the player's names on the board. I figured that I'd throw something together and make the dream a reality! I also made cookies. Thus, the following recap:





Above is the Big Board. The draft took place in Jeff's basement and lasted just over 3 hours. Way too long! That's something we need to work on for next year. Maybe next year we can start in the morning or something.

The league has 12 teams in it. 7 people showed up and the others either sent in their lists or took part via the internet super highway. To the right is Brian. He woke up at "The butt crack of dawn" (his words) in Arkansas to partake in the draft selections. I know, I know, I've never heard of Arkansas either. Probably near Guam or something.




Some more of the highlights:


To the right we have Aaron, the one who's been waiting for at least 15 years for a fantasy sports Big Board. There are probably some tears of joy rolling down the other side of that Gordon jersey as he looks up at the Big Board. In this picture, Aaron is in deep thought, wondering how Jeff's team got so much better than his own over the course of only one full season.

side note: I drafted Alex Gordon. I'm not expecting great things, but I have hope that he'll be able to take a few more steps towards a useful career.




To the left is Kane. He is a school teacher so you'd think that he's probably marking some homework in this picture. That's what I thought too, but we're both wrong! He's actually got a pretty good spread sheet of baseball players in that folder. His commitment to the league is further verified by the fact that he had to miss/cut short an important meeting to be at the draft. "Well done good and faithful servant."








Above where you are reading right now is Jeff, defending Champion and Alex Rodriguezless. He is very proud of selecting marginal starter Adam Wainwright. He is also very proud of his moustache*.

* apparently moustache is spelled without the "o" but I am defiant in spelling it that way.

To the left is Commissioner Jamin and his moustache. He is new to the job this year but he is up to the challenge. Jamin is a statistical genius and will do well to keep us all updated on all the latest numbers.

No one knows how these moustaches will affect the play of their respective teams, but Jeff and Jamin seem to be seeking advice from some sort of alternative "insiders" site. In this keeper league Jamin kept Jhonny Peralta, and missed out on his crush Mike Aviles in the first round. Lets hope this moustache has a few tricks up it's sleeve, for Jamin's sake.


To the right is my can of PBR. PBR is the only beer in this town that I can stomach these days. The Chinese beer just doesn't seem to have any flavor anymore.

Apparently I didn't get the memo that nobody else was going to drink beer at the draft. I only had 2 cans so, luckily for me, it didn't affect my drafting ability. All of my idiot moves I can blame fully on stupidity.





In the end I am pretty happy with my team. I have a lot of proven guys (Pujols, Sizemore, Magglio) and some young guys that could raise a few eyebrows (Gordon, Joba, Zimmermann). The season starts in a week!