Semester 3 Chapter XVI: Merry Fucking X-mas Motherfuckers!

It’s unbelievable. My second Christmas in China and time still flies like crazy. So as for this year’s Christmas talk... I’m still on my shit. I hate all those decorations, I hate all that shopping and consuming, and I hate all the animal slaughter. China is kinda a place to be tho. They don’t take it too seriously here, so unless you really want to inject a dosage of any of the above by going to malls or dedicated Christmas markets, you barely know Christmas is happening. No days off, all Chinese still run their dumpling spots, restaurants, shops, schools... Business as usual...

And me? I finished most of the work for the semester and even managed to submit a paper for a conference in the U.S. in March. I honestly think there’s no chance of it being accepted but if a miracle happens, I would not be mad at all. Making a little trip like that...

Last Monday, we made a trip to a VR research center ran by our university and it was probably to most entertaining class I’ve had ever. They let us play this racing game on their simulator, we tried out some VR goggles both for scientific and gaming purposes, played with human anatomy, shot some zombies; it was cool as hell.

On Tuesday, I met up with my friends for some beers at Papa’s which has definitely become our spot. One of the best places to hang out at for sure. The day after, I paid a visit to this tattoo artist. I met her throught a friend a she runs this small studio in Xuhui. I really like her stuff so yeah... I'm getting my first ink in Shanghai in two days. It's still way more expensive than back home but also way more acceptable than the major studios around here. Honestly, I can't wait... On Friday, me and my cycling partner teamed up again for a gallery ride. We started at Ming Yuan Art Center at Fuxing Road for this small exhibition of paintings and then proceeded to the Powerstation. They have some new stuff over there, mostly media art, and is dope as usual. We wrapped up our little trip in Jen Dow with kimchi hotpot. Spot on.

I had quite a lot to do over the weekend so my social life got a back seat, on Christmas Eve (yesterday), I went on and joined my classmates at Ellen’s – this cheap ass bar by South Shaanxi station for some beers. I’ve been there once before and it’s still the same crap. Not totally unbearable but the need of low cost bars to play their shitty fucking tunes as loud as possible so no one can really talk is just amazing.

When I got back home, I skyped with my fam. They just finished their dinner. So yeah, we got some family time too. When I wake up early in the morning today, I felt like eating something sweet to get into the Christmas mood a little, so I got out and got me some sesame dumplings and some hot soy milk from the stand across the street. It was still dark out, but those stands run from like 5am – one of the beautiful things around here...

So there you have it. I believe this is the last blog entry this year (it's also the 50th one btw). So enjoy the time with your loved ones, enjoy the time with your hated ones, get crazy over all that useless junk you’ll find under the Christmas tree, and overdose on food. You know... Keep the spirit of Jesus alive!

Highlights:

• Quavo & Travis, Gucci Mane. Another two dope albums dropping last week.
• Chili peppers I got from the veggie market. I’ve been throwing them into everything I've cooked for like past two weeks. Some top notch shit right there.
• Christmas Eve run at the campus. Me being the only international motherfucker over there.

Semester 3 Chapter XV: Crashes & Fixes

Here we go again. Two weeks before this year is over shit’s not getting any slower. Last Tuesday, I paid a visit to Shanghai Tattoo, cause I’m realizing that I can’t make it without new ink up until the next summer. It’s gonna be challenging tho. Don’t get me wrong, the studio is awesome. I like the interior, I like the look, the energy seems cool. But... It just doesn’t feel right. Apart from the fact it’s heavily overpriced, which is quite symptomatic for studios in China and Korea, it just feels they do lots of mediocre to plain bad designs. Now, I get that they probably do shitload of rich tourist and basic motherfuckers with mediocre ideas, but if their portfolios display fucking meh designs, it kinda suggests that they don’t really do much interesting shit even at their best. It’s not complete garbage, but it’s closer than you would expect. And the price. I mean for a small ass tattoo, I can pretty much buy a return ticket back to Europe and do two session with my favorite guy who is top notch. I met this girl who does tattoos in her small studio somewhere in Xuhui, so I’m gonna pay her a visit sometime soon and then decide whether to go for it or nah. It’s quite a fucked up here. Anyways, I hung out with the friend over there, and at least got a beer at their bar.

On Thursday, I got invited to have some beers to the flat of my classmates. That was cool as hell. I drank with two of them (they’re sisters) and later on we did a bottle of wine with their flat mate. Chilled and entertaining evening. The weather is too cold now tho. When I’m getting back home fucked, I don’t even feel like stopping by at my noodle lady’s spot, cause I just can’t wait to get back indoors. I miss her.

On Friday, I was supposed to meet with my biking friend but unfortunately, it turned out to be raining pretty much for the whole day, so we scrapped that. I still managed to do a run and some outdoor workout when the rain got little lighter, but overall it was shit. Cool thing was, I had the whole track for myself. I ran into this Chinese elderly guy by the bars when I went for pull ups and I got reminded that I really need to work on my Chinese. There was only two of us and he tried to talk to me. I was just standing there like a retard, awkwardly smiling and repeating that I don’t speak the fucking language.

In the evening, I met with my Macedonian guy and we did some beers at Papa’s. This time it was a bit crowded which was actually cool as a motherfucker. It was all Chinese who decided to go ape shit with booze. Now, watching Chinese getting fucked up is usually hilarious. They get drunk fast, they start hugging everyone and everything, they try to hit on girls... I guess everyone does that but since Chinese are not the warmest people by default (trust me, I can relate to that), it all looks super funny. And these guys were not fucking around. Besides beers, they brought some bottles of liquor along, and went kamikaze. We did like four beers and called it a night.

On Saturday, I got into a little crash on my bike. It was partly my fault tho. I went on a red light. Every time I do that, I make sure I’m clear from the green light directions, which I did this time too, but there was this fucking guy on scooter who decided to do a red light too, and he just ran into my front wheel. I managed to stay on feet unscratched so it was all good, however, when I hit the pedals, I noticed that the wheel is totally fucked. Some strings ripped out, it was all bended and shit. Honestly, it felt like a miracle the bike even went. I had to be somewhere so I didn’t have much time to deal with that, and couple of repair shops on my way were like “meiyou” which means something between “don’t have”, “can’t do” and “fuck you”. In the evening, I stopped by at my favorite shop and the guy killed it as usual. He spent like half an hour on it, and the thing is like new. He charged me 30 RMB. Fucking hero.

So yeah, that’s it. Got two more weeks at the campus, I wanna wrap out most of my papers and final assignments this week, and then cool off. The New Year’s Eve party is gonna be awesome. I already got a ticket to Arkham – there’s gonna be this thing with DJs from 88rising crew...

Highlights:

• American Vandal – great Netflix show.
• New N.E.R.D. album. Pure awesomeness. I have mixed feeling on the new Eminem’s album tho. I’m a huge fan and I hate to see him lose but man... I do think it’s an improvement content-wise and flow-wise but he really needs to fire all people in his production department. The beats are totally off.
• While I was hangin out at Xuhui campus with a friend on Wednesday, there was this Chinese middle aged lady taking pictures of us for like 10 minutes. Without asking, just being creepy as fuck. Hasn't happened to me in a while. Yeah, that's the one awkwardly smiling at one of the pictures above.

Semester 3 Chapter XIV: Warehouses and Rides

I kinda slowed down last week to focus a bit more on school and other responsibilities. On Monday, I met with one of my classmates, who happens to be a vegetarian, for a dinner at Happy Buddha. They still do 1+1 Monday vegan burger deals and they expanded their burger menu by 3 new options. It was really good – I realized I barely eat any bread in China. Guess that’s good too. After that, I met with another classmate for a beer at the Papa’s joint. We went for the 8% braincell killer, got couple of those and talked until late. Pretty chilled evening.

On Friday, me and my biking friend met up to check a gallery in Pudong. Although the weather is pretty chilly, it does not seem polluted around here. Especially compared to last year – December was completely fucked, visibility non-existing and PM 2.5 values beyond lethal. I don’t check PM levels anymore, cause I figured it’s better for my mental health, but I do believe it’s way better this time around.

We went by Fuxing Roud all the way to the bund, took a ferry, rode around the financial center and on the way to our destination gallery at Minsheng Road, we ran into a venue called Shipyard 1862. The whole area northern of Luziazui is pretty industrial. There’s lotta construction going on, there are some abandoned buildings and most importantly, there are some that have been turned into exhibition spaces.

At the Shipyard, there was some media art, video, different installations and even some pieces I saw in Madein gallery last year. I guess they are somehow connected. The exhibition was on the ground floor only, however, there were operational escalators that would take you up to like 5^th floor, which was super weird, cause there was literally nothing up there. Just big ass windows and amazing views. No people, no visitors, no staff, no art, no security. Pretty surreal.

After that, we headed to the gallery we initially picked. Again, massive industrial building that obviously used to be a factory of some sort. Lotta architectural pieces, sustainable plans for urbanism and public space, hyperloop plans with VR goggles that put you inside the thing. This exhibition was bigger, as it spread on 5 floors. Besides of quite interesting content, there were also amazing views from huge windows. Some statues and installations outside, overall very dope. Once we were done, we hopped on a ferry, and then I rode back home.

In the evening, I met with some friends at Papa’s again. This time, they didn’t have the 8% motherfucker, so we leveled up and went for 14%. Same brand but almost twice as strong. The beer was aight but man. I had two of those and I was fucking gucci. It’s feels really more like liquor than beer.

I managed to add some before sleep work into my routine. I try to do some school work for about 2 hours every night and so far it kinda flies. We’ll see whether it sustains. Gotta say though, I cannot wait for this fucking semester to be over. Got about a month left and after that, I’m taking couple of weeks off not doing any fucking thing related to this. Rebooting.

 

 

Highlights:

• Quality Control tape & Big Sean with Metro Booming – those releases keep on coming.
• Went to get my groceries to this veggie market across the street for the first time. Love it. The selection is huge, they have various kinds of tofu and I even got some black beans I haven’t seen before. I got some extra free veggies from this nice Chinese lady too. This place is the shit.
• New Star Wars has a Chinese release date – January 5^th. No idea how to dodge spoiler for 3 weeks but I’ll try.