Semester 7 Chapter IX: In My Cave

Okay, so this time around, there’s not much to write about really. Last week, I kinda chose to spend most of my evenings at home, working on my dissertation, keeping myself cycled up with work outs, everyday responsibilities and not really socializing. I mean, I still got quite a lot to do, I still cycled hundreds of kilometers around the town... Whatever I ended up doing was quite far from doing nothing, I just put going out on hold... It kinda proves my theory that sobriety is a kind of high too...

So literally the only time I got out last week was Thursday. Some of my people went out for trivia night and I decided to join. It was cool, we placed 2^nd (yay!) and after that, me and my Lithuanians took it to Taphouse. It was nice and honestly quite refreshing. Outside of this, I didn’t really go anywhere...

So let me use the time for talking about to things I consider worth dropping two cents about. Firstly, Kanye managed to release a new album. I’ve always had a complicated relationship with the guy's music and persona. I mean, for the most part of his career, he was dropping classics on classics on classics. I mean, stuff like 808s & Heartbreaks, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Yeezus... But basically everything else all the way up to Yeezus is legendary. I also think the guy is an absolute dickhead as a person. However, his last albums were kinda okay too... Life of Pablo was good, Ye was kinda meh but still. Now we got Jesus Is King. Kanye got all Christian, got rid of profanities and dedicated the whole album to God. Musically, it’s okay. I like the production (even though sometimes it seems undercooked as hell), and it is a bit less corny than I was expecting it to be. However, especially compared to his prime, it’s really subpar. Watched that Big Boy interview with him, and although he has couple of good points, specifically on hip-hop culture, his other antics, such as Trump support, are kinda nono to me. Dunno, JIK is worth a listen but I feel Kanye is gone.

The second thing I got into these past days is a book by my favorite guy David Graeber – Bullshit Jobs: A Theory. I read his previous books too and the insight and brilliant points this guy provides on this weird feeling a person gets operating in our system, are simply breathtaking. The mantra of the book is that lotta people (independent research shows that around 40%) do jobs they themselves consider absolutely useless and if those jobs would cease to exist, not only world wouldn't suffer for it,.it would most likely become a better place. Lotta times, it’s not even clear what those jobs are and people spend more time on their socials than doing the actual work, in a constant fear that their supervisors find out. I’m like 60 pages in and I can totally recommend this. Oh, and his proposed definition of a bullshit job is this: "A bullshit job is a form of paid employment that is so completely pointless, unnecessary, or pernicious that even the employee cannot justify its existence even though, as part of the conditions of employment, the employee feels obliged to pretend that this is not the case." I’m positive that almost everyone can feel this.

So yeah, everything is going fine over here. Weather is getting colder but it’s still not that bad. No more short sleeves tho (unless you bike or run around). But it’s kinda okay, cause this Thursday, I’ll get to enjoy 2 days of Bangkok again. It’s early morning over here, I’m about to go to the stadium to burn some calories, I hope y’all good. Stay healthy, stay safe, don’t entertain bullshit, talk to y’all in a week. One!

Highlights:

• Got on some old Chamillionaire. Good stuff.
• All the new parts of Shanghai I discover on bike. The city is endless.
• No more subways. I started biking even to distant places I used to take subway for. Now I’m basically subway-free and I totally intend to keep it that way.

Semester 7 Chapter VIII: Countless Miles & YLP

Yo, what’s gucci y’all. Another beautiful Monday, Shanghai is still sunny, life is still good, positive vibes are still on all around, and Shanghai Czech-in is still somewhat operational. Shout out to all the students, employees, unemployed heroes, freelancers, robbers... Hope y’all well... Let me start wits some self-promo this time around. After like 10 years of hibernation, me and Mickey managed to record, mix and upload some new shit. Just for the fuck of it... New YLP can be found here: https://soundcloud.com/your-local-popstars. Cheers!

Okay, now back to my life Shanghai. It still feels like we are on the edge between summer and fall over here. Most of the days are real nice, sky is blue, pollution is super low on Chinese standards, and temperature is usually around 20 degrees. Not too bad. Actually, pretty perfect for all the outdoor workouts, runs and cycling I do like all the time.

Last Monday, we hung out at my friends’ apartment, watching a documentary on immigration in the United States, specifically on people who have lived there for years, working there, running businesses, having families, and who are now targeted by Trump administration, being forced to leave it all behind, separate from the their loved ones, and go back to whatever hellhole they came from. Kinda makes you sick. Lotta shit about our super developed and enlightened Western world makes you sick when you really think about it. The shit that happens with Kurds and Turkey is flat out disgusting. And the way West deals with it is just embarrassing. To me, it’s a bit sentimental, cause when I used to live in Turkey in like 2013, shit actually looked promising. People were full of hope that the country would open up culturally and make itself more exposed to the world. Right after I left, Gezi park happened, Erdogan got in control for real and kicked off this whole fiasco which has been getting worse ever since. It’s painful to watch. Shout out to the Kurds! I feel your pain.

Anyways... Wednesday evening, I met up with my Czech friend for a dinner. We went to Jen Dow by Jing’an temple, and spent couple of hours talking life. He started experimenting with tempeh marinating recently (I kinda inspired that), and he got me a jar of it. Since tempeh is like one of my favorite things, I super appreciate that.

Friday, I met up with my Chinese friend who’s involved with couple of restaurants over here. I rode to Knowing café in Minhang for our meet up. She asked me to help her out with founding a page for the café on Happycow, as they would like to attract a bit more international people. I did that and I mean... There’s not that many fully vegan places in the area and those guys do serve some mean tea, coffee, snacks and deserts. Hope it’s gonna help a bit. Later that day, I met up with my peers at Changle u for some beers. Enjoying outdoor friendly weather while it lasts.

I’ve been cycling like crazy too. Got a flat tire for the first time since summer yesterday. Made it for like 6 week without one, which is pretty good. Also went forward and got myself pretty neat cycling gloves. Being all pro and shit. Workouts are still fun and I actually feel my shape is getting better day by day. Been in touch with my girlfriend in Thailand quite a lot too... Gonna go back there in less than two weeks for like two days, just cause I can.  Life’s good. Also... Been working on my dissertation on the daily. Making small steps. Still no idea how this shit’s gonna unfold but let’s hope for the best... Hope y’all gonna have a great week, keep it positive, don’t be assholes to people (and animals), and stay safe. One!

Highlights:

• Yuna – Rogue. Great album. New Gucci is dope as well.
• El Camino. That Breaking Bad movie is not bad. Especially if you consider Breaking Bad one of the best series of all time. Which I kinda do.
• Noodles with peanut butter, coconut milk, mushrooms, tofu and chili peppers. Something we tried out in Thailand, and now I started making it at home. Delicious as fuck...

Semester 7 Chapter VII: Thailand & Games

Yo, what’s good everybody. I’m back in Shanghai, life is still good, looks like we’re bout to have another sunny day today, everything seems to be pretty awesome. It’s also Monday so you know what we’re about to do over here. Chapter 7, Shanghai Czech-in, here we go!

I spent most of last week in Bangkok. Apart from catching up, I had a chance to get a bit more familiar with the city. I did what I usually do when I end up in a place for the first time (well, technically I’ve been to Bangkok before but only for couple of hours so it doesn’t really count) – walking for hours with no particular direction. Just exploring side lanes, trying out different kinda street food, getting lost... Saw the China Town, couple of their palaces, and countless of posters and pictures of their royal family. They take them extremely seriously. When you go see a movie, they literally screen a request right before the main feature, asking audience to stand up for a minute, watch a slideshow of the king doing random shit (usually military related) and pay respect. Never experienced anything like this before. Which brings me to the second movie we saw over there – Ad Astra. Mediocre at best.

  

Anyways, Friday night, I caught a cab back to the airport at around lunchtime, I was back in the glorious city of fucking Shanghai. Safely protected from Facebook, Twitter, Google, Youtube, and all of the other imperialistic Western services. For real though, they are going real hard with this internet thing. Getting harder and harder to access shit over here.

On Saturday, I had a dinner with my Montenegrin girls at our favorite spot by Wanping/Huaihai road. There was quite a lot to catch up on, the evening was beautiful as expected. The day after, my Lithuanians had a bit of a game evening at their place, and since I was done with my work for the day, I joined for a bit. And by work, I mean uni stuff. They finally announced the date for our pre-defense. So yeah, by the end of November, I’m about to find out how bad it is...

  

Outside of that, Shanghai was quite nice over weekend. Weather is still on summer mode, no heavy rains so far, ferries are operational again, cycling is fun. Oh, and I got a fresh haircut at this Chinese lady’s shop I used to go to. As it’s been closed for like the past year every time I rode by, I thought she went out of business but nah – she’s back in, still charging 15 RMB for a haircut, still doing a great job. Shout out to that woman!

Aight, so there you have it. It like 7:30 in the morning, shortly, I’m about to hit a gym and kick-off the new week. I hope you guys are doing great too, stay safe, keep shit positive and don’t trust anyone over 30. Except me. One!

Highlights:

• That movie theatre we saw Ad Astra at. We paid a bit extra for these chairs in the back. You could recline them and basically turn them into a bed. The most comfy experience I’ve ever had in movies. Too bad the film was shit.
• New Keving Gates & Summer Walker.
• Bangkok – all of it.