I know that it has been quite some time since my last post. I plan to, today, sit down and write about most everything that has happened here in China.
Just be Patient
Friday, October 22, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
A Mid-Afternoon Haircut Adventure
Alright. Today I decided that I needed a haircut. Now, I have been known to cut my own hair here and there. I came to China with the idea that I would, still, be cutting my own hair and today was the day that I planned to test that idea. Overall, I must say that it was a success. There were, however, a couple of minor hiccups that made the journey that much more fun.
I decided, initially, that I wanted to do it outside so that clean up was minimal. This was a great idea, I must say. The first problem that arose was that of HOW to cut my hair outside, with no viewable power source. I came up with the brilliant idea (no sarcasm...maybe a little) to open my window and link 2 power strips together so that it would reach out of the window. That worked. Alright, power, done!
The next was tunes. Of course I love music and could not have done something as awesome as cutting my hair in China without some tunes. So I turned up my iTunes and turned my computer speakers toward the window. “But what if I don’t like the song?” - Enter my apple remote control. So music is a go. I’m pretty much set, right?
I then moved all of my things outside so that I could begin the cutting journey. I brought my clippers, trimmers, two mirrors (one of which had just been purchased). Sweet, so I’ve got all my stuff and I am ready to go. I’ve set my medium sized mirror against my open window and have the hand-held one ready to use when the situation warrants. In the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Man, I wonder about the voltage of my super sweet hair clippers”. That full thought had not made it to the front of my mind yet. So, I try plugging it into the power strip and....it doesn’t fit. My clippers are the only thing that I brought to China that have one big prong and one small prong. Well, China doesn’t like that! No sir, they do not. I instantly remember that I purchased adapters from America for just such occasions. And I run inside to get one. After acquiring the adapter and returning to my task, I come to find out that my adapters ALSO have one big prong and one small prong. I bought 4 of the wrong adapters!
So my next task was to find a way to get my abnormal prongs into some sort of power strip. I thought perhaps it was the power strip so I come back into the room to try a different one. - side note: it is a BEAUTIFUL day outside. the sun is shining, the leaves are green, the wind is blowing, and the clouds have dissipated. - well there is a funny thing about having your window open along with your door while the wind is blowing...it creates a current that blows through your room and out the open window. Well, during this whole time my mirror has been laying against the screen of my open window and one good current comes along and SMASH. There goes the mirror. I tell myself, hm, that stinks. I’ll think about that later and go back to the task of finding a way to power this haircut. I look through EVERY single classroom in our main building before finding a different adapter that is already plugged in in our office. Of course I took it.
So now, I’ve got tunes, I’ve potentially got power, and I used to have a mirror. I asses the damage to the mirror: catastrophic. So, I set out on another mission. I remembered that one of the other teachers has a large mirror that I can borrow. Thing is, this one already has a huge crack in it. Better than nothing, right? That’s what I thought.
I’ve got tunes, a mirror, and power. I’m ready to go. I start searching for the number 1 guard that I normally use so that I’m not shaving my head bald. Turns out, I think that I may have left it in America. So I pick a new guard, because by now I am determined to get this haircut happening. I plug it my clippers and they do NOT blow up, so I’m happy. I turn them on, they do NOT blow up. So at this point, I’m excited. Not too excited though that I don’t notice that my NON-exploding clippers are vibrating REALLY fast and sounding REALLY loud. After turning them off and thinking about whether I can do this haircut before my clippers DO blow up, I forge ahead with my mission. The thought process was mainly, “They won’t be plugged in there too long, so they probably won’t get enough juice to over power them. I will just go get some new ones for the next haircut.” Logical, right?
Here I am, going to town cutting my hair. It’s going fairly smoothly at the moment. Nothing has exploded. The sound is a tad annoying but nothing I can’t manage. After about 7 minutes cutting, I notice that not only are my clippers vibrating really hard but they are also heating up rapidly. So I decided that it was a good time to take a short break and evaluate the haircut thus far. It’s looking good, they are calming down. I embark upon the clipping again. I don’t know if you’ve ever looked into a mirror with a huge crack diagonally across it but it is very difficult to see anything. It’s like having two mirrors together while you can never get one complete picture. So with the help of one of my friends, I finished it up. As soon as I felt that the cut was complete, I unplugged the clippers in hopes that I had avoided their explosion/meltdown.
It was a job well done. Maybe next time I’ll try something else. I’m not sure that I’d risk that again. But all-in-all, no fatalities, and I got a good cut.
I decided, initially, that I wanted to do it outside so that clean up was minimal. This was a great idea, I must say. The first problem that arose was that of HOW to cut my hair outside, with no viewable power source. I came up with the brilliant idea (no sarcasm...maybe a little) to open my window and link 2 power strips together so that it would reach out of the window. That worked. Alright, power, done!
The next was tunes. Of course I love music and could not have done something as awesome as cutting my hair in China without some tunes. So I turned up my iTunes and turned my computer speakers toward the window. “But what if I don’t like the song?” - Enter my apple remote control. So music is a go. I’m pretty much set, right?
I then moved all of my things outside so that I could begin the cutting journey. I brought my clippers, trimmers, two mirrors (one of which had just been purchased). Sweet, so I’ve got all my stuff and I am ready to go. I’ve set my medium sized mirror against my open window and have the hand-held one ready to use when the situation warrants. In the back of my mind I’m thinking, “Man, I wonder about the voltage of my super sweet hair clippers”. That full thought had not made it to the front of my mind yet. So, I try plugging it into the power strip and....it doesn’t fit. My clippers are the only thing that I brought to China that have one big prong and one small prong. Well, China doesn’t like that! No sir, they do not. I instantly remember that I purchased adapters from America for just such occasions. And I run inside to get one. After acquiring the adapter and returning to my task, I come to find out that my adapters ALSO have one big prong and one small prong. I bought 4 of the wrong adapters!
So my next task was to find a way to get my abnormal prongs into some sort of power strip. I thought perhaps it was the power strip so I come back into the room to try a different one. - side note: it is a BEAUTIFUL day outside. the sun is shining, the leaves are green, the wind is blowing, and the clouds have dissipated. - well there is a funny thing about having your window open along with your door while the wind is blowing...it creates a current that blows through your room and out the open window. Well, during this whole time my mirror has been laying against the screen of my open window and one good current comes along and SMASH. There goes the mirror. I tell myself, hm, that stinks. I’ll think about that later and go back to the task of finding a way to power this haircut. I look through EVERY single classroom in our main building before finding a different adapter that is already plugged in in our office. Of course I took it.
So now, I’ve got tunes, I’ve potentially got power, and I used to have a mirror. I asses the damage to the mirror: catastrophic. So, I set out on another mission. I remembered that one of the other teachers has a large mirror that I can borrow. Thing is, this one already has a huge crack in it. Better than nothing, right? That’s what I thought.
I’ve got tunes, a mirror, and power. I’m ready to go. I start searching for the number 1 guard that I normally use so that I’m not shaving my head bald. Turns out, I think that I may have left it in America. So I pick a new guard, because by now I am determined to get this haircut happening. I plug it my clippers and they do NOT blow up, so I’m happy. I turn them on, they do NOT blow up. So at this point, I’m excited. Not too excited though that I don’t notice that my NON-exploding clippers are vibrating REALLY fast and sounding REALLY loud. After turning them off and thinking about whether I can do this haircut before my clippers DO blow up, I forge ahead with my mission. The thought process was mainly, “They won’t be plugged in there too long, so they probably won’t get enough juice to over power them. I will just go get some new ones for the next haircut.” Logical, right?
Here I am, going to town cutting my hair. It’s going fairly smoothly at the moment. Nothing has exploded. The sound is a tad annoying but nothing I can’t manage. After about 7 minutes cutting, I notice that not only are my clippers vibrating really hard but they are also heating up rapidly. So I decided that it was a good time to take a short break and evaluate the haircut thus far. It’s looking good, they are calming down. I embark upon the clipping again. I don’t know if you’ve ever looked into a mirror with a huge crack diagonally across it but it is very difficult to see anything. It’s like having two mirrors together while you can never get one complete picture. So with the help of one of my friends, I finished it up. As soon as I felt that the cut was complete, I unplugged the clippers in hopes that I had avoided their explosion/meltdown.
It was a job well done. Maybe next time I’ll try something else. I’m not sure that I’d risk that again. But all-in-all, no fatalities, and I got a good cut.
Friday, October 1, 2010
A New Pledge
I want to be better. I have a goal that I want to run a triathlon. I have never run a triathlon. I have never run a marathon. The most running that I have done in the past 3 months is a collective 10 or 12 miles...maybe. I have not biked in a solid 2 months and I don't even remember if I CAN swim...lol. But THIS is my goal. I look at triathletes and they seem to be some of the most genuinely happy and energetic people (before and after the race) and I think that I can do that.
Honestly, I am not in shape. I have a belly and asthma, I drink and eat too much. But I know that I want to do this. I haven't thought it all the way through...about which race I would like to run or anything. But I would like to be ABLE to do it by the end of this year. My thoughts are, it's a whole year...I'm not really doing anything. I am fully capable of finding a gym or something and running and training.
Honestly, I am not in shape. I have a belly and asthma, I drink and eat too much. But I know that I want to do this. I haven't thought it all the way through...about which race I would like to run or anything. But I would like to be ABLE to do it by the end of this year. My thoughts are, it's a whole year...I'm not really doing anything. I am fully capable of finding a gym or something and running and training.
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