I write again. More to test the blog, yesterday I updated the Rotary one without problems but then this blog blew up in my face. Latest WordPress but all busted.
So I write this to see how it works. Bit difficult on a blue Sunday morning to see my router becoming a flickering Christmas tree and then all lights out. No Internet. Oh well, back to emergency mode, trying to rediscover codes and passwords, looking with a total ignorance at panels of the iMAC talking about PPPoE and other geek talk. Finally, back to the Internet. And to the dead blog. With a hangover of the biggest lesbian party I ever saw in Beijing, thinking actually still worked (so many cute girls, all off-limits, asking me if I knew where I was and if I was gay, etc. etc. and many Tsingtaos…). Decided to look inside the server, cleaned up the suspect files (google sitemap generator) that turned out to be the unexpected culprit. The joys followed of being able to get to the Dashboard, activating most plugins. That google stuff is like a bomb, just put it on the server and kaboom, all is gone. No clue why.
So, yes, I did not write. Man, too busy following the US primaries, definitely more fun than that Super Ball (or is it Bowl?) that seems as exciting as counting pebbles in a river. We miss that campaigning here, just imagine Who running from province to province and talking to real people with real media showing real news. Never mind the guys here are nearly as boring & kinda zealots as Republicans over there (the actually share many ideologies), but overall the debate is there. Also too busy trying to put order in my life (failed), my office files (failed), my thousands of useless business cards (did 5%), read my backlog of IHT (I am reaching October 2006, going backwards). Now, don’t get me even more depressed by asking how my Chinese lessons are doing, how my books are taking shape.
I am a “Golden Rat” according to Chinese mythology. As 100 different versions of interpretations result in 100 contradictory statements about my Rat Year, I keep the copy at heart that says I will get laid a lot. Other forecasts are systematically trashed though I deeply believe this year WILL be s***. The puzzling clouds of the Games are coming nearer. Maybe I should run away in time. But to miss this Halloween Party would be a pity (Yeah, we talk about this “party” later). But with all the not-so-good rumblings here I will need to look for worse places around the world so I can feel relieved to be in this harmonious society of Beijing.
So, I’ll stop here as i will soon drop on the keyboard, still in pajamas since yesterday (after that party, OK!). Good night.

Yeah, no “New Year resolutions”.
Maybe one, just before that dreaded day of 31 (if you know me you’ll understand).
I am going to take a break from this blog. Is it the horrendous Beijing pollution (topping 500 these days), is it old age, is it nervous breakdown, is it demotivation, is it trying to stop my beloved cigars, etc. No comments, no pick.
This blog has become too big, too diverse. Bloated?
I have lots of stuff sitting ready to be edited, pics to be uploaded. They’ll remain there taking digital dust.
I do have some nice and interested readers (NOT those looking for the BIGGEST PENIS or for sexy massage Beijing).
I need desperately to clean up my computer files (doing it right now), sorting out my thousands of pictures, clean out my office of useless files and company introductions, clean up my head (tough). Wading through gigabytes of files I stumble on so much crap I had to deal with in the past years, a lot to do with the (dreaded) Olympics.
Any of you still interested in my views on Beijing, Chinese girls, pollution, etc.: I will take out more time for personal contacts. You know how to find me. Could be more fun.
Writing a book? Not yet convinced. Too much rubbish comes out every day, including intellectual waste about the importance of ying and yang, Confucianism, etc. People are even paid to blabber about it. They urgently need a visit to the Gongti Strip after 11 pm; the new Babyface is open.

To all the readers, the faithful, the occasional (looking for sexy stuff in Beijing), the known and unknown: Happy Holidays and a Happy 2008. And lots of excitement with the 2008 Olympics (with a tone of muted sarcasm and curiosity).
For me, a year filled with some good, some bad. Will keep it for myself except for close friends who can hear it whispered in their ears.
No Christmas cards, New Year cards, e-mails sent out to dozens of people. Don’t feel like it. Anyway, people already receive too much in their mail boxes.
No “New Year resolutions” either, I still have the last year’s ones.

Received the following greetings from a friend in Beijing, he gets the first prize for the most unusual e-mail Holiday Greetings. Typical of his sarcasm, something we regularly share. Identity not revealed!
No snow, no reindeer, no politically incorrect ho-ho-ho’s, no teddy bears called Jesus, no “with-very-best-wishes-to-all-the-family-for-Christmas -and-the-New-Year”, no jaw-dropping family yawnletters, for this year I am sending out only Gandhi-cards… to provoke a smile, a shudder, a momentary insight, while achieving a substantial saving on cards and postage stamps, which I will not, not, not be giving to charity.
For I am and remain,
Mahatma Grinch.
(although you will all know “Be the change you want to see in the world”, you may not be so familiar with some of these. MG)
“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ”
“God has no religion”
“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind”
“I believe in equality for everyone except reporters and photographers”
“I object to violence because when it appears to do good. The good is only temporary, the evil it does is permanent”
“There is more to life than increasing its speed”
“There is no path to Peace. Peace is the path”
“Live simply so that others may simply live”
“What do I think of Western civilization? I think it would be a very good idea.”
But now please go and deck the halls with boughs of holly…… Fa-la-la-la-la …..fa la-la-la-la!
Mahatma Grinch.

Charles Dukes, editorial consultant, photographer, friend and good company for a conversation invited us for the party in the Landmark Hotel, so we left Tianjin that day in a rush to be there on time.
Beijing This Month has published a series of good maps and guidebooks about Beijing and also has a couple of monthly magazines I like.
A big crowd – mainly Chinese – turned up, including some VIPs from BOCOG and the Municipal Government. One was Ms. Wang Hui, Director of Beijing Municipal Information Office and also BOCOG vice director for Media & Communications.
The performances were great and I was particularly impressed with the large screen and the visuals. OK, the lighting was a weak point and it seemed they all wanted us to concentrate on the legs rather than the faces (there were some nice legs, fortunately).
We even got some passionate Latino dancing and the participants (see pics) passed the sensuality test. And lots of conversation with Charles.
Click here the link for the photo gallery (and all others):
http://homepage.mac.com/bjprc/PhotoAlbum11.html

Really? Not me anyway.
I was invited to that party, 28 November, at Block 8’s I-Ultra Lounge. No clue how I landed there but was the first time I went to Block 8 (Chaoyang Park West Gate), discovering a vast complex of entertainment venues. One more.

The event “The Blanes Award” was a bit puzzling (and disappointing), I mean their choices. Most entertaining and moving was the ballet of a deaf girl from a family in need they had discovered and groomed. She was so enthusiastic to show off her skills they had a hard time stopping her.
Cute. But after that I skipped the disco party.