The Great Firewall of China
OK, I should have known that LJ didn't exist in China. In my pre-travel packing frenzy, I spaced on that fact. Come to think of it, I did know from a previous trip, but I wasn't posting on LJ then, and I was more irritated that the BBC news didn't exist in China.
Apologies to all who were wondering if my fingers had fallen off or, more likely, figured I was redefining "lame."
I'm back, safe and sound. As with my first trip, I'll post stuff retroactively. Of course, not now. I've got to finish unpacking so I can repack for a wedding this weekend. But after that, I have about 3 papers to work on [aaigh! I really wish I was exaggerating to be humorous, but I have 3 papers and a presentation to work on. This will be a busy month. Wait, why am I not in grad school again? Oh, right, I don't like the "publish or perish" concept. Ha.] Anyway, I'll have plenty of procrastination moments at the computer, I'm sure.
OK, full disclosure: I've been back since Wednesday. But the first thing I had to do was pick up the copy of the last Harry Potter book that I'd reserved before I realized I wouldn't be here to pick it up. I was tempted to get a copy in China (but not read it yet) because it was paperback and so likely to be a fake that it'd be interesting to see where they took the story.
Anyway, the first thing I had to do was read it before some damned fool said "can you believe that so-and-so died?!" or similar spoiler (on the usually correct assumption that soon after the book was out, I would have read it already). And I didn't know if it'd be all over the media or anything...
Note, many thanks to Anne [and not just for coming to my rescue during a 22-hour layover at IAD]. She told me she'd read it, and when I said that I hadn't, she just smiled and changed the subject. Actually, she told me a story. When she got the book home, her sweetie read the last page. He looked up mischievously-- "Wanna know how it ends?"
I told Guy this, and he laughed. "That's funny. That's really funny."
"Don't get any ideas."
Apologies to all who were wondering if my fingers had fallen off or, more likely, figured I was redefining "lame."
I'm back, safe and sound. As with my first trip, I'll post stuff retroactively. Of course, not now. I've got to finish unpacking so I can repack for a wedding this weekend. But after that, I have about 3 papers to work on [aaigh! I really wish I was exaggerating to be humorous, but I have 3 papers and a presentation to work on. This will be a busy month. Wait, why am I not in grad school again? Oh, right, I don't like the "publish or perish" concept. Ha.] Anyway, I'll have plenty of procrastination moments at the computer, I'm sure.
OK, full disclosure: I've been back since Wednesday. But the first thing I had to do was pick up the copy of the last Harry Potter book that I'd reserved before I realized I wouldn't be here to pick it up. I was tempted to get a copy in China (but not read it yet) because it was paperback and so likely to be a fake that it'd be interesting to see where they took the story.
Anyway, the first thing I had to do was read it before some damned fool said "can you believe that so-and-so died?!" or similar spoiler (on the usually correct assumption that soon after the book was out, I would have read it already). And I didn't know if it'd be all over the media or anything...
Note, many thanks to Anne [and not just for coming to my rescue during a 22-hour layover at IAD]. She told me she'd read it, and when I said that I hadn't, she just smiled and changed the subject. Actually, she told me a story. When she got the book home, her sweetie read the last page. He looked up mischievously-- "Wanna know how it ends?"
I told Guy this, and he laughed. "That's funny. That's really funny."
"Don't get any ideas."