Quitters Sometimes Win

The real never ending story

We all know the tired convention of quitters never win, winners never quit.  If you haven't figured it out for yourself yet, this phrase isn't always true.  For example I spent years hacking it out in little league, not having fun and being an all around terrible baseball player.  Finally after enough arguing and rebelling, my parents let me quit a sport that I didn't like to play and had no nature talent for.  The end result 15 years later is that baseball is my favorite sport mainly due to the lack of resentment I have for it.  By quitting 15 years ago, I was able to win in the long run and enjoy a lifelong hobby.  I was never going to play in the pros, but I am now an armchair enthusiast.  Stay tuned for a blog about this year's offseason by the way.  

After my baseball career ended (Thank God), I continued my indentured servitude playing other sports that I didn't enjoy.  My lack of enjoyment for these activities stemmed from other factors besides a dislike of the sport.  In fact I will publicly announce that I liked the sports, but people older than me always found a way to suck the fun out of them.  Mainly it was overbearing parents channelling their broken dreams into the athletic endeavors of their children.  Going to a youth sporting event remains a bittersweet affair for me to this day, watching a handful of "baseball dads" pervert something that should be fun for their children into their own accomplishment.  I am glad I am not a father, its the toughest job out there, and the retirement package is certainly not guaranteed.  Usually every youth sports team has at least two overbearing parents ruining the fun for the kids and the other parents.       

I recently encountered another fine example of the quitters never win paradox in my personal life.  The novel Shogun followed me to China from my grandpa's bookshelf back in Indiana.  My old roommate and good friend here in Beijing had recommended Tai-Pan to me, another novel by James Cavell, and I thought Shogun would be a great chance to get aquatinted with the author and learn about Japan before my trip there in October.  The novel certainly comes with high acclaim.  It also came with over 1200 pages, but I had no fear about finishing the book.  I had read other massive novels before, and with such an interesting subject I didn't think anything of cracking open this tome about feudal Japan.

Three months and one trip to Japan later I formally take this opportunity to formally announce I am quitting my quest to finish the book.  I made it through 750 pages, and I simply cannot go any further.  My trip to Tokyo in early October did nothing to spur my interest in the book.  I stopped reading it after getting back from Tokyo.  During that month and a half intermission, I managed to read four books, very good books at that.  Yesterday I picked Shogun up again, but I knew I couldn't go any further.  And why should I?  Why should I waste hours reading a huge book I don't really like or find interesting?  Why should I keep reading this when I could read other books that I actually find engaging?  So in the end, I had to quit in order to win.

The Shogun miniseries 

Oh well,  I can always watch the miniseries.    

Tomb Sweeping in Tangshan

I accompanied my girlfriend back to her hometown over the weekend, participating in the ancient Chinese tradition of "tomb sweeping".  While the actual holiday, "tomb sweeping day", is in April, we went to Tangshan for the anniversary of her grandmother's passing.  First a little background on the practice of tomb sweeping.  The main point is to honor your deceased relatives by giving them gifts for the afterlife and caring for their grave.  Part of the practice is literally sweeping the headstone of your relative, hence the name "tomb sweeping day".  Paper money, and occasionally clothes, are burned for relatives to receive in the afterlife.  This practice was very puzzling for me last year when I noticed a bunch of people burning stuff in the streets of Beijing.  No one told me about the practice, and I literally thought people were burning trash (Beijing's garbage collection services aren't so good).  Now I know better.

We traveled to the cemetery early in the morning.  Along the road to the cemetery venders sold various fake flower arrangements and the paper money (not really money).  Inside the cemetery were countless rows of graves buried military style.  The cemetery looks like an ancient Chinese palace and contrasts strikingly with the modern high-rises and factories of Tangshan.  Tangshan is sort of like the Pittsburgh of China and is home to the headquarters of the state steel company.  We walked to Tang Qi's grandmother's tomb and swept the headstone and did some bowing.  Afterwards, we filed through the cemetery to a row of ovens.  Each oven was represented by a animal of the Chinese zodiac.  A fire was promptly lit, and we began burning various forms of fake paper money to honor the deceased.  

The whole experience is eerily similar to western burial practices.  It sort of makes you realize there's a common sense aspect to honoring and burial of the deceased.  Obviously no photos were taken.              

Beijing Mushroom Vents

Vent poking out from a meridian

Beijing has gained a deserved notoriety for its unusual architecture.  So much so that President Xi Jinping made a statement a few weeks ago saying, "No more weird architecture."  That's right, the city that gave us the lovable pair of boxer shorts (CCTV Building) probably won't enjoy its title as the unusual architecture capital of the world for long, but its one to the few things we have going for us that isn't overtly humiliating.  Beijing boasts a long history of strange architecture dating back 1000's of years.  Some architectural feats are just more conspicuous than others. Longtime Beijingers might recognize one of the city's less prominent and more unique features dotted around the center of the city.  Beijing's Mushroom vents can be seen popping up in places from Dongzhimen to Fuxingmen.  The vents are usually green or red and often vent some sort of steam.  Initially I was unaware of the capital's fungus problem, but once you see one of the toadstools you start seeing them everywhere.  Most people rushing about their day don't seem to notice the Mario Bros.-esque toadstools, but I felt the need to share them with the outside world.  I have no clue what they are for, but if I had to guess I'd say they're vents for the Beijing Subway's Line 1 and 2.  Most are about the size of a grown man in height and wide at the top (like most mushrooms).  No one really seems to know much about them, and my extensive research (Googling the problem until it goes away) didn't turn up anything.  They seemed to be pretty old.  Some of the ones of Changan Avenue are discretely hidden behind metal casings, but its easy to still see the intact mushrooms underneath.  I hear that if you eat one you'll grow to twice your normal size.    

A mushroom from the 16th floor of a building

A mushroom chilling late at night

  

APEC: Air Pollution Eventually Controlled

As the temperature continues to drop outdoors APEC fever has descended on Beijing, and the capital is enjoying some unwanted attention from foreign media sources.  Yes folks, all the old "whipping boys" are making their appearance in the western media from poor air to China's infamous social decay.  In an effort to combat it's less than stellar image abroad, the Chinese government has stepped up "face saving messures", and it's the citizens of Beijing who are benefitting most.  Some great APEC related externalities are making the lives of Beijingers easier.  This phenomenon was highlighted in a recent article in the South China Morning Post where the paper referred to us a "long-suffering".  While I wouldn't go that far, it is nice to finally see somethings work right.....or some people work (at their jobs) for that matter.    

VACATION - APEC isn't just a meeting of important word leaders.  To millions of Beijingers it is a bona fide holiday.  Non-essential government personnel and students all getting the week off for the event.  However, the resulting babysitter shortage is really putting a crunch on working class Beijingers.  I am taking the opportunity to write a few blogs and read now that baseball season is over.  It also might be fun to watch the political chess game unfold at the conference, considering I have a ringside seat to the event.  I am very curious to see what Chinese state media has to say about the Taiwanese delegation (if anything), considering the comments of the nation's president regarding the Hong Kong democracy protests.          

AIR QUALITY - The title of this post comes from a joke circulating on the Chinese communication app, We Chat.  Think the Chinese carbon copy of What's App.  Beijingers awoke yesterday to the first blue-sky day in a long time.  I am taking the opportunity to breath as much moderately clean air as possible before the smog returns.....which will likely be in ten minutes.  The clean air initiatives have been so successful that there are already calls for holding a BPEC, and if need be, a CPEC.

CROWDING - Those stories you hear about homeless people in Beijing disappearing before the 2008 Olympics are probably true considering the evaporation of the city's street people in recent weeks.  They are cleaning up everything here, including people.  There are so few people in Beijing right now that I actually go to sit down on the subway for 10 whole minutes yesterday.....which leads me to my next point.  

SUBWAY SECURITY - Travelers to the "Big B" are usually shocked when they learn you must go through airport-style security every time you enter the city's expansive and terribly inefficient subway system (now the world's longest).  My loyal reader (that's correct...reader) will know that I have no love for Beijing's subway as explored in the post Trainspotting.  It should come as little surprise that security has increased for the event.  However, the situation isn't all bad.  The security screening staff are now actually doing their jobs.  It's sort of like the equivalent of going to 7-11 everyday and the woman behind the counter makes you checkout your own items and make your own change.  Then one day you come in and suddenly they actually do it for you.  Crazy idea right.   Trays have appeared at most of the subway screening machines, meaning I no longer have to place my items on the disgusting conveyer belt.  I also witnessed a security person check the x-ray screen when my bag was going through the machine.    

Yeah times are good here in Beijing thanks to APEC.  It's up to the livability of Chernobyl outside the immediate fallout zone.  So anyone contemplating a visit to the capital should certain consider visiting during BPEC.  I'll keep you posted on the upcoming dates.