Words Fail Me

  Months ago some coworkers tried to teach Eli & me how to play mahjong.  Since then, I’ve played a handful of times and Eli has played tons with his in-laws.
Our coworker Xavier’s apartment building sits atop a mahjong den.  A few weeks ago, we crashed the place — walking in with bottles of whiskey and baijiu — and headed to a table in the back corner.

What you can’t see in the picture is the reverse angle where dozens of old and middle-aged Chinese men and women are staring at the crazy 老外, taking pictures of us on their phones, and shouting suggestions on what tiles to play!  Eli & I got, like, zero help because they decided we actually knew what we were doing.  Xavier, meanwhile, has a bunch of people yelling in his ear in Mandarin and his cell phone out trying to match the traditional Chinese characters on the tiles.  We polished off all the alcohol along the way.

The highlight of my time in China thus far.

Comcast, via its subsidiary NBCUniversal, is buying DreamWorks Animation.

I finally finished season two of Daredevil.   I never thought I’d say this but…too many ninja fights.

  For fuck’s sake do not open this box.

Work has been nigh-apocalyptic these last two weeks.  It put me in mind of what Rudyard Kipling wrote…

If you can keep your head when all about you

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

 

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

 

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

 

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

Achievement unlocked!  This was my very last terminus adventure of all existing Metro lines (until more are opened in 2017, I believe.)   There was a certain unintentional but beautiful symmetry to ending on the southern terminus of Line 13 since it was the northwestern terminus of Line 13 which was my very first terminus adventure.

This one ends in construction sites on the Pudong side of the Huangpu River.
You can see the Lupu Bridge stretching off to the north toward the Puxi side of the Huangpu River.Just to the east of the Line 13 station are the many massive buildings which had been built for the Shanghai World Expo.  It’s impossible to communicate the scale of these buildings in mere photographs.  Like so many things in China, the size of these buildings is simply mind-boggling.  Like planetary-scale production design for a big budget sci fi movie.I then caught a cab to meet up with coworkers deeper into Pudong.  There is a coffee shop with mahjong parlors above it which have mechanical tables which sort, arrange, and then lift the rows of tiles into place on the felt.  It was like magic!  (Plus, takes all the drudgery out of the game.)Still haven’t learned how to gamble on mahjong, though!

All previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I don’t particularly have an eye for good graphic design, but I did enjoy this graphic celebrating 2016 as the Year of the Monkey.

Visited the eastern terminus of the new Line 12.  Found construction sites rising into the mist.
And busy industrial intersections.Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I found the trip to the northeastern terminus of Line 6 to be particularly poignant.  Until the planned extension connects under the Huangpi River with the Line 8, Line 6 ends in the North Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone.  A few stops shy of this is the South Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone where ODW’s datacenter resides.  Back in September of 2013 — on my first visit to Shanghai — I spent a day working out of the datacenter and remember it vividly.  So much water under the “qiao” since then.

Line 6 ends surrounded by lots holding shipping containers stacked eight high.Here’s Line 6 curving away into the distance to its eventual connection with Line 8. Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I discovered that the easter terminus of Line 9 was just some random spot in Pudong with the skyline lost in haze in the distance.
Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Began “mopping up” the last of my Metro Terminus adventures.  Took Line 7 to its eastern terminus and discovered the Shanghai Himalaya Museum (which I’d never heard of and want to go back and check out sometime.)
Previous terminus adventures can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

While rewatching the first season of Community, I had the horrifying realization that my company is Greendale Community College.  Yet I found Jeff Winger’s perspective liberating:

We can do anything we want.  It’s Greendale.