Withdrawal

Whoa. That sucked. My internet's been shut off for maybe 3+ days now and I've been driven to the brink of insanity. Happy to see that in that time we here at Immigrant Songs have garnished a bit of respect. One compatriot (the AeroPerro) gave a nod on his own blog (http://dog.aereoperro.com/), which is pretty much the only blog I can read from China.

My favorite ego-stroke might have come from another long-time friend who said that since he doesn't see me, can only read my blog, he "thinks [he] ponders [me] now more as a celebrity." Celebrity is cool. Where are the chicks? Where's DaveTV?

Throughout the travelogue regarding Spring Festival Vacation I made mention of many "Indiana Jones" moments. I'd like to quickly relate one more.

That first full day in Xi'An we ended our afternoon by walking through the Shaanxi History Museum. Dark (it was a museum) and dusty (we WERE in China) and dripping with history, guess what flashed immediaely through my mind after finding this exhibit (Warning: Blurry):



"They're digging in the wrong place!"

Moving on, I'd like to relate the anger I've experienced due to my internet blackout. It peaked this afternoon as the following came to light: my internet was shut off because I had only paid for 4 months (beginning in September) and actually owed a furth 200 RMB. Now, here's what the deal with my internet is: I signed up in March of 2005, paid 100 RMB deposit and then a further 600 RMB for 6 months of service. In September, before my subscription ran out, I paid a further 600 RMB for a further 6 months. Each time I was forced to pay in cash, each time to some guy who just showed up, each time the guy failing to be able to give me a receipt, cuz they just dont always seem do to receipts here. When we called to ask today why my internet was shut off, the company stated I had only paid 402 RMB in September. People who know me would see this as uncharacterisitic, as I usually pay for things in the easiest managed blocks, and as 6 months was the longest time period to purchase (and thereby cheapest per unit); and why would I go through the extra effort of paying 400 AND TWO??? They didn't even ask to see a receipt, they knew I wouldn't have one. I wasn't going to pay any more money to this company that they didn't deserve, and clearly told my boss and one TA to NOT pay anything without first consulting me. Obviously now I'm on the internet again, so what happened? Last I heard, we sent a man down to the internet company's office to take care of the matter. That sounds more dramatic than it probably was, but regardless, it worked.

Hooray for the internet!