The Guillemot is a seabird that lays its eggs on a bare rock ledge on a cliff face. When an egg is accidentally dislodged, its shape causes it to spin in a tight circle, which prevents it from falling off the ledge into the sea. (Springwatch - BBC)
Journal Entry 7/31/2012: In a stream of consciousness, write what this panda is thinking about.
(Answers to come later this afternoon!)
This evening we walked some more, in search of dinner. This photo was taken after consuming over 30 RMB of Chinese skewer food which included a fried sausage/hot dog on a stick, a fried chicken strip - fried again, a tofu bun sandwich, a bbq slathered squid on a skewer (which Megan dutifully tried), a milk-tea, 6 sugar covered strawberries on a skewer, and a cup of spicy potato slices.
This girl is happy!
The Swedish String shelf. See more at String Furniture.
Because I have no interesting pictures of my own to post just yet, I think I’ll re-blog this fabulous bookshelf courtesy of some Swedish person. I simply love the colors…and the fact that this is yet another advertisement for my most favorite Swedish brand - IKEA. Although…it’s not an actual IKEA shelf!
Speaking of books - as mentioned in an earlier post, each year I endeavor to read between 25 - 30 books. This has sort of been my own personal goal/tradition/wish/whatever. Last year’s number was quite high as I had way too much time on my hands the last four months of the year. I ended up the year with 31, having read - I’m boasting here - four of the Game of Thrones series. Let’s just say that it was a good year. Currently I’m in the middle of Chuck Klosterman’s “Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs” - a book I picked especially for the 12 hour plane ride. Thinking his pedantic prose might put me to sleep, I was shamefully wrong as evidenced by the hysterical laughter that emanated from seat 46 F. What’s more…not only is this man able to connect the most bizarre things - MTV’s Real World archetypes and 20th century personality types - but he writes exactly the way I think…only more sophisticated, more pop-culture literate, and with waaaaay more stats then I could ever dream of including in six pages. That being said, I think I’ve finally found love in Klosterman’s ‘prose.’
Moving on, while I enjoy his educated and high tiered writing style, I simply cannot stop and pick up where I left off. Klosterman’s essays take an incredible amount of concentration and active reading on the reader’s part. So, to fill my hour bus rides to and from work, I’ve purchased a variety of books via my Kindle - one of the best inventions known to man. Seriously…for serious readers and travelers, this thing is a godsend! The best part about it is that when I log into my e-mail, I find that at least two people love me EVERY SINGLE DAY: Amazon’s Kindle recommendations and Apple. Despite my repeated attempts to sever my relationship with Apple, it keeps coming back, haunting me like that annoying ex-boyfriend that won’t ever leave you alone! This week it’s “The Danger Artist” a Kindle single/short about Chinese artist Ai Weiwei - a controversial artist, photographer and one of China’s most outspoken dissidents. He recently came into some hot water, testing the boundaries of China’s ‘free speech’ policy. Sounds like my kind of guy!
Those interested in looking up this fellow can probably wikipedia the man - I cannot believe that’s an actual verb…which it probably isn’t, but in this case I just used it so it must be. Or…you can check him out at this link via AMAZON
For now, I’m off - caffeine up with sugar coffee and out for another morning adventure with Megan. It’s a beautiful morning here in Wenzhou, the sun is out, the cars are honking their horns, young children make their way around the streets and the polluted air hasn’t permeated my nostrils just yet.
China.
