Phil and Red's Excellent Adventure

This morning I woke up early because of the honking outside. So I finished the last chunk of film for my Christmas present. I had been doing the video in chunks due to lack of Harddrive space and then deleting the imported files to free space up again. I finished the last video chunk and exported it. YES!
There were alot of files to dispose of. So, I put about 17GB worth of video and render files into the trash to delete. Shouldn't be a problem figuring I have done this many times before. I selected empty trash. The screen darkened and a warning in 5 different languages popped up on the screen. YOU MUST RESTART OR SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER NOW!
"HOLY CRAP! What the hell is this?!" This warning scared the living crap out of me. I have never seen anything like this and I don't know what it is. So I restart and go to empty the trash. It happens again. WTF! I restart and remove the files from the trash and just try to trash a small file. It does it again! DAMNIT! SOB! I totally do not need this right now. I shut off my computer and let it sit for 1 minute. I restart and try to empty a small file. It crashes again! UGH! I then shut it off and leave it off for about 25 minutes while I go to lunch.
Meanwhile, while I am eating lunch, Sean shows up at the house because he is going with us to be judges at the English Speech Competition at the Xiaolan Middle School. Peter is laughing at me because of my computer troubles. I give him the finger and put a board right thru his head.
Before we leave, i try my computer again. It crashes! AAAAARGGGG!!!! DAMN YOU, STEVE JOBS!!! YOU BLEW IT UP!!! (ala Charlton Heston in Planet of the Apes)
So i shut my computer off. I still don't know what this is. I will find out when I get back.
Sean, Peter, and I head out to the Xiaolan Middle School. This place is huge! I have some pictures I posted. I don't know how high the ceiling is, but I am sure you would go splat if you fell from the top. In addition to its monstrosity, the stage is huge as well. They sure go all out for school plays. I guess you can get a feel for how much money this school has and how many students there are...they have 2 foreign teachers. Every other school has 1. Except Jou Ko..because thats the rich kids school..they have 2 as well. The two british people, Sean and Suzannah...but they only count as 1 because they don't speak English properly.
First thing about competitions here in China is that they are rigged, at least this one was, and that no one really wins. There were 13 participants. 5 students won 3rd Place, 5 students won 2nd Place, and 3 students won 1st Place. Please tell me...what was the point of the competition if everyone won something? Because if you dont tell me...I dont know what I will do... We asked Stephen who was acting as a judge but he was also the one that asked the questions and moderated everything. Stephen, if you remember from my misadventures, is one of the government employees who works at Xiaolan Middle School...mind you, two of the 1st place winners were from Xiaolan Middle School. Stephen is the guy that I met the first big dinner I had here in Xiaolan...it was the same nite I met the gay Jet Li, Jason. Which is funny i mention his name, because last Tuesday, it was Jason who called me and asked me to participate in this event. Jason, the gay Jet Li, works at the Overseas Middle School and he was a judge at this competition...mind you the third 1st place winner is from Overseas Middle School....hmmm....did someone say conflict of interest muffled under a cough? I know I heard it...hell, I said it.
There are still a few foreign teachers that believe he is gay, while a majority of them say, "No no no no..he is married and has kids. He can't be gay." Um...excuse me? Its possible. Didn't you ever see The Kids in The Hall Movie?
Mom: "Hey kids, where's your father?"
Kids: "Oh...he's upstairs..."
Mom: "again? ugh."
Heck, biblical scholars think that Paul/Saul (the Saint that hated and killed Christians until God made him blind and then had a Christian in the next town make him see again - he is also the Saint that wrote all those confusing letters to the Gentiles and Simpsons) ...well, biblical scholars think he was gay.
The Govenor of New Jersey (i think it was NJ) is married and he just announced that he was gay.
Why did he step down from office? Was it because he was gay? Or because he was a bad public servant...hmm.
Anywho, back to Jason. He's a flamer...always likes to touch me when he talks to me. I turn my head and I see Clyde laughing at me. HA HA HA HA!
So, there the judges sat. Stephen was the closet to the edge. Then Peter, then me, then Arnold, then Sean, then Jason. We had to rate on a couple things.
1. Intonation and Pronunciation: 10 points
2. Speech Content: 40 points
3. Fluency: 10 points
4. Content of and Ability at answering questions: 30 points
5. Stage manners: 10 points
So, Peter and I decided to grade harshly. But the problem I was having was that I felt I needed a standard of what the group felt a 100% contestant was so I could have something to relate to...but nope. I had to just rate them. I look back now, I think I prolly went a little easy on the 1st and 2nd then started realizing what I should do.
Here's how it went:
All the students were given a choice of 5 topics to write on:
1. Books
2. Friends
3. Travel
4. Dreams
5. Work and Rest
Each topic had a starter paragraph apparently because everyone's speech started out the same. You could then write your own stuff. And you could mix and match the speech subjects. Like one girl did "Books, My friends". I think the content there is obvious.
Now, I understood almost everything said. There were a couple mistakes. A couple students fubbled lines, but its only normal. I mean, they are standing in front of their entire grade. Unfortunately I had to knock some points when that happened. A couple kids had their cards with them on stage and it was a shame because one of the speeches was good but she kept looking at her cards. It wouldn't have been a problem if she glanced at them quickly, but she kept flipping thru them. Most of the kids had their speeches memorized which posed a couple problems. 1. They were fit into a certain groove and their flow didn't sound proper. It sounded like they were just spouting off prepared lines. They sounded like robots sorta. There was this one girl that kept adding reflections on things that someone might say but actually didnt. And she would react as if someone asked her the questions. It was interesting, but by doing so, it cause her speech to be connected in a way that made it hard to understand. Her body motions as well, like hand movements and stuff look un natural as well.
1 of the 3 girls that received 1st place was really good though. If it was a real competition, she would have gotten 1st place....all alone. Her english was fantastic. Her speech was on dreams. She wants to be an interpretter when she gets older. She sounded very good. I think I gave her a score in the 90s, i dont think anyone else got a score in the 90s, by my hand. Same with Peter. I was very impressed to say the least.
Well, now...on to talking about the questions raised by Stephen. The first problem was the fact that some of his questions, I couldn't even understand what the hell he said, so I didnt dock the students when they answered those questions slightly wrong. When we told Stephen about the it...the first time he said it wrong...he shrugged it off. More evidence that it could have been rigged. Also just to show how the chinese don't like to be embarrassed, if he gave the question again, he would lose face. Stupid culture issues. (and yes, I know Americans do some of that too, however, not to the level or seriousness it is taken here)
The second problem with his questions is that half the ones he asked were answered in the student's speeches. For example, one kid did hers on "Work and Rest". She brought up the saying, "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy." She explained the meaning. However, Stephen then asked her to explain what the meaning of "All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy." Peter and I turned at each other and gave a WTF look. Was he not listening? (more proof that it was rigged)
I was thinking, man, if I had that question, I would talk about "The Shining". If you get all work and no play, you go crazy. You chop down a bathroom door and stick your head thru the crack and your head turns into Jack Nicholson and you yell, "Here's Johnny!" to your freaked out wife.
But I digress.
Another student did hers on "Friends" and she brought up. "A friend in need is a friend indeed." However, Stephen asked her the question, "Please explain the phrase, 'A friend indeed is a friend in need." Um....ex-squeeze me? Baking powder? SHE ANSWERED THAT IN HER SPEECH, albiet she said the phrase properly.
Most of his questions were like that.
One student was talking about friends in her speech. But then Stephen asked the question, "If you cooked dinner for you family, what kind of food would you cook?" She said Chinese food. True, thats a good answer and I shouldn't be writing about that, because, I mean whats so funny about that. The reason I am bringing it up is because of what she continued to say. Ahem...(clearing my throat)...
"Yes..thank you for your well-thought out question [it wasn't well thought out]. I would answer it by saying that I would make them Chinese food. And I will explain why I chose that." [this is where it gets good] "I am Chinese and I love China. China is the greatest country. Its such a wonderful place. Why would I want to leave China? Hollywood is rubbish. I live in China, I will live in China forever. My parents live in China and they will stay here forever. China is great. Because of that, I will cook them Chinese food."
wow...lets see...because you are brainwashed, I am taking off about 20 points. Horrible content. Are you trying to insult the judges? You do see the fact that there are foreigners judging you. We are right in front of you...well, actually more to the side. Don't do that, it doesn't benefit you. Close minded child.
Another student spoke of her dream to become a Fashion Designer. The question she received was the following. "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?" Her response was correct, but the locations she wants to go to because of her Fashion Designer dream are not the best locals.
"First, I would go to Spain. Because I have read about it and its beautiful. So I want to go to Spain." ok...I can understand Spain, it just wasn't what I was expecting for her first desire to go for Fashion Design. "Second, I would go to the United States. They have a lot going on." Ok, I can understand this for the reason that America, like it or not, does alot in culture exporting. Rock N Roll, anyone? However, for fashion design, America is always the last to get the world fashion trends. We were the last country to get the Cellfone trend and the last to know that Iraq has no nuclear weapons (face it, alot of us wanted to believe - we were lied to and thought our adminstration had the interests of the American Public as highest priority) - i dont use "weapon of mass destruction" because Saddam WAS one of those. Too bad our Republican leaders helped keep him in power back in the 80s.
"Third country I would visit would be Japan because its so close to China and they have lots to do there." Ok, I understand Japan and can accept it because they do start all the electronic trends in the world and asian fashion seems to be dictated by the stupid looking outfits those people wear. I mean, come on! buffalo shoes? Disgusting! Yes, I want to look like Frankenstein's Monster. How bout I wear some bolts in my neck as well!
I was very surprised that she didn't say France or Italy. Those are two places that need to be visited if you want to do fashion. France, despite its froggy-ness, is a melting pot of fashion trends, bad hygene, and smelly natives...hmmm, just like China. Italy, Smelly people, same type of toilets, and fashion trends. Just like China. I think that she would find more of what she needs there.
And on to the best answer to any of the questions...
"Why are you here? Why are you here on stage, what has inspired you to do this?"
The girl thought for a few seconds then said, "I have to say I am here...because of Britney..."
This is where my jaw dropped and stayed hanging there for what seemed like an eternity. Crickets chirped in the silence of the moment. Cars got into accidents on the street when they heard the stupidity of it all. A guys head exploded, much like the guy in Scanners, or if you have never seen that, like the KKK member's head when he learned that Dave Chappel (a black man) wrote 5 white-power books. If I smoked and was smoking at the time that she said this, the cigarrette would be loosly clinging to my bottom lip almost about to fall off. Kind of like that scene in Ghostbusters when Dan Akroyd's character first sees Slimer. That is the same expression I had on my face when this girl said that.
"...because of Britney. Yes, that's why I am here. She is so beautiful with big round eyes and she is just so talented. Her music inspires me. [please stop] She has accomplished lots and I think she is a great example of what you can do if you put your mind to it." STOP!!! WAIT!!! GO NO FURTHER WITH THIS FORMULAIC B.S.!
First off: She didn't really have to work hard to get where she was. Her success is due to the fact that producers engineered her into a money making machine and advertised her to young kids to help fill their minds with opium sounds to perpetuate many years of crappy boy and girl band stardom. I think it has had an effect on their brain functions as well as hers. I mean, this girl came out during the invasion of Iraq and said, "I think we must stand behind our president and not question him."
!!!!!
Speaking of brainwashing, this girl gave a speech and she was obviously brainwashed by American media. [I am sorry, chinese girl, I never wanted that to happen].
As for inspiring music, I guess Britney's song "SLAVE" fits the description of some of the chinese people.
Because of that horrible answer, I mark off many points. Too bad.
The girl who, I thought should have had 1st place was this girl that wants to be an Interpreter when she gets older. This girls English was fantastic. I was very impressed. she barely had an accent. I was very surprised. i gave her something in the 90s.
So, after the competition was over, the contests were called out to receive their prizes. These 5 middle school girls were the presenters, but they were wearing the most bizarre dresses. They were pink vinyl dresses with a Vampire/80s collar. With forearm covers. It was just too bizarre not to take pictures. So i got some. This is totally the wrong venue for those outfits. I could see those at Luna or City Club by someone who could fill them out. And not in the way that the girls at City Club would wear corsets...you know...women who should never wear corsets. Everytime I think of City Club, I think of that story with Matt Rose giving both barrels to the girl telling him to shut up because he was yelling at the naked girl. Ha ha. That story always brings a smile to my face. "Don't impede on my friend's right to free speech, suckaz!!"
So, after the show was over. And it really was a show. Jason tried to flirt with me but I resisted his advances. Then Mark Lee was taking his students out for a special lunch at KFC. Sean and I joined him. We also scanned the computer shops looking for some junk. Couldn't find anything in this junk heap. I then headed back home to see if I could fix my computer issues.
I got back and started my computer back up. I then went online trying to figure out what went wrong. I found out that it was a Kernel Panic. Its something UNIX does when it thinks the computer is doing something that it shouldn't be doing. Apparently trying to trash all those files caused it to panic. However, why it continued to do so continuously, I don't know. From what I read, if it happens once, its ok. But if it happens alot, then something is wrong with your system. So i searched on how to fix it. There seems to be no option but to restart. So, I tested the trash and it worked fine. I proceeded to trash the files. I then found out that a new Security Update has been introduced. So...I decided to update.
That's when all the problems started. I started up again to continue working on my DVD. My DVDSP2 and Compressor won't work now. I am irritated. This always happens when I need to get something done. I need to slap someone. So, I went to a couple message boards to see what was going on. I got some help, but none that was working. Oh well, I will have to work on it tomorrow.
goodnite.