For someone without a full-time job, I certainly keep my Outlook calendar packed. My god. So, last Saturday was the Hu & Hu event slash book swap. Was a major disappointment. Part of the problem was I set my expectations too high. I get burned every time that way. Saturday morning, I got up super early and headed way out west to the boondocks to set up my AAF table at essentially what was this huge antique warehouse (in other words, the place was FREEZING cold). Took craploads of animal paraphernalia– t-shirts, scarves, holiday cards, postcards, stuffed animals, keychains, plus tons of brochures. How many items did I sell? Three. Yup, for 5 frickin’ hours! Total money raised? 300 RMB. See what I mean? Totally depressing. Clearly, I lack the skills and charm of a salesperson.

Meanwhile, turnout was HUGE. Conceptually, the holiday bazaar was a promising idea. I appreciated that charities were given free tables at a high-throughput event. Unfortunately though, the shoppers were no games. They were on a serious mission to buy shit. Shit for themselves and shit for gifts. No time to hear about poor, abused moon bears and domestic animals. Sure, there were some pretty Chinese silk purses, cute teddy bears, yummy-smelling candles… very nice retail items indeed, but come on: this is China. Who pays 200 RMB for a silk bag? 50 RMB is already above market value! Ah well, who can dictate where people choose to drop their dough. Needless to say, I headed home with a trunkful of AAF goods. And in many ways, I doubt I’ll have better luck offloading the stuff elsewhere– after all, like I said, this is China. Who’s gonna buy an AAF shirt or stuffed animal for 100 RMB? It’s just not a realistic expectation. I’ll likely have better luck convincing people to donate to a good cause and just not get anything back other than good karma.

The trials of my nonprofit world continue. Mind you, all my classes were canceled this week. Still, I’m exhausted. Monday, I headed to the office for a LifeLine staff meeting. Got all caught up on our happenings. Donated computers work most of the time. Sometimes, we get a dangerous message of doom and gloom: no operating system found! Ah well, restart the PC with your fingers crossed, back up files, and carry on! Also, our fundraising event (a fun city-wide scavenger hunt called Quest) slated for Saturday was canceled due to lack of interest. Not enough tickets sold. Take that off the damn homepage! Tuesday, picked up some organization brochures and holiday calendars to distribute and sell for Second Chance Animal Aid. Prepped for a class that would later get canceled (typical short- to zippo- notice). Wednesday, got my ass up early to set up yet another table for AAF. This time in SOGO (aka Jiu3 Guan1), the swanky, high-end mall next to Jing An Temple. I’ve actually never been above basement level (where there’s a nice supermarket). The stores are too high brow for a low-life like me. But at least now I have the transport of AAF goods down. John came up with the brilliant idea of stuffing everything into a little rolly suitcase. I did that this morning, and it was so much better than lugging five million plastic bags around. Given the high sales today (one scarf to Susie, who volunteered with me), I’m thinking I can empty out the suitcase and just cram it full of brochures. Screw selling items, man. No one’s buying anything. By the way, any readers out there want to buy? I know I’ve made the goods sound soooo enticing!! Ok, excuse the sarcasm and bad attitude. Actually, I like the shirts and holiday cards. I’m just not convinced that’s how I would want to support AAF and its programs. I prefer the “less is more” philosophy (excluding computers/tech gadgets, of course), which reminds me: check out the Center for the New American Dream. Some interesting things to consider, especially during the holiday season. But I digress: back to the tabling today. Although the event was nicely organized, turnout was low– in part because it was a weekday and also because SOGO is a pricey mall that just doesn’t get much traffic. I’m going back tomorrow for another good beating. Then, I’m gearing up full force for some massive sales/fundraising action on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully, there will be bigger crowds then.

Regardless, I’ll be in high spirits following my monstrous Thanksgiving bingefest. I know, all this talk about minimalism and low-key lifestyle, blah, blah. Well sorry, I LOVE Thanksgiving food. When I strayed from vegetarianism, poultry was the first thing to give. Specifically because I had to have turkey. In China, people don’t eat turkey– they consider the bird too big and the meat too dry. So it’s only available when Thanksgiving rolls around. That’s when I have to go all out. And I’m not just talking a plate of Turkey and cranberry sauce. When I say “all out,” I mean a serious big-hotel holiday spread with the 25-lb bird, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and every possible kind of pie ever known to humankind. Yesiree, you heard right: Thanksgiving ain’t no meal for the weight-conscious. It’s a full-on attack. My mouth has been watering for weeks now in anticipation of turkey-day. And finally, tomorrow is the day. Thank goodness class is canceled. John’s gonna have to plop me into a wheelbarrel and roll me home. Can’t wait to ride out the food coma stretched out on my space-foam mattress topper with the little space heater churning away! Man, life is grand!

John and I are on a new mission. The goal is to get new glamour shots taken this April for our third wedding anniversary. We got our first ones done in September 2003, when we traveled to Taiwan a few months after our wedding. I went through the whole thing kicking and screaming (it was my mother’s idea), but of course in the end, we were glad we did them. In fact, the pictures turned out better than our actual wedding photos, and the cost was reasonable. As with most services, the cost is super cheap in Shanghai so why not go for the repeat? This time, we’re aiming for a different look, namely different hairstyles (both of us short) and new and improved physiques (at least that’s the plan). So we’ve started the preparations now.

One component involves going to the gym. No matter how you dice it, I hate cardio. Weights are tolerable, but running sucks. I don’t know how I ever ran track in high school. Running outside gives me serious shin splints (thanks to track). Indoors, I just find it plain boring. As part of a larger activity (for example, basketball), running makes a little more sense. Nonetheless, I can pull some other excuse out of my ass for not playing b-ball in Shanghai.

Weights are easy enough, but my arms have this strange tendency to bulk even when I do low weights and high reps. In high school, my friend Jill always called me crab arms or crab lady. At least my other friends tried to be somewhat flattering: they nicknamed me Hercules. Either way, no slender Jennifer Garner arms for me. I probably just have to ask a trainer or something. Eh, too much work. I’ll continue with my self-styled workout and hope for the best.

So the gym is a disturbing experience. I can’t recall if I wrote about this before… Now before I continue, let me first put this out there: I’m an American prude. Yes, I’m feminist and I fully agree that people should embrace their sexuality. Still, I grew up in a conservative household. To give you a sense of how big of a ninny I used to be, imagine this: I didn’t wear v-necks until college. Why? Because I felt the collar was too revealing. Yes. That was me then. Of course, college was a real eye-opener. That’s where the metamorphasis happened. I emerged, well at least by Duke standards, a liberal. And today, I’m way father left of that. In spite of all this progress, I still have some hangups. Sorry, but when surrounded by a bunch of buck-naked bodies in the locker room, I get uncomfortable. It’s not like I feel threatened or that I’m homophobic: I just think the nudity is gratuitous. I dunno. I’m still trying to pinpoint why their nakedness freaks me out. Needless to say, I’m probably the only one in there who undresses and dresses in the shower stall. Everyone else strips at the locker before heading in.

So this morning, I had an incident. There I was undressing, trying to hurry as much as possible (John says I take too long), when suddenly, my shower curtain was pulled back. Rather than yanking the curtain back immediately, the lady just stood there apologizing profusely. As if eye contact were necessary! I played it cool (at least I thought I did), but inside, I was thinking, “yeah, ok ok. Can you just turn around and leave?!” Then later, as I was blow drying my hair, I saw this lady in the buff lounging on a fold-up lawn chair eating an apple. Huh?? Am I the only one who finds this bizarre? Yeah, I know. I’m uptight. I’m working on it, but still!!!

Hey all, a quick announcement (as posted on EnjoyShanghai.com):

Hu & Hu’s Annual Charity Christmas Bazaar

For those of you who don’t know, this is one of Shanghai’s greatest annual community gatherings, incorporating OVER 50 VENDORS with quality hand-crafted gifts, jewelry, knitwear, home decór artwork, and more. PLUS about 10 worthy charities like Shanghai Sunrise, Lifeline, and others. There is also a great book swap where you can donate books you no longer need, and buy new ones for just 10 RMB each.

There will be food from Moon River Diner, Bastiaan Bakery, Dragon Bar and Cafee Molinari

And of course a big raffle where you can win really nice prizes from some of the vendors in attendance.

When: November 19,10:00-17:00
Where: Hu & Hu Antiques
1685 WuZhong Lu (near Hong Jing Lu)
Tel: 3431-1212

I’ll be there tabling for the Animals Asia Foundation. Anyone wanna help? Please email me if you’re interested. We’ll be handing out brochures about our popular programs (including the China Moon Bear Rescue, Dr. Dog, and Professor Paws) and also be selling t-shirts, scarves, and holiday cards.

If neither antiques nor charities interest you, at least swing by for the book swap. 10 RMB/book. Can’t beat that!

I apologize. In my last post, I told you to “stay tuned,” because I thought I’d have a slew of posts in the offing… then, I got lazy. Sorry.

John and I are finally back in Shanghai. We’re on day 2 and doing surprisingly well, adjusting from the jetlag. Getting up a tad early (5ish) but chugging along during the day. I’ve had some disturbing dreams lately. In one, I met up with my childhood friend Tricia in the States only to discover she was fully literate in Chinese! While I was in Shanghai doing my China stint, Mandarin had become a compulsory language in the US educational system! Ha, ha. My friend was showing me up big time, reading me her term paper and shit. Thankfully, it was just a dream.

My second dream was intense but in a life-threatening sort of way. Some bad guy was after me and my friends. We were like crawling around in the ventilation ducts trying to escape. Yeah, it was very scary. Luckily, I didn’t wet the bed!

So ANYway, the US trip finished up all right. Visited my parents, my FMF peeps on the East coast. In week 3 on the West coast, we met up with my high school friend Jill and her dude Morgan. Had a good time with them in San Jose. Of course, afterwards, John and I felt like unhealthy slobs…

Speaking of which, I returned to Shanghai about 5 lbs heavier. Poor John: his company really did him in. Can you believe the employees get a daily assortment of doughnuts and pastries for breakfast? In addition, the firm caters lunch AND keeps a fully stocked snack cabinet. No frickin’ wonder, ya know? I won’t give exact numbers, but let’s just say double digits. Yeah, in three weeks. No worries though. John’s been on this roller coaster ride before. In one month, he’ll trim down again. He’s a trooper that way. Then, it’ll be time for another business trip to CA. The epitome of a healthy lifestyle, I tell you.

Frankly, this last week has been very emotionally draining for John and me. His company offered him a promotion into management… with the expectation that he/we be moved to CA and ready to go in four weeks. Yup. Always on the tight schedule. We seriously considered the opportunity, but in the end, we decided against it. Mostly, the timing just wasn’t right. So all you people out there wanting to visit, you just got a second chance. 🙂

We’re relieved the decision is over. “Indecision 2005” was not fun. Of course, I’m sure will face a similar life crises soon enough. We’re emotionally messy that way.

So, new stuff on tap this week. I’m very excited to get back to work. I have a couple of new teaching prospects– might be nice to change things up a bit. Don’t ask about Animals Asia, man. Bad news. My visa application is on hold indefinitely due to continued infighting at the Chengdu visa office. You’d think there would be SOME way around all this. Not so, I’m told.

Oh, almost forgot. Time for another respite from Ebay, man. Been burned way too many times. In my young life, I’ve already encountered two nasty beotches and an oddly tacit nonpayer. This last trip to the US, I had to take this crap up another level. Yeah, I’m talking submitting a claim in the “dispute console.” Serious stuff. Ugh. These people, man. I swear they bring out the worst in me.

This lady won my auction and then emailed me asking to “mutually agree to cancel.” Supposedly, she didn’t realize the makeup was medium- (rather than full-) coverage. Ugh, hello? I state it’s medium coverage in three places: the heading, the description, and the picture. Moron! At first, I even considered her request. Then, after checking out her feedback and realizing she’d pulled this bs before, I declined. So then what happened? Suddenly, she became MIA. I emailed her every other day, sent her invoices, requested money via Paypal. No reply. Meanwhile, she was buying up a storm on Ebay. Makeup, household items, baby clothes… WtF, right? Thank goodness for the dispute console. Yeah, man. The hardest $9 I ever earned. She paid, I shipped, case closed. WRONG! So today, I get an email from her. She’s pissed about the negative feedback. OMG! Who can be so damn oblivious? Damn straight I’m gonna leave a big, fat MINUS. Figure out how Ebay works, beotch! Ugh. Time for another Ebay hiatus.

Bad luck surrounds me. This afternoon, I got suckered into a scam. Kind of. Earlier today, some dude called and said I needed to go to his office. I asked who he was, but I neither recognized the name nor the company. I asked what business his company was in, and I didn’t understand the reply. Yes, that’s what I get for having still limited Chinese vocabulary. I don’t know why, but I assumed it was some package or document– something important. So, I took down the address and agreed to swing by this afternoon. When I arrived at the high-rise, I made out that the company was some sort of “management” firm. Long story short, I went in, met with Mr. Qian, and realized like a dumbass that it was some investment management company recruiting new clients (i.e. me). I told him I wasn’t interested. That I didn’t invest money in China. That I thought he had some kind of package or delivery for me. He persisted and offered me a bunch of company brochures. I explained that I couldn’t read. He looked confused. How could this be? Here I was sitting before him speaking Mandarin (albeit sub-par Mandarin), but I couldn’t fill out a simple form (for that, I actually played dumb)? Searching for answers, he started bombarding me with questions. “Are you Shanghainese?”. No. “Where are you from? How do you speak Mandarin? You really can’t read? How long have you been here?” Blah, blah. I got out of there as fast as I could. Fortunately, it was just a quick ride home on Furby.

Sheesh, it’s been an eternity since I last wrote on this thing. As you know, John and I were gorging ourselves the first few days back in the States. That level of gluttony has since subsided; my acupuncturist in California has determined that I have all sorts of qi blockage issues. She suspects the problem has been my diet: too many “fire” foods, meaning fried goodies and sweets. Have I really been that bad? Honestly, I don’t think so. The whole vegetarian thing has cornered me into meals that are largely rice-sauteed veggie based… I mean, sure I get those cravings now and then but geez, compared to the way people in the States typically eat, I still feel like I’m ahead of the game. I dunno. That shit never makes sense. But now I’m on pai du (qi opening) tablets. We’ll see how far that gets me. I think the color of my tongue is some kind of indicator as well. I dunno. My acupuncturist is Chinese, and she’s not exactly forthcoming with the information. I just trust her blindly. That’s what happens when your parent is a health professional. You just believe in the medical community. They have answers.

I heard a funny story today. At my father’s office, there’s a baby book in the waiting room. It contains pictures of all the babies delivered by the physicians in their group. One day, a patient’s mother was visiting from the UK. While she waited during her daughter’s appointment, she thumbed through the album. She grew disturbed seeing the same man pictured with several women and their newborns. “Jesus, how many kids did this guy father?” she asked the receptionist. “Um, he’s not the father. That’s Dr. Gou.” Haha. If you knew my father, you’d get a good chuckle from that too.

In other news, John and I did a quickie trip last Friday to Miami (of all places) to renew our driver’s licenses. Flew out of San Fran Thursday night on the redeye. Arrived looking super rough Friday morning. Of course, Wilma had hit the region just a few days before our trip. Bastard airlines. They didn’t care that DMV offices were closed, or that there was a gas and power shortage, or that police implemented a curfew to curb “problems.” The airport was open and the flight was on. Any change to our itinerary would cost $200 + the changes in fares. Since everything was last minute, we were talking about $1000 extra to change our trip. Screw that shit, man. We’re going in. So I call the rental car and hotel ahead of time to make sure everything’s running. Alamo tells me they’re renting out cars, and that the cars have gas. When we arrive at the counter, the Alamo office is all dark with a few bulbs here and there. The place is running on generators. The service rep then tells me they’ve had trouble getting gas. Waited six hours and the gas station ran out. Most the cars have only a quarter tank. So we upgrade to intermediate to get a car with half a tank. Then off we go into this surreal world of picture-perfect weather juxtaposed to post-hurricane chaos– debris everywhere and downed traffic lights.

Since some of the roads were blocked off, we got lost and getting to the DMV was a challenge (it was only 7 miles from the airport). When we got to the office/shopping plaza, my heart sank when I saw this “office closed due to Wilma” sign on the door. John was just about to explode, but I insisted the website said the license office was open. I SWORE it had to be open. Thankfully, the license office was another unit at the far end of the plaza. Voila. Was open and even better, there was no frickin’ line. In and out in an hour. Driver licenses: Check! Now we had all day Friday and Saturday to burn in Miami. What’d we do? Checked into the hotel early and slept til dinner. Yep, that’s what happens when you’re an old fart married couple. Hell, I don’t regret it one bit. Was the best night’s rest we had in a long time.

So now I’m in DC with the parents. Fortunately, they’ve spared me the “what is your plan” and grandchildren talk. Of course, I’ve been earning my keep helping with yardwork and researching various products (cordless phones, health insurance, flatscreen tv’s, cellular phones, etc.). Despite having sent their laptop in for service on four separate ocassions, seems like the damn thing still shuts off abruptly. I’m in talks with the manager now about getting this problem resolved. Customer service these days, man. Bad news.

Btw, guess where my parents took me for my first meal back in DC? Chinatown. Gotta love it. But hey, I got my MD crabcakes fix tonight at Gladchuck Bros. So succulent and flavorful! Can’t beat blue crabcakes, I tell you. Ok, hope to have another update soon. Stay tuned!

Well John and I are back in California: San Mateo area. Flew in yesterday on Air China– our first experience with the “official airline of the Beijing 2008 Olympics.” Usually, leaving out of Pudong is quick and easy: we typically process through and arrive at the gate in 30 minutes. Yesterday, however, was different. We waited an eternity to check our bags. Our flight was full of American tourists and my god, I listened to 90 minutes of nonstop bitching while standing in line. “Maybe our guy is a newbie.” “They should just have a single queue.” “That line is moving so much faster.” Blah, blah, blah. Yeah, we all know waiting sucks, but shut the hell up already! Plus shouldn’t these people be used to it by now, with the TSA and it’s bullshit “airport security”? I mean at Dulles you have to strip off your shoes, belts, watches, earrings… these Americans oughta know pre-flight processing takes 3 hours!

Anyway, San Mateo welcomed us with glorious weather: blue skies, a cool breeze, and plenty of sunshine. Unfortunately, John caught the flu. I think he got it our last few days in Shanghai when the weather abruptly turned chilly. So, he’s been hurtlocker the last 24 hours, and I haven’t been feeling so hot myself.

Part of the problem could be my diet. Here’s a rundown of the last 24 hours. At this rate, I will be 20 lbs heavier in three weeks, easy:
* Red Robin turkey burger (pretty gross)
* plateful of french fries
* 1.5 glasses of Minute Maid lemonade
* 5 chocolate frosting cupcakes (mediocre flavor at best, but I just can’t resist the moist cake texture!)
* a bag of Smartfood cheddar popcorn (somehow the brandname makes me think “healthy”; I know, I’m an idiot)
* strawberries (hey, some fruit!)
* sourdough bread
* homemade chicken soup (a JUNIOR whole chicken here weighs 6 lbs!! Can’t imagine the size of a senior!)
* water
* orange juice (the acid in this stuff counters all the grease and fat I’ve injested, right?)

Yes, I admit. I’ve been on a total bingefest. And no end is in sight: John bought that scoopable Toll House cookie dough, so chocolate chip cookies are slated for later this week. Ah well, sometimes you just have to pack it in. Can’t fight it. I just hope all this healthful eating helps me fight off John’s flu. And hopefully John will also break out of his sickness. Poor thing: he’s gotta go to work tomorrow (ugh, Monday already). Plus, I know he’s itching to hit the Apple store. Says he’s upgrading the iPod. Guess I’ll have something else to offload on Ebay.

For all you readers out there who have me in your RSS reader (yes, I’m assuming Goodbers has a substantial following), please accept my apologies. I finally got around to uploading old images. You see, the Goodbers blog originated way back in December 2003 as a plain, self-styled (and embarassingly so) HTML page. Two months later, Goodbers moved to Blurty. Then, following recommendations from the Shanghai web bloggers’ meetup group, Goodbers moved yet again in March 2005, setting up long-term residence with Blogger. Unfortunately, every image I uploaded from the original HTML page to Blogger registered as an update, so your RSS reader probably filled with a slew of random images of the 2003 Shanghai winter. Sorry about that, and thanks for sticking through the growing pains. Lucky for you, Bloggers is so much better than my previous two vehicles. But enough with logistics.

This last week was the National Holiday. Most people had the week off, starting October 1. John and I stayed home for the break. Decided to catch up on our zzz. I hit the LLS office a few times– got the nonprofit org set up with its two donated computers. Was a total bitch reformatting and reinstalling everything, but I finally got the protocol down. Three more units to go. Sure wish I had free ghosting software. You have no idea how long I researched partitioning programs and disk imaging applications: I probably wasted 10 hours online and didn’t learn much. In the end, just had to reformat and install from scratch. Sigh.

Volunteered at the Baoshan animal shelter last Friday. My buddies Tien and Danielle joined. The dogs and cats look great, but it’s so depressing. Why aren’t more people snatching up these cuties? Anyone interested? The animals are so sweet-natured. They just need a bit of training (housebreaking) and lots of TLC. Check out who’s available at the new Second Chance Animal Aid website.

I am continuing on my kitchen escapades. Unfortunately, our fluorescent bulb blew out a few days ago. Despite searching all over the city for a replacement, no luck. At the moment, John and I are “cooking by the campfire.” In other words, we hover around the stove with a flashlight (the sun goes down here around 5:30 pm). I swear our neighbors looking in must think we’re nuts.

Oh man, last night John and I went out to dinner for a friend’s b-day. Tairyo: all- you-can-eat Japanese teppenyaki and sushi. Dinner was good but I didn’t get full. The cook made too much meat and then no one had any room for shrimp and veggies. Ah well, I was somewhat distracted by John’s latest challenge: a drinking duel, sort of. I had many many cups of saki. But I’m proud to say, I stood my ground quite well. No hang over. Mind over body, I tell you. It’s a powerful thing.

After dinner, my friend made everyone head out to Bar Rouge. Yes, I succumbed to peer pressure and boy did I suffer consquences. Ugh. One of the most pretentious, disgusting places in town. What can I say: I just am not made for that scene. Young ladies in skimpy outfits gyrating against each other, against grandpas… I dunno. Very disturbing. I couldn’t take it: had to go outside for some air after 30 seconds inside. I know, politically, I’m very liberal. But I’m a total red-stater when it comes to shit like this. I mean, yes these people are having a good time so I should just relax and bug off. But sorry, some level of modesty would be nice. Anyway, I wished my friend a happy b-day and jetted outta there fairly quickly.

Went to bed and well ended up sleeping all day Sunday. Yes, the Bar Rouge experience was simply THAT traumatic. Just kidding. Actually, I think it was the bed. John and I went shopping at HOLA (equivalent to a Bed Bath & Beyond) on Saturday, and we splurged on a Temperpedic-type foam mattress topper. OMG, the best 900 kuai ever spent! Upgraded that piece-of-shit cardboard box of a mattress into an absolute island of luxury! That space foam stuff is like magic, man. Seriously, I’m getting tired again just thinking about it. I’ve only been up for 7 hours, but it’s time for bed again.

Of course, just as I started reclaiming my vegetarianism, John returned home. A few days following, my vegetarianism was off (again). Can I make exceptions for poultry? Never had a thing for birds… Ugh. So frustrating, this back and forth. I like everything black and white, damnit. Guess that means I can throw my prized title out the window now. For good.

So how was I foiled yet again, you ask? On this last trip to the States, John set up a TiVo/Myth TV thingy, and now we can record all our fav US shows. I know, total gluttons we are. Anyone see the new Nip/Tuck? Jesus, what a disappointment. I mean yes, that show is over the top, but must they juxtapose rape and “good”/consensual sex. What the fuck? The writers really have no shame. I’m done, man. Sure, gotta give props to my homeboy Dylan Walsh (Dr. Sean– gotta love the Type A characters) from Annandale, VA (CDM flashback) but puhleez. Don’t undermine the gravity of sexual violence and rape by turning this traumatic incident into some kind of fucked up fantasy. You gotta watch the episode to know what I’m talking about. Anyway, back to my eating habits…

Among our other tv shows was Alton Brown’s Good Eats. Love my Alton– so smart and quirky. His garlic episode was awesome. We tried his 40 clove chicken recipe the next day, and what a winner! And so easy (even I got it right)! You must try!

I’m on my latest recipe kick now. Tomorrow, I hope to break out of my homebody/lazy/dreary/quasi-sick state (the weather suddenly turned chilly) and venture out to get a bread tin. Gotta make pumpkin bread. Yummy!

I have a love-hate relationship with Ebay. In the early days, I was a total Ebay junkie. My obsession began in graduate school, circa 1998. Before that, I had offloaded all my shit at the nearest Goodwill. I’m not exactly sure what turned me on to Ebay, but certainly from an environmental engineer’s perspective, the opporuntity to make some dough while recycling (rather than discarding) goods carried significant appeal. Anyway, I think my first sale was an old camera Canon Suresnap camera. And my first purchase was a bike rack, which eventually resurfaced on Ebay, because the model didn’t fit my car. Ha, those were the days– learning the ropes. Figuring out BidPay and Paypal and cutting/pasting every text input in Word to avoid losing (and having to re-enter) the damned item description. I have to say, I was hooked fairly quickly. I really enjoyed the finality of getting rid of my stuff. There was such good closure, after a mere 7 days. Plus, I knew where my stuff was going. Life was good: people were buying, and I was getting positive feedback. So much easier than earning good grades in school.

Sadly though, the warm fuzzy feeling didn’t last long: my fallout with Ebay happened in 2002. Some be-otch from an island off Alaska took like 2 months to send me a money order (uh, hello? Ever heard of Paypal?). I then made the mistake of delaying shipment– not intentionally, I just got busy with other shit. And given that I was patient for weeks, I figured three days wasn’t a big deal. Boy was I wrong. Sweet lil’ “Budderfly” turned into a freakin’ preying mantis. And just like that, without any warning, a nasty feedback marred my perfect record forever. A heated email battle ensued, ultimately ending in two of my email addresses getting blocked by her spam program (who the hell buys those applications anyway?). I grew so enraged by this incident, I found myself losing sleep and scheming for a way to infect her computer with the worst virus ever created. I planned plenty more emails launched from my multi-accounts repertoire, but in the end, I let it go. For a confrontational, belligerent person like me, that was not easy. And well, given that I’m writing about “Budderbitch” three years later, clearly I’m not completely over the fiasco. Anyway, I laid off Ebay for a while after that rewarding encounter.

Of course, I have to admit: anytime John and/or I are back in the States, I dabble once again. Just can’t beat shopping for stuff without having to face the traffic or the crowds. John was back in the US in September, so I conveniently made him my mule. Picked up a cool purse and off loaded some old books. My rating is up to 50 now, not that I’m keeping track or anything.

Good thing I got a new purse. This new one has a cell phone pocket– which is perfect, considering that my previous purse did not and I lost my cell phone last week– the day before John returned to Shanghai. I don’t really know what happened, but I like to blame the old purse (no compartments), or I tell John I was too frazzled running around town finishing up errands and stocking the fridge, etc. Quite frankly, I had to pee, and though the other factors contributed, my biggest mistake was probably ignoring that urgency: not smart for someone who had UTI as a child… Clearly, my anxiety fucked up my judgement. I think I left my cell phone in the shopping basket.

Geez, the work to replace a phone! I tried hard to get the mobile back. The next morning, I headed back to the LianHua and asked the cashiers, the customer service desk… No one turned in a mobile. Yeah right. I know, would I turn in a lost phone? Nope. So by 10 am, I accepted reality: I had to purchase another. I proceeded to the computer malls. Really, I just wanted the same damn phone. I didn’t care that it was a discontinued model from two years ago. It contained all the features I needed, damnit. Well, no luck. All the vendors wanted me to drop 3000-4000 kuai on lame-o phones that didn’t even have fliptops! Come on! I’m desperate, but not THAT desperate.

Thank goodness for online auctions, man. Ebay China isn’t much to speak of, but there’s a Chinese site called Taobao which has been in operation for years. I think the only difference is that sellers don’t have to pay to post. Hehe, sure helps to be in the know.

Long story short, I found my phone. I admit, I did need the help of my polyglot friend Micah– the site was entirely and exclusively in Chinese. Yes, I basically forced Micah to register with Taobao. And then, as if that wasn’t enough, he had to email the sellers on my behalf, asking them to take the transaction offline. What a good Samaritan, that Micah. So, the next day, I had my phone replaced. And for just 1000 kuai. Was awesome. Synced that baby up to my computer via bluetooth, and I had all my contacts and calendar events restored.

For someone who can’t cook, I sure like to frequent food websites. I just came across a vegan/vegetarian sloppy joe recipe consisting of mushrooms and zucchini, and now my mouth is watering (at 11pm, mind you). I gotta go grocery shopping tomorrow. I’m hungry for some hearty foods.

Earlier this evening, I was in baking mode. Made pb snacks for the pups and chocolate no-bake oatmeal cookies for me. God, those are the best. So easy. I don’t remember where I got my recipe, but there are a million variatons online. Try this one. You’ll love these treats!