A Fluff Post for Friday...edit

(My daughter was in Beijing this summer.  She is in 7th grade.  Her mom made the oh so brilliant decision to buy her a "I love Beijing Tshirt".....except it says "I love BJ".  Upon seeing the shirt when they returned from Beijing, my face literally fell.  Now she comes downstairs this morning for school, wearing this shirt.

  I wonder what she will say when she comes home today. I wonder if this is the day my little girl's innocence is shattered. )





It’s that time…….time in general to catchup.

First, kudos to the readers:

Iraq…thank you for finding time for me…whether you read me for sheer laughs or to drown out the noise of rocket fire, I dig it all the same.

Ukraine…..

Russian tanks on the border….check

Imminent all out Civil War….check

All the same, glad you gotta get your daily “My China Kanfa” fix!

(Is there a theme developing here…?)

Kazakhstan…..thx for coming back.

Jordan….welcome.  Must feel good to know you are the only country in the Mideast the USA would actually send troops to fight for.

And as for the folks whose time I indeed need to compete with…..

Thx again Bahamas for making my blog part of  your beach reading. 

Brunei, Nigeria, Estonia, Sri Lanka, Palestine(yes Palestine! How the hell you have the time, or focus to think of me I have no earthly idea), Moldova, Algeria, Ghana(sorry abt the World Cup) and Bosnia Herzegovina…..thank you all for making the occasional appearance and stopping by.  (Sorry I have nothing witty to say at the moment.)

Views….my blog is coming up on its 2 year anniversary.   Ever since Peking Duck gave me a shout out(a year ago?) things have been humming along.  I am about to receive my 100,000^th view! 

Quick story about my daughter that I just have to share

My youngest daughter is the blooming genius of the family.  She just has that intangible skillset about her:  she can draw rather well, build things, and is keen on music.   She is also unbeatable in Chess.  She has skills my oldest daughter does not have.  She asks penetrating questions(none of which come to mind now, sorry).   However, she does still of course show her age.

However, the other day she asked me a question about inventions.

“Dad, which inventions are most important?” 

Thinking big, I tried to anticipate what she wanted me to say, before I finally mentioned 

“Penicillin”.

She let me finish my spiel on the above before she offered her own sudden opinion:

“What about bird diapers?”

“How about electricity”, I answered back.

“What about spinning forks?”, she countered.  “You know, to help you better eat spaghetti”.

My daughter is only 8.

Upcoming posts

I still owe everyone a post on India vs China.  I know it’s not a post anyone wants to read.   But to yet again quote from that great American Thinker and Philosopher, Chris Rock,

“I’m just keeping it real.”

I think I have something to say there, that isn’t always spoken of, and I want to put it to paper.  It’s in the line.

And I have another deep post coming in the Fall…on China and the West of course.

But as for now, I think the next few posts will be things you guys like to read about.  Semi relational.  Safe to say these will be rated R, at best.    It’s inevitable we have these types of stories.  Except these will not just be stories.  I’ll try and add a moral dimension to each one.  

And I still want to write a post about 1964. 

Observations…Epiphanies

I’ll just come out and say I think China has bested the United States in the South China Sea.  Unless the USA gets very aggressive and seeks out a fight, or China does something very stupid that forces the USA to act(both unlikely), I think the South China Sea will basically become a Chinese Lake.  Congratulations China!

Now why in the hell do I say that?

China is positioned so the US Navy has to come to it.   As Chinese missiles are all fired from the Mainland, China therefore has an unlimited supply.    In order for the USN to engage China, it would have to come in close.  Close enough to be within range of China’s missiles. 

And that’s the rub. 

China has no qualms whatsoever about launching an absurd number of missiles at a USN Battle Group.  100 missiles.  500 missiles.  Whatever.   China has an unlimited supply.   They can just lob them at the USN.  If only 10 hit, it’s over.  And as I think the USN knows this, that will keep the USN chastened.  End of story.   We simply lack the WILL.  The time for having WILL was probably 5 years ago, when China began to bully the Philippines.

Now…if the Chinese are stupid enough to actually sink a Carrier, than it’s a different story.  To attack Yokosuka or Diego Garcia….same thing.

Otherwise, the USA, just like in Korea, just doesn’t have the heart to bomb Mainland Chinese supply lines, ie expand the conflict.   Yet even with the WILL, does one actually think the USA will go out and target Chinese airfields, and missile factories, etc?  I don’t.  I don’t think the USA would do that.  It would sink a few ships and call it even.  The USA may be just too civilized to go to the MAT with China.  

And the USA Carrier Groups would never risk themselves, so they’d stay away.  I think the USA will just look the other way, and be passive.   Unless China deliberately attacks an ally, which isn’t gonna happen.  Even if China accidentally shoots down a Japanese plane(very likely), the USA would only go to the UN.

Meanwhile,(am I contradicting myself?) If China continues to believe it is untouchable and then does something ultra-aggressive, than conflict on a larger scale is inevitable.  All the naysayers say it won’t happen.  I say it will.  Just a matter of time.  Why?  China has already gone public with its actions, ie the Air Defense Zone.   (Which the people support. )   China’s expansionist policies have carried China too far down the road to turn back without losing a lot of Face to the West.  And China’s people would never tolerate that.   No matter how unhappy Chinese are with real estate prices, or corruption, etc, the vast majority of Chinese by instinct and emotion always throw Logic overboard when the West is involved.

Everyone says nothing will happen.  Yet they base it on logic, not on psychology.  That’s the weakness of everyone’s argument.  Someone tell me I’m wrong?

My wives friends

Are all the same: bored, undersexed.  Middle Aged.  And physically far superior to my native countries ladies.  I don’t know how they do it.   I admit the difference physically between a 40 something Chinese lady and a 40 something American Lady is….alot.   In terms of physical attraction, I definitely made the right decision marrying an Asian Woman.  I just didn’t realize it at the time.  I lucked out.   

Middle Aged Chinese Women in America as an ethnic group are probably the loneliest Women in America.   As an older man, I can see the lost yearning on their faces.   (My Opinion.)  Such a carnal waste.   There’s a lot of passion locked up inside.  I now try to avoid speaking with my wives friends.   Their so happy a man is speaking with them they can let the conversation go on for too long.   I’m not saying these women are beautiful, or trying to pick up on me. (they’re not)   They are average.  But it’s clear to see the void they have in their personal lives.  

I made the mistake of giving one lady a bit of attention during a party and complimenting her fashion once(“did you where that for me?”), she now looks me up on social media and when we meet during social functions waits for my next flattering comment.   I’m not doing anything special.  I’m just paying attention to them, and saying a nice thing or two.    (Yes, I am aware that every societal group has the same issue…it’s just a much deeper issue among Chinese or Asian Women, I think)

Am I running too far with this?  I don’t think so.   Married(divorced) Chinese women are the best:  lonely, ignored, and very passionate.  And physically in shape.   And in America they all have graduate degrees and their own job.  Yet their internal self control keeps them at bay.

The communication between themselves and their husbands is nil.  I came across yet another friend of my wife at a Summer Function.  And yet again I didn’t meet the husband.  Maybe she’s married to the Invisible Man.

The older I get the luckier I feel…..

The inlaws

I successfully got my inlaws approved for Health Insurance the other day.  In my country it is called Medicaid.  They will now be able to see a doctor with some type of protection.  Yet when I asked the local Medicaid agency what out of pocket expenses there would be, to my disbelief they told me it would depend upon the Doctor.   So now I wonder what the point of having Medicaid is? 

For those of you who would not know, Medicaid is insurance for the very poor.  However, being over 65 does qualify one for this Insurance.  Another version is Medicare.  This is for people in America over 65 who have actually lived here and paid taxes(my inlaws haven’t). 

Getting them qualified for Medicaid is a WIN for my wife and I.  There will be no premiums.  Yet there will be those mysterious out of pocket expenses…which I am now worried about.

The Mother in Law

Again I come to you to beat upon a Dead Horse.  What is this now…the 13^th time or so that I’ve done this? My understanding if you scurry away in protest, or slam your laptop shut in disgust.

While I’ve known her for 23 years, my distaste still abounds.  Am I better off able to speak Chinese, and thus able to communicate with her?  I admit sometimes I wish I was not.  If I am to go back to China they(she) may be the reason why.   Her penchant for being all knowing…and having an opinion on all things…knows no bounds.  Yet with maturity I simply roll my eyes.  Still it has now even gotten to the point where I cannot even discipline my own children without her proffering an opinion/objection.  I’ve in effect lost the authority of a father over his child.

“Would you just shut the fuck up?  For the love of God, would you just shut the fuck up for once?  Must you have an opinion on every damn thing that goes on in my house?” 

Of course If I actually had the courage to utter those words, my life would become a living Hell.  My wife would offer neither emotional nor verbal support.  And cut me off from sex as punishment(she knows what makes me tick).   Rather, the root cause of the tension would be my inability to simply “walk away”.

As in so many Chinese families, the mother in law gets a Free Pass. 

I think the Chinese lack of respect for the Western definition of Hierarchy is a major issue why Chinese and Western marriages fail.   Or rather knowledge of said cultural understanding.  Still I think even the knowledge itself would fail to produce itself any sort of respect.   Or maybe it’s just my M&L herself?  And the subservient attitude of my wife, the “traditional daughter”?  (Or is it me?)

One cannot change a 70 year old woman.  I shall not be the fool to attempt such.

A funny comment from the Father in Law

In short I bought the wrong paper towels when shopping.  I haven’t bought paper towels for the family in over a year.   And I bought the wrong ones.  My first instinct was to give them all to my daughters grade school.  They are constantly asking for supplies.

I mentioned this to my F&L.  He replied with a simple “You’ve already paid for them, why would you want to give them away?”   Again I was reminded of the philanthropic nature of Chinese Society.

Vietnam: A History.  

I’m well over 200 pages into this book.  Again, it’s by Stanley Karnow, very recently deceased.  

I’ve brought it to your attention before.  It has not disappointed.  It’s a great companion to Halberstam’s the The Best and Brightest.   My main takeaways to date from this book:

China’s Communist Party winning China was the game changer for Vietnam.  Until Mao took China, Ho Chi Minh was fighting the French at a standstill.  CSK even had 200,000 troops stationed in Vietnam after the war, basically waiting for the French to return.   Once Mao took China… weapons, advisors, rice….the Vietnamese got everything they needed.  All in the name of serving as a buffer to the Laowai. 

No CCP in China, no United Vietnam for the Communists.  Maybe even no Vietnam War that cost 50,000 American lives.

Next takeaway….Zhou En Lai actually favored the French remaining in Vietnam.  I did not know that.  He knew as long as the French stayed, the Americans would not come.   He basically favored a Vietnamese Partition(in essence telling Ho Chi Minh to go fuck himself).

Final takeaway: General Giap was a great strategist….his strategy?  Use his own people as fodder to wear down the Americans.  He quite frankly couldn’t care less how many of us own people died in the struggle.   He just wanted to win.  (His child and wife were both killed by the French.) It’s hard for “civilized” nations to fight that way, and win.  For Godssakes, the Press would never allow it.  And Giap didn’t have to worry about the inconvenience of a Free Press.

And if you’ve made it this far, I’ve saved this for last

I came across a site a few months ago.  You may already know abt it.

http://www.diaryofanasiannympho.com/

If not, I have a feeling her hits are abt to greatly increase.  There is no nudity, (sorry), unless you pay, as she’s just instituted a pay version of her site.

Yet I find her site, when I do browse, to be a bit extraordinary.  Though it’s just a basic diary of a sex crazed Asian chick, with a hidden identity.  Though I believe she lives in the Atlanta area.   I can’t believe the stories I’ve read (which she claims to be all true).  After this post gets published, one of you guys(gals) will have to explain to her why her hits spiked.