Holy shit it's March already.

Chinese New Year is only a 2 day public holiday here but damn, it goes on for what feels like the whole month. Everyone really begins to slack off and we probably work what, two weeks out of 28 days? On top of holidays, I just recently completed another Advanced Japanese class and feeling like I still am a beginner. Need to muster the will to learn on my own but it feels so much better to procrastinate.

Off now to dream of my upcoming (annual) escape to Phuket. If I could make a living being a lazy beach bum of a writer I would.

Enough.

The ongoing dramatics at the Guardian, courtesy of 2 senior columnists, have got to stop. Last week Suzanne Moore ignited the furore when her essay in The New Statesman included a line where the ideal womens' body is that of "Brazillian transexual". After receiving negative tweets and abuse from Twitter, she wrote a column in the Guardian's Comment Is Free section with the title " I don't care if you were born a woman or became one". That post also attracted negative comments, leading her good friend and colleague Julie Burchill to write an article published in the Observer - same company, different editorial team - that eventually becomes the subject into an inquiry by the editor. A minister calls for both Burchill and the Observer editor to be sacked for the offensive article, and the online version is taken offline. This being the internet, you can still find the tweets and article online.

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One of the rare moments of true excitement in my new city is what's amounting to an annual demonstration by a coalition of opposition political parties - and the beatdown by the cops and firefighters riot police happens right outside my office!

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Popular music goes through some nauseating trends. Remember when everyone was auto-tuning their songs, and not just the chorus bit, but through out the entire song? Apparently 2012 was the year of dance music trend. The high profile offenders who mangled classic pop tunes into highly synthesised samples for bull crap include David Guetta, Pitbull, and Calvin Bloody Harris. I spent much of last year solidly refusing to listen to the radio in case of such poison in mine ear.

I did read that there was a strange side effect to skill this dance music... teenagers discovering raves. To which I duly howled in protest, "But these kids weren't even born when I was going to raves!" Seriously, the thought of fourteen year olds going to raves just makes me feel so ancient. I suppose I could comfort myself with the knowledge that at least I won't have to listen to Skrillex. In truth, the realisation of my age versus mainstream tastes means stuff I like will be co-opted by these gangs of hipster fourteen year olds. Goodbye dubstep, for even Taylor Swift is flirting with it in her latest album. So long Hadouken, in before the band descends to Linkin Park mediocrity in order to get the youngins listening.

To get my own back, I've decided to fight for with fire. While I truly can't stand Fun. or Kesha, or Rihanna, what better way to irritate the youth of today than by professing to like their latest popular idol? Just think back to the celebrities doing Gangnam style. Or David Cameron's PR machine trying too hard when the papers reported SamCam liking Azealia Banks' "212". Oh yes, I'll show them.

By becoming a One Directioner.

/cue Mission Impossible theme song

Right. First things first: happy christmas! Hope you've had a lovely time with your love ones. Christmas on this side of the world is the same, except that turkey served in a hotel buffet for Christmas day is double the price you'd pay back home. Me, I had Korean BBQ, did some last minute shopping for a party, dyed my hair, and procrastinated working on some mins of meeting I was stuck with. But in my defense, who would do work on Christmas day?

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Folks round here like to say, "People never change". One, this is a self-fulfiling prophecy if there ever is one. Two, it's used to defend and cover up the excesses of the offender. All too often a person who ought to get a bollocking for his idiocy escapes because don't you know, people never change.

But people do change. I certainly have, spending nearly 3 years outside of the States, cast adrift in the big blue world outside and feeling smaller each time I look back.

I feel a jolt of nausea and homesickness when reading the news. Was America always this seemingly violent? Why would someone do such a thing? Did no one learn from the last time?

I was originally shocked this is not big news here. I want to grab someone and shout, these young children died and this is terrible, this is sick, but the only thing that manage s out of my mouth is I want to go home. People are just much more honest here, this is not front page material because they don't care. Life is too short, work is killing people to death, wages are low, and the cost of living is greatly rising. There are loads more to worry about than some place far, far away and with Americans, for god's sake.It's almost like the US is a mythical place where things happen on tv and those kinds of tragedies will never happen here.

And the fact that I understand why people have such views makes me even more anxious. What if, the next time I look over my shoulder I can no longer see what binds me to the country? Would I also cease to care?

It's not very often that something happens to jolt my idolising of a favourite author. Whilst I am very well aware that writers are human like the rest of us, the fact that I rarely have favourites makes me feel smugly cocooned from feelings of betrayal that may arise from dreadful faux pas by such favourites. For instance when Frank Miller turned out to be utterly crackers, I was mightily relieved that any infatuation with his style and works had gone right out the window when Dark Knight Strikes Again was published. How I've humbly realised my hypocritical ways when Darwyn Cooke became a topic of discussion these past few days.

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Hey guys! Are you or do you know someone in the Southern California area who's in the vampire fandoms (Anne Rice, Twilight, True Blood etc)? Here's a chance to be involved in a reality series about fangirls. All they need to do is watch the submissions video below, record a quick video response with the answers to the questions in the video.

Long time no see! How's everyone's New Years? I had great fun with one happy friend and one pouty friend, so maybe things evened out a bit? I'm having a rough go of it right now, hustling to sell as many things as I can for cash and trying to find a buyer for the car.

I ALMOST had the car situation sewed up with a buyer who would have taken it off my hands today, had it not been for the fact that I was out $250 to pay the balance on the loan. No problem, I said, I'll give my mother a call for an emergency loan. That turned out to be a big mistake as she freaked out about the amount I was selling the car for and badgered me for the buyer's phone number. I don't know what was said, but by the time I got together the cash needed from other sources and called the buyer I got an abrupt response saying they'll think about whether they still want the car or not.

Now, if they decide on Monday that they don't want the car, I have about 5 days to find another buyer. It'd make me cry if I hadn't already hives from the stress. FML.

Anyways, enough of that downer tale. Enjoy the first Perpetua picture of the year: