First day in Shanghai…

Honestly, I have no clue what I’m doing/writing/vlogging exactly the current combination of lack of sleep, loud people (nationalities have been removed as to not indicate any one in particular, but YOU know who you are!), and random Asian-ness is has made this video sub-par. My apologies, good thing from here is that it can only improve! Before the video, I just want to say how amazingly nice everyone is! When I arrived at 2:30/3:00 this morning to a counter check-in clerk who didn’t speak a lick of English nor understood my limited Mandarin-as he spoke the local dialect of Shanghainese-two local students who were headed into their rooms stopped to translate. It was a godsend!

Thoughts while flying:

1. Why did I watch a scary movie?!! (Girl in the Black Window, or something like that)
2. Any small town that is not polite clearly is fucked up in some way…
3. Tina Fey, funny lady.
4. Speaking of lady, there is a cute girl from Taiwan sitting next to me who goes to Urbana college? University? Shout out to the one I know from Urbana, you know who you are… (let me know I kinda forgot who it is I just know there’s someone I know from Urbana.)
5. Häagen-Dazs may be a made up foreign word, thank you Mr. Ayres for that random knowledge factoid, but I DON’T CARE IT’S DELICIOUS! Stewardess, waitress, lady bring me some more please!
6. Writing these thoughts down have been a great distraction from this movie, oh god I look up, religious reference, instantly scarier. There were so many movies to choose from why this. I must secretly enjoy S&M, wait no I don’t! Time to change! HOW DO I MAKE IT STOP… THESE ARE THE CONtroles (damn caps locks!) I have to deal with.
7. Several cultural embarrassments just occurred.
   • I took a picture with an iPad in public. Ashamed.
   • I took a lemon for my tea slash getting drinks/meals on a plane is difficult.
8. so begins the road to deportation or internment
9. The Rum Diaries better be better than the blood spitting little girls I just watched.
10. …more to come…
11. Jonny Cash or Depp is always a win.
12. Going to the bathroom is interesting, here’s why:
    • You can see everyone
    • there is a staircase in the back that leads to somewhere, it’s there I promise you! I saw two ladies go up there an then quickly close the door. It’s even more true because neither were dressed in colonial garb!
    • The bathroom it self. Wow. Maneuvering as a guy in that tiny of a space that shakes so much is damn near impossible. How people other manage “non-bathroom” activities is beyond me!
    • You’re forced to squeeze awkwardly and uncomfortably close to everyone in your row-downfall of a window seat-and everyone in the aisle, get a seat closest to the back, it lessens aisle awkwardness.
13. Movie selection on international flights. Damn
    • bridesmaids, extremely loud and incredibly close, rum diaries, xmen first class, transformers: dark side of the moon, super 8, Asian movies I’ve never heard of, Albert nobbs, the decedents, Hugo, that movie with that guy from the Borne Movies about fate or something, parnormal activity 3 (why! Scary movies in tight spaces not a good idea!), mission impossible!!, the artist!, girl in the dragon tattoo, twilight (there are far too many scary movies on this list) and so on. … Theres a part of me that’s excited that this is a long flight. Forget reading! … Sorry Tina and hunger games writer lady, and those other random books I bought.
      • NOTE: bolded movies are those that were watched.
      • NOTE2: pretty sure there should be another bolded movie on this list, but I did the bolding after the fact and have now forgotten… Problems that occur due to being 80.
14. Clooney is the man!
15. Shade are so damn tempting. It’s hard to not pull them up, but it hurts so much when the light comes in!

http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F46993058&auto_play=false&show_artwork=false&color=ff7700