The Wandering Monkey

Talked to a guy today who can help me put together a proper website, hosted out of Hong Kong. He runs a big website for foreigners out her in Shanghai. I'm really glad he's helping. Man, I need some help with all of this stuff. I'm beginning now to ask my loyal dancers to help in organizing and spreading the word. Work is always easier if there are more capable people going towards the same goal.
Today a swing dance instructor from Taiwan just arrived. I'm to have dinner with him tonight. I think he's in town for three weeks! This is a great help. I have been running out of classroom material. I'm going to pick this guy's brain!
I've begun my apartment search. Just saw my first place today. OK but I'm not going to take it. I'll ask some folks I know for good referrals for places.
Yesterday I talked with the manager of the Paramount Ballroom. I want to plan a big swing dance event there for November or December. Elle Magainze of China recently came by our dance place and a reporter wants to cover us for the November issue, so I'm trying now to have a big push around that time.
This is a bit of a difficult time in the swing dancing effort. We are losing students, and it's always hard to figure out why. Maybe I'm tired, not as enthusiastic. Maybe it costs too much. Maybe the venue is in a bad location. Maybe the day is wrong. It's so hard to figure out this stuff. It's not at all like computer work, in which there always IS an answer, though it may take a long time to figure it out. This kind of work now is all heuristics.
Okey Dokey! All for now.
-J

Stuff Going On
Lately it's been pretty busy on the dance scene. A few weeks ago, some of our very important dancers left the country, and we've felt the lack of their presence. It is really difficult on the morale and the movement if only four or five people show up for a dance night. Our Sunday night's not doing so well, but Wednesdays are going strong. A lot of people say Sunday's not a good night for them.
So, I've been contacting a couple of people who organize events and tried to get some promotions going. For men who wish to join the class, we are offering price incentives. Free, if necessary! That's the critical point for getting the dancing movement to continue. We need more men in the group. Women join quite readily. Men must be bribed with beer. I am also talking to the English school at which I hold a weekly dance class. We are going to try to get an extracurricular activity to bring perhaps ten or twenty of them out. I was going to charge for it, but if I can get the Sunday restaurant owner to agree, I think we will allow everyone to come in for free. If we can get 15 people at a Sunday dance, then anyone who visits will take interest. If there are only 4 people at an event and someone comes by, they will get a bad impression and probably never return.
We currently have three private dance performances scheduled over the next two months. This is really good news, because it will provide enough cash flow to keep me going while I'm giving away free classes. Also, another organization which provides personal assistant services to rich expats wants to include private lessons as one of the services which it may provide to its clients. I just set up the agreement with them and hopefully we'll draw in a few extra people this way.

On the personal front, I have been stressing out about this current apartment. While it's nice enough inside, outside it's not so nice. It's a bit of a slum. Often you will see people sleeping out on the streets in chairs or on cardboard, and while it is completely safe, it does not do much to keep me happy each day. I had stressed out about leaving the apartment, but I talked with my friends and they say it should not be so much a problem. I am going to let the landlord keep the full two month deposit, and I'm going to look for another place right away.
I wonder sometimes how I ever decided to take on the place. I know I was feeling cash and time pressure, but I just got too anxious and took the first thing which looked halfway decent. I usually keep a policy that you never spend any large sum of money until you have had 24 hours to think about it. This last time, I didn't do that. I just took the place while I was still in the excitement of the moment. So this time I'm going to do differently.

Right now I am going to start planning for a Christmas time dance show. A friend of mine put one on last year, at which we gave a free performance. This was a good idea and generated a lot of interest, as well as some video and other kinds of publicity. But we never got any students from the event. It is ironic, but at every one of the events we have danced at, very very few people ever come to the dance classes or social night afterwards.

On the personal front, my roommate from England is leaving soon, on the 10th of next month. That's 20 days from now, and by then I want to get a new apartment, if not sooner. I've taken some money out from my savings and wired it to my China account, so I will have no cash pressure this time. I will again get a roommate. I have found it is just too difficult to live alone in China. Sometimes you get home and it is nice just to talk to someone who speaks your language (literally).

I have an already-paid-for return ticket to America. It is going to expire within about a month, but I don't think I'm going to take it. I'd have to pay for the visa entry and re-entry fees, plus I'd have to pay for the return ticket to China. Sometimes I think I would like to take a vacation, though, but I'm not sure to where. The return ticket is back to San Francisco, the same place I left from. I've got friends in SF and Chicago, but for certain I could not afford to fly back and forth to Chicago during any such trip.

I've been trying to keep my energy level up high. I have stopped drinking for the most part, mainly because I'm just tired of the bar scene, and the hangovers make it very difficult to do dancing the next day. I have a good group of friends out here, but many of them are jobless wanderers (not too much unlike myself). I have noticed over the past two months, I haven't really made much serious progress. I attribute some of it to having fallen into a trend of going out with my friends, going drinking all night, and not really meeting other people. Chasing girls and the like, but right now it's much more important to meet people who are currently active and working on interesting projects.

OK, all for now. Enjoy America, everyone!

-J

A few things going on right now. First, I am moving (again) out of my current apartment into one to be determined. My roommate from England is leaving China and going out to Australia where his sister is staying, and thence to points unknown. I'd been unhappy with the neighborhood dirtiness for some time, so I'm taking the change as an opportunity to get a new place. I'm trying to find someone now to take over the lease, so we will see how it goes. The landlord has been pretty decent overall. The only fault I can make in this deal is that I decided upon the place too quickly. I had never seen it in the daytime. I'm rather embarassed about the place, and I don't like to invite people back there. So this is why I am moving.
Dance stuff is going OK but I wish it were getting more new people. On the good news Elle magazine has decided to cover us, and we will be in the November issue. I am trying now to have a couple of promotions to bring new folks into the group. Recently two of our best leaders (men) moved out of the country, and this has made it more difficult to keep the scene going. But I am confident. We have right now three different private shows scheduled, and this will help out a good deal.
I have not been going out as much to the bar scene lately. Two main reasons. First, it's not as fun as it used to be. It's sort of the same-old-thing every time. I've seen just about every night spot. And second, there is a consensus out here that the alchohol in China has more impurities than that in America. I have heard specifically that they use a high level of formadihyde (sp?), and it really wracks your system the next day. It's fine to be drinking less, but the bar scene's a very important social network. That's where I met most all of the people I knew at first, and it's why the dancing scene grew at the beginning.
I have been rather happy the last couple of weeks. I was at dinner the other day with two of my good friends, and I said, "You know, lately I'm pretty happy." They looked at me from across the table. "Wow," one said, "I never heard you say such a thing. You are usually saying things are not so good!"
I'm thinking about what type of day job I might seek. The acting thing is interesting and fun, but it's less reliable than the dancing scene! I don't want to teach English. Most of my friends apprieciate my reasoning. Teaching English will indeed pay the bills, but it is very much a dead-end job. After doing it for a year or two, you are qualified to do -- well -- nothing more than teaching more English. Plus, it is not easy teaching. It's quite draining, and most English schools have requirements that you spend 30 hours a week at their location, even if you are not teaching. By and large, the people teaching English have a lack of energy and seem unmovtivated and have a lack of imagination. I think it's the job (not the people).
There are a lot of universities in the area. It has crossed my mind to get some sort of part-time job teaching either business or e-commerce related stuff. I did e-commerce consulting for seven years, and I know a scary amount about it. It's not the most fun topic, but it could lead to more interesting things. Plus, it is a specialist position which would carry a little prestige and hopefully some good money.
There is the idea of going into event management. When people come and ask for a swing dancing show, inevitably a certain amount of it is organized by me. I don't mind this work so much. It is interesting and it involves a lot of people and deal-making. Plus, it is relevant to the swing dancing effort. The more events I hold the more people I will know, and this can help the dancing effort.
One more thing I have considered is real estate. I took a little class back in San Jose with my roommate who was studying for the state exam. Like any profession, some of it is detail-oriented and a little tedious. But there are a lot of advantages. This job also involves getting to know a lot of people. It can be quite lucrative if you are good at it. And, I myself still do not own any property, and I think this is real important for long-term financial stability. If I were involved in the market, I would have a much better idea how to tell a good deal from a bad one. I could eventually get my own property when I saw a good opportunity.
And last, this morning I woke up early, like 6am. I walked outside down some of the more busy walking streets. Everywhere I looked, there were groups of 30 or 40 old Chinese people playing music on portable stereos and either dancing or doing Tai Chi. It was really early! The old people in China have a lot of activites to keep themselves healthy and active. I never remember seeing anything like that going on in the US.
Ah well. All for now.
-J