The Wandering Monkey

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