The Wandering Monkey

For three years, I have been in China teaching Swing Dancing. Now I'm wandering yet again...

2004-11-27

Nu stuff

Last night was Thanksgiving. I didn't realize it until about 5pm when someone said it to me. I said, "Really?" There were no reminders at all that it was coming. Most of my friends are not Americans. Brits, Aussies, and elsewhere. It was kind of strange.

My mom gave me a call in the evening. I was actually at a party held by the guy who is organizing the music for the movie. And, at that particular time I also happened to be having a conference with the movie director to talk about what songs and what types of dancing will be used in the movie. So, it was really quite ironic. Here's how it went:

JIMBO and DIRECTOR are at a party, sitting at the table, going through the dance scenes one at a time and making sure they are prepared. Music from live jazz band is playing.

Phone rings. JIMBO sees it is an international call.

JIMBO

Oh, I'm sorry, I should take this.

(takes call)

Hello?

MOTHER

Hello.. Jim.. this is you MOTHerrr.... Happy Thanksgiving!

JIMBO

Oh Hi mom! Happy Thanksgiving! Can you hang on a sec?

To director

I'm sorry, I have to take this. It's my mom from America.

DIRECTOR nods. JIMBO walks away from table.

***********************

Sorry, I have to cut this short.

We're in ELLE magazine this month!!!!!!!

WoooHoooo!

-Jimbo

Posted by: Jimbo / 1:47 AM

2004-11-24

It's Tuesday over here

Today I woke up and wanted to quit. I wanted to find a new job, a real job, and it worried me because I don't know what career I mignt go into. But, I checked email and there is a guy who is starting a new jazz bar out here and he wants me to dance at the opening. Then in the evening, the film company called and want me to work tomorrow as Ralph's stand-in. So for the moment I guess I just going to stay put and do the same thing.

41 people came on Sunday, the largest turnout ever for that venue on that night. Only 4 new people joined, which is not enough, but I have to say I am happy with the result. Everyone like dance, not so many like paying. Hopefully money will come from other directions.

Occaisionally I have been wanting to do something more 'philanthropic' with my life. I think it might help me get over things if I focus on helping other people. Worth a try. Today I went to the gym, joining two of my friends there. It's much better to go with your friends. That applies to about everything. Like shopping. I hate shopping. Want to absolutely minimize my time there. But I don't mind shopping so much when I'm with a friend.

Suppose I should not take too long today on this. My friend Pilar and her boyfriend (from San Fran) are in town tomorrow and I'm supposed to go hang out with them. I have a Jazz CD opening party on Thursday, starting about 10pm. It's at a place called M on the Bund. "The Bund" is a French-architecture area in the Huangpu River area of Shanghai. It was famous in the 1930's when Shanghai first emerged as an international city. The Bund was also used for the filming of the White Countess movie.

Well, my roommate wants his computer back. I need to do something to get me to go to sleep soon since I work at 6am!

Peace,

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 12:12 AM

2004-11-19

Work stuff

Tonight I'm at home, trying to get to sleep. Was out a bit late yesterday and now I'm trying to go back to normal. Kind of hard when you are not sleepy to sleep. Forming a new dance class on Sunday. I still have a few things to do. I hope we get enough people to keep the night viable. I just had to fight to keep the Sundays so we're not in the strongest of positions since business is slow. I'm working with one of my students who is helping me send cell phone messages the 'maybe' people on our list. Something I should probably do is take up all the phone numbers, get on the phone, and call up some people to see if we can fill the class. To see if they want to learn dancing, that is to say!

Something has definitely not gone according to plan when it comes to the 'dance movement'. It right now, after a year, amounts to under 20 people. Probably the core group is really 10 folks. Something is not happening correctly. I'm confident in the feeling and nature of swing dancing. I'm reasonably confident enough in my skills as a teacher and ability to handle things. I've gotten a bit more organized of late to get the classes more structured. I'm trying to change it into a thing which has a definite syllabus, and we take attendance at the classes. Our turnout rate last month was seven people, one of which is a long-time friend who's been with us since the beginning, and two of which are repeat customers from before. That's the whole thing for the month. The class non-turnout rate was pretty bad, however. The first class we had the seven. The second something like four of the people had told me ahead of time they could not make the day. The third time we had a make-up class, with about five folks. And the last class there were just three folks, the loyal couple and one new female student I'd met from shooting the movie.

My target beginning class size is about 20 people. Let's say 15. Normally about half don't make it through the class, because they are busy or don't like it or they are lazy. The remaining half usually tend to be the better dancers, but not always. Women stay more frequently than men, and more women than men come in the first place.

So anyhow, I'm good at analysis and writing reports. But my gut feel is that if I want this to work, I actually have to start calling the people who have expressed some interest and asking them to join personally over the phone. Telephone sales, and I've been avoiding this something fierce. I know one girl who does phone sales to her personal folks. She runs an independent Mandarin teaching school. But it's rather annoying to be on the receiving side of one of those calls. You at first think she's calling you, then you realize she's selling to you. It's also a BIT strange from her getting the call from her directly. It feels a bit unprofessional since we've gone swimming together and she's been over at my house for parties. I always liked to avoid the two.

But the bottom line is I have to take a new action regarding publicity. The email response has been rather low. It seems it's not enough motivation. Plus we don't get new people out of it; just the people who've seen us before and gave us their name for the email list. There are about 80 people on the 'Ask to Join' list. Of them there's probably 15 of which that I feel like I should call them myself. So I suppose I should get on the phone and take care of this tomorrow in the daytime. Tomorrow is Friday, so it's just not going to be possible any other time before the new class begins.

What it really boils down to is phone sales. That's what I should be doing, at least give it a shot to see how efffective it is.

Peace,

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 2:57 AM

2004-11-14

Today and Yesterday

Today is Saturday, and I went to the Shanghai film studio to teach dancing and organize the extras. I also sealed a deal with the Producer who has the authority to hire me, so I'm officially on. I may have made it unclear before; this is not a new movie, this is the same movie as before. They are filming another dancing sequence and I've been called in to help with it. As I had observed before, if you want to be part of the production you have to write your own job description and sell yourself. In a sense, only you truly know where you would best fit into the organization, so you have to tell them what you will do and then hopefully they approve of it!

As for Yesterday. OK, normally I don't get too too personal on this blog because my Mom reads it (Love you, Mom!) But yesterday was a pretty exceptional day so I have to mention it. Last night a friend of mine called me and told me about a new club which was opening up. I had met the DJ for this club just a few days before, and so I decided I would go and check it out. I went out there, met up with my friend, and looked around the place.

The club had previously been owned by a different group, and it was doing so-so business. But the new people who bought it have given it an entirely new feel. It was filled with foreigners and all sort of obviously cool and rich people. Many artistic looking folks, dressed very well. About 50/50 Chinese and Western, with everyone in their best. I must say the women there were just stunning, and present by the dozen. Plus, they were giving away free beer, so who can complain?

I felt a bit uncomfortable because I really didn't know anyone, and so I just had a few of the free beers and walked about the place. It can take some time to get used to a new environment, even under such good circumstances. I had my eye on a girl on the dance floor, but I was not feeling my Mojo, so I just sort of sat back and stood next to the floor, not doing much. My friend shows up, but I guess I need to explain him a little more to paint this picture. Let's say his name is Daniel, and most people guess he's about 70-ish years old. He's a Westerner, from somewhere in the US, and to all accounts he seems to be on a intraveinous drip of Viagra and liquid caffeine. While I was sitting there mulling around and looking at this girl, ol' Daniel runs up onto the floor and grabs her by both hands and smiles and begins a little crazy dance. He's like portable energy machine. And I, more-or-less in my prime, look on as this gorgeous girl gets swept all around the floor by my friend, the person most people affectionately know as "The Old Guy".

You can't be mad at him. How can you? My own stupid fault for sitting on my ass. So I laugh a bit and got get another free beer and watch the object of my affection laughing her head off.

A little later one of my students shows up. I haven't seen her in a while. We say hello and she wants to dance, too. Right now its just Daniel and the hot girl, so we two also take the floor. Dancing always helps me loosen up a bit. Plus sometimes if I can get to do a few moves on the floor I may catch the eye of a young lady, perhaps. My student and I do a few dances and say goodbye, and now I'm looking around. Now there's FOUR very pretty young Chinese ladies in front of me. All dancing together, mei you (without) men. So what do I do? I've learned my lesson, right? You gotta take life by the horns, right? So I jump right in there, right?

No, I just mull around a bit, hummm, hmm.... la la la.... And who comes out of left field? It's my friend Daniel. He goes after one of the four like the Green Goblin after a money bag. She doesn't know quite how to take it. That's part of the charm of Daniel's approach. Who knows what to think of this guy? (Everyone usually says, Man I hope I have that much energy at his age. I always say, I wish I had that much energy now!) But the new girl not having it. She gives out a little scream, like AAhh! And starts running away from him. So he just opens his eyes wide and puts his arms out and scrunches up his fingers like claws and chases after her. Ahhh! Ahh! Ahh! she says. Grrr, grr, grr! he says. They're running all about the dance floor, which by now is filled with people. Seconds later, someone is tugging at the back of my coat. I'm still just standing there, relatively dull and dopey. I turn around, and it's the girl, hiding behind me, tugging at my coat and trying to keep me between Daniel and herself.

"Save her Jim! Save her!" Daniel says to me. And he goes off to the other part of the room, completely unphased.

So I turn around. Oh Hi. Want to Dance? You do!

So we go over and join up with her three friends. My Oh My. Actually, I had been looking at one girl in the group in particular. Not the one tugging on my coat, but her friend in the short white-and-blue qi pao (short Chinese sleveless dress). I feel like maybe I should not go for it, in case I hurt her friend's feelings, but then I'm like, You know you only live once. So I'm doing a little dancy-dancy, and the qi pao girl is smiling, so I do a little poke her with the finger, and she laughs (yes, I'm now in grade school). Things go on alright. The coat-pulling girl does not have a smile on her face anymore. But the girl I am dancing with does. (Mom you can stop reading now).

(Yes, now).

So we are being friendly on the dance floor, then suddenly I get a feeling of dread. I remember the first week I was out here in Shanghai. I was doing a friendly dancy-dancy with a girl at a bar, and I was getting ready to leave only to be informed that for the service she just provided me she expected payment. Yes, she was a pro, and she actually expected payment for the dancy-dancy. So I don't want to go through this again. So I'm like, "Uhh... what is you job?"

"Real estate agent."

"Oh good! I mean, uh, that's nice."

We go on a while then take a break. I leave her and go to talk to some friends. About a half an hour later I run into her again. She says she and her friends are leaving, going to another bar. "Would you like to come with?" she asks. I say, "No, why don't I just call you later," and she says OK. I say goodbye and wander around a bit. A few minutes later, I run into her and her friends, with their coats on, about to walk up the stairs. "You sure you don't want to come with?" she asks again.

Just then my friend Daniel shows up behind me. I have never known him to be violent before, but he had in his hand what appeared to be a wooden club. He hit me over the head with it and staggered me forward a step. Then, just as mysteriously, he winked impishly and dissapeared into a cloud of blue smoke. Then I came to my senses.

"Yes, I think I will go."

Off into the taxi, just me and the four gorgeous young Chinese ladies. Only in this city, I can tell you.

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 2:17 AM

2004-11-11

Movies and Games, Games and Movies...

Yesterday I went to the Shanghai Film Studio and got a copy of the script, which I have just finshed reading. The first thing of note is how very few words are actually in a script. It contains all of the dialogue, but the scene and situation descriptions are really minimal. I think back to just how much preparation it took for the taxi dance hall scenes. All of that effort -- selecting the shooting location, dressing everyone in costumes, arranging for all the extras, dance lessons beforehand, and so forth -- all is done for the sake of probably 200 words of description plus a few pages of dialogue.

Now they are filming the second dance-heavy sequence, which is set at an upscale dance bar called the White Countess. I got very involved in the first round of filming, and it looks now like my participation will become greater. I'm still gathering information about what exactly will be needed. There's a lot of important variables which still need explaining, not the least of which are the filming days and the presence or absence of the original choreographer. Based on whatever information I can get, tomorrow I will submit a proposal to the production team. You hear a lot of information, but things change a lot at the last moment. Everything is chaos. You simply prepare and make options available for the directors to use.

In real life, I went on a binge after last night. I was up until the not-so-wee but really-rather-large hours of the morning. The kind of hours a which normal people are waking up. It is so strange. I had appointments the next day (today) and still I did it. Each hour, one by one, just kept ticking away. There I was sitting at the Internet cafe, playing the same stupid game I've played and nearly perfected really hundreds of times. I don't know why I do this. I think there needs to be a Gamaholics Anonymous. I have one comfort which is that my problem does not have the really bad physical side-effects that other types of addictions have, such as achohol. But nonetheless there it is. The biggest problem is the cost of time. What percent of my effective hours and I spending my time and energy doing this thing?

Today I said, no games today. And I did this; no problem. I actually did make my lunch appointment. It's with a friend I see occasionally. She appeared breifly in the movie as an extra and she's also come to one of our dance events as a 'more trained' person to help the absolute beginners. So I tell her I'm really tired. It's 1pm now, and I've only had about four hours of sleep, if that. I tell her about my addiction, or 'binge' problem. She says it sounds like an interesting article she could write for a magazine she freelances for. I tell her I would be happy to do the interview if she doesn't use my real name. Can't really go about telling everyone I'm a computer game addict, can I?

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 2:19 AM

2004-11-05

Another trip to the movies

Since the movie filming has ended, it's been a bit of a blah point. I've had the troubles with the Sunday night swing venue. That was some serious stress. It has fortunately worked out OK, so we can continue to dance there. I'm glad, because the swing dance 'movement' can't live without a venue and we've been running out of choices. Plus, I'd sold a month of classes and this problem happened in the second week of the first month! So the swing dance venue is ours and we live to fight another day.

There were some pretty bad days during this time. It seemed like for a while everything with swing dancing was just not working out properly. I began to think that someone else in my position could have been doing this better. I wondered if I am a qualified teacher to take on such a task, and so forth. But when you're in the attack of doubt, these are not just simple passing thoughts that you can just disregard. They are beliefs, things which you hold to be true. Even if you can logically say to yourself, I know that next week things will all look better, it's no comfort on the current day, in the moment.

To deal with this I have just learned that you have to have perseverence. Some people have jobs which they find fun all the time. Some people will do a job and they will keep at it for years, then they'll quit all of the sudden claiming something like, "It wasn't fun anymore." Well, I don't know about you but I've never had a job that was fun all the time. Hell, not even half of the time. Every project of any length I've ever undertaken has always become work and tedium at some point. My approach to this is to accept that no matter what you are undertaking, at some point you will no longer feel like doing it. If you want to get anything accomplished in the long run, you must just continue even if you don't want to.

The other day was the beginning of the month and I went through my finances as I sometimes do. I figured at my current lifestyle I have two months worth of expenses currently available in cash. I decided that this is a good benchmark to keep. I should always have two months of expenses in cash on hand. So this means I've got to start earning some cash to keep me at that level. I was worried for a while. I thought I'd have to take a corporate job again. Not that this is the worst thing in the world, but it took a lot to leave that in the first place. As luck would have it... two projects have come up which should take care of things for the time being.

The first is a little trade show in a nearby town which will pay a little pocket cash -- enough for rent plus utilities.

The second thing is even better. The people from the White Countess movie have called me back. They want me to join on their production for another dance sequence they are shooting late Nov to mid Dec. There is something like 13 days of dancing plus a week of rehersals. This is quite good. It means I'll have something to do in the days again, and some cash for expenses, and another opportunity at a exposure and experience in an interesting field. I called my friend, the actress from Beijing, and told her about the shoot. So she'll be able to participate like she wanted. And yesterday I ran into a girl never got to dance in the first shoot becase of illness, so she can be a part of the new scene as well.

For my part in the movie, I don't know if I'll be dancing in the scenes or just helping with training and advising. I think I could change my hairstyle and clothes and wear glasses and no one would recognize me if I was just dancing in the background. Who knows what will happen. There's so much unpredictability. But I'm looking forward to getting more involved. I could deal with being an actor for a while. Here in Shanghai that's a definite possibility for someone in my position.

And, on another odd note: tonight I went out with a drink after my Mandarin language lesson. I said hello to the guy sitting alone at the bar next to me, and I'm chatting with him and asking him what he's up to here. It turns out he works for the same company that I used to work for back in San Jose. They have something like 28 branches out here in Shanghai alone, so if I ever want a real job I know where to start looking!

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 4:02 PM

2004-11-02

Latest problem

Last week the swing dance night went very well. I approached the bar and asked them if they were could hold another dance night, either on Thursday or Wednesday. They said they were going to do salsa every day of the week. I said, OK, though I was dissapointed, and walked around the neighborhood to find another place we might be able to hold our dancing. I went to the place which used to be called Jazz Seeker, which has been sold and is under new management. I was hoping they would be struggling for business and we could start up a Wednesday night there again. But the new owner are foreigners and they have their own plans on the place. I talked to the manager, who was very polite about it, but he said the only way we could have a dance night there would be if we rented out the entire venue, as if for a private party. This felt like a stick in the gut. Suddenly I feel like I'm in the wrong place; like I'm wearing street clothes to a formal event and everyone's looking at me. So I take off and go home.

So at this point, I don't know where I'm going to put the new night. But I make plans to add a new performance class on our regular Sunday night. My partner Andrea is going to teach her styles for dancing and addditional tricks to the girls, and I'm going to teach aerials and throw-the-girl-around steps. This will be for the people who are in our dancing troupe, so that we are prepared the next time an offer comes to do a show.

Yesterday I called our Sunday venue. I knew they had a salsa class in the afternoon, but we had had the evenings to ourselves. So I spoke to the manager, and she said the salsa class was going to run until 7pm, then they would have salsa dancing. I was like, "What?" I confirmed the information. "So what are we supposed to do with swing dancing?" I asked her. She said, "You can continue to dance on the roof terrace." This is an open-air porch-like thing on the roof of the building. However, we had only gone up there for fun. We knew we could not remain there for much more than a couple of weeks now that the weather was turning bad. So I tell her that this won't work, and she says we should have a meeting with the salsa guy, Bob, a person I have met and had lunch with before.

So I make my first call to Bob, and I'm still not quite upset. I talk to Bob, and he's evasive. I ask him what's up with salsa night on our Sundays, and I tell him that we have had the place on Sundays and he's moving into our territory. He said at first, "I cannot give you an answer right now" and similar things like this. The ironic thing was, just last Sunday I saw Bob doing the afternoon class and he said he was going to make a dance company and wanted me to join it. And now I've found he's expanded into the very time in which I had reserved for teaching. I confront him on this, and he says "the management wanted this" and so forth. I am still pretty calm, so I say I'm sure we can work something out, and ask to meet. He says he'll get back to me.

I think about this a while, and I get pissed off. Bob knew we were there on Sundays, and he didn't even bother to check to see if there had been a possible conflict. Granted the bar management should have said something, but apparently in the negotiation the swing dance role had been dismissed as 'minor' and not a consideration. So I'm not mad at the bar because they are the boss and I have to go to them for a decision. But I am mad at Bob, very mad, especially since he's acting as if he had no knowledge this would cause me a problem. I call him again, and I'm very upset. I ask him again why he did the Sunday night thing, and he again tried to claim he was not responsible, that 'management wanted it'. So I just tell him point blank: "You know what I think. I think YOU requested the night in the first place." At this he did admit that yes, he did. And I say, "And we were already there. You are pushing us out!" He went on to say that we could have the balcony, and this just made me more pissed. I was already there! The little **&*&*&*&*&*&.

So anyhow, I do know this guy as an acqauintence. I also know him by reputation. A friend of mine says he's sneaky, although I'd seen nothing up to this point which would have made me agree. So I tell this guy, "We need the Swing night on Sunday. You already have six other days here! Plus you have events outside in other places. You don't NEED Sunday! But we have only this one night, at only this one location. Our other Wednesday location has gone out of business and if this one goes away, we will be in a very bad situation!" So, with that, I asked him to withdraw his offer to teach on Sundays. I don't know how effective that may be. He's a weasel so he's no going to do it on principle. Plus he's got some other teacher involved as well, so he's not going to burn them for the sake of us. I tried to make a meeting time with him and the swing folks and management together, but he's dodging it.

So, at 3pm today, 2 hours from now, I head out to Silver Moon. I'm asking some of my people to come with because I am not feeling very strong right now and I need the strength of the group to get me through this one. Just last week we began our classes, and I sold monthly lessons to a bunch of people! And my old partner Kellian has been bringing in about 25 college kids from here school every week. We were just beginning to make some progress, and if this falls through I just don't know what to do next. This can't fall through. We have to keep it and fight for it.

-J

Posted by: Jimbo / 5:04 PM