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i woke up to the news that britain was leaving the european union in a narrow 52-48% victory. so the cost of reclaiming their so-called national sovereignty was a country in turmoil. most immediate were the markets, as the british currency took a nosedive as well as their stock market (which in turned affected all other markets around the world, for the worst). the fact that scotland and northern ireland voted to remain in the EU could potentially mean they split off from the UK: scotland would become independent (something they voted up last year in a referendum where sensible voters decided staying with england was the better choice), northern ireland would rejoin ireland. people are also worried that britain's exit would open the door for other countries to leave the EU as well. not only did UK destroy itself with the vote, but perhaps the whole of the european union too.

some pro-brexit voters were having buyer's remorse the day after, not thinking that their vote would matter and that britain would never seriously leave the EU. why a brexit referendum was ever on the table is the fault of pro-EU prime minister david cameron, who used it as a political maneuver to silence critics, and couldn't have predicted it'd end so disastrously; he of coursed resigned today.

by coincidence, donald trump just happened to be in scotland. not for any political reasons despite the fact that he's running for the president of the united states; rather he was there for a ribbon cutting ceremony to a new trump golf course (one question: was tax money used to facilitate this trip?). while britain was in turmoil, trump was gleefully opening a resort, which shows how tone-deaf he is to global events. trump even congratulated britain for leaving the EU, despite the fact that scotland voted overwhelmingly to stay.

this should be a lesson to american voters who see a candidate like trump and think, "how could anyone ever vote for someone so unqualified?" the answer is - as seen in the case of britain - when you let people decide for themselves, sometimes they don't make the right choice (a lot of it has to do with the spread of false information, but also there seems to be an anti-establishment streak that's taking over the western world), and end up hurting themselves without realizing it.

i went to the garden to water my plants then rode to market basket to pick up a bottle of scrubbing bubbles foaming bleach bathroom cleaner ($3.99). i had a bottle before i left for china and it disappeared when it came back (mary must've done something to it, or my parents used it up when they cleaned up mary's mess). it's my cleaner of choice for the bathroom, especially mold and mildew in between the bathroom wall tiles and also removes soap scum. unfortunately there's a bit of persistent mold around the bath tub edge that will need to be recaulked.

i did some more cleaning around the house, particularly vacuuming up the areas i missed the last time, like the kitchen dining area (a thoroughly underused part of the house) and underneath my living room magazine rack and bathroom side table. i want to get all my vacuuming done so i can finally return my parents' dyson vacuum, which i've had at my place since returning from china.

after some hot dogs for dinner, i spent the evening digging through my vacation photos. i took a total of over 46,000 photos, and there are still a lot of images i haven't sorted through before. looking over them made me yearn to be back in chongqing again. if only i could find a job there! or ideally a short term job. as infuriating china can sometimes be, it's also a place full of interesting things.