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APR

22

2014

it's only 9:00 and i'm already in bed! i can't believe there'd come a day where i'd be excited about going to sleep early, but i am. last night i slept for 7:17 hours, i'm hoping to reach an optimal 8 hours tonight. it helps to sleep alone, so nobody is there to judge me when i wear my fitness tracker on my wrist. the withings pulse comes with a velcro sleep bracelet which i don't have and for some reason can't seem to order a replacement online. the past few weeks i've just been using a strap tied to my wrist and the pulse clipped onto that. it's a terrible system because the pulse tends to flop around so it thinks i'm either sleeping lightly or waking up in the middle of the night. then sunday night i came had an idea: i could take an old sock i didn't want anymore, cut off the ankle, and create a simple wristband i could then tuck the pulse inside. i've used it the past 2 nights, it's a much better system.

i took the korean shuttle bus to work this morning, my first time. i didn't want to be anywhere near xianglian, didn't want for her to sit with somebody else while i sat by myself on the bus. even though i call it the korean shuttle, no koreans take it because they go to work an hour earlier (at 7:00); the shuttle is for the chinese hires working for the korean company. we took a circuitous route through the new city, going by the large rotary dividing old and new town, driving by guzhen (fake ancient changshou), before finally getting on the medium highway towards the office. it was a change of pace and nobody hassled me except wangyan, who came onboard and saw me and said, "what're you doing on our bus?"

xianglian texted me when i arrived at work. "i didn't see you on the bus. did you take the public bus to get to work today?" i told her i took the korean bus. she thought i was sick. "i appreciate your concern. no i am not sick." she asked about the fermented tofu she gave me, then about the 1st grade class picture i posted on my QQ zone. the whole time i was seething with anger. her first day back at work yesterday, she had plenty of opportunity to chat with me, to even sit with me, but she never did. now she wants to chat. i had to put a stop to this. "xianglian, i sort of can't talk to you right now," i wrote her. "okay. you are busy," she replied. i clarified: "for reasons i can not fully explain online, i'm a little mad at you. that's why i didn't take the [company] bus this morning." she sent me a "confused" emoticon and then, "last question, can i ask you why?" maybe some people are just that oblivious. if she doesn't know already, what's the point of explaining? "i can't explain online," i told her. "maybe later." and with that i didn't speak to her, look at her, or did anything else with her the rest of the day.

while i was busy giving xianglian the silent treatment, sunmeng messaged me about going to chongqing on sunday. i didn't hesitate to say yes. she was going to go visit a bookstore, but could also take me to nanshan if i wanted, which people tell me is the best place to see all of chongqing from up a mountain. when sunmeng still worked back at the office, we flirted a little bit, but i have no romantic aspirations towards her. i could sense she's a little fragile, especially after finally having broken up with her korean boyfriend, and i wouldn't take advantage of that. we're just friends, something i'm in very short supply of here in china. we plan on taking the 10:20 high speed train to chongqing then taking a bus back. my original plan - before my relationship with xianglian pretty much blew up - was to ask XL if she wanted to go to yuanboyuan, that park i went to a few weeks ago with lihui and his online lady friends.

after lunch, i went out for a walk. i figured it'd be a little stroll, but i ended up walking the perimeter of a large block of industry buildings which took the entire hour long break to complete. every time a heavy truck rolled by, it'd send up a plume of dust. there was probably nobody else in the office who'd ever complete this walk before. nobody except me seem to be curious about the areas nearby.

after work i found the medium bus and climbed onboard, never bothering to look back and check to see if XL was there. the driver was impatient and took off a few minutes after 6:00, when technically nobody is allowed to leave until 6:10. back in town, i saw the xinjiang bread seller and bought 5 pieces of bread from him. i also bumped into zengfei, who's been secretly taking the korean bus home (they leave much earlier). she was with a boy, i didn't ask who it was nor did i really care all that much. i went to the chongbai supermarket to get some spicy dishes for dinner. i returned home, cooked up some sweet rice porridge, and had it with the spicy side dishes i bought from the supermarket.