I am the world's sketchiest person.

Things that have happened!

• Went to Lush a couple nights ago.  Started talking to people.  Remembered I'm misanthropic, then got bored + schwasted.  Learning experiences are fun, not embarrassing at all!  At least, that's what I keep telling myself.  
• On a positive note, hard liquor is apparently the only thing that can bring a Pajj down.  
• THAT'S THE TEXAN IN ME.
• Got a bass guitar + case + strap for 400 yuan (about $60 USD), which seems like a pretty decent deal.  I've always wanted to learn how to play a guitar - just know the piano, and some percussion - and the bass is something that sounds nice very quickly.
• Devouring books.  Chuck Palahniuk is enthralling, though reading his novels feels a great deal more like having a nice whiskey than a good steak.  I miss science, guys - legitimate science classes, and lab work.  No real substitute for that. 
• There are some really, really nice people here - the majority of whom are willing to let me crash on their couch when I'm locked out of my dorm at CUGB.  <3
• So, if you remember correctly, the night before I got my tattoo I went wandering around Xinjiekou at 9:30pm, trying to find a parlor.  The one I'd selected via GoogleMaps - Tattoo Show, I think it was called? - was nowhere to be found;  asked a lot of people, but they were pretty clueless.  Most of the Chinese girls just looked at me like I was trying to sell them cocaine.  Not the best experience in the world.  :(
• BUT!  There was one really nice - and very attractive - guy, with a translating app built into his iPhone, who seemed very concerned for my safety and told me that getting a tatt in China would probably be a bad idea.  "Nice girl", "wait till you go back home", etc. etc.  By this time it was pretty late, so I ordered a cab and went back home.  
• As fortune would have it, I saw him this morning while I was out buying my bass - he owns a music store and gives lessons in guitar and piano.  Smokes like a chimney.
• Starting a job teaching high-school-age Chinese kids English pretty soon, in addition to the one at the Forestry University (decided to take Director Wang up on the offer, even though the conditions are a bit sketch).  We'll see how it all works out.  

Miss you guys, so much.  <3