Slip sliding away

Well, first of all I'd better welcome in 2005. Aaah, '04, we barely knew thee. It's been quite an eventful year really, as can probably be seen from this fair old blog. Now, back to the present. Shanghai is fuckin' freezing. Previously, according to the good people of Shanghai, it usually has mild winters. Uh huh. That would certainly explain why my hands almost turned blue today, and even inside they're bloody cold. Must remember to buy some more gloves. Or glove in fact -- one of my hands I'm not quite so sure about. I'm sure blue and black blotches and lack of feeling aren't a positive sign... New years was pretty interesting. Went to a friend's house with a group, got lost again. I'm sure one of them's a jinx. I'm looking at you Paul...ha ha, only serious. Oddly, there's an outside chance that some of my workmates may be reading this blog. I haven't really had to deal much with my professional life and blog crossing over before, and I didn't really think it'd happen here until I mirrored my blog for a Chinese audience. Who knows what zany mishaps that'll bring about? Just out of interest, is it even possible to use zany in a non-ironic way now? My part in the new year's party was (as usual) getting drunk rather too quickly and accosting rather random people into dancing. Seemed to work, though whether it was due more to my natural boyish charisma or my threatening presence I'm not sure. The streets of Shanghai've been pretty bloody treacherous the past couple of days, what with it snowing on new year's eve, the first time in 10 years according to my boss. I was pretty euphoric to see the snowfall, something I haven't seen since my Dunedin days, back when men were men and snow was real snow, not the pansy crap you get nowadays...I think my fatal mistake was trying to eat some of it. While it's not such a bad idea in New Zealand or the English countryside, the snow of a polluted city like Shanghai has something of an acrid tang which may lead to something I'd rather not imagine. I'm hoping for a severe fever, because at least that'll offset the wintery days. In addition to my slipping on the streets, my visage of calm has also been slipping a lot of late. As has my subtle seguing technique, obviously. This is due to the complete and utter morons who crowd the subway. If I see one more idiot using an escalator as a fairground attraction -- something to stand on idly, watching the world go by -- I'm going to go out of my nut and deck that someone. "But Alex, getting stressed over such a trifle...surely not!" I hear you mutter in disbelief. Yes, friends, I'm afraid it's the truth. Living in Shanghai for 6 weeks has given me more stress than living in NZ for six years. And to think, I used to bitch about NZ being too quiet... Anyway, I'd better wrap it up now because I need to spend some quality time with my hangover. Happy 2005 everyone!