Invisible Posts are back?

Actually I think those guys playing the trumpets broke it. Didn't Jenny say the 唢呐 is usually played at funerals?...that's what caused the death of that thread.

RJ made me do it.

Hi peter

The missing comment was simply to say thanks for a great lesson, and a little praise for all baba's wonderful pictures. The comment was visible in the list of new posts on the conversations page until another comment displaced it, but it never showed up in the thread itself. Anyway no biggie I guess.

Ha, yes it was on in the UK, I just never watched it.

baba,

you cant really rush language learning. You can cram and memorize but that isnt the same. The true learning to the point where you dont have to translate in your head, you just know, happens at its own pace. Context in the immersion sense can help, but study study study is not always the answer. Time and reinforcement. That's what it takes. Be patient young grasshopper. Less is sometimes more. More or less :-)

hehe, ok, well I've learnt my lesson..I shouldn't make these light, off the cuff, thinking out loud posts...sorry.. didn't mean to open a can of worms [pay no attention to my ramblings...I type as I think you know] . I guess I should have a pause button before I post, hehe [which is kind of ironic].

Anyhow, I appreciate your sentiments, but I think everyone knows in their own hearts where they should be at, knows when they've been slack and what they should be doing. But I'm in no hurry. I'm certainly enjoying the ride. But if I was on the trans-Siberian Railway at a station in the middle of Siberia, as much as I may enjoy the scenery, at some point you're gonna want the train to pull out of the station to see and experience what delights the road ahead may bring. Onward and upward.

Hm Baba I so recently remarked on how impressed I really am with anyone who can get here in their spoken (and sung) Chinese with just CPod as a learning source.

Progress might seem like too little and too slow but everybody's going through that, once past Elementary level (except the exceptional geniuses)! Taking stock and re-focusing once every while is good though, I respect that. 我们加油吧

Plus I only post a fraction of what I have to say. ——我也是，我也是。

Hehe RJ,

I can't believe you've come out with that quote, one of my fav's, because I was going to translate it into Chinese and post that here last night, but I had other things on and ran out of time. Ok, a bit of trivia for you. Did you know that that scene had to be filmed several times because the young Kwai Chang Caine kept successfully snatching the pebble, hehe.

when you can snatch the pebble from my hand . . . . . . .

呵呵，明白了。。。我应该说“真的”是一个鬼。。。不是你的名字“真”。。哈哈，你幽默

Baba 我哪儿是个鬼呀！？ * KWX *

joke? I made a joke? what joke? hehe, usually I'm just amusing myself I'm sure, I don't think anyone would be too deprived [more likely many relieved, hehe]

"Damn right I would"

..lol

tal,

what I was trying to say is I love it too much. zhen shi yi ge gui.

RJ,

I don't want to blather on about it but I really haven't made any significant progress in a long time now, and my last test on this site proved what I already knew. But I'd just like to make one thing clear....I have no-one to blame but myself. CPod rocks and is even more the reason why I need to take a look in the mirror. Fantastic resource at my finger tips and I'm not using it properly. So yes I'm resubscribing, but I need to start using it, and start reviewing.

xiaoliang,

Thanks mate for your kind words. I have made a conscious effort to keep hushuo off the lesson threads and also bury my comments in subthreads. Plus I only post a fraction of what I have to say. Maybe I just need to go cold turkey, hehe. Dunno. I doubt I'll pull it off anyway, but I do need to get more focused.

Lol. I hope our fellow poddies get your latest joke - hey, you wouldn't deprive us of stuff like that would you, just cause you think your language studies are not serious enough?

On another tack (and with due respect to Zhenlijiang's view on the gaol talk) by extreme coincidence I made a contact last night with an 'insider'. Not a patron, you know, the other sort. The guy with the keys. Well, with his brother. I asked (seriously, I did) whether, using these extraordinary contacts I could possibly make a visit to a low security gaol. (China has three levels - low, medium and high security.) The response was .. no, because they would think that you would write a story about it. Damn right I would.

I learned that in low security they have food markets inside and people basically look after themselves food wise.

And prison guards on entering the system now do a four year tertiary course, including one year of work experience.

Nothing wrong with chatting away babs. So long as you keep it in general discussion and don't clog up the lesson threads, there's nothing wrong with it. We'd miss you terribly if you took a sabbatical, you know!

Come on baba, you are doing just fine progress wise. I figure it will take 20 years to learn Chinese as a cpod learner doing it from outside of China and handling a full time job and life at the same time. The best I have seen is 5 years by gifted folks in full immersion who also make Chinese their full time job. (John, Amber and Pete for example.). It is what it is and there is no going back now.

"Sounds to me like a theme park or theme restaurant even would be enough to satisfy that kind of curiosity!"

..nah, exactly because it's the very opposite of a theme park...therein lies the attraction

Baba, as I have said in the Taxable Salary lesson discussion, I'm suggesting it's not at all impossible in China to go get yourself locked up for real with probably a high likelihood of eventual release. If you can just find the right opportunity (it may be harder for you Aussies because you don't have the sort of interesting diplomatic relations Japan does with China), because it will be such a deliberate and publicized message, all for the political agenda. If you really wanted the experience you could go out and do it, not just fantasize about it, now that we see how these things are done.

It's not likely to happen anyway--of course. Otherwise way fewer Japanese companies would allow our nationals to be posted in China, and there would be more than a travel warning from our government. The people it did happen to were just terribly unfortunate.

A voluntary stay for a few days, you mean like a retreat for foreigner tourists looking for something off the beaten path? Some travel company must have thought of and done that already. Sounds to me like a theme park or theme restaurant even would be enough to satisfy that kind of curiosity!

I have seen documentaries of homeless and poor people in Japan committing theft repeatedly to keep going "back" to prison. I have no idea about China.

Taking this too seriously? Well I'll be honest, I do think it's kind of insensitive to josh about wanting a stint in a prison in China for the experience. But let me say too that I'm actually not trying to convince you or anyone to take my side here. I just want this other view represented too.

shunbian, bie wang le, women antipodians dou shi convicts, suoyi meiguangxi

Hey zhen, I don't think you're saying anything I don't agree with. Of course I don't believe in anyone being forced, I don't agree with bogus charges, or being bullied. I have every sympathy for those wrongly accused and mistreated. I'm not advocating it for anyone else or talking about anyone but myself here, but I think a voluntary stay for a few days [ ok, maybe it would be boring after an overnight stint] for the experience would be personally interesting [not to forget a little scary]...as long as you knew you were going to get out, and soon...that it was voluntary. Anyhow, don't take this too seriously. For starters, it's not likely to happen anyway, and secondly I'm certainly not suggesting it's a walk in the park...it must be awful. Mind you, while we're on the topic, you would sometimes see documentaries of jail's in America where poor people were committing crimes to get into...an assured meal and all that. Does that ever happen in China?

Yes Baba life is too short. I guess I'm under-appreciating the fun-loving spirit there but I just have to say it. Being forced to spend any of that precious time locked up, under bogus charges (you don't have to commit any crime--that's the point), to be used like a chess piece by a government playing power games and acting like a thug isn't my view of cool. And you never know if you can ever get out. OK if you wanted to do just, or didn't mind a loved one having such an adventure then fine I suppose. Fact is, most people who get locked up under such circumstances never wanted to be, never had book ideas about the best prison food in the world or ambitions to gonzo journalism.

People are being unjustly imprisoned all the time. Of course it doesn't just happen in China. It seems to happen in China much more easily than it does where I live though (evidence--? hard data as in actual figures, I don't have), both quietly and overtly as needed to suit political purposes. I know I'm not breaking any news here. Just a reminder.

hey mate, btw , I loved your spirit in the recent tax thread with your comment about doing a stint in gaol. I know just where you're coming from. Life's pretty short and it's cool to check out as much as you can 【like you, it's just curiosity..I would never commit a crime] . Maybe I should go for a casbo, though I woudn't do that to CPod...love 'em too much. But I wonder if they have voluntary casbo's? or maybe CPod could set up a rehab centre ...like a 戒胡说所...probably shortened to 戒胡所。。。or maybe I just need a full on hardcore CPod 剃光头 【彻底摆脱胡说，呵呵】。。。变成到一个中文播客静默沉思和尚

btw, sorry if that leaves you in the firing line for being the most frequent poster, hehe.

Hey, talking of Sichuan and trying all the food, last weeks episode of China rush was filmed there. You should have seen all the teams try and woof down these really spicy Sichuan dishes...made 'em all crook, and their eyes were bulging...it wasn't pretty. As one of the Aussies, Charlie said..that was "hard core" [mind you he put his chillies in water which turned it all into fire water]. But Sarah got through it like a champ. She put some of her chillies in yoghurt and skulled it. It was impressive stuff, and got her team ahead.

thanks mate. Sounds like a dream. Believe me, I've every intention of sticking with CPod, and for more than just one more year. Whether I can pipe down and get my act together remains to be seen though, hehe.

A three week trip to the Middle Kingdom will clear your head. I recommend a few days in HK (softening up period), a week in Sichuan, and 10 days in Yunnan where it all happens. Soak up the language, see the culture first hand, try all the food. You will return refreshed and inspired to go another year on ChinesePod. If you can't find a good tour guide I may well jump to your rescue.

mate,

As I say, old habits die hard and I do love it here, love it heaps. But at resubscribing time, one has to take stock, look at where one's come from and going to. Chinese language acquisition wise I feel I'm going no-where because I've got into the bad habit of chatting too much. I think I post less in Chinese than ever now, and I've ended up spending way more time in the community pages than the lessons themselves. I have xiaohu's advice still ringing in the back of my head and I feel he was right about a lot of things. I want to take this resubscription as a turning point to get into better habits so if I do make it to China, I'll have spent my time at CPod productively. I'm also aware that while we have some great chats on the boards, it does seem to get up some others noses. I've never intended to do that. Maybe I can't change. I'm not making any promises. But I want to at least make it my intention to be more focused. Women yiqi jiayou ba.

You're just messing with our heads, aren't you old sport? I think you like it here too much for that!?

RJ has it right [as he usually does]. I was referring to George Castanza, a lovable loser from the Seinfeld TV series. Usually nothing turns out so well for poor George, so if he ever gets a laugh or has some small success he is ecstatic and likes to leave on a high [figuring it can only go downhill from there]. The only parallel with you I was drawing was that as you had just had "your finest hour" with us here at CPod, I didn't want you to leave on a high, never to be seen again. Mind you, my subscriptions up for renewal and I've not been progressing, so I'm tempted to do a Castanza myself [if I can just have some breakthrough so I can go out on a high, hehe] and resubscribe but as a lurker [ or a Mandarin only poster] but old habits die hard, and maybe that high will never come, hehe. I guess if I do, it may leave the question....was he Casbo'd?

"Did the show even run in the UK?" You gotta be kidding mate, I'm pretty sure they even watched it in Afghanistan!

Congrats sebire, you hit a six! But you're not out yet. ;)

Secrets? Ha ha, I can't keep them for long. I thought a cloudy sky looked nicer than a green background, and I tried to sharpen the foreground hand a trifle. I feel I've improved perfection, (just a little - lol.) You're right though, it's good to be back on 'the journey'!

i believe baba is making a Seinfeld show reference here but then again perhaps he will teach us both something. Did the show even run in the UK?

Castanza? I appear to be missing something. No grand exits from me, just temporary distractions.

Yeah, it'll be hard to top alright. Thanks Sebire, a gem amongst a drought of introduced words. Just don't go and do a Castanza on us and make a grand exit. That wouldn't be very social now would it? As you coined it, you can have an honourary badge without having to do the 反社会行为 or cop the 禁止命令。Rockin' the Casbo, Rock the Casbo...

Ha, introducing Casbos to the CPod lexicon has to be my finest hour!

Would that be the background that is different? You don't have to reveal your secrets if you don't wish to.

a badge worthy barge? ..no, you'll have to do better than that...love a tangential comment, particularly a nice one for me mate, and the more the merrier. Always good to see you join in phil :)

My friend, you're making the great sage feel all warm and fuzzy inside! And deeply pleased to see the force is with you. And yet the new avatar does differ in small but significant ways from the original. No Jar Jar Binks though I hope, and definitely no moppet playing Anakin Skywalker.

Sorry to barge in with a trivial and most definitely tangential comment, but... Tal, I like seeing your old avatar back again. It's like seeing a new edition of Star Wars sans added lame stuff. i.e. perfect how it is.

Badge of honour?! More like a veil of darkness. Careful my friend, the CPod Hall of Shame lies in wait for the unwary smartass! (J/k and you know it!!)

well I've heard asbo's are seen by some as a badge of honour, so are you labelling me casbo and saying?:

casbo ni potent

casbonipotent, maybe. :)

zaogao, I was so hoping to give the impression I'm omnipotent

That is not the comment I was referring to old sport! I posted before that praising your pictures and mourning the lack of 美女 drummers and trumpet players! But my words must have been too racy for the CPod censors!