can i get an encore?... sans linkin park

so as midterms week looms near, thus signifying the semester's, well, mid-term, my life here in hangzhou has developed a cute little rhythm-damnit, i don't think i have ever spelled that word correctly in a first attempt. this is great, this is exciting, it means that i have finally settled down in china, something, that a few months ago seemed like another world away. this, however, also means, that in some ways, my everyday life has now developed a...hm, boring's not the right word..maybe regular? (no insult to regs a.k.a 'students of typical september matriculation'--definition provided by a mr. hank rosen)..sorry, has developed a regular routine. i wake up, sometimes early enough to swim, check my email, read the front page of nytimes.com and bbcnews.com, eat oatmeal, go to class/do work, putz around/play dopewars--i had to download it again, eat lunch, take a nap, ok, y'all get it. it's great, though, because now, the smallest things make me reaaaally happy. for instance, this weekend, i discovered npr's live concerts from 'all songs considered' podcast. it's incredible. they have over 60 live concerts, for free. seriously though, heaven sent.

in continuing with this new independent lifestyle, last friday night i ventured to the hangzhou grand theater to see a piano/violin duet. while waiting for the bus, a little old man asked whether i was going to the concert, and we hit it off from there. we rode the bus together, where he asked if the u.s. was going to split any time soon and how many different ethnic groups we had--somebody's got ibetay and aiwantay on their mind, no?. when the bus driver got lost, luckily he was there to set his course straight, and once inside the theater, he invited me to browse the theater's various performance photos with him. the concert hall was pretty sweet, followed by a great concert that ranged from carmen's fantasy on themes to a chinese traditional piece. the best part, however, was the encore. let's just say, the complicated encore procedure was not received well by the chinese audience. the first encore was preceeded by the duet exiting and returning the stage two times. at this time, about ten people awkwardly stood and then sat back down, slightly confused and embarassed. after that, however, about half the audience stood up to leave, and were completely baffled when the performers did the whole process, again. it was great. people were all over the place, not knowing what to do, but this time it was apparent that they were frustrated. yo, word up, when the hell is it actually going to end? stop fucking with us like we're experimental lab rats, damnit. so yeah, about half of them left. and i was in bed at 10:30 on a friday night.

whoa buddy...front row.. that's ballsy