what's the use of wond'rin'?

A lot of questions were asked this year and the answers have been bittersweet.

What's the Use of Won'drin'? -Amanda Palmer & Vermilion Lies- from Amanda Palmer on Vimeo.

Daily Trials for Olympic Candidacy

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about achievements, rewards, and vanity factors.  In WoW and on the Xbox, they have implemented a simple system that makes you chase seemingly arbitrary goals.  It's pretty much in line with the casual sense of accomplishments you associate with playing a game.  Not much different than a highscore, more categories have been included for your ego and viewing pleasure.  Cynically, it's a blatant time (and subsequently, money) sucker.  What's interesting to me is that it challenges you to find out what kind of gamer and person you are.  Are you neurotic and a hardcore completionist?  How dedicated are you?  Do you get into it as intensely as you get out of it?  Or do you take your time to chew and supposedly really appreciate all the flavors?

I believe that with the inclusion of a vanity system (items in exchange for achievements), even more people will be involved in this arbitrary chase for accomplishment.  And why shouldn't gamers be rewarded for their dedication?  Non-game impacting changes of course (the balancing required for game changing mechanics will destroy developers and alienate casual gamers.)

There might be an argument that the vanity takes away from the focus of core gameplay.  But the counter is that vanity will translate to longevity and longer exposure to the game.  Which in turn will translate to further appreciation of the game as a whole.  

This brings me to my other train of thought.  The human accomplishment.  Implementation of this system is as far fetched as the chip system for the human brain.  Much like in the Matrix, chips of info should be directly uploaded into the brain.  Language, skills, history.

Once our mapping of the brain has extended that far, we can undoubtedly track every statistic of the human experience.  What is the top running speed that you have ever reached?  Highest attitude ascended?  Longest time to go without sleep?

And this is where the reward system comes in.  Vanity rewards and status should be given out in real life. Of course this will create record chasers, but that's been going on forever.  This system simply allows us to be more aware and explore channels that were previously untracked and mostly ignored.  Who knows what kind of links and limits we can find once the human race is aware?

Aware of our abilities, possibilities, and put our creativity to use.  

Oh, and this stemmed from watching the citizens of Shanghai compete in daily olympic trials.  Crossing the sidewalk is like training for the 100m dash.  You can "walk" and make it to the middle island...but if you run, you can make it all the way across.  They have never heard of skyways and aerial bridges here.  Sumo wrestling must also be a big event in the next olympics.  Every subway rider is at least in line for the Jonokuchi (lowest ranking) division.

The squandering needs to stop.

Merry Merry Christmas

Wrath of the Workplace

If I closed my eyes today, I would feel like a very small fish being carried every which way by the unstoppable current.  The current that is the Shanghainese workforce.  Amazingly enough, the experience didn't feel invasive.  Besides rugby, I've never had to place my body willingly around so many other human beings.  Even concerts don't get this crowded.  But everyone was so civil about it.  If you crashd into someone, it was expected.  If you had to plow a clear path to exit, it was expected.  In any other circumstance, it might be considered rude.  But like in rugby, pretty much anything goes.

So I showed up at the regional office and it was a pretty stylish office.  I've started to notice that about hotel groups in Asia.  If you're a five star hotel, you really had to earn your stars.  The lobby has to feel grandiose and every detail NEEDS to feel like you threw obscene amounts of money away for it to happen.  Cheap labor probably has a lot to do with it.

*side story* I was at KFC and there were cleaning ladies everywhere.  Their "thank you" was so sincere when I placed my own trash and tray away.

Afterwards, I went to the actual property where I'm going to work.  The Four Points & Sheraton Pudong.  Here is where all my discoveries happened today.  First, they all spoke mandarin to me.  My ruse of a non-mandarin speaker was a bust from the get go.  So much for being sneaky.  However, ALL their documents are written in English!  And their emails are also all written in English!  Yay for not having to learn commie chinese.  

And then came the shocker.  They gave me a uniform!  Apparently, everyone is handed a suit, shirt, socks, tie, and shoe.  Does MIB come to mind?  It certainly did for me.  Oh, what's really cool is that they have a lady who's in charge of all the uniforms.  She took one look at me and gave me a suit and shirt that fit perfectly.  And then the locker room.  Man, I know it's common everywhere, but I still find it a little shocking when people strip naked in front of you.

After the transformation into Sheraton Grunt #15921690707, I was herded upstairs, where everyone was supposedly waiting for me.  Apparently, the entire reservations department knew of my arrival and were all eager to meet me.  Remember when you had to stand in front of the classroom and introduce yourself?  Yeah...

"I'm James and I just came from working at the W hotel in NY after graduating from Penn State University.  Hello everyone."

"Ooooh..."  "Ahhh...." *giggle*

The smiles on their face looked like they wanted to sell me to slavery.

Well, then I met my mentor and we had lunch.  It's very customary here to tell people where you live, your age, your weight, your marital status, your income, and your political stance.  Craziness.

The rest of the day went by pretty quickly, sprinkled with a couple of meetings and reports.  Chinese coworkers live up to their reputation of being amazingly gossipy.  They knew EVERYONE's background and they were openly discussing each other while they're in the same room. 

"That sales manager is half Japanese and half Taiwanese."

"Oh yeah, she speaks three languages fluently."

"No she doesn't!"

"Oh, you need to be more tolerant."

"But the way she uses certain words is just confusing!"

Meanwhile, said person is no more than 3 meters away.  Huh.

Anyway, after another wonderful ride home (read: sardines in a can has a one up on me), I'm going to crash at the super healthy hour of 11.

This week is going to be...challenging.

Eve before the Grind

Today marks the ninth day I've been in Shanghai.  I'm familiar enough with the surroundings now, but I don't think this city will always have something that'll stop me in my tracks and go: "Whatuh?!"

I'm going to keep taking pictures with my handy nokia (talk about brand loyalty) and hopefully remember why I took those pictures.

Exhibit A: 

I believe dad was pointing to some restaurant far far away and saying: "Son, we gotta go eat there."

But I do remember where the picture was taken, and it's scary.  Taking this picture caused me to experience a little vertigo.

And the great engine of China marches forward...

Oh yeah, the financial center where these pictures are taken from also looks like the Death Star!!!

Worthy note: the almond cookies sold at the 95th floor is worth buying. Very tasty.  Also expensive I guess?  My mental currency exchange is still fuzzy.  35rmb gets you two mcdonald meals...but also gets you 16 lamb kebabs.  OR you can get delicious almond cookies.  Yes, get that.

Well, tomorrow is my first day back at work!  This should be fun...I've been looking forward to their cattiness my whole life.

Bring it.