Am in Hong Kong, y'all.

I saw a funny ad. It goes like this: "If you are sneezing, it is for three reasons. One, you have a cold. Two, you have allergies. Three, your coworkers are talking about you behind your back. For the first two, there's (Trademarked Overthecounter Medication). For the third, you're on your own." <--- Jeremy will get this. Nobody else who reads my blog will.

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Something you'll notice about Victoria Park is that there are a lot of people practicing martial arts. Mostly it's flocks of old women doing tai chi to some brassy Chinese oldies blasting from a radio, or little kids from some kung fu school swinging quarterstaffs. Which is not to say that all Chinese people know martial arts, but a larger proportion of them do than Americans, and they tend to congregate in public places. I think Victoria Park is the only park in the world where a large portion of the populace has swords.

("But I wanna play on the swings!"

"Practice your kata! Then you swing!"

"Sifu!"

.. "Hold your head up! Head up! Arms out! Straighter! Very good! - Don't stab the joggers!")

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Went to Central today, the Manhattan of Hong Kong's New York. Were going to look at an art exhibit but it was over, so we walked around looking at the Bank of China Tower and the International Finance Center, which are basically the trademark shining glass giants of Hong Kong's skyline. They command a legion of window-washers, which provide a positive externality; shiny buildings mean moralized, productive workers. Inside, they're black marble and grey basalt, monochromatic basilicas, gleaming and white, catwalks with black fountains, ovals and arcs and slanted transparence. It's a sign of high GDP. This is good. The economy is wonderful. The most beautiful buildings of the 15th century were churches, glory be to God. The most beautiful buildings of the 21st century are banks. Glory be to Mammon.

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-Have had some trouble adjusting to the shotgun seat of the car being on the left.

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My grandpa has been in the hospital respiratory ward under observation, ever since x-rays of his lungs showed some scarring. Apparently it's from an old lung infection, so it seems like a false alarm. There's also something wrong with his lymph nodes which causes water build up in his cells, I'm not really sure, but the only way to find what that is is to draw bone marrow from his spinal cord, which they don't want to do. He also has low hemoglobin and is getting a blood transfusion so he'll be staying there a few days. Strangely enough, though I know I'm supposed to care, I don't really all that much. I don't feel very much of anything. I've been visiting him every day and standing around stiffly not having anything to say (I never have even when he's not sick) until he says that I shouldn't trouble myself and can leave. My mom says my silent visits make him happy anyway, just having someone there, but they don't make me feel any less useless.