Rain in Kunming

Today it was like a Tearing Texas Tear-Down that only lasted about 30 minutes or so but this is video John shot a few days ago. It's really great if you want to take a nap because it's just rain and rain. Since my computer crashed I guess I'll just have to steal content from other people in Kunming for now.

I'm In The British Army during WWII on Chinese TV

Sorry the pictures aren't so great but it was a night shoot. It was a huge production with hundreds of people, lights, smoke, and actors with bad accents. We were just extras but the English lines were amazingly hilarious especially since they were delivered by our Captain who was a French guy who said he was from Chili. They are now looking for 'white skinned foreigners' again, this time to play British Doctors but they can't use the same people who played the soldiers. I suppose it makes sense but the town is pretty empty of foreigners of all skin shades now so I'm having trouble tracking down some bored folks for the casting director.






This is not a soldier shot but it's the day after. I cut my hair and some of you were asking so here you go. I was planning on getting it cut but I did do it shorter for the TV show even though I wore a hat the whole time. Either way it's the shortest it's been since 2001.

Worshiping My Body

My Before and After Full Body Shot

I was watching myself in the mirror yesterday as I slowly lifted a bucket of water up and down in a determined manner and I thought how stupid exercise is and in modern culture the only reason to do it is just for the love of our problematic bodies. I came to be in this situation because I thought I should be eating as much as possible and also gaining as much weight as possible due to the fact that I've been steadily losing weight for the last hmmm give or take 6 months or so.

It all started while filming in early December in the neighboring derelict province where I mainly ate salted greens with pig fat and of course as much rice as I could eat. Towards the end of the shoot the makeup girl said she didn't need to apply as much make up to make me look older since I was looking much older on my own account. That was reassuring.

The pounds really started to melt off when I went to do earthquake relief last year in the fancy high class neighboring province to my north, Sichuan. I got an interesting disease from an apple or something. It's called Giardia.

What is giardiasis?
Giardiasis (say "jee-ar-DYE-uh-sus") is an infection of the intestines caused by the parasite Giardia lamblia.
The illness, also called giardia, is most often a problem in undeveloped countries where tap water is not safe.
How can you become infected with giardia?
You may become infected with giardia if you eat food or drink water that is tainted with human or animal waste. In the United States and Canada, you can get giardia by drinking untreated water from wells, streams, rivers, and lakes. This is true even in mountain lakes and streams where the water may seem very pure. More from WebMD

I went to Hong Kong the day after I got back and that's when it hit me. Not a good time since there is so much good stuff to eat in Hong Kong. I took all sorts of drugs and it didn't stop. When I got back I got all sorts of advice and I took this super strong antibiotic called Cipro (which is super cheap in China) that only stopped the symptoms and they came back with a vengeance until I took another drug that made me have a metal taste in my mouth and its been a week of a stomach free life so it must be working.

The strange this is I thought I was miraculously gaining muscle mass but upon further inspection I realized that I was just losing the tiny amount of fat that I actually had which was accenting my manly frame. I then stepped on the scale and it appeared I had lost at least 10 pounds in the last month and more than that in the last few months or so. That was a little shocking but I recommend this new diet. Giardia! Lose weight quick and keep eating the foods you enjoy! That's trademarked by the way.

So I've gone into full speed fattening up mode. I've hired my eating coach John and he's told me to eat two breakfasts a day and as much beer as possible. These two things haven't gone so well since I thought he said two beers for breakfast and as much breakfasts as possible. Let's just say that starting off the morning with 'a kick' is more like a kick in the knees and somebody had a case of the wobbles. I keep telling myself, 'Don't take John literally', yet I continue to do so. It does make life interesting.

Actually, I have eaten a whole bag of popcorn along with all sorts of other stuff right before I went to bed. That was disgusting. So after I started eating as much as possible I've now decided to avoid any form of a pot belly and attempt to exercise. This being accomplished by lifting buckets of water which leads me back to pondering the exercise preponderance.

Our bodies were made for all sorts of work yet modern man has removed that as a necessity so now we must find new ways to fill that void. Most people fill that void by spending lots of money on a gym membership then going once a month or lifting buckets of water in front of the bathroom mirror.

Thomas got an 1800 on his SAT

He got two months of school off to study for it. One month (May) with me for 5 hours a week. I was mainly focusing on reading and writing for his essay. He wants to get over 2000 so we will work again in September before his 2nd chance in October. I told him the only way to improve was to read read read read. As you can tell I have not been reading much of late since my writing is effected greatly. REad, read, read.

Long Smoke Sleeper

John and I sat outside of McDonald's today and had to share a table with an old man who didn't talk much but slept and slept then we were joined by a guy who talked a lot. Anyway it was probably at least 10 mins before he woke up. The video quality wasn't great but seemed to get worse once I put it on youtube. Either way this guy is interesting.

More Earthquake Picts

Some More Picts From The Trip