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Well I know that I regularly post that I'm about to start a long absence, then I immediately violate that prediction, but these Internet cafes are beginning to bore me a bit.

Chinese tend to stare a lot, they just don't even begin to have our ideas that it's "rude" to stare. With them it's the exact opposite, when something (or someone) unusual is near by, you stare the living hell out it!!!, now's your chance, stare, stare, quick, don't let the moment pass by!

I'm actually well used to it, and it largely doesn't bother me, plus that habit is much weaker down here in the South. The people down here are just really happy with who they are, and the living is easy, it's hot and sunny almost every day, there are quite large mountains near by (in Taiwan that's really just very steep hills, but they are surprisingly high for Taiwan), they look beautiful everyday, and it's just "the big easy" down here.

Still, when I post I have multiple windows open, and I sit forward and focus intently on what I'm doing, usually jamming out to my favorite rockin 80's tunes at the same time. I adopt that posture for hours, and people begin to notice.

But it's not just Chinese, often in Thailand people (Thais and Westerners) would shoot me jealous looks, or intentionally bump my chair as they walk past. It's funny, it's like they don't get to have such intently interesting times, so they want to interrupt mine. I really need privacy to surf in the manner which I enjoy doing.

It's so childish. And many people, whether they are "good" or "bad" people, still show this shocked attraction to trying to break my attention, or otherwise "participate" in what I'm doing!! Just yesterday one kid touched my chair in the cafe, which broke my concentration so I glanced briefly at him, then the rewarding shock of it took over and he touched my chair 4,5,6 more times so I had to sit like a statue and give him no feedback. And finally he really bumped the chair hard and kind of yelled, but I sat so still, so he, not getting any more stimulus, wandered off.

These behaviors used to ruin my life, because I thought there was some kind of intelligence behind it all and was always trying to figure out what it was. You can really exhaust yourself doing that! But when I decided to leave my corporate incarnation, I then had the "cycles" to spend time researching behavioral psychology (that's one reason I like teaching, the behavioral observations are very interesting).

So then I learned how linear it all is and there's no real intelligence behind any of it. More like they just did one thing that they didn't know would be there, it caused a curious sensation, so they uncontrollably repeat the action again and again just "tasting" it, over and over, not knowing where it came from, what is causing it, or where it is going.

So much of human behavior operates that way, in fact, it seems like 90% of human behavior is completely involuntary! Amazing, isn't it?

So now I've reached that point at the cafes, they've "made" me. The people who work here now think they have a role to play in what I'm doing. They comment on how many hours I've been here, they remember the foods I ordered and try to prompt me to buy more, like they're in "the know", and they try to stare at the screen when I'm typing, or sometimes I'm sitting in an odd, but comfortable pose, like with my legs twisted around and my chin resting in my palm at an odd angle, and they make a big deal out of staring at me until I sit in a more normal position. It's most childish and annoying, but if I surf in here I go through many postures or facial expressions as I think and communicate, and it's a really interesting show for the people around me.

If I react to any of it the behavior is then quadrupled as they attempt to force out the reaction they believe they just uncovered. Most annoying.

So while I said I'd buy a computer in June, and that seemed a long time off, in fact, it's just over two short weeks until payday and a new laptop.

So I may (prediction of absence here) I may not post for a couple weeks (ha ha). I have been planning on spending long days reading Plato, and now that I see I am close to buying my computer I know I'll always have it on, so now I'm cherishing the next two weeks for Plato reading, so I'll probably not stop by for a while.

Plus all the bannings and pulled threads are getting hard to keep up with around here. One famous, long time poster who was banned last year was just reinstated this week, then last night was banned again!!! I think I will read Plato the next two weeks and wind down my FR posting time for the foreseeable future.

Maybe someone will start a poetry blog somewhere on the Internet where we might have a little home of our own one day (wink, wink).

Anyway, I can't deal with the nosy cafe folks, so I'm going to try to not surf again until I have my own laptop in two or four weeks, hello Plato, here I come!!!!

Cheers all,

see you later,

starbase