http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog A. J. Luxton's Blog O' Magic Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:37:06 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I think my next tattoo will say waiguoren, Mandarin Chinese for foreigner (literally outside-country-person.) This visit to my family in California has been instructive.  My mother is upset with my father, almost constantly, and has been talking to me about it.  It's disconcerting on one level, though positive on another: she's ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=101 Yesterday I saw a bee walking along the ground with its wings out, and I wondered if I was seeing a victim of Colony Collapse Disorder. A few years ago I'd lost my conviction that we were having an apocalypse. These days it seems that much more immediate. ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=100 More news at the fiction blog! http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=99 Pingjiang Lu, Suzhou: You can almost forget the modern world here, for a few moments, until the next galoot on an electric scooter reminds you by nearly running you over. But even then, there's something unique amid the canals and pathways and worn stone steps. Perhaps it's that ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=98 I'm going home in eight days. All of these things I wanted to get around to are suddenly urgent. I just said farewells to my smaller class, the one that's half shy geniuses and half boisterous slackers. They were a disciplinary nightmare but I'm still going to miss them anyway. ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=97 Well, that's the first time I've tried to access a Chinese government agency webpage (SEPA, to check the air quality as I'm headed to Beijing this weekend) and found it either down, or blocked. I'll be charitable and accept the possibility of the former, but something in me doubts it.  If ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=95 Dear Anonymous Woman at Paul Hastings Law Firm, You're incredible.  You're a hero. You took what would be four years of my cost of living (I know, I know, it's not the same amount of money for you, but still) -- three years of my cost of living with more vacations and ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=93 I remember being a kid and spewing out masses of rudimentary fan-creative kid brain stuff. When I encountered a story, I made other stories based on it, usually transitory ones played out with whatever toys I could get my hands on. Part of the transition between a blithely unpopular and ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=92 I just signed a contract with a totally kickass literary agent at a reputable agency! (It was late at night when I asked, so I don't remember whether it's OK to post her name. For now, I will play it safe.) Coy smart-aleck framing tricks fail me. This is purely ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=91 I've come to a fork in the blog. Part of the difficulty I've always had with this particular vehicle for my voice is that it's attached to my real name; which is attached to my resume, my past, and my future, and to the stories I write, and the places they ... http://www.ajluxton.com/bloog/?p=90