Still hanging out in Winnipeg. I’ve found things to do and, honestly, I don’t really want to deal with the stresses of travel. Furthermore, if I don’t make it to the States on this trip I can always go another time, right?
I’ve continued to tweet out some #TravellersTip ideas, and yes, now I think I should’ve added an “s” at the end, but I didn’t think I’d keep going on. In any event, I’ll try to post their entirety here once I’m back in Beijing. Maybe it’s time to move on to another topic?
I have been studying finance quite a bit recently. Since this latest job has put a few more dollars into my account, I’ve been able to look at some other investing and savings options, not least bonds and GICs. Further along that, I’ve been helping my Mom figure out what the financial advisors are telling her to do with her money. So it’s been a learning process.
And also being in Canada for the last two weeks has exposed me to the bludgeoning that is social media and I can’t help but think what a toxic mess much of social media has become. I’ve had to start listening to the No Agenda podcast which offers at least a bit of a counterweight to the constant stream of vitriol that’s being spewed forth from the social media masses. It’s not even a conversation any more, it’s just lobbing one pot shot at another. Notably, it’s been the Judge Kavanaugh trial or whatever that’s been going on down in the States. They dragged his entire reputation into the spotlight, focused on his high school years, and yet, even when the FBI couldn’t find anything on him, the other side still won’t believe him. So who’s to believe who and what will happen as a result of all of this?
It’s depressing, to say the least. I wonder if there may be a new movement to go “au natural” in terms of media consumption, that is to say, people will simply unplug from social media, let the bots and trolls rule the thing, and only go there when they want to read something akin to the National Enquirer.
Anyway, I’ve also been packing a few things up that I’ll take back to China with me, notably my drone but also some coffee, toothpaste (!!) and a bunch of books that aren’t always easy to find over there. It is my hope to continue where I left off on my reading goals and Chinese studies once I start work again.
I’ve also noticed it’s become much easier to keep reading the news with some sort of idea that I’ll develop a great understanding of something. But of what I don’t really know. The reason I say that is because simply trying to write this blog post I clicked through a few articles with an idea that they would somehow “help” the article. Now, I’m not saying my site is the greatest and only source you need, but there seems to be a lot of noise out there and it’s getting more difficult to ignore. (Go figure, I see that the Wall Street Journal just published an article about the “Always on Work Culture”.)
Meh, maybe I should focus more on planning a trip than reading social media anyway, right?