Chat with China

Since Michael bought a laptop, installed AIM and moved into a room with an internet connection, he and I have been instant messaging rather than relying on the blog, so I decided I'd paste today's exchange here for our readers. As always, the conversation is disjointed, since we both type continuously without waiting for a response.

(07:43:07) me: You there by any chance?
(08:46:31) Michael: i am now
(08:46:34) Michael: heya mom
(08:46:39) me: hey hi!
(08:46:49) me: I'm just reading some blogs :)
(08:46:52) Michael: hehe
(08:46:55) me: Hey I saw your post :)
(08:46:59) Michael: oh, good!
(08:47:02) me: Saint's over at Joe's
(08:47:07) Michael: ya he told me
(08:47:10) me: He was so funny yesterday
(08:47:15) Michael: i wrote him an email asking how the move-in was
(08:47:20) me: He growled at Andrew--did Joe tell you?
(08:47:24) Michael: haha no
(08:47:28) Michael: what happened?
(08:47:29) me: Joe and his mom did the moving all by themselves
(08:47:38) Michael: wow O_O
(08:47:41) me: well, I didn't recognize Andrew--he walked over to me to shake my hand
(08:47:54) me: and I think Saint just picked up on my uncertainty about who he was
(08:48:02) Michael: lol!
(08:48:13) me: but then Joe came out of the house, and Saint took off like a rocket and pulled me across the street
(08:48:22) me: He jumped up on Joe--he looooooves Joe
(08:48:26) Michael: haha
(08:48:31) Michael: good im glad he likes him
(08:48:35) me: Then Joe took him inside and he and Jackson both went insane
(08:48:43) Michael: i cant wait to see my dog again =P
(08:48:45) Michael: (and you)
(08:48:48) me: :)
(08:48:59) me: I'm looking forward to your homecoming!
(08:49:06) Michael: ya, less than 2 weeks now
(08:49:09) Michael: amazing huh
(08:49:17) me: I bought some extra-long jumper cables, but I still haven't started your car, sorry :-/
(08:49:23) Michael: lol
(08:49:25) me: I'm leaving today for Arizona
(08:49:32) me: But my flight isn't until this afternoon
(08:49:37) Michael: ah
(08:49:45) Michael: wow ur doing a ton of traveling these days
(08:49:46) me: I thought it was this morning--then I looked at the itinerary again
(08:49:55) me: yeah I know :-P
(08:50:23) me: The gas bill last month was only $33, because the a/c is electric and I wasn't here much.
(08:50:49) Michael: lol
(08:50:58) me: I took the feet of the sofa over to Joe's house yesterday--did he tell you?
(08:51:03) Michael: nah
(08:51:10) Michael: his email was short
(08:51:10) Michael: heh
(08:51:22) me: Oh, I forged your signature on another form--your student recertification for the gov't checks. It had to be in by Aug 15.
(08:51:32) Michael: werd
(08:51:37) me: :)
(08:51:39) Michael: heh
(08:52:02) Michael: my language partner took me to a liquor shop today
(08:52:06) Michael: i saw jameson and thought of you haha
(08:52:19) me: lol omg that's funny. Did you tell him that?
(08:52:25) Michael: (her) ya
(08:52:31) Michael: i said you really liked it
(08:52:32) me: Everytime I see a handle of VG I think of you, mom...
(08:52:39) Michael: but that you liked cheaper stuff more haha
(08:52:43) Michael: LOL
(08:52:44) me: lol
(08:53:06) Michael: what an awful thought .. getting homesick and forcing myself to drink virginia gentleman lol
(08:53:12) me: lol
(08:53:18) Michael: "yuck .. tastes just like home"
(08:53:37) me: hey did you change your class schedule for the fall?
(08:53:41) Michael: nah
(08:53:46) Michael: im gonna see how the chips fall when i get there
(08:53:53) Michael: i can course action into any religion class i want
(08:53:56) me: you're still in chinese 301? ooh, scary
(08:53:56) Michael: so im not too worried
(08:54:11) me: you mean you're gonna try to stay in the class?
(08:54:20) Michael: well, i really have no idea
(08:54:25) Michael: i mean i came out of 1st year and sucked
(08:54:28) Michael: and i dont suck anymore
(08:54:39) Michael: so .. maybe i am ready? or maybe ill be behind but still manage
(08:54:42) me: but you don't know enough vocabulary, do you?
(08:54:43) Michael: who knows
(08:54:50) Michael: yeah i guess we'll see
(08:55:06) Michael: its too bad id probably test into like .. second semester second year
(08:55:12) me: yeah
(08:55:27) Michael: but i cant let it rust
(08:55:37) me: oh I know you can't.
(08:57:39) Michael: did you see they pushed back the release date on the 4th george rr martin book?
(08:57:41) me: I'm gonna take the laptop to Arizona--did I tell you?
(08:57:43) Michael: i was angry
(08:57:48) me: no I didn't. bummer!
(08:57:55) me: what's the new date?
(08:57:58) Michael: ya not until late november
(08:58:03) Michael: it was end of july
(08:58:20) me: oh, well I thought it was november all along
(08:58:21) Michael: i still have about half of the 3rd book left tho
(08:58:25) me: I didn't know it had been July
(08:58:32) Michael: ya it was july 31st
(08:58:51) me: There are supposedly going to be 6 books all together in the series
(08:58:56) Michael: ugh
(08:58:59) Michael: noOO
(08:59:10) Michael: this means like 4 years later ill still be wondering whats gonna happen
(08:59:20) me: I was talking to Liz about it, and she said it has taken the author many years to get this far
(08:59:29) me: I don't know when the first book was published
(08:59:35) me: oh well
(08:59:36) Michael: i just want Daenerys' dragons to get huge and wreck everything
(08:59:45) me: oh I'm sure they will!
(08:59:49) me: They'll save the day.
(08:59:55) me: I want to find out who Jon's mother was
(08:59:57) Michael: ya she seems like a good character
(09:00:00) Michael: yeah that too
(09:00:14) me: maybe he's got dragon blood in him, who knows?
(09:00:20) Michael: oo O_O
(09:00:25) Michael: wow good thought
(09:00:32) Michael: thatd be awesome ^^
(09:00:34) me: I'm thinking he might not really have been Ned's--he might have been Ned's sister's.
(09:00:40) me: She was raped, remember?
(09:00:44) Michael: yeah
(09:00:45) Michael: thats true
(09:00:54) me: And he made that promise to her, but we don't know what it was
(09:01:05) Michael: yeah
(09:01:08) Michael: oo good thought
(09:01:09) Michael: hehe
(09:01:12) me: So maybe he promised to keep Jon's parentage a secret, to protect him
(09:01:23) Michael: because he had some Targaeryn blood in him
(09:01:23) me: hehe--as you can tell I've given it waaaay too much thought
(09:01:27) Michael: oo good thought!!!!!
(09:01:28) me: exactly!
(09:01:54) Michael: see, i think less about stuff like that, but rather fantasize about what itd look like if 3 dragons swallowed Joffrey whole
(09:01:55) Michael: heh
(09:02:02) me: lol!!
(09:02:12) Michael: hes gonna get his
(09:02:19) Michael: i hope i dont have to wait until book 6
(09:02:32) Michael: for him to get his ass kicked by a righteous Stark or a dragon heh
(09:02:38) me: well, heh, I won't say anything--just keep reading
(09:02:46) Michael: oo^^
(09:02:58) Michael: im trying to save some of it for the plane back
(09:03:05) me: good idea :)
(09:03:17) Michael: because its impossible to buy english books here
(09:03:31) Michael: the other places with english menus are bars
(09:03:33) Michael: lol
(09:03:37) me: have you tried ordering from Amazon? I wonder if they ship to Beijing
(09:03:45) Michael: bartenders speak better english than professors
(09:03:51) Michael: nah, theres only 2 weeks left
(09:03:52) me: lol!!
(09:04:08) Michael: last night it was a friend of mines birthday
(09:04:17) Michael: and i ordered a fake absinthe and red bull drink lol
(09:04:26) me: fake absinthe?
(09:04:27) Michael: it was just licorice extract
(09:04:30) Michael: and vodka
(09:04:30) Michael: haha
(09:04:37) me: yuch!
(09:04:44) Michael: no it tasted good!
(09:04:46) Michael: hehe
(09:05:00) me: you must be desperate
(09:05:00) Michael: bars are funny
(09:05:17) Michael: i just make incredibly literal translations of drink names
(09:05:19) me: hey can I paste this exchange into the blog?
(09:05:20) Michael: like a white russian
(09:05:27) Michael: i call "a white colored person from russia"
(09:05:34) me: lol
(09:05:43) Michael: hehe, sure
(09:05:47) Michael: change my screen name tho
(09:05:52) me: :-D
(09:05:57) Michael: hehe
(09:06:04) me: well it just shows up as Michael
(09:06:09) Michael: ah you changed it
(09:06:13) Michael: yeah so did i
(09:06:13) Michael: heh
(09:06:14) me: and my screenname shows up as "me"
(09:06:16) Michael: ok thats fine then
(09:06:17) Michael: yeah
(09:06:20) Michael: you show up as "mom"
(09:08:38) Michael: annnyways
(09:08:44) Michael: you made me want to go read lol
(09:08:52) me: okay :)
(09:08:55) Michael: so im gonna pour a glass of wine and start reading :)
(09:09:00) Michael: have a safe flight, love you mom
(09:09:10) me: I've got a ton of stuff to do today. love you too :)
(09:09:17) Michael logged out.

We've had some other interesting exchanges, too, about shopping, language, what have you. Maybe I'll get Mike's permission and paste some of those later.