Taiwan Number 1

The Something Awful Forums > Main > General Bullshit > Taiwan Number 1

caberham: Mar 18, 2009; by Smythe; Grimey Drawer

So every Tuesday night I go up to Shenzhen after working in Hong Kong. I have dinner with some folks and then spend an hour in the subway going to the edge of Shenzhen. I spend the night at a budget hotel and show up at work in the factories Wednesday morning.

I rather do this and hangout in Shenzhen instead of leaving Hong Kong super early. Sure you can find a metro line, paved roads, and new high rises, and somehow a bajillion ktv / massage houses but you still find china.jpg levels of silliness everyday and everywhere

# ? Mar 27, 2018 23:41

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# ? May 31, 2024 18:06

Mistle: Oct 11, 2005; Eckot's comic relief cousin from out of town; Grimey Drawer

In case everyone was having a rest through the news of the day:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43547044

Pooh-for-life getting a visit from the Chubby Un leading up to the SK/US meeting because the DPRK armored train was spotted in Beijing.

Also, news for the weekend: the Chinese Space Station will be re-entering atmosphere over the weekend

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-43551144

Whenever anyone mentions "China's rise" in science and power, I'm going to point to their new Space Station making unplanned Kessler across the upper atmosphere while the Skylab was in space for about the same amount of time, yet managed a controlled re-entry...

... 30 years ago.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 00:04

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

caberham posted:

So every Tuesday night I go up to Shenzhen after working in Hong Kong. I have dinner with some folks and then spend an hour in the subway going to the edge of Shenzhen. I spend the night at a budget hotel and show up at work in the factories Wednesday morning.

I rather do this and hangout in Shenzhen instead of leaving Hong Kong super early. Sure you can find a metro line, paved roads, and new high rises, and somehow a bajillion ktv / massage houses but you still find china.jpg levels of silliness everyday and everywhere

"No professional doors"

An oddly honest admission.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 05:35

hakimashou: Jul 15, 2002; Upset Trowel

The no paying&juping thing is pretty much the same all over China I got in trouble in a couple different cities for doing that.

hakimashou fucked around with this message at 06:03 on Mar 28, 2018

# ? Mar 28, 2018 05:47

Power Khan: Aug 20, 2011; by Fritz the Horse

From the relationships thread:

Dunning Krugerrand posted:

Long, but oh so worth it.

[UPDATE] My [26F] mom's [54F] plan to surprise my dad [55M] with a divorce is kind of cruel

EDIT: People are messaging me saying they can't see the original post; I guess it got deleted. I'm going to repost it here, I hope that isn't against the rules.

My parent's have been married for almost 30 years. Their marriage is not great. My dad's the kind of person who will come home from work and get angry that there isn't dinner on the table. Growing up, my dad never treated my mother like an equal. She was expected to do all the housework and look after the children, and dote on her husband at all times.

My parents have been empty nesting for a few years now. I have one younger sister, and we are both out of the house and have our own lives. Neither of us kids have particularly LIKED our dad. Like, we love him in the way that you love family, and we are grateful that he provided for us and helped us pay for college. But my dad is an rear end in a top hat who treats my mom poorly, and I never respected him for this.

I recently got brunch with my mother, and she dropped some pretty heavy news. She's planning on divorcing my father. I was honestly relieved and happy for her that she's finally doing this, but her plan to do so is rather troubling.

My parents are Chinese immigrants. My dad's best friend growing up (Daniel) and his family have been saving up for a trip to the US for years. They will be visiting my parents over Christmas. My dad, naturally, put the burden of this whole trip on my mother. He told her to organize their whole vacation, planning meals, reservations, activities, etc. Basically my mom is expected to be the complete tour guide and handle all the stress and organization of their visit (including picking them up from the airport) while my dad just gets to hang out with his childhood friend and not deal with anything. My mom doesn't even KNOW these people.

Apparently, however, this was the last straw for my mom. She is retaliating. She has only been pretending to organize this trip and faked a bunch of reservations and stuff to appease my dad. My dad thinks everything is organized and Daniel's family is being completely taken care of. Her plan, instead, is to serve him with divorce papers the day she is supposed to pick up Daniel's family from the airport. My dad will be out of town on business up until the day Daniel arrives, so she will be moved out by then. Daniel's family will be stranded at the airport, and my dad will come home to an empty house and no family.

While I support the divorce, I can't help but feel like this plan is a little too cruel. She can be as vindictive towards my father as she wants, but to drag another family into this seems unfair. My dad completely deserves this, but Daniel didn't do anything, and his family doesn't deserve to fly into the US and face this level of commotion.

Is it my place to say anything? I voiced to my mother my concerns and she basically was like "gently caress it and gently caress him." I barely talk to my father, but I don't know who I should reach out to or who I can talk some sense into.

My dad has never been violent towards my mom or anything, but I'm also nervous about what would happen if I told my father the truth before my mom has had a chance to gather herself and move out of the house without him being present. It just seems like an explosive argument waiting to happen.

tl;dr: My dads family friends are visiting. My mother was assigned the responsibility to handle their whole trip, including picking them up from the airport. Instead, my mom is going to do nothing and serve my dad divorce papers, leaving this visiting family stranded and cause a lot of commotion.

Now, on to the update...

Thank you to everyone who replied. It's been about a month since my post. Reading everyones responses made a few things to me very clear, that I especially had not thought of before:

It is highly unlikely that Daniel's family being "stranded" at a large international airport in the US would be that big of an issue. They speak good enough English, they have cell phones, they have money, they have my Dad's contact information.

My mom's decision to wait for him to get his news until he returns from his trip is a strategic one, so she can move out calmly and safely. While my father is not physically abusive, he certainly would not let my mom leave comfortably. She doesn't need that stress.

While some suggested that I step in and take over her duties, others claimed that it was risky for me to take over this role--my father may then just see me as replacement for his wife. This may set a bad precedent.

While I initially found her plan to be cruel, some of you rightly pointed out that surely this act of cruelty pales tremendously compared to the years of mistreatment she has dealt with.

So, Reddit, I opted to know nothing and do nothing. Here's what happened. Around the time Daniel's family was to be picked up, I get a phone call from my father. I decided (especially since this was the middle of a workday) to ignore it, because I frankly did not want to get wrapped up in the commotion. He called again and then sent me a series of texts, demanding to know the whereabouts of my mother.

Now, if you recall, my father had been on a business trip this entire week. His first chain of messages/calls was when had a layover in Denver. He was to be in Denver for 3 hours before he could get on his connection home. This means that, at this point, my dad is aware that Daniel's family has not been picked up (because Daniel obviously called my father) and that my mother was not answering her phone, but he did not know why. He also called my younger sister, who said she genuinely had no idea what was going on, but also lived out of state so was unable to help (I later find out that my sister was also briefed by my mother about what might happen so that she wouldn't get caught off guard, and she was just playing a fool to help my mother along). I eventually text my dad back saying I have no idea what is going on, but I'm very busy at work and won't be able to get back to him for a while.

My dad, unable to find immediate answers, told Daniel there must have been some miscommunication. He told them to get a cab from the airport to the house and just make themselves at home until my father could get to them. He gave Daniel the keycode to the house, told him to call back once Daniel and his family were safely at home.

Here's where things get a bit theatrical. My mother apparently attached the divorce papers to an easel, with a nice big DIVORCE label and note, and placed the easel right at the entrance hall to the house so it's the first thing you see once you open the door. So, as you guess it, who get's the divorce news first? Daniel and his family. Daniel then has to tell my father that my mother is divorcing him.

This is precisely what happens (Daniel recounts this in private to me later, which is how I know). But apparently my father went through a range of emotions, from disbelief, to a fumbling stutter, to anger, you name it. This, by the way, is happening while he is at the Denver airport, surrounded by his colleagues. He then has to, presumably, give some sort of explanation to his work friends and deal with an awkward and uncomfortable plane ride back home.

Long story short, my dad was incredibly embarrassed and flustered. He had no idea what to do or how to help himself or anyone. Daniel actually ended up coming to the rescue, because he is apparently quite the meticulous planner and had many suggestions for activities and sightseeing. Basically, Daniel took charge of his own vacation, while my dad fumbled around like a lost puppy, just tagging along their trip while being completely discombobulated.

I expected my dad to put on a farce for Daniel and his family and pretend things were fine, but he was unable to do that at all. I think he legitimately and honestly believed that my mom would never leave him, and was too much at a loss for words to even be angry.

Later on, I stepped in to help out Daniel's family and make sure they were doing okay, giving my dad some time to himself. Overall, while they weren't wined and dined in quite the way the probably expected, Daniel seemed like a good and understanding friend, and they managed to have a productive vacation. Daniel said towards the end, when the shock had worn off, my dad and he were able to have a little fun. It was probably a good thing that Daniel was around to help my dad through it.

As for my parents, in general, they are only communicating through their lawyers. My mom moved out to her own apartment. She hasn't told my father where she lives, and I am completely staying out of it. My mom seems like a brand new person to me. I am incredibly happy for her for being so brave and finally taking charge of her own life.

My dad is pathetic and completely helpless. He's been wrapping himself up in his work and eating lots of takeout. I've been careful with my involvement: I will be supportive enough so he doesn't feel completely alone, but I am adamant to not become some sort of caregiver for him. I refuse to answer questions about my mothers whereabouts, but I do express sympathy for her. It's important for me to make sure my father recognizes that honestly, I am on my mothers side, and that I never agreed with the way he treated her. That being said, I am also careful not to antagonize my parents towards each other. I want this breakup to be as clean as possible.

tl;dr I didn't intervene. Daniel had to get to the house on his own, where he found my parents divorce papers. Daniel had to tell my father that my mother was divorcing him. Daniel ended up taking charge of his own vacation, my dad tagged along, I helped a little. My mom is on her own and happier than ever, my dad is completely lost.

Power Khan fucked around with this message at 06:32 on Mar 28, 2018

# ? Mar 28, 2018 06:28

EasternBronze: Jul 19, 2011; I registered for the Selective Service! I'm also racist as fuck!

Don't forget to ignore me!

What kind of job did the mother have?

# ? Mar 28, 2018 12:37

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Owning the poo poo out of dudes, apparently.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 12:38

evil_bunnY: Apr 2, 2003

That woman is my spirit animal

# ? Mar 28, 2018 13:57

Rubellavator: Aug 16, 2007

You should post the one about the woman living in Japan whose in-laws got her pregnant against her own will. Both her and her husband were against having children, but the husband went along with it out of filial duty. They poked holes in condoms and gave her fake birth control.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 18:52

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Rubellavator posted:

You should post the one about the woman living in Japan whose in-laws got her pregnant against her own will. Both her and her husband were against having children, but the husband went along with it out of filial duty. They poked holes in condoms and gave her fake birth control.

Did she get a abortion? God I hope so.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:01

Ichabod Tane: Oct 30, 2005; A most notable
coward, an infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise breaker, the owner of no one good quality.

https://youtu.be/_Ojd0BdtMBY?t=4

Everyone in that story are dumb garbage people.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 21:02

Barudak: May 7, 2007

Baronjutter posted:

Did she get a abortion? God I hope so.

Shes uncomfortable with that and its Japan so abortion is extremely tightly controlled and adopting the child out is absolutely the worst thing you can do so shes basically been forced to be a single mom against her will.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 21:05

OWLS!: Sep 17, 2009; by LITERALLY AN ADMIN

http://www.bbc.com/news/health-43571120

Bajaj, No!

# ? Mar 28, 2018 21:57

LimburgLimbo: Feb 10, 2008

Barudak posted:

Shes uncomfortable with that and its Japan so abortion is extremely tightly controlled and adopting the child out is absolutely the worst thing you can do so shes basically been forced to be a single mom against her will.

Abortion isn't really that tightly controlled, and there are around 200,000 abortions a year in Japan. A surface reading of the laws may imply that it's tightly controlled, which is why English sources sometimes say it's tightly controlled, and why the dude in the relationship thread said that, but the laws basically say that it's allowable if a pregnancy "threatens the health of the mother due to physical or economic reasons". Babies are expensive and in a ton of cases you can make a good case that it's hard to economically support an unplanned child, thus there are plenty of clinics that will give an abortion, and it's really de facto legal seeing as the government isn't going out of its way to bring down abortion clinics or take individuals to court insofar as I'm aware.

Really the laws are more used as an additional charge if someone performs an abortion without going to a doctor or secretly makes their partner drink illegally acquired abortion drugs or the like.

There is some difficulty in that the only approved method is surgical, you can only do it within the first 22 weeks, and it costs around USD 2k+ , but better than a baby you don't want.

Edit: but if you search for the update you can see that that poster is divorcing her husband and going to have her sister and husband in the US raise the child for a while in the US until she can take care of it, or maybe have them adopt it. Sounds like it could work out.

LimburgLimbo fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Mar 28, 2018

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:00

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

I don't understand why you'd need to legally divorce a dead man though. Him and his family were killed right? You poke holes in my condom, I poke holes in your chest?

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:15

dubzee: Oct 23, 2008

Li'l Kim needs a better tailor:

You'd think he'd change out of his PJs for his big adventure.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:27

Coolguye: Jul 6, 2011; Required by his programming!

holy gently caress i forgot how fat he was

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:43

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

How come Xi always does that slight head to the side grimace thing? It's not like a smile, it's more like "oh bother the sun's in my eyes, why is the camera so bright" grimace.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:49

Barudak: May 7, 2007

Baronjutter posted:

How come Xi always does that slight head to the side grimace thing? It's not like a smile, it's more like "oh bother the sun's in my eyes, why is the camera so bright" grimace.

Because he is a tiny yellow bear masquerading as a man

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:51

LimburgLimbo: Feb 10, 2008

dubzee posted:

Li'l Kim needs a better tailor:

You'd think he'd change out of his PJs for his big adventure.

The pants hem is definitely to hide his platform shoes. What do you want to bet he's shorter than his wife when she's in heels otherwise haha

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:58

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

One of the many, many things I miss Obama for is how tall he was compared to despot du jours

I still remember when he LBJ'd Putin but I can't find the pic unfortunately

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:08

dubzee: Oct 23, 2008

Coolguye posted:

holy gently caress i forgot how fat he was

edit: just noticed the 2030 in the background. I guess 2020 is officially out lol

dubzee fucked around with this message at 23:16 on Mar 28, 2018

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:11

LimburgLimbo: Feb 10, 2008

Fojar38 posted:

One of the many, many things I miss Obama for is how tall he was compared to despot du jours

I still remember when he LBJ'd Putin but I can't find the pic unfortunately

This one?

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:13

LimburgLimbo: Feb 10, 2008

Goddamn looking at that photo and comparing it to Trump really made me legitimately sad for the western world for a few moments.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:15

DELETE CASCADE: Oct 25, 2017; i haven't washed my penis since i jerked it to a phtotograph of george w. bush in 2003

kju's wife is hot :eyepop:

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:17

Coolguye: Jul 6, 2011; Required by his programming!

DELETE CASCADE posted:

kju's wife is hot

that part really isn't surprising considering he literally decides who lives, who dies in painful neglect, and who is killed in agony on a daily basis

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:29

Schurik: Sep 13, 2008

Fojar38 posted:

he LBJ'd Putin

European here, what's that a reference to?

e: as in, what did Johnson do?

Schurik fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Mar 28, 2018

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:30

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

I think he was the one who hangs his dick out in the office to intimidate people

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:31

LimburgLimbo: Feb 10, 2008

Schurik posted:

European here, what's that a reference to?

e: as in, what did Johnson do?

Lyndon B Johnson would get in peoples faces to intimidate them a lot. Also corner people and show them his dick and poo poo.

https://imgur.com/a/66vIJ#hyYP4zt
Edit: There are no dicks in this album, just Johnsons

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:34

Schurik: Sep 13, 2008

lmao that first one is amazingly uncomfortable

# ? Mar 28, 2018 23:36

Porfiriato: Jan 4, 2016

Fojar38 posted:

One of the many, many things I miss Obama for is how tall he was compared to despot du jours

I still remember when he LBJ'd Putin but I can't find the pic unfortunately

Putin is like 5'6", basically a manlet by world leader standards (presidents/prime ministers tend to be on the tall side - I remember someone looked at the height of the candidates in U.S. Presidential elections and discovered that the taller candidate almost always won, including in 2016...)

I don't know why everyone is heaping scorn on Kim's tailor, he/she is doing an amazing job of concealing the fact that Kim is 8 months pregnant.

Got a little dusty in ~~Mordor~~ Beijing yesterday.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 00:55

oohhboy: Jun 8, 2013; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Known Lecher posted:

Got a little dusty in ~~Mordor~~ Beijing yesterday.

Crazy Bad.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 01:03

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Beyond Index is a great term. Unfortunately when it's a sandstorm it's not fun like real pollution.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 01:59

BexGu: Jan 9, 2004; This fucking day....

So Amazon is going to spend a billion dollars on this?

https://twitter.com/paulmidler/status/979108926892343296

# ? Mar 29, 2018 02:01

angel opportunity: Sep 7, 2004; Total Eclipse of the Heart

Thee Body Problem had its faults, but the part that takes place during the cultural revolution portrays it negatively, as you can see in that excerpt.

It's actually pretty solid and better than a lot of sci-fi. Book 1 and 2 are great, but Book 3 kind of sucks

# ? Mar 29, 2018 02:23

Fojar38: Sep 2, 2011; Sorry I meant to say I hope that the police use maximum force and kill or maim a bunch of innocent people, thus paving a way for a proletarian uprising and socialist utopia

also here's a stupid take
---------------------------->

the first three paragraphs of that excerpt are excellent examples of things that sound smart and insightful unless you go back and dedicate more than a millisecond of thought to them

so based on said excerpt the book is in fact insanely chinese

# ? Mar 29, 2018 02:45

WarpedNaba: Feb 8, 2012; Being social makes me swell!

"The most reactionary of all scientific theories"

What, that power and energy should be evenly distributed over time?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 06:35

champagne posting: Apr 5, 2006; YOU ARE A BRAIN
IN A BUNKER

WarpedNaba posted:

"The most reactionary of all scientific theories"

What, that power and energy should be evenly distributed over time?

The five Olds:

Old Customs, Old Culture, Old Physics, Old Habits, and Old Ideas

# ? Mar 29, 2018 06:44

Heer98: Apr 10, 2009

The author is mocking the kind of stuff he heard during the cultural revolution

My friend keeps ragging on me to read three body problem, but the first half of the first book is sooooo slow. Is it worth slogging through?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 07:12

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# ? May 31, 2024 18:06

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

This is literally the first time I've heard a bad word about the first two books. Reactions to the third are quite mixed.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 12:45

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