Yes, I can work legally in the summer, and beyond!!! Got those papers sorted out. Sigh…the dilemma of fobs. Do I pursue Science, Technology, Engineering or Math categories so I can fit in the new STEM program that makes it easier to get jobs in that field? Of course not. Well, at least not now, since I’m way past the opportunity to select a new major. Besides, my college reunion is coming up…oops…But the main reason is, I’ve never been a person who can force herself to study a subject that is totally opposite to my nature. I did try to study science, but my college plus university has a notorious reputation for having an impossibly hard biology class (and also organic chemistry) — a current NYU med student told me. I can’t blame them, there are many aspiring pre-meds in my day, and to be honest, I was not really up to par. I’ll just continue talking frankly with friends about their personal medical history and pretend to diagnose them. I’m pretty good. However, for a fob from Hong Kong, I’m atypically blissfully ignorant about Chinese medicine.

Anyway, the STEM program just shows how eager the government wants to retain the foreign talent. Remember, *you* kinda nudged them all home when the first internet bubble burst? I wonder why there’s not more rants online about it. Well, there is always a reason for things in life, being sent back home voluntarily (or involuntarily) is not necessarily bad. I’m sure most of those people who went home 2000 set up their own careers and websites that will trump even Google one day. For now, cheer up, fellow fobs! the STEM program is here to save you!

It’s interesting how some people are hip to the fact there is a talent drain: http://www.naceweb.org/promail/2007/presmessage102207.htm

(WordPress is not allowing me to add a link…strange)

However, the focus is still on STEM students. International experience also be a valuable asset to ANY company? Holler up there in the widget.

How outdated is this quiz? “If you’re from New York City, …people who probably be able to tell if they actually heard you speak.” Have you not read the “New York Accent: Still talking on the tawk” on amNewYork? Well, it was blogged by the New York Times, if AM’s too mass market for you. Anyway, I had fun doing this quiz, since you can’t help talking to yourself and trying other accents with these things.

The results show that I’m pretty even across the board. I’ve been observed to have a number of accents, most popularly: Canadian, followed by British, New York, Cantonese, and strangely, a “Bronx” accent. Given the last one was volunteered by an international student from Korea, I can’t put much weight on it.

In New York, a self-quiz titled “Do you have an accent?” is different from “What accent do you have?”. The former means, “Are you a fob?” and the latter means, “Which hick-town/suburb/planet would you be labeled with”?

My dad was told once that he didn’t have an accent (why, thank you!) while we were vacationing on the West Coast, and another time that he sounded like he was from the Midwest. I know, Midwesterners, you don’t THINK you have an accent.

Maybe I should set up a poll for those to know me, to see what kind of accent I actually have.

Anyway, I know have problems with words of the following categories; I think I’ll make a page of these when I can think of more than two, because there really are more:

Pronounced in the British manner: leisure (leh-shure), ate (et [stopped doing that after first semester in college])

Pronounced erroneously in the Hong Kong manner: estate (ESS-tate), appetizers (app-ER-TIE-zers)

Words I have read and used in writing but never heard in real life: prescient, maniacal

British words used: rubbish bin (as in trash can), rubber (eraser), lift (elevator), flat (apartment)

Endless fun. Have a go yourself and share your results.

Next week: Naturalization Quiz!

Circuit City, Union Square — stuffy, airless. When I asked the salesperson where the adapters from 6-pin plugs to USBs were, he didn’t understand. Then I explained I had a dinosaur of a computer (actually my roommate’s office) and it didn’t have a USB outlet, so I wanted an adapter, he said there was nothing I could do. What!? And you work where? There was a decent keyboard at a discount plus mail-in rebate, but I wanted no part of his erroneous, uninformed, airless world. Yes, it is THAT extreme.

COMPUSA — closed for business. With my excellent carrier pigeon senses, I went to the store without consulting HopStop and found that it folded.

Depressing computer “warehouse” across the street — no keyboards, and adapters for $40. No way.

DataVision — the entrance bombards you with flat screen tvs on the left and laptops on the right. Positively stifling with the heat turned on high in the 70-degree weather. A salesperson approached me excitedly, and after he found out what I was looking for, he said, “Check the back of the store, there might be some.” How could you not take me to the said back of the store and find out whether you have keyboards or not? It took some time to locate the dusty shelf with overpriced keyboards. Nobody cared even though I opened every box (because there were no displays) and sneezed loudly as I went. So that’s how it is? If I’m not buying a tv or laptop, you don’t care?

Circuit City — midtown. I resigned myself to another CC store to get the first keyboard I saw. The bottom level with the gaming stations and tvs was packed with tourists. The upstairs section with computer shelves was deserted. All the employees were SITTING in the computer display counters, playing Rihanna loudly and chatting among themselves. I locate the keyboard I saw earlier in the Union Square store, but since it had no discount or rebate, I approached one of them. She thankfully turned down the Rihanna and told me to check at the cashier, and returned to their staff party. The stoner at the cashier told me to use the self-service price check machine 20 steps away from the scanner at his elbow. The self-service thing did not work. So I took it downstairs where I met the first nice salesperson of the day, who helped me scan the price. Though this store did not offer the rebate, her demeanor was so much nicer and helpful that I trekked back upstairs to get a MicroHoo keyboard that looked more comfortable at the same non-rebatable price. I even tried to swat the mosquito that was floating around her cash station as a show of appreciation.

Why are salespeople in New York computer stores so poorly trained, unmotivated and inefficient? Is this a result of internet shopping cannibalization? Probably. Are they going the way of mattress salespeople in Sleepy’s ? — former used car salespeople who don’t perk up unless you go for the most expensive mattress? Why can’t I have their job, give out erroneous computer advice, have a party and free wifi everyday and get paid for it?

I remember when the Starbucks population in Hong Kong reached 30, it freaked me out. Barnes & Noble never caught on, maybe it just wasn’t a Far East outpost for them, but Starbucks in HK was just so yuppy, and remains that way. No, there are no half-dozing homeless people in them. The baristas are Ivy-League- or UBC-educated and speak with the most obnoxious North American accents possible. It’s probably imperative that they do not speak any Cantonese at all, to keep the local riff-raff out. Class-consciousness brought by the British will not die out so soon…probably not until 2046 (it’s the year when the 50-year guarantee of no change from 1997 will run out. “The year 2046 has its own significance for Hong Kong. It is 49 years after the handover of Hong Kong by the British on July 1, 1997. At the time of handover, the Mainland government promised fifty years of self-regulation for the former British colony. The year 2046, then, references the moment before Hong Kong’s special, self-regulated status ends.” “2046 (film),” Wikipedia.)

Anyway, back to this cafe. It’s not StarB, and has fro-yo. I haven’t tasted it yet. The caramel macchiato was great, but this decaf I’m having is awful. I am actually very happy about this development in this neighborhood, because now I can take myself out of the apartment and work on my laptop. It is part of my American education afterall — working in a communal living room makes life easier…it occupies part of my brain so it doesn’t get distracted by the laundry, the dust bunnies, the visa applications, lunch, afternoon naps, the tv, etc. I guess I just prefer cafes in US because it doesn’t have the sheen of pretentiousness it has in Hong Kong. Oh, I take it back. I go to Pacific Coffee in Hong Kong instead. I just prefer to be pretentious somewhere else.

Honestly, I kind of like that I can be young and laptop equipped and sipping macchiatos with the others like me in this neighborhood. I’ve never seen these people before. I’ve only seen young families, housewives, people who work in Manhattan restaurants, middle-aged folk who evidently work in Midtown…but no poor artists, designers, writers, or hipsters. Well, I haven’t really taken a survey yet. I’ve just espied some of these types from the corner of my eye. Of course, for every 2 of them, I also see and HEAR 8 housewives yelling about how vegetables were marked up in Champion Food Market. I know, coz I shop at Champion too.

Along my route on the 7 train there’s a building covered with well-executed graffiti. This was a “sanctioned” graffiti house, but I haven’t found any information on it yet. And after I leafed through a book on different types of graffiti, and the forms more prevalent now, such as sticker graffiti and stencilling, I pay attention to the sticker graffiti in Grand Central Station, and on the street.

What is the motivation for creating graffiti? It is railing against the status quo? The authorities? Terrible transport situation? Or boredom? and one-upping each other in your group? I wikipedia-d this and it has a comprehensive discussion on it. I didn’t know some of the tags were used by gangs to signify their territory, their presence, or their intent to wipe out certain rivals…so…it was indeed a menace.

I try to put myself in the shoes of a (un-gang-related) graffiti artist. Imagine if you’re surrounded by all these buildings and walls and lampposts and railings and buses and trains — which are all nameless, impersonal surfaces — and you don’t feel you belong…you might want to find some way to personalized it, mark it.

On the other hand, I’ve always appreciated well-maintained, gleaming surfaces — I miss the MTR (HK’s subway) — and I do not feel the urge to be heard. But then, people get to me, or work gets to me, and I want to be seen or heard. These things get to me because I have some bottom-line requirements for quality, or aspirations to do better, and when people and work don’t match up or support my aspirations, I get annoyed. I want to produce things that stimulate the intellect and the senses, even get recognition. And what do graffiti artists want? Recognition from others…and the satisfaction of seeing your own art displayed. Well, there is vandalism and also bad graffiti or stupid graffiti too…The argument for and against graffiti has been going on for a long time, but this is just my two cents. My conflicted two cents.

Take Banksy. His graffiti challenges perceptions, taboos, pushes the boundaries of what’s acceptable behavior with unexpected humor. It is a way he protests injustice and make political statements. I got a book of his graffiti lately, and it’s awesome and enjoyable to read. Of course he’s already celebrated and has had several exhibitions, so he’s already blurred the line between vandalism and art. I find myself rooting for his work to stay on more than the 12 days it took to take it down. However, if it ever happens that one day his graffiti is no longer outlawed, does it achieve the same effect? Will he be celebrated like Basquiat and Haring? Or would they take him to court once he reveals his identity?

Anyway, New York City took a lot of pains and money to control graffiti and discourage future occurrences. Today it no longer sends menacing messages. I wonder though, if I were surrounded by a lot of graffiti day in day out, would I feel as safe as I do now? Would I be wearing a my awesome trucker hat that’s tagged with “Queens” on it?

This afternoon I was at H&M on 34th Street — why do I do these things to myself? — and had a moment of deja vu, except it really happened before, and it happened in the same place. A woman was holding the sleeve of a t-shirt and complained to her friend next to her, “This stuff is not worth it, it’s all made in China,” before hastily shoving the t-shirt back with the others, when at the same moment, they both spy me standing near by, so they try hard to casually look away. Maybe I was reading too much into it. And I also immediately wonder, should I be offended? Because they are totally correct! And also, so outdated.

The weird thing was, the exact same thing happened 3 weeks ago, in the same H&M, and the only difference was that it was at night (they close late on 34th) — oh, and it was probably in a different corner of the store and the women were looking at accessories. Both groups of women were African-American too, but I can’t say that their views are specific to their culture or race, because for all I know, the other people in H&M, mostly European and Asian tourists and out-of-towners of different shades, were all saying the same thing.

This is exactly the same attitude I have grown up with in Hong Kong. “Made in China” was synonymous with bad quality and/or bad taste. A few years ago, I read somewhere that this prevalent notion was a remnant of the 70s, when Hong Kong people were secretly encouraged by the colonial government to boycott mainland China-made goods and see anything China-related as second-class. Conspiracy theory, maybe. Most likely it’s because Hong Kong was becoming a manufacturing hub for toys and electronics, and wanted to eliminate competition. Anyway, quality control definitely was not a forte of China-made goods.

I’m not going to say that it’s all changed now, because we’ve all read the bad things about fake LV bags and poisonous toothpaste, all from China…I’m just going to stick to clothing. Well, I squirm at some of H&M’s prices too, because they really aren’t that finely made. The thing is, for the past few years, working in Hong Kong, I’ve greatly benefited from China-made clothing. I somehow stumbled upon a store that sold designer samples for a fraction of the price. I’m talking about European and American designers, ones that you see in New York Fashion Week. The samples were made in factories in China, and this store happened to be more reliable than others, that is, the samples look and feel like the real things (I’ve checked, strolling in designer stores acting all nonchalant and dismissing the snooty salespeople, before they notice my cheap threads). I’ve since discovered many more stores like that in Hong Kong. It’s confirmed from my secret sources that there are factories that make copies of the samples, or just sew the labels on their own creations and try to pass them off as designer. Anyway, even for the reliable stores, I always feel there’s a whiff of illegality about this, but then, since people are willing to pay for samples, it’s kinda legit, right? The problem is, I’ve developed a bad case of label lust. Why wouldn’t you buy designer clothes of that current season for $40-$100? It’s my terrible vice.

Back to my observation: so, even though you can say, ugh, designers are trying to cut costs with employing Chinese factories, these clothes are well-made. The meticulously designed pleats on a shirt, the poufy skirt in exactly right material, the well-cut pants…ah, heaven. My theory is that: since China is such a huge country, there are probably factories of various grades. These samples are probably made in Grade A factories — and believe me, some of the best seamstresses in the world work there. Then of course there’s Grades B, C, D, down to the ones that make phony handbags, fake vitamins and fish food. And what’s more, designers, stores and suppliers probably work with several factories at a time, or at a rotational basis. For example, I can spot in Bossini and G2000 (local answers to Gap) that this month’s summer clothes look much worse than last month’s , and then it improves in another month.

So, even if a bag or jacket or pen is “Made in China,” study with your naked eye whether the quality is to par. (Well, there are no empirical tests, until you actually wear it for a while.) Maybe the accessories in H&M are made in a Grade D joint, and the clothing is from a B. The other day I discovered a tiny “Made in China” label tucked away at the bottom of the inside pocket of my adorable new Crumpler bag. It’s ridiculous. Before people change their minds about “Made in China,” stores are still going to sneak in these labels this way (not to mention a pen I received from a publishing house that has a tiny transparent sticker that nonsensically displays one single word: “China.” It has nothing to do with the highly esteemed publishing house I got it from, so I’m not naming names. ) Alright, we have a right to be afraid, when you can potentially die from China-made toys and foods (see Hong Kong news about that…I’ll place a link later). For now, I guess we can only trust the reputation of the store that sells us these things (boo Mattel!). In an ideal world, we would know the quality of the goods by the factory it was made in: the labels should spell out “Made in Xinjiang Mei Factory, China,” and I’d say, “Hey, I know Xinjiang Mei, this is good stuff!” and not worry about a thing.