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Meet the people in the chat today
Vance | Maggi | John | Ying Lan | Michael |
UAE | Germany | Puerto Rico | Taiwan | Australia |
The chat this evening took place in Hear Me. Someone dropped by Homestead and said 'hi' but left before I had a chance to respond.
We talked on the usual wide range of topics. These included: Ying Lan's terrible day, Maggie's desire to go to Tibet and the relationship of China to Tibet, relations between Japan and Taiwain, what we did New Year's Eve, and the Milky Way. Just before Ying left for the evening, she asked us about the lyrics to the old song, 'Let's call the whole thing off.' This got us on a subject that voice chat is ideally suited for, since the song is about American and British pronunciation. Not only that, but we all had to sing the song. We were having so much fun that by the end of the chat, Michael and I had decided to attempt a virtual guitar jam using one of our hands-free voice chat clients next week, and Ying Lan can sing (turns out she has a great voice). Think we'll do it? Stop by next week and find out!
Maggi has joined
Status: Connected
Vance has joined
Maggi: Hi...:-)
Vance: Hi there. I think I'll avoid voice for a while
Maggi: have you been to Tbet?
Vance: No, never made it there.
Vance: You?
Maggi: Maggie wants to go there.
Vance: neat. Why doesnt' she write the list about it? The list has been quiet lately.
Ying has joined
Maggi: she is in the middle of exams
Vance: Hi YL. Why does Maggie want to go to Tibet?
Ying: Tibet?
Maggi: it is a special place she said
Ying: I was in a terrible day..
Vance: Hi YL. Maggi just told me that Maggie said she wanted to go to Tibet.
Vance: Tell us about your day YL
Vance: Do you mind if we text chat?
Ying: I got up early... and I thought I had to go to repair my shoes.
Maggi: I didn't mention I had read about the Chinese gov't throwing monks out of the holiest shrine.
Vance: one subject at a time. We're talking about YL's day.
Maggi: on a Sunday?
Vance: At 8:30 you parked your car at the corner <Ying Lan is talking. Vance is writing down what she says. - gvs>
Vance: You were waiting for the shoe store to open, walked around the market
Vance: Gave the shoes to the man to be repaired
Vance: There were so many interesting things in the market
Vance: But when she returned to her car it had disappeared!
Vance: She had been illegally parked.
Vance: She got a ticket, she paid the fine to get her car back
Vance: She had to pay over a thousand Taiwan dollars
Vance: about $44 dollars
Vance: She never knew that the police in Taipei even gave tickets until today!
Maggi: costs a lot more here
Vance: Sorry, it's the first time she ever got a ticket there
Maggi: run a red light and you lose your license
Vance: She knew the police gave tickets
Maggi: depends on what you do...
Vance: loud and clear
Maggi: I think the cheapest is DM50 now
John has joined
Vance: sometimes you what?
Ying: I ran a red light.
John: Hi, I've been having connection problem. And now I can't seem to hear.
Vance: That's ok, i'm text chatting
Ying: all right.
John: OK
Vance: My colleagues are here in the office
Maggi: ok hear
Ying: John, I just read your email..
Maggi: here
Vance: YL was telling us about her terrible day (she got a ticket) but you can read it in the logs
John: OK, when you have a chance can you give me the information?
Vance: And Maggie wants to go to Tibet, and I want to know why.
John: I get tickets too, sometimes.
Maggi: because she said it is a special place...she is curious
John: I'd like to go there someday, too.
Ying: ticket .. only for paying fine.
Vance: It WAS a special place
Maggi: they didn't tow your car away then Ying...?
Vance: It probably still is, but we all know about the problems of the Tibetan people vs the Chinese government
Maggi: yes, but Maggie doesn't know that Vance
Ying: When I went back to my car, my car is disappeared.
John: We just had a chnage in our traffic laws. The fines have doubled.
Maggi: ok Ying, they did tow it away
Vance: That's interesting. I'd be very curious to know what Maggie does know about Tibet.
Ying: I find some words has written by chalk on ground.
Vance: Your car had disappeared, and words had been written in chalk
Maggi: She got very quiet and changed the subject when I said it was in the news again
John: But running a red light is a strange case. If you stop and then go through it, the fine is USD50. If you don't stop first, it is USD100
Vance: She is aware then
Maggi: like I said, she is curious
Ying: What is Tibet?
Maggi: this crackdown they have on religion will backfire
Vance: I wonder what Moral knows about Tibet. What do you think about Tibet and China, YL?
Vance: Is there another name for it? It's just north of Nepal.
Vance: West of Kunming, where Moral lives. You can fly to Lhasa from Kunming. Lhasa is the capital.
Maggi: they are tearing down Catholic and Protestant churches along with Buddist temples
Maggi: in China
Vance: The distruction to culture is astounding, not to mention the trauma to the people.
Maggi: you woulod think the cultural revolution taught them something
John: But do people ever really learn from revolutions?
Vance: I heard on BBC that China has just declared it illegal to speak over the media and in theatres with any accent in Mandarin other than the Beijing one.
Maggi: hmmmm...doesn't seem so....
Vance: Taiwan accent was getting popular there, apparently
Vance: It seems odd to me that a government would pass a law governing accent
Maggi: accent or dialect?
Vance: ACCENT
Ying: I got it... where is Tibet.
Ying: It is a beautiful place.
Ying: But I think Tibet is a part of China.
Vance: Yes, with very independent and peaceful people
Maggi: ok...it is strange because I didn't think you could just have an accent
Vance: It is occupied by China
Ying: Even... our cultural is a little different.
Ying: We don't say it is occupied by China.
Vance: Wa'al, now thet guvernor Bush is in office, least no one's gonna outlaw ma TEXas accent
John: But my Missouri one is in danger.
Vance: Be glad you don't have a Tennessee accent
Maggi: I still wouldn't advertise it...:-))
Vance: So, back to Tibet, of the 4 people here, would you say that Tibet is occupied, or a part of China?
Maggi: occupied
John: I would say occupied.
Ying: It is a history problem.
Status: Disconnected
Status: Disconnected
Maggi has joined
Ying has joined
John has joined
Status: Connected
Vance has joined
Maggi: that too
Ying: But Tibet is a poor area. I think it is better to be a part of China.
Maggi: a history and culture problem
Maggi: not if they don't let them keep their culture
Maggi: it is their identity
Ying: China can help those people to have better life... but they still have their own culture and language.
Vance: But the Chinese are destroying Tibetan cultural centers, how can it be better to be governed by someone who, as Maggi says, is attacking your identity?
Ying: China Government... not mine.
Maggi: do they have more food to eat?
Ying: According to our national father... Dr. Sun
Vance: I agree with Dr. Sun Yat Sen but China (mainland) is violating the respect for diverse cultures in China
Ying: It is a long story.....
John: But it is also an intersting story.
Ying: And very complicated... Even we are Taiwanese,,, it is hard to figure out our feelin and thinking in Chinese.
Ying: You know... before the second war, Taiwanese desired to be Chinese again. But KMT's Government sent a bad army came to Taiwan to take over from Japan's Goverment.
Ying: Those military like robber.... thieft.. they were uneducated and rough...
Ying: When the bad army controlled Taiwan, Taiwanese found their heart were broke.
Ying: Taiwanese suddently missed Japan's Government.
Vance: Sorry, I just got back from assisting my colleague
Ying: Before 1950, Taiwanese hated Japanese.
Maggi: was it more having someone in control who was more fair?
Ying: I don't understand your sentence, maggi.
Maggi: why they missed the Japanese after living through the other soldiers...
Ying: Japanese were educated, poitical and Governement's officer were efficient.
Vance: I get it
Ying: Taiwan was a peaceful place ... no thief, no robbery when Japan's Governement occupied Taiwan.
Michael has joined
John: Hi, Michael.
Maggi: good reason to want them back...
Maggi: Hi mc!
John: You too, Michael.
Michael: Evening everyone!
Michael: and Happy New Year to you all!
Michael: hang on.....talking to my son....
Vance: Happy new year to you. I'm just now entering Marina's greeting on the New Year web page
Ying: Because of Economic problem, Taiwan had a lot of problems at that time.... I read it from book.. Even you had money, you could buy enough rice and meat at 1950'S.
Michael: I'm back again.
John: Happy new year to you, too, Michael.
Ying: Eve's party.. a family day?
Michael: Did you say 'family day' Ying?
Vance: Bobbi likes to spend New Years with her family
Ying: You could not buy enought rice and meat in 1950's.
Michael: Australian's don't celebrate New Year's with their family.
Vance: There was a bad war there and hardship for everyone, and radicals in power
Ying: Yes... At the same time, they fough in China mainland.
Vance: They were fighting
Ying: Pretty tough.
Ying: Bobbi's family is not your family? Vance
John: Vance, are you there?
Vance: Yeah, that's my family. One of my sons is 16
Vance: So we couldn't do much on New Years, and the other 21 wanted to go to the bars in Abu Dhabi
Ying: Why did you say... "Bobbi likes to spend New Years with her family?"
Vance: This was the first New Years Eve in several years that the bars were open
John: I have that same question - Don't you like to?
Michael: Why was that Vance?
Vance: Because the past 3 years, it's been Ramadhan
Michael: I see.
Vance: So we've been camping New Years Eve, which I really prefer
Michael: So Ramadan is a movable feast (date changes)?
Vance: I like being in the desert with friends
Vance: It's also safe, though once my friends got their cars stuck when they went for a 2 a.m dune drive
Vance: Yes, Ramadhan follows a lunar calendar
Michael: Ok
Vance: Bobbi likes being with her boys, which is what I mean by family
Vance: I guess I'm one of the boys
Michael: I like the idea of being in the desert with friends...any pics anywhere Vance?
Vance: I don't mind because I like to be with Bobbi, and my boys
Vance: Hmmm, I have some pics from last weekend. I'll scan them in and put them up for you.
Michael: Ta!
Vance: It was a camp in the mountains and a drive in the desert
Maggi: I need to send some of White Sands New Mexico
Vance: Weekend before last, actually
Ying: Have you seen the Milky Way?
Vance: lately?
John: No deserts here in PR.
Ying: When you camp in the mountains...
Maggi: just sand in the air from the Sahara eh John?
John: Yep. Does make for boring night skies.
Vance: (is that a question or a subordinate clause, YL?)
Michael: smiles at the grammar q!
Ying: What is a question?
John: You caught that too, Michael?
Vance: By the way, is anyone able to get in the palace tonight?
Maggi: sounds like someone is sawing down a tree...
Michael: I haven't tried.
Vance: You said, 'when you camp in the mountains ...'
Ying: Me, neither
Vance: Maggi and tried and were denied access
Ying: Have you seen the Milky Way when you camped in the mountains?
Maggi: still no connection
Ying: Really?
Michael: Likewise.
Maggi: good sentence Ying...
John: No, I can't get in, either.
Vance: (it was a subordinate clause)
Vance: I didn't notice. Aren't we all in the Milky Way?
Maggi: the second was a complete sentence and a question...
Vance: Do you mean the dense star cluster?
Maggi: men...you know what she means
John: No, it's the candy bar.
Vance: The night before I went caving a month back we saw shooting stars one after another
Ying: I have never see the Milky Way... I am curious and asked..
Maggi: we had them here too...earth passed through the tall of a comet
Ying: It should be very beautiful!!
Michael: Wow Ying. Came to Australia and you'll see it often!
Vance: Isn't the Milky Way the galaxy we are part of?
John: Sometimes I've seen it and thought it was a cloud.
Michael: Yeh Vance - but you can still see it up in the sky. It's big!
Maggi: yes Vance but the core can be seen as a dense cloud of stars
Vance: It should be rather large
Ying: I am waiting someone to marry me and bring me to live in Australia....
Michael: I'll see what I can do Ying.
Vance: Good for you, Michael (someone would be lucky indeed)
Ying: Thanks... LOL
Maggi: we call it the Milky Way
Ying: We call it "silver river" in Chinese.
John: Because it looks like someone dropped milk in the sky.
Michael: That's nice.
Maggi: that sounds better
Michael: silver river I mean - sounds nicer than Milky Way
Maggi: me too
Ying: Because it looks like a silver River.... flowing across sky,
Vance: You can see a lot of stars in Oman
Maggi: you would need a pretty big cat to lick up that milk
John: Come to think of it, is there a cat among the constellations?
Ying: So..You can not see a lot of stars in UAE.
Maggi: leo the lion
John: Ah, right.
John: Hadn't thought of Leo.
Vance: There's a little ambient light here. In Oman you can really get into some country.
Maggi: do lions like milk?
John: I'm not sure if they do or not.
Michael: is this important????
Maggi: we are the only species I thought that continue to drink it after we are weaned
Ying: You need auarius to collect milk.
Maggi: probaly not mc
John: Not to change the subject, Vance, but I just found the web page for a dive shop in Abu Dhabi.
Maggi: lol
Michael: Need what Ying???
John: The owner has my name.
Ying: Aquarius... horoscope sign.
Vance: what about cats?
Maggi: another John H. Steele?
Michael: Oh.
John: No H., Just John Steele.
Vance: Really, a dive shop here owned by John Steele?
Vance: What's the url?
John: Found him on ICQ - I'll have to look it up, give me a sec.
Maggi: mc must be twiddling his thumbs
Ying: Who is LEO?
Vance: Lep is the lion in the horoscope
Vance: Leo I mean
Michael: lep?
Vance: yep
Michael: lol
Ying: I know Leo is a sign... I am pisces... who's Leo?
Vance: It is the name of the lion
Michael: My son is a Leo.
Maggi: my is the archere
Maggi: ...saggitarius
Maggi: my son...sorry
Ying: WAAA, I am sorry... I need to go.
Vance: Bye. Sorry you have to go.
John: I'm sorry, too, Ying.
Ying: John, I don't know Where I am at Next Saturday night.
John: OK, when you find out, would you let me know?
Ying: Because maybe I need to attend my client's party.
John: Vance, the e-mail is: steele7@emirates.net.ae
Ying: I am not sure when I come back my house... but I think it is better for me to join your interview.
Ying: It is better for me to join your interview at Saturday night.
John: The URL is http://www.divework.com
Vance: That gives me something to go on ...
John: Saturday night is fine with me, Ying.
Ying: Do you work on Saturday?
Ying: You are in Saturday Morning?
John: No, I don't work (except here at my home)
Ying: O.K.... I will let you know the exact time when we meet on line.
Ying: I seems.. I will miss the concert on line now.
Vance: Turns out to be an industrial dive site
John: OK, I'll be waiting to hear from you -- Oh, and where? HearMe, ICQ, Palace, or someplace else?
Michael: lol
Vance: I'm recreational
Ying: Hear me... it is better.
John: I just found it interesting because of the name.
John: OK, Ying, HearMe it is.
Ying: I remember... you don't give me the lyric of "let's call the whole thing off."
Ying: you don't respond my email...
Vance: Yeah, is it you say tomAto and I say tomAHto
Vance: You say potAto and I say potAHto
John: Ying, do you mean I don't respond, or someone else doesn't respond?
Ying: Vance and Michael.
Ying: Right?
Michael: What do you mean I don't respond to your emails Ying?
John: OK, I was afraid you hadn't gotten my last e-mail.
Ying: I send the email ask you... the song.
Michael: Great singing Ying!
Ying: sent
Michael: When? Which email?
Vance: I don't know all the lyrics. Anyone?
Ying: Have no idea with the song?
Michael: no
Ying: I got CD.... Billie Hoiday..
Michael: blues
Michael: or jazz maybe
Michael: harry met Sally
Ying: It is jazz
Ying: We can or we can't?
Michael: Can!
Ying: really?
Ying: sent the URl to me my icq o.k.?
Vance: http://www.bethsdayspage.com/days/lyrics/letscall.html
Ying: send
John: Let's Call The Whole thing OffFred Astaire (words by Ira Gershwin; music by George Gershwin) Introduced by Fred Astaire and Ginger rogers in the film "Shall We Dance?" (verse)Things have come to a pretty pass, Our romance is growing flat, For you like th
Ying: John... you know how to sing the song?
John: http://www.johnnymercer.com/FAQ/Let's%20Call%20the%20Whole%20Thing%20Off.htm
John: No, I don't.
John: I just copied if from the site I mentioned later.
Vance: "let's call the whole thing off"
John: I used Google and typed in "let's call the whole thing off"
Vance: I put that in with the quote marks
Vance: I used google too. I guess we picked different sites
John: So did I.
John: It was the third on my list.
John: Ying, I don't know how to sing.
Maggi: I just watched you guys jump to it
Vance: The first verse is You say eeeether
Vance: I say IIIIIIther
Vance: etc.
John: In fact, I tried joining a choir once, and when they found out I couldn't sing or play and instrument, they made me the director.
Vance: That happens a lot in management
John: sorry, an instrument. Yep, it sure does, Vance.
John: I'm going to have to leave soon. I have to go to the supermarket for my wife.
Ying: So... the google's engine is better than Yahoo's.
Maggi: nothing open here on Sunday
Michael: I have to go to...my attention span is getting shorter
John: Yes, Ying, google works much better than Yahoo. Maggi, the law here is very strange.
Maggi: except the gas station
Vance: Is your wife at the supermarket John?
Maggi: petrol for Michael
Michael: thanks Maggi
Vance: Did you go off and leave her there?
John: Yep, she just called for me to pick her up (I have two phone lines). She ran out of gas.
Michael: bummer
Vance: That's interesting. Last week, you were going to GET her something from the supermarket
Maggi: at the supermarket?
John: Yep. This time she decided to go herself. Didn't check the gas.
Vance: Next time you should go for her
John: Markets here open at 9:00 and close at 1:00
Michael: I'm off guys (and gals) - enjoy your week.
John: You too, Michael.
Maggi: bye...
John: Bye, Ying.
Ying: bye.bye
Maggi: bye Ying
Michael: Thanks for the singing everyone!
Michael: Bye.
Michael: lol
Michael: fantastic!
John has left
Maggi: that's a positive thing to say
Maggi: sounds like a mess...
Michael has left
Ying has left
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