Shantou Bird Show

I just had a day that requires some venting, and I think a blog is as good a place as any--minus all post-venting regret for publishing angry thoughts.

I spent the day in an elaborate trap that locals call the “Meizhou Con” or “Hakka Hustle.” This masterful plan is implemented by the university’s communist-inspired bureaucracy (is that an oxymoron?). Whenever one person in the bureaucracy is required to make a decision, take responsibility for making a decision, or even think about making a decision, they enter a complex dance, which has incidentally remained largely unexplored by science. In this dance, the person who has responsibility for a decision refers you to someone who then refers you to the former person, who, when told about the impasse, refers you on to someone farther down the campus hierarchy. Then this peon sits and wonders (along with you) at how they’ve become responsible (for anything). They sometimes grow a big head suddenly and complain that the university should consult them about more matters if they're to be held responsible for this one. You are then dragged along in the inescapable current until you inexplicably, but inevitably arrive back to your starting point. It’s really a little like those current pools at the water parks. You know you're wasting your time, but it's strangely entertaining to just float along and watch the current. I can’t question it—there wouldn’t be any answers anyway.

The impetus (I can't say reason) for my trip around the system was an impossibly expensive ticket to leave later--when the university would be happy. In the end everything worked out fine. I'll be coming back later, but as long as I can keep from being drawn into the current again, I’ll be happy.