Hi there. This is stuff only for friends, internet stalkers, and the very, very bored.
My name is Lisa, I'm 22 and I currently live in San Francisco, although I'll be moving to Shanghai in a few months.
I just graduated from Brown University where I double majored in International Relations and Political Science, and minored in East Asian Studies and History.
My activities at Brown included:
In the summer of 1997 I attended Princeton in Beijing. My initial interest in China was political and diplomatic, but once there I realized how little I knew about what was currently happening in the society, and I was quickly sucked into my present obsession with the causes and ramifications of cultural and social change in China.
In high school I was very into art, and am trying to take it up again. My specialty is oil portraits and very detailed ink or pencil drawings, although I've done some stuff with acrylics, watercolors, sculpture, etc.
I'm currently learning to play acoustic guitar. (Yes. I suck. Operative word: learning.)
I obtained my very first guitar last month, compliments of a graduation present from my Uncle John. It's a Stella brand (never heard of it? they've been out of business for decades), smallish (weight: 5 pounds; height: 93.5 cm; dimensions in cm:32.7-29.5-43.2), red and black body, white pickguard. Its tuning devices are all on one side of the head, kinda like the style oft seen on electrics but rarely acoustics. Very beautiful. Yeah, I'll get a picture up soon and save you this agony.
These are a few good links with guitar information and instruction that I exploit regularly:
Philosophically, my predominant influence is Humanism, with smatterings of others thrown in. And being a female humanist, I can't help but be a Feminist. I believe theoretically in a spiritual world, but I don't feel qualified to accept or reject any particular version of it. I am a cynical idealist: I hope for the way things could be, but retain few illusions about the way they actually are. (I "call a spade a spade," or so they say...)
Literary favorites: Tom Stoppard, Dorothy Parker, Camille Paglia, Henrik Ibsen, Alice Walker, Marguerite Duras, Cortazar, Anais Nin, Toni Morrison (everything but "Beloved" - I hated that book).
Live in or going to China? Here are a few pages for Expats on Events and Night Life in China
News for China and Asia
General News and Utilities
Who doesn't love the occassional tasteless joke? Here are some archives of dirty jokes, and remember, they're funnier when you're drunk!