The Power of Positive Thinking Continues

Earlier in my blog, I wrote about the power of positive thinking and how one ultimately attracts what they think.  Yes, its modern day philosophy.  This short post is about how it happened to me again.  I thought about something ...waited...thought...waited...thought about it more...waited...and then BOOM it happened.  Some examples can be on a grandeur scale like meeting a soul mate; others can be much smaller like getting a maroon down coat.  Today's example happens to be quite small but meaningful nonetheless.  In order for me to give you the full value of this story, I need to write about why a bottle of perfume would mean so much to me.

I'm very particular about perfumes.  To be completely honest, I've been using the same J-Lo perfume for the past eight years.  I chose this scent maybe because an after-Christmas sale on gift-set boxes makes the bottles pretty cheap.  And I like getting things for cheap.  Other perfumes have come into my life.  Like this one time in Victoria Secret, I bought a travel-size "Sexy" perfume in order to use my "Free Underwear With Purchase" coupon.  Or this other time, my best friend told her mom to buy me Harajuku Lovers "G" perfume.  And more recently when I purchased Harajuku Lovers Jingle "G" 50%-off during an after-Christmas sale.  For the past three months, I've been cautiously rationing squirts of this almost-all-gone bottle of perfume.  With every spray, I thought about how expensive good perfume is and how cheap I am to actually buy it full price.  Today, I finished off the bottle of Jingle "G" and thought about how I should rebel and also stop wearing deodorant if I was indeed too cheap to buy perfume.

The story continues at the home one of my students.  She is two years-old and happens to love me just as much as I love her.  Her mother invited me over for a visit and to have dinner at their home (partly because it was my birthday last week, partly because she wants me to teach English to her daughter, and all because her daughter loves me).  After I arrived and slipped on some slippers, my student presented me with a bottle of Dior's J'adore perfume.  How lovely.  I'm only dedicating yet another post to this "power of positive thinking" personal stuff because I believe it to be true.  And if it happens again, I'll write about it.

Harbin's Siberian Tiger Park

Harbin, China has this Siberian Tiger Park that lists high on the city’s tourist attractions.  It houses and breeds Siberian tigers in the name of conservation.  For around fifteen dollars, one can gain entrance into the park and the opportunity to come face-to-face with the world’s largest feline.  For another fifteen dollars, a Chinese “park ranger” will let you tempt, tease, and eventually feed the tigers a live chicken.  Maybe that sounds too appealing.  For a tourist with money to spare, it can be an uhhhhh unique experience.  But for the earthlings on the other side of the fence, you are just another human flashing lights in their eyes.  

Now here are some of my thoughts on it all:

It was effed up. Excuse my language but really messed up. Like going back in time messed up. In a way it was like watching the circus or a bull fight. Though, I wasn't really entertained. A guy I was with bought a chicken to feed to the tiger.   A tiger eating a chicken isn't even the weirdest part. In fact, the woman selling the live chicken for our entertainment was. That tiger probably was either really hungry or really full. Tigers know how to be tigers. They know how to catch prey, travel in packs, and reach fresh drinking water. We humans don't need to come in and capture the tigers under the name of education. Maybe there is something to learn from the tiger park. But it has nothing to do with how tigers are tigers. It had everything to do with the sick ego of the human brain thinking it is superior to this animal. I thought about what makes us humans and what makes animals animals? Maybe it is the entertainment factor. Tigers aren't naturally entertaining. We have to keep them in a box and feed them chickens in order to like them.

I recognize this animal is currently endangered and that the park was build in 1996 with efforts to preserve the species.  Props for effort, I suppose.   However from what I observed during my visit, these cats do not have healthy living conditions.  In one exhibit, visitors can see a full-grown adult lion or puma or panther trapped in a cage only big enough for it to walk back in forth out of mind-numbing, spirit-sucking boredom.   Way to honor the king of the forest, mankind!  You gave me yet another reason to ask the question: is it all really worth it?  We [humans] destroy entire ecosystems, historical habitats, and irreplaceable species for what?  More convenience in our consumerism?  In times like these, I realize China is the last country you want to be in when you begin questioning your faith in human nature.  You know, with its billion people and all. 

Ten Habits I've Developed While Living In China

10. Not wearing my seat belt.  Taxi drivers will stop you if you even begin to reach for it.
9. Spitting.  Hey, everyone else is doing it.
8. Miming.  I find a way to act out almost any word.  If that doesn't work, pictionary is my next attempt at communication.
7. Eating meat.  I'm not so proud of this one, but damn Chinese sausage is good.
6. Saying "hello" to almost every child I see like its my native-English-speaking duty.
5. Ease-dropping.  I listen to any conversation within earshot hoping for comprehension.
4. Wearing the same outfit a few days in a row.  Hey, everyone else is doing it.
3. Mala Tang.  Mmmmmm.  Risky or not, I eat this spicy noodle soup on a weekly basis.
2. Sleeping through construction and morning market megaphones.
1. Saying "bye, bye" like its a formal farewell because, again, everyone else is.