Tomorrow, no adverbs

At least the Celtics won the championship. That's a good thing. Ok, I am up to one. That's about it, though. Everything else today is a tyranny of Lilliputian idiocies. And yesterday.

First, and most annoyingly, there is this local walking custom in Hong Kong that says once you are a quarter-step in front of another pedestrian, you are allowed to cut right in front of him and stop, slow down to a crawl, whatever, and if the person behind bumps into you, then turn back and look at him like he's unbearably rude.

Second, there is no sense of right of way. If 12 people are walking the same direction along a sidewalk or corridor, and one person suddenly decides to walk at an oblique angle - across everyone's path - basically tripping up each walker one at a time, no problem - you're good.

Keep in mind this is a crowded city with tiny sidewalks. Not like Tokyo or New York, for example, cities with sidewalks to die for, where you can actually walk and think at the same time. Stroll even. Not Hong Kong. Here, the buildings are built practically into the street. "World City" - ha!. More like Landlord City. To protect people from getting run over by "light-good vehicles" (vans from hell) and mini-buses, the wise authorities have lined the tiny strips of sidewalk with metal fences, which reduces the walking space by another eight inches. And then there are the delivery men with the little pushcart things offering all and sundry a 24/7 game of pedestrian chicken. I often end up walking in the street, much to the annoyance of some full-time drivers, who honk at me not because I am in their way, but because they have a right to - and they don't have a right to much, so its a welcome opportunity.

Third, is Ms. J_____ the yoga Ditz, who doesn't plan her classes so leaves you in poses for a minute at a time while she thinks of what to do next. She tries to hide this by babbling about opening every conceivable part of your body "to the sky".

Fourth, I have never seen so much rain. It has been raining every day for 5 weeks. How can Iowa flood? All the rain in the world is here in Hong Kong.

Fifth, I have to write a regular missive. I hate writing "regular" things. There should be a software package for this where I can just choose adjectives from different dictionaries. That reminds me of the beginning of Catch 22 where Yossarian has an editing job and randomly decides to delete adjectives one day and nouns the next.