Okay guys, I am giving you a double dose here. The first is about the website Quora, which some of you already know.. The second is an answer to a Quora question that is an interesting non-story. Regardless, Quora provides a lot of idea and writing fodder for me, so I will sometimes just copy and paste my answers here, …if you don’t mind.
#25: I’m not sure if you are aware of the website Quora. My son Joseph turned me on to it so I can scattershot my service, not be so bored, and attract attention–potentially drawing in the curious and needy.
People post questions and I answer those that I want to answer. I limit my topics so I only get questions I might be interested in.
In answering some questions, I have to be serious. Notwithstanding, Quora proves again and again that housecats are more intelligent than many humans.
To exemplify, one guy asked, “What would you do if you’d never been born?” Wait, WHAT????
Outside of a few answers that I just make up completely just for the hell of it, I actually do answer them in my own inimitable style.
A few examples:
What if you could write a grammatically correct complex sentence in two seconds?
“If I could, I would.”
Is it possible to write a three-line poem on Quakerism?
“God the maker./Priest the faker./Man the Quaker.”
Here’s one favorite that many of my ex-students can relate to in all its glory.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
If the universe is finite, what lies beyond it?
How stupid can you be?
Can we stop now, please?
And the infamous, “There is someone in this class who….”
# 26: What was the most unexpected knock you got on your door?
Long and private story, but I was once awakened at 2:00 AM by a knock on my door in Guangzhou, China. Three Chinese suits wearing sunglasses walked into my apartment. Only one ever spoke; the other two just stood behind me to either side.
They never did identify themselves but from his questions, I knew they were there because of my many Chinese friends. They were particularly interested in one young lady and my relationship with her.
Nothing really happened, but as they left, their mouthpiece warned me that they will be watching me closely.
Bottom line, they were checking to see if I were an American spy. Apparently, I was not.
I taught through the next day in a sleepy grog of bemusement.
That friend was my best friend D. She had spent the previous week at my place so she could study in quiet. In her dorm she had three roommates in a tiny space, so she stayed in an extra bedroom in my flat. I was gone at school all day, so she was alone and could focus. We only ever saw each other at dinner each evening.
She was studying for the final exam to become an official, card carrying member of the Communist Party. This is a very rigorous course, although I have no idea what it encompasses. Chinese are not allowed to discuss anything remotely official doctrine with any foreigner. Hell, they can’t even discuss it among themselves.
She was doing this because members get all sorts of perks that give incredible advantages professionally and personally. These are perks you and I can only imagine. For example, immediately after passing that exam, she was moved into a private dorm room at her school with AC and heat—unheard of in GZ, where we lived. And that was only the beginning.
Incredible. My 2:00 AM visit from three Chinese suits in sunglasses was like a chapter straight out of Orwell’s 1984.
Global English Tutor - Paul Cuadrado 