Chevron Seven -- Locked!

This is going to be an unusual chevron – basically not only because it’s not, as Varya assures me, the last chevron in the series, but also because I was ‘locked’ out of my phone today. The term ‘locked’ takes on new significance today! I’ll come to that later.

We had a lovely English Corner on Friday, 20 August. The lovely people planned to make dumplings this time, and they brought everything with them – vegetables, minced meat, lots of juice, Coke and Sprite, soya sauce, vinegar and even bought a breadboard for chopping up the vegetables, as they found my crappy old one inadequate. And they left their shiny new wooden breadboard behind, awww… Feeling shy!

There were around 30 people here that evening. It was incredible – so much life, joy and friendliness abounded. Tony brought his friend Jane with him earlier. She was, he claimed, an expert dumpling organizer. And indeed she was – her dumplings were outstanding, precisely done and delicious!

I’ve uploaded photos and a quick video on Facebook already.

Saturday was a rather quiet day. And today, when I decided to encode Chevron 7, things started happening!

I was supposed to meet a good friend for lunch, but it didn’t happen. I went down to throw the trash, and while pulling the phone out of my pocket to change the soundtrack, I dropped it. It made a nice splat on the steps but the music kept playing. I love Nokia! They don’t die no matter how you treat them! Still, I turned it off, opened it, removed the battery and brushed it around a bit, then restarted.

As it was restarting, I polished the keys on the keypad. Unfortunately, this happened just as the phone asked for the PIN – the starting code for the simcard. Being highly security-conscious, I enable all kinds of security on every digital thing I own. It’s not so much for wanting to hide my stuff, but I always think that if I lose a phone or computer (or if they’re stolen) I wouldn’t want a random person gaining access to my personal stuff or my friends' or family’s personal information. And that is why I always encourage people to secure their digital stuff, including phones, computers and email with good passwords.

In the few seconds that the phone was asking for the PIN, I must have quickly pressed the wrong code thrice while wiping the keys, and the phone was locked. It now started asking for the PUK code, which is printed on the card from which you snap off a new SIM card. Oh man, thought I. I bought this simcard on 22 October 2006, a day after arriving in Zhuhai, and although I know I have it somewhere in the house, it would be next to impossible finding it now after we just moved to a new place. I searched in all the likely places for that card for a while, but no luck.

Next step: China Mobile office. And I set off.

The staff at China Mobile are SO helpful. The lady asked me if I had my ‘password’. I said no, sorry, I was sure it was at home somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. She said it was ok, no matter. She helped me fill in a form where I put my name, passport number, last three dialed numbers and the last time I credited my account. She then entered this information on her computer and reset my SIM card. That’s it! Simple! Amazing! I love these guys!

I find it interested that on the day I plan to encode 'Chevron 7 – Locked', a ‘locking’ actually happens. I’ve always been interested in numbers and how they always have some sort of significance. Humanity has always been interested in the significance of numbers throughout history. For example, in the Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Eddie the Shipboard Computer asks Zaphod Beeblebrox, the President of the Galaxy, if he ever considered how people’s lives were governed by numbers. Ford Prefect and Arthur Dent are rescued just in time from space by Heart of Gold, this revolutionary spacecraft, at an Improbability level of 2 to the power of some massive number, and that number happens to be the phone number of a girl whom Arthur Dent had met at a party in Islington some time back. How awesome is that? :-) I love this stuff!

For example, Varya and I moved to a new apartment after we got married. It was Block 1, Apartment 1901. 19^th floor. I thought it highly significant that we found an awesome apartment on the 19^th floor. Also, if you add up 1 and 1 9 0 1, you get 12, and 1 + 2 makes 3, and it was here that Tessa was born and we became 3. And now, we live in Apartment 608, Block 18. 1 + 8 makes 9, the number of Baha. 6 + 0 + 8 makes 14, and 1 + 4 makes 5, the number of the Bab? Coincidence? Maybe. Still, I think great things will happen in this apartment this year.

Zhuhai is awesome! :-)

And here’s the 7^th Chevron – Locked! The phone’s unlocked, and dinner is waiting at Stephen and Amy’s.

May the Force be with you! :-)

Chevron Six -- Encoded

The other chevrons will come later. Here's the latest one. :-)

Thursday, 19 August 2010

9:22 am

Starbucks, Jiu Zhou Cheng, Zhuhai

Chevron Six – Encoded

I woke up this morning to a woman’s voice in my ear, whispering gently, ‘Sarmad, wake up.’ I think it was repeated a few times till I actually woke up. Of course, I’m too intelligent to believe in ghosts and all that silly man-made nonsense, and our upbringing has been completely in line with the principles of the Bahá’í Faith. We are aware that the worlds of God are many, and that God has created everything good, and that evil does not exist, but is the absence of good, just as ghosts do not really exist, and all souls that pass from this world do not return.

The voice was interesting. If, for example, Varya were in the house, it would have been Varya’s voice for sure. I’ve woken up many mornings in the past with Dad’s or Mum’s voices in my ear, calling my name, but never a woman I do not know. It was such a nice, gentle voice, full of love and affection, which is why I think it was Varya’s voice on some level. If anyone’s watched the Lord of the Rings, the voice was like Princess Arwen’s when she spoke to Aragorn – so full of love, gentleness and kindness.

I had a very interesting dream. It was so science-fiction, so ‘spaceshippy’ that it’s probably a result of watching Stargate. I’m not entirely sure where I was, but I think I was in the US on a trip, and presidential elections were going on. It looked like Obama was going to win his second term. I was in this huge, green field, and everything looked so lovely and peaceful – blue skies, green grass, but I couldn’t help feeling a sense of doom – that something massive was about to happen. And then it happened!

In the sky suddenly appeared a massive spaceship, surrounded by three or four other smaller ones. They actually looked nice and colorful, like balloons. They were oval shaped, with small wings much like the fins of a dolphin.

Suddenly, huge dinosaur-like creatures sprang out from them and jumped down. Believe me, it was scary! People were running and hiding, and these dinosaurs were actually chasing people and snapping them up! I hid with a couple of people in some stalls and watched the mayhem unfold. Incredible! Then a little one appeared and started coming for me. I shut the stall door, made sure the window at the other end was fastened tight, and waited. Some squeaking outside, and then all was quiet. And this was when the woman’s voice started in my ear, gently waking me up. Amazing! If it was you, Varya, thank you. :-) I had no idea how to deal with those things. :-)

Yesterday was a rather nice day. I went for a haircut in the afternoon to my favorite place – the salon near Jusco. They always start with a hairwash and shoulder massage, and then proceed to the haircut. As the barber started snipping away, a rather nice-looking gentleman came and sat on the waiting couch behind me with an ashtray and lit cigarette in his hand. I turned around, and said, ‘Excuse me, please don’t smoke here.’ I guess he misunderstood me, for the next thing I knew, he came up to me, took out his cigarette pack and offered me one! How sweet! I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. And that’s what I love about the Chinese – they are so pure hearted that they cannot imagine that someone would say something weird to them. He immediately assumed that I wanted a smoke too, and quickly offered to share. Amazing! I shook my head and said, ‘No, I don’t want to smoke, please don’t smoke here.’ He nodded and went off to the other side of the salon. Awww… He was SUCH a nice man that I felt bad for him, and after my haircut I went up to him, shook his hand and said, ‘Thank you for not smoking, it was very nice of you.’ He nodded and smiled. I don’t think he spoke much English, so he couldn’t respond, but he was SUCH a nice gentleman!

In the afternoon I went swimming with Louis and Luke, YY’s sons. We had a great time. These guys love having fun in the water.

After swimming we all went for dinner at a dumpling restaurant which comes from the north east of China. Their food was amazing – we had roasted pork ribs, fried fungus in vinegar on ice, and three kinds of dumplings – one fried, two steamed. Nice! Add to that the lovely Chinese green tea that they serve at restaurants, and oh man!

I’ll be going swimming with Jason, Yoyo and Jason’s uncle in Hua Fa this afternoon.

The weather’s been quite unusual lately. It sometimes suddenly rains in the morning for around 10 minutes, and then the rain stops, the clouds roll away and, as the Beatles once sang, ‘Here Comes The Sun!’ Fabulous!

I discovered a new song today – ‘She Will Be Loved’ by Maroon 5, an LA garage band. Some of their songs are nice, and their music videos are the type that make every upright human feel a little shy, but this particular song is pretty nice!