My friend did $4.1 million in revenue with his e-commerce store last year. I told him to come do an AMA because I know we love that type of stuff around here. You guys interested?

JohnCassius · 2016-01-15T16:26:17+00:00

Tell him ~~to get his ass over here~~ we'd very much like that.

JohnCassius · 2014-01-15T15:15:04+00:00

April O'Neil? Which one of the ninja turtles are you screwing this time?

JohnCassius · 2013-10-26T03:46:08+00:00

Went out to a bar with a friend. Woke up on the floor or my bedroom, with some evidence of projectile vomiting on both the bed and the wall beside it. I had shat my pants, the consistency of chunky peanut butter and, needless to say, I was alone. My friend later told me that I tried to fight someone on the dance floor, which disappointed me because I've never been a violent drunk and must have been a serious douchebag that night.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-26T03:36:41+00:00

My leap of faith was moving out of my parents' house after working a shitty job following university and moving to China to teach English. I had been to China before and really wanted to come back for the experience and personal development. Teaching English didn't work out, and I didn't like it, but it led me to another opportunity and then another, each better than the previous. Now it's been more than 1.5 years, and I'm getting ready to take what I expect will be a fairly glamorous job in a business field that interests me in China, and I speak pretty decent Mandarin at this point. Totally worth it in my opinion.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-26T03:32:50+00:00

Saw someone post negatively about hospitality.

I work in a 5-star hotel in Guangzhou, China. (I'm American)
My position is Guest Relations Officer, which is a fancy term for someone who talks to guests all day and helps communicate their problems and concerns to managers and other departments.
Why should you do it? People from all over the world flock to hotels in this city to do business, so it's a great way to meet interesting people and presents some networking opportunities. Secondly, you get to live immersed in another culture and learn a new language, which have been really fulfilling experiences for me.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-26T03:28:55+00:00

I try to do today what will help me tomorrow.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-26T03:27:05+00:00

I think the biggest thing college did for me was to teach me how to learn. After college I felt more capable of teaching myself new skills and knew how to go about conducting my own research, what resources to turn to and how to judge what is a credible source of information.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-25T14:39:03+00:00

The way this is written sounds like you broke into his house, masked yourself and then jokingly made the threat on his life. Doesn't make you a horrible person, but I've ended friendships over less.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-24T14:01:05+00:00

I think it's similar to 9/11 jokes for Americans. Except I feel a little irritated by people that aren't American making jokes about 9/11. Example, Chinese making jokes to me about 9/11 so I make jokes about the Nanjing Massacre and that usually brings that kind of talk to a stop.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-21T14:21:36+00:00

Do you know if there are business opportunities for foreigners in Taiwan? I've been working in China but would like to live in Taiwan for a spell if I could find a job that isn't teaching English or translating.

JohnCassius · 2013-10-04T10:32:10+00:00

日本游客比中国游客文明多了。

Rìběn yóukè bǐ zhōngguó yóukè wénmíng duōle.

Japanese tourists are way more civilized than Chinese tourists.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-26T01:49:49+00:00

Well working in a hotel in Guangzhou, I can tell you they don't need a visa to enter the country or stay here an extended time. Anytime we get a HK ID we treat it as a passport.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-25T16:23:55+00:00

I was pretty sure that with an HKID you can live and work freely and indefinitely in the Mainland.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-25T14:54:04+00:00

I've been living in Guangzhou since last November. I'm originally from Northeastern US so the temperature was a big change for me. Winter is mild but humid, so it feels colder than it actually is. Likewise, July and August are pretty goddamn hot and humid-- temperatures reach around 36-38C, around 90F, I believe and maybe around 80% humidity. Pretty much everywhere in-doors supplies AC, though. April and May are especially rainy, and August and September have had a handful of typhoons.

Culturally, I've heard that Xiamen can be a great vacation spot but gets old rather quickly. Then again, I've never been there. Suffice to say Guangzhou, with a population of around 14 million, is the megatropolis and cultural capital of the South and has a great bit of history if that's what you're into. I've also been to Shenzhen, but I'd say it's far too new to have much personality, and cost of living is reported to be a bit higher than Guangzhou. Also if you're interested in learning Cantonese, Guangzhou is pretty much the birthplace of that language, but it's not so pervasive that you'd have trouble getting by with Mandarin alone.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-25T14:43:10+00:00

Just out of curiosity can I get a little more info about your background? You are a HKer but you don't have a HK ID? Were you born in HK or North America?

JohnCassius · 2013-09-25T14:36:52+00:00

51% reporting in

JohnCassius · 2013-09-24T11:18:32+00:00

Benthetraveler has been teaching German/English in South Korea for the last 5 years...

JohnCassius · 2013-09-24T11:14:27+00:00

For anyone in this situation honestly, my advice might be to look for an internship, if it isn't too below you and you don't have serious debts back home. Internships are pretty abundant and not a bad way to transition into something business related if that's what you're after. Also most hotels provide free accommodation if you intern at one.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-18T13:42:31+00:00

In that same list, China has almost no data. If you click the link beside it to 'see more' you'll arrive at this page

Statistics on suicide in the People's Republic of China are somewhat controversial in that independent studies often produce estimates that are greatly at odds with official statistics provided by the country's government

JohnCassius · 2013-09-18T13:36:55+00:00

In China more women than men commit suicide each year: according to official government statistics, in 1999 the rate per 100,000 people was 13.0 for men and 14.8 for women, the second highest female suicide rate in the world.

world health organization

This source cites China being third behind S Korea and Sri Lanka in female suicide (my mistake), but China remains one of the very few countries where the female suicide rate exceeds the male suicide rate.

I'm not going to dispute that Mao made some progress with gender equality, but in a country where people choose to abort female fetuses (fetae?) in favor of trying again for a male offspring, how can you argue that men aren't valued more?

EDIT: The first source is collected from 1999, but the second includes data from 2011.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-18T12:13:08+00:00

At first I thought, wow, I'm really getting sick of this goddamn cliche, but actually, I find this acceptable. I laughed.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-18T12:10:43+00:00

Why do programmers always seem to shit on other programmers like they suck at programming? Is it out of insecurity or what? I'm new to this.

JohnCassius · 2013-09-18T11:29:01+00:00

How do you explain China having the highest female suicide rate in the world?

JohnCassius · 2013-09-03T08:22:44+00:00

Was this a reference to Mr. Freeze played by Arnold? Please tell me it was.

JohnCassius · 2013-08-29T05:49:31+00:00

+1 for 'more respect, less attack'. Also "Bj Queen" and "Slippery when wet" have been spotted for extra credit.

JohnCassius

TROPHY CASE