Just before the summer our dept has been trying to get a replacement for a teaching staff. After a long drawn out process we finally made an offer but the person declined at the very last minute.

So, we are doing it again, trying to find someone with

1. solid training in the discipline
2. has at least a master's degree
3. two years of teaching experience preferrably in Hong Kong
4. speaks good English, Cantonese and Putonghua an advantage and
5. willing to teach 18 hours a week for a very meagre wage

Oh. By the way, this is a ten month contract which may or may not be renewed. No benefits of any sort included.

The sociology discipline in Hong Kong's univerisities is dying. Everyone I know who supervises postgrads in sociology have been telling their students for years NOT to get into academia. Okay if you want to do an M. Phil. whilst you try and figure out what you really want to do for a career but do NOT do a PhD! It's a fucking dead end kiddo. Etc.

Not really surprising that it's hard to find the right person.

Someone from a Paris radio station rang me yesterday for an interview. On "why are Hong Kong women so lonely?" I assumed what she meant was - why are Hong Kong women not getting laid? Or why can't they find boyfriends? I assumed she got hold of me based on the stuff I wrote about HK women's sexuality (actually, none of the stuff I wrote suggests HK women are lonely, but what the hell). Based on my assumptions, I talked the talk. She seemed happy with my "analysis".

Actually, come to think of it, we might have totally misunderstood one another. And why on earth is a Paris radio station interested in Hong Kong women's loneliness anyway?

Ach well, more bizarre things could happen. Such as getting shagged to death by a camel or having a vacuum cleaner stuck to your penis in the name of art.