Long Weekend

We had a (somewhat) unexpected long weekend when the city of Shanghai closed all school for the first two days of the China International Import Expo.

I spent Saturday doing some solo exploring, looking for a charity used book shop in Qingpu that I'd failed to find on two previous attempts.

(Yes, I could just get there by Didi, but figuring out the buses is part of the fun!).

I was successful this time, and donated a stack of books that the Kiddo was done with before making a couple of purchases.

On Monday, we had a return visit to Hangzhou for the day. West Lake was a lot nicer without Golden Week crowds, and we did lots and lots of walking, had some great food, explored a pagoda, and took lots of pictures.

Tuesday, the Kiddo and I went to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium, once again a great experience on a non-crowded day.

We have another long weekend coming up when we get Black Friday off (my school gives us the Friday as our Thanksgiving holiday so we get a long weekend out of it), and we're looking at traveling to Wuxi and staying overnight for a night or two.

And we've also booked our Christmas travels. We'll be heading to the Philippines! Looking forward to some sunshine in December!

Golden Week

Golden week is the week of National Day here in China. It's Fall Break at my school, and a staycation week for us. We've got one day-trip planned to Hangzhou tomorrow. Other than that, I'm catching up on various things, relaxing, GMing a two-part adventure with my D&D group, and dealing with frustrations over shaky VPN issues.

Happy October everyone!

Recap For May 12 To July 27, 2019

Long time between recaps, but we spent a fair chunk of it traveling. The school trip to Xi'an was great, and the remainder of the school year went smoothly, with the usual hectic rush of work. Then it was off on our summer trip to Taipei and Palau. Lots of photos on the Instagram link below. Some reviews and blog entries to follow.

Tomorrow it's the annual Father/Son (Rail) Road Trip! Taking the train to Hong Kong and spending three days there!

In the meantime, I've done some reviews.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Giant-Size Thrills #0 from Red Giant Entertainment.

DC Retroactive Batman: The 1980s #1 from DC Comics.

The Vengeful Half by Jaclyn Dolamore

Avatar: The Last Airbender: Free Comic Book Day 2014 All Ages from Dark Horse Comics.

How I Became a Pirate #2 by TC McKenna.

Dark Red #1 by Lynn French.

Awakening Comics #1 by Steve Peters.

Dark Red #2 by Lynn French.

Tragedy at Farstation Prota by Jerel Dye.

Healed #4 by George O'Connor and S. Griffin of Homeless Comics.

Healed #5 by George O'Connor and S. Griffin of Homeless Comics.

Smile by Raina Telgemeier.

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Junie B., First Grader: Cheater Pants by Barbara Park.

Magic Tree House: Earthquake in the Early Morning by Mary Pope Osborne.

The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter.

The Winged Girl of Knossos by Erick Berry.

Warriors: A Dangerous Path by Erin Hunter.

Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper.

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things by Lenore Look.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart.

History of Palau: Heritage of an Emerging Nation by Elizabeth D. Rechebei.

How To Speak Dragonese by Cressida Cowell.

Wizard's Hall by Jane Yolen.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding.

Who Was Steve Irwin? by Dina Anastasio.

Alvin Ho: Allergic To Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look.

A Thousand Miles To Freedom: My Escape From North Korea by Eunsun Kim.

Supporting
Supporting Boston-area author James A Moore, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.

Upcoming

Trip to Hong Kong with the Kiddo tomorrow! Hong Kong Disneyland on Monday!

After that we've got about a week before I head back to school (two weeks until classes start). We may do a few last tourist things in Shanghai, and we're considering a day trip to Nanjing before it's back to the day job.

I seem to have gotten myself into a regular D&D campaign. Tonight will be my third weekly session. Enjoying it so far.

Looking forward to watching Summer Slam and NXT Takeover Toronto in a week or so, and then NXT Takeover Cardiff at the end of August.

No plans yet for any of the breaks during the school year, but we are working on some ideas.

Connect/Follow

@dandelionstudio on Twitter
@dandelionstudios on Instagram and @dailycomicreview on Instagram
rsilva on Boardgamegeek
rsilva on Facebook
ricksilvawriting on Dreamwidth and Blogger.
Rick Silva on Goodreads

Summer Travel

We had an incredible vacation in Taipei and Palau. I'm hoping to write more about that here, but there are lots of pictures available @dandelionstudios on Instagram!

On Sunday, it's summer travel part 2 as I take the Kiddo on our annual father/son (rail)road trip. We're traveling by bullet train from Shanghai to Hong Kong! Excited to see lots of China rather than just flying over!

Hong Kong Disney is on the agenda, which will be a big level-up in my Disney cred.

Once we get back from that trip, it will be about a week before I head back to the day job, and then another week before school starts.

School Is Almost Out!

Exams finished today, and my grades are in. Graduation for seniors tomorrow, then the last day for students on Friday. Teachers work Saturday to finish final paperwork and packing up classrooms.

Heading off on our trip to Taipei and Palau next week!

Recap For May 5-11 2019

Back with another recap post after just a week.

School is definitely winding down for the year. Next week is really the last normal week of the school year. The week after next, I'll be on the school trip to Xi'an. Then we'll be prepping our International Festival, and then it's time to get ready for exams and graduation.

In the meantime, I've done a few book and comic reviews.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #187 from DC Comics.

Spring-Heel Jack: Revenge of the Ripper #2 by David Barbour and Wayne Tanaka of Rebel Studios.

Red Bird Comics #1 from Dimestore Productions.

Spongebob Freestyle Funnies 2014 from United Plankton Pictures.

Dark Horse: 20 Years from Dark Horse Comics.

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Anya's War by Andrea Alban.

Warriors: Rising Storm by Erin Hunter.

Supporting
Supporting the Memorial Fund for Nicole Davis, who tragically lost her life last week at age 25.

Upcoming

End-of-school things are happening now through June 15, including the trip to Xi'an the ween after next, and the International Festival on June 1.

The Kiddo and I are also looking forward to WWE Money in the Bank, and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

There are some possible opportunities coming up for playing Magic and D&D, but nothing definite yet.

And we've go our big travel plans for June/July, when we'll be heading to Taiwan and then the Republic of Palau!

Connect/Follow

@dandelionstudio on Twitter
@dandelionstudios on Instagram and @dailycomicreview on Instagram
rsilva on Boardgamegeek
rsilva on Facebook
ricksilvawriting on Dreamwidth and Blogger.
Rick Silva on Goodreads

Upcoming Travel

I'll be heading back to Xi'an in less than two weeks, this time as part of a school trip. I'm looking forward to my second trip to the beginning of the Silk Road. There was a meeting today to go over the itinerary, which includes a day of community service, plus a nice mix of sights that I got to see last fall, and places that will be new to me.

I will, of course, be taking lots of photos!

Recap for February 17 to March 10 2019

This was the week of movies for me. I don't go to the movies that often, so three in one week is pretty unusual. I saw How To Train Your Dragon 3, The Wandering Earth, and Captain Marvel. I'll try to do a separate post with my thoughts.

Also getting a separate post, but I wanted to mention it here. the summer travel plans that I keep being vague about have finally been booked, now that the Kiddo got his new passport and we got some financial things settled.

We will be off on a major adventure in June. First stop is Taipei, Taiwan for a three-day whirlwind tour, and from there, two weeks in Koror, Republic of Palau! I'll post more on travel plans as we get closer!

In the meantime, I've been doing pretty well on the comic and book reading fronts.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Static Shock #6 by Scott McDaniel and Andy Owens of DC Comics.

Bored Angel by Aya Rothwell.

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #2 by Jose Calderon and Daphne Lage of Dreamweaver Press.

Space: 1999 #7 by Mike Pellowski and Pat Boyette of Charlton Comics.

Captain Underpants and the Wrath of the Wicked Wedgie Woman by Dav Pilkey.

Farlight Saga Ethos #2 by Jared Koon and Sarah Hebblethwaite of Nemonet Studios.

Bongo Comics Free-For-All 2008 from Bongo Comics.

Sonic the Hedgehog: Free Comic Book Day Edition 2007 by Ian Flynn, Tracey Yardley, and Jim Amash of Archie Comics/Sega.

Tall Tails: Tears of the Mother #3 by Jose Calderon and Daphne Lage of Dreamweaver Press.

Astonishing X-Men #1 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday of Marvel Comics.

The Realm #2 by Brent Truax, Donald Marquez, Brian Michael Bendis, and Patrick Zircher of Caliber Comics.

Star Wars: Jedi Academy: The Phantom Bully by Jeffrey Brown.

Daredevil Saga by Ed Brubaker, Anthony Flamini, and Michael Lark of Marvel Comics.

Astonishing X-Men #2 by Joss Whedon and John Cassaday of Marvel Comics.

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Seven Spells To Sunday by Andre Norton and Phyllis Miller.

Seaworthy: A Swordboat Captain Returns to the Sea by Linda Greenlaw.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

Upcoming

WWE Fastlane airs tomorrow here, then it's on to the road to Wrestlemania. I'm also following NXT's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with interest.

No specific plans, but I'm hoping to get in some Magic: The Gathering and/or D&D with some of the local players in the coming weeks.

After seeing three movies in a week, I'm expecting Avengers: Endgame and Godzilla: King of the Monsters will be my next two trips to the cinema.

Our local mall just installed a big Ultraman exhibit, which should be fun to check out. Hoping to head there with the camera on a non-busy day this week.

Things will be very busy at my day job, with grades due next week and parent conferences this week. I am also getting more hours at my weekend side gig lately. Our next school break is the first week of April, and we'll be staying here in Shanghai for that. There is a possibility that I may be going on a school trip to Xi'An in May, which should be fun if it happens.

And, of course, as mentioned above, huge travel plans for June/July as we head to Taiwan and Palau!

Connect/Follow

@dandelionstudio on Twitter
@dandelionstudios on Instagram and @dailycomicreview on Instagram
rsilva on Boardgamegeek
rsilva on Facebook
ricksilvawriting on Dreamwidth and Blogger.
Rick Silva on Goodreads

Recap For December 3 - December 8 2018

The first semester is winding down at the day job. Midterms are next week. Today was our Saturday makeup day, upper school holiday concert, and staff Christmas party. Work on a Saturday is always a bit exhausting, but the holiday concert and the party were fun. We also saw our first snow of the year yesterday and today!

Tomorrow, we're off on a day trip to Suzhou for Christmas shopping and sightseeing, then one more week of school before vacation!

It's been a busy week, but I have gotten some reviews done.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Amulet Book Seven: Firelight by Kazu Kibuishi.

Tall Tails: Thieves' Quest #5 by Jose Calderon and Daphne Lage of Dreamweaver Press.

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Valiant Imperial Warriors 2200 Years Ago by Wu Xiaocong.

Supporting

My cousin does a toy drive every year for the Ronald McDonald House in Maryland. I contributed to the toy drive, which is finishing up for the year, but you can contribute directly here.

Upcoming

Suzhou day trip tomorrow. Leaving for the USA a week from Wednesday. I'll probably also be doing some exploring around Shanghai this coming weekend once vacation starts. And we've got WWE TLC coming up (in our timezone) a week from Monday morning.

Connect/Follow

ricksilvawriting on Google+
@dandelionstudio on Twitter
@dandelionstudios on Instagram
Rsilva444 on Flickr
rsilva on Boardgamegeek
rsilva on Facebook
ricksilvawriting on Dreamwidth and Blogger.
Rick Silva on Goodreads

Recap For October 29 - November 3 2018

After all of the vaguebooking about upcoming travel plans, I can now announce: We're traveling to the US for our winter break! This will be our first time coming home for the holiday season in over five years! Looking forward to a nice New England Christmas with friends and family!

This week was Halloween, which is a big event at my school. The Kiddo became a two-time champion, winning the "Most Original" prize for his reptilian politician costume! (He won "Best Makeup" last year as WWE's Finn Balor/The Demon).








In other news, I do a set of daily goals for writing, language practice, diet and exercise, and blogging. I set a reward goal for 50 points for a week, which is pretty hard to achieve. I started the points system at the beginning of the school year, and the week before last was my first 50-point week. So last night I headed into town to a geeky mall near People's Square that I'd heard about and rewarded myself with some Magic: The Gathering purchases.

I really enjoyed WWE Evolution. Great show! I will not be watching Crown Jewel.

It is now into November, and I have not started Nanowrimo, although I am planning to participate. This year my plan is to write the second draft of The Lady of Three Faces, which was my Nano project last year until I tripped and broke two fingers a few days into last November. I'm not going to sweat wordcount this year, but hopefully Nano season will give me some motivation to make some writing happen.

In the meantime, I've written a couple of reviews.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Star Wars: Jedi Academy by Jeffrey Brown.

Amulet Book 3: The Cloud Searchers by Kazu Kibuishi

Upcoming

Science fair is happening in a couple of weeks. Kiddo has been working on evaporating his water samples to measure salinity.

I may be going to Disney Shanghai with the Kiddo for a classmate's birthday party around Thanksgiving. We're also looking at a possible day trip to a nearby city on that weekend on one of the non-Disney days. Actual Thanksgiving festivities will probably be low-key. Maybe a baked chicken with potatoes and veggies and a bottle of wine on Thursday night. We get Friday off for Thanksgiving, but not Thursday. The school usually serves turkey and pumpkin pie for school lunch that day.

Busy season in WWE is beginning to wind down. Survivor Series and NXT Wargames in a few weeks, and then TLC, which will also include the finals of Mixed Match Challenge. I haven't heard any plans for Tribute to the Troops, but that usually occurs around this time of year too. They're also doing a Starcade show, but last year's was not televised. Not sure if there are any plans to put this one on WWE Network.

I bought some Magic cards, but the timing of events over the next few weeks doesn't work well for me. Hopefully I can get into at least one or two more drafts here in Shanghai before we leave for our trip to the US. I'll try to get to a couple of events in the US when we're there.

As mentioned above, we're going to the US for Christmas. We'll be in New Hampshire for most of our visit, with some time spent on Cape Cod and in Boston. Very excited about that trip.

As a result of the splurge on the Christmas trip home, we'll probably be spending Chinese New Year here in Shanghai. We have some general ideas for travel plans looking further ahead, and some major decisions to make about long term plans. I'll tell more when we know more.

Connect/Follow

@dandelionstudio on Twitter
@dandelionstudios on Instagram
Rsilva444 on Flickr
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Weekly Recap for January 14-20 2018

This was our first five-day week of school in 2018, and was fairly busy with work-related stuff. I did manage to get in some time for some reading and reviews.

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

They Eye of Aya by Aya Rothwell. (8/10).

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets by Dav Pilkey. (4*).

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. (4*).

Supporting

I'm supporting NYC Books Through Bars, which sends donated books to incarcerated persons in New York and around the USA.

Looking Ahead

Lunar New Year break in February will have us hosting friends we met in Vietnam. We're excited to get to show them around Shanghai!

I'm looking forward to an eventful couple of weeks on WWE with Mixed Match Challenge, Raw's 25th anniversary show, NXT Takeover Philadelphia, and Royal Rumble.

The Kiddo is getting organized for his science fair project this weekend. The science fair is at the beginning of March.

Travel plans are still pretty vague at this point. We expect to be heading to New England USA during the summer, and we're hoping to do some traveling within China on our Spring break in April.

Photo Collages From 2017

I started this around New Years last year, and managed to do it again this year. This is a set of collages from my travels in 2017. I did a collage for each country I spent time in, plus an additional collage of just wildlife photos.

I technically started 2017 in Cambodia, but I was on a bus heading for the Vietnam border on New Year's Day. We only had two weeks between our Christmas break and Tet break, and during that Tet break, I went to Bangkok, Thailand for a job fair. We managed to fit in some sightseeing around the business portion of the trip.

Here are some of my best photos from Thailand:

And a sampling of Thailand's wildlife:

I didn't end up landing a job for 2017-2018 at the Bangkok job fair, but I did get hired pretty soon after, from there it was a race to finish things up in Vietnam and get ready to head to China in July!

Part of that finishing things up involved finally getting a chance to see a bit or northern Vietnam. On our spring break, we took a trip to Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Sapa, and that trip supplied most of the photos for this Vietnam collage:

 

And here are some of the wildlife photos I took in 2017 in Vietnam.

In June we flew home to New England, USA for our annual summer visit. It was frenetically paced and full of lots of visits with friends and family, plus a bit of sightseeing that included Annapolis MD, New York City, Philadelphia, Hampton Beach NH, and Cape Cod MA.



I managed to get some wildlife photos during our travels around the northeastern USA.



And then on to our next big adventure: China!



Aside from one business trip that I took to Shenzhen, we've stayed in Shanghai, but there is plenty to see here, including some opportunities for a bit of wildlife photography even in this massive city.



Last up: These are my picks for my best nine photos of 2017. Enjoy!



You can see more of my photos of travel, nature, and geekery on Flickr and on Instagram.

Review Recap For April 3-22, 2017

The trip north was amazing! I'm way behind on posting photos (and even further behind on travel blog entries!), but I will be posting those in the coming weeks.

Between the trip, and then getting back to the day job, things have been busy. Here are the reviews I've written.

On Goodreads

Samurai by Louie Stowell, illustrated by Jason Engle: A history of the warriors of feudal Japan for young readers.

On Comic A Day

Mighty Archie Players #1: Some classic movie plots performed by classic Archie Comics characters in this Free Comic Book Day giveaway.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 4: Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together: The fourth book in the epic series by Bryan Lee O'Malley.

Fist of Justice Vol. 1 #1: A Free Comic Book Day giveaway from Digital Webbing.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw: The third book in Jeff Kinney's Wimpy Kid series.

Venus Needs Sharks: A minicomic collection of gag strips by Matt Finley.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe: The penultimate book in Bryan Lee O'Malley's epic tale.

Little Archie: The House That Wouldn't Move: A promotional ashcan from Archie Comics in 2007.

Also This Week

I supported Elise Warshaver, who ran the Boston Marathon for UMass Boston's scholarship fund in memory of Boston Marathon bombing victim Krystle Campbell. She was successful in her marathon run; it it is still possible to donate.

I have joined Dreamwidth! These review recaps will be posted at ricksilvawriting.dreamwidth.org from here on. I'm not abandoning this blog, but I will be closing my LJ account in the next couple of weeks.

Upcoming

Heading to the USA on June 16. Leaving for Shanghai on July 27.

Review Recap For March 21 - April 2, 2017

I'm a bit late with this recap as we were closing in on the end of a marking period at the day job. But we're now on Spring Break, and I'm traveling tomorrow.

In the meantime, I got several new reviews posted over the last two weeks. All are posted on my Comic A Day blog, and several of those are cross-posted on Goodreads and Amazon.


On Comic A Day

Heavenly Bride Book 1: A supernatural romance manga by Katrina Joyner.

Avengers/Invaders Sketchbook: Promotional book for the Avengers/Invaders crossover from Marvel Comics.

Mr. Emergency Special Edition: Promotional minicomic by Wade L. Busby.

Catch A Dragon By The Tail: Minicomic fairy tale by Roxanne Larson.

Lontar #1: Journal of Southeast Asian speculative fiction.

Scott Pilgrim Volume 3: Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness: Third volume of Bryan Lee O'Malley's epic tale of musicians, slackers, and evil ex-boyfriends.

The Diary of Amos Lee: I Sit, I Write, I Flush: Graphic novel of middle school life in Singapore.

The Avengers: Free Comic Book Day 2009: Aftermath of Marvel's Civil War from 2009.

Also This Week

Boston's Walk for Hunger is an event I have supported over the years. I have walked in the event several times, starting in high school. This year I am supporting my friend Mary Perez, who will be participating in the event this year and raising money to help feed the hungry in the Boston area.

I'm also supporting author Peter David, who has reached out for help with his financial difficulties. I've read many of Mr. David's comics over the years, as well as a couple of my favorite Star Trek stories that he wrote, Rock and a Hard Place and Q-In-Law.

I've also been catching up on posting photos from recent travels. I have posted new photo sets from Kep, Cambodia, and Rabbit Island, Cambodia. And I've posted a set of photos taken on the road, traveling around Cambodia.

Upcoming

Leaving tomorrow for Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Sapa, in northern Vietnam.

Heading home to the US June 16th, and then off to new adventures in Shanghai, China, at the end of July.

Review Recap For March 13-20, 2017

I've read fifteen books so far in 2017 (this includes chapter books read aloud to the Kiddo). I'm ahead of pace on my goal of 55 for the year. Here's a look at what I've read so far:



A couple of the above books are in this week's set of reviews.

On Goodreads

The Case of the Cursed Dodo: A hardboiled animal detective story by Jake G. Panda.

On Comic A Day

Leave It To Chance #1: The first issue of the great urban fantasy series by James Robinson and Paul Smith from Image's Homage Comics imprint.

X-Men #1: Free Comic Book Day 2008: An excellent example of how to do a good story that is accessible to new readers for a series with as complex a continuity as Marvel's X-Men.

Heavenly Bride Book One: A supernatural romance by Katrina Joyner.

Also This Week

Pi Day was also Giving Day at my Alma Mater, Cornell University. I chose to support undergraduate scholarships in the College of Arts and Sciences. Donations are still being accepted.

Friday and Saturday was the SaiMUN Model United Nations conference here in Ho Chi Minh City, which my students attended (and I helped to chaperone). I posted a set of pictures here.

Upcoming

We leave for a week in Hanoi, Halong Bay, and Sapa, Vietnam on August 2.

Camp Nanowrimo will be happening in April, and I'll be working on putting together a second draft of the novel I wrote in November 2016. 

I have plans to do some last bits of sightseeing around Ho Chi Minh City in the time between our Spring Break and the end of the school year.

We'll also be starting to pack up for our move to China. We depart for the USA on June 16, and we'll be heading to China around the end of July. We're still figuring out our plans for our time in the US. We have a wedding to attend in Maryland, and some possible time we'll be spending in the New York City area, in addition to our usual haunts in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I'm also looking at a trip to Maine with the Kiddo, which may include the Port Con Maine convention.