November 15, 2006
Deborah Fallows in Shanghai
We're not sure why Deborah Fallows is in Shanghai, or why she is writing a week-long journal for Slate. The first entry, which came out on the 13th, is the typical breathless "wow, I'm in this crazy futuristic metropolis in China and people assail me all the time with stuff to buy." We learned of this journal from the blog of Jane Dark, who analyzes Fallows' first entry from the standpoint of Marxist critical theory, so if you might want to brush up on your Horkheimer and Adorno before attempting to read her(?) post. That said, we won't guarantee that doing so will make the experience of reading either the post or the journal entry any more interesting.
Curious as to who Deborah Fallows is, we found numerous references to a person that we will assume is the one currently residing in Shanghai.
Here are some of her insights into the internet:
"The online world is becoming a destination in and of itself -- and that has potentially big consequences for the way people spend their time.”
“If there is an overall pattern of differences here, it is that men value the Internet for the breadth of experiences it offers, and women value it for the human connections.”
“More than men, women are enthusiastic online communicators, and they use e-mail in a more robust way. Women are more likely than men to use e-mail to write to friends and family about a variety of topics: sharing news and worries, planning events, forwarding jokes and funny stories. Women are more likely to feel satisfied with the role e-mail plays in their lives, especially when it comes to nurturing their relationships. And women include a wider range of topics and activities in their personal e-mails.”
She has a point there. We guess we'll stop waiting for K-Fed to release the Britney video and stalk some long lost high school crushes instead. That's kind of an emotional connection, no?
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As usual, you are being hypercritical of what is intended to be a lighthearted diary of her move to Shanghai.
Maybe you should see her bio.
Deb worked most recently at Oxygen Media, where she was Director of Data Architecture. She has a Ph.D. in linguistics from the University of Texas at Austin and an A.B. from Harvard. Deb has written many pieces about education, health, families and work, and travel for The Atlantic Monthly, National Geographic, The LA Times Magazine, Newsweek, US New & World Report, The Washington Post and The Washington Monthly. Her book, A Mother's Work, was published by Houghton-Mifflin. Deb also worked at Georgetown University as Assistant Dean for the School of Languages and Linguistics and as Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admissions.
Your attitude of "I'm smart, the whole world is dumb" is a real drag on this site.
impressive bio. bad diary. slate can do much, much better. leave lighthearted diaries about shanghai written by people who don't know much about shanghai to the hundreds of personal blogs that already have the same 'insights'. this post could have been much, much harsher.
I happened upon the diary before seeing this Shanghaiist piece, and I tend to agree with the post. Thanks Nate for your introduction, but impressive resume aside her diary is well-trodden drivel. Her "typical" Shanghai experiences? Public teeth brushing, pajama streetwear, unexpected adventures caused by an immigrant unable to speak the local language! Ah, the mysterious Orient!
Wow, just read both diary entries so far, and I'm shocked. I can't believe this lady collected those degrees and writing credits.
"Today, I hit the jackpot: I found chicken breasts. This may not sound like a lot if you live in a land of freezers and Safeways, but it's a lot in Shanghai."
She refers to the City Supermarket as seemingly the only place to find such a delicacy. Shanghai grocery stores, according to her, stock only chicken feet and "scary" entrails. Has she really set foot outside of her home in the Marriott? From what I can gather all of her insights could just as easily have been gleaned peering from 22nd floor perch with binoculars, and one stroll down Nanjing or Huaihai road on her way to the "quasi-Western" convenience of the Times Square basement.
It's sad to me that some viewers will form an idea of this city from her diary.
What a load of old drivel by this Fellows woman. Speaks volumes (a) of the quality of US tertiary institutions and (b) US periodicals such as Slate(which last time I checked was a type of flooring) that this is the sort of crap she can come up with after gaining those degrees. She writes like an extra from the film Pleasantville.
I've said it once and yet again have to say it again, the internet and the blogging phenomenon is just a vehicle for aspiring but failed journos and writers to bombard us with their inane and uninspired dross.
Simon Templar
yeah, that's all the internet is good for, simon. you're right, the internet 'phenomenon' is not long for this world, soon to take its place on the scrap heap next to previous ripsnorters like the television and the wheel.
I think I like the Jane Dark blog, but I can't be sure. Her meaning is lost in jargon and unecessary references.
As for the Slate Diary. Someone with big academic letters writes irrelevant drivel ... no suprise there.
People at City Weekend are paid to write and they come up with the 'Interracial Couples' piece and ignorantly plug the Animal Olympics.
check out her husband's blog:
http://jamesfallows.com/test/
Nathan:
Hypercritical means more than critical. I believe i was just plain critical, if that. I told people what my impression of her post was. I understand it's meant to be light-hearted, but that's like saying every "light-hearted" comedy ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. No--there are good light-hearted comedies, and there are OK ones and there are awful ones. Standards of some sort are still applicable, esp. if you're writing a blog where people expect you to have some kind of opinion, and not just be a robot blandly copying and pasting things from the internet.
If you call her "Deb" I believe that you know her personally, so i can see how you might be offended. However, you can't really expect someone who doesn't know her to think in the same way you do. It's quite likely that you would commit the same "error" when you criticize some piece by some author and their friends or relatives get offended.
If her post can be light-hearted and dare i say superficial, then why must my post take into account her degrees and complete resume? Am I obligated to give her the benefit of the doubt because she has a PhD and I don't?
I don't even know what to say about this, her husband's narrated slideshow: http://www.theatlantic.com/slideshows/fallows-china/
He got paid for this?! Please, do not hold the Fallows against Americans. We don't all look around marveling at the incongruence of modern architecture and (gasp!) people wearing clothes in a different manner than those strolling on Main Street, USA.
Peijin - while Nathan may or may not have a personal connection to Deborah Fallows - I think he makes a valid point. Shanghaiist is suppposed to be about Shanghai - not about slinging shit in a very petty, self-serving manner at other bloggers, publications, and/or journalists. Lately, this site had seen several of these posts, and while you might think it makes your own writing (and your blog) seem clever, insightful or informed, I assure you it doesn't.
JW, I am a friend of Dan, but at the same time a highly critical reader of Shanghaiist. In this particular case, however, I must agree with Peijin. While I might not have expressed it in quite the same way (the jabs at her quotes on the internet were unnecessary), Fallows' diary is precisely the kind of ignorant commentary to which I believe Shanghaiist (at its best) is an antidote. Too often in the popular American media China is portrayed as nothing but cliched juxtapositions (tall buildings and people wearing pajamas! Starbucks and animal carcasses on the same street! Trend-setting fashionistas and old men out of doors in pajamas!). Where is the substance? Where are the pieces that reflect more than a superficial interaction with this country? Occasionally, they are here at Shanghaiist, and Danwei, to name another.
Is it too much to ask that a well-educated and well-published writer would have more interesting things to say? Reading her (currently three) entries reveals that she seems to know less about Shanghai or China than the average expat tai-tai who spends her time chauffeured between Gubei and the Portman. At least the tai-tai could name a handful of places to find chicken breasts.
I understand and agree with most of what you have to say LAT - I surely do not want choke on anymore accounts of what you call 'cliched juxtapositions' any more than the next resident - but because something is a cliche doesn't mean it lacks validity. Tiring, perhaps. But ignorant?
I am not defending Mrs Fallow's posts, I'm simply raising the issue of Shanhaiist's recent tendency to post a significant amount of editorial which is merely designed to criticize and/or deconstruct other pieces written about Shanghai. It leaves a bitter taste in my mouth - while a dose of scepticism is healthy, an onslaught of smarmy commentary on how other writers just don't get it diminishes the credibility of the writers here, and the site itself.
JW:
inevitably, what other shanghaiist writers reflects on me--i know what other posts you are referring to, the ones that name names and make fun of other publications. I didn't write those. About Deb Fallows, i wrote one sentence about the impression that her post gave me, and it wasn't a good one. Is that now called "slinging shit?"
Let me ask you, and everyone else reading this, a question. If i don't like Woody Allen's new movie, and i write some smarmy Village Voice-esque review of it, does that mean that I am slinging shit at Woody Allen? Does that make me petty?
In writing that post, I still wanted people to know about Deborah Fallows' diary in shanghai. They may like it, they might not--but part of our job here is to tell people that there is stuff out there about Shanghai.
And just to let everyone, i really don't care if people think I'm clever or smart, or whatever. Does that bring me money? No. Does that bring me fame? No. Do i even know what people think about me? No. Will I care on my deathbed? No. Just so you guys know, despite how our posts might read, we are not people who take it all THAT seriously.
I do have to say that I didn't particularly care for what Fallows had to say.
There's a difference between slinging shit and being critical. Slinging shit implies something underhanded, below the belt. I am assuming that you think my post is of that nature. If so, please point out where, and to what degree. Otherwise, please clarify the meaning of your terms.
JW, fair enough. I wish that Shanghaiist did more original content, although that seems to go against the blog model, which includes a lot of commentary and dissection of other media. But that does not mean it can't be done without what you call "smarmy commentary."
However I do stand by my statement that Fallows' diary and its commentary are ignorant, not just tired or tiring. Examples?
She indicates it is nearly impossible to find chicken breasts in Shanghai, and that the City Supermarket is "the," as in only, "quasi-Western" market. Wrong on both fronts. Most any resident, foreign or otherwise, knows this. Her presumably humorous confusing adventure with a local bill collector? Was this because, as she suspects, all foreigners appear similar to the bumbling local? Perhaps, but she doesn't know because she doesn't speak Chinese. Ditto her gleeful appreciation of kitschy Chinese television.
Slate chooses THIS woman to be their readers' window into China?
In the interest of truly beating this thing to death, I feel compelled to tack on that what upsets me about Fallows' ignorance is that each instance of it only serves to cast Shanghai (and China in general) in, at worst, a negative, and at best, a stereotypical, light. China is many things, but it is much more than the backwards playground of Mrs. Fallows diary entries. She does maintain a playfulness about her experience that at least makes her better than many cynical observers of the same phenomena, but the result is the same: Joe at his desk in Anytown, USA sees what is in my opinion a poor reflection of the modern Chinese experience.
man, give her a break. She's just a fob.
man, give her a break. She's just a fob.
That's exactly why she shouldn't be writing for Slate.
Peijin - for the record, your posts are my favorite on this website, and a big reason I read Shanghaiist. Great writing, great sense of humor, and often very insightful. I wish when major media outlets wanted an inside take on Shanghai or China they would come to Dan or you rather than clueless coddled newbies like Deborah or that woman who was blogging on CNN.com for a while. Keep up the good work. And I for one loving reading a well-crafted critique. I found the Slate article before it was linked to here and had the same reaction as you.
I guess the jealousy of the unpublished for the published knows no bounds. As if anybody on this board - if given the chance to blog on Slate about their first few weeks in Shanghai - would have refused AND/OR provided insights any more probing than those of Deb Fallows. Perhaps, like Dan, y'all spend your time reading Marxist blogs and fill-in your journals with the biting insights of a Jane Dark (who, so far as I can tell, isn't even in Shanghai).
But for the rest of us, those first days in Shanghai (and mine are four years ago) usually feel just like the ones described by Deb Fallows.
Well, yeah. But if you actually want an interesting article about SH then get a local to right it. If I want to read an article about life in Gambia I don't turn to a tourist to write it. Otherwise it's just fluff - which is fine for some publications, but I thought Slate was a cut higher. Although there does seem to be a few oddities about her post - have you ever had someone bow to you here after a case of mistaken identity? I think that would be what a Western person would expect to happen in the ultra-polite Orient - but only is really found in Japan.
Lee Ann,
You miss the main point. Sure, first days in Shanghai are often like that. Sure, most people would jump at the chance to blog for Slate. But this is the main problem most people have: Why does Slate think publishing the diary of someone's first days in Shanghai is in any way interesting or newsworthy? In late 2006? I could see if it was some remote place few foreigners had ventured or heard about, but Shanghai? My problem is with Slate -- they should have left Deb's diaries for her personal blog.
ms. womack- i am not a writer. i have no desire to be one, published or unpublished. but i have lived in shanghai for six years - and i think that mrs. fallow's stories are meaningless. a week's worth of stories about shanghai - think of the potential there! and we end up with this. it is sad.
Lee Ann,
I am curious to know why you think Deb's work is laudable. I have been here more than four years myself, and while you are right that she happens upon certain West-meets-East situations that the three of us probably share, I fail to see why that merits a site of Slate's stature publishing it. What do you say to the commenter that suggested a local perspective? What about having an American that arrived with some language ability? What about someone like you, who has been around enough to perhaps provide true insight for Slate readers?
Don't mistake disapproval with jealousy. I am in no way jealous of Mrs. Fallow. I will reiterate that I am just disappointed she is simply perpetuating a superficial point-of-view of the city you and I share.
If I kept a diary of every day I have been in Shanghai (since 2002), I wonder what the contents of my earliest days would be. I'm sure I'd look back and be shocked at my total ignorance.
Give the woman some time to find her groove. And remember, we think we know everything about China after one month and realise we know nothing after five years!
Yeah, plex. Let's all sit around and wait while this lady "finds her groove." We have no reason to expect better of a highly educated, published writer.
Maybe next entry she'll graduate to telling us about those funny ass-less pants the kiddies wear! I can't wait!
Harvard was my safety school. The top schools I applied to were Oxford and the Sorbonne. Slate, pick me next!
I think what's really interesting about this particular line of discussion is the number of responses to Dan's post. Why, of all the posts on Shanghaiist, does the one on the totally innocuous diary by Deb Fallows get everyone so excited? Twenty-five comments and counting, folks. Seems to have struck a nerve, hm? And so I stand by my original post that jealousy rules, perhaps with some bitterness and definitely with some smugness mixed in.
Anyway, I never said that her diary was laudable. I didn't even give an opinion on it except to suggest that people around here remember how interesting their own early experiences in Shanghai seemed, and the massive amount of emails that went out regarding those experiences (c'mon, admit it that more than a few of you wrote home to say things just like Deb).
Regardless, Slate is an easy pitch, they're desperate for China pieces, and they clearly will take things from non-professionals. So put up or shut up: if you've got something more interesting to say, query slate and I'm sure they'll see the light. June Thomas, their foreign editor, is a smart cookie.
Lee Ann: do you not see a difference between your or my emails home as an overexcited fresh laowai, and the published work of an experienced writer?
The point is, she IS a more accomplished writer than any commenter and I'd wager the combined volunteer writing staff at Shanghaiist. I don't think we should let it slide that she is getting published what most people restrict to a mass email list of fellow recent graduates. I would like to believe she is much more intelligent and insightful than that.
Dear Publish Me:
Yes, I do see the difference "your or my emails home as an overexcited fresh laowai, and the published work of an experienced writer." And, I also see that the journal of Deborah Fallows - "At Home in Shanghai " is being published in a regular feature section of Slate that is called - you ready for this? - "DIARY"
Is it really so nuts for Slate to think that an experienced writer might have something interesting to say to its readers - most of whom are not Shanghai expats, thank god - about her first weeks in Shanghai?
Like I said before, if anyone thinks that his or her Shanghai diary would make more compelling reading for slate's readers, then pitch it. Otherwise, save your feelings of smugness and superiority for your third gin & tonic of the night.
Changing the subject and I know that would be welcomed. Those writers at Shanghaiist, who are following the Chen Liangyu story. Do some research into the below:
Have just been informed that Chen Liangyu was actually shopped by his brother. Apparently the brother was unhappy about not getting a big enough piece of the action.
So much for the story that BJ is trying to clean up Shanghai's act rather it is simply a case of the greedy fighting over the spoils of public office. Now why doesn't that surprise me.
Any way didn't the "diary from a far off land concept" die out with gas lighting and quill pens. Besides I could eat alphabet soup and shit better prose than she writes. Good grief.
lee ann, dan did not write this post.
lee ann womack:
Just to let you know, there is a person called Peijin Chen out there, and he's more than just an alias for Dan Washburn. I enjoy reading the assumption that everyone has that we the bloggers are disgruntled, unpublished wannabes and that towards the published, e.g. D. fallows, we have a sour grapes attitude.
Personally, i'd like to get published, but not necessarily in Slate. I'm not trying to compete with Fallows for the title of "best Shanghai diary." The DIARY thing in Slate is not meant to be long-form, in depth journalism. There are built in constraints and I understand that. I don't covet her gig with Slate. I'm more jealous of my doctor friends that make 6 figure US dollar salaries than i am of someone that gets to blog for Slate for a week. It's all a matter of perspective.
However, even if, as LAT suggested, someone with more experience got this job from Slate, would we do a better job? I doubt that I would--I probably know a lot more about China and Shanghai than D. Fallows, but that is what would make the word count limitation a problem, I think. There's a lot of stuff we take for granted because we've lived here, that might not make sense to people who just arrived or who have never been here. Who knows what Slate's intent was. They probably don't care about what we think--they are aiming at those people who have never been here and then can vicariously see Shanghai through Fallows' eyes.
All I wanted to point out with this post is 1) that I found this on Slate and maybe you'd be interested in checking it out and 2) from a perspective of someone who has spent a number of years in China and Shanghai, I found this piece a bit on the trite side.
And just to revert to asshole mode for a second, I really don't want to read the diary of someone who lives in the JW Marriott--for several weeks or months, it seems. There are foreigners living in old long tangs and houses--how about their experiences and observations?
Lee Ann: You missed the point entirely. Thanks for your help understanding that Fallows' garbage was "published" while yours was not.
I need to get some sleep so I can wake up to more brilliant insights from Fallows tomorrow. And for one who points at the spots of us unruly jealous failed writers, may I be the first to tell you your fingers are dirty?
Allow me to explain, Ms. Womack:
Several people (yourself included) have commented that there is little difference between what Fallows has written and what many of us non writers have written ourselves and sent to friends in emails, or would have done. People are not upset out of jealousy, but indignation that she (or Slate) would feel this material is worthy of publishing. Non writers realize their stuff isn't polished enough for a mass audience.
I used to think I hated "Basic Instinct 2" because it was an awful film. Lee Ann has made me realize I am in fact just jealous that my own home movies aren't being screened around the world. And I don't even make home movies. But I probably wish I did.
Hey guys, Fallows is feeling "melancholy" in her latest post, because "Thanksgiving is next week, and I'm thinking about friends and family back home and wondering if we could be looking at a main dish of turkey feet here."
She lives in the JW Marriott, and must pass by an ad for their Thanksgiving spread every day, or a magazine rack full of That's Shanghai, City Weekend, SH, Shanghai Talk, etc., all filled with information on the MANY restaurants and hotels offering Thanksgiving dinners. Could she please do some basic research? She seems intent on making Shanghai look like some remote hardship posting, albeit with certain creature comforts (she got a massage!) to keep the colonists homesickness vaguely at bay.
She is a crap writer. Finish end of story.
Peijin said "There are foreigners living in old long tangs and houses--how about their experiences and observations?"
I live in an old mansion in the French concession but I don't see how that makes my experience special. When it rains it leaks. Things fall apart.
LAT, after reading about the Thanksgiving sulks I have changed my opinion. Let's track her down and giver her a real tour of Shanghai.
I agree with Simon. She is an appalling writer.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/andyplesser/99862209/in/set-72057594064572446/
Has anyone considered that Slate might run the woman's blog because they are looking for precisely that angle? Middle aged woman travels to China for first time and records experiences? And what's wrong with that? Most of us thought it odd the first time we saw pajamas on the street, and most of us felt triumphant the first time we found chicken breasts in the supermarket.
There's nothing cool about making fun of people who've just gotten here and are experiencing new things that we've already tried. The point of SHist is that the readers HAVE been here and done that so, no, Peijin, we're probably not interested in this woman's journal. The only reason to mention it here is to make fun of her, which makes yours the trite post, not hers.
I enjoyed Mrs. Fallows' entries, mostly because they made her seem like a very genial person. It was also interesting to see desperation and filth treated in such a breezy manner. I like that she knows her own mind, and there is a clarity and confidence in her writing that I find quite appealing. The obvious arrogance is perhaps more informative. I see what the city looks like to her. There is little evidence I can find of any recognition on her part of what she looks like to the city. Perhaps this is what some of the contributors above find objectionable.
Fallows ends her 4th entry with the comment "we're all learning together", in reference to the gentlemen who hawk pirated goods to her on the street, after they complete her sentences for her.
What did they learn together?
The men heard her reject their offers. They understood her broken utterances, and subsequently repeated them to her. They were able to predict and respond to her behavior, just as she predicted theirs.
When these men - and many others - continue to do things their way, in spite of her best attempts to charm, cajole, berate or otherwise convince them to do things her way, she will start learning together with them. What she learns will depend on how much she is able to recognize their collective environment. Of course, she might mistake their intransigence for stupidity, but I'd like to think she's smarter than that. That said, at this point she's writing almost entirely about herself. Regarding the people she meets, she offers little evidence of her ability to understand them other than as accoutrements.
It is not a uniquely American attitude, but certainly a recognizable one. As a reader, it seems to me that I learn much more about Mrs. Fallows from her diary than I do about Shanghai.
She comes off as friendly, presentable and highly culturally defined - rather like the 'country music' of Lee Ann Womack.
Cheers
I also hate "Basic Instinct II", although I never saw it!
There's a Russian joke to that effect:
"I have never read Solzhenitsyn, but I entirely repudiate him!"
Regarding what I have read, I have only one question for D. Fallows, concerning her second entry:
What, exactly, is 'generic meat'? This has nothing to do with Shanghai. Do you normally eat meat that has been branded? Are these brands famous? Because I haven't seen them in NYC. Do you not know your cuts of meat? I mean, does the fact that you can't recognize the difference between mutton ribs and pig ribs mean they're generic?
For those of you who consider this niggling, MEAT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME! I'm indignant, fer chrissakes!
There is a little seriousness in here somewhere. I repudiate this comment although I have never read it! Publish me now!!
"She comes off as friendly, presentable and highly culturally defined - rather like the 'country music' of Lee Ann Womack."
I don't disagree with that. But at the same time, how does Shanghai come off? It comes off as a backwards (drivers like 16 year olds with no knowledge of rules), disgusting (scary meats and entrails, but almost no civilized chicken breasts!), less than international (fear of naught but turkey feet for Thanksgiving), ironically hilarious (oh those television game shows!), and a touch exotic and pleasurable (a "great city for girls" with cheap massages!). Hers is truly the dime tour of Shanghai. I love this city too much to let this pass. Don't leave out the dirty bits--Shanghai is by no means perfect--but do make an effort to get at some substance.
For those that wish to give her the benefit of the doubt, she has been living in Shanghai for MONTHS--this is not her first week as one might mistakenly assume. Months in a city and these are the insights she chooses to pass along...?
Rindy:
The point is not whether or not I make fun of her--of course I am--the point is whether or not this is some kind of terrible offense and whether or not it has dragged SHist into the gutter. I don't think it has either. I've committed this offense before, and not proud of the responses I get, but as I've said a hundred times before, a SHist reader might not agree with what I say, but at least they know this diary is out there. And they might like it. To say that this post is to argue that blogging is a one way street--what my motivation was matters, but what you the readers do is irrelevant. For example, reader reads my post and says "peijin is full of shit. I think this D. Fallows thing is pretty interesting. I'm going to keep on reading anyway, regardless of what he thinks." In this case, I have still done some people a service. In fact, i know of at least one person that has, in fact, enjoyed this journal and learned of it through this post. Even if i what i did was distasteful in tone, that's not prima facie case for dismissing the whole thing as pointless or trite.
I'm contemplating a move to Shanghai and I read Fallows' piece with interest. I agree that her observations were trite and simplistic, but out of curiosity, what do commenters wish she had written about?
Hmmm
I have only been a traveler to China spending at most a week at a time a couple of times a year. I have not had the opportunity many of you have had or for that matter Deborah to stay and explore China. I came across your site only because of one other poster.
I tend to agree the view from the Marriott is somewhat rose colored and often times the hotel dweller does not gain the full experience of knowing China. We are not forced into situations of having to cope with Chinese environments. However, this is not an excuse for Deborah who has taken up residence in China.
She could have talked about many things other than the flowers on her nails and a massage which may have been useful to others. And why not the historical significance of Shanghai and how she managed to get from place to place.
I will say it again here as I did on The Fray. The jobs are where you are and US citizens will need to cope with where the jobs are which may no longer be in the US. I enjoyed reading your thread.
Thank you.
Now Fallows is dispensing valuable advice. Read on and prepare to rid yourself of Shanghai's inconveniences:
"* A shopping tip: If it is raining and you need to stop to buy an umbrella, let the Chinese guy go first, and try to see what he pays, before you attempt to buy one yourself.
* A mobile-phone tip: Find a native speaker of Chinese to take a quick look at the text spam you receive before deleting it to make sure your usable minutes haven't expired (a bad thing) or to see if you perhaps won a lottery (a good thing).
* A radio tip: If you lose electrical power and then regain it, reset the alarm function on your radio so that you aren't startled awake in the middle of the night thinking that a gang of Chinese men are partying loudly in your living room."