Writer's Block: Water Closets Reconsidered

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This bathroom sits at the top of a hill, overlooking beautiful farmland in Yunnan, China. The squatting aspect didn't bother me; I was used to that after living in China for so long. What I liked/remember about his bathroom was the exposure of it. I could see the sky while I pee'd. Someone could walk by and look over the wall with no problem. There were no doors, nothing to hid me from anyone's view. It had a certain sort of liberating affect on me.

Of course, I happened to be the only person there at the time (which, come to think of it, is in itself a very rare occurrence in China.) If there had been other people around, I might not have felt quite so liberated!

Petey vs. Ethan

When I am really trying to get Petey's attention, I call him by his real name. He hates his real name and he knows I mean business when I say it. Today I had the occasion to do so, as he just would not focus and listen to what I was saying. The strange thing is, that when I said "Ethan!" to him, the look he gave me made me feel like I had just called him a bad name. I felt guilty for calling him Ethan. It was so bizarre.

Perhaps we need to look into getting his name legally changed to Petey. Maybe we can just tack it on the front of his name or something. Petey is cute for a little boy name, but I really can't see him wanting to use it all through his life. I thought Ethan was such a great name when we picked it out, but now it doesn't seem to fit him one bit. He's a Petey, through and through :)