Snow Day!

Snow is pretty rare in Shanghai, but we had a dusting yesterday morning, and it continued all day and through the night. School was canceled today, even though the accumulation never amounted to much more than you see here. The sidewalks were treacherously slippery with slush last night, so slippery road conditions may have been a factor in the decision to cancel school.



The Kiddo, of course, was thrilled! Aside from a bit of leftover snow on the ground (and on the Great Wall!) when we visited Beijing two years ago, this was the first snow we'd seen in over four years.

Weekly Recap For January 21-27 2018

This week saw a rare instance of snow in Shanghai, and an actual snow day on Friday. We got an unexpected long weekend, which is nice even if the policy is that we'll make the day up on a Saturday in March.

Book Reviews on Goodreads

Captain Underpants and the Invasion of the Incredibly Naughty Cafeteria Ladies From Outer Space and the Subsequent Assault of the Equally Evil Lunchroom Zombie Nerds by Dav Pilkey. (4*).

Comic Reviews on Comic A Day

Nail Polish by Sophie LaBelle and Assigned Male Comics. (8.5/10).

Wonder Woman #8 from DC Comics in 2012. (8/10).

Erstwhile: The Clever Farmer's Daughter by Gina Biggs and Strawberry Comics. (8.5/10).

Supporting

I'm supporting Caty Simon's local efforts to help prevent overdose deaths in Western Massachusetts through distribution of fentanyl test strips.

Looking Ahead

Royal Rumble weekend has arrived! I posted my predictions a while ago in a Facebook post, but I plan to do a revised version here (in light of recent injuries, I've had to change some of my predictions). NXT Takeover will air here Sunday morning, and Royal Rumble Monday morning, so I'll be a bit late getting to see the Rumble (no spoilers, please!). I can't watch Mixed Match Challenge when it airs due to lack of Facebook Watch access, but the first two matches showed up on WWE network about 5 days after airing, and I thought they were both fun. Also props to Velveteen Dream and Johnny Gargano, who put on a great match ahead of Takeover on this week's NXT!

Next movie I'm likely to see will be Black Panther, but I haven't looked up the China release date. I also thought the second Pacific Rim: Uprising trailer was a lot better than the first one, and I'm now looking forward to seeing it. The only reason it was even made was the fact that the first movie did so well in China, so the sequel should be a big deal over here.

We are hosting visitors for our first Lunar New Year here in Shanghai. Still working out travel plans for Spring break, and for the summer.

Friday Five

1. After your first language, what language would you most like to learn? Currently working on Chinese, and would love to make more progress on it.

2. Does your country have a second language? What is it? I'm living in China right now, which has a unified written language and a LOT of dialects. English is the most common second language here in Shanghai, and a fair number of people I run into here know a bit of English (most people's English is better than my Chinese, that's for sure!).

3. How many languages can you count to 5 in? To 10 in? List them. English, French, Vietnamese, Chinese (to 10). Spanish and Japanese (to 5).

4. What is the first overseas country you visited? And from where? Barbados from the US for Christmas vacation when I was a teenager.

5. What country do you most want to visit? And why? Ireland. I have some ancestry there, and I've had an interest in Irish history and mythology. I'd also like to get to Laos, which was on our list of places to visit when we lived in Vietnam, but we were never able to fit it in. It's still a doable trip from China, so maybe sometime in the next couple of years.

[WWE] Royal Rumble Predictions By Me And Kiddo (Revised)

I usually do a predictions post on fb and let it stand, regardless of developments as we get closer to the event. This year, though, I had Paige predicted to win the Womens Royal Rumble, and she is unfortunately unable to compete due to injury, and so I decided to do a revision. I'm adding undercard and NXT takeover predictions, and leaving Kiddo's original Royal Rumble predictions intact.

NXT Takeover Philadelphia

Velveteen Dream vs. Kassius Ohno

My pick: Velveteen Dream
Kiddo's pick: Kassius Ohno

Aleister Black vs. Adam Cole

My Pick: Adam Cole (Baby!)
Kiddo's pick: Aleister Black

NXT Womens Championship
Ember Moon (champion) vs. Shayna Baszler (challenger)

This is a tough one to call. Really depends if they want to have Baszler dominating the division right from the start, or if they would rather give her some more seasoning and experience. Plans for Moon on the main roster could also be a factor here.

My pick: Ember Moon
Kiddo's pick: Shayna Baszler

NXT Tag Team Championship
Undisputed Era (champions) vs. Authors of Pain (challengers)

My pick: Undisputed Era
Kiddo's pick: Undisputed Era

NXT Championship
Andrade Cien Almas (champion) vs. Johnny Gargano (challenger)

I haven't heard anything about whether Tomaso Ciampa is cleared to compete. If he is, then I think he interferes here. But even so, the eventual clash between the former DIY members will be more intense with Gargano as champion.

My pick: Johnny Wrestling!
Kiddo's pick: Andrade Cien Almas

Royal Rumble Pre-Show

Bobby Roode US Championship Open Challenge
Bobby Roode (champion) vs. ?

This seems like a setup for Dolph Ziggler to return, but is that too obvious a way to go here?

My pick: Bobby Roode defeats Cowboy James Storm
Kiddo's pick: Lars Sullivan defeats Bobby Roode

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. The Revival

My pick: The Revival
Kiddo's pick: The Revival

Kalisto, Lince Dorado, & Gran Metalik vs. TJP, Jack Gallagher, & Drew Gulak

My pick: Kalisto, Lince Dorado, & Gran Metalik
Kiddo's Pick: TJP, Jack Gallagher, & Drew Gulak

Royal Rumble Undercard

WWE Raw Tag Team Championship
Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan (champions) vs. The Bar (challengers)

I'm thinking full-on heel turn for Jason Jordan here.

My pick: The Bar
Kiddo's pick: The Bar

WWE Smackdown Tag Team Championship
The Usos (champions) vs. Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
Best-of-Three-Falls Match

My pick: Gable & Benjamin
Kiddo's pick: The Usos

WWE World Heavyweight Championship
AJ Styles (champion) vs. Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn
Handicap Match (Owens and Zayn become co-champions if either of them wins)

My pick: AJ Styles
Kiddo's pick: AJ Styles

WWE Universal Championship
Brock Lesnar (champion) vs. Braun Strowman vs. Kane
Triple Threat Match

My pick: Brock Lesnar
Kiddo's pick: Kane

The Royal Rumble Matches: Complete Predictions

Womens Royal Rumble

My Order of Entry (revised to account for some injury issues)

1. Sasha Banks
2. Naomi (because really, if someone is going to get to do their full entrance, it should be Naomi!)|
3. Sarah Logan
4. Alicia Foxx
5. Ruby Riott
6. Liv Morgan (cue Riott Squad domination for the next few entries).
7. Dana Brooke
8. Carmella
9. Mickey James
10. Nia Jax
11. Tamina (Yeah, that should just about do it for Riott Squad dominance.. so now it's all Nia & Tamina... No, wait...)
12. Asuka
13. Blue Pants (fastest elimination!)
14. Sonya Deville
15. Bayley
16. Mandy Rose
17. Kairi Sane
18. Lana
19. Nikki Bella (or Brie; I'm guessing we get one, but not both)
20. Beth Phoenix (Wild guess here; I'm figuring they go with a couple of returning legends).
21. Lacy Evans
22. Billie Kay
23. Shayna Baszler
24. Peyton Royce
25. Ember Moon
26. Natalya
27. Trish Stratus (another wild guess)
28. Nikki Cross
29. Becky Lynch
30. Ronda Rousey

I'm still going with the idea that Asuka does not win this thing. And even if Rousey does enter (the latest reports have her out of the US filming a movie this weekend, but I left her in my prediction just in case it's all a massive misdirection), I don't think she wins the whole thing in her debut. So I'm going with Becky Lynch, to set up Lynch vs. Charlotte at Wrestlemania. Asuka wins the Raw Womens Title in the Elimination Chamber, and she could face Rousey at Wrestlemania. But I admit there are a lot of ways this could go, including the straight-up dominant win for Asuka.

My pick: Becky Lynch

Kiddo's Order of Entry (I left this one as originally written)
 

1. Nikki Cross
2. Nikki Bella
3. Bayley
4. Sasha Banks
5. Paige
6. Naomi
7. Ruby Riott
8. Lana
9. Emma
10. Carmella
11. Dana Brooke
12. Shayna Baszler
13. Asuka
14. Kairi Sane
15. Alicia Foxx
16. Brie Bella
17. Sarah Logan
18. Liv Morgan
19. Ember Moon
20. Billie Kay
21. Peyton Royce
22. Mandy Rose
23 Tamina
24. Nia Jax
25. Piper Niven
26. Jazzy Gabert
27. Bianca Bellair
28. Natalya
29. Vanessa Bourne
30. Mickie James

Kiddo's Pick: Nikki Cross (Winning from the #1 spot! Kiddo is all-in or Nikki Cross!)

Men's Royal Rumble

My Order of Entry (Slightly revised because there was a competitor that I forgot I wanted to include. I am also leaving in one competitor that I have since heard is unlikely to return from injury on time, on the grounds that wrestlers have been back from injury early on occasion before).
 

1. Bobby Roode
2. Finn Balor
3. Baron Corbin
4. Cesaro
5. Velveteen Dream
6. Xavier Woods
7. Seth Rollins
8. Randy Orton
9. Bray Wyatt
10. Elias
11. Kofi Kingston
12. Killian Dane
13. Rusev
14. Jinder Mahal
15. Heath Slater
16. Hideo Itami
17. Seamus
18. Big E
19. Luke Gallows
20. Shinsuke Nakamura
21. Sami Zayn
22. The Miz
23. Pete Dunne
24. Samoa Joe
25. Karl Anderson
26. Matt Hardy
27. Kevin Owens
28. Roman Reigns
29. John Cena
30. Big Cass

My Pick: Shinsuke Nakamura

Kiddo's Order of Entry (As originally written)
 

1. Finn Balor
2. Lars Sullivan
3. John Cena
4. Andrade Cien Almas
5. Killian Dane
6. Akem
7. Johnny Gargano
8. Shinsuke Nakamura
9. Jinder Mahal
10. Tye Dillinger
11. Bobby Roode
12. Kevin Owens
13. Rusev
14. The Undertaker
15. Aiden English
16. Adam Cole
17. Shane McMahon
18. Aliester Black
19. Randy Orton
20. Golddust
21. Rezar
23. Big E
24. Kofi Kingston
25. Xavier Woods
26. Kallisto
27. Sin Cara
28. Stone Cold Steve Austin
29. Roman Reigns
30. Seth Rollins

Kiddo's Pick: Rusev (After all, the match is taking place on Rusev Day!)

And finally...

My Traditional Royal Rumble Unlikely Scenario

(I'm keeping this intact from when I originally wrote it. Interestingly, something along these lines has actually become considerably less unlikely in recent weeks.).
 

Unlikely scenario: This scenario assumes that Kevin Owens wins the WWE Championship earlier in the night. When Matt Hardy enters at #26, the other remaining entrants are Anderson and Gallows, Samoa Joe, Miz, Nakamura, Pete Dunne, Sami Zayn, and Finn Balor and Seth Rollins, who have lasted since early in the match.
 

#27 is AJ Styles, who immediately tosses Zayn. Reigns at #28 goes on a tear, eliminating Miz, Joe, and Dunne. Cena at #29 tosses Rollins and Hardy, then Reigns (to the dismay of the crowd) throws out Nakamura. Cass comes in at #30 and gets near-eliminations on Cena and Reigns before they quickly team up to toss him.
 

Reigns and Cena turn around and they are facing...
 

Anderson. Gallows. Balor. Styles.
 

Commence with the (we're still not calling it the Bullet) Club beatdown. Reigns is tossed. Cena is tossed.
 

"Too Sweet" salute in the center of the ring, and Balor, Anderson, and Gallows all exit over the top rope.
 

Your winner: AJ Styles. And the Club is back.