Backdating

[These are old entries from my old personal page at Asian Avenue.com]

2002.03.16 12:50AM Beijing Shijian
Progress Report

I`m actually in Shanghai now, but so much has happened in the past month that only now am I ready to pause. Well actually, not that ready. But I felt I need to put something up here. I`m starting to get better vibes about Shanghai, though I still feel like a visitor (which I am). It`s not like New York, where I felt at home on day 1. But we`ll see, I`ve been busy with classes and my "Ten" article to really get a good feel of the whole city. But that`s coming soon...

2002.02.03 1:06AM PST
Counting down

Kicked it with the extended fam tonight. A semi-informal going away party for me. About two dozen--aunts, uncles, cousins and po po--grubbin and stuff. Since I`m skipping town before Chinese New Year, this is the closest thing. I actually haven`t celebrated the festival with my family since high school, but i`ve got a good excuse this year...I`m gonna experience the real deal in the motherland. Speaking of China, finally got that visa. Had to jump through a million hoops, but finally I got it. So now it`s just time to pack. What does one bring when staying indefinitely in a foreign country? I had visions of living a very zen minimalist life with me merely bringing glasses and a change of clothes, nothing that couldn`t be held in a mere satchel...Yeah, right. My packrat self will not be subdued. I`m already freakin out over how much deodorant I should bring with me (apparently, it`s really expensive in the mainland) and whether or not I should bring my old, already-filled journals with me. (on the one hand, they could really inspire some of the writing I`d like to get done while I`m overseas. on the other hand, if something were to happen, I`d hate to lose my best record of the past 5 years of my life...) I`m such a whiny brat. Why are you still reading this?

2002.01.26
Progress reports

Report #1: It was G`s birthday party last night. Kickin` it with the Pilipinos (and us Chinese groupies). I hadn`t seen G in about 2 years, and most of the people at the party I hadn`t seen in 3 (coincidentally, at another party thrown by G). It was cool seeing the high school peeps again. I hung out with these kids a lot junior and senior year but lost touch with them. S and E, who I usually look up when I`m in town, I`ve known since elementary school days, but they actually haven`t kept in touch with most of the other people from our class, basically which leaves my lazy-*bleep* to contact other people, which of course I almost always fail to do. Anywayz...since we didn`t have a 5 year reunion, this was like the next best thing. G said it was too early to do a full-fledged reunion, people are still the same. I beg to differ. Maybe being away for most of the last 5 years makes me more sensitive to change.

NOTE TO SELF--Seems like everyone has either: A)Gotten into a long-term relationship (with someone from MHS, no less!) B)Gotten fat I`m currently at neither (though maintaining my beer consumption patterns makes "B" more and more likely), so I feel like the odd one out. I mean dude, M got married and has a kid! If I had stayed West Coast, would I be with someone from the hometown? Milpitas is a surprisingly incestuous town, considering few families have lived here longer than like a decade. But maybe that`ll change. People seemed to be pretty fond of this place.

Report #2: Hopefully I`ll spend less time with angst-riddenthoughts about high school. My Air Canada ticket to Hong Kong is paid for. I am good to go. I`m leaving on Feb. 6th with an Open Return. It`skinda cool when people ask me "When are you coming back?" and I can honestly say, "I have no idea..." DUMB LINK OF THE DAY: Slate.com`s David Plotz dissin` on U2. That ain`t right.

2002.01.24
The in-between times

Well my year-and-a-half as resident of New York City, and my 5 1/2 year stint on the East Coast has come to an end. I`m sitting at home back here in the Bay Area. But this place no longer feels like home. People are supposed to leave their hearts in San Francisco, but having been through everything(and living there during 9/11, I do mean EVERYTHING), one can`t simply pick up and leave. But that`s just as well. I`m off to China in 2 weeks for an indefinite stay, and by the time my time in Asia is through, my notions of home will probably be even more messed up! Wish me luck!