Friday, December 21, 2007

Time Flies Like an Arrow, Fruit Flies Like a Banana

As I sit here on board flight MU 586 back to the motherland, I am overcome by a strong sense of nostalgia and sentimentality. However, it is not any of those things that have driven me to pen my thoughts this time…no, it is out of sheer boredom that I have found myself once again conversing with the likes of my keyboard and enjoying the refreshing glow of my LCD monitor.

While I personify the rest of my macbook, others around me are beginning to close their eyes, pull out books and magazines, or standing anxiously waiting for the vacuum flush of an airplane lavatory. It’s times like these that grant me a moment of reflection, a moment where I can shake off the momentum of the arrow and simply enjoy the sweet nectar and the revitalizing properties of potassium as it balances out my potassium-chlorine channel.

Almost as instantly as I boarded and sat down in my tiny little seat, crammed like sardines in a flying metal tube surrounded by jet-fuel 30,000 ft above the ground, I am bombarded by the reasons why I was so happy to leave Shanghai…THE PEOPLE. Don’t get me wrong, the city isn’t full of obnoxious, better-than-thou loogie spitting idiots, but it sure as hell seems like it. And this flight, direct from los angeles was no different. Mixed in with the individuals and families who are simply trying to get back to visit family and friends are the “locals” who will disregard the social order and respect of others and flip off their shoes, releasing wretched aromas into a poorly circulated ventilation system; who will disregard airline regulations and recline their seats even those sitting completely forward; who will snap at innocent bystanders only trying to put their luggage into the overhead compartments, slightly blocking the aisle, only to hypocritically perform the same task moments later. And my only solace to such entrapment on such a flight was the glimmering hope of being able to plug my computer into a socket and bury myself in my love affair with my hard-drive and flash games…unfortunately, as if to rub salt inside an already raw wound, the powers to be that have governed my motions throughout the inception of this trip, have decided to make my socket not comply with the electricity hungry salvation.

Seeing as how I’m ¾ of the way through this page and have not yet written down a single reflection of times past, I realize that I have forayed onto a tangent…away from the initial intention of nostalgia and sentimentality. And as I try to draw myself back to the original train of thought, I find myself drawing a blank instead. I had thought about poeticizing the last six months of my life that have taken on such a different face than I had expected when I first stepped out of my bubble and onto the nascent steps of my future…but I seem to have lost that voice of explanation amalgamated with reflective ambivalence. So I shall leave you all with this question:

“As I pass you from the window to the aisle, do I give you the crotch or the ass?”

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

My First Real Winter

i knew living here on the east coast was going to have its changes...the snobby new england attitude, the dismal supply of asian food (and faces for that matter), the prospect of car-less transportation, and of course...seasons.

and though it has been cold for quite some time now...and i have readjusted my measurements of what is cold. that low of 50 degrees in san diego so no longer considered sweater, hoodie, and boots weather...that has now become brisk, happy the wind-chill doesn't drop it to 40 degree weather. but through a couple of months of that...the mercury has finally dipped into the low 30s and yes, freezing temperature.

the byproduct of said temperature is of course this crazy, white, powdery substance that is unseen and unknown to those on west coast who do not have boards strapped to their feet staring down black diamonds. to those of us who typically remained at the base of the mountains, we tend to not experience the day to day snow fall. but this transplant has now experienced his first real winter.

this would be the image of the front of my house when i left it this morning at around 10:30am...this sight of white mixed with what's rest of the surviving flora already brought the excitement to my day (it may not look it, but it was snowing at the time as well...as it has for most of the day). however, the prospect of trekking through these meager centimeters of powder were not at all appealing, and the prospect of massive slippage on the ice and the perpetual embarrassment was enough to persuade me to take a bus 4 blocks to the shuttle station for school. yes...that is the west coast mentality (why walk when we can add to the pollution)


but after a day's worth of class and work and then group work back on campus, all the while the sky kept drifting snow...my surroundings became gradually whiter and whiter as green (or more orange-ish...as it was fall just a little bit ago) parks turned into snow-covered terrains fit for snowmen and snowball fights. and at my arrival home at around 8:00pm, this is basically the same view.

it is definitely a different sight to see on a winter day...and i for one am quite excited at the prospect of snowball fights with the guy standing next to me at the bus-stop and the possibility of a city shutdown due to the ineffectiveness of throwing salt everywhere. but i'm sure a few more weeks of these types of temperatures and the constant wetness, this winter wonderland may quickly turn into an icy hell. but until then, snow angels abound.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

The Little People

it's always nice when the stars can do something for us little people...

sappy story, yes...but it's still nice