Whatever

Gosh I'm in such a good mood.

I've been busting my ass all week doing work (notwithstanding my post a couple days ago). In Chinese class my teacher held individual meetings with each of us, her six students, and told us what we could work on, and our grades. I have a 9.2 so far, on 10. But she told me I had to memorize more words and start coming to class on time. Last Monday my electricity wasn't working so it took me a while to make my morning noodles, and by the time I finished eating them and reading the news I was about 20 minutes late.

I had my full week of a regular schedule for the first time. I had my internship in the afternoon on Monday and all of Wednesday. My boss is paying for me to take a taxi in now instead of hopping the metro, which takes about twice as long, so I can sleep in a little longer on Wednesday mornings, and not come into the office in a sweat.

And now it's the weekend. I worked out this evening, which was Kick Ass. And then I went with Joker and the bros to a barbecue place that serves the best beef, lamb, potato, and fish skewers, plus the best tasting sweet bread, and these awesome garlic sauce covered oysters. It was the perfect post-workout meal.

And now I'm listening to a song I rediscovered yesterday when Joker was watching a documentary of sorts on the Britpop genre. Oasis's Whatever. I have no idea where or when, but I knew instantly I had hummed along to this toon many times. It's funny how something like that can catch up with you anywhere. The world is increasingly interknit, yet still infinitely large. There's always more to explore. If you ever stop being curious--the moment you trick yourself into thinking you know it all--your done. Don't be arrogant. And never stop caring about things, because caring is the only thing that makes all the people in the world one. I believe that beyond all our appearances, all our thoughts, expressions, and all our differences, we are functionally, systematically the same person. A template called man (or woman), on which our personalities are just a ornament.

I'm having a fantastic time here. It's a lot of work, but I'm self-discovering. I'm learning tons about China and the world around me, and myself. I've made my friends, and continue to make them. Ok. I miss my marijuana. But I know she'll be waiting for me when I get back, and then perhaps nothing will separate us ever again. In the meantime, I re-balance a life that was perhaps too Brandeis-centered and complacent. Living in a city is awesome. I haven't even been to Pudong, the financial center east of the river, but I inevitably will, and in the meanwhile I can hardly stop thinking about the things that lie ahead.

Tonight I relax and unwind. I'll play my games, and maybe I'll do some Chinese homework for Monday, since I've got nothing to wake up for tomorrow. Tomorrow morning Joker has the TOEFL--I think that's for Test Of English as Foreign Language. In any case, I've been helping him all week, and tomorrow is the big day. After that his parents will ship us his Xbox and maybe we can find a fake Fallout on the street somewhere to play. Or just Street Fighter 4. HONDA!

I'm thinking a lot about what I'm going to do this summer. I think an internship is possible, but honestly I still don't know WHAT I want to do. HOW am I supposed to know that? I've got lots of places to apply to yet, but the more I think about it, the more I think I want to stay in China for the summer. I want to keep working on my Chinese. China is going to change the world in a matter of years. It is already changing the world, and it is no where near it's potential. If I don't find an internship I really want elsewhere, then hopefully I will find something here in Shanghai, or somewhere in China. Barring that, I might take a Chinese language class in Beijing for the summer. Brenden is already signed up for such a class, and it seems like a fruitful way to continue my studies here.

Wish I had facebook man. Also wish I could post pictures on this blog. Miss America, greatest country in the world. Miss my friends and family. There's a really really attractive Chinese girl on the tv right now. The Chinese are shameless promoters of their most beautiful women.