Terminally Me

It’s funny how it works: when you’re at school, you look forward to break, but when you’re at home for an extended period of time, you’re always itching to get back to campus. Although classes are only just starting up, I’ve been keeping myself busy with revamping the Lambda website, which I finished yesterday. Now I just have to fix some cross-browser compatibility issues with IE and Chrome. I also managed to reread The Da Vinci Code at home before break ended, and I was thinking about bringing The Count of Monte Cristo, but I decided against it because I figured it was way too long; once I start it, I would be very tempted to finish it within a couple days, and seeing as I have 9 o’clock class everyday, I need to get enough sleep on the weekdays.

I also got my guitar back from Peng a few days ago, and I’ve been doing some light practicing. I half expected by fingers to get calloused again, but so far, there haven’t been any signs of damage…let’s hope it stays that way. David and I have are also re-watching Death Note. We’ve got about 10 episodes left (and IMO past the best part), but overall, the anime is still one of my all-time favorites.

So the power went out between 8:30 and 11:20 this morning. Luckily, I was asleep for most of that time, haha.

I’ve started running again this week, mainly to keep myself in shape, but also to “test” the air quality here in Beijing. Two weeks ago, after jogging for a short 10 minutes, I developed a sore throat during work the next day, but I suspect that may have been due to a cold that was going around the workplace.

This week, I’ve gone jogging twice so far, both times after dinner, and fortunately have not shown any negative side effects. In past years, I’ve heard rumors that Beijing’s air quality has had detrimental impacts on runners’ lung capacity, and while I do believe there is some truth to that, I also think that the story has been exaggerated. As the 2008 Summer Olympics has shown, despite Beijing’s reputation as a somewhat “dirty” city (but is it really worse than L.A. or London?), the air here is definitely clean enough to sustain strenuous athletic events such as the triathlon and the the marathon.  For runners like myself who simply do it for the thrill and exercise, the pollution is even less of a problem, since we’re not going that fast/hard in the first place. That being said, it can’t hurt to use some judgement when exercising. Run either in the early morning or late afternoon, since that’s when air pollution and temperature are at their lowest levels (I’m assuming you’re not going for any midnight jogs or things of that nature). Also, drink plenty of water before and after exercising. And always stretch and cooldown before workouts. These are the basic guidelines that I like to stick to no matter where I am in the world, and they help me make the most of my workouts.

I’ve also been playing a lot of guitar lately. The song I’m learning right now is called 青花瓷 (Qing Hua Ci) by Jay Chou. I’ve gotten all the chords down…now for the the lyrics, which are, of course, in Chinese .

After a month of waiting, the big day is finally here! I will be flying out of the Garden State at around noon tomorrow and arriving in Beijing the next day in the early afternoon, local time (can you say jet lag?). As usual, I will not be sleeping a wink on the 12 hour plane ride…I’ve found that watching movies non-stop is a much more entertaining way of spending one’s time. As for how I’m going to spend my free time in China, I’ve decided to bring the following items:

• Jack Kerouac’s On the Road – an appropriate title indeed
• Jim Collin’s Built to Last – finally, I can finish this book
• Two issues of Discover magazine – plus I can do the puzzles in the back
• My laptop – how else will I be able to blog while I’m in China?
• My iPod Touch – I just downloaded the solitaire app, so it’s all good.
• Math textbook – this is for when I’m bored. Nothing burns time like doing differential equations…(nerd alert!)
• Rubik’s Cube – this is for when I’m really bored…or when I feel like showing off, though I suspect all the kids in the China can probably do it faster than I can.
• My GUITAR! – you have no idea how excited I am to travel with my guitar . I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Continental will let me bring it as a carry-on. Hey, there’s nothing that a smile and a friendly attitude can’t solve.
• Clothes – self-explanatory.
• Money – also self-explanatory.
• Other junk (i.e. gifts) – this is all the stuff that I’m bringing for other people, and can be divided roughly into two categories: consumable junk (e.g. fish oil, chocolate covered raisins, multivitamins) and non-consumable junk (e.g. sponges (wtf!?!?), wedding presents ). Why my grandparents won’t buy their sponges in China is still a mystery to me…maybe the quality is bad?

Phew! That certainly is a lot. What’s sad is that the majority of the stuff I’m carrying, both by weight and by volume, does not belong to me. Like I said before, it’s all junk. Thus is my curse for being Chinese and traveling alone to China during the summer.

One last thing: according to my e-ticket, there will be no meals served during the flight. I hope this is some egregious typo, because as much as I detest airplane food, I hate starving even more.