Terminally Me

I can’t believe two semesters have almost gone by already.  It’s a scary thought, but pretty soon, four years of college will be over as well.  Hopefully, we’ll have matured and become  more like “adults” by then, but I think for now, I’m content with simply living in the present. I’ve learned that while planning for the future is a good idea, taking things as they come on a day by day basis gives you the opportunity to experience them fully. Ultimately, it is through these experience, both good and bad, that we grow as individuals.

For better or for worse, that is the reality we all face in our lives. Time is inexorable. It will keep pushing on even after we are gone from this world. Call me stubborn, but I think there will always be a part of me that wants to be a kid again. At the same time, there’s a part of me that wants to seek out the truth of things, no matter what.  To that extent, I think that Edward Blake had the right idea when he wrote his Songs of Innocence and of Experience.  Growing up can be a painful process, but we all have to go through it some time or later. In the end, what we learn from our adult experiences should not detract from the innocence of our youth, but rather complement them.

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.

Wow, the last week seemed to fly by. We drove with another family to Florida on Christmas Day, spending the night in a hotel along the way, and boarded the boat at around 5:00pm the next day. We had gotten pretty lucky when we booked our tickets; although we originally booked a room with just an ocean view, we got upgraded to a suite with a balcony, which was really nice. The cruise boat itself, the Costa Atlantica, was magnificent. I had never been on a boat before, so I was pretty amazed by all the facilities that were available on board. From a casino to several theaters, to a modern gym and a miniature jogging track, the ship pretty much had everything. The whole place was like a miniature floating city.

We spent the week visiting four locations: Key West, the Grand Cayman, Roatan, and Cozumel. We usually docked in the morning and left in the afternoon, giving people a good 6 hours or so to explore each destination. Since I’m not a big fan of the beach, my favorite places were Cozumel, (a Mexican Island) and Key West, although jet skiing in the Grand Cayman was one of the funnest of most exhilarating experiences I’ve ever had. Nothing like holding down the throttle and going 50 mph on the open water (I’m surprised I didn’t fall off the boat, haha). Aside from that, I found the informational tours at Key West and Cozumel a lot more interesting than simply walking around in the sun. I didn’t realize that Key West had such a rich history, and I was equally impressed by Cozumel’s “Discover Mexico,” a tourist destination showcasing Mexico’s history through miniature and accurate models of some of its most significant structures and places (both modern and historic). The really cool part was seeing the “miniature” versions of the Temple of the Sun and the Aztec temples–the 50:1 models themselves were several meters across, giving us a good sense of just how massive these things are in real life.

When we weren’t off exploring our island destinations, we basically spent our time alternating between eating and playing cards (with Chinese people haha). I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much food in the span of a week before, and I’ve never seen such a variety of meals among all the ship’s buffets and restaurants. It’s astounding to think that they can even fit and prepare that much food for two thousand people (not including the workers and the crew) over the course of a week and still have leftovers remaining. If I ever get the chance to, I’d love to take a tour of the lower decks just to see how a cruise ship manages to sustain itself on a voyage (lot’s of recycling, I imagine). I also didn’t get seasick like I thought I would. In fact, it was pretty smooth for the entirety of the cruise except for one night, and I still managed to get through it without vomiting.

But now that I’m back in New Jersey, I’m actually appreciating the cold weather. Call me crazy, but I’d much rather be in cold weather than in extremely hot weather. (The mild temperatures of Key West were perfect.) With a little over a week until school starts up again, I don’t really plan on doing anything besides eating, sleeping, reading (I’ve decided to reread The Da Vinci Code), watching movies, and playing PS3 (just ordered Metal Gear Solid 4 from Amazon Prime, haha).

Work has slowed down considerably since the conclusion of last Monday’s meeting. I’ve been helping out mainly with small tasks, such as photocopying and updating visitation schedules in Excel. Still, I can’t believe that three weeks have passed by so fast, and I’ll be sad to leave on Friday.

I finished Jack Kerouac’s On the Road today in one sitting today. It’s the kind of book that’s extremely hard to put down after you start reading. And I now realize why it’s considered one of the defining works of the Beat generation. The desperate yet contagious sense of restless as portrayed by the main characters Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty reflects the mentality of an entire generation (“the Beatniks”) that grew up in the aftermath of WWII. Their story, which Kerouac narrates brilliantly, is one of humor, exuberance, and profound sadness. Kerouac brings to life the unceasing sense of restlessness felt by many of the country’s young men and women at the time, as well their tireless wanderings and cross-country treks (often on little or no money at all) in search of some ultimate purpose or object (what Dean refers to as the “IT”) that for many never materialized.

It you have never encountered any literature from the Beat generation, then I highly recommend this novel. It’ll probably be unlike anything you’ve ever read before, but Kerouac’s writing style and superb character development (especially of the “mad” Dean Moriarty) will certainly make On the Road a quick read.

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.