Because I have to.

Life is full of decisions. And some decisions, you need to abide by or take advantage of, because you have to. For example, tonight. I am an american, I get few chances here in China to adequately express my patriotism. I need to speak in euphemisms that require at least a 3 second lag if I want to criticize the government or talk about my secrets (just in case I run for office). Tonight that moment was when John Denver's "Country Road" came on the loudspeaker. I didn't want to dance tonight, but when that song came on, in that moment I felt an energy rush into my spirit and JACK ME UP!!

Life is full of other decisions like this, where you take advantage of opportunities or decisions because you simply have to. I got a job. It is quite easy to fathom this, but quite hard to fathom that I absolutely won't be coming back for a long time. At this point the minimum is 6 months. My new job should take me through my current visa and require me to extend for another 3 months. That being said, the job is good. I will be working for the Chinese branch of GroupOn "gaopeng.com", (order from the US!!). My goal is to in a few weeks be regularly touring smaller Chinese cities opening offices but we will see how the situation works itself out. Sad to say, but I will not be able to attend class anymore. In the past few days alone, I have noticed a considerable improvement in my chinaspeak. THere is nothing more satisfying, except for a redskins win, and I hope to celebrate next year with JOSH TOM (he might be showingup on a regular basis here in china next year, but that is his blog post.

So my only meaning is relaly to tell you that things happen. Life is 50% happiness and 50% pain. At least that's what a few good friends and a lot of Chinese people agree with. The great part is that I do what I want and have always wanted, but the sad part is that it comes at the cost of my life. Right now my life is about to change...why? Because it has to. There are certain people I may seee this weekend for the last time, but I will not forget them.
why? because they are awesoem.

Booyaa.

I just ate a dog, probably a really dirty one from out of a hutong. When in Rome.

Yes, that is right. I kid you not, sorry Charlie (that's funny because my dog's name is Charlie). Actually, I ate the poor thing a few days ago, ya know, casual Wednesday night activity. I felt the need to spice things up. I'll be honest; I was down, out, and for the first time in the 8 months that I have been here, was feeling a little homesick. I had one of those 'rock bottom' type moments, where you sit down, go through a period of self-reflection, assess your current situation, and decide how you want to go on. 3 days later, I am feeling quite alright, I can only say thanks to man's best friend for starting this upswing. So after my exams we had a period of vacation, which was fun but not fulfilling. I came out of the weekend just sorta low. I have one clear goal here, well two actually. 1) learn chinese 2) get a job to keep learning chinese. Well neither of those situations is quite where I want them to be right now. I don't have a job and I can always learn more Chinese.

Thus I have been making a push to spend more time with Chinese folk. There are some other activities I have been doing too, like buying chinese pop culture tv series, signing up for chinese state run microblog websites, chinese youtube (literal translation - potato web), and QQ. When in rome, but that's not the point. Sooo anyways, Wednesday night I met a friend of mine and we decided to go for Korean. It was an unfamiliar restaurant and the menu was highlight by stir-fried dog with sichuan peppers. In what situation are you feeling more adventurous than a casual Wednesday night? Honestly, life here is different because I don't have great friends (i.e. Lucas, Svet, lil Joey - man I wish someone would slap me then pour a beer on themself to motivate me sometimes..hmmmm) pushing me to do stupid things, which means, I have to do stupid things myself. I actually miss peer pressure. The dog was, suprisingly, not good at all. It was soft, oily, and perhaps undercooked. I did indeed have the hot stomach later that night.

Anyways after I got back to my room, I was finally able to establish my VPN again, thanks to Travis ;-). Going on facebook, getting back to my twitter account, and writing my blog was like someone took an adrenaline needle and stabbed my liver. Why my liver you ask? Because my ability to process alcohol has been at an unprecedented level these past three nights. Of course I was so invigorated I had to go to the Wednesday night special, 50rmb ($8) open bar at the famous Sensations club, only the watering hole where all the most awesome safari animals come to hunt and be hunted. I then followed up a dirt cheap night with one of those, let's treat myself well type nights and get a bottle at an awesome club downtown type night, and last night settled for the middle with a delicious plate of french toast and pancakes at 4:45 this morning. Okay so they weren't delicious, but like you know, at 4:45 am everything is delicious.

I had a 4 day weekend last weekend, skipped all classes on Thursday and Friday due to hangovers (sorry mom and dad), and effectively have another 4 day week right now, AND I still have Saturday night tonight plus the Pacquiao-Mosley fight tomorrow morning. I know some of you may be thinking, "what is he doing with his life", so let me hit you with some knowledge. I have discovered the best cure for homesickness. The best cure for homesickness is to be awesome. Go and do something awesome. Make the place you are as much fun as possible, and you won't feel so far away anymore. When I was home hangin out in the Escalade with Ein and Svet rollin up to BWI to go see everyone for the weekend, I had some uneasy feelings. I had been away for so long, and had NO idea what was going on in their world, but simultaneously I felt that I had never left. That's something special, and it won't be years until I find something like that here in China. So, the only real solution is to just take some time to treat yourself right and make sure everythings fine. The Chinese have this word '心理' which is often used when describe your state of being, it literally means heart-inside. Well, mine is good now. I am no longer feeling homesick, instead I'm ready to watch some awful Chinese soap operas to improve my Mandarin. When in Rome.

Long distance high five...from China!

This ain't over yet.

For a while there, I was had. I was down, out, and firewalled. Fortunately the American spirit is courageous, bold, and full of perseverance! We have taken the Chinese red flag and thrown buckets of white and blue paint all over it. Thanks to my man, Travis, over at Witopia VPN, I am back on the interwebs...freely!

Hope is fleeting, once lost, it is hard to recover. I read a great book while in Vietnam 3 months ago, recommended by my friend Polo, called Papillon. It's about a french guy, but it's actually cool. This guy was a convict (thumbs up), was sent to French Guinea (thumbs down), escaped for 8 months and wore a burlap sack with village people while diving for pearls (thumbs up), was idiotically caught, brought back, and attempted escape another ballsy 11 times (11 thumbs up). Twice he was placed in solitary confinement for 2 year sentences, and twice he came out normal (well sort of). But normal enough to maintain his vision of freedom and, in the end, successfully escape from the French bagne. It is with this fortitude that I have sporadically googled 'witopia contact' info only to be viciously denied time and time again. But in the end, the Golden Shield was weak, and I obtained the info I need to be put in contact with Travis, my man.

It is with this same fortitude that a man boldly withstands rejection at the bar. Yes, you can blame it on that experimental lesbian phase most women go through, but deep down the answer remains; you were not enough for that girl, even if that means you were not woman enough. Will and faith are powerful motivators. Powerful enough to encourage the repeated attempt to cast out your fishing line in the dark basement bars that exist not only on Church st. in Ann Arbor, or NYC, but also in Beijing (I <3 BJ). It is amazing isn't it, life as a metaphor for..life (not quite sure when my train of thought went this direction, however).

Anyways, it is with great delight that I post for the first time in roughly 5 months. And I apologize to my loyal readers for depriving you of awesomeness for far too long. The response I received when I was in the states for that far too fleeting blink of an eye was overwhelming, well actually, the fact that anyone even mentioned it to me touched my heart. Thus I now say with convinction that I will, with greater diligence, provide you with even more regular, even more inane, even more awesome material to feast your eyes on! Let's see how long that one lasts..