Proof that Nirvana Played a Show in Austin, 1991

This makes me happy.

Picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thechunk/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

In other news, you might notice that I'm up at 7:17 AM ... that's because Bill woke me up (again) and I decided to just stay up this time. Good news though!! I watched him take a dump and, without ANY help from me, he squatted properly on the toilet seat like he's supposed to do. Huzzah! All four legs on the seat, didn't miss at all, didn't fall in. I could tell afterwards he was confused about covering up his mess, but I took him off the seat before he could investigate any further and foul things up. Much petting, and a treat, followed. He's now passed out on the sofa.

This means training will go so much easier, since I don't have to teach him how to stand on the toilet seat. I just need to slowly decrease the amount of litter in there (it's already pretty low) and then slowly fill it up with water. I'll probably keep a small amount of litter in there for a few weeks to make sure he gets used to it.

w00t!

Six Down, Six to Go

Six months gone in a flash. Luckily I have the pictures and blog entries to prove I did something worthwhile :-)

This visit to Austin has been fantastic. I got re-acquainted with friends and family and co-workers. I met new ones (of each type). I remembered what it's like to live and work in Austin. I got a tan. I went to Barton Springs. I went to Hamilton Pool. I went downtown. I played trivia. I shot pool. I saw a movie at the Drafthouse. I watched a baseball game. I ate Mexican, Tex-Mex, and BBQ. I ate a sandwich, for gosh sakes. A ham sandwich on buttered toast with bacon, mushrooms, and tomatoes. Ohhh. I bought a ton of books at BookPeople. I read the Chronicle. I drank non-Starbucks coffee.

I. Saw. The. Sky. That's probably the biggest thing I noticed. My vision isn't hemmed in by towering skyscrapers everywhere. I can see miles into the distance in any direction. Acres of green trees replace the constructs of metal and glass. And, who'd have guessed, the sky is actually blue, not sheet-metal gray. And it's got clouds, nice fluffy clouds, that make shapes and change colors and provide such a nice contrast and focal point when you look ... up.

I took the pictures to prove it.

On the 4th I was walking around downtown, taking some pictures of the Capitol, when I chanced to overhear "Yi, Er, San ..." that is "One, Two, Three" in Chinese! I turned around and sure enough, some Chinese people were taking pictures on the lawn. One "Nimen shi Zhongguoren ma?" later and we were talking a bit in Chinese. That was very fun :-)

All in all, a fantastic, amazing, wonderful, and sure-to-be-missed trip.

Ameeeeeeeeeeeerica

So, one 13-hour flight, 5-hour layover, 2.5-hour flight, and post-flight-travel-arrangements later, I'm sitting in my hotel in Austin. Being home is ... surprisingly normal. I was wrong about it feeling strange. The novelty of seeing familiar faces was good but lasted for only a short while. Now I feel, well, I live here. I suppose that's a good thing. That I can feel so comfortable so easily in two very disparate locations :-)

Sunday was nice. I ate lunch with Kevin. We went to Curra's, this fantastic Mexican establishment on Oltorf St. Then we went to my old apartment to see my old roommate/landlord. I took a tour of the place to see what he'd done with my old room and studio. They're looking nice. The three of us spent a couple hours just bullshitting. I flashed back on the fact that I lived there for two years. Relived some moments. And kept telling myself that I've only been gone for 6 months. Sometimes it feels like a short amount of time; other times it feels like it's been much longer.

Afterwards I picked up a copy of The Onion (whose RSS feed, for whatever reason, doesn't work in China) and the Austin Chronicle and set out for Mozart's to read in the late-afternoon sunshine. It was wonderful. I felt compelled to buy a Mozart's t-shirt to wear around Shanghai and hopefully identify fellow Austinites ;-) Then Shawna and some of her friends and I ate dinner at the Hula Hut. Then we went back to her place to play Wii bowling, and I totally would have won the second game (turkey!!) if a thunderstorm hadn't interrupted us by cutting out the power. I claim victory nonetheless :-)

I didn't sleep at all on Sunday night. Literally, not at all. I alternated between lying in bed awake and reading. At 7 AM I decided to get up and partake of my hotel's "breakfast" (consisting of hard bagels, bananas, and coffee). Then I headed into work.

Work has changed in many ways. Many people have left, and we've hired many new people as a result. So, there are many strange faces, both on my team and around the rest of the building. That is inevitable though in any organization. Still, when someone I know leaves NI, it always shocks me a bit, because it's like, disrupting a small part of my known universe ;-) My team is sitting in a different location than before I left (and likely will be in another spot when I return for good). Some of the cafeteria workers appear to have left also.

But by and large, many of the familiar faces I left are still here. I spent a good long while walking around to my former teammates and saying hello. Then I gave a lunchtime presentation to many of them about Shanghai and the Chinese language. It felt good. I was really nervous about doing it, but I think it turned out okay.

I also didn't really think about this, but I came home at a good time. We have off work on Thursday and Friday, so I only have to use my brain for three days this week ;-)

This morning I was up at 3:45 but I didn't mind because I went to bed around 8 PM, so I feel that qualifies at 8 hours of sleep :-)

Speaking of sleep, this is a sleepy little town. I always thought of Austin as a rather large city, because it was the largest I'd ever lived in. But compared to Shanghai, this place is a piddling little backwater truck stop. Driving along I-35 I saw the Frost Bank Tower, the (now second-)tallest building in Austin, and was like aww, one single 33-story building. "It thinks it's a city! How cuuuuute!" Now that's not necessarily a bad thing. One reason I enjoyed Austin before is its nice blend of big-city nightlife and culture with a relaxed small-town vibe. That appears to be intact. It's just that I have a different perspective now -- I'm used to some insane hustle-and-bustle.

Austin: T-minus 19 days

So, the original-original plan was to return to Austin, permanently, on June 28th. That plan was replaced with the original plan, which was to go to Hong Kong in mid-June to renew my visa for the extended stay in Shanghai.

However due to circumstances beyond my control, the original-original plan now is back, with a slight modification in that I'll be returning to Shanghai after all. So I'll be in Austin for about two weeks (landing at 1 AM on June 29th) only to renew my visa, after which I will return to China until January 2009.

I was originally really really hoping to go to HK because I've never been there and could take a couple days off work for tourism. And the more I think about it now, the more excited I am to go back and see my friends and co-workers (and family!) that I've only been talking to voice- or text-wise for so long. Nothing beats a good face-to-face. And like I said several months ago when facing the prospect of returning permanently, I am really really really excited to see how different I feel when I get back. I kind of doubt it will be like in MD where I felt super familiar the instant I landed.

I know that it will be surreal to be back and see people whom I haven't talked with in so long. I am imagining it will be similar to the first time I came back to MD from college. I spent most of the time wandering around going " .... I grew up here." It was a very strange feeling, and to be honest, I still feel like that a little bit every time I go home -- although now it's way less prevalent than it used to be. But back then, I felt like a ghost at times -- I think it's mainly because many of my friends had also moved on at the time. This situation obviously is different because most of my friends are still in Austin :-) It's strange for me because six months either can feel like an enternity or a blink of the eye. It sort of flips back and forth at random.

w00t

I also am planning an itinerary, well, not an itinerary, but a list of things to do (okay, maybe that's an itinerary). These include things like going to Barton Springs (top on my list, actually), spending several hours relaxing at Mozart's on Lake Austin, and eating at various restaurants (County Line, Shady Grove, Kerbey Lane, Olmeca's, etc.) Mmmm. Also BOOK SHOPPING at BookPeople. Oh yes. Definitely reading the Austin Chronicle. Mayhap Mt. Bonnell and Zilker Botanical Gardens. Catch a show at Room 710 or Emo's. OH AND HOW COULD I FORGET THE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE.

And perhaps I will take a tour of the town, on my own since I'll have a car, via a Lonely Planet guide and take some pictures with my new camera, now that I'm far more disposed towards using it for things other than parties :-) I imagine there also will be dining with friends and well-wishers. And I really look forward to randomly swinging by people's cubes at work and popping my head in with a well-placed "Ni hao!" Haha. I'm also bringing gifts, which reminds me, I need to finish shopping for ya'll. Maybe this weekend.

***

I learned a new Chinese idiom today -- "Lightbulb." (Unfortunately I don't remember the Chinese for it.) It's what you are when you go someplace with a friend and their significant other. In English we would call this being a "third wheel", I guess because a bike with three wheels would not run very well (but when I tried to explain this to my co-workers, I realized that tricycles are perfectly serviceable vehicles. Hm, peculiar.) Anyway the Chinese call this position a lightbulb because, it's like, you're shining the light on this couple so they can't do anything untoward. I hope you all find that as hilarious as I do :-)

Not much else has been happening lately. When my parents came they bequeathed unto me a voltage converter, which means I can charge my Nintendo DS, which means I spent some time this weekend playing Legend of Zelda: The Phantom Hourglass. Fun times. I really love LoZ games -- for the most part, the puzzles in the game make you feel very intelligent when you solve them. I played through some of Twilight Princess for the Wii last summer and that was an excellent game also. And I still fondly remember A Link to the Past for the SNES.

It has been raining pretty much nonstop since Saturday afternoon. I was sitting at the Thumb, drinking coffee and reading, when a loud crack of thunder nearly deafened me. I was outside but under an awning, so I kept on reading as the rain started to pour down. It was great -- very relaxing.

It was really coming down, and the rain wasn't showing any signs of letting up. And then all of a sudden out of nowhere, this little frog started hopping around the plaza in front of us. I have no idea where he/she/it came from, but it went hoppity-hoppity hop and was so great :-) I really wish I had had my camera on me, but I did not, so I was unable to capture the moment. Completely random though.

Then I ducked into a KFC for lunch and ended up talking with two random women. Everybody likes it when a lao wai can speak some Chinese :-)

The rain stopped for a bit on Sunday, so I went exploring because I was feeling antsy that I hadn't done that in quite awhile. I took the metro to a random stop, which ended up being the Nanpu Bridge stop. I then wandered around taking pictures of nothing in particular. I took the ferry across to the Pudong side, then wandered around some more, finally going home when I saw the sign for the metro. I guess I spent about 3 hours doing this. It was pretty fun, and I got some great pictures that I'll try and upload to flickr soon :-)

On Monday the rain started again, and it literally has not let up since. My co-workers said this is the beginning of the rainy month in Shanghai, where it's hot and humid but rains constantly for like a month. Oh joy!! Just like in Austin last summer when we had that freak monsoon that nearly wrecked my boat party.

Sorry dad -- doesn't look like I'll be rollerblading anytime soon ;-) And it looks like maybe Suzhou will have to wait until I get back from Austin, too.

Lao Wai on the Move

• I kind of can't believe it, but I found a good pair of rollerblades that fit me! I bought them on the spot and spent a couple hours zig-zagging around the S&T Metro plaza, dodging small children and getting my footing back. I have not rollerbladed since high school, so it was a bit surprising that I could get up and move around swiftly without falling at ALL. I suppose it's like riding a bike.
• I finally got flicker to approximate something resembling normal functionality. I was having serious problems with it all day Saturday, but when I got home from the Live Bar show it was working fine. So I posted a bunch of new pictures, some from this weekend and some from last weekend. Check 'em out if you're so inclined. Here's one from the rock show I went to last night:
  
  
  The show was really fun. Everything about the place reminded me of Austin. The venue felt so much like Flamingo Cantina, Beerland, Room 710, or even Emo's that I was instantly transported back to Texas. And the music was really good too. Even the crowd had a bunch of scruffy-haired hipsters drinking cheap beer and kind of wiggling back and forth in an attempt to evince physical appreciation of the music without displaying too much emotion (because that would be uncool). Ah, just like home. However there were some people having fun, because I definitely saw a mini mosh pit get started :-)
  
  Something else I found amusing was that the lead singer of the first band, The Dropkicks, was definitely Jewish. (I can smell a fellow MoT from a mile away.)
  
  
  
  So that made me happy - a British/Jewish punk rocker in Shanghai. Of course the connection between Judaism and punk rock has been documented before. But I wonder if this guy knew that his band name was a dead rip-off of these guys?
  
• I got some sweet videos also, from both Friday and Saturday night, but our favorite Web 2.0 wunderkind YouTube is blocked right now, so I can't upload anything at the moment. SH-ist seems to think it's because of the protests that have been going on across the country (and indeed, the world). If you hadn't heard, Bjork sparked an international incident here a week or so ago when she made some politically sensitive statements at her Shanghai concert. So I think everyone is a little on edge. Meanwhile the upshot is that I can't upload my videos to YouTube. Ah well, c'est la vie.
  

Meanwhile - I've gotten just two questions. There's still time to send in your questions, if you have any, about Shanghai, China, my experiences here, and so on. Leave a comment :-)