我们聊天儿。

lu chao and i talked.

w/p

[10:27pm]. [05/14/09]. [shanghai].

第十八天

t-minus: 两个星期，十四天， 三百三十六个小时， 二十千一百六十分钟。。。ahhh

okay, so i'm at work, and this is perhaps a little counter-productive...but i just had the realization that...right now it's approx. 3:59pm on a thursday afternoon here in shanghai.  today's may 14th.  it all pieced together quickly enough for me to have just realized that in exacTLY 2 weeks from right now...more than likely i'll be beginning my ascent into the sky and headed back home.  [my flight's at 3:55pm]...ahhhhh

that's sooo: scary, sad, surreal, soon, satisfying,[...wow, those were all with 's', ha...]...but seriously.  these next couple of weeks--i can't even imagine what's about to go down.  all i know is that what has to go down in the next 14 days is this: test&oral test tomorrow, essay this weekend, 2 more readings for classes, 4 more chapters in chinese next week, so 4 more quizzes, 2 reading quizzes, another test and oral test, then...review, oral final exam, 3 final papers due, final exam...grab all of my stuff [which somehow has to be organized/packed/mailed between now and then] right after the test...and then hurry through whichever goodbye's present themselves as i speed off to the airport to make sure i get checked in before they close the gates...and i may/probably have forgotten some things...wow.

so who knows how much i'll be adding to this before i'm back already...but i imagine if i do, they'll be quick, chaotic, emotional, weird.  it's going to get really sad really quickly, but it's also going to be so crazy that i'm not sure if i'll have the time to enjoy/lament it.

regardless...it's definitely about to fly by...it's about to get crazy.

okay, back to work [which, bTw, today is my 3rd from last day here...also sad! :S ahhh]

until next time, [maybe from the u.s. of a? haaa...hopefully not]

w/p

[4:09pm]. [05/14/09]. [shanghai].

第十八天

跑步.

well...nothing too much today; except that...i did:

wake up.

shower.

study.

class.

one-on-one.

lunch.

class.

homework.

ran.

shower.

burgers.

homework.

internet.

bed.

ha...yes, i did say i 'R-A-N' haha...for me, exercising much has been hard...buT...today i did the one thing i hate more than anything in the world...not exercising in general, but runninG!  i absolutely abhor running.  it's something i pretty much never do without a purpose [i.e. in a game or athletic situation...] but today i did hit the track, and knocked out...okay, well, at least i made it through...a little more than 1.5 miles i think?  haha...it's been awhile, so for me that felt good.  i perhaps could have done more, but breaks would have been necessary...especially since it was about...95 degrees, sunny, and pretty humid--all of which were intensified by the nice, freakishly hot asphalt.  aghhhh lol...

ummm, okay...gonna get to sleep now, after just that little tidbit.

until next time!

w/p

[11:42pm]. [05-11-09]. [shanghai].

第十五天

the beginning of an end.

just wanted to insert a snippet from an e-mail i just sent.  it's nothing eloquent, and i'm not even going to go through it to edit/enhance/perfect it...just wanted to document it again so that i'll be able to look back at this entry, and not necessarily be able to read too specifically what i was feeling, but at least i'll be able to look at it, and spur those memories.  i'm really going to miss this place...

"so know that i love you, i miss you, and while i'm ready to be home in less than well...in 18 days! wow...i'm going to be super busy trying not only to survive the work here, but to also enjoy this last bit of time i have with shanghai, and china, and with lu chao & the other guys.  because not only might i never even make it back to this country or city...i know for a fact that i'll never be back with the same guys at the same place in the same setting...not experiencing the same things in the same, new ways.  i can already tell that because i've forgotten how it felt to view things in that light already, after just being here a few months.  i can't even remember what it felt like for anything here to be weird to me.  it's the strangest thing, and i know that once i get on the plane or at least in the rush to the airport and all that stuff that day, that's when i'll flip the switch and be fully ready to be back in america and back home.  [but] until then, i think it's about to get really hard and really sad...really quickly.  so i don't know what i'll be saying between now and then, but know that it's going to be a whirlwind of emotions for a bit."

that's all i really have...except that:

[1] i really miss my dog...it's certainly got something to do with me watching "marley&me" for the first time the other day, and it just sooo closely resembled the relationship i like to think i have with my king, and how he's also getting pretty old...it's just very sad, and made even worse by being thousands of miles away...

[2] so this weekend was kinda a bust...as far as the whole 'getting work done' thing...it wasn't the most productive, i realize, but it did provide for some nice time spent outside our little "cet bubble"...yesterday i went to the french concession for a bit to work and just enjoy the scenary [well, actually we--oh yeah, it was annie's idea in the first place bTw--kinda got lost aka couldn't find this other place, so the french concession it was! ha]  it was soo nice though, especially considering i had just recently begun to think about how, with my time coming to an end rapidly now, how i probably wouldn't ever find time to make it back down to the bund or dowtown or old city or the concession...so it was sooo perfectly ironic that i really didn't mind that i didn't work too much, or that i bought expensive-ish hot chocolate and a croissant [bTw...soooo good!  idc that it's like 80-90 degrees...it was inside with a/c!]  so yeah, that, along with picking up my clothes i had made was about it for the weekend...well, besides all of the fun i had washing clothes! :)

[3] as the end draws near for me here, another portion of my life is also coming down to its last days...f-r-i-e-n-d-s is almost over! :(...haha, no but seriously...i'm on disc 15 of 16 now...and am really trying to ration myself so that i can have just that little bit of entertainment left all the way until the end!  it's sooo crazy to think that by now, i've probably seen nearly 200 of the episodes [not that i haven't seen them all already countless times before]...but it's been awesome and cool to watch it from beginning to end.  after all, isn't just about every life situation and drama played out at some point or another with the gang?  i know it's been eerily similar to some of the things i'va had going on with me since i've been watching it that it's kinda cool/spooky.  ahhhhh the life-experiences one can experience via the life & times of this timeless group.  haha...

[4] last for tonight, i just realized recently that in keeping up with school, working through some tough things from afar, and just being really busy //slash lazy// about it, i really failed to ever mention my sister being here back during spring break.  yeah, i realized this past week that it was exactly a month ago then that she'd been here, and that we'd gone around shanghai seeing the same ole' stuff for me [cool for her, i hope!] and then catching a plane to beijing and having a wonderfully hectic 3-4 days in the ancient capital.  among other reasons, i can say without a shadow of a doubt that her being here allowed me to really see the hand of God working in my life...just the timing and the fit...it all happened sooo amazingly that it's just hard to explain...and couldn't be any other way!  anyways, this is just an intro...i just wanted to at least jut-in a little spot about that experience, so that hopefully in upcoming posts i'll be able to recap it a little more [i'll have to refer the pictures as usual for my reminders! ha]  but so yeah...hopefully sooner rather than later i'll give that portion of my trip the credit it's due, and document a little bit of the roe family asian adventures! ha :p

okay okay...well my sleep schedule's all out of whack...and i don't really know why.  regardless, i'm already tired, and am going to call it an early night once again [3 in a row!]...ha...so good night for now; look forward to continuing soon...

w/p

[[[...bTw...photo's from the other day...hair's might long...hmmmm....]]]

[11:10pm]. [05/10/09]. [shanghai].

第十四天

1:16pm...sunday

things that are awesome...and especially after 3 months in china:

pb & j...these two items have ultimately kept me sane.  [[new found favorite option--pb & j on/in pita bread...soooo legit]]

coke.  in an earlier post, i mentioned how phenomenal this liquid is sometimes, and today, after being up since early this morning, getting things done, picking up the last of the clothes i had made, and making it all the way back here...i'm hot, i'm a little winded...and am now enjoying probably my 2nd coke classic since that last post...so roughly 4-5 or so this semester [that i care to share/remember ha]

bargaining...sooo sweet.  i'm worried that when i get back to the states [besides the fact that everything actually IS more expensive] i'm going to wonder why i can't argue down the price of just about anything!?  granted, i'm usually one of their more passive customers i imagine, because i usually just take the prices of anything that's not a bigger investment like clothes.  my thing kinda is [most of the time] if it has a price, like a tag or a sign, i pay what it says...besides, it's not like it's that expensive anyways, and to be honest, it can get tiresome arguing back and forth so much...but, yeah, sometimes it's a pretty fun pasttime!

air conditioning...which......we currently do noT have! :O...very frustrating, not to mention sweltering...

ummm...yeah, that's all i wanted to say for now.

until 下一次，

w/p

[1:16pm]. [05/10/09]. [shanghai].

第十四天

slacker.

so...i'm not good at this. ahhh, almost [well pretty much still have] missed another day.  and i'm still exhausted! :(  maybe i'm not cut out for this...hmmm...goodnight.

w/p

[12:54am].  [04/05/09].  [shanghai].

第九天

back again.

soo i made it back.  it was a...semi-interesting weekend! ha.

[however] my internal clock's still off, i'm tired, i need to prepare for class, and i can't find the battery to my phone/alarm clock apparently...soooo i'm gonna get to bed in hopes of waking up early enough on my own to prepare well for class.  

hopefully tomorrow i'll have some time during the day to even gather some solid thoughts and get 'em ready for the next post.

until then, 晚安！[wan an...'goodnight']

w/p

[10:20pm].  [04/03/09].  [shanghai].

第七天

window washers and family pop trios.

sooo...looks like this will the be last post for a few days.  we're heading out of town right after testing tomorrow morning to hit the road headed south to a small town...well, maybe a village?  maybe just outside on of these things??  anyways, we're headed south to lin'an near hangzhou for the weekend to go camping!  we're not going to be up to much besides just hiking a little, playing cards or tossing the 'bee, reading, doing homework [obviousLy], and i guess just chillaxin'.  i'm not sure if this is to be a 'chinese weekend' or if it'll be like our past weekend trips where we're allowed to throw in some english, too! [ha]  either way...it should be interesting!  [and beautiful]

so no electricity, meaning no computer, no phone, no ipod if/once the battery runs out! :p, and most impactful--no f.r.i.e.n.d.s!!! :o ...

anyways, lemme stop and start with a few more random things from today-ish:

• so this morning when i woke up [an hour late, pressed for time...having apparently subconciously turned off my phone's alarm] i had a few remnants of my dreams in mind, and so i jotted 'em down on my treo.  having done this a few times before, i can attest to it being one of the most interesting things to start one's day off doing.  i mean the words and nonsense i can somewhat remember enough to type in while i'm still coming-to...yeah that stuff's a real pick-me-up later in the day!  nothing like reading "pandas...cold stone...swing dancing...funnel cakes"...[just an example...of course...ha] and wondering what in the world was going on in there!?  haha, anyways, today's dream was a little more vivid, and i actually still remember it somewhat for once...but the note said "bus/mini-bus in the subway...run"...haha, and so basically, from what i recall, i was walking down one of the freakishly long staircases here in the shanghai subway stations leading down to lines far, far below...and then all of the sudden i heard something and turned to look back up the stairs...only to find that on one side of the now-expanded staircase there was a full-side greyhound-like bus just rumbling down the stairs at a pretty fast pace...i tried to forcefully halt it's movement, if i remember correcty.  then as i tried to avert the disaster to the left, i encountered a second, smaller 'mini-bus' filling in the gaps almost perfectly.  and so i ran and ran down what felt like an escalator going the wrong way!  all i could remember thinking was how i hoped once i made it to the level ground, that the buses would lodge themselves due to the incline...but when that didn't happen...well, that's about where it ended! ha.  nothing too crazy, but needless to say, having that memory to revert to during the hum-drum of today's class/events...it was amusing!  i'll try to continue to jott those thoughts down [if i can remember!]
• the 2nd thing i remember about today was how when i was walking to work today, i was waiting across the huge intersection near my work for the little green guy to pop up so i could continue...and while waiting, i felt this like...rain-like material hitting me sporadically.  i looked everywhere, and with today being especially clear and sunny, i hadn't the slightest clue what was happening!  luckily [well, not really] the lights take forever, so i had a little more time to figure this whole thing out...suddenly, it occured to me to look higher up...or farther away...and low-and-behold, i saw a crew of window washers suspended on their individual little chair-things on the side of the huge tower my office is locating within.  so it all started to make perfect sense [which, in turn, kinda made me realize how gross that essentially was] but then, i was sooo overly-amazed.  i mean, my building was a good 200-300 yards away from me...and they were probably like 30-40 floors up...and little droplets were still hitting me across this huge 10 or 12 lane road...it was soo weird! ha
• something i forgot to mention yesterday was how i learned that an old friend of mine, ben, just got a new job.  well, let me stop there.  he has a j-o-b.  and not like a summer-thing or something to do in the afternoons...no no...ben now has an official 'big-boy-job'...which is sooo wierd!  anyways, turns out he got hired right down from vanderbilt on west end...which is really cool--and for which i was excited to hear.  it's going to be nice to have another good friend in town sometimes to kinda be able to enjoy nashville with a little more often.  should be some good times.  

 and well, that's about all i have down as notes from the day.  the only thing left to do now is to...[1] wrap this baby up. [2] finish up this latest episode of f.r.i.e.n.d.s [which, bTw, is kinda sad in a way...i'm on disc 13 of 16...looks like it's all coming to an end...again...soon! :(  what ever will i do!?  haha], and then get some sleep for a few hours.  it's about 2am now, and i need to probably get back up at about 6 to get some better last-minute/hours studying/cramming...and also to make sure i'm fully packed before i head off to class.  after all, jeremy said we're leaving as soon as the last test is completed...and who always is last to finish?? yeah, that's right...typical i know!

alright, well, i don't know what else to say, except so long for now.  i'm about to shut'er down, and call it a week/end until probably sunday sometime.  hopefully i'll have some great photos [which, bTw, i know i haven't updated/uploaded any in well...a very long time...who knows, maybe someday right!? ha] and some good stories from our weekend on the mountain.

not sure why, buy i'd like to end with a few songs that i either can't get out of my head, can't stop listening to, or simply coming to mind right now for some weird reason:

"alright" -- darrius rucker

"this is how we do it" -- montel jordan

"word of God speak" -- mercyMe

"mmmbop" -- hanson [and no, i haven't even heard this in years...i mean...ever...ha, but i think it's just because it was in an article i read today about a settlement for illegal downloads in new york...off all the songs they could have listed as having been 'stolen'...'mmmbop' was undoubtedly one of them! :p ]

okay...gotta go...eyes are starting to cross! :)...

to a wonderful weekend...加油!

w/p

[2:02am].  [04/30/09].  [shanghai].

第五天