So I have finally taken a chance to update since being back in the States. At the moment I am in Idaho at my parents' house for Christmas. I just got a call from Li and Reggie to wish me a merry Christmas. I miss them a ton. I miss Shanghai and my friends there.

Things with work did not turn out as planned in coming back to to Salt Lake City. Some deals fell through which means my plans changed drastically. The life I wanted in SLC isn't as I planned. Because of this it seems it would make more sense for me to be in Shanghai right now. I am thinking sometime in the Spring I will head back, but for now I am hibernating.

So my flight was canceled due to the typhoon going on right now. This was how frustrating my day was today.

- Hauled heavy, heavy luggage down 4 floors to cab
- Payed $25 to go to airport
- Waited 30 minutes in line, and paid $5 to exchange my remaining RMB
- Checked baggage
- Customs, security check, all the usual airport hassle
- Waited to board plane
- Boarded plane, sat in row with nice lady
- Had an empty seat between us, extra stretching room, rarely happens
- Taxied on to the tarmac, waited
- Taxied back to the terminal, waited
- Exited the plane
- Back through customs, huge line
- Back through security
- Huge line to re-book my flight for tomorrow
- Picked up heavy-ass luggage
- Payed another $5 to exchange my USD back into RMB
- Waited in line for taxi
- Payed another $25 for a crazy ride back to my house
- Heavy, heavy luggage back up 4 floors

There is only one flight per day out of Shanghai to San Fran, so please let the rain stop, I don't want to go through this again tomorrow.

Ugh.

This past week has been one of the best weeks spent in this city. Simply spending time with the people here that I have grown close with is enough to make me happy. Some friends and I were talking the other day about the coolest experience we have all had here in Asia, and you would think most people would say something to the effect of "walking on the Great Wall", or "Visiting the largest Buddhist temple in Thailand". While these experiences are amazing, we all agreed that the most amazing experiences you have in Shanghai is simply the people you meet.

This past week in China has been national holidays. This means a lot of people leave the city and make the streets rather empty, and allows a short break from some of the madness. It has been really nice. The last Klash Dance party was the past Wednesday which everyone came out to and made it a great time. And yesterday was the Yue Festival that was an awesome amount of fun (see photos)! And to top off the night was an F1 afterparty at Pirates that I DJed at.

I leave on Monday to go back to SLC. It's pretty sad to be leaving some of the recent friends I have started hanging out with in the past month or so. There is a lot of potential to make some lifetime friends that I feel like I may be missing out on. I hope to be coming back out to Shanghai sometime next spring. For how long who knows, but we'll see what happens then.

The people we meet, and the times we share, are more valuable than any belonging you could ever own. I am so grateful for the times I have had and the good people I have met. I will never regret my decision to move here, but it is always very, very hard to say goodbye. I will miss you dearly.

To good friends, and good people.

It's now less than two weeks until I leave Shanghai. It's hard not to start getting a bit anxious. I feel like even though I know the next two weeks will go by too fast, and when I am back in SLC I will miss this place and everyone here, I am wanting it to get it over with. I was looking at the upcoming shows in SLC and I am so excited to see good live music again on a regular basis. I am excited to go to see a movie with my friends on the big screen. I am excited to see nice sunsets again and the mountains. I am excited to play music with Jeff again. I am excited to see my family and my Mom's silly new dog. I am excited to have stupid fun with all my friends and have Sunday dinners with my roomies.

But before all that there are some things I need to finish up here. I know I will be back but I don't know when. I don't want to take the last days of my time here for granted and I need to make the best of it.

I called this morning to schedule my flight back to the States. As always I have mixed emotions about leaving. This is the longest period of time I have spent here in Asia and it has become regular life for me now. I must say I don't think I could live in Shanghai for years at a time, but it must be one of the most unique cities in the world, and this will definitely not be the last of my time spent here.

It's a rainy day here in Shanghai, and the mood is somber.

Brian had Li and me over for a small BBQ and get together at his house on Saturday night. His house is always great to just chill out on the patio and have some good conversation. We had some troubles getting the fire started, but luckily Brian has a connection with a fellow by the name of Abdule who sells street meat (making him a pro at starting coals). He actually did one better, and we were pretty surprised when we saw Abdule riding his bike down the lane with a plate full of hot coals which got the fire started just fine. Thanks to Brian for a nice chill evening.

Sunday ended up being a movie day with Kasey at my place. Lounging about all day and taking full advantage of what Sundays are supposed to be, lazy days. Later that evening Albert invited me over for dinner. He and Annie, neither who are avid cooks, managed to whip up some pretty tasty food. I was pretty impressed actually. After dinner we watched the documentary called Dark Days which I highly-recommend. A very interesting look into the lives of "mole people" in the underground tunnels of NYC. In all a great weekend.

I am loving right now...
1) The girl on this tea package.
2) The new Stars album.
3) XLR8R's magazine available by downloadable PDF
4) The feeling of Autumn in the air.
5) The roller-disco party we went to on Saturday!

I am hating right now...
1) Dirty air.
2) Decisions.
3) Slow internet.
4) The fact that summer is nearing an end.
5) Spiderman 3.

Labels: top 5

Last week was Albert's birthday so I was invited to the Touch Media celebration for him. The entire creative department, over twenty of us, all went out for Korean BBQ. It was pretty funny to see everyone outside the workplace. Pretty much everyone celebrated a little too much for a Thursday night, and I am sure the Touch Media creative department was pretty much out of commission the following morning. Good times.

On Saturday we celebrated with just close friends and decided karaoke would be the only appropriate way to do so. The Chinese don't mess around when it comes to karaoke. They have these enormous "KTV" complexes (the interior somewhat resembling a casino) with hundreds of rooms for your singing pleasure. Two microphones, very corny music and close friends makes for karaoke goodness 'til 4 in the morn.

More photos.

This past weekend was a really enjoyable weekend. Li and I now having our place back to normal, without guests means movie nights and relaxation, well, kind of.

On Saturday I was DJing at a waterpark here in Shanghai called Dino Beach. They were doing a Summer Concert Festival so there was a lot of other DJs and bands playing. The park itself was pretty nice and I had a lot of fun. There was one particular artist that I performed that I was really impressed with by the name of Zhong Chi. She was a female vocalist with a really good producer, I haven't seen anyone else here in Shanghai doing this kind of music this well.

Video of Zhong Chi.

Oh, sidenote: Ciga and I were on the way home from Dino Beach, driving down the freeway and our driver decides to pull over, get out of the taxi and take a pee right there on the side of the road. Ciga even managed to snap a photo! Sometime China cracks me up man.



Aquarium Videos.

Sunday the regular crew all went out to Shangri-La in Pudong for some brunch. The food itself was decent, but overpriced. It was nice to get out and do something though. After we went to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium which was really cool. After that was the Brand City Mall for some shopping, Hooters (for the second week in a row) and then XinJiang food at my favorite place.

Weekends like this are making it hard for me to decide when to leave Shanghai. There was awhile there when I was getting tired of this place. But good friends, being back in my old office, the nice weather and my general outlook has really improved my thoughts about being here in Shanghai. Not that I was hating it before, but maybe it's the fact that I will most likely be leaving soon that is making me like Shanghai more.