The Myth & The Majesty

It contradicts my upbringing a bit, but I love cities. Not all of them (I don't think, although I'm not sure I've met any I didn't like on some level) and I still prefer to live in a town more the size of my current residence -- but they have a tendency to get into my bones. London was spectacular. Moscow was intriguing. St. Petersburg is eighteen stories all its own ... True love is St. Petersburg. Chicago? New York? Houston? Minneapolis? Denver? More love. That being said, I'm now in Beijing, and once again I find myself mildly smitten. It's the bustle and the variety and the anonymity all at once. Even the traffic, which around here is admittedly some of the craziest I've seen. (Even more so than Moscow. Never thought I'd say that.) It's also the food. Last night (keep in mind that it's actually just after 8AM here) I bucked my growing agoraphobia and walked to a nearby restaurant that a coworker recommended. For less than 20 US, I

This trip has been a veritable whirlwind. From Wednesday night till Sunday I was in a city east of Shanghai, right on the coast, running through the training for one of our units and helping where I could with startup. On Sunday I hopped a plane for Beijing and headed to another site about two hours from the city to put on the training there and attempt to help with that startup (which didn't work out for lots of complicated and frustrating reasons). Today, a car picked me up and whisked me off to Beijing. It's now 8:30 at night on Wednesday and I'm working from the fourth floor of a hotel in downtown Beijing. I have an incredibly cool view and a cup of tea ... This is pretty awesome. Tomorrow, with any luck, I'll get to go see the Great Wall, joining my parents and Mia Sorella as family members who have all seen this particular Wonder of the World. And ... then I'll come back and get some more work done since Friday will be spent in utter confusion and mayhem

We'll go At 1000 miles an hour We'll fly Past wheat fields and water towers... (OK Go, "1000 Miles Per Hour") There's been downtime, of sorts, periodically all week. But all the same, I feel like I haven't stopped moving. It all started last Thursday, when I was informed that I would probably be going to China the following week. Late, probably not till Friday or so -- but going. Hyperdrive started. Friday, I'm told I'm not going for at least another two weeks. Hyperdrive stalls; the regular motor kicks in again and things are taken down a notch. Saturday morning, my boss calls. I'm going. And not just going -- but leaving on Tuesday. Suddenly there just weren't enough hours to take care of everything. Travel arrangements, project arrangements, paperwork ... I'm still not sure what all I forgot. I did remember to put a hold on my mail but I think I left my rent check on my desk. (Oops.) Tuesday morning, b

All those clever thoughts I've had over the last 36 hours are nonexistent at the moment. I'm just too darn tired. I'm also in Beijing. So that's cool. One more flight for the day and then hopefully I can sleep for at least ... Four hours. Hopefully more than that. Of course, after that it's off to the races, but somehow I think just being able to hold still that long will be tremendously helpful. Especially if that's in a quiet hotel room instead of next to a complete stranger on a plane.

As luck (good or bad, it's still luck) would have it, I am going to China on Tuesday. Assuming, of course, no one else changes his or her mind between now and then -- but being that tickets are being purchased and reservations made, it seems far more likel. Yes, I love travel. Yes, I've been looking forward to China. Yes, I want to get this system started up (my first one ever). No, I don't want to go this week. There are several reasons (most having to do with the number of people with whom I've cancelled plans in the last twelve hours), but it boils down to one thing: I am a planner. When my plans get interrupted, I get cranky. And when eight or nine different plans (of varying scales from "missing a couple Zumba classes" to "driving 500 miles for a long weekend") get interrupted, I get downright furious. Especially when these things come to light on a Saturday morning. Oh, I was yelling earlier today. However -- like usual -- that calm,

St. Patrick's Day was a whole lot of random fun. The Admiral's been in town all week so he, Moonie and I started with sushi downtown before having a couple of Guinnesses (because we're snobs and not big fans of green beer). Somewhere in there we also connected with the Brit (also in town this week before he moves to Australia for a year -- what a strange life he leads) and a handful of friends still lacking in blogworthy pseudonyms. But really, that's only one part of the mayhem of the week. Admittedly the part that most screwed with any thought I might have had of a regular sleep schedule ... but only part of it. I continue to blame the Admiral. Added bonus that I found out this morning that I'll probably be leaving the country in a week ... and I have no energy left. Yep. And this was a week that started with dancing a couple hours from home.

Happy St. Patrick's Day! A day more celebrated in the U.S. than anywhere else ... Something that The Brit pointed out last night. I think he's happy to be in the States this week for that.

Guys have a tendency to point out that we girls have checklists ... and generally speaking, we do. I talked about it a little here , but I realized that there has to be a better way to illustrate these things. Now, I give you The Mindset. This is what I picture when I think about the possibility of a long-term relationship in Wausau. Brace yourself. --- (We see a large, stark white room. No one is there yet and to be perfectly honest we're not really sure what's going on.) Voiceover. Let's take the population of Wausau. (A large crowd of people appears, à la Verizon Wireless commercials. Thousands, fading into the background in relative obscurity. As they're called out, they fall away like trap doors have opened directly underneath them.) Voiceover. First of all, I'm only into men. (All women fall out of the frame. A few of them yelp.) Straight men. (About ten percent of the men disappear.) And unmarried ones, at that. (Half of the remaining men fall ou

Yesterday was, perhaps, a little hectic. It started early -- I managed to clean out my car and get on the road without too much hold up. Some shopping in Appleton, a handful of cemetery geocaches, a cool little bookstore in Oshkosh, and soon I was in Fond du Lac for several hours of tango and milonga. Always a good thing. Made it back to town in time to catch Moonie for a bit, and then I was home again to chat with Mia Sorella (who may be re-employed! Woot!) It's possible I could have a lot more to say about all of that, but at the moment I don't have a single creatively functioning synapse. You get the blow-by-blow. That's it. Today's weather is challenging my ability to stay inside and get things done. Spring is here and it's wonderful...

... is a fantastic day for a road trip. That's good news.

... made over the last three weeks. 1. Listening to stand-up comedy at work often leads to awkward situations, usually involving laughing at inappropriate times. 2. Continuing a conversation over a wall that started thirty seconds before frequently makes you look like a nutter. 3. It may look sunshiny bright outside but don't be fooled. Snow will still melt at 10°F if it's covered in a layer of salt. 4. Yes, you can notice when there's one less voice in a room of fifty people. 5. If you have the chance, I recommend checking out a group called Rock Sugar. (Thank you, Moonie.) 6. The first spring rain is only something to be enjoyed if it comes with "unseasonably warm" weather. Otherwise it freezes and makes a mess. Ew. 7. It's hard to stay warm in a damp building in March. 8. Even the most graceful people trip while walking up the stairs sometimes. (What hope is there for the rest of us?) 9. There are probably twice as many friendly st

The Dude won an Oscar and the Long Smurfs were ousted. I may have laughed uproariously last night.

When I first moved here -- the very first hour , actually -- I got lost downtown. There was construction going on and because of that there were three one-way streets in a row that all went north. I, of course, wanted to go south. Downtown has lost most of its confusion now. A few times exploring on foot and I knew which streets actually did go north or south (more go north than south), which ones dead-ended into the mall (same reason more go north), where to find coffee, where to find lunch, where you can find live music on the weekends. Which stores lasted and which ones wouldn't. Where to find a Pepsi vending machine. You know -- the essentials. When I moved across town, the biggest advantages were all about proximity. Closer to work, closer to friends, closer to the places we frequented -- and walking distance to downtown. It was a glorious change. On a day like today, one with exceptionally great weather, the fifteen minute walk almost goes by too quickly. But at

I've been somewhat negligent once again -- but that's the catch to having a slow week. Plenty of time to write but absolutely nothing to say. It's an interesting catch.

[Because sometimes I narrate in third person...] It had been a long day. She couldn't fully explain it. Part of it had to do with the number of people who asked if it was particularly quiet at their end of the building now. She usually forced a chuckle and a yes, but the truth was that she hadn't noticed as much as she had expected. Part of it was the fact that she was just plain tired. And perhaps another part was the anticipation of things to come, things that she knew were going to be less than pleasant. In any case, as she walked into the bookstore she wasn't her usual cheerful self -- and she was feeling self-conscious about it. She was surprised at the person working behind the counter in the cafe, a friendly guy who always seemed to remember her. He greeted her as always, chuckled at her "long week" comment, didn't pry when she was uncharacteristically quiet, and handed over her coffee with a smile and a see-you-later. She settled in with a b