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.