uggh

Working in China, for someone coming from the "West", comes with its own unique set of difficulties. The first difficulty, of course, is the language barrier which may be present even if you speak perfect 普通话 （Mandarin, Chinese) as many Chinese people still speak in local dialects. The second is another obvious one, the cultural differences. Cultural differences may not be apparent at first but they creep up on you and can present interesting challenges from time to time. 

I shot this video several weeks ago and after I shot it the air cleared up for a few days and then got worse again. The last two days the SEPA index has been over 100. Fortunately today the rains and wind came to wash and blow away all of the pollution! yay!

My flight from Vancouver to Seattle to Boston to attend the Boston DrupalCon was a little less than desirable. The differences in flights in the U.S is amazing. My seat was comfortable with ample legroom and the flight incredibly smooth. The check-in attendant, however, was rude and actually told me that today was the day that I learned how to "fly" (because apparently I had no idea how the airports worked).

These days I rarely write blog entries that express an opinion about a subject or that are of the typical "blog" type. My blog entries have been directed towards my family and friends and are rarely directed towards the "Internet" (although I fully understand they are on the Internet). Today is a bit different.

Length disclaimer: This is going to be long... Give yourself time

The silence is finally broken. For the past 3 weeks I've been twittering several times a day but not a single blog post or photos. If you've been following the "twits" you know that we found the "perfect" place that was incredibly convenient but a bit expensive. You'll also know that the perfect place turned into a ugly nightmare very quickly.

Well this is the full story. Sit back and relax.

It was bound to happen. All of the books, magazines, websites and blogs I've have read said it would happen. I just didn't think it would come this early. I really didn't.

Four days is about how long it took to boil to the surface.

Investing is one of those great parts of a modern society that fuels its advancement and growth. Capital is funneled to people and businesses and used to fund their ideas and move them from thought and concept to the real world. Without investment many, if not most, of the items, services, and companies we use on a day to day basis wouldn't exist. The stock market has been a tremendous boon to investment as it dramatically reduced the transaction costs for investing and, coupled with modern day technology, has allowed small investors to pool together to invest in big projects.

I'm not exactly what is going on with me lately but since I left New York I have been unable to hold onto the things I need to hold onto. Less than one week after arriving in Florida I lost a folder that contained all of my important financial information (tax returns, bank account info, retirement accounts, etc. etc.). This caused me about two weeks of daily phone calls to financial institutions to change account numbers, add security passwords, alerts and/or shift funds around.

I woke up around 9:30am in a great mood. After getting out of the shower I kicked my cousin a few times to wake him up and get him out of the house. I spent about 30 minutes calling him a loser in a failed attempt to get him motivated to leave the house. He is visiting from Seattle Washington (first time in the city) and hasn’t really seen much of the city. I finally left for work around 10:30. 

Leaving my house I was in a great mood. The sun was shining, the temperature was moderate, and, best of all, the hallway didn’t stink. Something changed when I walked down into the Brooklyn subway stop. While waiting for the A-train to arrive my mood suddenly shifted from happy-go-luck to incredibly solemn and glum. I jumped on the train, found a seat and turned on my iPod. 

Normally I listen to Mandarin lessons in the morning (I’m learning Chinese) but, because of my mood, today I decided to throw on a KEXP podcast. The latest Podcast I had was #6; which is filled with a lot of upbeat rock from Cloud Cult, Okkervil River, Spoon, The Hold Steady and others. The weirdest thing happened though. When Cloud Cult (Transistor Radio) came on my mood shifted even deeper into an dark-mood abyss. I started to feel tears welling up inside and I found myself fighting back the urge to cry. 

Odd…..

I have no reason to cry and I am not the type of person that bursts into tears for no reason. Yet, I found myself listening to Okkervil River, staring out of the subway passing by 23rd street with a single tear dripping down my face. No explanation. 

Freakin’ weird. 

So I started thinking about what was going on and I came up with only one reason. I feel as though all of the things that I came to New York for are slipping away from me. I accepted the job at MNN because I wanted to get more involved with Video and Music yet I haven’t picked up my video camera since August and I haven’t recorded audio or video since my cross-country drive. I just don’t have the time, I have been dedicated myself to a programming project for MNN and I really don’t like working on large programming projects. 

Aaaaahhh, life. It throws weird curve balls at ya from time to time.