textures | tones

And it was 10 Days, and I wanted to post, but I was very busy yesterday, by which I actually mean Friday the 11th. That was my last day of work, and we all went out to Panda Express for lunch and Craig got my lunch which was nice. I didn’t actually want to make a big deal out of it all, said my goodbyes, etc., in a very masculine way I’d like to think: handshakes. I got home and Maria was waiting for me, we had dinner at home, and I was just tired. We got dessert, watched some Star Trek, and the day passed into memory mostly like any other, its import probably not entirely recognized yet by my brain.

Today, as in Saturday the 12th, was our going away party at Craig and Becky’s. I got us catered food from Rubio’s, good fish tacos. We drank a lot, watched the USC vs. OSU game, played Partini (think Cranium but with an alcoholic drink theme, no actual alcohol consumption), watched Wipeout, which I think Maria very adequately described as an audience participation show, had cake, and that was that as well. We took a couple of photos, swapped personal email addresses, exchanged girl and man hugs, and were on our way yet again.

I really don’t think it’s hit yet. I think it will, and soon, and I might freak out a bit, but it’ll be a good kind of freak out. We’re exceptionally glad we did not wait for my father to return to China with us because it looks like he’ll be going back a full week after we had originally wanted to. Our priorities the first bit or so in China will be to find a way to watch the USC games, get an apartment, find a way to workout consistently, find a Chinese school, and get jobs. I don’t expect it’ll be too difficult. But if we had stayed and waited, I think I might have gone stir crazy. Much better this way; I can focus on being…focused.

Saw Niki today for brunch at Urth Cafe. Sorry you got a parking ticket… She seemed well and happy, so I’m happy for her. At this point the best I can hope for for any of the good friends I’m leaving behind is due diligence on my part to keep and stay in touch. It’ll be important.

Ah and most importantly, Maria successfully sold her car today!

Tomorrow will be a fairly lazy day, thankfully. Not much on the agenda, though there’s some digital shuffling that we’ll want to do, some football to watch, and maybe getting together with Kelly and Sarah.

…and only 4 more actual days of work! It’s almost finished!

We successfully got our Visas, good for 60 days at a time, 4 times a year, so effectively we can stay there for 8 months even if we really mess up our longer term Visas; we’ll just have to leave and come back in to the country every two months. Supposedly it’s good enough to even just go to Hong Kong and back. Or I’m thinking we can use this as an excuse to take a vacation every two months. Although, ideally still, we should have year long Visas that can be renewed without leaving the country. It’s just hard not thinking about vacation! Even though I’m desperately POOR! But my credit’s doing real good now that I’ve gotten most of my debts paid off.

This countdown may actually be a little in accurate now, and there may not be anything I can do about it. My father would like us to travel back to China with him. He gets to the states on the 15th, and he’s “thinking” of returning “most likely” on the 23rd. Completely uncertain though! Apparently, and I don’t think I’ve ever had to do this before, I wonder if it’s a new policy, but we’ll need to be registered with the local police station when we get there, and it’ll be easier with my father, which I don’t doubt. I just don’t want to delay our departure anymore than I have to. By that point I won’t have a job anymore so it’s not like I can work some more and make some more money. We’d have finished our last US vacation as well. We’ll basically be completely ready but sitting on our hands still. Not a very pleasant proposition I don’t think.

Our “farewell” party will also be next weekend, sometime. It was originally supposed to be this weekend, but I guess that didn’t pan out. Hopefully, it’ll be at my boss’ home, with some work friends, and the few friends I’ve left in LA. Maria’s going to be seeing some of her last friends next week, and I think tomorrow we’re heading down to Orange County to see one of them. It almost doesn’t feel real.

I’ll need to see my mother, at some point, before I leave. I’m thinking next week, during the week may be appropriate. It’s all wrapping up really, and I don’t have much exciting to say at the moment. Maria and I’s conversations are continually and exceptionally wonderful slash insightful. I can’t really wait until we get to China and we have a whole new slew of stuff to talk about.

Maria’s sleeping next to me right now. It’s hot, but the fan’s kind of nice. At least it’s nice for her. I’m not entirely sure it’s doing anything for me. It’s actually almost exactly only three weeks away, but I’m writing this just before. I’m giddy I think, and it’s keeping me from sleeping. We just booked our last vacation in the states before heading out. We’re spending three nights up in Carmel, where Maria’s never been. I’m imagining we’ll drive up the long, scenic way, spend a day in Carmel proper, a day at the aquarium in Monterey, and a half day goofing off and relaxing before heading back. I think it will be a good way to say goodbye to California.

I don’t think this post will be long. The details have mostly been squared away. I got new glasses today, which should prove an interesting change. Tomorrow Maria’s getting our Visas along with my step mother, and she’ll make an inquiry phone call to a travel agent about one way tickets to China and to the health insurance agent to settle our international health care plans. I’m actually beginning to think that maybe we won’t need US insurance per se anymore; there seems to at least be the possibility that while in China we’ll be able to get decently good Chinese insurance for much cheaper. But this will suffice for now.

It’s close. So very close. And I’m giddy, and a little sad. And nostalgic. I think I’ve been dreaming about California, even though it’s very, very hot. Maria’s going to schedule some final social events, meet ups with the last of her friends whom she’s yet to say good bye to. I have some similar things to do as well. And before you know it, we’ll be gone.

This may be a long post; readers forewarned.

Completely irrelevant to anything regarding the actual “meat and potatoes” of this post, I have a suspicion that the Blogger suite of sites, particular its Javascript and maybe some of the $_SESSION options, don’t work with the latest version of Firefox on a Mac. Granted it’s just a suspicion, but it’s very buggy how it does or more importantly does not work very smoothly. I’m using my desktop right now and the entire user experience is just so much better.

Also sort of irrelevant, I feel as if I’m almost just cruising through my days, and that each one of them kind of swings on by with a surreal tinge, like I’m watching myself live my life, day to day. It’s definitely related to how close I, we, are to leaving, my own envy related to Maria’s not having to work anymore, and a general sort of distractedness due to all the logistics involved in making the upcoming move a reality. Not that it won’t be a reality, that much is guaranteed, but more that it’s all almost overwhelming in some ways that as far as my actual work is concerned, I just can’t seem to be that concerned. Not that I’m slacking off at work, or doing any less than the best that I can; it’s just lost some of its glamor.

More irrelevant, but at least short: Google runs my life, and though a little narcissistic and probably creepy, I’m listening to my own music as I write this.

Relevantly, my trip back East and to OH was a HUGE success. Mmmmm and I just can’t help it with my silly references…Nonetheless, it was so. The flights out to NYC went by without a hitch. My aunt dropped me off at the airport on the day of, which would be last Thursday, everything was on time, and my Emily picked me up from LGA. New York was hot. And humid. Much more so than I remembered. Apparently it was also thunder storming, but thanks no doubt to my arrival, all that stopped. The days were beautiful, but hot and humid. Sweating up a storm. Reminds me of the stories I’ve heard of India in the summers; three showers a day.

Friday was spent first at SLC where I said “hi” to as many of the people that were there that I knew, saw the new food service provider, whose offerings look very appetizing, did a minor bit of networking care of my Emily, then lunch at Wild Ginger, where I’ve had lunch so many times yet its allure never diminishes. They’ve made a couple of changes, not altogether bad ones at that. Then it was a hop on to the subway to go to the Planetarium at the Museum of Natural History to watch the star show, as narrated by Whoopi Goldberg. Yup. So much fun :)

Dinner was at Citrus, the Spanish/Japanese fusion place, where due to my not enjoying sushi in most forms I had a nice angel hair pasta. We also discovered that though my friends claim to be sushi eaters, they do not appreciate the as I’m told finer sides of sushi that entails such “delicacies” as Uni or sea urchin roe.

I also realized on that trip that I have no idea what “Combos” are, and still don’t (Sorry Emily! I promise to eat them soon!). I do have a bag of such though and they’re sitting on my desk.

Some hanging out on my Emily’s floor, watching Seinfeld, watching Warlock play Street Fighter 4 ended the evening, and Saturday was off to the airport. Now the original plan had been to hop on an Amtrak and make my way up to first Boston then RI where I had wanted to visit with Maria’s Emily and her husband and their newborn nephews. Not that I don’t still want to, but the logistics involved in making that particular leg of my journey East and to OH a reality proved beyond my abilities, for the time being. I would still like to meet them, and obviously Maria enjoyed her time there a lot, and I plan to, but that will have to wait until another day.

I made it to OH without a hitch, even flying through ORD. And I’m only realizing now that these posts may make more sense if I provided things like external links. I’m not about to go through this currently exceptionally lengthy post and make the links, but at least going forward, if I remember, where appropriate, they may surface. Um, but OH. Ohio is quite beautiful. I half joked that I enjoyed it for its fields, its grass, the low laying hills, small streams and rivers, very Shire like. The other half of it well, I really do enjoy it. My Sarah made an interesting point that part of the appeal of living in places like the Mid-West may be to get away from all that is hectic about living in the big cities, and that the simplicity it offers may be a true comfort, and that though this sounds very appealing, it may be in a way be viewed as giving up on the complications. Still.

I was picked up from Toledo, OH by Maria and her Sarah, who was a lovely person and who had a lovely daughter. Findlay itself I found very appealing on a couple of levels. The homes were gorgeous, the “downtown” historic and very walkable, the cicadas or as they call them “locusts” very soothing. And you know I have the same feelings about NYC, minus the simplicity. Sitting with my Emily outside the Museum of Natural History and people watching, then walking the Upper West Side falls under the category of things I’ve enjoyed most in my life. OH! And we got tea, at Alice’s Tea House (Thanks to Kimmie), where I managed to enjoy that elusive specter of fresh made scones and clotted cream. Delicious.

I finally got to meet Maria’s parents, which was tremendous. They have a lovely house by the way, very Mid-West in my romanticized mind. They took me to Dietz’s (I hope I spelled that right) where we got ice cream. Maria’s bringing me caramels too :). We then walked to the tail end of a hot air balloon festival, and though there were none in the air by that time, that would have been the first time I’ve ever seen them, and I was excited. Maria and I then walked up Main St., literal “Main St.,” not “proverbial” or “metaphorical” in any way. We passed a couple of bars where they were playing a game that involved tossing sandbags into a hole a little bit away…I don’t understand. We walked to a coffee house where Maria had OH Boba. It was attached to a bookstore that had an entire section devoted to “old” books, the sorts of books with character. We sat on big comfy couches, drinking our respective drinks, watching the street outside. It was freezing in there. One thing I will say is that though purported to be worse, OH was actually much less warm and humid than NYC, surprisingly, but with all places that do get warm and humid in the summers, they love their AC, and blow up a storm. And though my feet were killing me by then, we walked around the University of Findlay, which has a lovely campus and one of those picturesque calendar worthy main slash original buildings. Apparently they specialize in mineralogy and toxic waste removal.

On Sunday Maria’s mother was kind enough to make Zuppe Toscana, that wonderful soup of potatoes and cream and Italian sausage they make at the Olive Garden. She was kind enough to send us the recipe and so I shall be making it, vegetarian of course for Maria, but maybe with those properly spiced tofu Italian sausages they have in the fancy vegetarian sections of the grocery stores, the idea being that the veggie version was lacking some spice.

I was supposed to leave on Sunday. Maria’s cousin dropped by and offered to take us to the airport, not that Maria was leaving with me yet, but they wanted to catch up, and we all chatted in the car and once again, a lovely person.

We get to Toledo airport, I say my goodbyes, I try to check in to my flight, and it’s canceled. All flights in and out of ORD are canceled. Bah! And the reason behind such inconsideration, “weather.” I had two choices: they would pay for a taxi to take me to Detroit where there was a “chance” that I “may” be able to get on a flight that will get me in Monday afternoon, late for work anyways. My other choice was to rebook for the same set of flights, 24 hours later. I opted for the second since it looked like I was going to be missing work no matter what.

Hmmmmmm, and it appears I’m getting things confused. Zuppe Toscana was Monday’s lunch, my last meal in OH. Sunday was Panera, my first and only experience there, and they had lovely iced tea and an equally lovely clientele. After that we went driving around Findlay and its outskirts. Lots of country side, things that amazed this particular city boy. Things like fields of corn and soy beans :) We also made our way over to the reservoir which was large enough to have boats sail on, then over to a local park with a boardwalk around a man made lake. I don’t know why, but I have an affinity for man made bodies of water. It actually really reminds me of China, and were I not so sure that I was in OH, I would have been able to convince myself that we were in one of the palaces in Beijing.

So after my flight was canceled, back to the original chronology of the story, we went to a Chinese fast food place and all sat around chatting. Maria’s mother was there as she had gone to Toledo to visit the mall to do a little shopping before she has lunch with the governor of OH. Neat. So though annoying, I managed to get an extra night with my Maria, in OH. I suppose worth it ;)

The next day we slept in; we needed it. Maria had had very little sleep while in RI with her Emily and the twins, and I, well, don’t know how to take care of myself heh. I was also determined to get back to LA no matter what. And to that end, I was relatively successful, as successful as is possible I suppose given the circumstances. My flight that was supposed to depart at 6pm didn’t leave until 9pm. I got in quite late, and had an interesting experience catching a cab in LA. I think that would be only my second time ever in one in LA. I walked up and down the terminal a good while before I figured out what I was supposed to do, which was join the relatively long line all waiting for a cab.

So, in short, I would like to call that a success. I’m a little distracted right now with something that’s come up with work, so I hope it’s not too apparent that I’m rushing a little to get this post finished. But as always, I hope to write more tomorrow.

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted, mostly due to the fact that I was at first at my mother’s after last Tuesday, then hopping across the country first to NYC then Findlay, OH. To be short for now, because I’m exhausted, it was a very good trip, and I got to meet Maria’s immediate family, her best friend, and her cousin, which actually set my mind at east an awful lot; I had been exceedingly worried that they’d be worried that she was heading out of the country with some homicidal maniac. I think they liked me. I certainly liked them a lot.

I also got to see my Emily. I’m making the distinction here because Maria’s Emily is her sister, the one with the twins, not to be confused with mine, the one in NYC. I also got to see Charlie, Kimmie, and a whole slew of people I hadn’t seen in a while, all of whom I really wanted to see, so, again, in short, the trip was a relatively huge success. The only minor hiccup would be that my flight back to LA was canceled due to “weather” in Chicago. This accounts for why I’m a day later than I originally thought and much more exhausted than I originally thought, which is why I’m going to end it for now, to continue tomorrow.

Also, I think my countdown’s getting a little out of hand. I think the new date of departure is going to be September 21st, 2009. Not to say that September 11th, 2009 is not of equal importance. That WILL be my last day at work. Ah I also got to see my Sarah, again the distinction being that Maria’s Sarah is her best friend who lives in OH, and some other people, and it’s just been so busy I can’t seem to end this shortly though I ever so badly want to.