New York New York

It is nice to be back on a familiar ground. It is a luxury to have an apartment in NY. Coming home feels natural and comfortable.
Almost 6 months have passed since I left for Shanghai. It is fascinating how much we can go through, learn and grow in 180 days. Coming back to old environment makes me realize how much I have grown (old). I am no longer taking crap from people. It is interesting how 13 years of NYC didn't teach me that, but 6 months of Shanghai trained me up.
Maybe it was the milestone birthday reminded me that life is short and I need to look after myself.
It is my life after all. When no one is asking for your opinion, why say anything. If communication is about expressing your opinion only, it has no purpose at all. Just because you are older, it doesn't make you see things with more clarity.
Moving to a new place is a great blessing. You can start your life fresh. You can meet new friends. You can have a new adventure. All the old habits, old baggages and old issues can be looked at with a different lens. They are not going away. They can just be dealt with differently.

Coming home... Going home... What do you call it?

I was supposed to fly out last night from Pudong to HKG, to stay a night, go to the bank in the morning, and then fly from HKG to EWR today. Due to heavy fog and rain, most flights of China Eastern airline were grounded yesterday in Shanghai. The strange thing was that they didn't just cancel the flight and let people go home. They made people wait all day. By the time I arrived at the airport at 7pm for my 9.20pm flight, people had been waiting for 12 hours. Finally a flight landed and ready to go out, but they have to take care of the people from the morning first. The made us wait. They can't even find out if any flight will coming in to take us. It was such a mess at the airport. After 5 hours of waiting, I aborted the mission. I called Continental and changed my flight to EWR to depart from Shanghai today. I got home by 1am, and spent ¥400 on taxi and US$400 to change my flight. Then I went online and requested refund on my China Eastern ticket. I went ahead and refunded the whole ticket, and booked my return from HK to Shanghai flying Dragon Air instead.
NEVER flying China Eastern to HK, or any international again. They can't manage when there is situation.
The situation also made me reschedule my global entry appointment, missed my chance to do banking in HK and now I can't go to Macau on my way back because I have to stay in HK to go to the bank!
So, I am sitting here waiting for my flight to EWR. At least I am going to be back home. I am so looking forward to it. So excited.
It is going to be a short trip. I know it is going to go by quickly.

A Sunny Saturday.

Finally, a really sunny Saturday. I am happy that I get to enjoy it. Work can wait until tomorrow.
And finally, I visited 2 tourist attractions today. I stopped by People Square for some banking stuff. Emerged into the park from the subway underground at a different exit this time, and found myself in the middle of the famous match making Saturday. People put up A4 size paper listing Male/Female, age, qualifications, job, hobbies and what they are looking for. Some stalls are professional match maker, some are just eager parents. And it was packed. Parents, mostly, were checking out the listings, just like when we look at real estate listings. Some are pulling out passports and ID cards to show the prospective interest. It was quite a scene. I am so sorry that I didn't discover that earlier for my visitors over last couple of months.
I also stopped by the Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai. A small venue, but just started a new exhibition, which is titled 'Nostalgia'. It was quite interesting to see some talented Chinese, Korean and Japanese young artists' work.
Off to an overnight trip on Monday. Then Wednesday night, I am leaving for my favorite NYC for a week. I can't wait to be home for some nostalgia.

February is disappearing fast

It has been awhile since I posted. Since Jim left, I was just busy working. Last weekend was spent catching up at work and little stuff. Highlight of last weekend was meeting a grad school friend from Europe, who is now a partner at UN Studio doing big jobs in China and around the world. I am so proud of her. The cool thing is that she is actually working on a Hilton project. Even though I am not involved in that particular project, I feel that we are reconnected on a different level.
Valentine's day was spent working late and dining by myself at my local favorite French restaurant. I was seated next to a young couple on their first date. It was just fun eavesdropping on their conversation.
On a trip tomorrow night, then another on Monday. I am so looking forward to my little trip back to NY on Thursday. I needed the little break to re-focus.

Lost Heaven

A picture from Saturday night before Jim left for NYC. He was not in the picture not because he was taking the picture. It was because he was so sick that he left early to go home.

I want to post... But not feeling up to talking about it

This has taken me a few attempts to write.
Brandon and David came last week. It is really nice to see them. Brandon has always been the most patient and generous person I know. He was a great friend when Jim was feeling sick. He offered a lot of time to chat with Jim and gave us a lot of support. David supported me in a very different way. He provided me with beautiful shoes to help my emotional imbalance.
Then there is work. A lot of work. I just returned from a 3 day trip to Xiamen and Quanzhou. It was productive, but psychologically draining. Just the talking and communicating exhausted me.
2 more trips before leaving for my week back in US.

Fireworks and fire crackers

Last night we joined our friends for some fire action to welcome the God of Fortune. The whole city was in a firework crazy.