Zhoudynasty

Man I can’t believe I just sold my motorcycle! I actually feel sad. I feel like I just sold away my youth and I can never go back and if I did try to go back I would just be faking it. I feel like I just had a break up with someone I loved and I know that they’re never coming back, ever. I feel like I need to replace this void in my life with something, maybe a PS3, but whatever it is, it can never replace it.

Man I feel old. Right after I sold my bike, I went to Target and bought an apron so the splatter will stop getting on my shirt when I cook. How freaking pathetic is that!? As I walked through Target, I noticed my eyes wandering around looking at furniture, cooking accessories, and outdoor lamps. It’s weird that my focus in life has moved so much in the past 3 or 4 years, I know because I can just read back in my old blog entries. Speaking of blog entries, I haven’t written one in a long ass time, and I’ve forgotten how fun it is! I think it just fell out of my routine after work started getting busy. I remember when I used to write more regularly, it was because something happened to me that inspired me to write. The sad thing is that I haven’t felt many inspiring moments to write because most of my time is now spent on work and when I’m not at work, I’m trying to just recharge my batteries. Nevertheless, I should find more time and events to write on.

I’ll end today’s post with a link to the first entry I wrote about my motorcycle, “I wetted myself, and then I wetted myself again.”

Here are the last set of pictures I ever took of my bike, they were all for the purpose of selling it.

I’ve been in Gothenburg for three days now and here are some things I’ve noted…

- Lots of station wagons and hatchbacks
- Coat check is required and costs 20SEK
- Swedish women, hot
- Ikea everywhere
- Looks like northern Minnesota

You know what’s really sad?  What makes me sad is when those you love and care about start disappearing in your life.  I remember when I used to live close to my family and relatives in China, we would see each other at least once a week.  Getting together with family was as normal and easy as going out to eat.  After moving to the US I feel like the world has become larger since family has dispersed to different states continents.

Another thing that I’ve noticed is the way we communicate has changed. In the early days, getting in touch with someone involved walking to their house, catching a ferry to Gulangyu island, or calling them up.  Now it seems like we have more forms of communication but life is so complex that we have less time to communicate.  I am guilty of this too.  Talking on the phone is one of things I really hate, it’s almost as bad as wiping my butt and the toilet paper rips. Thus I avoid it at all costs.  I don’t know why but talking on the phone to me feels like you’re rushing to get the communication done so you can get back to work.  Interestingly, I much rather chat online with someone as I don’t feel as rushed.  I think this is partly because when we chat online, we are often doing other tasks such as surfing the net or typing an email to a friend.

For example, if I’m chatting with someone and I need to leave to go take a number two, I can just say “brb, going to bathroom” and when I’m back 10 minutes later, the conversation resumes and we don’t forget what the last topic was because it’s all there in the chat box.  Chatting online feels more like having someone over and drinking tea with them all day while getting other work done.  Ironically, chatting online makes me feel much closer to the other person, even though I can not hear their voice.  I wish those I love and care about all had the habit of chatting online.

I was at Target a couple days ago and for the first time ever, I saw a Nintendo Wii for sale.

We had some family friends over last week and had a great BBQ.  After dinner, everyone tried out the Wii, everyone.  Here are some pictures of all the guests having a great time, even ones that would have never thought about playing video games.

When people ranging from 25 to 65 years old can play the Wii together, that means Nintendo is doing something right.

We’re still waiting a little longer to take pictures of the house.  There’s a hole in our wall that’s currently being fixed and there are some photos that we’d like to hang in the dining area.  Once that’s all done, we’ll take some pictures with the new Canon SD750 I just bought online.

This will be a short update, I’ve had some stuff on my mind that I wanted to write about but I’ve since then forgotten.
So here are the highlights:
1. I’ve had coffee in the morning everyday for about 2 weeks now, I can tell the effectiveness is starting to wear off.  I think that’s why my boss carries around a 32 oz cup everyday and refills it at least once.
2. I’ve got a new boss, it’s a good thing.
3. The house is 99% done, it’s a good thing.  I think we’ve bought almost everything that we needed.  I’ve come to the point where I don’t even look at my credit card balances anymore because it’s THAT scary.
4. Work is busy as usual, but there are plans to travel to TX and NY in the next 3 months.
5. We’re going to China on November 16th won’t be back till December 15th, I can’t wait because I need a vacation really bad.

I know I haven’t written much lately and I usually only write when something truly inspiring and extraordinary happens that’s worthy of recording.  Well today during bathroom break, I experienced something that was surreal.  Someone sat down on a crapper, took a single dump and was done within a minute.  I only heard 1 short poop sound and that was it, he was done.  This guy literally dropped it like it’s hot.  What’s the point of this post?  I’m not sure, but it was extraordinary.

Well as of yesterday, all the flooring for the house is officially complete.  The carpet guys, subcontractors of Home Depot, came yesterday and installed my new carpet in 4 hours.  They were professional and easy to work with.  It was a great experience working with them, drastically different working with the contractors who did my hardwood floors.  One thing I learned from doing renovations is that you really do get what you paid for and try not to hire Chinese contractors where language can be a barrier.  Not to beat up on Chinese contractors but from my experience this time, they’re just not as professional and don’t seem to pay attention to detail, unless if you tell them to, 10 times.  But on the other hand, they are cheap and you don’t know exactly how much you need to pay till the end so that gives you some room to bargain, even at the end.  If you want to hire cheap Chinese contractors, prepare to deal with lots of ambiguity and have plenty of patience.

So all that’s left to do on the house now is to clean up everything and fix some scratches that the contractors left.  Nothing’s perfect I guess.  Anyways I’m sick and tired of having a house that constantly needs my attention, I just want to move in.  At this point, I wouldn’t mind sleeping on my carpet as long as I know it’s mine.

I’m planning on moving in gradually starting next week.  I’m also expecting a boat load of furniture to be delivered from HOM.  It’s going to be hectic, but it’s going to get me closer to completion.  Completion and perfection for a house is actually unattainable and I’m starting to realize this.  The house will never be 100% complete and it will never be just the way you want it, there will always be something that you need to fix or to buy.  Guess nothing is perfect no matter how hard we try.

Dad came back from China on Thursday and I think I was the happiest kid in the world.  He was gone for 6 months, that’s the longest duration since he first left us to come to the US.  Not only was I excited to see him again but I was extremely excited that he brought back a gift for me from overseas.  He brought me a Wii!  The gaming console that I’ve been trying to get my hands on for months; even tried waiting in line at Target before sunrise.  But this isn’t just any ordinary Wii you get at the store, it’s a Japanese Wii along with 62 games.  Yes, 62 games!  I’m still baffled that I have a gaming system that’s hard to find and 62 games for it.  Okay enough bragging, but I just couldn’t help myself, I feel like I’m 8 years old and just got a Nintendo for my birthday.

I’ve been a homeowner for almost 2 weeks now and I’ve learned that it’s a lot of work being an owner.  I’ve probably spent 80 hours thus far planning my renovations, painting the interior, going to homedepot and looking at furniture.  For the first week, I was just exhausted, to the point where I drank coffee at work.  The painting is pretty much done, I hope to finish all the flooring work by the end of this month, which shouldn’t be so tough since I’ll be paying someone to do it instead.