Ryu2.mind

You know it's a bit skewed when you get off work (during a national holiday week) at 1 AM, and you're elated at being able to go home early...

Some of my friends are involved in older girl/younger guy relationships, and I'm not inherently  opposed to the idea myself... but I still think this is way messed up. =P [Yahoo, via hongkykong]

The term black widow also comes to mind...

"too tired to live, too lazy to die"
-- from my coworker's MSN screen name

My thoughts exactly...

It's over.  For now at least. 

Update: For those of you who want a more work-centric look at the last two months, check out Daniel's (our producer) blog, and Audran's (our art director) photo gallery.

So what next?  I decided against going to E3 this year; as it would have been on my own dime, and unlike last year with the next-gen unveilings, there really isn't anything groundbreaking in store for me (from the pure tech perspective).  I will miss seeing how the world reacts to our game and our many all-nighters spent on it, the usual wild parti... err, I mean industry networking and reconnecting, as well as the chance to presumably play honest-to-goodness (other than my company's own, of course) PS3 or even Wii titles  hands on for the very first time.

My May holiday week that never was now becomes an even better one -- a (paid) week off, without the Golden Week crowds.  Things have been so down to the wire that I haven't even had time to plan things out, but I'd like to leave Shanghai for at least part of the week.  The blessing here is that it should be relatively easy to arrange last-minute travel, compared to being impossible just a week ago.

Last year, I went to Thailand and Malaysia, but I'd like to stay domestic this time, since I realize that my time outside Shanghai's synthetic bubble and the only slightly-less ones in the other big cities has been rather limited. 

With most of my friends working, I'll be on my own -- something I've not done in a while -- and which I'm looking forward to, actually.  While some of my best memories are with friends during trips, independet travel lets me immerse myself in experiencing the destination, rather than just the people in my group, and go about things worry free without thinking about what other people's schedules and interests lie. 

Ideally, I'd like to make it a personal retreat as well, with a lot of time for reading, thinking and reflection.  Of course, this being China, I might be hardpressed to find a peaceful spot where this can best happen, but I'll try. =)

My shortlist so far and some of my thoughts, mostly based on what various friends have suggested previously:

* the Silk Road (Xi'an -- Dunhuang -- Turpan -- Kashgar -- Urumuqi)-- excites me the most, and great photo ops, but don't know if I'llhave the time to really enjoy things on this route if only given a week.
* Sanya, Hainan -- nice beaches... for China, anyways.  Probably the best place for a personal retreat...
* Beijing -- been there, done that... very much for the friends, not the sightseeing.  Maybe Inner Mongolia as well, but then again, I've been to the real deal before, and it seems China's "autonomous region" pales in comparison.
* Dali/Lijiang, Yunnan -- some of the prime tourist spots of this country, but overrated and commercialized for that very reason, some would say...
* Guilin -- same as above...?
* Sichuan -- my favorite spicy cuisine!  =)  Plus, ummm... pandas?
* Huangshan -- never done it before... the weather should be not too warm.
* Northeast (Dalian, Harbin, Yanji, maybe Changbaishan [Paekdusan for the Koreans]) -- scenery and a chance to relive a bit of my Korea experience last October.

Decisions, decisions...  Feel free to add or comment!

A thought question that's been on my mind lately: If you weren't in your current profession... what would you be and why?

I always wanted to be an airline pilot, and had my vision been a bit better,perhaps I'd be jetting you guys all around the world by now. =)

It's not just the feeling of uninhibited freedom that flying entails,and the chance to indulge my innate nerd and play around with the coolelectronics that are the navigation and control system of a modernaircraft, but perhaps most interestingly, for me, aviation dovetailsnicely with my interest in geography, cultures, and the countries ofthe world.

Even without touching the ground, the actual flight from point A topoint B can be a cultural tour in and of itself. Case in point: when Ifly United, I always try to listen to Channel 9. Every regular UnitedAirlines customer knows what I'm referring to, but in a nutshell, itlets you listen to the air traffic control transmissions live throughthe audio system.

A recent flight to Shanghai had a especially interesting Channel 9experience, listening to a wide range of air traffic controllers. SFOground, to tower, to NorCal departure, and then onto Oakland Centerwhich became Seattle became Vancouver, became Anchorage, before gettinginto Russian airspace: Anadyr, Markovo, Magadan, Okha, Sakhalin,Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, and then onto the Far East: Pyongyang,Incheon, Tokyo, Fukuoka, and then finally Shanghai (am I a geography nerd or what, spelling all these places?)

American pilots and controllers at nighttime when there's not too muchtraffic are a jovial lot, swapping sports scores, jokes, and the like.Listening to Channel 9 in Russian and Chinese airspace is alwaysentertaining for me, not the least because we're usually the onlyaircraft in the vicinity whom they're speaking English to. In SouthKorea and Japan though, everyone speaks English, but it's fun listeningto the fobby accents, usually by women controllers. Pyongyang controlon the other hand, sounded like what most Americans would imagine aNorth Korean to be: a male voice, conveying a no nonsense, withoutemotion, almost robotic atitude.

I guess there's always Microsoft Flight Simulator to live out my dream....

How about everyone else?

My favorite: travel without expectation, purpose or goal, just relaxing and soakingthings in, without an agenda or schedule and just letting the sp. lead...

No profound insights or revelations, but a lot of rejuvenation and renewal... and a lot of pictures to come too. =)

...I'm astonished and amazed...

Steven Curtis Chapman in concert -- in Shanghai. I never thought I'd live to see this day. I've seen SCC perform in the States before, but it was nothing compared to tonight with what seemed like the entire Xtian community here in Shanghai -- locals and expats alike -- united in praise under one roof.

It was his first performance in China open to the general public, and because of it, I was expecting something watered down -- with the cultural authorities even censoring the recent Rolling Stones gig, what would they do to my beloved SCC? All the local ads introduced him as an "American contemporary musician" with a real heart for orphans and adoption here, without mentioning once a certain "C" word.

And yet what laid in store blew me -- and my other local and expat friends -- away. Short of an altar call, nearly every element and every song that he's known for was featured, with SCC even leading the house in some praise, like "Open the Eyes of my Heart" and "Come, Now is the Time."

On the 20th of May 2006, we all had a taste of heaven as Revelation describes it, with "every tribe and tongue" united in praise. May it be the first of many to come here...

Do my eyes deceive me? Yes, SCC is indeed in Shanghai!

Pudong Oriental Arts Center, Shanghai's newest music venue seating about 2000, with nary an empty seat in the house.

Rock on!

Orphans getting in on the action, thanks to some generous donors. All proceeds from the concert were donated to orphanages.

SCC on keys.

My friend mesmerized.

SCC and the band.

Silent witnesses from above.

SCC with some lucky local kids.

Hands lifted up to Him.

SCC leading locals and expats in a time of P and W... something that's never happened legally before in this country.

Amen, Steven!

Milling about afterwards.

The rest of the pictures from this history-making night.

Finally had time to sort through some of the many pictures I took there.  I went down there without any aim except to relax... travel without an agenda -- something that my planning, calculating mind finds foreign, and at the same time, something I realize I could use more of..

Just breathing the air was theraputic in a way, and it's probably one of the few places in China where I'd really like to rent a car and go driving about (I ended up hiring a driver on a daily basis, but traffic was almost non-existent anyway, and there are indeed many places off the beaten tourist path) 

It truly is one of China's unspoiled places (relatively speaking by the standards of this country) and I could feel that people were laid-back, not out to make a kuai.  Yes, it really was a time of hope and renewal... not in any big clear way, but in many small ones... =)

If only it could last forever...

Weather forecast, Hainan style.

Look ma, no Photoshop tweaking!

After some diving (somewhat disappointing)

Reminds me of one of my all-time favorite films, Chariots of Fire...

Aerobics across the generations...

A fishing village above the water, near Lingshui (where the US spy plane went down in 2001...)

Going about their lives.

If only I could relax that well... =)

Just strolling along...

Elephants in Hainan?!  Somehow I doubt they're native... =P

Interesting vegatation...

My attempt to be artsy-fartsy... in an abandoned building in Sanya.

A great photo spot for couples, I'm guessing... (the Chinese character for "love")

Spontaneous fireworks in Sanya.

Awwww...

Weighing the fruit... the ancient way!

What would Hainan be without its namesake dish?

Good wishes...

The rest of the pics here...