come in she said i'll give ya shelter from the storm

more snow today...i can't get over how stunning it is. we went for lunch at the radisson with chris and auntie lin, huge buffet, lots of sushi and red beans a la pineapple. came home and watched lost all day. i love that show, dominic monaghan somehow managed to still come across as meriadoc brandybuck despite black nailpolish and a heroin addiction. also ian somerhalder is gorgeous, so, you know.

we're doing bbq tomorrow with ivy and lisa, then friday is pancakes with kim and sightseeing. i like these busy weeks that fly by, from one weekend to the next. argh.

with your feet in the air and your head on the ground

Another lazy Monday topped with a spot of shopping and 9 new rows on my scarf. I like the ethereal quality of Mew and Muse and Modest Mouse in the afternoon, and organizing photos and buying new pretty things to drape around my neck. Tomorrow we're playing tourist and visiting some temples and scenic spots around West Lake so I can take some final snapshots of this beautiful city. Two weeks, my friend(s). Another expiry date to stamp onto this year of finalities. Too bad I'm happier than I've ever been; I can savour what I have because I have learned what it is to exist in transition, to always be living in the temporary.

The new iPod touch is a truly stunning piece of machinery so hopefully in a year from now when my 30gb video iPod has kicked the crApple battery bucket, I can trade it in for summa dat free WiFi. In the meantime I am going to invest 50 bucks in an ipod speaker deal like I've got here in HZ. The only thing that absolutely destroys me is the fact that I paid the equivalent of 15 bucks for my speakers here, and now I'll have to shell out a small fortune for the same thing. Argh! I have a hard enough time justifying shelling out for anything that equates $5 here, how am I supposed to go back to a $9.99 society?

Last night it snowed for the first time since I've been here. Just wet snow, the kind that sticks to your hair and coat and melts all wet and warm. The kids were so excited, scraping it off the cars and balling it in their fists, huge smiles all over their faces. It felt like the first time I'd ever seen it; I couldn't stop laughing at how happy they were, and I must have looked really stupid giggling to myself on my walk home. By this morning it had melted but the windows were fogged and the air was cold and crisp, our cheeks ruddy in the wind and our fingers bright red as we ventured out to Wulin Square.

Tonight: three classes, wok steak & salad, Roswell. I hope it snows again.

in which our gal takes up knitting

there it is, my biggest achievement to date: knitting a "headband" over the course of a day! this initially began as a scarf but it ended up being too wide and a little wonky. fantastic.

it's so strange that it's 2008 now. where did 2007 go? i assume it has been laid to rest somewhere in a vault amidst poofy sleeves and flavor of love re-runs. christmas here was good, one i think i'll always remember. we had wine and cheese and christmas pie, things were warm and we laughed and teased my dad over sound of music then had an incredible buffet dinner. it definitely wasn't typical but it was just as good as what we've always done at home. i guess what makes it work is the people who are there - home is wherever your family is, be it china or fergus.

new years was a little less family-oriented, seeing as richard and i put away a bottle of champagne each. theresa and i visited richard and sam and yeah, chris even made an appearance. we had pasta and dingo fell in love with chris's right leg. the next day was off so we slept and shopped and i ached a little over leaving my life here. however, life is about change and what we make of it. so that's that.

speaking of shopping - we (theresa and i) woke up early today and took to the streets. nothing compares to hot milktea at 10am and that feeling of having the whole day ahead of you, stretching out all warm and lazy. i bought some candles and a toque/beanie/whatever (i'm progressively losing my canadian-isms and any semblance of the english language) plus season tree of 4400. and the knitting supplies. theresa just took off for work so i'm going to whip up some dinner - we're going to the night market in a couple hours, and i'm not really looking to buy anything, maybe just black ugg style boots if i can find them in my size and undoubtedly some sort of scarf since i can apparently not walk two feet without buying one.

this is easily the funniest/strangest thing ever...taken from danwei.org:

2008 is barely a week old and already the Chinese blogosphere is exploding with snark about a badly made, CCTV propaganda program about the dangers of the Internet. The program featured a young girl who claimed to have seen a shocking web page that was 'very yellow [i.e. pornographic], very violent'.

danger will robinson! she claimed that the web page randomly "popped up" which is leading to speculation from Chinese netizens about how it is possible for such a thing to happen unless actively pursued or clicked on. i feel bad for the girl but still, CCTV has once again enriched everyone's lives with its hilarity. thanks, china!

with burnt sage and a forest of bygones

i tried to make it feel photoboothy but who are we fooling. i'm spending every waking second with my stupid cat. make it count. he sleeps folded up like a pretzel against my arm, nose pressed to my hand and if i move just a little bit he'll lick my knuckle and mewl in protest. my heart breaks everytime i look at him, i hate being so attached to an animal that i'll never see again in three weeks. not even ten years with our fat old tabby at home have compared to the four months raising a kitten and teaching him not to pee on the couch (he still does) or headbutt my hand when i'm trying to fill his food dish (yep, he still does). when i'm home and living in my own little $600 a month bachelor in guelph, i hope to get a cat from the humane society, preferably one over it's couch peeing and headbutting phases, aka 2 or 3 years old, maybe older. i just really enjoy the companionship of a pet which is probably why i will grow up to own five hundred surly tabbies and never marry.

oddly enough i cannot wait to go home now that i know it's really happening. i keep picturing what i'll do, those early morning walks for coffee and taking up a million hobbies. i have to-do lists for my to-do lists at this point. i want to learn mandarin and sewing and figure out how to bake a pie and knit a scarf. i think i can do anything now; living alone halfway across the world from what you know has a certain way of empowering you. funnily enough the only thing that now terrifies me is jumping back into the advertising industry. i'm afraid i won't be good enough or that i'm so out of touch with marketing that i'll fall flat on my face. who knows.

i am now an avid fan of neutral milk hotel, matt pond pa, and the new shins and against me! albums. i am also hooked on the 4400. i consume media faster than hz consumes mi fan.

i'm trying to make a diary/journal deal of my experiences here in china, and i have quite a few pages now of taped tickets and horrible poetry that only manages to wax pathetic. i wish i could write. i think i can i think i can i think i can.

i remain yours faithfully,

the consummate cat lady