Currently Listening The Best of 1980-1990 By U2 see related

- the sweetest thing

what the junk am i doing with my life!

i kind of wish i was re-stinting. my gang plus a couple new ones are leaving today.  and i spoke some east asian with a starbucks barista, who said my hanyu was hen hao ting.  sidenote: while so many food products in america might seem better than asia, starbucks green tea totally sucks. 

Currently Reading ESV Bible, Compact Thinline Edition see related

bed time prayers and such

mary's (my 3 year old sister) quotes of the day while doing bedtime praise and worship and prayers:

• they used nails?  that must've really hurt my Jesus.                                                        
• thank you God for the flowers, and the food, and whoopie cushions. 

it's so fun being around my family again.  michael and kevin just got whoopie cushions for their birthday.  needless to say, farting noises have echoed throughout our house and in the backseat of the car for like 3 days straight.  i was a little shocked to hear my mom playing with it earlier today giggling by herself.  i gave her a perplexed look (like hey, aren't you in your 40s?)  she went on to tell me her sunday plan of sitting behind our ultra-conservative pastor's wife...waiting for the silent seating that occurs immediately after worship and basically setting this woman up for humiliation in front of the entire church.   

awesome.

home sweet home. america is incredible.  the flight from beijing to chicago was not.  mookie killing me in rummy and connect 4 - multiple times - was my highlight. mostly because we were obnoxious and disturbed all the lame old people he was surrounded by. i had to climb over a very large man to get into the open seat next to mookie.  the man was clearly ticked that i took the open seat, that the window shade was cracked open, and that i existed in general.  he managed to fall asleep even through some intense games of egyptian rat screw...or even through intense egyptian rat screwing?  hm...anyway, so what do you do when you're on a 13 hour flight, really really have to pee, but you're blocked in by a large angry man who fell alseep? i feared assault.  if i woke him up i could face death by smuggled toe nail clippers (of course he couldn't light me on fire or anything because lighters are prohibited...particular mao lighters in the shape of the little red communist book that i thought would make an excellent gift for my hyper-patriotic brother). ah well. after applying some smooth acrobatic skills i managed to maneuver my way over the back of my seat and almost into the lap of some man in the row behind me. the story ends happily ever after - until 20 minutes after i returned to my own seat and found a chinese man falling asleep on my shoulder. 

sweet things about america -                                                                                            - i can speak american here...i mean english                                                                      - people understand me  (this is both good and bad)                                                        - derek's here :)  so is my fam.  and then there's the food list.  blue moon, steak, burgers, pasta (not out of a box), dr. pepper, cereal, bagles, ...and cloths that don't smell like...stank, soft toilet paper, a soft bed...ah bed.  i'm jetlagged and giddy all at the same time.                                                                                                                               - i currently don't have a car, cell phone, or job...which means i can be incredibly lazy and with good excuse.  it's beautiful. 

Currently Listening X&Y By Coldplay see related

- fix you

Fu Wu Yuaaaaaaaaaan!

i'm obsessed with this card game called nertz.  i mean really addicted.  so i decided that the summer project kids should be too.  the hours of the early evening slipped away and we soon realized that the doors of the waiban (where they're staying) lock at 11.  we stroll down the fu's office around 11:45 hoping to softly knock on the door and wake them to let us out.  the soft knocking turned to banging, coughing obnoxiously loud, opening their door and pointing the light into their room, loudly calling "fu wu yuaaaan"...then finally calling the front desk.  nothing.  we peeked in the room and they hadn't even budged. then we decided to try to dis-assemble the door.  that didn't work at all.  finally we maneuvered the lock (much like a bike chain) in such a way that we created about a foot of a gap, slid between the doors on the ground. seriously, the most fun i've had in awhile. 

other hilarious things -    

 - riding home in a buggy type thingy being pulled by a random motorized vehicle for 4 kuai

 - the buggy driver calling us fat americans after we requested he take us to dicos for fries and soft serve.

(pic -- the girls on the wall in xian during may holiday)