last days

alexei's off to nicaragua and julian and i are meeting up in seattle this weekend. tomorrow is my last day of work. i feel somewhat sentimental but i know more fun and exciting things are headed my way. it's about time to begin a new chapter anyhow. so tonight had a send-off happy hour with a small group of colleagues and tomorrow during the day will be the proper good-bye party, sometime in the afternoon. i'd like to soak up as much of tomorrow as i can because it is an ending and i think it is worth remembering. everything about the morning routine will be more contemplative and performed with a consciousness i've never given it before.
finally finished the most tedious and lengthy project i've done at work... it was rather anticlimactic, but i am glad it's out of the way. shawna and i have some to prepare yet of course which i'll dedicate next week to when i return from up north.
listening to a song right now called 'tightrope' which shawna introduced to me. the song is making me feel good about where i am now in life and where i may be heading. the lyrics don't really relate, but maybe more the rhythm of it.
i'm excited to see my cousins again in china. i may give it a few months to see the youngest brother since his wife is giving birth to their child in april. i need to get my chinese back up to speed before i go to shenzhen to visit them anyhow. perhaps this time around i'll learn some phrases in the leiyang dialect they use amongst each other. my friend ping ping is also expecting a baby in late summer or early fall. she's still living in nanjing, and although i don't feel strongly about nanjing, i would like to see ping ping, her newly wed hubby, and their newborn at some point. so there are two contacts in china recently married via shotgun wedding.

the happy aquarium

5 more days left of the office life, and i do feel a little sentimental from time to time. it's been a good run overall. but it is apparent to me that the last few months have been brighter for me in spite of the oregon darkness because i've known we are leaving for china. ever since november. so i'm wrapping up two big assignments at work: one is a frustrating, unending data-entry project for an international school in UAE and the other is the technological/international customs court consulting project (sounds better than it is, of course).
then the day following my exit i'll be up to seattle for a weekend to meet with jules and yori.
shawna and i have a bit to do yet to prepare for china, but we're both excited for the adventure. she keeps me calm when i begin stressing about jobs and such in china. i get to worrying what other people would think if i'm not doing something that i deem useful or productive, but then again, what am i doing now that is productive really? i do data entry, janitor work with a white collar disguise (and a white collar salary). but so what? i've stated before that i thought food and travel are two items worth spending money on. so if i end up traveling more than focusing on stable work and income: a) i don't intend on using up all my savings, esp since i'll be in cheaper countries in asia b) traveling is productive in its own right, i can learn a lot about myself, build a stronger relationship with shawna, and be productive planning/organizing/building new routes in my mind c) stimulate the economy of poorer countries like laos and cambodia with my hard-earned money d) i can improve my Chinese e) now is the time for us to do this, at the age of 23 when i have very few strings attached and i can afford to be a bum.
i have only to be excited really...