Like a Breeze

My goal is to live unburdened in heart, body, and soul.

Pure and detached.

用一顆乾淨的心存自己的小天堂。

Life is a Highway

Ikea, who is probably my most loyal reader (second to my Mom), publicly accused me of abandoning my blog recently. I have to admit that Miffy's Adventures has suffered a bit in content since I left New York. >_< Here are my lame excuses:

1. The Great Firewall of China. It makes it slower to blog, although I've now shelled out for a better VPN (used to be Witopia aka craptopia, now I use VyprVPN... expensive at $20/month).
2. Busy with work and settling in.... there's not much for me to take pictures of without being one of those people who talk about work all the time. BORING!
3. I've left my Canon at home because my new iPhone's camera is good enough for everyday use, whereas my G11 is pretty damn heavy to haul around. I've realized that I still greatly prefer my real digital camera for blogging purposes though. 
4. Because of Reason #3, most of my picture-taking have been stored on Instagram. :)
5. I have very little friends/family here. So less occasions to write about. God that sounds so damn sad!

My professional life has been hectic -- it's essentially a start-up company so efficiency is low but the learning curve is high. Recently we've made some major headway in our projects, which is great news... otherwise I'd be on the next flight back to New York! Roles and responsibilities are still vague, but it'll all materialize soon with time. I can't speak too much about it right now since the planning is quite sensitive, but I'll leak more details once the terms are set! Generally I've been lackadaisical about interacting with Shanghai since I've gotten here... I usually pore over Cityweekend/Timeout for my next adventure. These days I'm just not in the mood. I'm still crashing at boss lady's apartment even though I found a small studio already, but it'll 2 weeks to repaint the place, buy furniture, install the internet, etc... I promise to give you a tour once it's all done. :D

Yan An Highway.

On the ground during night and in the air during day. Yes, Instagram!!!

So far I have no regrets about coming to Shanghai, except for leaving people behind. But I know that those who love you will always be there (and importantly WANT to be there) regardless of time and location. And if you can't meet that standard, then you'll eventually be culled. It's not cold but it is calculated. More than ever I only have a limited amount of resources at hand, and I want to give my best to those who deserve it most. :)

I feel like I'm back on track and that everything that I've worked on since early 2009 is finally converging on this point. This year when I went with my dad to the temple during Chinese New Year, I had prayed to the god[s] above to show me the way. It wasn't like throwing a penny into a fountain and making a wish, I was begging, with tears streaming down my face. It was quite embarrassing since I think my dad saw, but he was nice enough to not say a thing. Life didn't give me an answer right away, but with continual experimentation and help from above I'm hugely hopeful that I'm sitting at the cusp of something awesome. It's amazing how quickly things can change, which is why life can certainly feel like a highway.

GAH I can't help writing introspective shit when I'm sedentary!!! I am so boring. Blah.

Chinese Zodiac

@ Tian zi fang (田子坊)

I wonder how Rats fare next year?

Apartment Hunting...

... is kind of like treasure hunting. Cap'n Miffy's favorite pastime! [Not.]

The view from a rundown apartment.

Damn I made this place look way too good, haha.

Today I spent the entire afternoon with a real estate agent walking around Xuhui (徐匯區, Concession areas). He managed to show me 5 places, ranging from 3,600 to 5,600 RMB, from 30 to 70 sq. meters, from shitty to shittier kitchens/bathrooms. I haven't fallen in love yet, but it's okay since I'm not desperate to move in yet. Either the place is too small (and thus too expensive for its size) or the furniture looks like it belongs to my grandma. Actually no, my grandma has better taste than most of the wtf that I've seen so far. 

Unfortunately all the awesome places that have a nice outdoor sitting area and tasteful furnishings are well over $1,000 USD, which sounds really cheap to New Yorkers... but you have to remember that this is China and I'm being paid a China salary now while having student loans. An extra $500+ USD a month adds up to an additional $6,000 USD/year! Imagine all the a-yis [ 阿姨, maids ] I could hire!!! I could seriously buy an indentured servant with that extra dough. And a few round trip tickets back home. :) 

Anyways, I'll need to check out more places to get a better gauge of the market. I may decide to shell out for a nice place, but I would like to make sure I get my money's worth. More hunting tomorrow!

Instagram Rookie

I LOVE INSTAGRAM!!!!!!!!! I downloaded the app on my iPhone yesterday and I can't stop playing with it. I think I'll start substituting my Canon with my iPhone for everyday occasions. Traditional camera still rules, but it adds like 5lbs to my purse and gives me a backache by the end of the day. I'm impressed with the quality of photos that come out here, enough to capture most moments. :)

I really do love my cappuccinos. Yum.

Holiday brunch @ Isola // Shanghai IFC with boss lady & friends.

They have the best antipasto buffets... can't get enough of  beets, artichokes, and prosciutto!

Do(e): a Female Deer

I attended a Republic of China concert at NYU celebrating its centennial the Sunday before I left New York. Mom was part of a 100-member chorus and sang Alto. The whole affair was pretty good (they had incredible instrumental and opera performances too). I guess I'm obliged to say that, but my mom's 100-member chorus was actually quite impressive. They sang a very moving rendition of 龍的傳人 "Descendants of the Dragon", an old melody that I was familiar with. This time I was able to follow its lyrics and realized that it was about a deep yearning and pride for a home that you've never been able to come back to (because of the war, see below). It was very moving.

History tidbit -- The Republic of China (ROC) = Taiwan. People's Republic of China (PRC) = China. The centennial refers to the Xinhai Revolution that kicked off on October 10th 1911 when Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Kuomintang Party overthrew the imperial Qing Dynasty and remained in power in China until the Chinese Civil War, when the Kuomintang was defeated by the Communist Party and retreated to the island of Taiwan. So technically this centennial refers to the amount of time since the last emperor was in power, and only the Taiwanese really celebrate it. China celebrates the anniversary of the PEOPLE'S Republic of China every October 1st. 

Now you know where I get my tendency to throw out the peace sign. :D

You were great, Mom!!! [She reads my blog, ha.]

So proud of you. 想妳！

You are what you eat

Flavors of Pringles that are out there in the world -- amazing!!! Which of these have you tried?

From the very cool Food & Drink NYTimes Magazine special.

Reminder to self -- buy Kindle Fire.