Dad Buys a Scanner

Bob, Maggie, and Ronald Reagan. (Well, a cardboard cutout of Ronald Reagan.)

Los Angeles, 1986

Last Train Home

I saw "Last Train Home" the other night. Maybe it's the fact that I just returned from China, but I was pretty blown away by this film. It's meticulous and beautiful and honest and painful and just an incredible work of (documentary) art. If you want to see me use more adjectives to describe it, you can read my review at Critic's Notebook. Warning: I get unnecessarily verbose. To make a long story short: if you get a chance to see this film when it's released in September, I recommend it. Then we should all get together and talk about it.

Good Night Coke

Growing up, I wasn't allowed to drink much soda, and on "special occasions" my drink of choice was always Sprite. It wasn't until college that I needed caffeine to stay awake to write my genius papers, and it was around that time that I learned that Coke has caffeine and Diet Coke has no calories. (I'm a bit slow on the uptake, but maybe it's charming?)

So around my junior year of college, I started to drink a fair amount of Diet Coke, and I've continued to do so on-and-off until recently. It's an acquired taste, but once you've acquired it, damn, you totally crave it and the caffeine withdrawal results in a nasty headache. I would go a few weeks without it, and then find myself heading to teach in the afternoon and needing a pick-me-up. And since I've never tried coffee and probably never will, Diet Coke was my main option. (Or, Coke Zero, which is what they have in China).

Since I've come back to the States and moved back in with my parents, I haven't had any situations that have really required alertness. I also have access to things like potable tap water and real juice and seltzer, which satisfies my need for carbonation. So I haven't had any soda since I've returned and I feel good about it. What I like most about my non-caffeinated lifestyle is that when I feel tired, I feel tired. I'm generally afraid of sleep, so I always combated that feeling with more caffeine, but since getting back I just have to accept what my body is telling me: "I'm run down and I want you to go to bed." It's nice to feel connected with my body and what it wants. That's not to say I'll never drink soda in the future - I've made some very grand statements in the past about Never Drinking Soda Ever Again - but I'm enjoying this little chapter of my life right now and I figured I should record it.

This American Life.

It's almost unsettling how easy it has been to slip into my old routine here. People talk about reverse culture shock, but I haven't really experienced it in a dramatic sense: it's more that I view things with a different lens now that I'm back. For instance, I really appreciate the ubiquity of the Western toilet, while at the same time I am kind of shocked at how utterly filthy the New York City subway system is. I guess in Asia, the metro systems are so new that they're clean and well-managed and efficient. Also, as Kai said when I saw him the other night (!): in China they can pay people ten cents an hour to sweep to and fro all day long.

Anyway, despite not feeling a sharp sense of culture shock, I have been enjoying some things that one can't get in China:

1. EAVESDROPPING ON OTHER PEOPLE'S CONVERSATIONS
I always hoped my Chinese would get to the point where I could do this, but sadly it never did. The best I would ever get would be something like, "You ... me ... family ... a lot of money ... good ... bad ... right?" But now that I'm back in an English-speaking country, I get to walk around the city and listen to teenagers whining to their parents and couples breaking up and sketchy business going down over cell phones.

2. FOOD
My parents are great cooks and our fridge is full of delicious leftovers (unlike our Dalian apartment, which usually contained only eggs, ginger, flat soda, and beer). Also, I had hot dogs and home-brewed beer at Ari's PiA barbecue, and tomorrow I'm going to have sushi. Joy!


3. WASP-Y NEW ENGLAND BEACH TOWNS
My mom and I took a road trip to Madison, Connecticut. The beaches were full of sand (not rocks) and the town was full of independent bookstores and adorable ice cream parlors.


4. GAY HIPSTER DISCO PARTIES
Maybe you could find one in Beijing, if you knew where to look, but Brooklyn is a safer bet. Thank you to Gayle for humoring me in all the ridiculous things I'm hell-bent on doing out of fascination with subcultures I'll never be able to participate in.

Oil Spill #2

Dalian is rarely in the news, but there was a pretty bad explosion and oil spill there just this past week. Tae alerted me to some incredible photographs in The Big Picture, some of which are below. They rescued a man who had started drowning while attempting to fix an underwater pump, but I don't think anyone died in the explosion, which is pretty remarkable given the size of that fire.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

It's been so nice to see old friends and come back to New York City. Lots has changed, little has changed. There's a newly designed subway map. The W is gone, the M has replaced the V, and the Q goes all the way to Astoria. People have new jobs, new apartments, new relationships, and some friends even became models in my absence.

After the homogeneity of China, it also felt good to be in a more diverse place. Gayle (who threw me a wonderful welcome-home roof party) lives in Prospect Heights. Getting off the subway on Saturday after eleven months in Dalian was like a shot in the arm: old black men sitting outside a barbershop, hipsters on their laptops inside quirky cafes, Hasidic Jews walking purposefully somewhere, teenagers playing ball on the sidewalk.

Washington Ave

Burritos and beer under the stars

Last night was a little MOMI reunion in Williamsburg, which was equally wonderful. It's nice to feel like you can just pick up where you've left off.

Beautiful pizza at Motorino's

Meredith's "Welcome Back" book...

...where she illustrated my blog posts!

Too Tired To Post

But expect some good things soon.

First Day Back in New York

Law and Order: SVU being shot in Grand Central Terminal