Xiamen was fun. Pictures will be up as soon as I can locate a USB cable, which probably means it’ll happen sometime after I get back to Boston.

Things that make me happy when coming home:

• Holiday with parents in beautiful resort city with limited pollution
• Haircut with my favorite stylist
• Movies!
• Possible skirt-worthy weather
• Delicious food everywhere!
• Celebrating my first birthday at home in 8 years

Things that don’t make me quite as happy:

• Likely shortening of life by 5 years each time I come home due to massive amounts of second-hand smoke inhaled while sitting in public areas
• Taxi-drivers who were stunt men in their former lives, driving around the city as if it were some closed-track movie set with no other people.
• Filling out tax forms for parents

After trying to avoid watching Pride and Prejudice (2005) for the 80th time, I watched Prime while on the plane. And suddenly, while in the company of roughly 300 others, I felt myself getting uncharacteristically teary-eyed over some half-realistic romantic comedy. (Which I did enjoy, but let’s face it, how many 23 year-olds would honestly object to the idea of dating Uma Thurman? She is only 50 times hotter and 100 times richer than their average neighborhood 23 year old girl…)

But then I realized what it was. I guess I’m finally at peace with the fact that I want a happy ending. Aren’t there enough unhappy endings in life that maybe we needn’t be tortured by them when we look to be entertained? And shouldn’t there be at least some realm in which love, in and of itself, is enough?

Although, you know I don’t really believe it’s age that makes or breaks a relationship. It’s your respective stages in life, your progress with respect to your own personal development, the common ground you share, what you can learn from each other. These are some of the things I believe truly make a difference. It just so happens that age is oftentimes a pretty good proxy for a lot of these qualities.

All right, enough ranting for one night. I’m off to Xiamen tomorrow where it shall be raining and not beach-happy for the next three days. In the battle of the umbrellas vs. the bathing suits, it’s Umbrellas: 1; Bathing Suits: nil.

That is, until I get to the airport for my one week trip home. I spent the better part of my evening eating, and then proceeded to watch Gattaca and part of Mr. and Mrs Smith, until everyone realized that the movie was not just horrible, but also exceedingly long. I’ve spent the intervening hours eating blueberries and raspberries to compensate for the trauma caused by Julia and Mimi picking the berries off my mini-cheesecake. My suitcases are still not packed yet, but I have an hour left, and I have found my passport and my RMB, so I should be almost all set. The really depressing thing is that the Red Carpet Club isn’t open until 6am, so I’ll be in even more pain that usual.

So, ~24 hours until I get to Shanghai. Then it’s a night at home before leaving for Xiamen. Three days there, 2 days in Shanghai, and then I’m back on a plane returning to Boston. Until then, farewell my beautiful blazing broadband.

I just took this National College Health Assessment online survey, and I’m amused. Most of the questions were fairly normal, but one question asks: “Within the last school year, have any of the following affected your academic performance?” Which would be fine in itself, except that the possible answers were:

• Depression/Anxiety Disorder
• Drug use
• Eating disorder
• HIV Infection
• Injury
• Internet use/computer games
• Learning disability

Is it just me being a nerd, or do one of those not quite belong? Apparently “Internet use/computer games” is a health issue now. Oh, woe is me!

Listening to:

Choreography – Vanessa-Mae
03 – Bolero for Violin and Orchestra

After I took that exam, my head proceeded to pain me for the better part of the day. Haven’t made much process on anything else, but I did overcome temptation today. I fought off the urge to buy an interesting black kimono-inspired dress from Arden B despite inducements from the staff.

Then, I was somehow able to stumble to Star Market and pick up ingredients for the cheesecake and carrot cake I’ve promised to make tonight. But now it’s 8PM and I’m completely out of the mood to be domestic. I am so tempted to sit down and just watch a movie to relax, yet my eyes don’t want to stay open either. Damn, if Tiffany would just come over and copy my notes already, I could take a nap until midnight and then get up to bake.

In other news, I read this article in the New York Times about Chinese girls adopted into American families, and it just reminded me of the groups of newly adopted children with their parents that I saw in a Starbucks in Shanghai last year. Only they were Italian families, adopting in swarms. Suddenly, I found myself a member of a minority group once more, but this time it was in China. Very bizarre feeling, but very cute babies.

So, I’ve just found out that there are some lurkers here on my blog. You know, I’ve got comments there for a reason. You could perhaps… make a comment yourself, even. Unless everyone enjoys my little monologues so much that they hate interrupting.

Ok, one exam down, one more to go. Then it’ll be a digression into domesticity. Dare people eat something I haven’t tried making for nearly a year? We’ll find out Friday.

Listening to:

Have a Nice Day – Bon Jovi
01 – Have a Nice Day

Eeps, exams tomorrow and Thursday. I always knew that once one part of my life starts shaping up, something else is bound to fall apart. And it’s always promising when a professor who wrote a recommendation for me tells me:

The program is a lot of work for 5 years – so get some rest over the summer!

Hey, if I’ve survived about 9 sleepless years so far, another 5 won’t kill me, right? But first, must study…

Listening to:

Greatest Hits – Lenny Kravitz
05 – It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over

This entry is dedicated to my Behavioral Economics professor, who has a hilarious tendency to take off and put on his sweater approximately 50 times per lecture. He also (perhaps unintentionally?) makes highly amusing comments, which I shall document here. And yes, I’m counting this as studying for my midterm.

Regarding hidden costs of banking products:

Citibank wants to hug you and love you dearly because you are going to be a highly profitable customer.

After spending 15-20 minutes explaining what a pocket protector is:

It’s a no-no for lawyers. It is one of the geekiest things you could do. But maybe it’s a sign of distinction for engineers.

About gambling while drunk on champagne:

You shut down System 2 (reason) and have a better sense of bounded rationality.

After erasing a message clearly marked “Do not erase”:

Oh oops! Sloan Unity… Well, I’m sure there’s an email on that.

About hidden information:

If the product has no nutritional labelling, you may think that eating it will make you enormous.

Reactions to life-altering events:

People tend to adapt. Especially for paraplegics, they seem to get this sense of inner peace, like some sort of Buddhist thing.

Human nature:

Some are by nature happy and cheerful, and others are by nature cold and analytical.

Jealousy:

So the message is, you want to have friends who have less than you. But don’t be patronizing, it’s hard for them too.

What makes people happy?

One of the happiest times in your life is when you’re meeting with friends. At least, that is when you’re 40 and can no longer experience extreme pleasures.