60 Days of Summer

It is summer and I have been in Boston for about two months. When I first got to Boston in May, I had all sorts of grand notions about all the wonderful things I'd accomplish during my vacation. There was the movie that my friend Brad and I were making, there was Mandarin to be improved on, and there was quick money to be made at the restaurant, if only I worked hard enough and often enough!

Fast forward two months: The movie has been put on hold (Creative Differences?), my Mandarin has been stagnating and possibly become infected with my family's Cantonese, and the money that would solve all my problems has not materialized.

But not all is bad. True, I am living in a nasty bedroom with no door in a dirty part of Boston and my roommates are gross, but I've come to the conclusion that there is a certain romance to this. In ten years perhaps, when I am a Yuppie, I will look back and think, "Weren't the college days so quaint and charming? Remember that nasty little apartment I had in Allston during the summer? Remember the dead rats outside? Remember how my roommate had to walk through my bedroom just to get to her bedroom? And when I only ate beans and oatmeal for a week? Those were the REAL days, so carefree and honest." Then I will finish my low carb dinner of duck confit and seasonal vegetables and drive away in my Prius.

In this way sometimes it's better to live with the idea of something. I feel that I can be overly abstract at times and overthink things, but sometimes that's not a hindrance. Sometimes it's good not to see the things in front of you, and instead look at how funny it is that it fits a horrible cliche.

But really, the summer has been quite fun. Not all responsibility has gone out the window — I usually work 6 shifts a week and have been studying for the HSK. And I've been meeting a lot of nice people and reading a lot of books I've been wanting to read. (I've been on a roll with good books lately.) I got to reconnect with my mom's side of the family. And I just bought my plane ticket to China: I am leaving for Beijing on September 6 and can hardly wait.

Overall, I feel quite blessed.