My driver 

Getting off the ferry from Hong Kong, I was approached by a number of taxi drivers and bicycle-with-carriages-behind-them operators offering me tours of the city. One old man was particularly persistent so I ended up paying him HK$50 to take me to the ruins of St. Paul. HK$120 would have gotten me a 2-hour tour of the city, but as I was riding in the carriage, I quickly realized I had made a good decision not to do the 2-hour tour. The poor old guy was sweating profusely and clearly laboring under the effort and the oppressive heat. I could feel the stares of passerby, probably wondering what kind of heartless soul—clearly an American!—would make this poor old man drag her around town in a bike carriage. I wanted to stop him but I didn’t want to offend him, since he was telling me how he had been doing this for many decades. Luckily the church wasn’t too far away. I slinked off the carriage in embarrassment.

St. Paul's 

Ruins of St. Paul’s Cathedral, Macau

The intricate concrete façade looms over the city, standing like a doorway to nowhere. As when visiting all ruins, I am overcome by the mutability of life—how the works of whole communities can disappear. Sometimes over the passing of many years; sometimes in the blink of an eye. The heat of a fire. The roar of a wave.

I am drenched in sweat. I wish I were not wearing a bra—it’s like a sweat receptacle and goes squish-squish when I move. Probably the only time my diminutive boobs will be doing squishing of any kind. Sigh.

There is a terrifying chatter coming from the trees above—terrifying because I know it comes from the collective hum of a thousand giant shiny black bugs that live there. Giant black flying beetles the size of half m closed fist.

The territory was colonized by the Portuguese, and the buildings are a delightful mix of European and Asian. The mosaics on the floor remind me of the undulating pattern on Las Ramblas in Barcelona. Macau also reminds me of rural Taiwan. I wonder if it is because of the mopeds, street food and papaya milk.

Kites for sale in Macau 

book reviews

So far I have read:

Fingerprints of the Gods: Amazing book…long (500+ pages with rather complicated astronomical data and laboriously footnoted) but immensely rewarding and keeps you interested the whole time. Definitely recommended if you liked The Da Vinci Code. It’s nonfiction, and the premise is that a highly developed civilization existed before all known civilizations—it is this civilization that built the pyramids, the sphinx, and macchu-picchu. Sounds crazy, but you won’t think so after you read the section on ancient myths and the geometry and mathematics behind the pyramids. It boggles the mind! I’m convinced.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A joy to read. A book you can pack in your bag and read again and again, the sentences are that enjoyable. The drug-addled ramblings of Thompson are hilarious and the reasoning all too familiar. I wish I would have read this book earlier.

arthur andersen conviction overturned

This is interesting.

hongkong

I arrived after a tortuous plane ride and horrible, horrible, awful plane food (note to self: always bring own food when flying Japan Airlines). Still recovering from the jetlag. Currently I am forced to stay in my apartment, as it is way, way too hot outside to go exploring. Will venture out when it gets cooler.

My apartment is really cute! Perfect location and really charmingly decorated. My room is tiny, but I don't have too much stuff with me so it's just fine. I live right above Man Mo Temple on Hollywood Road. It's a little temple filled with coils of incense that hang over your head. I want to get my fortune told there sometime soon.

I stopped by work today to learn that my visa has been delayed until the day after tomorrow, so I don't need to go to work until then! In order to activate my work visa I will need to leave the country, so I'm headed off to Macau in two days to sightsee. I'm glad I never made it to Macau last summer, so I still have stuff left to see.

It's such a trip being here. Walking around, just stopping to stare at the throngs of people everyhere, occasionally looking up and realizing I'm on the bottom level of a city that extends up countless skyscrapers. I feel like I've been transplanted into a whole different world...but I guess that was the point.

Shop in Sheung Wan, near my apartment 

countdown

Leaving for Hong Kong via Toyko in 72 hours.

sunday afternoon

The weather is perfect.

Yesterday I met up with two friends, went to Coronado, ate a $25 Reuben sandwich (!!!!!!!) at the Hotel Del, and wandered onto the beach eating ice cream. Then we went to Mister A's in downtown to have a martini and watch the sunset. The view from there was phenomenal--you could see all of downtown, the ocean, the bay, mountains, and the planes landing at the airport.

Today, I woke up early (before 11am on a Sunday is early for me), swam some laps at my school's really nice pool, laid out, got a tan.

Came home and made myself: Broiled halibut filet with lime, garlic, and butter; accompanied with roasted hot peppers and a steamed artichoke. I also made myself a huge salad of Romaine, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, kidney beans, garbanzo beans, and cilantro-lime-pepper-ranch dressing.

Right now I am watching Robin Hood: Prince of thieves on TV, sipping OJ and eating the rest of the artichoke. Almost to the heart...mmmmmmmm.

finissimo!

It is 4:45am and I am officially done with my last exam, a 24 hour take-home. My answer is 17 pages of initially intelligent-sounding analysis that ended in rambling, mindless drivel.

I'm freeeeeeeeeeeeee!

US Border Patrol: better watch out!

Condom dispenser in a club, Mallorca, Spain, 2003. 

summer reading

I was soooo excited when my books arrived today! Having unread literature around reminds me that somewhere under all the layers of memorized analytical methods and lawlawlaw, lurks a ravenous bibliophile.

Here are the books I am bringing with me to Hong Kong:

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Fabric of the Cosmos by Brian Greene
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia-Marquez
Number 9 Dream by David Mitchell
Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Southeast Asia: The Graphic Guide by Mark Elliott
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock
The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon


But I want more...

I feel really, really guilty for not buying the following books to read this summer, but I can't lug around any more books with me lest I be mistaken for a traveling librarian:

I am deeply embarrased at not having read these yet...

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
The Essential Neruda: Selected Poems by Pablo Neruda

Edit:
Shit. The longer I sit and stare at these lists, the more books make it up from the bottom list to the top list, and the richer Amazon.com gets. How am I even going to be able to fit all this in my suitcase?

Until about five minutes ago, I was not aware that only 24.4 percent of Americans have a college degree or higher. 3 percent of Americans have professional or doctorate degrees.

The numbers are definitely a lot lower than I had expected, so I checked the stats for California and found that we only deviate from the national average by about 3 percentage points.

It sounds so sheltered, but I guess I've always operated under the assumption that everyone who wants to graduate from college, could do so. The statistics, however, seem to paint a different picture.

Near where I will be living this summer 

boggled

I read an interesting article today about blood-doping by athletes--they have blood transfusions to increase the amount of oxygen in their blood. Gross? There's more! One athlete is claiming that his blood tests showing two different blood types is not evidence of blood-doping, but, rather, due to a vanishing twin that his embryo absorbed in the womb. ewwww. Just the thought of an embryo...absorbing...another embryo gives me the heebie-jeebies.

The phemomena is called chimerism, and the humans exhibiting them, chimeras. This is amusing to me because the word "chimera" had always conjured up in my mind its other definitions: an illusion, or a mythical fire-breathing Greek monster with a lion's head and a goat's body. Like the winged ones on top of the columns in St. Mark's square in Venice.

I leave for Hong Kong in sixteen days. This time though, I'm not going with friends--I will pretty much be alone in the city the whole time. I wonder who I'll meet this summer. I wonder what my future friends are like. It's so delicious to sit and think about the sights I have yet to see in the next few months. Will I really see the sunrise over Angkor Wat? Will I be able to schedule a trip to Saigon to visit the house my parents grew up in? Will I travel back to Phi Phi to lend a helping hand in the tsunami relief?

I just ate half of a 4-day old pizza. oh, the heartburn, the heartburn....

unconscious drunk.

hello everyone.

i just thought you might like to know...
that this site comes up #3 when you Google "unconscious drunk."

Papa's & Beer, Rosarito Beach, Mexico 

i hear he's an asshole in real life

But I love his songs anyway. This one's on repeat on my iPod:

"Comfortable," -John Mayer

I just remember that time at the market
Snuck up behind me and jumped on my shopping cart
And rolled down aisle five
You looked behind you to smile back at me
Crashed into a rack full of magazines
They asked us if we could leave

I can’t remember what went wrong last september
Though I’m sure you’d remind me if you had to

Our love was comfortable and so broken in

I sleep with this new girl I’m still getting used to
My friends all approve,
Say she’s gonna be good for you
They throw me high fives
She says the Bible is all that she reads
And prefers that I not use profanity
Your mouth was so dirty

Life of the party and she swears that she’s artsy
But you could distinguish miles from coltrane

Our love was comfortable and so broken in
She’s perfect
So flawless
Or so they say

She thinks I can’t see the smile that she’s faking
And poses for pictures that aren’t being taken
I loved you
Grey sweatpants
No makeup
So perfect

Our love was comfortable and so broken in
She’s perfect
So flawless
I’m not impressed
I want you back

Dried seafood Market, Des Voeux Rd., Hong Kong 

I've known rivers:
I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

My soul has grown deep like the rivers.-

- Langston Hughes, "The Negro Speaks of Rivers," 1926

typical conversation between a law student and a med student

MatTrix700: life is good
Baby61212: you done with finals?
MatTrix700: almost
MatTrix700: 1 more test next monday
MatTrix700: then i get ready for boards
MatTrix700: life sucks
MatTrix700: who am i kidding
MatTrix700 is away.

Creepy mutant caterpillar i saw in Victoria Park, Hong Kong.  

excuse me, could you please tell me--which way to Djibouti?

Baby61212: so...
Baby61212: today i was looking at my world map
MatTrix700: finding places to visit?
Baby61212: and i found a coutnry called djibouti
Baby61212: (pronounced Ja-Booty)
MatTrix700: in africa?
Baby61212: the capital is also called djibouti
Baby61212: its next to somolia
MatTrix700: i bet the women there have big asses
Baby61212: i know
MatTrix700: jabooti women
MatTrix700: hahaha
Baby61212: i want to go there, just so when people ask me where i went, i can say...i was in djibouti!
MatTrix700: i wanna go to africa one of these days
Baby61212: i saw yo mamma in djibouti
MatTrix700: or you can send a postcard from djibouti
MatTrix700: wish you were here in djibouti