Back in China
Herro!
After a full day of transit, (6 hours to NYC, 15 hours to Beijing, 2 hours to Chengdu) I'm back in my apartment. It's really great that I wasn't robbed while I was gone. It's great to be back, but it feels strangely different. This is my first time coming to China from America and coming straight to my apartment. I guess it really hits me that this is my home when I arrive here and take a taxi straight to my apartment which I open with my key. Maybe that doesn't make much sense; it feels strangely natural to come back here after being reacclimated to hamburger and CNN environment for 30 days.
I knew I was back when I started hitting my head on everything again; I hit my head twice on the plane, and one time a woman saw me and instead of laughing made a total "oh shit! ow!" grimace which made me laugh. Welcome back to Asia.
I haven't gotten a full night of sleep in four or five days, but sleeping sporadically for a few hours at a time. First I had to wake up early for the dentists appointment, then for my flight out of NYC, and then I could only catch a few hours of sleep at a time on the transcontinental flight. It's cool though, even though it's 4:30am here I've almost completely unpacked and cleaned the place up a bit. Dust tends to collect when you leave your apartment for a month.
Tenzin and Jovian are still in SF, but I think Kensho is in town. Ben is in London but arrives Sunday and Sascha has finally made it to Thailand, so I have some quiet time to get everything together.
I had a great time in America for the month though and really appreciate the time I was able to spend with my good friends. I regret not being able to see a few of them (Kat, Steve, Marcus, Alexandra) but I know that'll come with time.
Hopefully the next time I leave China will be for the Phillipines.
Health & Exquisite Pain, USA Tour 2006 Conclusion
Today, my last day in America before leaving China, I didn't really have plans outlined, but thought I'd do something fun and American.
Instead I got a root canal and spent 7 hours at the dentists office and spent a few thousand dollars.
It's cool though, because the dentist took half an hour to help me with my golf swing when everyone else had left his office. Your first instinct is right; I'm no golfer, but it made me feel better to chum with the guy who spent the entire day staring at my mouth. He's a good family dentist though and my Dad generously offerend to split the bill with me, so despite the considerable financial hurdle, it's all good. Rather than go into descriptive detail about the exhaustion I feel from my body being rigid for 7 hours, I'll pass out now and get 4 hours of sleep before traveling NYC tomorrow morning and then to Beijing from there tomorrow afternoon. By this time tomorrow I'll be halfway back to Asia.
End of USA tour 2006!
Buzz Again, Five, Nemo’s New Ink
I spent the afternoon with Emily yesterday before going to Georgetown to pickup Nemo after getting the outline finished on the giant tattoo on his right calf. I watched some of it get done and got sweet photos of it but now I'm too sleepy to continue so I won't. Good morning-
Friction & Noisia @ Five
Tonight I popped into Eye-bar to catch up with Brian (DJ Geometrix) for a few minutes before heading to Five to see Friction on 3 decks in the main room at Five in DC. It was the first real drum & bass show that I've been to in almost a year, so I'd say it was eventful. I drank a variety of fancy drinks including foreign stuff I can't pronounce followed by more traditional party spirits like Jagermeister and rum. I ran into Deinfamous, Scott, Luis, Apple, Ali, and a handful of other people that I haven't seen in a few years, so the two-week DC reunion continued in usual fare. I'm more impervious to drum & bass rhythm than ever before, but Friction played a few choice tunes which I haven't heard in a while, including Signal. When we left the club my Persian friend Nemo put on his Yassar Arafat headgear and yelled at people out of the window in faux Arabic which made me laugh so hard that my throat hurt. Just before leaving I took 15 minutes to talk to Courtney about her impression of India and that I'm planning on checking it out for a few weeks this year. It's fresh in my mind because I visited my old office today and caught up with an Indian coworker that I haven't seen or thought about in a few years. Her nephew is in Goa and she gave me his contact info. Exciting things for the future!
Cici has been trying to negotiate with Delta Airlines for the past few days to get me a ticket to the west coast before I leave with the 100,000 frequent flyer miles she has. I think her confidence is dwindling as she's finding out that Delta is nearly bankrupt and about to completely go out of business. I'm not sure what to do about it but suppress my disappointment.
Ghostface @ Sonar
I just returned from Sonar in Baltimore (the second time this month) to check out Mr Killah, Tony Starks, with Jill. The place was much more packed than it was for Qbert and I believe it might've sold out just on the hype of the 9:30 Club show the previous night alone. When I arrived A-Alike was performing and they really killed it. After them there was an R&B-influenced duet without a DJ which was pretty weak. Before Ghost came out the place was getting hyped through the roof by half a dozen MC's like "Porkchop" (not to be confused with Lambchop) freestyling and bigging up Ghost and the Wu.
I'm glad I saw the show in Baltimore instead of in DC as the crowd just seemed so much more genuine than it surely would've been at the 9:30 Club. After hearing one of the guys from Dead Prez go through the long-winded, politically-charged psuedo-speech "Fuck George Bush" stuff, it was pretty sweet. I think I understand that hip hop is a vehicle to transport ideas, but I guess I had hoped that it would've evolved past N.W.A. by this point. Oh well, I could totally relate to my deadlocked negro brother when he was preaching about the fight against white America. It sort of made me feel like a traitor, or a fake, for just coming for the music and not the idealogy. I haven't felt that way since I was in Thai monestaries; I was raised around Buddhism, but I still feel like a fake when I'm around life-long Buddhists with calloused foreheads whose religious commitment make me feel like I just jumped on a bandwagon. Music and philosophy aren't supposed to be judgemental, but that's the way I feel when I'm around people who's commitment make mine feel insignificant. Or maybe that's just a bad analogy.
Tomorrow I have a golf lesson at at Belle Haven country club. I bought some khaki slacks today and I have a really silly bright yellow polo shirt that I would probably only wear on a golf course which I'll reserve for the special occassion. 
2006 Reunion, Goodbye Buzz
Friday night I met with a large handful of old friends at Dr Dremos, just as we had done a year and a half previously before I left DC for Los Angeles. I didn't get to spend a lot of time talking to many people there, but it was a blast to be around the people who used to play such a big part in my life. We ordered one pitcher after another of exotic domestic beer (Purple Haze and Brooklyn Brown come to mind) and talked about the events of the last 18 months of our lives. I can't great it is to catch up with friends after a year of not seeing them at all. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to coordinate a big group photo, but here's one taken by James which he posted online:
After spending a few hours at Dr Dremos we went to check out Buzz at Nation for the last time together. Buzz, for those who don't know, is the most legendary and long-standing club night in DC history. For almost the last ten years the same party has been at the same venue in SE DC, an infamous venue called Nation. This summer it'll be torn down to make room for new development, which will dramatically change the face of nightlife in Washington. Most clubs have moved to nicer areas in the Northwest quadrant of the city while Nation has managed to maintain success in the heart of the ghetto of the nations capitol. From the balcony at Nation you have a great view of the capitol building which you can't see from any other clubs I've ever been to around here, ironically. I share countless memories of that venue with most of my friends, and I think that even though we rarely (if ever) go there anymore, we'll all be a little sad to see it finally go. I don't think any of us can say that we didn't spend enough time there, though. Here's a photo from Buzz on Friday:
V is for Vacation
Last night I checked out V is for you-know-what with Kevork and Mark at the Uptown theater in Cleveland Park. I hadn't been there since seeing Star Wars Episode 3 on the giant screen that's only matched by Mann's Chinese theater in Hollywood, so it was a fun time. The theater was nearly empty at 10pm on a Tuesday night for some reason, so it was especially interesting hanging out in a huge empty opera house turned movie theater. Oh yeah, we also saw a movie there. I didn't know anything about it before seeing it, but I really appreciated the writing of the film, especially the dialogue of the masked character, played by Huge Weaving (the Wachowski siblings must be raging fans of his).
The night before that I caught up with a collection of childhood friends that I went to elementary school with. We hadn't seen eachother in a long time and it was great to see them again. After all this time they seem more to me like the people that they were when I knew them than I expected them to be, so everything was very comfortable and natural.
I'm listening to Boards of Canada now and about to pass out in Reston. I can look over the top of my laptop and out the window to see the serene lake illuminated by gas street lamps. Beautiful surroundings!
QBert @ Sonar
I went with Kevork and Eric to Sonar to check out Qbert tonight, the second time I've seen him at that venue. The last time was probably about 3 years ago, but I don't think his performance has changed very much, although I still can't say that it isn't really impressive. It remains a 60-minute skratch solo, but this time included some juggling and two-handed stuff not utilizing his QFO turntable/mixer invention. Russell (DJ Stretch, the first guy that I picked up DJ'ing from) opened for him and it was great to see him and catch up. He's living in Baltimore now again; I'd like to find time to hang out with him again, but I don't think it'll happen before I leave.
Tomorrow is Monday and I have many things to get done tomorrow that I couldn't do today because of various places being closed on Sunday. In the evening at 7pm I'll meet with Gene!
Moving on to DC
I'm in Charlotte international airport waiting to board a flight to DC and just finished watching King of New York with Christopher Walken (a gritty, stylistic, film noir 1990-rendition of Robin Hood featuring Lawrence Fishburne and Wesley Snipes).
I've spent the last two full days on the border of Florida and Alabama, near Pensacola, at my familys winter house. It's been more relaxing than anything I can remember and I was spoiled the entire time by my mother which was great. I've missed her a lot over the last year and to spend time with her has been a great luxury for me. She cooked all my meals, always making something special, and I really enjoyed her company. During the stay in Pensacola I got back to some of the parts of America that I've nearly forgotten about. Miami was very different in that it was more a WMC vacation, which I'm used to by now, but in case you aren't, it involves a lot of music, beaches, mojitos, and meeting new people. Pensacola seems like a different world by comparison, and it's interesting for me to remind myself that they're actually both in the same state. Where Miami is hip and international, people wear Dale Earnhardt (or however you spell it) shirts in Pensacola. I went into a convenience store to pay for gasoline with my mother and we saw a guy with a chain around his neck with a large golden fish hanging from it. Immediately my mother starts with the inquiry - it was great. The guy quickly indicated not only that it was a fish local to Florida, but that Florida is the fishing capitol of the world. Now that I didn't know. The guy, like apparently everyone else in the south, was very friendly and talkative which was pleasant. There's certainly something to be said for southern hospitality, which surely isn't only a legend.
I had a checklist of things to do in Pensacola which inlcluded some routine shopping which took me now only through K-Mart, Walmart, and Best Buy, but the local mall. This was where it really got disturbing. I had to get some A/V cables which I couldn't find at other stores so I went to the local mall looking for a Radio Shack which I was told I could find there. That place brought back a lot of vague memories, but more than anything I felt really uncomfortable and dirty in a place that hopeless and depressing. I walked around for a few minutes after finding the Radio Shack to further explore the mall and how I felt about it before I couldn't take anymore and had to leave. When I got outside the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful, as if I was being told 'see, you really don't want to be in there'. Best Buy was more fun but I was appalled by how expensive all of the movies and music were. I'm used to paying less than a dollar for the same thing overseas. K-Mart was really trashy and Walmart was overwhelmingly large. I couldn't believe not only the size and scale of the store, but also of all the items. Everything seemed much larger than I had remembered it, including the people in the store.
I've now boarded the flight to DC and soon I'll be back home, in the place that I grew up. My mama insisted for me not to drive my car from Pensacola to Washington, so she very generously offered one of her cars to me for the week or so that I'll be here. I get to pick between a pair of Mercedes - life is so tough. I can't wait to catch up with friends and the rest of my family; mostly importantly my sister and father, but I'm also really looking forward to catching up with my step father in Alexandria. I think my time here will be rich and exciting. Maybe my friends haven't changed much at all, but I think my interpretation of them might. In South Beach I ran into Randy (DJ Proxxy) who I used to see all the time in DC clubs, usually in the DJ booth, either controlling the lights or the music. I stepped into the Chelsea, next to the Astor, and saw him almost immediately but didn't say anything. When he recognized me he ran over and started talking a mile a minute - I was sure that he was on drugs, so I just nodded until he started to slow down and then excused myself. I don't think I've seen him like that before, but maybe a year away has affected my selective memory.
I think that by the time the next three weeks are over, I'll be happy to return home to China.
This snoring is so loud I can’t hear myself think
I have to share Isaacs (that's for you, Sara) living room with Marilyn and she's snoring so loudly that I can't sleep at all. If I tried to comically imitate it, it still wouldn't be as loud as she's really snoring right now - this is ludicrous. And just a moment ago I was brushing my teeth and she knocked on the bathroom door when I said I'd be out in a minute. I rinsed my mouth out and opened the door and she's standing there looking like she's got golf balls in her mouth (sick from too much alcohol). Now the snoring is following a rhythic cycle like music - for a bar or two it's quiet and subdued, then it's loud and in the aural foreground, easily defeating the puny air conditioner running at full blast.
We weren't sure what party to go to tonight so we hung out here drinking until finally leaving for World of Drum & Bass in downtown Miami at nearly 2am. When we got there we saw several people leaving and asked them how it was. They were pretty much accurate when they said that there weren't enough people there and the MC's wouldn't shut up. We tried to go in but the cover charge (even at 2am) was $30 and Isaac couldn't reach Craze's cousin who evidently could've escorted us in. We decided to wait around for him to call back while I excused myself to piss on the side of the stupid club and noticed all of the side doors open. I walked right in and barely got looked at by anyone. I walked through the service entrance, through the VIP area, past a security guard covering the VIP entrance, and into the main room where MC Skibadee was blabbering a mess of sounds that I couldn't identify as any language I've ever heard. The place was occupied by about 600 "I'm wasted and paid $30 to get in so I'll sit here and bob" people and I got bored standing there for five minutes, so I walked outside. I told Isaac, Sara, and Marilyn how we could walk in, but only Sara came with me the second time. We walked in the same way but this time I was confronted by a security guard who looked at me for more than a moment but didn't stop me when I walked right by him. We left the mediocre party when Sara got a text message saying that Marilyn got busted trying to walk in. Then I made the realization for the first time in a few years that I don't really even care to check out any drum & bass DJ's at all, save for Photek or Zinc. I suppose my musical tastes have changed a lot in the last 5 years. Now it mostly just sounds like senseless noise to me.
The last few days have been fully sweet, but I haven't written much at all about them, not for lack of interest, but lack of time and internet. The wi-fi signal that the household routinely jacks from their neighbors has been down for more than half a week. Aside from some lost contacts due to me losing my phone list scribbled on scrap paper, I don't think that the internet and the beach are meant to be good friends anyway. Hopefully tomorrow will be a full beach day, including frisbee and sunburn, and maybe weather that allows tossing of the 'bee (please not too much wind tomorrow; today was wind tunnel beach day).
Sara and Isaac have been fully awesome beach hosts since I've been here. It's been a pleasure to hang out with them. I'll put some earplugs molded in the shape of Absolut bottles that Kevork gave me in my ears and try to sleep now.