i think it's complete and utter b.s. that Laura Ling and Euna Lee are being held captive in North Korea right now.  they go on trial this Thursday in N. Korea and they face up to 10 years in prison if determined guilty for basically doing nothing wrong even if they did accidentally cross into the n. korean zone.  yell at them, slap them on the wrist.  make them sit in jail for 10 years???  my wish is the world would unite on this, make their voice heard, go to a vigil in their hometown, and channel positive thoughts till these girls come home.  their families miss them like crazy.

i think it's sad that yesterday, on the same day, when one really good ole friend of mine told me that she got engaged, another really ole good friend of mine told me she was going to get divorced.  i don't know what to make of it all.

i think i could make both new york (or LA, still plan on moving there) and shanghai my homes.  in fact, i think i'm going to try to do that for awhile to see how it goes.  just got back from SH and i am enjoying my time in NYC but gotta get back to SH for work and i'm looking forward to that as well.  and then already i'm looking forward to coming back and going back the next time...today, i just applied to get my taiwan passport which will hopefully make my ability to travel to/from and within greater china a lot easier.  never in a zillion years did i ever think i'd be trying to get a taiwan passport.

i think everything came full circle this past weekend.  you never know what life will give you and what it gave me recently is something so random and so unexpected that yet it makes perfect and total sense.  sometimes it's just that way.  i've given up on trying to predict or understand everything life offers.

i think that music really affects the soul.  there was this random guy on the street in shanghai selling CDs of this woman singing really sad love songs.  a chinese woman doing english covers.  her name is yao si ting and her songs are so powerful they put me in the saddest mood.  i immediately bought the CD from he guy.  look her music up and you'll know what i mean.  sad...but you can't help but listen and let yourself fall into this melancholy state.

i think kobe bryant is a totally arrogant prick.  i'm glad lebron didn't get to the finals so he can learn a lesson in humility.

i think i just saw the movie of the year for me.  actually it was the oscar winning foreign film earlier this year so really it came out last year.  but i finally just saw it.  what took me so long?  do yourself a favor and check it out.  tear jerking stuff:  DEPARTURES.

i think i've been eating out way too much.  since i got back to the states, all i've done is gone out to meet friends for lunches and dinners.  it's a little excessive and scary.  gotta up the running miles.

i think i did a running version of the hat trick the other week - in a 7-day stretch, i ran in shanghai, honolulu, and then new york.   i think the hawaii run up to diamond head was the best, but running at the reservoir in central park after not having been there in a loooong time was pretty darn cool too.

i think this past sunday's episode of shanghai rush was the best/funniest so far.  my mom called me as soon as she watched it to tell me she was on the edge of her seat at the end to see who was going to get the boot.  i gotta admit, even i was on edge.  and i knew what happened!

i think the pollen count is really high this year in nyc.  i bought claritin today and i've never ever done that.

i think sometimes the best people aren't meant to stay in your life and i think that's really sad.

i think edison chen is crazy to be resurfacing in hong kong now.

i think the new restaraunt Jo's in soho on elizabeth between prince and houston streets is great.  just had dinner there tonight.  new american awesomeness at great prices.  it's a keeper.

i think zee avi is great!

i think this is an amazing story and it just happened to my sister:

my sister is in town here in nyc (both are actually)...steph is here visiting a guy she just met, not even of 2 weeks, but someone she has toppled head over heels for it seems.  and here's the dish...like 2 months ago, she stopped by the set of a guitar hero metallica commerical shoot her friend bret ratner was directing up in the bay area.  he rang her up since he was in town and told her to pop by.  she did and after meeting everyone and hanging out for a bit, went home happy having had the opportunity to get a sneak peak on a fun thing...well a month or so later, while at work - she works at myspace in SF - the receptionist calls her and tells her that she has a visitor at the door for her.  who?  a gentleman who had met her on the guitar hero metallica shoot.  who???  it couldn't be bret.  so upon going down to greet this mystery man...she was shocked to see the creative director of the ad agency standing in her lobby!  what the?  who the?  apparently, mr. creative director didn't even know my sister's name, but he remembered where she said she worked and he told himself the next time he was in SF (he's based in colorado), he was going to stop there to find her.  he had pestered bret for her info but rat refused.  (that's called cock blocking folks).  somehow through major research, he found her and well, right now, they are spending his birthday week out here in nyc together as he has to be here for work.  needless to say, steph dug this guy from the outset.  she just didn't think anything would or could happen.  at the site of him in her lobby and then his story, she melted, lived a real life it-only-happens-in-the-movie experience and appears to have fallen madly in like with him (love's a strong word dear readers).  okay, since i'm a cynic, i'm skeptical.  but since i have a tender ronny ( i ain't a roni) side, it floors me too.  i gotta hand it to the guy - that took more than guts.  he got what he wanted.  now, i may just have to take a page out of his book one day...

i think, i think, i think...

Been in China for the last 5 weeks or so...it's really tested my ability to be away from New York and the States in general.  I've been schemin' to leave NYC for the last year or so and I think it's finally happenin'.  Forget the fact that I've been in Shanghai working on something that I simply can't believe I'm doin'...but more so for my own living, I'm startin' to see that the world is a really big place and that I just might be able to live in Asia after all.  Other than some people, I'm not really missing New York and I know New York doesn't miss me.  Hmph.



There are things that bug about China.  For instance, I ain't been on this xanga thing for awhile because, well, they block the site in the country!  No blogging sites allowed.  Can you imagine?  They really censor people's thoughts there.  It's pretty crazy.  At any given moment, they have the power to shut down a website if it's doing anything controversial/racy/or whatever that is bad in the government's eyes.  Youtube is always down (I like how the author of this article is named John Oates) so I can never see anything on there.  That bugs!

I currently popped over to Taipei for the weekend and it's amazing ... I'm on sites like this ... and, wow, do you really feel the difference in speed with the internet here.  The net is totally bogged down in China.  Things are painfully slow to open/upload, etc.  Nevertheless, you get used to it and overall, there are so many cool things about the place, that I generally forgive and forget.  If I could write it all down and describe what I see, feel, smell, sense...I just don't have the time.  Generally, I wake up everyday and give thanks to the ground I walk on.  I am lovin' life these days and the opportunities I've been given.  It's such an exciting time right now in Red China.

But ah, Taipei.  My favorite city in Asia, maybe the world...

I'm really happy to be here to meet some friends who are traveling and then some who live here.  It's always a treat to be here....the food, the feel, the, uh, females...haha (F3?)  There's a song that goes Wo Ai Tai Mei which translates into: I love Taiwan girls.  People generalize about women or men in a certain country and how they carry themselves or appear etc and well, all I have to say is that that female persuasion here is by far the best Asia has to offer. 

It is with a sense of sadness that I am here though this weekend as well.  I was so shocked to find out that a sweet girl I met on my last trip here was the senseless victim of a drunken driving accident last weekend.  It's totally tragic.  Her boyfriend was drunk driving at 8am and they both died on the spot after a long night of partying.  I barely knew the girl, but as my friend today said, it was still a footprint that she made in my life.  Everyone you come across leaves a mark in some way, big or small.  I wanted to look her up to tell her I was in town and when I discovered this...well, it was an eerie sense, a sad sense, a senseless sense.

I wish you well, wherever you may be at this moment Candy...our paths barely crossed, but you left an indelible mark.