4 more days!

i awoke this morning from a weird dream where i was riding around in a boat and seeing all sorts of exotic sea creatures swimming in the harbor, including playful dolphins, golden nautiluses, and floating puffins. today was a work day, made more so by the fact that it was raining outside. now that i know adam will be able to cover for me when i'm away, the stress from coding is completely gone. when the client pushed back the asset delivery yet another day, i wasn't bothered by it in the least. i can work as much as i want, or as little. in the meantime i'm slowly preparing myself mentally for the trip. even the simple act of heating some leftovers for lunch becomes a novelty because it's something i won't be experiencing for the next few months. it makes me sad to think i'm going to miss the rest of the summer, but the thing that gets me the most is when i hear about some event that's happening that i won't be able to go. little things, like movie premieres, or the start of a summer television series.

the last of my online purchases finally came today (i was starting to worry that maybe it wouldn't show up until after i left), my money pouch and some laundry accoutrement. so basically i have all the necessary travel "ingredients," i just need to pack. i already got my financial affairs in order: things like the mortgage and the utilities are on an auto-payment schedule. the only thing left to do now is to wait until departure. also continue my research: i finished reading that shanghai book, saw empire of the sun, still working on the three kingdoms (i'm not even though with volume 1), and occasionally i go online and try to find things to add to my china itinerary. for instance tonight i found some information about the shanghai aquarium (maybe i was inspired by my aquatic dream), the largest in asia. i could spend a month in shanghai even though i'll only be there for maybe 4 days. having never visited that city, i find myself already drawn to it. i hope my uncle's apartment that i'll be staying in will have internet access so i can just post from "home."

when ang tao came back home this evening, i heard him making dinner in the kitchen. i figured he'd just eat without me but he poked his head into the living room and said, "let's eat." he never eats in the living room, maybe because i'm always there. instead, he likes to sit on the bar stool and eat from the kitchen island. we ate and chatted, talked about the plight of the affluent, including the organic food fad and america's obsession with weight loss. i asked him if he could feed my fish and water my plants when i'm gone, and he asked me how to clean the bathroom. i wish i could stay in town for a few more weeks, show him around boston. i'm afraid the only thing he got to see while he's here was the fireworks. boston has a lot to offer. i hope he goes back home with good memories of this place. after dinner, he saw that the rain had let up so he biked back to the lab to do more research.