Confessions of One Too Nerdy for His Own Good

Here it is. I leave for China in less than 7 hours. If I were to go to bed right now, I would get 3.5 hours of sleep at best. That’s assuming I could even fall asleep. That doesn’t appeal to me in the slightest right now. I’m not tired. I’m savoring the feeling of anticipation and tying up loose ends. I installed Skype on my laptop so that I can talk with people for free (assuming I can get the microphone to work – yet another thing I shall have to test before I go to bed). The past several days have been absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing. I got to go out with a bang at a farewell/stuff yourself stupid party at Cinzzetti’s. I would much rather have an additional reason to celebrate besides my leaving. That would just seem too, well, “putting me at the center.” So it also had this second theme to it. There’s nothing quite like going out American style and just stuffing oneself stupid. If your IQ doesn’t drop by at least 10 points from being so full, then you have failed. Failed! And of course, I must not fail to mention that I was given the gift of a Hotwheels taxicab with which to take random pictures in China. The cabbie confessions will live on!

Saturday I spent virtually the entire day packing, moving things up to where they will be stored in Loveland, and driving way too much. I watched a movie with Jearime and Jessica, The Painted Veil, which was an interesting film about a British couple who moved to China and worked in a remote village stricken by Cholera. Aside from that, the highlight of my day occurred, ironically, at 3:00am when I arrived at my brother, Jake’s, condo where I would crash for the night. He wasn’t there. I called his phone. No answer. Lovely. It’s 3 am and I had little choice but to proceed to call people until I finally found someone who would be willing to let me sleep in a spare bed or sofa. Fortunately my Mom was willing to answer the phone, which quickly resolved that issue.

Sunday was another busy, run-around day. Between saying “see ya” to Zach, gaining temporary custody of his “The :::insert vulgar word here that begins with F and ends with K and modify it to serve as an adjective::: Dollar” (I much prefer this title, but apparently I’m weird), unloading yet more things, and enjoying a China-centered common interest gathering at Chiu laoshi’s house (CSU’s infamous Chinese teacher who, students would unanimously agree should they be asked, is truly “the shizzle” (in the superlative of “good” way, of course)), it was another great day. And I think I just set a new personal record for an overly complex and multi-layered run-on sentence that simultaneously demonstrates my unabashed nerdiness. Go me!

But seriously, the party was awesome. We ate an abundant amount of Chinese food, played ping pong, talked with Nathan in China via Skype, and had a great time overall.

Apparently I am such a nerd that I am actually willing and eager to go to school and attend classes even when I am not even enrolled in them, let alone expected to attend. Yes, it’s true. I am that much of a nerd. I went to three Chinese classes, all back-to-back. I got to see some familiar faces, meet some new ones, and make a vain attempt to quench my unquenchable thirst to learn as much Chinese as possible. I went to class from 11am to 2pm, and it was awesome. The whole time, aside from enjoying the fact that I could actually manage to convey a semi-moderately slaughtered attempt at responding to the unexpected questions that were being thrown my way, I was counting down the hours that remained before my departure. I also still had a list of things I needed to get or accomplish before I left. If anyone is in a similar position of anxiously awaiting an upcoming event, I highly recommend making lists. Make many lists. It offers a good distraction that also happens to be quite productive and makes you look even more organized, responsible, and prepared than you probably are in real life. Way to boost the intangibles!

Finally, after unloading the last remaining things from my car, two of my siblings, Annelise and Ben, brought me back down to Denver where my roommate, Dave, has agreed to take me to the airport at 4am.

Yes, you read that right. Someone has actually agreed to get up by 4am. I am still shocked by this. I even know this person personally! I really need to get his autograph.

If you have managed to stomach my seemingly unfocused ramblings thus far, I congratulate you. The next time you read another post by me will probably be after I have arrived in China! I now have just 6 hours and ten minutes left! And I think I’m even less tired now than before. I guess I shall direct my productivity elsewhere. Until my next post, which will hopefully include pictures!