Hi there~ I hope this finds you well.

Since last we visited, I’ve settled into a new town and a new job. I’m doing my best to keep up with a rugged work-load and keep looking good while I’m at it.

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The job is busy as all bones~ I’m managing the English department covering 7th to 12th grades. Six grades, two classes each ~ preparing events and giving presentations. That, while teaching 26 hours a week~ That, while watching the news about my country falling apart. . .

Watching the news from a safe place (you know China is~), a place that gets all sorts of hate from reams of people who are trying so hard to lay blame wherever they can. I’m watching from a place that figured out how to live safely, considering the modern viral pandemic, and yet isn’t considered viable as a model because of political animosity.

For the sake of life, for the sake of kindness, for the sake of health, we (‘Mericans) need to be open to cooperation in matters of science, social growth, and all things human. Our selfishness has led to far too much pain (What are we looking at? Nearly 200,000 dead?). The hatred some people send as pedestrian vitriol, designed for some sort of cathartic effect to distract from one’s own pains it just isn’t useful. All it does is create a second pain.

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So I try to stay focused. It’s not easy though. Thankfully, my family is healthy, but I have friends who have gotten sick. Six million Americans sick with the disease… Here, in China, we don’t really wear the masks – because we don’t have to. We’re pretty much over it. Classes are back in and we are less than concerned.

I wish that this kind of nonchalance was reasonable for my own country.

It’s really tough watching from here. I feel bad for having it so easy. I wish I could offer some of this. I hope somehow, my country and the whole world figure out how to manage this situation.

Don’t fear the neighbors just because they’re Chinese. Maybe introduce yourself. You never know what they might bring to the potluck, like perhaps a world without Covid.

For now, I’m just teaching school. For now, I’m doing nothing else. Skipped visiting America for the summer. I wouldn’t have been able to come back. Skipped the ‘video-Burning Man’. Skipped a lot of social events recently. Skipping a lot of things for a lot of reasons. Some I can put a finger on, some I can’t. Being single after years of not doesn’t lend itself to feeling normal. Nothing is normal. It’s not a ‘new-normal’. It’s just new.

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Mostly, I find myself staying late at work. From there, I come home, feed the cats and either get a bit more work done or do some reading. I should study more and I’ve started exercising again. I simply don’t feel like doing anything these days. I’m invited to events, but I don’t go. I’m aware that people are around that I could invite around, but I don’t even try. Taking the time here slowly seems to be the way.

I got a bicycle. I ride a bit. But taxis are cheap, so for a dollar, I’ll get to work or back without breaking a sweat. The life here seems disconnected from everything for now. Too early to get it. Too much work to be able to relax. Too much stress to be able feel like this is sustainable, but it’s too easy to not let it ride for a few.

I miss the musicians who live with music. I miss the family that smiles and cooks and laughs. I miss the builders who revel in well-done things. I miss the basement-jam crews and festive gatherings. It’s like we got caught by the spear of the gaffs and all got pulled off stage. We need to center and heal and rename this age. We need to get through it and close the chapter, starting a new one soon. I’m about done watching the news about my country in ruins.

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Listening to some Tom Petty, Vietnamese rock from the ’60s and spending time with the cats. This is my life. I’m really glad I have cats. They haven’t yet tried their giant hamster wheel, but they do love lasers.

I had to say hi. Proof’a life, you know?

Take care, you~

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