Day 149 - Final Day / Moving Day

Tuesday, July 5th, 2016

Smog

120 AQI

As usual, unable to sleep on Monday night. Whatever, last day, I can sleep as long as I want from tomorrow until the end of time! Or August 22nd, whichever comes first.

As Promised. Look at that Dirtbag.

Dickish

Part of the thing that kept me up last night was that I remembered telling my Chinese compatriots on Friday the negative side of the Chinese stereotype on Saturday, but neglected to mention the positive side. What a dick, right?

I should probably apologize for being rude, but ended up foregoing the apology when everything was going as normal and they didn’t seem to even remember any of that. Huh.

Optimism?

After an exceptionally easy last day, tying up loose ends, and getting the keys to my new apartment, I wander off into the sunlight. On my way home, I wonder about where I fall on the optimism-pessimism spectrum. Someone related to me calls themselves an optimist, but they might be the only one. I like to think I’ve become an optimist, but maybe I’m falling into the same category as them. They tend to view things in the most pessimistically optimistic way you can. Example: Things can’t possibly get any worse than this! Is that an optimistic or a pessimistic statement? I guess you’re seeing things as that they can only get better, but you’re also phrasing it in a way that you’re saying “shit sucks.”

In the end, I conclude that optimism takes practice. I used to be negative and pessimistic. It can be appealing. The appeal of the negative is that you feel like you’re seeing something others are missing, or aren’t clever enough to understand. You’re totally deeper and more clever than those fools who think things are good! Right?!

What a living room!

But no, focusing on the good doesn’t mean that you don’t know there’s bad. It’s focusing on the better despite knowing that things can be horrible. The fact that there’s good and bad in everything, why wouldn’t you rather focus on the parts you like instead of dwelling on that which infuriates you?

I’m kind of saying this to reinforce the ideas in myself.

Saying Goodbye to Bugs

I shake out my luggage after airing it for several days and leaving bug traps around. After deciding that I’m bug free, I start packing my freshly washed clothes into my suitcases and various other knick knacks I’ve picked up since arrival. As Josh said when moving out “How did I get so much shit?”

With my new roommate, Dexter’s, help, we move many loads by hand over a 10 minute walk. In total, 3 loads with help, and 1 without. I’m beat. I underestimated how tiring it would be when I opted to hit the gym after work today. 

I mean, how am I supposed to count you guys anymore?

The rest of the night was spent enjoying the new apartment’s big screen, and re-listening to the violence audiobook that I recently finished. Goddamn, Pinker, you really knocked it out of the park.

Final note

This means that there can be no more “X/3 Mountains” because I can no longer see the mountains from my apartment. I’ll miss you guys!

Words of the Day

English - Mandarin [pronunciation]

Insect
Kūnchóng
[koon-ch-ohng]
Move (house)
bānjīa
[bahn-jee-ah]

Editing Music
Bistro Fada
Stephane Wrembel