You can skip this one. It's about to get introspective.

I've been very fortunate to have a little more free time than usual these days. (Which I've filled by getting super lost into Octopath Traveler, which, wow. What a game). Maybe because of that game or just life in general, I've felt more tuned out from the world around me and more tuned in, which has sort of let me take stock of myself. And while there are billions of people on this planet, I think my way of looking around the world is a little unique. Or I'm wrong and it's not at all, but this is my blog and I can write what I want.

So to back up and define things, in life, there are things we do because we want to, and things we do because we have to. Obviously we would want as much of our time as possible to be filled doing things we want to do. But things like work, school, and other things we have to do kind of get in the way. I think many see those things as like, a mental battle they need to carry out every day. Like, they know it's something they don't want to do, and feel dread as it looms closer. Then they have to mentally arm myself to go do battle with it every day. And after, they would feel exhausted and/or depressed that they had to do it. There's probably a big overlap with procrastination there.

Personally, I've never felt that way. Sure I'd prefer to never go to school or work, but I see it as just this silly thing you have to get out of the way so you can enjoy the good part of your day. Like, eating the vegetables on your plate before getting to the part you like (for me that part IS the vegetables, but I'll stick to that comparison). So even as a kid, I guess I just sort of coasted through school. Like, I never seriously thought about why I'm doing this, or even really cared. It's just how things were. So I would want to hurry up and finish it so I can mentally check out, or go back to playing Mario Brothers. I think for many this would lead to sloppy work, but I think a combination of pride and not wanting to cause trouble let me settle on "good enough" as a standard throughout much of my life.

And that has been pretty much my philosophy today. Hurry up and get this annoying stuff out of the way so you can go enjoy yourself. I think to my detriment that this caused me to be a bit aloof and introverted. Like at school I did not really want to talk to people. I just wanted to finish as much homework as possible so I can knock it out and get on with life. This aloofness has followed me, because "stopping to smell the flowers" has never been a train of thought I've taken seriously. Like, "No, we're wasting time with these flowers, let me go back to coasting." I have another draft blog I've been working on where I'm cataloging noteworthy or otherwise important moments in my life before this blog. And honestly, there's not as much there as there should be, because I never really paid attention. Strangely, that all changed in Taiwan. Management at my job there was pretty hands off, and for the first time in my life I did not have a close group of friends that always arranged things to do. I couldn't coast anymore, and had to figure out myself what I liked to do and what I was going to do. So now I will stop and smell the flowers to decide if these flowers are my thing, and determine if in the future it's a good use of my time. Maybe that's why I've always considered Taipei to be my home of sorts, it's where I was "born" mentally, for lack of a better term. I'm lucky then, to have gone there before Bangkok - so my wife had the chance to meet a more interesting and well-rounded version of myself.

One down, one to go.

After repeated delays, I finally got my first COVID-19 shot. So to knock the obvious questions out, yes it was the Chinese one, and yes the one with anywhere from 55-80% efficacy. It certainly sounds less good than the Pfizer/Moderna ones, and they probably are. But what people often don't see beyond the 55%-80% figures is that it is 100% in preventing severe cases of COVID, so I'm 100% onboard with that. I mean, I'm not a doctor. But I've been hearing a lot lately about how you can't compare studies because of different environments, and this and that. But hey, even though COVID is not a risk at all in China, it would be nice to travel this summer. So better to do what I can, be the solution and not the problem, etc. etc.

I'm actually a bit miffed it took so long to get it, because it sure seemed like we would be getting it months ago. Teachers were part of a high-priority group (only second to medical workers, I believe), so we were hearing murmurs back in 2020 it's coming soon. Because the priority is based on your job, they have to arrange everything. We signed the waiver in January. Then absolutely nothing happened. Asking HR produced a lot of "I dunnos". So I have to assume that, A) They decided because COVID isn't really a thing here anymore, it's not worth the bother, or B) Government Bureaucracy means it got delayed. Honestly both are possible, but I am upset at the lack of communication. And I'm inclined to believe Option A a little bit, because one day the news announced that vaccines are available to all foreigners now. Literally the next day, the school sent out an E-mail phrased in such a way like they were taking credit for pushing things along.

We can read the news, ya'll.

Anyway, I'm only with them for a few more months, so it's fine if they were idiots about it I suppose. So what's been going on? Well, Ella and I went to a slaughterhouse. At least, it used to be one. Now they've gone and turned it into a mall, because such a thing could only happen in Asia. It's a strange place, entirely made out of concrete with a lot of small bridges. It has a sort of MC Escher kind of look to it, and I can't imagine why this was the best design for a slaughterhouse. Now it's an Instagram hangout, complete with a Starbucks. Oh, Asia.

For more normal excursions, a group of friends decided to go hiking in Shanghai. If you know anything about the geography of Shanghai, that's like saying you want to go swimming in the Sahara. Dudes, it's flat. There is one hill of sorts out west near the border with Zhejiang province, so we thought to check it out. At the top is a really neat looking church and observatory. Unfortunately, the church was closed, and the sign on the gate had a date back in March 2020, when COVID was more of a thing. Still, nice church to look at. The observatory had a little museum that was nice, which was converted from the church's old monastery. Really, the "hike" took like 10 minutes to get to the top. Still, it's the highest point in Shanghai, so behold, in all its glory!

A bit anticlimactic, but oh well. After we went to the Botanical Gardens, which are very nice but way out in the suburbs. The weather was perfect that day, just slightly cool, because spring has sprung. You'll know because most of the parks have Japanese Cherry Blossom trees, and they're in bloom for another few weeks. We set out with a friend to Century Park in Pudong District to see a really big collection of them. There were a lot of people there, and I had never been to Century Park before, so that's cool. Nice place. You can even camp there. Kinda weird to get out of your tent and see skyscrapers a kilometer away, but hey, why not. Before, we stopped by a super super local restaurant to try food from her hometown province. Whew, it was spicy. But also really delicious. I had never had that style of Chinese food before, so it was a fun experience.

Pudong District is also home to the Science Museum, which I have actually been to many years ago. I don't really remember it though, so why not give it another shot? The Science Museum... it's okay I guess. It has a distinct 90s, early 2000s kind of feel, and maybe has not been updated since then. In contrast to the quite good Natural History Museum, I think the Science Museum needs some love - especially since it's just two metro stops away from some of the most modern buildings in the world. Maybe kids would be impressed, but for the most part, I wouldn't stop if you're a tourist. The highlight for me was the African animals diorama, for a completely unexpected reason. There is a lion at the aforementioned Natural History Museum which is sort of internet-famous for having a completely stupid look on his face, for which I will be oh so happy to include a picture of. However, what I did not know, is that there is also a dopey looking lion at the Science Museum. I think he (she?) deserves to be equally internet famous. So please, spread this photo far and wide for your "My face when..." memes.

Seems I've been talking a lot about Pudong district, which is really unusual for Shanghai people. Nobody really goes to Pudong, because it's considered kind of soulless. Actually, a good portion of Pudong didn't even exist a few decades ago, as it's reclaimed sea land. Most of the people live in the old part of town, called Puxi - where they have French-style buildings (at least, some) and most of the foreign food and bars. Unless you're going to the airport, or a tourist to gawk at the admittedly super impressive skyline, there's really nothing going on in Pudong. But actually on these trips I found it kind of cool, and I think it's reputation is a bit undeserved. We haven't given it a proper exploration, but we saw quite a few cool looking places. One would actually be a surprise to anyone from the US, we ate lunch at Red Lobster. As far as I know, this is the only one in China, so I guess it's not a chain after all. It is a bit on the expensive side, similar to US prices. I asked Ella when was the last time she ate lobster, and she said never. So, we had to try that. I think I've created a monster though, because Ella really really liked lobster. Admittedly it has probably been a decade since I had it, but it was better than I remember, even if we had just bits of it on flatbread. But yeah, all of Red Lobster's food was surprisingly good, much better than in the US - with the notable exception of the cheddar biscuits, which were not swimming in butter. I get why, butter is very expensive here. But still, disappointing. They made up for it by having an amazing beer from Yunnan. It tasted really unique, with a flowery sort of flavor. I had never had a beer like that before. I liked it so much that on the way back home I tracked it down and ordered a case online. Red Lobster, 9/10. Who would have thought? Lobsters are very uncommon in China, but I guess we'll be on the lookout from now on.

Sorry, lobsters.