Life never quite goes the way you expect it, does it? Sometimes you have a bad luck streak for months, and then suddenly all good things happen all at once. For me, this somehow seemed to coincide with a long period of boredom and a sudden period of totally unexpected news, both good and bad. I remember one of the lines from rv Pausch's Last Lecture: "wait long enough and people may surprise you". That is so true indeed, and I take great pleasure in being surprised again and again by the people around me.
Anecdote: last Friday I flew to Beijing. I asked Northwest to give me a window seat, which I got. Sitting next to me was a Japanese woman, maybe in her 40's, with a face mask, looking a bit anxious and ready to get airsick. Five days later I requested a window seat again, got it again, and next to me was again the same anxious Japanese woman! Amazing. Of all the flights we could take back to Japan, and of all the chairs in the airplane we could have been assigned to, somehow we ended up sitting next to each other twice. I would call it a sign of god, but she was married, so better luck next time, I guess.
The time I spent in Beijing was nice. I wouldn't call it uneventful, but I took it easy and didn't rush around a lot. I took my time and relaxed, but at the same time my wonderful host Amyko-chan was stressed to the max with work, even on Sunday and on her day off. I hope that she can be less busy in the near future. Thanks to her I spent a great three days in BJ, and I managed to throw off all work-related stress of my own that had been piling up for months. It's been a while since I went on holiday.
Life is not so bad for me right now. I've got some good things to look forward to. The Christmas holidays are the first thing on my mind at the moment, but I'm also thinking ahead to the period after Christmas. Winter is coming, and it's time to make some good new year's resolutions and decide a path for myself.
Enjoy life and the world will be your playground.