One Way Ticket to Shanghai (back-logged from 10/28)

Hello, sorry for the over-due post. This is why I suppose, I am not paid to blog, write, or report in any manner; because I am not punctual. At any rate, it's important that I back-log my post to October 28th one month ago almost exactly because that was d-day when this whole journey began...

* * * Cue blurry flash-back visuals and magical music* * *

I sit at my gate, exhausted, and relieved.  I've spent all night packing, list-checking, and organizing.  I barely slept.  I was paranoid there would be some awful last minute set back like missing my flight or the system loosing my reservation or the airplane having a fatal mechanical problem.  I sit at my gate and I wait and I write...

As dawn breaks over the back of airplanes parked on the edge of Dulles International Airport, I feel strangely calm---almost like I've done this before. In a way, I have...moving. I seem to be always moving. However, this time it's slightly different.  This one-way ticket (it's all I could afford) has imbued in me a sense of calm and of release. There's no turning back now. I have always felt the need to plan...generate endless alternatives, make commitments, fill my moments, and be productive. Yet my schedule once landing in Shanghai this time is straight forward and loose. Check in at my accommodations, meet some real estate brokers for appointments, go to the Expo, go to work on Monday. There's four things I need to do. Nothing more; nothing less. I take a deep breath. Think positive.  This could be the beginning of something great. It has always been my dream to work abroad, specifically in China, as a designer...how did this all happen, anyways?! I don't really know, there are still a lot of unanswered questions ---better not to think too hard about it or like with all dreams: I'll wake up.

They call my section and I get on the plane.  We take-off almost immediately flying backwards in to time---West, which will eventually become East again.  I close my eyes to sleep and over the horizon the sun is coming up.