and just like that, pouf!

end of the inaugural month and what i have to show for it are a few books read many meals catered to a homeful of visitors over the lunar new year and a rather grindingly slow easing into part-time hours at work.

the unexpected professor - john carey (2014)

part memoir part sweeping review of literature as seen through a voracious english reader's eyes and part vignettes of d.h.lawrence george eliot and a few other favored writers. 

he has an agreeably dry style and (in the first parts of the book especially) effortlessly transports me to pre-war england then to post-war reconstruction and finally to the mid-century years. 

i think, at the end, how little have i read in my life! and also, how little i like poetry!

very happily, i get some new book names from him too, so it's all grist to the mill.

yikes (almost)

getting all ready to crawl to the airport at 5 AM to pick Ji J2 and A up and discovering a text from J2 at 2 AM saying they are still at home and then realizing that we got our dates wrong and are two days early.

if you think this sounds familiar you would think true.

check. the. dates. girl.

this is a good time to sob a prayer of gratitude for the narrow escape. the old lament is particularly cogent today: it is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 

hey siri!

 

HOM says he observes that my most frequent command to siri is to get her to please lock my phone screen. i say if she saves me two taps on my screen, why-ever not?

it's starting to feel a lot like CNY

perhaps because the shopping is all remote these days, one doesn't get the infinite loop of pre-festival music advertising ditties and all-round cheery kitsch so much this year. i'm ashamed to confess my calendar of celebrations is defined by sheng siong and friends.

in other news, this year's color must be fuchsia. 

unreasonable hospitality - will guidara (2022)

exhilaratingly positive and almost unbelievably enthusiastic defense of the case for giving people all they expect and then more besides. he is so cheerful and exciting and full of good ideas that it makes for page-turning inspiration. 

plus he gives a most interesting glimpse into the innards of an f&b establishment although one suspects his fervor covers over many a true unpleasantness.

if you take it at face value, this book is a great reminder to do the right thing do it really well do it cheerfully and extravagantly. i am kinda inspired.

spotted in the neighborhood

the hopeful line waiting for new notes for the ang pows. 'nuff said.

indulgence

new phone case. totally frivolous purchase, as i confess to HOM. but ah my foes and oh my friends, it is such a pretty sight!

rental house - weike wang (2024)

un-put-downable for the flowing pace modest heft and painfully sharply astute observations about immigrant mindset vs. entrenched working class grievances vs. the chinese perspective towards family obligations. it is in turns aggravating and suffocating and, because i was also there for a bit, rather dauntingly authentic.

this is up there with the namesake and a free life for the insight it gives to the immigrant's lot in US of A. 

excuse me while i go look up her other books.

moonwalking with einstein - joshua foer (2011)

in addition to a user's overview to how to memorize prodigious amounts of information this book also includes a fascinating walk through the development of educational philosophy in the west. 

worth the hype, if occasionally a bit of a drag where he describes the personality hygiene (of lack of) and habits of the mental athletes.

bring on the scarves!

lovely quasi-wintery weather this morning in a brief window following two full days of rain and right before it all starts again. bummer for E the dog but very good cuddling weather for the humans.

next level achievement!!!

 

feeling rather proud of meself really, for successfully migrating the work accounts from the old phone to the new, all by my little self, with help from the google hive mind, authenticator app notwithstanding. woooooooo!

existential thoughts

new phone, after several agonizing hours porting the data over. several questions occur:

• how did we ever live in pre-cloud days?
• how did this big become the new normal?
• how did i ever live in the paper diary days?

AND THAT'S IT

we say goodbye to xiamen end our longest vacation stretch ever and i realize with a thump that it's back to work again tomorrow.

and while a girl could easily get used to this i suppose it is still a good thing to have fruitful endeavor to return to not to mention faithful E who we hope has not forgotten how we look or smell.

xiamen marathon 2025 (yes!!)

better luck this morning when we succeed in becoming (first-time) spectators! excitedly taken photos here.

urban cages

if you look at the multi-million yuan apartments in the heart of xiamen you will notice that the individual apartments are often clad in all manner of protruding metal crates.

what a pity. because regardless of original design the building facades are currently reduced to a prison esthetic.

xiamen marathon 2025 (not quite)

let's go cheer the marathon runners, HOM and i say to each other. we set off early and trace the marathon route but meet na-dah. no officials no road barriers no water stations no other supporters and certainly no runners. and no wonder. the marathon, it turns out, is tomorrow. 

we have now unlocked the next level of achievement in bloopers.

modern life

doing laundry in the hotel via google translate.

achievement unlocked.

imagine that

in addition to an abundance of public loos and app-based transactions you have the ubiquitous battery rental stations as well. this particular station does its duty proudly on the tree-top mountains-to-sea trail.

escape from alcatraz

today HOM and i sign up for a day trip to the UNESCO world heritage tulou site.

we are the final passengers to board the full 48-seater. the air is close. the trip promises to be a 2-way 4-hours-per-way struggle through traffic in close proximity to humanity. i hope no one has a flight to catch tonight! the tour guide says brightly. one gentleman hocks his sputum discreetly into a piece of tissue.

twenty minutes into the ride and just before the bus enters the highway the vehicle scrapes the side of another bus and we grind to a screeching halt. loud altercation ensues over the following minutes.

HOM and i look at each other most meaningfully. i wonder if it is worth it sticking with the tour, he murmurs. what say you we abandon ship? i say at the same time. in answer HOM holds out his hand and we make our way to the door and tumble out hastily and gladly.

we spend the day on the mountains-to-sea trail instead. you can have your world heritage site, i think to myself. gimme fresh air and a good walk in beautiful weather any time. bonus because the lunch is great too.

exceeding expectations

what i love about xiamen:

• the weather. having come from sub-zero NYC this is a most gentle easing into tropical thermal contrast for next week
• plentifully available and scrupulously clean public restrooms with working locks. not always with TP, mind you, but one is grateful not to have to hunt
• AND automatic toilet flush connected to the door locking mechanism. removes the need for contact with toilet hardware
• app-based purchasing. removes the need for human contact and use of physical cash while allowing advance orders and just-in-time collections. our favorite app must be the luckin one
• didi-based cabbing. removes the need for inaccurate descriptions accent interpretation and haggling. not to mention the pinpoint accuracy of their GPS

what i hate about xiamen:

• the permanent haze of tobacco smoke in the air, owing to an inordinate number of smokers in public
• the shared pavements. with bicycles PMDs carts and motorcycles. although to be fair the pavements are wide and the non-peds are gentle

tea break

we have a nice little snack attack in the middle of the tour group's visit to the xiamen botanic gardens. i am afraid we are getting quite unashamedly focused on f&b these days, HOM and i.

invitation to a banquet - fuchsia dunlop (2023)

my first finish of the year, and what a delicious one too!

what ruth reichl does for french american food fuchsia dunlop does for chinese cuisine: i.e. describe it so lyrically that you want to go eat it yourself for dinner tonight.

this is an ambitioulsy sweeping review of the varied traditions that make up chinese cuisine and it certainly succeeds in introducing a most interesting landscape to a cultural semi-ignoramus (me). the semi bit is entranced by the connections between what she says and the little i know by experience. the ignoramus part is enlightened by explications of what i do not know i do not know, like the foundational impact of rice and pork on the ethnic psyche.

and of course, the overseas chinese part is delighted that she mentions singaporean and malaysian chinese contributions as well.

i spy with my little eye

arch symbol of capitalism! by the highway in xiamen!

lookin' at you, 2025

new year resolutions:

• read voraciously (i'll do my best!) now i have anna's archives 
• try to be kinder and act less entitled (easier said than done aaaaaargh)
• lean into the inattendu. be interruptible. be a pilgrim! 

sardines in a can

ferry ride to and from gulangyu island. the one so colonial-quaint and refreshingly vehicle-free. the other a nauseatingly in-your-armpit situation that is enough to put one off a second visit.

 

jiang mu ya

al fresco place in the cool evening at the twin towers food city. the old ginger is sharply delicious and the duck is crisply delicious. apart from being the only diners and therefore subject to the shopkeeper's assiduous attention, it is a very good meal indeed.

piano museum, gulangyu

my most enjoyable museum visit ever, i believe. a rather shabby chic set of antique pianos and some harpsichords to delight the failed pianist in me. set in a set of airy colonial-style buildings by the sea with what realtors like to describe as plenty of natural lighting. although i wonder how the strings survive in the seaside air.

impressions of xiamen

continuing my introduction to the motherland, per HOM:

• not quite as polished as shanghai 
• with an earthier and smokier (literally!) vibe
• closer to the mid-century post-war china of my reading
• with a dialect i can (somewhat) understand
• and food HOM seems to recognize from his childhood
• plus very organized public loos with electronic occupancy indicators!

to reiterate:

• the old ginger duck is goood
• as is the simple stall-level cooking
• the speech level is hearing aid loud
• and their smokers are a dime a dozen