Yes, it is I, the misplacer of debit cards!

Aha, didn't expect to see this post did you? I am such a bag of surprises.

My bus does not leave till 7pm, and in the meanwhile I have rode on a cable car, checked out the Musee Mechanique, laughed at people who got scared by the Bush Man, got waylaid by a gay marriage rights canvasser (which was where I couldn't find my debit visa card and luckily it was in my bag) and walked through Chinatown. All in all, not a bad day. Except when I was tracking down the percussion of a lion dance in Chinatown, and it turned out to be a soundtrack. Lion dance soundtracks? Who does that to people??

So I'm just waiting around the hostel until it is time to leave. I am a teeny bit apprehensive, like I always am before the unknown, but in no time at all I'm sure I'll adapt and grow to like the people that I'll be travelling with at close proximity. A busload of people with stinky feet is the only thing I can think of now though. I say that because I'm pretty sure my feet stink after the long walk in my hiking shoes just now. San Francisco is pretty warm today.

"Just remember, not all who wander are lost," says a quaint little pendant that I passed by today. I find that quite energizing. Next time when someone tells me to quit my PhD, instead of saying "well fuck you" under my breath I shall say this in a sagely manner instead. Makes me sound philosophical and if you look between the lines it doesn't say anything about me not being lost at all, so I wouldn't be lying.

I'm sure at this point you would've discovered that I'm just rambling here. Please keep me company until my time is up, or when I muster enough of momentum to actually go pee instead of just pondering about it. (Should I go pee? Maybe I can hold it out longer. What about now? It's just been three seconds you ninny. I'll tell you when we're there.)

Oh also I have this instant tomyam rice thing that I bought some days ago, being absolutely sure that I would need it at some point - and I haven't eaten it till now. It has become somewhat of a liability to my luggage space. I need to eat it before I leave the hostel. Luggage space is at an absolute premium here. Right now I have three bags - a backpack that holds all my worldly belongings, a sling bag that holds my essentials (like my passport and the gold coin Peter gave me this morning before I left) and a bag that holds my tent and my sleeping bag.

I feel like a snail.

Do snails pee? Anyway I have to, so I shall close this post. Goodbye for real for at least 10 days. Be good and eat your vegetables!

Post from the Green Tortoise

I'm going camping tomorrow! Shall be away from civilization (well sorta - first night we're going to be at Las Vegas), or the online world anyway, so I'm putting down a post right now to appease my hordes of readers who hopefully will not suffer from withdrawal symptoms while I'm gone.

San Francisco has been great. I'm sharing the room with a writer guy who sold all of his possessions after spending 65 years accumulating them. We share a bunk bed, he sleeps on the lower bunk. He has nightmares every night involving scumbags and fuckers. I know that because he yells threats and insults at them in his sleep. It is definitely a very interesting way to wake up, and my only regret is that I am unable to recall any of his colourful monologues because I go back to sleep and forget everything. Damn.

So Peter the Writer is a member of the Asian Art Museum, so I was his guest for today and managed to get in for free. I am proud to say that I have not paid for any museums in the US so far, amazingly. I've always been able to freeload one way or another. In New York it was Jian Hui with his corporate passes, that got me into The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). (I was even able to pawn one extra ticket at the Met Museum that Jian Hui gave me for $10 - half price - the French family was happy, I was happy.)

Then in San Francisco, on Wednesday, coincidentally it was the third Wednesday of the month and the free day of California Academy of Sciences. I had to queue for 2 hours to get in though. It was insane, probably the longest queue I've ever queued at, ever. I reached the Academy at 9:20am, it starts at 9:30am. By the time I got to the end of the queue, according to the guy who was standing there counting the people that were in the line, there were about 2,700 people in front of me. I only got to see the actual building after 1 hour of being in the queue. The family behind me was very entertaining though, and I spent the best part of the two hours just eavesdropping on their conversations.

Hmm they're going to have Beer Olympics in the Green Tortoise Hostel, but I'm not really in the mood to drink tonight so I'm actually going to commit the sacrilege of saying no to free beer. A polar bear probably died somewhere in response. Oh wait - that wasn't me. That was CLIMATE CHANGE!!! I was reading The Drug Issue by the San Francisco Bay Guardian (a whole issue laced with articles on substances that make you high, no shit, SF is cool like that) and there was this advertisement inside by the Republicans, I assume, since they were dissing Obama and the Democrats, that actually claims that manmade global warming is a scam. I think my blood pressure rose significantly.

If any of these people behind the ad actually took the trouble to queue for 2 hours like I did to enter the California Academy of Sciences (for free, since they sound like cheapskates who wouldn't pay 20 bucks to go into a museum) they would know that manmade global warming is scientifically proven and we are this close to crossing the threshold of no return. Mass extinction would occur. This is not the first time that mass extinction has occurred because of climate change, it would be the 6th. But all the consumption of humankind has caused unprecedented levels of carbon dioxide which positively correlates with rising temperatures. In other words, we are causing this.

Think of all the problems that rising temperatures would cause. Some examples: changes in migratory patterns, destruction of sensitive ecosystems, ocean warming, rising sea levels, extreme weather conditions, better environments for mosquitoes and diseases that they spread... the list goes ON AND ON. And these people have the cheek to deny everything.

Oh yeah. The ice caps on Mount Kilimanjaro are going to be gone by 2020. Catch them while you can.

*deep breaths*

OK the rant has ruined my mood somewhat. I shall stop here.

Random stuff within 24 hours.

1. I won second prize for Best Hat Contest in a Crazy Wig and Hat party. It was the hat that my mum gave to me to bring to the Burning Man. It transforms into a Hat+Mask at the whim of its owner. They called it the Swine Flu Hat.
   
2. I gave $2 to a person who lost his BART ticket to get home.
   
3. I didn't have change to take the bus ($2) and a random stranger paid for me. Karma is very real.
   
4. I bought a bottle of wine labeled "Cheap Red Wine" for $6.50.
   
5. I had the best shower ever. It was the best shower ever.
   
6. I had a huge omelette with spinach, cheese, mushroom, hollandaise sauce and tomatoes in it. Yum.
   
7. I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and it was wonderful.
8. A guy walked by me and said "You're very beautiful. I saw you walking up there just now, and I told myself that I need to let you know that you're very beautiful." Then he walked away.
   
9. I witnessed a shouting match between two white guys, in Japanese.
   
10. I was given a personal tour of an antique shop by the owner that I met in a flea market.
    

I am sure there are more but I can't keep my eyes open so here goes.

This one's for Jason.

"You just have to be there 20 minutes before departure," said Kingston. "I don't like reaching early because I feel stupid wasting time in the airport."

"So let me get this straight. You'd rather miss your flight than feel stupid?"

"Yup pretty much." With this seemingly innocuous ending to our conversation, we bade each other goodnight and goodbye. I was to leave early in the morning so he wouldn't be able to send me off then.

Kingston and I had not met for about two years, but we clicked immediately, as evident from our endless conversations on his couch that I claimed as mine in New York. I was sorry that I had to leave, but San Francisco was waiting. My flight was at 7am this morning. The plan was to get out the house at 5am, and with any luck I would reach the airport by 6:30am.

When I said "with any luck" I did not foresee that I would actually need it. The first thing that went wrong was me waking up late, and after double and triple checking that I did not leave anything behind, I left the house 15 minutes off schedule. I reached the subway station, huffing and puffing with my ridiculously heavy trolley bag in tow. It was 5:30am. Seemed like I could still make it.

I waited at the subway station until about 5:55am, when I felt that something was terribly wrong. At first I persuaded myself that it was just a normal occurrence for the train to be late for ten minutes. With every passing minute I grew more and more fidgety. But when someone actually went and queried the station master, it turned out that someone had pulled the emergency brake at one of the prior stations. The whole track was at a standstill. This did not look good at all.

One of the waiting passengers, after he learned about my dire situation, proposed that we share a cab to the airport. Apparently he was working in the JFK airport at one of the control stations. So off we went. At this time I was rather relieved that the cab solution presented itself. I still had about 40 minutes till 6:40. Once we boarded the cab (which he had to run into the middle of the road to flag down), I relaxed and felt that I would make it after all. Thus I started making small talk and learned that my saviour's name was Jason.

In contrast with my chilled attitude, Jason still seemed highly strung. When he started to check my flight number and making calls to his colleague - "I can't promise you anything, but we'll try to get you through" - I realized that I was totally oblivious to the fact that I was still in high risk of missing my plane. Delta had a 30-minute check-in policy. It was 6:10am and we were still on the highway. It was probably a good time to start panicking.

When we finally reached Terminal 2, it was about 6:20am. Jason took care of the taxi bill by credit card and wouldn't accept anything from me except a $2 to get a coffee later. Plus tip it was almost a $40 ride. I was quite overwhelmed with gratitude but there was no time for that. We broke into a sprint once we got off the taxi. Jason cut me through all the queues with his work badge and outraged "someone pulled the subway brakes today, we were both fucked" pitch, and got me successfully to the security check. It was 6:40am. There was no time to check in my luggage. We had to dispose of all my toiletries above 100ml (T_T mahalnya) to put everything in as hand luggage.

Jason left me at the security gates with a hurried goodbye and good luck. He was also late for work, and I could only thank his fleeting silhouette as he bounded off towards another direction. His random act of kindness saved me at least $150. Pity I don't even know his last name.

The plane left the dock at 6:55am. I had scraped through, just barely. In the plane one of the stewards approached me to ask me if I had any problems "on the ground". After a moment of puzzlement and checking my feet out, I realized that he was asking me about my almost missing the flight back in New York. Looks like Jason's phone call did get through to someone.

So this one's for the great guy Jason who was originally from LA, who's working at the control station of Terminal 2, JFK International Airport, New York. I would also like to take the opportunity to thank another kind old lady who I met in Nelson, NZ, whom I desperately flagged down with my thumb to get me to the bus station for the bus to Greymouth. She managed to stop the moving bus by pulling over right in front of its path, so that I could get on it. The feat was ever more daring when we consider that the kind old lady was probably at least 65 years old and logically would not have much practical bus-stopping experiences as such.

And yes, I should really learn from my near misses by now.

I'm typing this in Berkeley now, where I'm just hanging out in a cafe that has free wifi, until my host returns from work. I'm pretty tired, having slept for only 2 hours yesterday night. And today's going to be longer because there is a 3-hour time difference between the east coast and the west coast. It's 5:45pm at New York/Boston now but only 2:45pm at San Francisco. I think I might still have time to do another post with pictures. Taking that back. Too lazy.

Meltdown sikit

OK We're finally in July. I'm finally in the battle zone that I've been looking at afar from June, speculating about the craziness but never actually registering that with every passing day, the dates come closer. I am at the point where I finally see, that I am going to be the person carrying out my haphazardly engineered back-to-back schedule for the following three months - and it is not going to be pretty.

Right now you're looking at a deer staring into the headlights of an oncoming truck named Self-Inflicted Stress.

There's so many thoughts in my head, all not related to each other, some research, some travel, some homelessness, a fair bit of homelessness actually, and all the hell that is spawned from these sources. OK to put it in perspective:

July
7/7
Leave Singapore for KL after putting my whole room into boxes. Which is something that I should do from right now.
8/7 - 11/7
In KL. Running errands (India visa, ISIC card, shopping for formal wear, somehow fix my hair), multiple gatherings (Asa, LL, XiaoCi, my NZ Aunt).
12/7
Return to Singapore with my World's Greatest Parents and move everything to Jia Ling's place.
13/7 - 17/7
Some graduate forum. Whole-day affairs. I'm presenting a paper. Which means that I need to prepare for my paper as well.
17/7 - 25/7
India. Haven't got CSers for Bangalore yet. I am nervous. Also I think India's going to be really intense, and at this point it looks intimidating. Thanks to my mum who was collecting horror stories in attempt to dissuade me from going. We'll be covering Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai and Pondicherry.
27/7 - 31/7
Some course for graduate students. Also whole-day affairs. Right after India. Have to adjust my mind straight after I come back.

August
1/8 - 3/8
Prep for US
4/8
Flight to Boston. Reach Boston at 10:30pm.
5/8 - 8/8
Conference. Presenting paper on the 6th. Need to prepare some kind of poster session. Have no idea how it's going to be like.
9/8 - 13/8
Bus to New York from Boston. Bunk at Kingston's, meet up with XC and Jian Hui. Probably the only relaxed part of my trip to the US.
13/8 - 20/8
Research week at San Francisco where I try to talk to people. I haven't planned it yet. My theoretical framework, my interview questions, my EVERYTHING. Kill me now please.
21/8 - 30/8
Camping Part 1 - Going with the Green Tortoise for its Canyons of the West trip, covering Las Vegas, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon NP, Arches NP, Monument Valley, Lake Powell, Grand Canyon NP.

September
1/9 - 7/9
Camping Part 2 - Burning Man. Also going with Green Tortoise. Intense desert camping, but at least I'll have someone to take care of my food and water and transport. Highlight of my trip. And I am still bloody scared.
9/9
Arrive in Singapore. Back. Finally. Start to look for a new room. Move house from Jia Ling's, as soon as possible. This will take me at least 2 weeks. At least. But can't mooch off Jia Ling's hospitality too much.

OK Siao onot. Two months, four countries. (And check all that KL-Singapore-India-Singapore action.) The panic has kicked in, and according to past experience, action will kick in soon after, but I'm at that paralyzed stage where I need extra push from panic to get away from the inertia, and then the two months will fly by. The details of the plans still have to be executed, and I have to come up with some extensive to-do list, extensive packing list, extensive people-to-bother list.

I like lists. I now have a list of lists. This should be heaven for me. AAAARrrrggggh the truck's gonna hit me!!!!

Adrenaline rush, danger danger danger. Then after moving have to get my confirmation report ready, as my goal is to complete it by the end of this year. October, November, December. 2009 will then be gone, we'll be one decade into the 2000's, and climate change effects are going to happen even more frequently, and we're all going to die!!!!!!!

Shhhhh. Everything's going to be ok. Shhhhhh.