1st 1/2 of 2009
Q1/Q2=reaping the sown
san diego, london, beijing



This morning, in my pleasant, cheap hotel in downtown San Diego with great continental breakfast (hotel occidental), after a 12 hour sleep, while studying Chinese (oh, supermemo, you're the joy of my Chinese studies and bane of my existence), I opened my .mp3 qin collection. Returning After Resigning was the second song and I surfed to find our what it meant. Qin master John Thompson provided all the backdrop:

John Thompson translates the poem by Tao Yuanming (365-427), on which the song is based, as follows:

Come away home!
My fields and garden will be full of weeds, how can I not go back?
It was myself who put my mind into bondage,
so why go on being sad and lonely?
I understand that what is already past cannot be rebuked,
but know the future's possibilities.
In fact this wrong road has not taken me so far,
and what I now realize is correct, while yesterday I was wrong.
My boat wobbles about in the light breeze,
the wind swirls as it blows my clothing.
I ask a traveler about the road ahead,
and resent that the early morning light is still dim. (silkqin.com)

So here I am at the beginning of the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Back in San Diego for the quarter taking classes in corporate strategy and the environment, non profit management, government in the era of globalization, Chinese politics, and one other (20 credits) all while working ostensibly 3/4 time (beyond full time, really) with the organization I've given my life to over the past year and a half.

There's something that makes me feel nostalgic when I'm in San Diego. I think it's the spring-like air. Every day feels like the last week of school, so it's somehow easier to tell yourself to get the work done, and then somehow easier to let the mind wander back to the dead you've left behind.

Many trips ahead. London next week. Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang. Back and forth. Hoping the connections I make and the work I do more than offsets the flying free for all.

Time to get our work done.

Labels: john thompson, personal, qin, san diego, update

to Beijing!
with curiosity, hope, and love
from San Diego

Ten days in the US now over. A final all-nighter to get my work done. Meeting after meeting. Greeting after greeting. Goodbyes here and there. See yous on Skype or google chat elsewhere.

San Diego almost felt like home. There's a reason there are so many midwesterners in this town.

Sunday was Roots & Shoots International Day of Peace in Griffith park in LA. After flying the peace doves and giving her speech, Dr. Jane demonstrated to me what she did when she first met Pan Yue, Vice Minister of the State Environmental Protection Agency in China--"as a female chimp greets a high ranking male." It involved some panting on my face, the Dame (of the British empire) instructing me to bristle, and then me patting her on the head (though I almost knocked off her sunglasses).

Afterward we went to Santa Monica Pier to fly more doves and watch the sunset. I took some photos with my Treo.

Beijing should be a fun ride. I'll be representing AccountAbility there. I also have lots of friends in the capital. Looking forward to a bit of sleep on the train and planes.

Labels: travel, update