Posted 3:29 AM by Andy
The Christmas and New Year holidays came and went, so it's time to jot some notes of what transpired.

SMIC Christmas program. As previously written, I performed a skit with some Christian brethren about the tycoon and Lazarus parable. I nailed the pompous strut and the waving of the hand to summon and dismiss my maid. Of course, I also writhed on the ground in agony as I recalled from hell what my pleasure-seeking ways on Earth have wrought while being chided by Abraham. It was fun seeing this come together especially with our props. I wore these outlandish pearl necklaces and fake rings and showed off my bling to good effect. Ivan and I performed our Wang li hong rendition but the audience was deafeningly silent. They sat in their seats unmoved by our soulful voices. I couldn't understand it until we later confirmed that the microphones didn't project. It's a tough life being an aspiring singer. We asked volunteers to come on stage and dance with us. Most people were extremely reluctant. After our song and dance number, we threw candy into the crowd and incited a frenzy as the hosts closed the program.

Holiday vacation. I went back to the US for a much-needed vacation. I really wasn't working that hard, but I definitely missed home. Overall, I saw about half of my family and friends. Other than the uncooperative weather preventing me from playing hoops, I enjoyed my stay. A drive-by snapshot of my break: family dinners with the cousins and their beaus; lunch with Liz and Amy in Torrance; downing a couple glasses of Jack Daniels with Allen at his Palos Verdes lounge; having ice cream with Paul and Jenny in Irvine and getting a capsule summary of their last 18 months; dining with the sister and bro-in-law at their Palo Alto pad and playing Settlers; discussing our China journeys with James H in Mountain View; chatting with Dave W over a boba; eating dinner in SF with some SCBC folks; chatting over dessert with Christine, Cherene, and Lena; playing poker with Anthony (solid) and Alvin (loose bluffer), Outburst, and a variant of Apples to Apples around ushering in the New Year in Fremont; spontaneous lunch with Mike T, Alfred and Enoch at Stonestown Galleria in SF; shooting around the intermittent rain at Lowell with Leon; dinner with Leon and Julie; Ocean's Twelve late-night showing in the Marina district with Jason C; worship service at City-Church; lunch with Lia advising her of the teaching and living situation at SMIC; swapping war stories over dinner in SF Japantown with Albert about Ebay and Shanghai; kicking back with Phil; catching up with Annie L over sushi in West LA re:career, mutual friends, love interests, and life (The best nugget of wisdom I got from her was being more expressive with my words to show emotion); soup and salad dinner with Mike C in Torrance; chilling with John W at his bowling league. I chatted with Roland, Bun, Wade, Frank, John H, Wai, Pat, and Greg on the phone. I missed John Y and Eli. I found out my friend and former colleague Tom R is officially joining the Establishment with his current enrollment at Harvard b-school. I also talked to my parents a bit and realized we still deal with the same control-freedom issues that have been a recurring theme in the past. We had a lengthy discussion on why I sometimes don't answer my mom's calls. I also read 3 books so my mind wouldn't atrophy along with my body during vacation: They are The Last Season by Phil Jackson (2003-2004 Lakers team dynamics and character flaws magnified), Courting Justice by David Boies (major litigation cases against Major League Baseball, Sotheby's, Microsoft, and Bush's presidential campaign), and Running Money (hedge fund management.)

Impressions of the US/Ruminations of straddling two worlds. As someone who is now a resident of Asia, my perspective of the US upon returning is one of awe and wonder. The material comforts are amazing. My room at home is the size of my apartment in Shanghai. Driving a car gave me a great sense of power and control. The wide-open vistas suggest freedom and possibility. I didn't want to leave but I had to, knowing that this is the path currently before me, to be an exile in a foreign land. I constantly have to fight this nagging sense that I don't belong in Shanghai, but a couple of verses helped to frame my thought process to face this. Jeremiah 29 records, my paraphrase, "Seek the peace and prosperity of the city where you have been sent, the land where you have been exiled." This makes much sense. I can either begrudge my time here as paying my dues or try to build this place up even if I harbor this desire to leave some time in the future.

Work. After I arrived back in Shanghai, I was immediately thrust into the maelstrom. I spent almost an entire week consolidating revenue numbers by product and customer for the entire firm in preparation for an audit. The raw invoice dataset was so large it couldn't fit in one Excel file. I had to roll up numbers in multiple files and then combine them repeatedly. I also spent the last few days preparing royalty reports for last quarter's licensing activities. Most of the reports are automated, so it wasn't too bad as I just have to spruce up the data and present them in nicely formatted tables. So now begins a process when folks from customer service who run the reports and accounting will ream me with questions about my methodology and results. Last week I also had to deal with the emotional duress of Situ and my manager Wenjun bickering. What set Situ off was a relatively innocuous request, but she felt oppressed and disrespected by Wenjun. She sent an email that not too subtly announced her intransigence and distaste for W's management style. I tried to remain neutral while being sympathetic to Situ. I find myself in a bizarre situation. I have essentially 3 managers. My director or big honcho sits in a private office in the corner. A marketing manager Andrew who also asks me to execute some tasks sits upstairs. Wenjun just moved her space to a window cubicle shielded from me. So now I have Situ to my rear left and can see only her from my team in my radius if I swivel. The rest of management I see for 10 minutes total maximum daily as I churn through my work.

Recreation. Since Shanghai is still in the throes of winter, most people don't really want to venture outside. I played ball once since my return and couldn't get into a rhythm. My heater finally works. I had been sleeping with a sweatshirt, socks, and beanie cap prior to that. I found some open gym runs but they are an hour away on the other side of town. I'm reduced to a sedentary lifestyle now. I just installed satellite cable and may purchase some small pieces of furniture. This may signal a settling down of sorts, but I might as well live better during my time here regardless of how soon I leave. I'm resisting buying an X-Box although the tennis game is surprisingly fun. On the romance front, Rob is pushing me to date this secretary from the technology development group. I admit she has an intriguing look so we will set up a group KTV session next week since she is unavailable this weekend. I know this appears frivolous but friendship is always welcome. Otherwise I can only chat online with friends in distant places. I chatted with a new friend for over 4 hours last Sunday across the oceans, but that's another chapter in the saga of the man who crosses two worlds but cannot live two lives.