back in china

i feel like i don't even know how to use the internet reasonably or normally anymore after barely using it for over 2 weeks (i didn't get internet in my apartment until the other day). emails? blog posts? what are those? i guess i have been writing some work emails, but that's about the extent of my internet use lately.

so, let me think.... what things have i noticed since being back?

• it's HOT!! and i was actually pretty excited about that. santa barbara weather confused me. cold in july?? there is a certain feeling of the air in the summer here, and i like it. and the wind. and there has been a lot of thunder lately, which is pretty awesome. it will pour rain for a little while and then stop and there will be gigantic puddles everywhere. and if you ask me if there is a rainy season here (some people have), the answer is that i really have no idea. it seems pretty random to me.
• i now spend a much larger percentage of my life waiting for elevators and riding in them than i ever have in the past. this is what happens when i live on the 19th floor. 16, actually, if you subtract the floors that they refuse to number. they skip every number with a 4 (the numbers in my building go up to 39, so no 4, 14, 24, or 34), and they also skip 13. so i really live on the 16th floor. but it's called 19. anyway, i also bring my bike up in the elevator to park it in the hallway outside my apartment--less likely to be stolen than parking it somewhere else.
• i ride my bike to work everyday now, and i'm even willing to ride in the rain. this may change once it gets cold...though i do still intend to ride when it's cold, just not when it's both cold and rainy, maybe. i'm addicted to bike riding because it's so much faster than walking, and also fun. but it's also much less exercise for me to ride my bike to work now than it used to be since it's so much closer. i'll have to start riding my bike to some farther away places sometimes.
• i have my own apartment this year, and it's good, so far. i've mostly put things away, but there is still one box of really random stuff that i don't even know why i have it... and some other piles of stuff that i still need to find places for. and empty boxes that i need to get rid of. and i should do things like hang up pictures. and i want to buy a dvd player (possible to get one for about $15!) and also actually buy some speakers because i can and there is no one else to care how loud anything is. it's nice to know that i can invite someone over anytime i want. it's also really easy to just watch tv shows for a really long time because there is no one to stop me or even just to be there sending the vibe (whether they mean to or not) that there are other things to do in life. self-control might be a good thing.
  
• note to self: do not go to a dvd store again anytime soon. i went for the first time in months the other day and bought 4 movies ("classic" ones that people always talk about that i have never seen) and 10 seasons of friends, all for about $30. it's way too tempting to buy dvds when they are just over $1 each... and i always said before that i would never watch friends. i'm not sure what is happening to me. (i blame this on laura in michigan beacuse i watched a few episodes there and they were actually funny...) maybe this will pass and i will wonder why i own 10 season of friends (the answer will be because it was cheap...not a good reason). i haven't watched any of it yet.
  
• also, my landlord left more than 2 large boxes full of really random and not very nice stuff in the apartment. this apartment is small and there is not really any good place to store his random stuff. i might have to get someone to call him for me and ask him to come take that stuff away. it's things like 2 really old rice cookers, an old coffee maker, some really old and gross pots and pans...etc. i really don't want them.
• and my apartment doesn't have a table where people can sit and eat dinner. i may have to do something about that at some point.
  
• i now know how to play settlers, cities and knights, and seafarers all combined. it's actually pretty sweet. after about 5 years of avoiding it, yes, i admit this.

that's about all i can think of for a blog post right now. i feel like i don't know what i'm doing! hopefully pictures of my new apartment and things like that can come fairly soon. we shall see.