Waiting seems to be the central activity of my life right now. I'm leaving for China on Wednesday, and the bulk of my errands and preparations are finished, all that is left is to go...five days from now. There is something about this time that seems interminably long, just as six days, seven days and two weeks were before it. I've more or less spent the entire summer waiting. And before that there was senior week, which was basically just waiting to graduate.
Now the fact is that I've done plenty of things during this time of waiting. I've been back and forth between Philadelphia and Princeton what seems like innumerable times, and to Washington DC once, but this feels more like pacing writ large than like any sort of real journey or activity. I even got stuck waiting for an extra two days in DC while my car was repaired after an attemted theft. A theft which the police tried to pin on my friend Aongus because he looked suspicious waiting on Erin and Sarah's porch all day. As fun as all this waiting could be at times, hanging out with friends, going to museums and the Fourth of July celebration on the National Mall (where I missed the fireworks waiting in line for the portapotties), it was nevertheless waiting. All these encounters seemed like the extended cut of running into a friend at the train station.
And when I think about it, all this waiting is just in preparation for more waiting. Traveling in the modern era seems more like waiting to be somewhere else than any particular process of moving. Waiting at the airport is almost down to an science: they make you wait in lines to get permission to wait in other lines. And then you get to your gate and wait to board, board and wait to take off, take off and wait for drink service, wait for the inflight movie to begin and - upon realizing that the inflight movie is horrific - wait for the inflight movie to end. The rest of the flight is basically waiting to land, whereupon you wait to disembark, wait for your luggage, wait for a ride, wait in traffic - all the time glancing at your watch - the adult version of "are we there yet?"
I suppose this can all be put down to a fact of life. Regardless, I am forced to appologise because I will soon need to keep you waiting, although I am sure it is not with baited breath.
China is next.
Apres ça, la deluge
1 comment:
First post, yo!
Speaking of flooding, in my last semester in college, I took a course on Chinese painting during which there was some mention of how the Huang He has a tendency of moving every 60 years or so, causing massive flooding and destroying everything in its path. A lot of people live near the Huang He because historically it has been the source of life for the North of China, but when it floods that also means a lot of people die. I thought they (meaning the government I guess) had put dams in place to control the flow of the river but basically massive flooding at some point in the near future is inevitable.
Anyway, I guess this rambling has no real purpose on my part other than I don't feel like working in the morning but anyway I'm actually kind of interested in your thoughts on the matter. I don't usually read blogs much less post in them but since it's you I guess I'll make an exception.
Good luck with everything. Post some nice pictures soon, ok?
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