Sky is always blue

What a better way to wrap up the summer than having a picnic on the beach. Cape Ann was a perfect location for the occasion because of the exotic beaches and the spectacular background of the ocean. If you happen to come to Boston, please have a 40-minute drive up to the North Shore and take a tour of Gloucester, the place where they filmed The Perfect Storm movie.



My group of friends from Boston and the surrounding of Greater Boston. That's us right on the bedrock of Half Moon Beach. The background was a little bit misty, casting a glow of romantic ambiance.



The pretty ladies at the picnic.
Some of them I haven't seen for almost two years. It was great for a get together and just enjoyed chit-chatting.

So which one do you want to take home to your mama?

(this is one of my favorite photo among the many taken at the picnic)

( More of the fun )

Taking a day off to travel to Boston where I can take care of my travel-related items, such as applying for my visa and purchasing the air ticket. This is it...once these items on my agenda completed, then you know I am flying across the ocean and a few continents to be back to my homeland, where my soul is.

So here I am, leaving for Boston right after I finish with this entry.

Thanks God It's Friday...

The title of this entry has no relevancy (is it relevance or relevancy?!?) to what I am about to write. It came out at the spur of the moment. The rest are just a series of un-related topics, and I realize that I have made a habit of writing with abruptive disjuncts of thoughts. So here are a few dispositions of my habitual disjuncted and scatterly connected brain cells and axons (or neurons, or synaptics...or whatever they call it).

For all the experiences I have had in my life, adaptation and adjustment have been the two primary key words that define what's it like to be an immigrant in the U.S. Thus, I tend to think that I could translate the experiences to any other changes in life, lessen the agonies of uncertainies. However, it's always hard every time when changes come and sometimes turning my life upside down. The most prominent change which is occurring at the moment is my next move. Please pardon my shortcomings, for I have repetitively mentioned in my previous posts about the move to a new apartment. Yes, that's my 6th relocation in 4 years. Let's do the math, I have basically spent an average of 8 months at each place before I pack my boxes and suitcases to move on to the next. Hopefully the next place I am moving into will keep me longer than 8 months and beat the current statistic. (Keep my fingers crossed!!)

No official agreement/approval has been made about my prospective travel plan to Vietnam and China this coming September/October. For the past few weeks, I am just hearing words flying around the office but have seen nothing finalized or written down on paper. I am keeping my hopes up and absolutely holding my boss accountable for the initiatives. Gosh, how am I going to bear the disappointment if she happens to change her mind? Let's hope she is still up for the game, and I am willing to play it straight up. In the mean time, I looks like my life will be uplifted in the air between here and the Midwest states (and also the frequency of Amtrak hours between New York City and here) for the fall semester. For sure, my October will be spent in the pre-winter bitter cold in Ohio, Illinois, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. Yuck yuck yuck, why did I take on those states and not Texas, Arizona, or Florida for that matter?

I have not been to my office for the past 2 days. Why? Because I have an excusable excuse -- attending a professional conference. Good thing it took place at Northeastern University in Boston, just less than 2 hours (excluding the time sitting in/waiting for traffic) of driving each way for me. Initially, I signed up to fully participate the whole length of the conference from Tuesday to Friday but decided to cut it short and made it a two-day attendance for me. Obviously, today (Wednesday) is the official kick-off of the conference, but since I attended the Multicultural Workshops (a separated pre-conference component) the day before, it seemed quite sufficient for the amount of time at any conference, especially I got the most relevant and important part for my own professional development from the pre-conference component. Anyway, professional conference is always a good part of any career, for it is the focus of social activities for people in the field after a year-long cycle that involves intensed travel, reading, programming, and other miscellaneous yet relevant parts of the profession. Most people are serious about these conference, and yet, for a few, it's totally the meat market for various kinds of hook-ups, e.g serious committment or just as a leisure fling. Boston is a vibrant city, lots of things to do, lots of bars, clubs and restaurants, especially with the Red Sox newfound fame, it's a crazy place for my colleagues in this profession. I bet most of them have just left the Red Sox vs. the Orioles game and just hit their first bar for the first round of drinks. Not the kind of social activities I am interested in! That's one of the reason why I left the conference early, and refuse to be socially conformed with the rest of the group. I didn't even stay overnight even though housing was offered and the college paid for it -- shit, I felt bad for not being fiscally conscious responsible *grin*. As a non-conformant and anti-social (mostly anti-heavy drinking) as I am, I chose to ride the MassPike 2 hours each way (plus the total of $8 for toll each way) into and out from the big city, agonizing over Boston's traffic (or known as the world's largest public parking) to be professionally empowered. Dedication and devotion for my passion could be measured in such a profound way through this particular example.

On the same note that is adaequately pertinent to the topic of professional conference, I am driving down to Newport, a coastal town in Rhode Island for a smaller, more intimate professional conference on Sunday. The ocean is something I always find myself drawn to for I spent the first 12 years of my life surrounded by it. It's a true love between the ocean and I, I tell ya that! Therefore, for every chance I get to be closer to the ocean, I seize it. It's going to be a great 3-day business trip. One of my colleagues who coordinates this year's conference has told us (me and other colleagues) about the reggae bands in town; couldn't way to sway left and sway right. Shassshhhay...shassshhhay!!!

That's it for this sporadic update. It's time for me to hit the shack and get some real Zzzzz. I have been looking like a zombie in the last few days -- I kid you not!