Tonight, at least in the area I live, Wudaokou, we had a major rainstorm. The only other noteworthy rain was the one of a few weeks back when I took pictures of the ensuing traffic snarl, but given that traffic is always a nightmare, at all times, who can really say if it was any worse as a result of the rain. After all it was clearly less than a half-inch of rain. But tonight it came down in buckets. The only real reason I mention it is because it rained according to “Murphy’s Law.”
I was walking home from work and not one minute after hitting the streets, I felt the first drops. I wasn’t too bothered, It has done that more than once and after a few minutes and a few sprinkles, it’s over. But good-ol Murphy was in fine form. I was carrying a large bag of groceries and of course, most importantly of all, I did not have my umbrella. When I entered my apartment I took a series of selfies, none of which truly captured just how soaked I was. In any case, I have yet to take a selfie that is decent.
The only thing that didn’t go wrong is I recovered from all of the slips and near tumbles. I had a backpack filled with Harbrin beer bottles (see previous posts for an explanation) and I began to root myself on for a full collapse in a heap, with groceries flying everywhere and serious contusions if not lacerations. Alas, Murphy, as it turned out, may have been in fine form but not rare form.
A few days ago I reread what I had posted in my Prologue to this blog. I had indicated I would try and write everyday, mostly out of a presumed desire to communicate due to my imminent isolation due to language constraints. Obviously, I am not writing on a daily basis and it’s turning out to be more like, once a week. Much to my surprise, I do not feel isolated nor do I feel any pressing need to report my daily “goings on.” Everything is more or less mundane with the exception that the mundacity (I doubt that’s actually a word.) that is my life is playing out in a very different location than before. I’m not complaining. It’s just that I am fitting into my new life somewhat seamlessly and I don’t perceive that there’s anything terribly noteworthy that is going on most days. Of course, I will report anything of interest (rain storms being the exception) as well as new sights ( most likely to occur on my days off, Thursday and Friday) but my blog is more ancillary than a focus, at this point.
One of these days I will buy a “GoPro”, attach it to a hat so as I walk around you will be able to see video of what it looks like here. That should bring some new life to this effort.
