Counting Every Second for Six Months

I'm a lot busier in China than I ever was at a bike shop.  That's probably a stupid thing to say, but sometimes stupid things need saying.

You hear it all the time, but things seem to move faster here. "Time flies like an arrow" and all that.  Can you believe I've managed to survive here for nearly six months?  I thought for sure I'd have died from being run over by a bendy bus or baijiu-related alcohol poisoning/spontaneous combustion by now.  Six months, 1/52ths, or nearly 2% of my life thus far has been spent in China and by all accounts it seems like it's all happened in the blink of an eye.  When you face challenges everyday on the street, in the office, and at home, there's hardly any time to spare because if you're not making any progress here you're doing it wrong.  I like to call it "being good at China."  Some days you're really good at China and the day goes by nearly effortlessly.  Other days aren't as smooth and the already thick pollution-filled air starts feeling like pudding with every step you take.

If I were to be completely trite and cliche (honestly, when am I not?), I'd say that it's not unlike riding and racing bikes.  At the very core, if you're not making forward momentum and propelling yourself with each pedal stroke, you're doing it wrong.  You're not riding.  You're not experiencing the thrill that I and so many others like me have enjoyed during endless hours in the saddle.  You're missing out, plain and simple.  Riding bikes.  China.  Life.  (blah blah blah)  It's all the same.  You gotta hustle to make it work.

That sometimes means I have to give up things that you would otherwise do in your "free time."  Unfortunately that includes epic bike rides, blog entries, and going on all the super amazing adventures I have planned for the not-too-distant future.  On the bright side, desk jockeying is working out for now and I have been studying Chinese diligently (albeit with the occasional paralyzing hangover), all of which should make the riding and adventuring here all the more epic and super amazing in the long run.  So don't you worry.  Despite all the posts about how much this place irritates me, I've got plans and I definitely intend to make good on all of them.

Tick Tock.  Check out how long this post has been sitting in my drafts folder.