well this evening i rode into chengdu on my fancy new bike. i had a few things i was going to pick up at the computer towers, and then make my way over to a philosophy discussion group where we talk about gilles delueze. if you don't know who he is, join the club. turns out he was a contemporary french philosopher best known for his thoughts on immanence and his critiques of kant, spinoza, and nietchze. sounds to me like he should be more famous!
i was psyched all day, reading about deleuze and his philosophy, and to meet some new people. i always say the best way to meet people you'll like is by doing something you like. so i rode down to the computer towers and got there about five minutes after six. now this was my first time parking my bike. you pay a guy two kuai, and he watches over your bike, and a hundred other bikes and scooters. so i pay the guy two kuai, and he says something to me, as always, quickly in chinese. i say good, good, and walk towards the store. the first two doors i try are locked, so i have to walk around to the main entrance in the front. while i'm walking, i notice that i'm a salmon swimming upstream in a rushing river of chinese. i figure this does not bode well for me, but i have to try. sure enough, there are security guys at the door making sure the crowd only goes one way. darn it.
so i walk back to the bike man, he smiles, and gives me my two kuai back. man, i wish i knew chinese.
this meant i was gonna be about forty-five minutes early for the salon, so i went down to stake out the restaurant, so i wouldn't have any problems. ha. i rode around in circles for a half hour. i even came down off my high horse and asked people where it was. no one knew. so finally around 7:05 i gave up, and sat down to have some western food, and a cold sam adams. this was my first american beer in china, and it was sure good. a nice full bodied beer. chinese beer is much more like miller light. (oliver, our school's liaison loves budweiser.) i relaxed and had my meal slowly. i am reading 36 children by herbert kohl (thanks to j and piper), and i read quietly, munching on chicken fingers.
after my delicious meal, i began to ride out of town. the bike is a thousand times better than the bus. my perspective on the bus is so restricted. i can only see to the left and to the right, and about sixty degrees vertically. i really enjoyed seeing the city approach as i rode in when it was light. in the dark, the overpass i have to go under is lit up with what seems to be a thousand feet of blue neon lights.
it lights up the sky to a deep dark blue. light pollution can be gorgeous. every time i've ridden the bus under it, i've wanted to tell the bus driver to stop so i could get out and take a picture. when i was riding my bike, i didn't have to ask anybody.
also, you can race people. i'm a very competitive person, even when the person i'm competing against has no idea. when i passed him the last time, i told him he was very fast. i'm not sure if he appreciated it.
after the overpass, i was in the country, so i put on my tunes, and my open-ear headphones (safety is a must, children) and cruised to the music. the dichotomy of rock and roll with my surroundings makes me feel like it's the soundtrack to my travelogue. pounding on my handlebars, singing along to the presidents of the united states of america, i drew a few stares. i smiled back, and sometimes i get a smile in return. i rolled in to my apartment to company in my back by wilco. it was awesome.
all in all, it was a great night. too bad i didn't get anything done.
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