Scintillating.

Recently I have come under fire for not providing a scintillating enough read on this blog.  I apologize.  I will do my best to revive some of the interest here.  It just seems that content does not present itself as readily to me as in the past.  Though that is not true.  Last night I attended a "patriotic show" for the Mid Autumn Festival, and lyrics in the songs included, "Glory!  Row after row of iron smelters, "Our ancestors walked out of the forest," "Between white skin and black skin there is yellow skin.  Proud to be Chinese!" and finally, "When our youth defeat Europe, China defeats Europe."  (all of those are literal translations) I am now approaching a level of fluency in the language where I am aware of what's happening in almost any situation, and it's not really ideal for attending patriotic floor shows.  You get sick to your stomach.

Perhaps I have been here so long that I have stopped seeing novelty around me.  This is my fourth year abroad in the last five.  When you've seen babies going to the bathroom out the car window an uncountable number of times, it loses a lot of its newsworthiness. 

Another aspect is that what is left to share is more of my private life.  My struggles with choosing a career, accepting that I'm not meant to be an investment banker/doctor/engineer, etc.  Often times I myself don't terribly love reading about the mess in other people's lives.  Why would they want to read about it mine?  And beyond that, why would I want to admit setbacks and challenges in such a public space?  Why make myself vulnerable when it is increasingly clear to me that competition in the world is brutal, vicious and impolite?  And I am a very polite person, so sometimes the game almost seems unfair.

But the good news here is that I am extremely happy with my life right now.  As happy as I've ever been with it, at least in the last 5 years.  And that's a blessing.  And it's also the result of making the right choice on tough decisions and temptations.  Not to curse my next move.

So yes, a blog update for you.  I hope it was scintillating.

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Meilian Consulting
http://meilian.intuitwebsites.com