As Sad as an Airport

It is a bad day to get married, and to set out. Considering it's the day that Colin's leaving, I have to agree--well, I sure wish he weren't setting out anyway. But I'm not superstitious enough to worry about his safety. I just wish he were still here. On the other hand, it's a good thing we took out the garbage this morning, because it's a lucky day for throwing things away and also for cutting cloth for clothes. The Duke of Zhou says that if you dream that the whole sky is full of stars it means you will encounter good luck. I wonder if the Duke of Zhou only does good omens, or whether some of them are bad, ever?

There's really not much to say about today. It was a cold day, and a white day.

We woke up early and lay in bed talking for a long time. We had deep-fried scrambled eggs for breakfast. We played cards and talked. We made pacts about increasing our productivity and decreasing our procrastination. We made them very formally. Also, we added a few more words and phrases to Colin's Chinese notebook.

At Colin's request, we had pulled noodles a last time for lunch. Well, Colin had pulled noodles, and I had nest noodles, which I should have taken a picture of. They look like a section of beehive, magnified. They come in a steamer, a bowl of stew on the side. They were really interesting.

Then we spent an hour being tearful. Then we took a taxi to the airport.

I was very sleepy in the taxi, last-ditch effort at denial probably.

In the airport, customs came even before check-in, so we had to say our goodbyes straight off. I stood by the gate watching his backpack disappear, and then I stood there for a lot longer.

Finally, I went out and found the airport shuttle bus, five times cheaper than taking a taxi. I took a different one than the one I had taken previously, and it got me much closer. Life is all about experiments. From where it dropped me off, I got a bus practically to my front door. I read Olympus the whole way. I had meant to wait before starting it, but I decided I was in need of some comfort.

On the way in, I grabbed a little 1 RMB sweet potato for my dinner.

The little apartment felt so empty I could hardly breathe.

Since then I have been trying hard to keep to the pact, which sets the minimum amount of real actual work and the maximum amount of computer-related procrastination at one hour each.

Colin has already been on the plane for 5 hours, unless his flight was delayed. Does that mean he is somewhere over Siberia? I am going to go back to work and not think about it.