I just woke up with some alcohol still flowing
around my braincells and here we go.
2018, the year I’m gonna turn 31... taeb31...
Still the same asshole, still single, still floating out there being cynical as
shit, figuring shit out, listening to rap, lifting weights, runnng, biking everywhere I
go, chasing things I’m not
sure even exist, repeating mistakes over and over again just to make sure, walking into flames
just to feel the way it burns, getting more tattoos... Life is pretty good.
My school shit is kinda wrapped up for the semester...
There’s still a bit to deal with
but I’m pretty much there... Last Monday, I went to church for a service. My classmate, who is an U.S. born
Korean, and also super Christian, invited me and some other people
from the school to join her for this thing, cause you know... it’s Christmas and the lord’s gotta be praised. She picked Shanghai
International Chapel at Henghan Road. Gotta say, I loved our little crowd - there was
her, some of her friends from the States, two gay guys, a Muslim couple and me.
I wonder if god was aight with all of our non-Christian asses chilling in his
house... It was my first service ever. One hour, a Christian band singing incredibly happy songs about the guy upstairs and Jesus, a guy talking about how we are
blessed and shit... I dunno... I mean, as long it helps people, who am I to
downplay this, but it’s just
weird... Like I get it... You guys really like Jesus and he’s done everything right and he cares
and he’s the one... It just kinda
feels way too two dimensional...
After we made sure Jesus knows we all dig him, I lead the
whole team to one of my favorite restaurants I usually go to with my Chinese
journalist friend for a lunch. The place is incredible. There was 10 of us,
we really went ham and flooded our table with amazing food, and ended up paying
like 30 RMB each. Great Christmas Day. I could barely move in the gym
after...
And then there was Tuesday. Morning run, some lunch and THE
FIRST TATTOO IN SHANGHAI!!! I biked over to this girl’s place and we made it happen. I picked this Chinese
theater mask, she did her own dope spin on it, and we went for it. Now, I
expected something smaller but we ended up covering pretty much the whole
instep. And god damn.... Feet are a motherfucker... It goes up there with ribs,
elbows and inner biceps... Straight pain... For hours... I loved every single
bit of it.... The only downside is that it swells like crazy so I haven’t really gone for a run since... But
it does get better and I think tomorrow I’m back
on track... Anyways, I’m super
happy it’s done... I’m a fucking junkie...
I kinda spent most of the week just
working out, listening to music, watching series, finishing school work... Grabbed a dinner with the journalist friend on Wednesday. She's moving to Hong Kong in February. Gonna miss her but at least I have another reason to visit the city. On
Thursday, I went to the campus for my very final class this semester. Which
pretty much means the final class overall since I’m done with courses for my program. Which probably also means the final class in my life... I’m not
too sentimental about it, cause commuting to Minghang is kinda shit and dodging
that feels really good...
On Friday, I met up with my biking friend to go to Magda
Danysz Gallery at East Beijing Road for an exhibition by Swoon. Cool ride, cool
pieces... All wrapped up with a hot pot in Jen Dow. I really enjoy our little hangouts. Oh, and they decided to close all gyms at our campuses for
the winter. Which kinda motivated me to look for alternatives, and after some
research, I found out, there’s a
community center like 300 meters from my place. And it has a gym. I went to
check it out Saturday afternoon and it’s
great. Kinda small but clean, modern and not crowded at all. The space is
divided into two sections – gym and
ping pong area. And while the gym was empty, there were like 6 elderly Chinese
people totally killing it at the tables. They charge 10 RMB per hour, which is
quite incredible given the fact there are dozens of super poshy western gyms
all around that cost fortune... The Chinese lady at the reception was kinda
surprised to see a Westerner but she was all smiles, and I ended up buying a card with 10 entries. Another cool spot in my neighborhood unlocked.
And the New Year’s Eve.
Yesterday evening, I bought a bottle of Red Label and met with my Macedonian
guy at Papa’s, we got some beers, drank
the whole thing, and took Didi to Arkham. Didi is the local version of Uber and it
was the first time me trying it out. Now, I don’t enjoy
supporting all these “shared
economy” services, cause I’m convinced it does more damage than good,
but Chinese cabs are known to get insane on NYE. It’s nearly impossible to catch one and if you do, they
overcharge the shit out of you. Using Didi is simple as fuck and it got the job
done. By the time we got to Arkham, I was already drunk as a
skunk. The party was dope as hell tho. There was this female DJ who was
straight up killing it. She was going for sure shots in hiphop and trap realm,
which rubbed me the right way. The place was packed, the energy was great, I
needed that. After we were done with that, we went for a walk to Jingan and
started 2018 with spicy noodles at my noodle lady’s
carter. Perfect kick-off. I’m not
sure what time I got home but I’m guessing
like 4am. Woke up around 10, made myself some food and a coffee and I’m gonna go hit the gym shortly.
And let me close this shit with shouting out everyone who
made my 2017 amazing. All the new people that entered my life, all the great
moments I got involved in, all the new ink under my skin, all the new music, my fam, my bros, my dog, my Czech
crew, my EU crew, my Chinese crew.... I love y’all wholeheartedly.
There’s more to come, more punches
to throw and take, more love to give & get, more places to see, more things
to learn, more things to fuck up. Can’t wait
to do all of that. And the message for 2018? Same as the last year. Just
fucking realize money don’t make
you. Stop buying shit you don’t need,
stop supporting corporations that destroy the world and human lives, stop supporting false
prophets offering simple solutions for complex problems... Fuck capitalism,
fuck racism, fuck homophobia, fuck it all. And yeah, fucking stop eating
animals. Pretty please. For fuck's sake. Sincerely, your boy t31!
Highlights:
- Lil Wayne – D6. I’m super biased but the guy is a god to me. The only rapper (excluding myself, hehe), whose lyrics are tatted on my body... Still killing shit. The fucking GOAT.
- The gym I discovered. That’s a win!
- New season of Black Mirror. Fuck yeah!
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