"Processing job from Tray 4" alerted Cyh-8100. "This one's gotta be mine" I said to myself. I quickly grabbed the first page that popped out and sure enough, it was my final research paper for managerial econ. Once I had snatched the last page of the printout my legs were already running out the cluster and down the stairs towards my dear Bora. Boy, was she out cold. I slowly woke her up and she let out a lil grunt. Man... she definitely sounded disturbed. About a minute had passed before she finally seemed content with my company. "Alright, let's go" I blurted out with a bit of enthusiasm as I engaged her in 1st gear and started to venture downtown to hand my paper in.

Even with all those lights, downtown was no warmer than Oakland... It actually seemed colder. Was it the cold weather? The empty streets? Or was it the extravagantly lit trees of downtown that had lured my mind into an aimless state? I'm not sure... but with each movement of my eyes my mind was slowly numbing out. I wasn't long before my mind had made a leap in time and I was back in Highschool: back in Beijing. Impulsive trips to 55 middle school, random visits to the Capital Mansion, snow fights in San Li Tun, drinking like there's no tomorrow in Wu Dao Kou, singing our lungs out in that crappy lil Karaoke Box behind East Lake, sleepovers at Paul's place whenever we had the chance, sneaking into the music room to practice, and of course parties at Worker's Stadium, and Ta Yuan. All those memories flashed by me superimposed over the deserted scene of the Pittsburgh downtown. It no longer mattered whether or not I was going snowboarding on Thursday... Even the fact that I was almost done with the semester couldn't help bring my good mood back. Yes, it was that feeling again. Missing you guys... very much.

Leading a busy life filled with hobbies, intellectual satisfactions, and a job I love is great... but there's a big void in my life that longs for my good friends whom I have been parted from... Why am I the only one living in the states??? My dear Beijing posses... I Love you all! I wish you guys the best and hope you guys are having a warmer and cozier winter than mine.