Yup, I haven't updated this blog in like, almost a year. That what happens when your blog comes under bureaucratic scrutiny. Point is, I'm back, and planning a wealth of features for this blog, including cleaning it up and making it not suck.

Seriously. This drilling must stop. My next-door neighbors (with whom I share an adjoining wall) are renovating their apartment. And apparently that means drilling and hammering, all fucking day long.

I can't even watch a goddamn movie over here with the volume turned all the way up. I can't get any fucking work done over here. And there's absolutely nothing I can do about it, nor the fact that they seem to think that seven o'clock in the morning is an acceptable time to begin this kind of thing.

What the hell happened to the earplugs I brought over here?

Life is good.

Friends will know that the last few months have been a pretty hard time for me - I've been pretty lonely, pretty sad and generally not myself. Mostly I've been keeping to myself here in my little corner apartment in Beijing, and when I do go out, I tend to go a little bit over the top to make up for the time I've spent away.

Hopefully that's all going to change, starting now. Spring has finally come to Beijing, and with it, spring rains to wash away winter's general funkiness. I've always loved it when it rains, and today is no exception. Although I do wish the rain was a little bit warmer, and a little bit cleaner.

When you're living in China, sometimes you just want a little homestyle television to keep you company, fill your apartment with the language you're familiar with.

Luckily, thanks to the internet and blatant, widespread copyright violation, you can enjoy the television shows you know and love in China without trekking down to the DVD store and paying out the nose.

So I went out to the bar a week and a half ago, and some Chinese guy got his nose broken on my pants.

No, it didn't have anything to do with me - the guy worked at Kai Bar and was trying to escort out an unruly foreigner when the guy sucker punched him in the nose.

So of course, I waited until all the fracas was over and went to try and help the fuyuan - and that was when he bled all over the only good, heavy pair of pants I have left in this city.

So I've been a little under the weather (and under a pile of International Business theory reading) since I came back to China, but I did manage to take a couple of nice shots from the window of my apartment in Beijing's Chaoyang district - one during the day, and one at night. The view faces Southeast and, as you can see, the sky is full of that famous Beijing haze.

After a wonderful trip back to the US to see my family and friends, it was back to Beijing for me yesterday - and this flight just seems to get easier and easier the more I do it. It blows my mind to think that I used to regard the flight from the US to China as a long and arduous journey.

So anyone who's been tuning in over the last few months has possibly noticed things moving around all over the site; that's me learning the ropes of modern web design and Drupal.

Over the vacation I made a few fixes to the site...

Well, it's been a wondrous week and a half here at the Casa de Bono in Needham. Although I haven't really left the house much, I don't feel like I've missed much for not doing so - I'm perfectly happy chilling with my family and friends and putting on as much weight as I possibly can in as short a time as possible.

So I'm back home in Needham, Massachusetts - and it's really nice to be back. I'm not experiencing any of the reverse culture shock I've felt on previous trips; maybe it's just because I know I'm going back, or maybe it's because I haven't really left the house much. I don't know. Either way, I'm taking advantage of my parents' improved living conditions - good water pressure, fully stocked refrigerators, the works - things I don't get often in China.