Back in the U.S. of A. -- celebrated with a supersized post

my flight was rather tiring. i attempted to sleep most of it since i'd arrive in Cali around 8:45 AM. unfortunately, i simply was not able to fall asleep. there were also external factors such as getting bumped by the person behind me, next to me, and the people walking by in the aisle. it could've been my imagination, but every time somebody left the restroom on my side, i felt like a gush of wind brought the fragrance my way.

needless to say, i was very happy when we landed in SF. i was less happy when my luggage was one of the very last to come out. i was about ready to fall over at that point from exhaustion. i was in much better spirits once stepping outside the door and breathing in the beautiful and fresh Bay Area air. wow. California is a tricky one. it sneaks up on you unexpectedly. maybe i just take it for granted too much, but it always makes me feel welcome and comfortable when i return and i always find myself saying "why did i ever leave?"

mom and sister picked me up and the ride home was not too bad as i sat slumped in the backseat. upon returning home i lugged my stuff inside then changed and crashed into bed. that's when i started feeling less great. my stomach was rather upset. *cue dramatic music*

turns out i had some sort of food poisoning and/or stomach flu/virus. oh the irony! after being warned and being somewhat cautious during my 8 weeks in China/HK i am struck upon my return to the states! on the upside i had the comfort of my parents' house here to recover in, but man was it painful. i had said before that the worst kind of (common) illness one can contract is anything relating to the stomach (that i can speak of from experience; i'm actually sure there could be worse, which i don't want to think about, but food poisoning or stomach flus are seriously painful). at one point i started laughing because of how painful it was.

ANYWAY... of course i reflect upon what could have caused this. none of the airplane food seemed particularly likely (although for that matter, anything served on the plane could easily be the culprit), and i didn't eat anything upon returning. the following day i was talking to my dad on the phone and he said it might've been the yogurt i ate the morning i left from China. our 阿姨 (what they call the "maid" in China) bought a new brand of yogurt that we never had before, and my father said he also didn't feel that well, though not to the same extent as me. i reasoned the flight exhausted me, weakening my immune system's ability to handle the viral yogurt. so in all likelihood i did get some food poisoning in Asia. not from a street vendor, not from milk tea (which i drank plenty of), but from yogurt bought in a supermarket. thank you, China, for the send-off gift.

like many things, we tend to take our health for granted (until we lose it). i use to wonder if this was from greed (focusing on wanting more and spending resource elsewhere), laziness, or immaturity. i came to a conclusion the past few years that it's probably involves a bit of each of those things, but also that it's natural to take your status quo as the norm and to just accept it as the way things should be. it's almost like an abstraction layer we create for ourselves so we can focus on other things and "accomplish" more. an example of this is standard of living. although tipping is non-customary in China, people do it from time to time. when i have thought of tipping, i struggle with how much to tip. 1 RMB is less than 13.5 US cents. having lived in NYC the past few years, where you hear of bums and panhandlers refusing or being insulted by being given less than a quarter (or sometimes by that very amount), it's hard to imagine someone being grateful for a "gratuity" of such minute value. But considering there are factory workers who make around 10 RMB a day, 10% gratuity from one customer seems quite good when put in perspective.

While I've started to digress, let me continue to do so by mentioning how, while in China, I also started reflecting on people's spending habits and the different priorities they place on what to spend money on or not. Everyone has something they don't think too much about spending money on. For some it's candy, for some it's nice meals, for others it could be fancy sports cars or expensive electronics. Part of this has to do with your affluence, but it's also largely influenced by what type of products or services you personally place value on. (Now i haven't considered any economic theories or anything, so feel free to chew me out, Mr. Lee) We all spend money. And when our most basic needs are met without much problem, we have money to spend on perceived needs (new clothes, Harry Potter books, iPhone, etc.) or the luxuries of life we choose to indulge in. Since it's a digression, I'll choose to let it trail off here and perhaps touch upon it another time...

so where was i? (yeah, i'm lost too) well, i pretty much slept through day 1 being back. my sister was kind enough to run to safeway to get me my usual stomach prob items (Gatorade, 7-up (or ginger ale), jello; we already had saltines and apple sauce). she and my mother were wondering why i was so familiar with what i needed. "do you get food poisoning a lot?" i think i've had it every couple of years for about 6-8 years now... not a trend i'd like to continue. (for the curious--sources of previous 3 times: Taiwan street cart, Pasta Pomodoro on College Ave in Berkeley/Oakland, day of McDonald's and unhealthy eating in Chinatown, NYC).

i was worried i'd not be able to sleep at night if i slept all day. i got up around 6:30 PM, still not feeling all that great. went back to bed around 10:30 or 11 PM and slept soundly 'til around 10:00 AM the next morning. i also felt much better! but still not super (but in the case of food poisoning, much better is AMAZING). after being up for a bit in the morn and sorting through some mail, i eventually went back to bed. i got back up around 1:30 PM and had some more lovely saltines, soda, and jello. sometime later in the afternoon i decided to play some Zelda since i had never gotten very far in it. plus, i reasoned, it'd be a way to take my mind off the illness without tiring myself out too much. 5 hours later i had finally freed all the monkeys in a dungeon level, played through a mission as a wolf and got transformed back, acquired a new skill, learned to sumo wrestle, and rescued a kid on an exciting horse-back chase and duel of sorts on a bridge over a deep chasm. i'm currently inside some mine with hot lava or fire all over, and don't have the mental energy to take on another dungeon-level quite yet.

yesterday was a great improvement on the day before and things seemed great except i could not fall asleep. so i couldn't really get up this morn. i finally dragged myself out of bed around 1:45 PM. ate some stuff, played some piano. i really feel much better today! just fatigued. might be the jetlag kicking in (and i thought i had conquered that when i spent pretty much my first 24 hrs back in bed). i'm hoping for dinner to try something mildly more adventurous to eat, like pasta with some tomato sauce? i'll have to check to see if tomato sauce is harshly bad for stomachs.

anyway, i've spent more than half an hour on this post, and feeling tired. perhaps i need to lie down again (or maybe go slay some more evil creatures). excuse the long rambling for this entry. i blame it on being sick and being too tired to think coherently or with much of a filter.

wish me well soon!