Home is Where the Heart is...

Hong Kong. What a beautiful city. 香港，我愛妳！

As most of you know, I will be graduating this coming June. My immediate plans are to return to New York and work for a year. If I could have it my way, 2011 might be the last year I will be in NY for a long time. By the summer of 2011, I hope to begin my path of self-discovery and exploration.

The first step in my journey is California. Ideally, I will be situated in San Francisco or somewhere in the Bay Area by the summer of 2011. Paradoxically, the things that make me love New York are the same exact things that want me to explore other places. The obvious difference will be space. One of the things that makes New York "New York" is that we spit on the notion of urban sprawl. Another big difference will be that I will no longer have the trump card in knowing that mass transit is a 24/7 service. Perhaps this will be incentive for me to get up off my ass and get my license.

Anecdotally, California just seems to be more progressive than the rest of the country. I don't have the statistics or legislation to support my claim (this could be easily remedied by simply looking this stuff up, but I don't feel like doing any research at the moment), but New York has a much more "Old Money" and "Tribal Enclave" mentality to it. The Bay Area just seems so much more relaxed than New York. Plus, places like Berkeley gives liberal hippies like me a place to call home. Despite its positives, I look forward to step 2 of my journey the most.

"This is California Station....stand clear of the closing doors please"
"Ha yat zaam, Heung Gong"

Yes, what I look forward to most is when I can start the next phase of my life in Hong Kong. Honestly, my affinity towards Hong Kong is rather unjustified. I was born and raised in New York City. My parents are from Shanghai via Sichuan and Hunan. The first time I went to Hong Kong was in 2007. I spent 4 days and 3 nights in Mong Kok. I would return a year later with my sister in 2008 for 5 days and 4 nights. I spent a grand total of 9 days in Hong Kong and I am absolutely in love with the city. I love the energy, the pace, the mood, and the layout of the city. It's the only other city where I would not mind getting lost. You know how every R&B or Neo-Soul artist always has that one music video where he/she is just taking mass transit in a city somewhere and just observing the environment around him/her? Then the camera will occasionally take a 1st person angle and the video would randomly speed up and slow down? Yeah, that's how I feel about Hong Kong. It's my introspective, getaway music video. Granted, I will have to deal with monsoons every year, but at least I can leave my North Face in NY. Oh oh oh, another bonus? My chances to meet my two favorite HK celebrities increase exponentially.

Man-Crush:

Crush Crush:

The panda hat gets me every time.

Maybe I love HK because I feel comfortable there. I may not know how to speak Cantonese and my Chinese reading level is comparable to that of a remedial 6th grader, but that's what Rosetta Stone is for right? (Do they even have a Cantonese series?).

As far as where I will be after HK remains to be seen. However, you can be guaranteed of two things:

1) I will be back in NY. Some people want to die famous, some want to die rich. I just want to take my last breath in NY.
2) I will be out of Hong Kong by 2046. Why 2046? That's when China's 50-year hands off agreement ends. That means freedom of information will no longer exist and HK will turn into a hellhole of suppression, inefficiency and inhumanity via CCP policy.

And with that....I'm out. Let me know where you guys see yourselves in the coming years.

Deuces.