Final Days

The end is near! Or is it just the beginning?

Today I picked up my passport from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles. It now proudly bears a large sticker permitting me access to the PRC (People's Republic of China). You know how your passport has profound, inspirational, patriotic quotations on each page? Well, the sticker of my Chinese visa is taped directly over the opening lines of the Declaration of Independence. It's like they're trying to tell me something. "Say farewell to your freedom, silly American. You're coming to red China."

Of course I kid. I'm very excited to be doing this. Just yesterday, I was saying farewell to my friend Amanda (to whom I credit the closing phrase of my last post). She thankfully brought up a vital concern. "Can you use Facebook in China? And Google? How will you stay in contact with everyone?" After all, almost everything I do on the internet is mediated by either Facebook or Google. This very blog is hosted by Google. It would kinda defeat the whole purpose if I couldn't actually update it in Beijing.

So I've been doing some research on The Great Firewall of China. Turns out censorship is a big deal over there. Who knew? Of course, as an American, I take my freedoms for granted. "Of course I'll be able to use the internet just as I always have. It's a big city after all." And sure, they have the internet. But it's not the same.

I'm thinking that I'll have to use what's known as a VPN (Virtual Private Network). Basically, rather than directly accessing the web through the local service provider and having to deal with radical censorship, you connect through the local ISP to a foreign server. That way, I'll be able to use Facebook and Gmail and everything else that's blocked by The Great Firewall. A few kinks still need to be ironed out, but if everything goes according to plan, there won't be anything stopping me from regularly updating this blog. So don't worry! I'm on it.

In other, non-tech news: this is my last week at work. I only get to work with my peeps a few more times before I go. Maybe it sounds silly, but I'm really going to miss working at Peet's Coffee. I've forged some really great relationships with my coworkers and customers, things I know I'll think about in the weeks to come and remember fondly. But, as a number of people have assured me, "This is the right time for this, Kelly." I don't want to spend the rest of my twenties working in retail, earning minimum wage. When I'm on my deathbed, I won't regret that I didn't serve more coffee. Sure, I love coffee (and tea!), but ultimately, it's just coffee. It's not the end of the world if someone's cappuccino isn't dry enough, or if you rip the coffee filter and have to re-brew. It might seem like a big deal at the time, especially when there's a lot of customers waiting to be served, but there's a bigger picture to keep in mind.

As another of my friends has told me time and again, and always emphatically: "This is life." There's no do-overs, and this isn't a test. Life matters. For all the stress and suffering we're forced to endure, shouldn't we strive for something bigger? Something to redeem our own suffering, and that of others? On this point, I remain staunchly existential. We are here to give life meaning. Stop asking yourself what it all means, because a meaningful life isn't just going to drop in your lap. You've got to fight for it. So what are you waiting for?