From the future I’m apologizing for what I’m about to say in the past, below:

I’m sitting in a Taiwanese milk tea shop in Arlington. From this bench seat I can see the university I attended, where by way of an advertisement posted in a stairwell I happened to be walking in, I found out I could study Chinese and complete two years of mandatory foreign language coursework in one year of time. This is the path through which I became interested in Asia.

This could’ve been a trivial detail in my life but it’s not at all. It’s hard for me to even fathom what my life would be like now had that not happened. My entire attitude and life shifted from a state of passive acceptance to actively taking risks and feeling excited and engaged in my own life. It’s possible I’ve actually written this blog post before…I think about it a lot while trying to figure out where to go and what to do next.

Okay, I’m no longer sitting in a Taiwanese-owned milk tea shop. It’s a week later and now I’m sitting in a Vietnamese-owned Taiwanese-style milk tea shop. Talking to the owners feels more family-like than talking to my parents.

Alright now I don’t know how long it’s been because I don’t really have a reason to keep track of days anymore, but I’m back at the shop I originally wrote about. There are many students from my former university and they look very young, carefree. I don’t feel like I look older but I know I don’t look that young anymore.

I recognize so many errors in my thoughts when I was their age, so many wasted opportunities that I cringe just thinking about it. You can never relive a part of your life again though. Obviously today has been a painfully pensive and reflective day. Doesn’t matter.

Sorry for all the drifting; I was going somewhere with this originally and then I stepped away and obviously lost my rhythm. So yeah…basically I just don’t want anyone else to ask me if I have yellow fever or anything like that. My fascination with Asia has nothing to do with slanty-eyed schoolgirls–I like the whole rainbow, and I don’t just mean gays. I mean, like Skittles…taste the rainbow. In other words, I’m the opposite of racist (and currently accepting applications (for female companions (from any continent))).