I’m not sure what the lyricist had in mind, but the words really speak to how I feel about my life at this juncture.  What follows is my interpretation of the lyrics, as they apply to my own life.

“I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word”

A decade ago, I felt like the master of my fate.  I was at the top of my game.  I was in the enviable position of having three managers vying for my skills and experience, all wanting me to join their group.

“Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own”

I’m now on the outside.  No one is knocking at my door.  I occupy a much lower rung on the ladder than I once had.
“One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand”

“It was the wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn’t believe what I’d become”

My place in the world was not as secure as I had thought.  Almost overnight, I became as nothing.
Positions in my industry dried up.  I was unprepared to compete in the new world.  My former colleagues might be surprise at how far I’ve fallen.

“Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate”

I could no longer compete.  Others who were better prepared have taken my place.

“For some reason I can’t explain
I know Saint Peter won’t call my name”

Even in death, there will likely be no victory.  Even in the afterlife, I’ll be a loser.

Perhaps not the most positive interpretation of the song, but how I often feel these days.

Spring is coming!

How do I know?  The robins have made their appearance in my neighborhood this week, and they’re right on time!  Yes, our little corner of Florida is filled with robins – hundreds of them.  Since this is about the time our feathered guests arrive every year, I’m thinking that in spite of all appearances where you live, spring weather will arrive on time.

I will offer a little disclaimer, though.  How long they hang around, fattening themselves on whatever they can find remains to be seen.  Typically most of them move on in a couple of weeks.  If they’re still here by the end of the month, it’s a better indication of a late spring than the legendary groundhog!

Maybe it’s the strain of dealing with my wife’s illness. Maybe it was a tough semester last spring at Florida State. Maybe it’s the phase of the moon, or climate change. Whatever the cause, I know I’ve snapped. I’ve gone off the deep end. I’ve suddenly developed a passion for, dare I say it, American football!

After eschewing sports for decades, I’m suddenly, inexplicably obsessed with football. College football.
The really strange thing is, I know next to nothing about football! I’ve had to buy The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Football, to figure the game out.

Maybe it’s not so strange after all. After decades with Bobby Bowden at the helm, Florida State football now has a new leader: Jimbo Fisher. There’s an expectancy in the air perhaps not felt since that experienced back in 1976 when Bowden took over FSU’s then less than inspiring team.
What a wonderful time to get excited about football.

Go Noles!

I was quite impressed with this young lady. She started telling us about her heroes. Now, if you’re stuck in the Cold War like some Americans, you might think she expounded the glories of Marx, Mao, and Zhou Enlai. On the contrary. Her heroes were captains of American industry. She knew who the CEOs of several major US corporations were. She had read Winning, by Jack Welch. She’s a huge Jack Welch fan. Her American friend, on the other hand, had never heard of Jack Welch.

What does this mean for American? It all depends. It depends upon how many Chinese youth are like this young lady, and how many American youth are like her friend. Perhaps our media is to blame. I’m not saying it’s bad. It may be too good, too entertaining, and there may be too much of it. Instead of Survivor, Big Brother, or even CNN, China’s youth have to settle for what one local described as “boring propaganda.” So perhaps China’s youth have more time on their hands to read books like Winning.

The Chinese government helps in other ways besides limiting media choices. I read an article once, written by a Russian communist who lamented that there are, and had never been, any communist governments. What we think of as communism, he said, was really, “state capitalism.” And the Chinese government has gone in for capitalism in a big way – state and private. As former Chairman Deng Xiao Ping said, “To Get Rich Is Glorious” and the Chinese people have taken it to heart. I have never seen such a spirit of private enterprise like I saw in China! Everyone seems to be an entrepreneur. Many people I met at work either had once had a business, currently had a side business, were planning a side business, or were dreaming of starting a business. I know people who have businesses that failed who are looking for their next opportunity. They haven’t given up.

How many of our youth dream of having a business of their own? I haven’t talked to many 20-somethings here in America. I only hope they’re as ambitions as China’s youth or we may be in trouble. Future Independence Days may depend on it.

We’re weeks away from departing this paradise for another – Beverly Hills, Florida. While we leave behind the beauty of the lake and its environs, we also leave behind the pollution and dust for a well-deserved and badly needed respite back in the states. At first, my wife was talking about a permanent departure, but as local friends insisted she must return, her resolve softened and now she’s telling people we’ll be gone for three months. I like to pad the time and say three to six months, but who knows. It may be three to six years or forever. One never can predict the future. We need to go home to take care of those less than pleasant chores like medical checkups, dental checkups, and taxes. There will also be the inevitable tearful reunions with friends and family, to be sure.

One of the odd things about traveling and living in other countries – one thing those who stay firmly planted in their native soil – is that many places, different though they are, feel like home – and are missed as badly when you’re away. This makes for a bittersweet paradox. Even when you’re “home,” you find yourself missing those other “homes” and are never really quite satisfied anywhere. I’m sure not every traveler feels this way. There are some people who never quite adjust to new places, or perhaps recall enough of the bad side of living overseas that they are only too happy to return to familiar territory. And perhaps these homebodies are the fortunate ones.

All around me I can hear the boom, boom, boom, of the large fireworks and the rat-a-tat-tat of firecrackers. Every community in Hangzhou is ablaze with brilliantly colored flashes. Fireworks of every size and description are going off.

It’s hard for anyone who grew up outside this country to comprehend. It’s impossible to adequately describe. In America, fireworks are strictly controlled in most states. You need a special license to buy the really big stuff the professionals use. Not here.

I can go to my corner fireworks store (which sold flowers during the off season) and buy a display that would do a small town proud for about a hundred bucks – the smaller stuff can be had for about five. The fireworks come in boxes of various sizes – the big ones are like the boxes you use when you move to a new house. These boxes are filled with cardboard tubes in neat rows, their open ends facing up. You just tear the paper off the top of the box, light the fuse near the bottom, and stand back! You get a perfectly timed fireworks display, no previous experience needed.

When they really get going around here, you’d swear you were in a war zone!

Time for the earplugs.

While my experience with UTStarcom was interesting, useful, even educational, I never intended to make a career there. I learned and contributed about all I could in the preceding 18 months, and there just weren’t any opportunities to do other than what I was doing: correcting other people’s poorly written English. I felt like I was living a high school teacher’s nightmare version of “Groundhog Day.”

Now what? Now I’m trying to attain my original goal when I came out to Asia: find a job in Hong Kong or Singapore. I love both cities equally, though my wife prefers the latter.

What am I looking for? I suppose “anything that will put food on the table,” would not be the best answer, but it might be realistic. Really, what I’m looking for is an opportunity to either do what I’ve done before in the telecom industry (Technical Editing/Writing, Technical Support Engineering, Management) or find something in another industry. What I’d really like to find is project work. I’d like something I could do for several months to a year, then move on to something new. I’ve felt project work to be particularly fulfilling in the past.

Well, we’ll see what the Year of the Pig holds for us.