6'5" Fish in a Big Pond

I've got a month left in North America.
That's big! That's huge! I'm freaking out. In my own quiet, stoic way. A friend of mine asked me if I had a bucket list of sorts, things to do before I move to Hong Kong. I responded that I just wanted to seize every opportunity available to enjoy my time here. And so far, I've been succeeding. I'm loving this summer, but I'm really starting to feel that I'm on the fast track here. So I'm starting to get flustered, starting to put stuff off. Not that there's much to do. Mainly figure out my banking situation and figure out what I need to do in terms of phone communication. Still, I'm intimidated. I'm just starting to feel totally comfortable here in beautiful SF. I've got my bearings, made my niche, dug my foxhole and I'm entrenched. And now I'm moving to a city where I'm an absolute newcomer, low on the totem pole. I feel like I have to completely reassert myself, I have to find success and rise above the hum, you know? Got to swallow some little fish in that big pond.

I watched Downfall last night, which chronicles Hitler's last 12 days in a Berlin bunker, from the perspective of his stenographer. It was great, I was very pleased. It really humanized everybody- not just Adolph himself, but many of his aides and generals. I'm not saying that they were likable- quite the opposite. But in my mind, it sort of takes power away from them. It knocks down the image that they were these superhuman killing machines, and puts them back into history as your basic, super-shitty person. People caught up in delusions and fantasies, polarized by circumstance and digging themselves deeper and deeper. It showed them as I'd like to think of them: squabbling, bureaucratic Germans, who put themselves before everyone else and destroyed a country in the process.
Anyway, it's heralded as one of the best films to come out of Germany in recent years, and I highly recommend it.

I also finished Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, which is the basis for the Ridley Scott cult-classic film Blade Runner. The book was incredible. Started out a little shaky, but gained speed and quickly developed into an introspective look into what humanity means, with an emphasis on our ability to be empathetic. I highly suggest it. The movie is kind of a trippy, more fantastic version of the book. It stays roughly true to the plot, but paints it through a different light and perspective. I watched the "Final Cut," the latest (and supposedly last) version of a film that is famous for it's different releases.

Here's to a month more of friends and experiences, good movies and food.

 "Bathed in the blue light of perfect American nights." -Astronautalis