Hmm, is it possible I’m actually on a roll? Today, I won 5 RMB scratching off the restaurant “fa piao” (receipt). I know, just 5 kuai. Totally small potato, but hey, better than nothing. Plus, I can almost buy a Dove chocolate bar with that.

Yesterday was a good day too. I attended the LifeLine Shanghai 2nd Anniversary party. The org’s been up and running two years now. Kudos to them. Completely volunteer-run. So last night not only did I win a 500 RMB raffle prize for a stress-relieving acupuncture session at Body & Soul (I’ll be using that ASAP), but I also received a recognition award. Funny thing, when I went up to accept my beautiful red lantern, the executive director asked if I wanted to say a few words. I chickened out and declined; I’m into computer stuff, not public speaking. But after I left the stage, I read the message on my lantern: LifeLine Award for Communication. The award was technically for my web work, but how ridiculous was I? I won the award for communication and I couldn’t bring myself to speak? I’m an idiot.

Aside from my retardation, the party was very nice, a pleasant ending to my time at LifeLine. I recently relinquished my role there (Technology Manager) to concentrate on my Mandarin studies. Fortunately, the ED found a replacement in record time, and I was still around to train her. And thank goodness for the hand-over! In my true neurotic, control-freakish form, I forced myself to put together quite a lil’ tech manager handbook, containing documentation on job responsibilities and protocols. God forbid I transfer the job the way I received it (with zippo guidance). Ah well, prepping the info was a necessary exercise in sort of quantifying my contribution. You see, I have really weird selective memory. I’d volunteered for LifeLine since last March, and somewhere along the way, I had convinced myself my work wasn’t even worth mentioning. Putting the info on paper, I realized I actually did a decent bit of stuff. The docs are a nice reminder too, considering I’ll be back in the US job hunting again soon… Yes, the big news: John and I are moving back to the States. Shocker of all shockers, right? Actually, the decision is several weeks old but well you know, sometimes with the blog you go a little overboard with the information control (just because you can). Haha, just kidding. Anyway, yeah, my Bubbey is a real superstar. Moving up from programmer to manager. He’s very excited about switching out of hardcore coding, and I think management is a good fit for him… I just worry about this different kind of stress: dealing with people ain’t easy, that’s for sure.