7 Levels of my Hell

Ever since the first week of buying my house back in 2012 this guy was a problem. He constantly complained about my two pine trees that border our properties  Every time I was outside I was at least "informed" that he didn't like the cones/needles that fall.  All while himself having a giant pine tree that completely destroys the other side of his yard's driveway, cars, everything.  Their entire yard is tattoo'd with debris from HIS tree, but that never seemed to concern him even after pointing it out on the 50th time it was brought to my attention. When I first bought the house a police officer was remodeling the Western house to flip and decided to just live there for awhile so we became pretty good friends and was also witness to this guy constantly harassing me about the trees. It got to the point that I had enough, and I'm proud that I had enough self control for as long as I did. Well after that, this guy was on a mission from 'Nam to eradicate...

My sons therapist I also see for advice and direction how to help him told me "You have to treat the loss of your daughter as though she died until she comes home." It wasn't until the 3rd or 4th day in China, in Yiwu did I accept this because I found a place of immense beauty that was some sort of shrine or self-reflection spot.  It had a lot of greenery, flowers, a pond that's filled with Koi and a bridge that travels over it to admire them. This is where I decided to say goodbye to Abbi. I sat for a good while struggling to walk away from this spot knowing I've left half of my still functional heart and soul here at a place I'll most likely never find again even with infinite time and resources. I couldn't leave, wouldn't leave until I decided that I was going to join my love, my Supergirl and that's when Christopher died and Kiso was born. On a side note I found a fitting dumpster to lay to rest M & N and it took every ounce of m...

My second night in Shanghai in Pudong I spent that entire evening (and the rest of my visit) with Dave and Shirley.  Dave gave me a "blanket" of a fatherly figure I never experienced before.  He had this overwhelming.....call it duty, to take care of me and everything regarding me just as he's doing with his very quiet son. At the same time I had Shirley, "Miss Tiger Mom," constantly slowing her pace to make sure I'm keeping up and not stranded or left behind.   Reassuring me that "if" we're separated what to do for each "hub" of the massive connecting subway system or when we're walking the endless miles to burn off the meal she's always dropping back from leader to keep pace with me, pushing me to keep going. I feel no choice but to continue ignoring the overwhelming urge to throw myself in front of one of the million cars going back and forth every hour because I'm just so fucking exhausted and don't know how mu...

This night felt as the most important since my arrival in China.  I've been in a fog since I've returned each time I try to think about everything that happened, how it happened and the course of events that led me to embark to the other side of the Earth in search of something unknown other than an unrelenting urge. Whatever Joe Pesci or the Universe was trying to tell me definitely made it's point because had I not taken this trip I could have never became the man I am today. We take a short walk to a restaurant that's considered hot according to WeChat so in the lobby one of their friends takes the stroll with us. He's Chinese and speaks exceptionally well English and Arabic.  He's just going back and forth like a ping-pong ball with Dave and Shirley in their respective languages like it's second nature. To have the mental ability to speak 3 languages is something I think even the most brilliant admit it's no easy task to learn an additional on...

I wake up and I'm a fucking ZOMBIE.  Holy fuck I drank way too much the night before and it took the first hour to piece together what happened the night before.  By now it's about 6:00 AM and I am deeply hungover.  Something I'm not used to feeling. I jump out of bed and not remembering our hotel offers a fucking amazing breakfast I walk down the block to this restaurant I've been constantly eyeing since I arrived.  They have live tanks in the window filled with fish, shellfish and other shit I didn't know what it was. Inside they had a supermarket resembling coolers you could pick from.  I chose from the picture menu above. It looked like ribs. Tasted fantastic and came with a giant serving of white rice. It could have been dog for all I cared at that point (it wasn't...calm down PETA). I finished most of the protein and ate as much rice as I could and paid my bill.  It came to under $3.00.  I left the RMB equivalent (+ 1.5RMB and tipping is ...

Around 9:00 AM we meet in the lobby of the 5th floor and we descent with our luggage to a taxi.  Before we gathered I decided to cut my baggage in half and leave a suitcase and its contents in the room. I went to the rescue mission before the trip and bought all sorts of clothes that I wasn't sure if my travels would require me to wear. So at least now I've cut down what I have to drag by 50% but little was removed from my backpack that had to weigh at least 20-30 lbs filled with mostly useless shit. We get the taxi and head to the subway to head to the Monorail.  Dave buys us all First Class tickets on the Monorail which was 130 RMB each, just under $19.00.  Difference from coach is more room, cleaner bathroom and you're given a choice of bottled water or a juice box that resembles Hi-C and a prepackaged box that has some snacks inside.  Most notably is the "Braised Duck Gizzard" in a vacuum sealed package. Yiwu (EEE-Woo) is 2,000 miles South-West of Shan...

Dave and Shirley invite me out with them to the Shanghai 24th China International Furniture Expo. One of their businesses is selling furniture to US stores made in China and sent over to the US like pretty much every single thing you can buy now. This place is MASSIVE.  It resembles the NYS fair where they cover an insane square footage and everything is housed inside buildings millions of square feet each.  I've been through 8-9 before the day is out and I saw maybe 20% of the actual show since it was the last day everyone was closing down but Dave and Shirley had been unable to cover as much as they've wanted to the three previous days and wanted to get one last chance to meet vendors. The furniture I saw was so beautiful and stylish. Unlike anything I'm used to seeing here.  Don't get me wrong they had a LOT of stuff you see at Pier 1 and places like that but much of the show is about "what's hot" now and new, fresh.. EVERYONE in China uses WeCh...