For the record, this does NOT include friends, family, and loves. that said, in no particular order:
1) Meijer - the fact that space and real estate is at a premium in the sprawling cities of China leads me to believe that megastores like Meijer will be few and far in between. not to say that the local Walmart isn't going to suffice, but we all know how much i love being able to go to Meijer at 2am on a saturday night.
2) Nati Light - mmmMMMmm. cheap, watery, american beer. 24 cans for $10!!!
3) Beer Pong - speaking of nati light... gawd am i ever gonna miss playing beer pong. maybe i'll see if i can start some sort of local league or something.
4) Driving - while i certainly won't miss the traffic jams and the road rage and the asshole drivers, i will definitely miss the relative convenience of being able to hop in my car to go do something. and speeding.
5) Nature - i'm sure there are some cute lil man-made parks all over Shanghai, but let's be real--much like everything else there, i'm willing to bet the trees and lovely flowers are all fake.
6) Peace & Quiet - nothing like being able to sit outside and look at the stars on a clear night. soon, where once was the gentle sound of crickets chirping will be replaced by the disgusting sound of people hacking loogeys.
7) Free Speech - i can't really say that i've taken advantage of this particular Right, but i'm sure i'll be missing it soon enough.
8) Generally Clean Bathrooms - ugh. i remember what they were like from the last time i was there. and i'm willing to bet things haven't changed much. combine that with how many times i need to poop in a given day....
9) Some American Foods - i know there's plenty over there, but i'm talkin good, cheap, non-chain American grub. i wonder how difficult it will be to find a good bowl of French (american, really) Onion Soup.
10) Diversity - despite the fact that i've spent much of my life in a relatively homogenous part of America, i still like the fact that i'm able to meet all different kinds of people from all different backgrounds and be able to eat at all kinds of fun place etc. and black people. no black people in China. all yellow and white. which, together, looks like pee.
I'd like to thank everyone for comin out in style and celebrating dan's belated birthday/my going away this past weekend. gonna miss you kids terribly. seems not 
that long ago when we'd roll almost 20 strong. we're dropping rike fries! i'll likely stay out in Seattle when/if i come back in august, and then it's off to graduate school. i guess this means Goodbye, Ohio. i really hope we can c
oordinate some sort of reunion in the future. anyways, some highlights from this past weekend. having 14 people pre-game then roll up into a bar reminded me of freshman year all over again! just... i'm older. and fatter. ah well. after some shots (yikes, but keeping with the freshman year theme), found our way to High Beck's (on High and Beck, duh) which turns out to be a pretty sweet bar, i have to say. big, not cramped at all, and they had REAL dartbo
ards, pool table, and a PING PONG TABLE. if i were around longer, i'd try to get some beer pong going there. i say "mostly" memorable, in that after reviewing what sort of pictures and videos were on my camera the following day, i realized there were some significant gaps in how i 
visualized and recalled that night unfolding. but hey, that means it was a good night, right? it was definitely a bittersweet night, and i'm terribly sorry that i didn't get to really get to say goodbye to some of you. wish i could have grabbed lunch/pho with you guys one last time (i blame derek and dan for being so inflexible in their itinerary). in retrospect, i should have driven to columbus separately, i guess. oh, and joon, you're an asshole for not coming out for my last night around. eh.
