The problem, with not immediately blogging events is that, you forget details. I've been trying to catch up on the events of the year and admit that the 2014 Nudierun accounts aren't exactly "realtime". So, as I go through what looks like an endless list of "draft" post I can see for this entry titled "Shanghai" that the prompts I left myself are "Birthday weekend" and "lightning storms"; they do little to stimulate the writing.
So, here goes, from what I remember, this was the celebration of Lewis' Birthday in Shanghai. It has been over 10 years of knowing Lewis. In fact one of the first conversations I had with him was when we were in our early twenties. The conversation went something like this "Hi, I'm Lewis", "Hi, I'm Derek", "I'm twenty", I'm twenty-two", "Oh, me as well, I'm twenty too". We had a laugh and I would never forget the age gap. Fast forward now, and 5 days ago, Lewis had surprised everybody by proposing that his 30th Birthday be celebrated in Shanghai. On a last-minute whim we booked our flights and hotels and headed to Shanghai.
So, that's the first prompt. The Birthday Weekend. Second prompt. I had arranged to fly from Hong Kong to Shanghai at 9:15 pm, scheduled to arrive at 11:40 pm. The plan was to meet the first group of people who had flown in the night before as well as the 7:15 plane earlier than me. It just so happened, that the weather wasn't going to let that happen. An evening of severe lightning storms had all incoming planes in holding zones and outgoing planes backed up and delayed for hours.
I boarded the Dragon Air flight at 9:00 pm and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for the next two and half hours. By the time I finally arrived at the Astoria, it was 3 am. The earlier flight had been also significantly delayed and those who had arrived the night earlier were obviously drunk from all the waiting and preparation. Thankfully, Hollywood provided a haven for those looking to revel past 3 am. We stayed out and eventually called it quits at 7 am. We were shocked as we left the venue, not by the early rising locals walking their dogs but by the clearly anachronistic group of people still lining up to get into the club. It was a long weekend.
"I'm thirty, too!" - Lewis
So, that's the first prompt. The Birthday Weekend. Second prompt. I had arranged to fly from Hong Kong to Shanghai at 9:15 pm, scheduled to arrive at 11:40 pm. The plan was to meet the first group of people who had flown in the night before as well as the 7:15 plane earlier than me. It just so happened, that the weather wasn't going to let that happen. An evening of severe lightning storms had all incoming planes in holding zones and outgoing planes backed up and delayed for hours.
I boarded the Dragon Air flight at 9:00 pm and proceeded to sit on the tarmac for the next two and half hours. By the time I finally arrived at the Astoria, it was 3 am. The earlier flight had been also significantly delayed and those who had arrived the night earlier were obviously drunk from all the waiting and preparation. Thankfully, Hollywood provided a haven for those looking to revel past 3 am. We stayed out and eventually called it quits at 7 am. We were shocked as we left the venue, not by the early rising locals walking their dogs but by the clearly anachronistic group of people still lining up to get into the club. It was a long weekend.
"I'm thirty, too!" - Lewis
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