import the.world

Part of the reason I’m in this part of the world right now is because of a joke, and admittedly it’s barely a joke. I went on a bender (of sorts) for music last September. I had select songs from the Spotify Soul Playlist saved on my phone, a disproportionate amount of which happened to feature a certain US state in their lyrics. Fast forward to the middle of October, and I suddenly found myself with two weeks off before starting a new job…

There’s not much more I can say about this. I can’t say that I knew Vanessa well but we were in the same year at BU, former WordStream, and eventual NYC transplants. When I read the news yesterday, I was left with an odd sense of profound sadness. The details have yet to emerge but this is nothing short of a tragedy. I’ve always understood that the world was unfair, that good and bad things can happen outside of our realm of control.

It’s been an incredible journey over the last month. Somewhere over either Vietnam or the South China Sea I was ambushed with the irony of flying halfway around the world just to move again a few days later. I couldn’t, and still can’t believe that this is finally happening. The sweltering heat is only one of the things you leave behind when traveling roughly 14,000 kilometers from Bangkok to Boston. After a couple days you learn to appreciate any air-conditioned havens you discover.

I landed in this country 6 days ago. I’ve traversed nearly 1,000 kilometers in that span via taxi, pickup truck, ferry, train, subway, mini-van, motorbike, and of course my legs. Just 8 days ago I was still a full-time employee at redacted. 1 It was drizzling when I deplaned at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport; this came as no surprise as it rains briefly almost every day in mainland SEA’s wet season (typically between June - October).