Ringing in the New Year a.k.a. Back to the Future!

New Year's Eve Day was a day of returns.  We had accumulated enough unwanted merchandise in China that we planned to go out and return it all in one fell swoop, so after breakfast, we took the subway to the first and furthest stop and decided to work our way back home from there.  The first item to return was a pair of boots that Muir had ordered for me from a Chinese e-shop specializing in large shoes which unfortunately turned out to be too small.  (I think I've written previously about how my feet are apparently gigantic.)  The store's return location was on the east side of Beijing close to where I work, and also like where I work, it was using residential space as the base of their operation.  Real estate space zoned for commercial use is prohibitively expensive if you are not a large company, and I hear that this kind of reappropriation is fairly common.  Anyway, the woman inside was very nice and soon we were out the door with a receipt and instructions to request the refund via the website.  Hopefully all goes well.  The second stop was at a little DVD shop near Walmart.  No less than half of the DVDs we purchased did not play in Muir's computer, and we wanted to exchange them for different copies to see if those would work.  The shop owner was suspiciously absent when we arrived, and we spoke with his stall neighbor (co-conspirator?) about exchanging the DVDs.  With new DVDs in hand, we headed home.

In the evening we enjoyed a bottle of prosecco and watched The Change Up, a raunchy bromance  starring Ryan Reynolds and Jason Bateman who play...two friends who are the same age!  (Ha!  Jason Bateman looks so much older than Ryan Reynolds.  Just kidding Jason Bateman!  Loved you in Arrested Development.  Can't wait for the movie, but I'm not holding my breath.)  Anyway, The Change Up is actually a raunchy bromance where two friends who lead completely different lives magically switch bodies one night and learn lessons about life, love, and themselves through their star-crossed misadventures.  The movie was good, but I don't think we managed to stay awake until midnight.

But getting "back to the future"...I haven't made new year's resolutions for many years now, and this year I just have one:  To repatriate as soon as possible!

To all my friends and family:  Miss you, love you.  See you next year!