A Letter to Ching Mao & ME 65

Ching Mao:I hope Pei-Jean & you are kidding. So your boss is asking you to have a job :), just like all the bosses do. The only real boss in our class of ME 65 is Rena. She always tells or suggests, depending how you look at it, me what to do. The rest of us are just gofers of their spouses 🙂

Well, here are my 2 cents. Rena & I have been working at different places or different continents, for the past 8 years. As a matter of fact, the trip that we had with SL and Anna was just about three weeks. But, it was the longest time that Rena & I were together continuously for the past 4 – 5 years. Of course, you can see that we treasured that precious moment a lot.

In our situations, the bad part is apparent. I really missed her a lot, especially at the time when wind was blowing, rain pouring, birds singing, etc., any circumstance that you could think of. I am not a real music fan but I do have a car satellite radio (XM) which accompanies me all the time while driving. Sometimes, I heard those moving songs on the radio and, suddenly, the thought about Rena was intensified. And I called. Unfortunately, sometime, I was in places where there was no cell tower 🙁 to make any connection.

Well, to us, the good part (?) is that we have traveled a lot on the ground, visiting different places scattered all over the USA, including scenic highways, scenic spots, big towns, small municipalities, famous or not. We have seen a lot and drove many, many miles together. Since Rena was always the anchor point because our kitchen was with her all the time, I flew a lot, basically, every two weeks. Sometime, I even couldn’t tell which airport and time zone I was in. During the winter time, it was much better for my tummy. I brought my big “beggar’s bowl” and Rena filled it with her left over in the refrigerator. I wrapped it in our wriggled moving paper (paper is an excellent insulator, and we still have a lot after countless moves) and brought it back in shipped luggage. That probably lasted about two weeks until the next scheduled re-fill. Summer time, it is less likely to carry food this way.

After all these years like that, Rena & I are ready to quit at any moment. Otherwise, forced retirement of one or both is a distinct possibility. Being not together is not good; especially you have no one to argue with 🙂

So, I think, working on your own investment is much better, followed by jobs within commuting distance. The last thing is “any location”. But, if you really would like to do that, I suggest short-term temp jobs (3 – 4 months) in big cities, west or east, where air travel is cheaper & more frequent. A couple of hours later, he will be home. I believe GE Nuclear in your SF Bay area needs some temp workers. Ask Tsai Sen-Sung, he may still have some connection there. If not, ask Rena. noel

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