After visiting my sister and friends in NYC I have returned to the valley. It's been a couple days being back, and so far so good. I can't get enough of the trees and fresh air. Although Beijing has considerably impacted my life, it now feels like a distant dream. Some of my friends still there have said that the relations between foreigners and government have only gotten worse. Apparently, officials have been performing random visa and residence permit inspections. Bars have been shutting down all over the city and the population of foreigners continues to drop. I am relieved to get out when I did. But I already miss the city, for all the people I know there, and for the insanity that runs through it.

Now that I am back, I am excited to be here. There are a couple of projects that I'll be involved in immediately, and another much longer one, if it is able to get off the ground. Over the next couple of months I'll retrospectively be posting pictures and stories from Beijing, and also hope to show some of the artistic influences that have affected me since living in Beijing. But right now, I need to get situated. Look forward to seeing those of you that I haven't already.