By now, I’ve come to realize, not sadly, that I’ll never be a runner-at least, not like that-but I still try my best to stay healthy, and this is the third and final component of what the game is all about. At this hour, it’s always type-A young professionals, clad in thigh-high neon shorts, listening to music and daubing at sweat as they jog inexorably past. Once I’ve made it to the Bund, I walk down to Shiliupu, a tourist marina exactly one mile south of the Peace Hotel, which I remember from my first week in town, when I was better about working out. I’ve never been a morning person, despite always feeling more grateful and productive whenever it is I’m able to get up early, and that’s yet another benefit of the game: it keeps me from sleeping in. For the first ten minutes or so, I try to focus on my senses, gradually waking up, documenting five things I can see (the sea anemone-like movement of a group of pensioners practicing tai chi a giant blue container ship dominating the Pudong skyline an otherwise glamorous model crushing the heels of her sneakers, smoking a cigarette, between takes the national flags atop the buildings, still vigilant against foreign claims security cameras everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE), four I can hear (a passerby speaking French a public security announcement on East Nanjing Road construction in the distance even, at one point, birds in the trees), three I can touch (the interior lining of my coat the railing on the Bund the flimsy sleeve around my cup), two I can smell (perspiration pollution), and lastly, one I can taste (invariably coffee, so sometimes I’ll opt for something more nuanced and flavorful-a pour-over, say-instead). Stopping traffic, quite literally, in the middle of the road. By then, the street sweepers are finishing up and the photographers have emerged, posing newlyweds, models, and the occasional celebrity or two in the early morning light against the Beaux-Arts facades. I sip slowly, savoring the routine, mentally preparing for the day. So, here's what I do: I purchase a large quadruple latte at ARABICA (the capitalization is theirs, not mine) on Yuanmingyuan Lu, a cobblestone promenade about a stone’s throw from the Bund, then wander around Huangpu till what, on a weekday, would be rush hour, coffee in hand. It’s opened my eyes to lesser-known neighborhoods in the city and, in a few cases, even resulted in new friends. It’s entirely innocent, nothing more than a bit of harmlessly eccentric fun. I keep a record in my journal of all the sessions I’ve been on, and for each entry, the only reference to the person I choose to follow is a brief description of their clothes and features at the start. I don’t have much interest in my subjects themselves, anyway-they’re merely conduits for exploration. This is a parameter I set for myself on one of my first times out, a measure intended to keep me from looking (and feeling) like a creep. There’s only one rule to the game: no women or children. Most importantly, however, it’s a distraction. But at the same time, it demands resourcefulness, spontaneity, a sense of adventure, and stamina (both mental and physical). And that’s precisely what the game is about. For a while, I had been looking for a way out: of the rat race, of a social circle turned stagnant, of America, of myself. I worked for four years at a multinational conglomerate in New York City after college-a humdrum, entry-level position I didn’t love but didn’t hate-and when the opportunity arose to transfer overseas (to Hong Kong, then Shanghai), I didn’t think twice.
Which must explain, at least partially, how I came to Shanghai. That’s not wrong, I suppose (at least, not in any ostensible sense), but it makes me sound like a misanthrope, which I’m not.
In the years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve never been caught, and I attribute my success to what, from a young age, has been described by those around me as a natural circumspection, a tendency to set myself apart. I go on a few test runs before making my choice.
I leave my apartment early and head east toward the Bund, a sort of preliminary constitutional before the real walk begins. Whenever I’m bored on the weekends, I like to play a game.
0 kommentar(er)
