Life in Beijing is exhausting. Gone is the casual pace at which I used to saunter through my days. Here are the times when everything is a rush rush rush mentality that culminates into a glass of whiskey and a couch at the end of the day. It's not so much the job I have that drains me of my energy. It's the pace of a city that has been awakened unto economic prosperity and pipe dreams. Untapped markets and cheap labor has many a western salivary gland working double overtime and corporate executives throwing fistfulls of dollars in Beijing's direction. Everywhere you look there are people scrambling to a better life. Millions of 'em. Gone are the days of afternoon naps. In their place are days that cannot be contained in a single twenty-four hour period. I remember old codgers telling me when I was younger that there just wasn't enough time in one day to get done all that needs to be done. I didn't understand what they meant. It was just a vague saying coming from old men with glassed over eyes. Their meaning has become crystal clear to me recently however. I wake to the dawning of day long before dawn has come. I re-enter my home long after the sky has lost it's light, having just been through a day that resembled a blur. It's not that I'm unhappy exerting so much energy. In fact, not knowing boredom, or idleness, or relaxation has taught me a few things that I suppose I needed to learn. I doubt that I can sustain a continual line of active participation in urban activity for long though. When I'm fed up I'll utter a simple phrase I've always wanted to: "I need a vacation". And then I'll board a plane for India.