fixed routes and baby steps

There are many things in life that I'm pretty good at. There are some things that I dare say I'm pretty excellent at. Directional sense however is definitely not one of them. In fact, it's so far off the list that it's pretty much in the orbit of say... Pluto?

When I lived in Atlanta, I would frequent this Korean hair salon off of Delk Rd. Every, single time I went, I would get lost and end up driving around for an hour looking for Delk Road in spite of the fact me being there just a few months ago and Delk Road being a massive 5 laner right off the highway. Most embarrassingly was that despite Delk Road being completely straight, I'd always turn onto it and drive in the exact opposite direction of the hair salon. I'd continue driving, getting angrier by the minute, until I'd finally huffily admit my mistake half an hour later and turn my car around thinking, "I can't believe this has happened again!" Then I got a GPS system and it felt like what cavemen felt when they discovered fire. It was pretty magical.

My directional sense fails me not just in the real world but also in the virtual world. I can't even begin to numerate how many times I found myself shot dead playing Halo or some other video game that involved navigating a labyrinthine space because I ended up getting myself stuck in some corner...staring straight up at the ceiling/sky unable to get a sense of where I'm actually supposed to go. You would think that the joy that comes from shooting a player who is bumbling around in a corner would eventually decrease with time but not with my friends. Their happiness only ratcheted up with each subsequent virtual attack. I don't play Halo anymore.

When I first moved to Beijing I got lost so much that I bought a compass. A compass. To navigate a city. I'll let the ridiculousness of that marinate for awhile. Unfortunately for me, buying a compass does you no good when you can't figure out which direction your destination is in the first place. I spent a lot of time riding in cabs in Beijing. This was fine since Beijing is a notoriously pedestrian unfriendly city with their mile long street blocks, multi-lane roads and infamous pollution.

After I moved to Shanghai's French Concession area with its smaller, more walkable street blocks, I discovered that walking could actually be nice - Nay, dare I say it? enjoyable - and finally I was forced to deal with what can only be described as my acute directional deficiencies head on. I started to memorize specific routes to places that I frequent and I adhere to those routes with the commitment of an obsessive compulsive. As a result however, I have become pretty proficient in navigating my neighborhood.

After a lifetime of directional fails, I had my first directional success just the other day. I had taken a wrong turn (quite accidentally) and found myself off my regular route to somewhere. Rather than calling my cab (money > map) I decided to attempt to piece together my knowledge of the area and kept walking, my wild rolling eyes the only thing betraying my inner panic. Finally after about 5 minutes I recognized a familiar street name and then another and then I was back on track again. HOW SWEET SUCCESS TASTED! True, I had only wandered about a block away from my area of knowledge of course but still... Baby steps.

Just yesterday I went for dinner at what quite possibly was the best sushi restaurant in Shanghai. After gorging ourselves on lush cuts of fish and fried meat lollipops, S and I found ourselves shivering on the chilly streets of Shanghai along with about 10 other groups of similarly miserable looking people unsuccessfully trying to hail a cab. After 20 minutes of cab hailing fails we started walking to our next destination. Still filled with the confidence of my recent direction finding success, I took the lead and charged down the street towards the intersection only to turn around and find S still rooted in the same spot looking at me quizzically.

I think I may scornfully turned around shoutning something like, "Let's Go! What are you doing?"

He looked at me confusedly, "Where are you going?"

Feeling highly superior I responded in a clipped tone, "Don't you know? Geez, good thing you've got me to guide you. Urumuqi is right over here." To really drive home the point, I then extended my arm fully and dramatically pointed down the road.

"Um...No. Urumuqi is back there." S retorted jerking his thumb behind him.

I blanched.

"... really?"

"Yeah."

"oh."

One baby step forward. Two baby steps back.