Entry #1 – Sol – Earth – Hong Kong – 64 NC Thought an electronic journal of sorts would be a good way to note down my thoughts and keep me preoccupied. Maybe it will find itself on Maya one day. Who knows. So... yeah... here a I'm in Hong Kong in the middle of Yu Jing territory. As a good ol' American boy this place absolutely blows me away. I'd seen vids on Maya of the great cities across the Pacific but to see it in person was something else. The level of technology here is just mind boggling compared to the United States. I was used to swathes of suburban sprawl and cookie cutter houses. Here in Hong Kong the vertical nature of everything makes me dizzy. That and everything's packed in so close together. I'd been to a few cities in the States but they did not compare to anything I'm seeing here. Thinking about the United States I can't help but feel a little home sick. I am without my friends and family here. However, I do not miss the dysfunctional government, the abusive corporations, failing infrastructure, and some of the worst quality of life on all of Earth. I needed to escape. The question was to where? My first thought was joining my countrymen on the newly rediscovered Dawn. Looking at the reports and vids on Maya changed my mind rather quickly. My life was already full of hardships back in the States and I didn't need a new set of them on Dawn. USAriadna can keep their antipodes, inhospitable wilderness, and their Kazak rulers for all I care. With USAriadna well out of the picture my eyes gravitated to Haqqislam. Their humanist nature, neutrality on the interstellar stage, and tolerance for outsiders and non-believers were very inviting. That was the good side. Much like Dawn Bourak wasn't exactly the nicest of planets for humans. It was better thanks to terra forming but it wasn't great. Also the Hassassins left a bad taste in my mouth. It was state sponsored terrorism. I then started looking at Yu Jing. For other westerners that might appear as a weird option but Pan Oceania and the Nomads were a last resort for me. So the great eastern power was my next choice. The culture might have been different and the government authoritarian but the citizens were well cared for and they had rights I valued. It was a stable power that could provide stable lives for its citizens. Stability I could never get back in the United States. So Yu Jing was my choice. Applying to immigration was going to be a long a brutal process so I tried my luck with getting a work visa first. I had years of experience as a communications technician trying to keep the dying and outdated systems in the States up and running. Seems that was a position of need or importance as I got the work visa with no hassle. Did some interviews over Maya with some companies and landed myself a junior position with a government contractor in Jiguui on Shentang. Now I'm just waiting at the spaceport for a shuttle. When I board I'll be starting a new life in a foreign land. Heh, I think I found a name for this journal... a foreigner in a foreign land.
Entry #2 – Shentang-Yutang – Shentang – Jiguui – 64 NC I sit here looking up into the sky at Yutang. Back on Earth the Moon was a circle in the sky you could stick your thumb up and block it. Yutang you needed two thumbs to block it out. The idea that I'm looking at another populated planet from the one I'm standing on just blows my mind. Beyond the greater universe blowing my mind like usual I finally made it to Shentang and finally to Jiguui which is located in southern Korguyo and very close to the border of Nakhonthai. My job hooked me up with an apartment out in Tao Park where a lot of the cheaper housing complexes are. It's definitely a lower to middle income area. My place isn't to bad either. It has a basic geist interface so Woody, my geist, is able to get my coffee and shower going before I even wake up. In all actuality its really no different from my place back in the States. However, there are no rolling blackouts, the water doesn't turn brown or smell like rotten eggs, the local datasphere doesn't randomly drop out, and I don't hear gunshots every night. Oh and I need to give a special mention to the food. Asian folks know how to make some damn good food. There's a noodle shop located just a block or two away from my complex. The first place I ate when I arrived on Shentang. I think I've gone there almost every week since I've been here (about 1 month now). Then there's the food carts and the Korean barbecue places... I could go on for days about the food to be honest. Now for my job... it's okay. I'm working for HiPi Communications. I'm currently posted at there furthest office just outside of Jiguui proper to the west. We have a big sector to cover from a lot of well spread out towns and comms towers that we service. I was a lead technician back in the States but here at this company I'm back to being a junior technician. That means I'm usually parred up with a senior technician to assist and learn. A combination of this post and my position landed me with a hard ass, salty, and just straight up mean tech in all of the land. He's a little Thai man that goes by El Tigre. I haven't asked why he has a Spanish nickname nor do I really want to know. El Tigre knows his stuff but he's an absolute pain in the ass to work with. He treats me more as an assistant then a fellow technician. I fetch him coffee and food, always prep and drive the utility vehicle, and take calls from dispatch. He thinks he's better then me. I'll show that man that I deserve some respect whether he likes it or not. I think part of the animosity is that I'm a foreigner. I'm here doing a job another Yu Jingese person could be doing. That and I don't quite get all the customs and society. The American in me sees the individual as the most important while the Yu Jingese see the group as the most important. I know I can be a team player but will that be enough to win over El Tigre? Who knows.
