A trip to Salem and Portsmouth

It was cool that Amsol visited me last week. He had this workshop in MIT on complex system. I think he hated it, but hey, we got a chance to hang out for a week, and the weather is awesome by Boston-winter standard.

I got a playstation II as the default entertainment for the week. I got a shooting game and thought I would like it, but actually he hated it because it made me dizzy. Amsol seemed enjoying it and was smart enough to figure out small tricks (I was frustrated to death to find the "stone bridge," but he figured it out pretty fast). One game both of us enjoyed is NFL 2008. Both of us were not very good, but we liked to take risks to have 4th down throw, on-site kicks, or two-point conversion (If you do not know these terms, it is alright. I did not either before playing the game). This really adds color to our plays, as we finished one thriller 42-41 in the last second (I lost for being greed to take 2-point).

We had a nasty debate one night about Myer-Biggs types. Amsol was from a race/ethnicity study background, and was repulsed by the categorization. How can you put people neatly into 16 categories?! What about self-fulfilling prophesy?! Has consulting brainwashed you?! In retrospect, I should have conceded a little bit. However, in another retrospect, I enjoyed the debate, and my only complain is that it last a bit too long.

Amsol left from Portsmouth, so we had a rental car one day before and stayed in Portsmouth for a night. On the way there, I stopped by Salem and checked out the famous witch-hunting history. I hated the witch stuff, because the town of Salem was capitalizing the tragedy. It was all about cheap merchandises made in China, little about a reflection about the past shame. The highlight of the day was in an Origami exhibition. I followed the instruction and folded a bird with one-dollar bill. I put it in the museum, hoping some kids will pick it up and shout, "Look mom, I found a dollar bird!" We also saw a lady with explosive breasts that tried to peek out from her low dress, and how can we miss it? Amsol got a picture of it, with my camera.

We spent the night in Portsmouth. I later knew that Hillary Clinton's tear moment was in a diner in this town. That probably saved her NH primary. We tried to find a lobster place. We walked over a bridge and found ourselves in Maine. This reminded me the lines from one of my favorite movie, Cider House Rules, "Good night, you Princes of Maine, you Kings of New England!" Maine, I am here to eat your lobster! We found a perfect place. Each of us got a two-lobster meal. This was Amsol's first time eating lobster, and I was honor to be the witness. To be honest, lobster is very tough, and I had a hard time chewing the second, and swore that I would never eat two lobsters for one meal in the future.

I felt good by visiting two states in one day. Amsol told me that there is a place in the upper-right conner of Arizona where you can step on four states at the same time. I should go there some day.