In China, a 2"x4" really IS a 2"x4"

In less than 24 hours, I will be on my way to China for the first time. This will be quite the adventure. I've decided to chronicle my journey here as time and availability allows.

I will describe my adventures, misadventures and other musings, but will not go into detail about my job specifics. Event producing, as it turns out, has a lot of rules and contracts. What I CAN tell you, is that I've been shipping crates to asia for the last few weeks in preparation and just sent the last load on Friday. It was like a giant life size game of Tetris.

I haven't even left yet, and China has already thrown me 2 curve balls. I've been in contact for WEEKS with people in China to procure a TON of wood that I need to build some items in china. I've gone back and forth with people in regards to sizes, quantities etc. In addition to a language barrier, there's also the barrier of Tara's brain that does not compute the numbers. Any numbers. At all. I'm

a theatre major, not a math major. What makes this even worse is, as it turns out, no one else in the world uses feet and inches except us. WTF!!! That's nonsense. I can barely figure out feet and you want me to convert to centimeters?? I'm sorry.

I thought my contact and I were finally on the same page and THEN I get an email today with a photo of the wood being shipped to meet me in the port in Tianjin.

It turns out, when I ordered over 100 2"x4"'s, they were not what I know to be 2"x4". They literally ARE 2"x4". For anyone that has ever built anything ever, a 2x4 is never actually 2x4. It's more like 1 and smidgens x 3 and smidgens. Yeesh. I'm not really sure what we're going to do, but I have 17 hours to mull it over while I fly over the Pacific. They also procured paints and stains for me, since it turns out, it's not legal to send such things from the US. One of the pictures they sent me has the name Blue Peacock on it. Now, I have reservations about this because I didn't order blue anything. Blacks, browns, whites and red mahogany is what I want. I shall have to wait to see what color actually comes out of this can. Who knows.

Basically, I have no idea what to expect over the next month, which is both exciting and extremely terrifying, as I'm a very IN CONTROL type of person.

Only time will tell. Think positive thoughts and I'll see you in a month!