When I came to Beijing back in Y2K, it was squat (in that the buildings were short and wide) and gray (in that the building, the pavement, the sky, and sometimes even the foliage, was gray).

Nearly seven years have passed, and it looks like an entirely different city. Well, an entirely different city with Gugong at the center and concentric ring roads. There are all of these 大厦 in various stages of completion standing where there were once 7 restaurants, a few houses, 3 stores that sell useless plastic crap and other sundries, a Kodak photo lab, and a .. ahem .. massage parlor.

I'm using the word 大厦 because most of them are not true skyscrapers are they certainly aren't mansions, no matter what your dictionary tells you.

Beijing's a lot prettier (newcomers scoff all you want- it's true) than before. There are a whole lot more trees and shrubs now. The cute, frighteningly orange bubble phone booths seem to be all but gone. Hell, we even get sunlight and blue skies on a hit-or-miss basis now.

So, what the hell was I paying attention to while the city was so quickly being rebuilt? Was I self-absorbed to the point of not seeing it happen? Or was it the fact that pre-SARS my world was too small, and I just didn't get out enough to see the city being built?

Lastly, and really more importantly: At the present time, what major events around me am I not seeing that will become glaringly obvious in the future? Furthermore, what has me so self-absorbed right now?