October 2006
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Archive for October 2006

peter peter

October 26, 2006 by j.

First week is almost over, yay! Not much to report, it’s like the first week of any job - getting to know everyone and everything, but not much in the way of production. Eh.

Monday night, John and Harry hosted a killer Monday Night Football slash pumpkin carving contest party. It was the shizzle. While I would like to report that I won with flying colors, my sad little pumpkin did not even rank. This was my entry:

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As you can see, my design was very complex. Ah well - no shame in the loss, because I was up against some stiff competition. Amazing stuff. Here are my favorites:

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first day

October 23, 2006 by j.

Late.

Hair askew.

Wearing the first two pieces of clothing I had lain bleary eyes on in the morning.

From the “needs repair” pile on the floor. Fly won’t stay zipped and blouse missing cuff buttons.

Dangit.

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grandma

October 10, 2006 by j.

While I was driving home today, thinking random thoughts about where life takes us.. a memory came to me.

I was 23 years old, freshly laid off of my first real job and unable to find work because of a crappy economy. My parents were completely supportive, but with fretful suffocating love that I needed so much and hated at the same time. The days passed uneasily, the future so unclear. We didn’t tell my grandmother about my situation because we didn’t want her to worry - I imagined her reaction would be that of my parents x 10, all the worse because she loved me just as much but lacked the ability to help in any tangible way. Plus, she’s just a general worrybug by nature. On a daily basis, people called with expressions of concern - I told them I was fine and enjoying my extended vacation, with a forced gaiety that I’m sure was completely transparent. But they said their lines, and I said mine. This is how the world works.

One summer’s day when I was close to my emotional breaking point, we had a family luncheon at my grandmother’s house. I sat next to her and silently let her heap my plate with yummy fish and chicken and tell me that I was too thin. She asked offhandedly how my fancy job was going. “I don’t have a job,” I blurted in Chinese. “I’ve been laid off.” The table fell silent. I seeked out her eyes with mine and she didn’t flinch from it or ask me any questions - she just laid her beautiful old wrinkly hand over mine and said, “Life is funny. You’ll be fine.”

How did she know exactly what I needed to hear at that moment?

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i heart nigella

October 9, 2006 by j.

Lovely weekend - I tried for some much needed “me” time at various points throughout the weekend, but it wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps during the week I’ll find some. Me-time is so so important!!

Saturday, had another rueda (salsa) class, which was infinitely more fun than the first - ie, less getting yelled at by the teacher for being stupid clods, and more happy dancing. Also enjoyed lovely closing screening of the APA film festival downtown, a movie called “Eve and the Firehorses”. Very cool movie regardless of if you’re into the asian awareness thing or not - it is interesting to see how malleable children are from an adult’s perspective - I remember making stuff up myself as a young child to rationalize things that I didn’t understand. Heck, I still do it!

Speaking of retarded, I had a dream last week that I had a maid who made a LOT of strawberry mousse for me to eat, so much that I couldn’t eat it all. And when I went to the fridge to put some of it away, the fridge was packed with lots and lots of strawberry mouse!!! Except that I had a retarded maid who didn’t put anything under the mousse (like a plate or similar), so it was melting into a giant pink puddle and dripping out of the fridge. I can’t find the significance of this dream whatsoever. Other than, perhaps I need to screen my maids for common sense. Or, I should eat strawberries.

What did I do on sunday…. lunch with a friend, an afternoon watching the Food Network (LOVE it.. Nigella of Nigella Feasts is wonderful luscious eye candy in a non-Maxim-ized way, gingerbread-house-building competitions, and the history of ice cream, mmm…), and then an evening with friends over dinner and The Departed (Martin Scorcese). Which incidentally, is a very good movie with a great cast, but slow at parts, and somewhat long. Expect it to be slow. Otherwise you’ll whisper to your friends every 10 minutes that you’re bored. And probably annoy them by fidgeting and trying to not make farty noises with your shoes. Which I did not do.

Come to think of it, I had a pretty wicked weekend!
Now to find some me-time…

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touch my head

October 6, 2006 by j.

I like when a man touches my head. A man washing and combing my hair is my idea of heaven.. ladies, you know what I’m talkin bout!

The interview went really well and I’m hoping for a favorable offer any day now, but I’m ready to go to the mattresses if it comes down to it. I had about three too many coffees going into the interview and nearly jittered my breakfast right back out. Note to self, relax on the caffeine before tense situations.

Last night, we went to dinner for a friend’s birthday - the man of the hour’s choice of restaurant was Morton’s. It really wasn’t that good - overpriced cuts of meat, lousy salads, bad service, bad ambiance (I wouldn’t recommend the Bethesda location at all). Good wine though, and excellent company of course I don’t know when I became such a picky restaurant-goer! Maybe it’s just steakhouses.. Kevin and I are steak snobs, have eaten prime cuts of meat in just about every major city in the country. I frown upon the whole idea of a chain steakhouse. Man. I feel old.