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Have you ever lost “it” whatever “it” is for you? Lately for me, “it” has been my ability to cook something tasty. Recipes that used to make a very satisfying meal are yielding leftovers that are destined to crust over and harden in the fridge. The squash casserole I made last weekend came out tasting like a weird baked squash omelet. I put cheese on it! How could it be bad?

I also made homemade pasta last week. The pasta turned out okay, but it isn’t anything I would serve to guests. Could it be that my original attempts at cooking were overrated simply because I was starving when I ate them or because I was just so proud of cooking something different?

The bottom line is that I need new, quick recipes for a decent dinner. Decent means that the food is not prepackaged and it must contain some sort of vegetables besides potatoes. And no, Ragu is not a vegetable.

Holy mother of God I finally got a decent score on one of my GMAT practice tests. It was my 6th test. I guess I’m finally getting the hang of it. My scores of my first five tests were roughly the same and I was getting incredibly discouraged, esp since I’ve been taking a GMAT prep course for over a month.

After putting it off for several days, I finally sat down and took a full practice test last night. I was totally going to hit the bottle if my score didn’t go up at all, but lo and behold my score improved.

I still have a ways to go but I am much more motivated to put in that extra hour of studying. I only have a week and a half until my test so I think I just need to keep practicing fundamentals and memorize as many little rules as possible.

Danny and I began our drive to California one year ago today. I can’t believe we’ve been gone for a year, but in a way, it definitely seems that long. A lot has happened in the last year. Danny is about to complete his first year of post-college employment and I’ve decided to return to school, probably out here.

We’ve both been really lucky. We live in a fantastic part of the country and even our neighborhood is well above average. We have jobs that pay us enough to live out here and still have a little money left over. We have two terrible/adorable kittens that remind us daily that we are not the most important beings in the house; they are. Members from both of our families have come to visit and more are planning to visit us soon.

The one downside is I’ve been missing my friends a lot lately. I miss my family; that’s a given, but I talk to them more often than I talk to most of my friends. I’m happy to be out here but I haven’t come close to developing friendships with anyone out here that compares to the buddies I have back in Texas. I know that it will take time, but I do miss the support network and “drinking buddy” network I could rely on any day of the week back in Austin.

I’m talented. I mean, talented in a special way - like in a “riding the short bus” kinda way. Between the time I got on the train this morning with my bike and the time I got off the train, I managed to dislodge my bike chain. I noticed this when I got on my bike to start riding to work and I wasn’t going anywhere. My legs were pedaling, but I was staying still. I hopped off, got out of the way of the “serious” bike riders, and tried to figure out what to do.

Immediately, I saw my poor chain hanging down limply, almost to the ground. I didn’t have any tools to try to pop it back on, so I grabbed it and tried pushing it back onto the gear wheel. This resulted in super greasy fingers. I knew I couldn’t fix it by myself. Oh well, I would at least get some exercise while I lamely walked my bike to work.

I passed a bike shop (one of the best ones in the city, or so I’ve heard), but they didn’t open until 10. Rats.

I got to work, washed up, and complained to my coworkers about my bad luck. It turns out that the guy who sits across from me knows a LOT about fixing bikes. After a couple of minutes, he had my chain back on and we were working together to make sure that all of the gears shifted properly. Man, was I happy. I was not looking forward to lamely walking my bike back to the train station after work. Walking your bike is like walking a big ugly dog. You look awkward, the dog looks awkward, and people feel sorry for you. At least you don’t have to pick up after the bike.

Lately, I’ve gotten into a bit of gossip at work. I don’t think people are gossiping about me, but I tend to lean in when I hear whispered voices nearby.

I don’t like this. Gossip has always been one of my weaknesses. It was this way at my old company too. It became really hard to find someone who would say nice things about anything work-related.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s good to keep your ears open and know what’s happening around you, but I certainly don’t want to get in the business of tearing people down. This is so easy to do. Even if you’re not bashing someone, the fact that you’re nodding along as the accusations fly doesn’t make you much better. I don’t agree with all of the gossip that I hear, but does listening to it imply consent? I think in many cases it does.

I’m not trying to put myself through some sort of guilt trip. I just know that situations seem much more dire than they need to be when nothing but negative statements have been passed around.

Yay! San Antonio won!

There will be much partying in central Texas tonight. Have a margarita for me.

Our cats are bad. I don’t think they’re that much worse than other kitten pairs, but lately they seem to be on a mission from hell.

We don’t let our cats into the bedroom at night because that is their playtime. When we get home from work, they can barely lift their sleepy heads to blink at us, but for some reason, they start going nuts around midnight. When I mean nuts, I mean chasing each other throughout the apartment and jumping on and off any surface that blocks their paths, including each other.

I took Tuesday off work. In my half-awake state I told Danny to leave the bedroom door open when he went to work. I was under the delusion that the cats would come cuddle up next to me. Oh how wrong I was. Around nine, they knocked over the trashcan. For the next hour, they jumped on and off the bed, sniffed my face, peeked out the window and messed with the blinds. After a while, I realized that they had won and grudgingly got out of bed.

On my way to work the next morning, I ran back into the bedroom to kiss Danny goodbye and apparently did not shut the door all the way. Danny was awakened by one of the cats knocking his full water cup onto his face. The cat immediately sensed the danger and retreated under the bed. Two scratches, an elbow rug burn, and much cursing later, Danny extracted the cats from the room. Now, wasn’t that a nice way to wake up?

We’ve also discovered that we can’t leave them unsupervised in a room with a window open. They’ve managed to push out the screen at least once. In Texas, this wasn’t a big deal since we turned our home into a hermetically sealed air-conditioned cocoon starting in April. Round here though, we don’t have none of that fancy air-conditioning since the outside temp averages 70 degrees. That’s great right? It’s great if you don’t have demonic felines attempting to spew forth from your abode.

Can’t you tell I love my babies?

This is why I should never go to the store when I’m STARVING:

4 avocados
fruit gummies
3 kinds of chips
salad dressing
3 lbs of grapes
small can of olives
box of mint meringue cookies

Does this stuff look good? To me, yes… Does it go together? Hell no! I mean, did I think I was going to have olives, avocado and gummies for dinner? And what’s with the salad dressing? Did I buy salad ingredients? No. *sigh*

In late October, Danny and I are going to Japan for vacation. Why Japan? Well, at my last job I was lucky enough to be sent there twice for business and I’ve always wanted to go back on my own and tour around a bit. Danny has never been there but he did study Japanese while at UT. I absolutely loved going there so now I think we’ll have enough money and enough time off saved up to do it.

I was there for ten days in November of 2002. Six of those days were for work and the remaining four were spent touring around Tokyo and Kyoto on my own. If you had asked me six months prior if I would be wandering around alone in a country where I don’t speak the language, I would have said NO! Fortunately, I talked to my good friend Matt who has traveled the world by himself and he assured me that I would be fine for a couple of days in Japan. So I did the research, talked to my friends, and planned a short sightseeing trip in Kyoto and Tokyo. I didn’t get to see everything, but I did a ton in a short amount of time. Even though I know a little Japanese, I really didn’t speak to that many people. I was able to get by with reading the English signs in the train and subway stations and by gesturing and smiling to get my point across. The people were extremely helpful. When I asked someone in the train station for directions to my platform, he walked me over to the exact spot where I needed to wait for my train. I could not have been more thankful.

Despite getting lost a few times, my solo mini-trip was one of the best vacations I’ve ever had. The only thing I regret is that no one was there with me to experience all of the weirdness and delight. With our trip in October, Danny and I will get to revisit some of my favorite places and also see a ton of new stuff. We’ll only be there for about a week (just long enough to get over the jetlag) but I think we’ll have a blast regardless. Plus, since it will be fall the Japanese maples will be gorgeous. If we have time, I really want to visit some onsen (hot springs).

Hopefully between now and then Danny and I will have time to brush up on our Japanese. I think the first practical Japanese word I learned is sumimasen or “I’m sorry/excuse me.” This comes in very handy. That and the phrase “toire wa doko desu ka?” (where is the toilet?)

If anyone has learned any other useful phrases while traveling, please share.

Okay, so I’m reading recent posts on the travel forum on
Lonely Planet when I come across the post below. I don’t know
WHAT to think of it, but you would have to be really really nice to
transport a 20lb bag of ferret chow for some pet owner in Japan.

Hello!
I’m living in Japan now and I’m desperate in looking for people who could help me!
Recently, I brought four ferrets back to Japan from the states and I have a problem. Everything is sooo expensive in Japan for ferrets!!
Anybody who comes to Japan from USA, please, please help me by bringing a bag of ferret food (20lb)!!! I will make an order online and have it sent to your address in the states. When you arrive to the airport in Japan, I’m very sorry but please take it to the post office in the airport. You can send the parcel C.O.D. (cash on delivery) to my address. In return, I will help you in giving information about Japan. (I can search around Japanese websites.)
I really appreciate if you could bring a ferret food to Japan!!! I’d be waiting for your e-mails!!
Thank you very much!!