On the bus

This dude sits down next to me. He's wearing a leather jacket. It's not that cold out, but maybe he was planning for cooler weather. Fine.

And then he gets off the bus. I look up, and realize that he is complementing his leather jacket with a pair of plaid bermuda shorts. Ew.

After I got off the bus, I passed a Word of the Week. I've already forgotten what that word was (I took a picture, I'll upload it eventually...), but I'm glad I've got some quirky stuff in my neighborhood.

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Minor rage

"Low Rider" blasting out the windows of a shiny red SUV/jeep-ish thing.

::sigh::

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Japan, you are Stupid and Mean.

This morning on Facebook, I learned that G kind of has a successor at Shiun, his base school. It's a huge school on the western side of Tak. His successor's base school is IN TONOSHO. Probably RL's position. Holy cow. That poor girl will have to bike to the ferry, ferry from Tonosho and then bike to Shiun 80 times next year. I sincerely hope those days are Fridays, so she can just stick around town for the weekend, or that she makes a good friend in the city where she can crash. That is so lame. They should totally keep G's apartment for her to stay at every now and then.

So how much longer do you think the Program will last in home sweet Kag? Sheesh.

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Today I accidentally spoke in Portuguese.

My supervisor is Portuguese. Her mom calls her at work, and I've taken a few of these calls. After a few experiences with awkward language barriers, today it finally occurred to me that Portuguese is pretty similar to Spanish. So when she called for the second time today, I somehow managed to eke out Uno momento...ahora no está aquí with my brain trying really hard not to sneak in some Japanese. And it worked! Later my supervisor said that her mom is convinced that I spoke in Portuguese to her. Har har. Turns out the Portuguese version is pretty close to the Spanish version, but either way, hooray! I remember something from high school!

Other than that, today was definitely a Monday at work, and everyone felt it. I like it when everyone feels the way I do. Less guilt that way. I mean, sure I could've gone to bed early last night, but staying out until 10pm geocaching is way more fun than, oh...say...cleaning and doing laundry and going to bed on time. Wouldn't you agree?

On the bus home today, I sat next to a girl with an armband tattoo. I think I called it cute. Graciously, she said thank you and went back to her own little world. Whoops. You're not supposed to call tattoos cute, are you? But I couldn't help it. She had Alice in Wonderland drawings wrapped around her arms. Both of them, I noticed when she got off the bus. Possibly engravings from an old book, and they were so cool. She was wearing a blue dress with a funky blue pattern, with scuffed black boots. She was very much a modern Seattle Alice.

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Sourdough Bread (and the typical tangents.)

I bought sourdough bread (should've been something sweeter like french, but oh well) and avacados. Guess what I'll be eating for the next few days? Yum Yum Yum. (Man, that was Tuesday I had avacado on bread? Damn, this week went by fast.)

Eating sourdough bread makes me think of this one friend of mine who only ate sourdough bread. Only. Didn't matter what kind, if it was bagged and sliced, or crusty in a paper bag, but it was always sourdough. I'd always sneak a slice when we hung out, because I knew it'd be gone in a day or two. (Who goes through a loaf of bread in two days??) Funny that I thought of that.

Today was a "buy stuff" day. Not exactly retail therapy--although I came home with some neat stuff--just picking up stuff here and there. Curtains for the closet (not sure if I like them), a fan (a nice fan!), food...all that plus G's box which arrived yesterday, and my apartment is trashed. Don't worry, I took pictures, and I'll post them later.

(Dude, he sent me my hair dryer. Uhm, I guess it'll be nice to have if my brand new one ever breaks. And to be fair, I might've asked him to send it to me ages and ages ago. He also sent me candy, D's spice shaker she bought for my birthday, oh, two years ago?, and a kimono. A kimono! I don't know how to dress myself in a kimono! And I don't have the right obi! Or tabi! Sigh. It's pretty though.)

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Things I ate today.

Today I had avocado on crusty bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. I've never thought of that before (because I'm not exactly a food experimenter, no surprise there), but it was really really good. I'm totally having that for dinner someday soon. This guy in the office brought it in because he had some avocados that needed to be eaten. Hooray!

And another office food story: In the office is a bowl of candy. I had some twizzlers, and I would like to report that I hate them even more now than before I went to Japan. Ugh. Give me raw fish organs any day over twizzlers. I guess I just wanted to know if they tasted the same...but they don't. They taste worse.

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No concept of time.

It's July? Almost mid-July? I had no idea. I mean, I could tell you the date if I had to--I date stuff at work--but it doesn't really sink in. The weather is foreign again, and all the indications of summer just aren't here. No humidity...

(here I walked away, found a couple of those summer bells that disappointingly don't have very nice chimes, and hung them in my bathroom, because there are unused hooks in the bathroom)

no summer icons (goldfish, tea commercials with clinky ice, suika bars...), zaru udon (although I tried today, I didn't try hard enough, and just had lukewarm udon), ice cold green tea (I should really just make my own...), no hellish classes to teach...wait what? Grr.

I keep fighting it, wishing I was meant for grander things, but I really think I need to be a teacher. I crave the school year patterns, the crapload of interaction, hell, the lesson plans too. Or maybe I just crave the familiarity of it, and I miss the intense buzz of students. Uhhuh.

I'm done with this entry. I keep getting up to do other things. Like right now, I'm trying to brew enough genmaicha (brown rice tea) for a thermos with only a small tea strainer.

G might be home in 12 days! That's insane!

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I did it!

When I told my friend that I was going to try and go to Gasworks Park to watch the fireworks, his comment was, "It's a clusterfuck."

One of the Seattle blogs describes it as "Fuck Wallingford Day," because 60,000 people (and I assume that's a guess) swarm Wallingford neighborhood. For the record though, that blogger was more than a bit miffed because some Wallingford residents didn't want summer concerts at Gasworks Park, blah blah, snipe snipe, NIMBY righteousness, etc.

Well, I did it, and it wasn't so bad. I sat on top of Kite Hill, which was nice and steep, so no one blocked my view. Some people weren't so fortunate and sat right behind the paved path, which became crowded with standing people. This obnoxious older woman tried to shame them into sitting down, but all she managed to do was annoy me.

There was an inflatable Statue of Liberty head. I thought it was silly.

Oh! And no good pictures, because I don't know where my camera is! Rarg! I was super prepared: bottle of water, couple extra layers, book, snacks...and I didn't take my camera! I think (hope) it's at work, and that it didn't get pinched from my bag. That would suck a lot. I'll find out tomorrow.

The show opened with a giant military helicopter flying an American flag around the lake. That was awesome. I'm not so into the military or flag flying, but it was unique.

There were some really awesome fireworks: the typical neat ones--the smiley faces, hearts, Saturns--but they also had some that I had never seen. Cubes! Well, round cubes. And these awesome ones that looked like a single strand of icicle lights that got launched into the air and slowly floated down. And these jellyfish rocket things, that slowly floated up. Those two were my favorites.

And the music was interesting too. They opened with "America" ("O beautiful..."), and I assume it was Ray Charles' version, but I don't know for sure. Then it was all non-patriotic music. U2's "Beautiful Day," "Also Sprach Zarathustra," "Tequila," that one Austin Powers instrumental (I don't feel like googling for it), Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon," (excellent excuse to use the Saturn and star fireworks) "Bohemian Rhapsody," for goodness sake! (They used the smiley faces for all the background voices. It was fun.) They closed with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Disney? kind of strange), and "Stars and Stripes Forever." Or at least I'm pretty sure that's what it's called.

Notice a trend with the music? Two patriotic songs. Two! Not sure if that's the style these days, or if it's just this particular show, or if it's Seattle being liberal. I enjoyed being able to sing along.

The crowds were super crazy, but I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and I showed up around 7:45pm to get a seat for the 10pm show. I would probably try to get there at 7 or maybe earlier if I was going in a group. It was pretty easy doing it alone though. I didn't time my walk there, but it only took 42 minutes to walk (almost 2 miles) home. Further than I thought, but sure beats the parking and traffic mess.

I'm glad I went, and I would definitely go again next year. Come visit if you feel like braving the crowds and doing a two-mile walk home. Hehe. I'll probably still be here.

Yay, I'm happy now. And this Saturday I'm going to a wedding in California! Everything is great. Oh wait, except for the camera thing. Grarg-ate. Yes, that's it. Goodnight!

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10:23am

Happy 4th of July. I'm bored and I'm not ready yet to face the crowds to get a little sunshine. Holidays suck more when you're on your own and you have to go to work the next day. When I wasn't working, every day was a holiday, so I didn't really mind that I wasn't doing anything for Memorial Day weekend. Now I'm just bleh. bleh bleh bleh.

I'm not very patriotic, so that's all you're gonna get.

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Dare I?

Look at this insanity:


That's where I want to go watch fireworks tomorrow night, by myself. Shit. I knew it was going to be bad, but seeing a picture makes it worse. And I'm doing it alone--no one to watch my space, no one to keep me company. (Hey, my only other choice was to go to G's uncle's cabin in the woods? countryside? err, remoteness with G's parents, but not his brother. No thanks.) While I'm tempted to tough it out, it means no bathroom breaks from the time I find a place to sit (or trusting strangers...hmm) until around 11pm, when I walk home. I dunno man.

And I'm not sitting at home on the 4th. I had a really shitty 4th when I was 18, and since then, I've disliked the holiday because of the associations. Well, there was one quaint year in Wyoming, but overall, lame. I have memories of sitting in my college apartment, attempting to write a paper while the neighbors partied it up. So I'm not going to sit at home, even if it means jogging block to block trying to find a good view.

Wish me luck.

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To cleanse the palate.

Oh ho, I am so clever. But then again, you'll see this before you see my bus rant. Oh well.

Heard the buzz for Ratatouille yet? Perfect timing with all the Food Network addicts around.

Here's a 9-minute clip, in case you missed it.

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Bus Rant.

Here's my warning: This is a bloated post full of tiny things that don't matter. Perhaps you should go read a book instead. Now on we go.

Today I was cranky when I got on the bus, because my feet are tired of shitty shoes and I can't seem to find a pair to replace them with. And I spent most of my time today walking door to door in the building, trying to give out emergency handbooks and no one was there. And most of those floors were stuffy, warm and smelled (like paint or just musty old building).

So I get on the bus, and I have to sit next to this girl who coughed with her mouth open and constantly wiped her nose with her fingers. No sniffing, just constant wiping. Wipe wipe wipe, right next to me. And, because she was homely, that irritated me even more. She had a mopey face that suggested professional doormat. Some skewed logic tells me that it's okay to belittle pretty people with bad habits, but not mousey people. (Later, I found she had a loud valley girl voice because she had a buoyant conversation with her friend about whether or not they would go for a walk when she got home.) She was reading a book called "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle." Great. An unhygienic, homely hippie. I moved as soon as a full seat opened up.

I tried to distract myself by watching other people. Cute young Asian family gets on. Young-ish parents, adorable little boy. Most likely Japanese, considering dad and son both wore Ichiro jerseys. Awww.

A woman talks on her cell with someone (hopefully one of her offspring, and not a friend or husband, judging from the tone) about not overexerting themselves while running and the beef jerky multipack she bought from Trader Joe's. Do they want one? Because she can get them still. Etc. etc. Doting is cute, but not when I can't block you out. I don't know why I didn't plug in my ipod. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

There's a chubby dude with a face that's painfully ducklike. Thinking back to all the kids I didn't like in elementary, junior, or high school, I can't think of one that was as odd-looking as Duck Dude. I begin to wonder if this bus passes a special school like my 'cho bus did. Seriously. Duck dude, homely hippie...there's a scruffy looking white woman wearing a JANM t-shirt (Japanese American National Museum), which is odd, considering JANM is in LA, but she could just be one of the usual bus crazies.

Anyway, duck dude pulls the bus signal (does it have a real name?), and the bus driver roars past his stop, because this is the express bus (shaves my commute from 40 to 30 minutes). Still cranky, I decide that if I was a bus driver, I would do what this bus driver does: speed up as he passes the stop someone requests. True, the bus driver has an accent, doesn't enunciate, and doesn't use his microphone, but...oh there's no but. He deserves to be slightly passive-aggressive if he drives a bus all day. Not slowing down for people running for the bus is lame, but following your route with a touch of attitude is okay in my book.

Poor duck dude goes to chat with the bus driver. He has to get off at a stop that is mostly residential, and the other people that got off the bus are already scattering home. The bus stop he wants isn't very obvious. He gets off the bus with a terribly out-of-scale tourist map. Not even a bus route map. As the bus pulls away, he's asking the Japanese family something, and the dad shrugs. I'm almost tempted to get off the bus to help him out, but my feet hurt, and I don't want to risk him being a total mouth breather. I think about how he might enjoy seeing the troll (which is actually almost right under him), and how he looked completely lost, and I tried to comfort myself with the knowledge that when he gets home, he'll be proud that he made it. I also tried to block out the thought that suggested duck dude was the type to go home so traumatized, that he won't ride the bus again for months.

Poor duck dude. I hope someone took care of him.

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Curtains, but not the important ones.

The white walls are driving me crazy. Today I think I decided what I want to do with my little un-hallway. My dad hung the lanterns for me, and even rigged all the light cords. All I have to do is find light bulbs that will fit. Did you know that those little candle shaped bulbs aren't supposed to be hung upside down? Dammmmit. I need to visit Home Depot and just look at every damn bulb they sell.

Look! The vacuum cleaner that I haven't tried out yet!

Turquoise first, red in the closet.
But redder than that scarf I hung to test.

I think I want to put a red curtain on the left side to cover the closet, and put a deep but bright teal-turquoise curtain on the right side(to curtain off the kitchen when I cook). Hopefully, I can find a blue curtain that somewhat matches my big lantern. The red curtain will be closed most of the time, and the turquoise one will be open most of the time. I like the idea of a red curtain on the kitchen side, or any bright color, but I'm also getting very attached to the tranquil blues and sea greens in the kitchen. I'm not a bright riot-of-colors person, but like I said, the whiteness is getting to me. And it's such a small space, I feel like I can get away with it.

I'm still attached to greens in the bedroom, but I need to find curtains and a bedspread or comforter to seal the deal. Well, I think the curtains will be the clincher. I think the bedding will just be chosen spontaneous, and I keep leaning towards blue sheets anyway.

No decision on the living room yet. But it might end up being browns and neutrals, and I kind of want to use light, warm colors because it's such a dark room. My furniture is in the following colors: three different kinds of wood, bright white, and brown-black. And that comfy pink recliner. So much for a well-designed living room.

Here, have some pictures!

Man I'm behind on the picture updates. I guess that's what happens when I actually have a job. Ha.

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Someday she's gonna do something spectacular.

I wish you could meet my sister. Sure we're similar--we're sisters--but she's got this snide, cruel wit that I lost after living in Japan (although sometimes I wonder if I ever had the same burning rage she has sometimes). And she blogs. Migrated to myspace awhile back if you didn't notice. I don't link to her because she likes to use my comment section for catharsis, but I do encourage you to check out her writing. For example, here's a gem from today's entry:

For some reason, I feel like I'm not living up to my potential. Don't get me wrong. I love my boss and would jump in front of a train to save her, and I love my job, because I have lots of perks/freedom… but I'm not happy-go-lucky about working. On the slow days, I find myself wasting away at an office job, counting down the hours until 5:00pm. Waiting for work to be over, only to go home and recuperate for the next work day. It's the endless cycle of work. Apparently, there are supposed to be enough "good things" in life to balance this all out. With the exception of my "once-a-week," I have yet to find them.

Then I start panicking. If I don't like where I am, why not find somewhere else? No, I like where I am, I'm just afraid of what other people think of where I am. It's all really shitty. Am I wasting my life away? Fuck. I'm chaotically running around in terror. The end is near! What am I doing with my life? Is this all there is to life? Simply wash, rinse, and repeat? Why am I not out saving the world?

Ding!

It's 5:00pm.

Seriously, someday she's going to figure it all out and write something that will dazzle the world. It's only a matter of time.

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Decorating is frustrating.

I spend a lot of time looking at design blogs, trying to figure out how to decorate my apartment. And I see these great color schemes, with the base colors with the pretty accessories in some unimaginably perfect accent color. So do people go out and buy all those little vases and trinkets all at once? Or do they accumulate them one by one? Doing it the first way seems like a big waste of money to me. On top of that, I like my trinkets to have meaning...or at least be really awesome. As for the other way, building the perfect collection of Blue Things piece by piece seems too slow to me. Especially since I take forever to make decisions.

I'm just getting so tired of these white walls.

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Thoughts for Saturday.

Today I didn't change out of my pajamas until 8pm. It was a pretty great day. I washed more dishes (still working through the boxes), played on the internet, cleaned a little. It was gray and a little chilly, so I didn't feel like being out and about. Then suddenly, the sun broke through the clouds and everything was golden and I felt guilty for being inside all day. That was at 7:45pm.

I sat in my sunny spot and soaked in the sun until the guilt forced me outside. It's supposed to be raining tomorrow. No clue what kind of rain (tolerable drizzle or irksome steady patters), but 70% means rain. So I got dressed and went for a walk. Just wandered down streets. I stopped in a few parks (it's really lame using the swings by yourself when there's other people around), and rewarded myself with a drive-in burger on the way home.

I tried my very best to *stroll*, but I kept speeding up. Too damn efficient. Or impatient. Or insecure, even. Strolling by myself makes me feel alone.

I also realized how bored I am these days. I play less solitaire, sure, but I find myself getting caught up in small things. Explaining everything (to myself or whoever I con into calling me ::cough:: G), thinking about everything. Today I remembered what Shodoshima N's watch looks like. Cracked face with a moon dial. My brain remembered that! I don't remember a single calculus equation, but I can remember my friend's watch. Sheesh.

Man, speaking of G, he doesn't have a ticket home yet! He almost did, but there was a miscommunication with his supervisor. Surprise surprise. L, I'm sure you've already heard the stupid story so I'll stop there, but man. For awhile I concerned that I didn't have enough time to make my apartment presentable, and now I'm--well...relieved that I might have a few more days, but I still want to know when he's coming home!

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The building I work in

I'm very lucky that I snagged a temp job in a friendly office in a unique building, with a supervisor that keeps extending my contract. My supervisor has been with the building for seven years, and two of the engineers have been there even longer. And the chief engineer has only been there a few years, but he's the type of guy who would remember everything anyway.

So here are the cool things I've learned:

They still have the original mail box. There's a chute that stretches all the way up to the 18th floor. I'm totally going to mail a few postcards from there, just to drop them down the chute. So, if you get a postcard with severely dinged corners, that's because it was dropped 10 stories down to the first floor.

There's an abstract painting in the lobby, with math equations and some abstract shapes that look like butterflies according to the engineer's kids. Uh huh. It's got good colors--not something I'd hang in my apartment--but the funny story is that originally, someone proposed that it should be a painting of a giant clam in that space. Like a still life. Of a giant clam.

When the building first went up, they didn't have enough money and only built half of it. Seriously. 18 floors on one half, two floors on the other. I can't remember when...the 20s? The 30s? I haven't read the history boards close enough. Anyway, in the 50s, they decided to finish it, in that sleek modern lameness on the left. Such a bummer. I think it's cute that the people I work with all take it a little personally that the building turned out half lame.

I got to see a floor that was being demolished. That was cool. All open space with pipes and poles and shattered brick. They do this every time a new tenant moves in and wants to rearrange the layout of their space.

Oh right, I'm temping. It's good enough, but it makes me miss teaching. This is a good thing: for once I actually have an opinion about how I want to make my money. I'll be here for 3 or 4 weeks. If I'm here for a full month, that'll cover rent and basic expenses through August. So, hooray for temping!

The only downside is that now the weeks go by really fast. Especially this week. I get up, leave at 7:30, return around 5:45pm, unwind until 10, and then go to bed at 11. I don't know why I was never this disciplined in Japan. Well, I have a few guesses (didn't really interact in the staff room and thus didn't look forward to going to work, had more responsibilities, which meant more last minute prep at home, oh right, and all the partying, trips to and from Tak, actual social life...right. That's why.)

Meh. Sure beats sitting at home stagnating.

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Other thoughts for the day:

I need to learn that I need to be productive no matter what the weather is like. Gray tends to be an excuse to bundle up at home while bright blue weather is so rare that I just have to get outside.

America is pretty great: today I went to lunch with the chief engineer and two other engineers from the office I'm working in. That'd be like having lunch with kyoto-sensei, the grounds keeper, and some random other guy teacher. Even if I spoke flawless Japanese, I never could've pulled that off in the 'cho.

Stupid cream-colored carpet shows every single hair I've shed. At least I could sweep it aside when I had tatami.

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I will not exercise...

...until I get a permanent job. Why? Yesterday I went for a five-ish mile walk and today I was hungry all day. I barely changed out of my work clothes before I ate my lunch leftovers (pastrami on rye!) and the lunch I was supposed to eat (pb&j). I know I'm not that poor, but I feel like I eat twice as much when I exercise and I'd rather not.

Now it's time for a slice of lasagna--one of my father's final gifts before he went home last week.

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Tentacles!

That would be 8pm sunlight, for the record.

I bought myself three air plants (tillandsias) yesterday. Air plants don't need soil, just a good soak every now and then. Lowwww maintenance. Just like the yellow kalanchoe that my dad bought me. (Aww.)

But yeah. Tillandsias! They come in all sorts of shapes, but I like the squiggly ones the best. They kind of look like misfit green onions. I enjoy watching them. I feel like they're breathing (like actually inhaling and exhaling) when I'm not looking. Sometimes I'm tempted to glue googly eyes on to make them look more squidlike.

Oh tentacles. That's another interest I wanted to add to my facebook list, but putting tentacles down as an interest is just begging for trouble. But I just do! Octopi, squid (not only do I own a squid shirt, but I also just bought a jellyfish one...), Dale Chihuly stuff, these plants are just an extension of that.

So D, does the plant freak you out? I'm curious.

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