OakMonster's Den

Today, the Universe decided that it hates people in my life.

1. Brandon tore his calf muscle

As he changed the oil on his car on Friday, Brandon discovered some coolant leakage. Upon further inspection by the auto shop, there are more than just that. We think the Anniversary accident knocked things loose. So, this morning, instead of waking up to drive me to my stop, the Mister decided to sleep in a little. I left my car 5 blocks down at my bus stop.

As he was walking over to the car, Brandon stepped off the curb and, according to his ER doctor, probably landed wrong on his heel. He heard something popped and he was in excruciating pain and couldn’t put his foot down. Being a Marine, dude sucked it up, hobbled across the 6 lanes to the other side, then his body went into a bit of shock and he sat down and passed out for a second. He then proceeded to hobble some more to the car, got in, calmly called me, and drove himself to the ER about 8 blocks down.

I received the call around 8:30.  By the way, I’m in Downtown LA, 25 miles away, with no easy way to get home at that time.  You see, my special commuter bus runs 3 times into town and twice out in the evening.  If you need to get back any other time, you’ll have to take the Disneyland bus to Norwalk Station and either catch 2 more buses to get to my house or someone else have to come get you from the station.

Thank GOD for my former bus buddy Patty who retired about a month ago.  I called her asked for a ride and she was available.  Now, skip to read #2 and come back to read the rest of this.

Patty dropped me off at the ER and I waited for a good hour before Brandon hobbled out on crutches.  Torn calf muscle, he said, and possible torn tendon but they don’t know that yet.  And now we were off to his physician to get a referral to see a specialist and get an MRI or something else.  His doctor gave him a shot of stuff and sent us home with vicodin.

2. Patty’s car died on the way to rescue me

After she hung up with me, my friend Patty went to finish her errands.  Her car sputtered and died on the way home.  Thank GOD her sister was home, so she drove over to sit with Patty’s car until AAA arrives so Patty could use her car to come get me.

3. A coworker had to go to the hospital

Meanwhile, as I ran from work to come home to take care of Brandon, a coworker apparently got ill enough to need to be rushed to the hospital.

4. Burbank DMV’s computer system went down

My boss took the morning off to go to her DMV appointment.  System was down so no appointment could be kept.  She pretty much wasted her morning.

5. The bus before my usual home bound bus broke down

Ana took the bus into town with me this morning.  She usually takes a different bus or she would drive.  However, she was getting on the earliest bus home.  She waited, and waited, and started to get panicky about the bus home.  As she found out later, when my usual bus showed up, the one she was waiting for has broken down.  So she was on a super crowded bus back, behind her usual schedule.

I’m telling you. Cosmic Fuckery.

Holy CRAP! It’s all ready been a week?!

My god. Am I a bad blogger!

But I promise to have something much more entertaining than my weekly food journal in a day or two.

For now, on to Meatless Tuesday.

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Breakfast:

• Open faced “grilled cheese” sandwich: one slice of 7-grain bread, buttered, topped with slices of one whole vine-ripen tomato, sprinkled with Nature’s Seasons seasoning blend, and a few slices of snack-sized cheddar cheese, toasted in the toaster oven until the cheese is melted.
• A mug of full-leaf oolong tea.
• Mid-morning snack: 2 whole grain crackers (they’re like 2.5 inch across!) from Fresh & Easy with generous schmear of whipped cream cheese, my mid-morning snack of choice these days.

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Lunch:

• A bowl of vegetable chili based on the recipe in Food & Wine magazine (which I will blog about later).  In that: heirloom carrots, daikon, red bell peppers, kidney beans, hominy, onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and generous shakes of Chipotle Tobasco.  And a piece of 7-grain toast.
• Late dessert/afternoon snack: a Godiva dark chocolate truffle.

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Dinner:

• Because it was a buy one get another one for $2, I got 2 rustica pizzas from Z Pizza: Moroccan (egg plants, pine nuts, feta, basil pesto, caramelized onion) and Mediterranean (artichoke hearts, feta, roasted red peppers, greek olives, pili pili oil).  I ate a few squares out of each.
• A glass of organic peach oolong iced tea.

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Satisfaction level: Meat? What meat?  Nope.  Didn’t miss it one bit.  And I was full all day.

Thoughts: It’s getting easier and easier each week, I have to tell you.  I even didn’t miss the meat too much today.  But I did have an egg for breakfast.  I did crave some proteins for dinner but I didn’t go for my usual burger or ribs, but salmon.  A little weird, I know.  I’m sure I’m going to want me a juicy burger in a few days.

I’m also more conscious now of what I’d eat on a Meatless Tuesday and Brandon has been helpful in keeping me in check on that too.  He’d try to help me think of places I could get something meatless to eat at.

Now, I’ve been thinking about it today that since I’m doing this a Buddhist reason, perhaps I should also not do alcohol on Tuesdays as well to make the whole religious day out of it.  After all, abstaining from alcohol is one of the Five Precepts a good Buddhist should follow.

By not eating meat/eggs on Tuesday, and having not kill anybody, abstaining from taking life is checked off the list.  Abstaining from alcohol? One day a week, I can do that.  Abstaining from sexual misconduct is everyday…although I wonder if lusting after  Taylor Lautner and/or Sam Worthington or dreaming about Jason Mraz counts.  Abstaining from taking what is not given, no klepto here so check.  And finally, abstaining from false speech aka lying. Well, that might be a little hard to swing in a corporate world, but we’ll do our best, won’t we?

Alright. It’s decided. Tuesdays will be meatless AND dry.

Oh boy.

Well crap. I’ve been so busy that this blog is slowly becoming all about my Meatless Tuesday.  Sorry guys!

Just to catch you up, last Wednesday was our 8th wedding anniversary.  On our way to our tradition dinner at Benihana through the infamous SoCal rainstorm, we were rear-ended.

As we crested over the 405 close to Fairview exit, we got out of the carpool lane to get to the 73.  Suddenly in front of us, a black sedan was sideway on the #1 lane.  Its visibly damaged trunk was partly in the carpool lane and the hood in #2 lane.  Unable to swerve around, Brandon slammed the brakes.  We stopped many cars length from the black sedan.  Far enough distance to be safe but yet close enough to see the people in the car trying to get out of their vehicle.

See?  Driving at speed limit, leaving plenty of room in front of you in a torrential rain actually works. Unfortunately, the guy behind us didn’t follow the same rule.

All we could see out the rear view mirror was a smaller car than our Santa Fe disappearing behind us.  And *CRUNCH*.  We bounced around in our seats.  Not too badly, but enough to know we would be in pain the next day.

Some folks had questioned me why we moved from the crash site.  Well, among the many unwise reasons to get out of our vehicle or stay stalled in this lane–oh, I don’t know.  It’s dark.  It’s rainy. We are in the fast lanes with fast cars whizzed recklessly by each side of us? Um. No. We were not sitting out here to cause MORE accidents.

So we started to pull over to the shoulder.  The car that hit us started to follow.  Oh, goodie.  However, by the time we got to the shoulder, there was nobody behind us.

That motherfucker was GONE.

We called 911 and waited for the CHP to show up.  We couldn’t see what became of that black sedan either.

The tow truck showed up first and he told us that he was here for the black sedan that was reported by several people to be blocking the #1 lane.  But there was nobody out there except us, he said.

Soon after that, CHP pulled up and got us off the freeway to file report and talk about the incident.

In short, somebody hit the black sedan and left the scene.  The black sedan, having caused our accident, left the scene.  The guy who crashed into us also left the scene.  If it wasn’t for decent people calling that black sedan in to 911, it would’ve sounded like we made the whole thing up.   I am forever grateful to those good Samaritans who called that in, by the way.

Back to us, with fading adrenaline rush, Brandon and I continued onto Benihana to make the best out of the rest of the evening.  We popped some ibuprofen and went in to enjoy our dinner.  Our necks were tensed but we didn’t quite feel the impact yet.  I tried to dull it with a sample flight of sake…which didn’t really work.

The kicker of it all is that we had just finished fixing up the Santa Fe from Brandon’s day-before-Thanksgiving rear-ending.  (That one was paid for fully by the lady who hit him.)

AND we now found out our insurance apparently only cover physical injury from a hit-and-run/uninsured motorists but NOT the damage to the car.

Then again, this is now a week after the incident, my lower back still is  VERY tensed.  Brandon has been doing well so far but, true to what our doctor told us, sometime the muscles don’t react to the impact until many days later, now the Mister also has the problem.

Now, to top off the cake that was yesterday in the Kingdom of Crazy (aka the office), my back was so tensed I had to go get a massage.  The journey home on the bus took FOREVER as the jackasses, trying to creep up to the congested freeway entrances, blocked intersections all over Downtown LA.  Seriously, if you set LAPD out to ticket all of those bastards blocking traffic, endangering pedestrians as well as impeding traffic, City of LA would totally pull out of the financial shithole they’re in.  But I digress.

The massage part of Meatless Tuesday was nice, but not so much the rest of the day.

It all started at breakfast…

Breakfast

• Half of the Honey Nut Cheerios I originally intended to eat.  I tripped and spilled most of the bowl full of cereal and milk onto my cubicle floor.  *sigh*
• Snack: a slice of lemon poppy seed cake someone brought in.

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Lunch

• Veggie burger at Rowdy Red with only half of the buns.  A bit of the sweet potato fries with ranch dressing. It was really tasty and I personally liked it.  However my guts didn’t want any of that.

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Dinner

• 2 slices of Pizza Hut Veggie Lover pizza.
• A general scoop of Ben & Jerry’s Neopolitan Dynamite.

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Satisfaction Level: I WANT A FUCKING MEATY CHEESEBURGER NOW level.  I was hungry all day.  And cranky because of that.  Well, the botched attempt at breakfast got me nice and hungry through lunch.  I have to give the veggie burger credit for being thoroughly satisfying.  But then it acted up, leaving me miserable and quite literally drained for the rest of the afternoon.  I was so busy I didn’t get to snack before the evening massage either.

Thoughts: Yesterday just sucked in general. *sigh*

Breakfast

• A small bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and milk.
• Mid morning snack – a few bites out of the 2-lb. tub of Fresh & Easy low fat strawberry yogurt.

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Lunch

• Homemade mac and cheese, half of Barefoot Contessa’s recipe.  Essentially shells, gruyere, and cheddar with a pinch of nutmeg. I also infused the milk with thyme and garlic.

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Dinner

• Brandon made us Top Ramen…
• Dessert: Ben & Jerry’s Neapolitan Dynamite. Lots of it.

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Satisfaction Level: Satisfied.  Didn’t miss meat once!

Guilt Level: Very high for the lack of veggies when they could totally be had.  Oh, and the ice cream gorge.

Thoughts

I took a mental day off on Tuesday (keyword there is MENTAL) and had an ortho appointment in the morning.  I pretty much stayed in all day except for when I ran the books out to mail for Operations Paperback. I mean, I could have gone to the store and get some fresh ingredients to make ratatouille as inspired by the previous night’s Heroes episode.  But I didn’t.

And of course, the blues got me diving into the arms of Ben & Jerry.  I usually enjoyed a couple of bites for dessert anyway.  However, I went to town with that.  Then again, I did avoid the wine which was my original idea for dessert.  One shouldn’t consume a depressant when depressed, a lesson I learned the hard way after my mom died.

That brought us to the blues.

A friend has been waiting for her grandmother to pass away for a few weeks.  This weekend was it.  Having had talked about the experience with the friend all week, it was like reliving the days with my mom again.

Obviously, once I got to work and found out the friend’s grandmother had passed away, feelings beyond my control were set in motion.  I was sad for my friend’s loss.  I was sad for my own loss.  Which brought me to miss my family, my friends, and overall being home.  I was sad for things I don’t have in my life, an interesting form of envy.  You get the picture.

I hid behind my pile of work all day as an excuse to not be social.  Thank god for that because I would’ve started crying.

The next morning, I cried in the shower. For not much of a reason but all of the above.  I knew I couldn’t go to work like that.

Grief is a VERY odd thing.  I mean, soon after my mom’s death?  I get it.  The random sadness and the crying.  2 years after and I’m still affected by some stranger’s death?  That I don’t understand.

Then again, I *am* doing this veggie Tuesday thing in honor of my mom.  So, I guess in someway it’s all related.

We’ve seen how I did last year.  Let’s see how many I can accomplish this year.

1.  Lacto-vegetarian Tuesdays

Vegetarian or vegan diet is nothing new to this Buddhist. However, the most I’ve ever done was 2 days a week of loosely vegan diet during Catholic lent of back in high school.  That was tough too since there was no soy milk or tofu available in nearby grocery stores like there are today.  In college, I started back on vegetarian on Tuesdays, the day of my birth.  You know, one day a week of not taking any lives.  My mom encouraged me to do that as herself had altogether given up eating beef (aka killing of large animals) many years before.  But then, I found myself eating mostly fries, mac and cheese, cheese pizza, and cheese sandwiches–grilled or otherwise, on those days.  Eventually, I gave up.

I still don’t have the will power to give up beef like my mom did, and now my oldest brother does (I think…?).  But lacto vegetarian (vegetarian with dairy product but no eggs) on Tuesdays (and even vegan if I’m mindful enough) can totally come back now that I have more resources to get healthy vegetarian foods and motivation/discipline to do it.  Mommy, this one’s for you.

2.   One hour of piano/guitar/singing, twice a month

Once a week of music shouldn’t be too hard.  I mean, I tried last year.  But realistically, with all of my obligations and TV habit, twice a month is a good point to start. Heh.

3.   Keep up with Italian

I started it. I’d better keep it up!

4.  Work out at least once a week

I have come to realize that my fitness goal wasn’t aligned with my life’s goal.  I was pushing working out on myself to “get in shape”. What’s the point of getting in shape if my eating habit still involves Del Taco?  However, working out so that my metabolism is high so that I am able to consume more calories, now THAT aligns with my culinary exploration.  I came to this little epiphany as I discussed my fitness habit with a colleague, walking up the hill from a big lunch at Bottega Louie.

Exercise so I can eat more.  Now that’s a goal I can get behind.

5.  Read at least one book a month

Last year I got to 10 out of 12.  This year, 12 and up is to aim for!

6.  Finish reading the magazines as they arrive

The only magazine I finish in a timely manner is Entertainment Weekly, being a pop culture fiend that I am.  SELF gets relocated to the bathroom the day it arrives and it does get well read.  Food & Wine and WIRED tend to get backlogged.  I mean, I still have at least 5 of 2008-2009 F&W in the cabinet I have to sift through! This is why I recently canceled my subscriptions to Rachael Ray and Real Simple.

7.  Do my household paperwork on early day from the office

I have put it on the calendar every month that I come home early from those board meeting days.  Last year, after 3 months, I haven’t followed through with that at all.  Oh god, that reminds me…ARRRRGH PAPER WORK AVALANCHE!!!!

8. Eat breakfast everyday

Another realization about how my body works came very clearly to me during my week in Bangkok over Thanksgiving.  I had proper breakfast everyday.  As in Thai style breakfast of, well, rice and whatever was left from dinner the night before.  I felt great all day and even with all the food I stuffed myself with during the trip, I actually might have lost a couple of pounds.  I guess my spoiled little self has been programmed to have proper breakfast since, well, birth.  I mean, when you grew up with a nanny and then a maid, neither one would let you out the door without at least an egg or a scoop of rice in you.

Here in the US, I don’t always eat breakfast.  First of all, I’m never hungry the moment I wake up.  So if I don’t eat before I leave the house, I usually try to find something to eat at the office…which turned out to be either a cup of coffee or tea and some Goldfish crackers, and not much else.  Not any more.  I’m going to do better with packing breakfast as well as lunch from now on.  Well, I’ll try at least.

9.  Take a crack at NaNoWriMo

November is usually the crazy month for me.  But I would like to participate in the National Novel Writing Month this year anyway!  I mean, I think maybe I could cheat and started the ground works in August. Or something.

10. Keep up with What’s Working

I’m doing brilliantly with saving on little things I started last year.  A weekly Starbucks latte and non-brownbag lunch work out very well.  Then again, most of my lunch-out would make for 2 lunches anyway.

Now, share yours.

2009 in pictures

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2009 Awards

Drinking Buddy of the Year: Brandon, actually. Surprise!  The mister doesn’t usually party down, but he has taken up a beer here and there this past year, a stressful one for his work.  So we had gone out for a beer together more than the year before.  Cheers to you, honey bunny!

Bar of the Year: Hennessey’s Tavern and Beachwood BBQ in Seal Beach. These two places never fail to deliver cold pints and some great eats.  They’re our go-to places when we want to run away from the daily life for a little while.

Sorry to disappoint y’all with the lack of Downtown LA’s bar feature this time around.  I haven’t partied in town much at all.  Climate change around the office will affect your happy hour weather, I tell ya.

Newcomer Award: Twitter Gang. I have grown to love folks I met at Tweet Ups especially @dananner, @anaperiodista, @fstop23, @davidmoyle, @sendchocolate, @joncruz, @vbesack, and the disappearing @phraktyl.  We went shooting pictures.  We played Rock Band.  We got drunk.  We had overall great times on and off line.  Great year to make new friends!

High Point of the Year: Watch Thrill the World Los Angeles became the awesome success. From mere 100 last year grown into the thousands. It still blows my mind.

Low Point of the Year: The Christmas Flu and USC Football Rebuilding Year. Yep. Suckage.

Best Holiday: Halloween…again. I mean, prancing through Pine Street as Zombie Princess Leia, rocked that stage with my awesome crew of zombies?  Best. Halloween. EVER!

Song of 2009: Glee soundtracks. I mean, I can barely pin it down to just ONE song!  Almost everything from Glee I totally dig.  I’m especially partial to Somebody to Love, Don’t Rain on My Parade, Defying Gravity (the duet), No Air, Sweet Caroline (Can I get a hell-yeah from Team Puck?), and this one I can’t stop singing.  Lea Michele.  What a revelation!

Movie of 2009: Avatar. I’m sorry, Star Trek and District 9!  You came sooo close!

Surprise Movie of 2009: Bangkok Traffic (Love) Story – Rod Faifa Ma Ha Na Tuh – รถไฟฟ้า..มาหานะเธอ.  I’m soooo in love.

Restaurant of the Year: Bottega Louie. Great food and ambiance.  Totally a favorite place to run away from work to for a long lunch.  Okay it’s a little loud, but what an awesome place to be!  Affordable awesomeness.

Book of the Year: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Seriously. Go read that.

TV Show of the Year: Glee. Duh.

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2009 Goals Tally:  6 out of 10…kind of.

1. FAIL – Explore Kung-fu.  HAH!  I did not.

2. FAIL – Drink more water.  Did okay for a couple of months before waking up to pee in the middle of the night got old.

3. FAIL -More guitar/piano/singing – at least twice a week.  I did try for once a month, but that didn’t happen since my office got so messy I can’t even get to the piano.

4. PARTIAL SUCCESS -Read more books – One book a month at least.  Actually did 10 out of 12.  Not too bad!

• Water for Elephants, Sarah Gruen – Love it.
• Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, Lynne Truss – Learned all sorts of new things.
• Watchmen, Alan Moore – The movie ending makes a hell of a lot more sense than the book I tell ya.
• Turn Coat: The Dresden Files Book 11, Jim Butcher – Always love Jim.  This is no exception.
• Eat Pray Love, Elizabeth Gilbert – Definitely love the Eat/Pray part. I could do without the Bali experience.
• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith – Best. Book. EVER!
• Bad Things, Michael Marshall – I’m still scratching my head at that one. Whuh…?
• The Foodie Handbook, Pim Techamuanvivit – Totally enjoyable and awesome.  She takes gorgeous pictures.
• Heat Wave, “Richard Castle” – Totally a fun read for us Castle fans.

5. FAIL – Add yoga to the routine – at least once a week.  Not so much.  However, I ended up losing 6 lbs. from September through November with the Thriller work out and stress diet.  Haven’t gotten any of it back…yet.

6. SUCCESS – Take a language class.  Buongiorno! 

7. PARTIAL SUCCESS – Cook one new recipe a month.  I went with a few new ones in a month and then go without cooking for weeks.  But we did try new recipes.

8. SUCCESS – Fix them teeth.  5 more months!!!

9. SUCCESS – Fix them eyes. Well, I *did* decide on not getting LASIK done after extensive reserach and serious discussion with my optometrist.  There’s a 50/50 chance I would come out normal or my dry eyes are going to get more severe to a level that’ll become problematic.  I’ll stick with the glasses with that kind of odds, thanks.

10. SUCCESS – Keep up with whatever is working well.  Still a latte a week here.

I must’ve been bad last year as Santa brought me the flu for Christmas.

I had a fabulous Christmas Eve dinner with Nora’s family. Great time. Tons of presents.  Hope you and yours had a fabulous time as well!

Christmas morning, I woke up with pain in my ear and swollen glands. By noon I was running fevers averaging to about 101. By 2 p.m. I called my cousin to excuse myself from family dinner. By 2:05 p.m. I downed first of many shot of Nyquil of the next 5 days.  By 2:30 p.m. I fell asleep on the couch hugging a pack of blue ice for comfort.  The rest was very much a blur.

Saturday morning, I woke up to 103 fever. Fortunately, the fever stayed put, back down to the 100. No emergency room visit for me.  Yay.  But the date between me, the couch, the ice pack, and body pillow (aka Jerry) continued.  I regrettably had to cancel my appearance at a Tweet Up the following day which I organized a month earlier.  Fooey!  Fever broke once over night.

Sunday morning, ear ache was gone. Things started to drain down the back of my throat, but I wasn’t all that stuffed up. Fever was still with me although a lot less probably it was trumped by fatigue. So Jerry the Pillow and I continued our date on the couch, thinking all the while that I wanted to be at the Tweet Up, playing Rock Band, having Hooters wings and presenting my friend with his Guinness Chocolate Birthday Cake.  By 5 p.m. it was clear I wasn’t at the party nor in any condition to go to work the next day. I had one sweaty night that night, not in a good way but definitely was better for me.

Monday morning came the onslaught of ick.  Things were still draining but I also started the drippy goodness. Fever was starting to subside, though.  I got an appointment with my substitute doctor as my current one is pregnant. The sub swabbed me and cleared me for strep throat (duh, I could’ve told her that…wait, I *did*!), and concluded that I was at the tail end of the flu. She told me to keep up with the Mucinex and plenty of liquid, to call in sick the next day, and sent me home.  I coughed and hacked through the afternoon, feeling worse as I went.  Piles upon piles of tissues were bulldozed scooped into the trash can when I went to bed at 7 p.m. Ah. Another sweaty night guarantee the morning victory!

Alas, a glorious morning without any drippy goodness!  I felt great!  But then my vocalizing “Yey” came out more like a weezy whistle.  With all the hacking yesterday, it seeemed my voice ran away from home.  A few minutes later, the mucus all came back and good feelings proved to be just a flash in the pan.  I cuddled back up to Jerry the Pillow, the second box of Puff with Lotion, and my pot of tea.

I have lost count as to how many pots of tea there have been through these past 5 days.  From PG Tips English Breakfast with sugar and milk on Christmas morning, to the rotation of Yogi Echinacea Immune Support with honey, just hot water and honey, lemongrass and pandan tea from Thailand, and TenRen Chrysanthemum tea with a touch of brown sugar. Something in these teas definitely makes it all better faster. I personally think it’s the REAL honey, avocado honey no less, I got from the farmer’s market. But I digress.

Many, er, “hairballs” later, I started to feel better. By 5 p.m. I actually wanted real food and Brandon, bless his heart for having taken care of me all week, fetched me the patty melt I craved.  Everything stayed down this time.

Hopefully, that was the last shot of Nyquil I will need for a while.

It’s not quite a year-end recap yet.  But hot dang, where did 2009 just go?!?!

Recap will be here after Christmas to see how I did with my last year’s goals.  I don’t think I did too horribly…?

In the meantime, here’s our eCard, wishing you a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you are celebrating…or your right to not celebrate at all!

Heathen’s Greetings!

I told you about my multi-talented friend Note, the co-owner of Kinnaree Gourmet Thai and tarot card reader extraordinaire.  The latter, at least our group of friends think she is anyway.

I promised Note that I would blog about my month-to-month prediction, so that as time ticks on, we can come back to see how accurate she really is.

Before we get to that, what she said about my overall future gets me giggling.

She said that although I am a team player, I work better alone. Same thing with my social life, great with friends and going out but rather be at home.  She said that I will do well in an international environment. And that if I was to change job, I will find success in working on my own with international connections.

Gee. Doesn’t that sound like I should persue blogging and writing full time? LOL.

She also pointed out that my generosity and willingness to help people will get me in trouble.  Yeah, well, that was proven last year when I loaned money to childhood friend who actually was scamming off everyone she knew. Her poor mom was following her trail paying off the debt, including mine. But I digress.

Also I have to watch my dedication to work. Note pointed out that my doing well at work often means I’m so consumed by it and neglecting the household. Again, that’s true. I lost myself in whatever it is I’m involved in and forget to take care of my personal life.  Brandon knows this well from 2 years of Thrill the World back to back with my Big Gala.

Now, the 12-month prediction.

December: There will be secrets involved either at work or at home. Somebody has a secret and that will complicate things.

January: Watch out for some work harmony issue. That schpiel about me being too generous has something to do with that.

February: Great partnership at work and at home.

March: Other people will have bad news that I would take it upon myself to worry about.  It’s not my bad news but I’ll be bothered by it quite the same way.

April: The lady doth daydream too much. LOL. Something about me not being able to concentrate on the present, instead dreaming about things that could be.

May-June: There will be some obstables I must get over in these two months. Everything will be a struggle but I will win in the end.

July: Disappointment, she said.  That was the only word she gave me for July.

August: Temper rises and there will be some “third hand” interferences in my life. Like someone will try to mess things up for me.

September: I will “lead the army to victory” at work.

October-November: Again, obstacles. This time I will get tangled up in things. I will feel stuck. (Gee…during that time of year, could Thrill the World be something I get tied up on??)

There. You now also have the map to my future year. Stick around to see what may come true!

As for now, Note didn’t mention in her cards but I’m enjoying the time at home.  I had lunch with my family and the Aunties today.  We stuffed ourselves silly with a seafood feast, had great conversations, and remembered mom while at it.  Her friends miss her dearly and I once again serve as the proxy for my mom in hanging out with her friends.

Tuesday is Lalai Sap with the Aunties, movie in the afternoon with a friend, and dinner with Gnarly Kitty.  Wednesday is a day-trip to Aunty Or’s house in Khao Yai now that it’s finished and completed with the backyard orchard, corn field and mini rice paddy.  Thursday looks like a lunch  and shopping date with sister in law and dad. Friday is exclusively all Gang of 4 and a night out with Tong per our tradition. Saturday, last lunch with the family and off to California I go.

International lone wolf, I am!

It was a LOT easier waking up at 5 a.m. when you go to bed by 9:30 p.m.

I have been doing it for a week now, waking up at 5 a.m., shower, make a mug of tea, sit at my computer and work until 6:15, get dressed, leave at 6:30 to catch my bus.

This morning, instead of sitting until 6:15, I caught the 6:15 bus instead.

Do I even dare say it?

Guys, I might have been converted into an early bird.

I really do enjoy having all this quiet time in the morning.  I mean, having the quiet time at night is nice too.  But to wake up early without it being a torture, one must go to bed earlier.  It does work quite well.

Walking to my car with “the Rising/Morning Star” (Dao Roong ดาวรุ่ง), what Thai people call Venus in the morning, shining bright with just a hint of sunrise behind it, that was ALMOST worth being an early bird for.

Deep down, I still want my warm bed.

And a bacon breakfast.