Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween to all the lucky ducks out there who will be dressing up and getting down this evening!

I haven't missed one in ages, but sadly I won't be able to dress up this year. But, there's always next year, so I've made this list of "stuff I wanna be one year" and it goes a little sumpthin' like this:

A Victorian lady
Joan Jett
A Grecian goddess
Brittany Spears in her I’m A Slave 4 U costume complete with snake
Rainbow Brite
A geisha
An assassin in black leather and spandex with a red wig
A Native American princess

Have fun tonight, partygoers :)

Things I Love Thursdays

Warm weather. – Brr, it’s getting colder and my genes say NO!

Black eyeliner. – If I could have only one cosmetic product, this would be the one. It’s versatile and straightforward, and it’s the only thing that works with my big dark eyes. Every now and then I flirt with a shimmery pastel eye shadow or cherry red lipstick, but my heart belongs to black eyeliner.

XMen. – Especially Wolverine and Jean Grey. Oooh, or a cross between the two??

Dogs. – Especially big ones, but I don’t discriminate. I share the love with all. Breeds I think are particularly lovely for their coats: Catahoula Leopard Dog, Blue Lacy, Hungarian Viszla. Breeds I think are fricking cool for their inherent badassness: Czech Wolfdog. And this girl is my favorite:

Secrets. – Not the kind that hurt people, but the kind that mean I made some semi-frivolous purchases online and didn’t tell my husband about it. Some call them little white lies. I prefer secrets.

Busted

Seriously – I haven’t written anything all week? That’s icky. How time does fly…

Here’s something I did do, though…busted my daily bandwidth allotment at work. Which means I used so much that somebody noticed. I don’t know how, because as you see, I was less active on the net this week than in weeks past. I plead temporary insanity and also, I blame you (not really – that’s just in case the boss reads my blog today).

Other than that, this week has been about reading and daydreaming. I’m still – STILL, I say – trying to finish Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. I wish I could liquidate it and pour it into my ears and have it all settled into my brain, just like that *snaps fingers*. Super dense stuff. And I’m daydreaming because I found a great, great house for sale in Lincoln, which I’m not in any position to buy. But it's so very, very perfect...

Wouldn't it be wonderful if realtors gave discounts based on how badly you wanted the house? For instance, if you wanted it so badly that you would drink toilet water - 3% off. Willing to lop off a pinky toe? 15% off.

Just a thought.

Things I Love Thursdays

Halloween, my very favorite holiday. – And just what will you be this year? :)

Bubble baths. – Although I can never make mine as foamy as Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman…

Wine that I always have stocked. – Tomaiolo Chianti, Folie à Deux Ménage à Trois, both Red and White (the former is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon and the latter contains Chardonnay, Muscat and Chenin Blanc), and good 'ole standby Yellowtail Shiraz

Salmon sashimi. – With spicy mayo (and shrimp tempura rolls, too).

Sydney Pollack’s The Way We Were. – I do sappy.

Things I Love Thursdays

Arcade games. – I like the fighting ones where everybody has special powers. Dan is ridiculously good at Streetfighter, but sometimes I get lucky.

Ginger Tea. – For the aroma and color as much as the taste.

Random stuff like this. – http://www.oneplusyou.com/bb/view2/countries

Fast Food. – I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care if it’s bad for me. I still like it, and I can’t help it and I don’t really want to help it.

Snail mail. – Care packages and cards for no good reason. Most of my friends move an awful lot, though, and keeping my address book up to date is a challenge.

Native Son by Richard Wright

A good read about oppression vs. injustice, popular opinion vs. morality…and mostly about hate – what breeds it and what it breeds. Outwardly, it is a novel about race. Truly, it is a novel about humanity. Though a sense of futility saturates its pages, this is a novel that attempts to shine a light into the deep wells of ignorance.

Native Son is separated into three ‘books’ – titled Fear, Flight, and Fate – which track the physiological development of the central character, Bigger Thomas. Bigger is a young black male (does the name resemble another word you know?) in 1930s Chicago. He is awarded a job from the relief office as chauffeur to a family of multimillionaires; however, on his very first night he unintentionally murders the family’s only child, a beautiful white girl about Bigger’s age. Bigger tries to cover up his crime and is ultimately caught.

Wright’s style is unaffected, sure and well-ordered. The final speeches made by Mr. Max and Mr. Buckley are especially gripping and poignant. I admit that I was expecting a more radical conclusion, à la A Time to Kill – not in regard to the actual verdict or the sentiments of the populace, but in the realizations of a few major characters and Bigger Thomas in particular. Instead, all other characters fade quietly out of the picture, and Bigger...well...

In the end he does grow, but he remains stunted. He recognizes new levels and facets of the society in which he lives and he acknowledges his feelings towards that world. He finds an identity…but he ultimately fails to understand it or to come to peace with it.

Down the Homestretch

I love lists, and I’m forever making tick marks, striking through, checking off, and counting down. These days I have notepads, calendars, day planners and post-its spread higgledy-piggledy over my desk in unabashed disarray. Its organized chaos, and I rule it all.

Hubby and I are plotting our exit strategy from the corporate nightmare. So far, we’ve booked tickets to Kenya, where we’ll safari, and then onward to South Africa, where Dan will paraglide for several weeks and I will try to catch up on the reading that I’ve been neglecting as of late. Still a little fuzzy on what happens next, but eventually we’ll end up on the Zimbabwean border to experience the majesty of Victoria Falls.

I know you’re probably thinking, wait a minute – didn’t you guys just get back?? What about the sad state of the economy? Why relinquish the stability of two perfectly good, high income jobs with stock markets crashing all around you and the uncertainty of the future looming over you like Grendel?

Partly because I think that the next step on this crazy rollercoaster ride will be a massive bailout for ALL consumer debt, so clearly it makes as much sense to spend as it does to save. In essence, I’m giving the financial finger to those who should know better. Sort of like: hey Fed – bail this!

But mostly because that’s just how we roll.

Things I Love Thursday

Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate. – JM just released their second album, and I’m getting my hands on it!

Air hockey. – Because I ROCK the air hockey.

Scrapbooking. – I haven’t been able to play with mine for ages, but I just bought some cute embellishments from Joann’s and can’t wait use them.

Trail Mix. – Especially with banana chips.

My supportive husband. – Who took care of me Tuesday night, when a mini-troll was enthusiastically ripping through the wall of my stomach with a rusty machete.

Pixie cuts. – Some days, I really miss short hair.

Other Adventures

Thailand is really a cakewalk for tourists – everything is conveniently packaged and written in English. Sure, you could probably save a few bucks by making solo arrangements, but when you’re strapped for time and eager to see it all – well, it just makes sense to leave matters to the experts.

On our second full day in Chiang Mai, Dan and I visited six hill tribes (Akha, Lisu, Hmong, Laku and two different clans of Karen). Originally refugees from neighboring Burma/Myanmar, Tibet and China, these tribes were granted land and permission to stay by the Thai government. They maintain their own customs, dress and languages within their villages, although some now travel into the cities to work or sell their wares. The Karen are very reserved and quiet, while the Lisu were noticeably more vocal and the Akha literally chased us down the road as we left the village, trying to sell us more of their goods – even after we had already purchased several items.

A few days later, we visited the elephant camp and later partook in a wee spot of bamboo rafting. Asian elephants are much smaller than their African cousins, although an elephant is an elephant is an elephant and they’re ALL big. These elephants once worked in the fields, dragging trees, but now there is a halt on further deforestation. So, like the rest of us, they have to earn their daily bread. In addition to vegetation, the gentle giants nosh about 200 kg of bananas each day – bananas which were conveniently for sale to all the google-eyed tourists. If I sound a bit cynical (and I always sound a bit cynical), don’t be fooled. I was quite happy to pay for the chance to do this:

We also got the opportunity to check out some live music, which included a performance by the most fantastically rhythmic, red silk-adorned ladyboy that mine eyes have ever beheld.

Two Years O' Happy

Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated two years as partners in crime.

We met in the fall of 2006 in Africa (every time I say that, I hear echoes of Meryl Streep saying “I had a farm in Afrika…” in my head), and we had instant chemistry. Being more of the ‘just wing it’ variety, I actually had to chase him. Luckily, I am both persistent and shameless, and soon we were inseparable.

So, I guess you could say that we ‘rang in the new year’ a tad early with a romantic dinner at Ruen Tamarind while in Chiang Mai. Ruen is located in the Tamarind Village hotel complex, so dubbed for the 200-year-old tamarind tree located on the grounds. You can enter from a side street lined with bamboo, the tree tops bending inward to a gentle point overhead, where the buzz of city life quickly melts away. Two musicians played soft jazz and though the dining room was quite small, the tables were admirably spaced, so that the atmosphere was both casual and intimate.

We shared a bottle of Monsoon Valley (ok, I had the lion’s share), a very flavorful Thai blend of Pokdum and Shiraz. The shrimp spring rolls were fried ever. so. delicately. so that the shrimpy goodness was not overpowered. Hubby ordered the beef, pounded nice and tender, and I selected curry with grilled prawns – both yummdidliummy. And for dessert: sticky rice with mango and two spoons :)

The food was perfectly prepared, the service was impeccable, and the whole night reminded me that I am one heck of a happy girl.

Ink Stains

I had the best intentions to post the events of our trip in chronological order (I also made a valiant attempt with the pictures on flickr), but it’s not going to happen. Because I’m itchy. Literally.

On our last day in Bangkok, roughly 4 hours before we left for the airport, Dan hesitantly agreed to check out the tattoo parlors with me. I’ve been carrying around this tattered henna design for the past two years, just waiting for the opportunity to get it done. And then I threw in a second for good measure.

So here are numbers 9 and 10, respectively:

They’re in that incredibly annoying scabby phase right now, but I think it should be over after this weekend. And this, friends, is where I lay down the flag. No more tattoos for me – but now we get to start looking for Dan!

Cooking For Dummies

Dan and I did manage to take a one-day cooking course in Chiang Mai, and we had a blast. They gave us both nifty little cookbooks to take home. Each one had about 25-30 dishes, complete with glossy illustrations to make you drool (and silently curse your own creation for not looking quite as mouth-watering as the picture).

Our first stop was the local outdoor market, where we learned the staple ingredients for most Thai dishes: coconut milk/cream, chilies, basil, lime, rice and noodles, assorted veggies and “The Sauce Trio” – fish sauce, soy sauce and oyster sauce. We picked up some fresh dragon fruit for a morning snack, and Dan got splashed by a fish waiting for the butcher’s block.

We made Coconut Chicken Soup (this is the dish that I can most see myself making regularly) , Pad Thai (I heart noodles and the sauce was yummy), Red Curry with Fish (although ours turned out more brown than red), Fried Mushrooms and Veggies (for the garnish, we cut starbursts into shitake mushrooms and made curly-cues out of green onion tips), Papaya Salad (also learned how to make a tomato peel rose for this one!) and Steamed Banana Pudding for dessert (five courses preceding this one, and I STILL ate it all).

All said and done, it was a great – and tasty – experience.

Back in Black

Finally back from our trip! We had SUCH a great time – saw loads of stuff and left plenty more for “next time”. Photos will be going up intermittently on my Flickr page, along with comments and tidbits about our doings. For now, here’s a brief synopsis of our itinerary:

12 Sep – 14 Sep: Lazy days in Dubai
15 Sep – 16 Sep: Bangkok (Grand Palace, Wats Pho and Arun, Reclining Buddha, Thai boxing, Khaosan Road)
17 Sep – 23 Sep: Chiang Mai (Elephant rides, 6 tribal villages, bamboo rafting, waterfall, cooking course, spa day, Night Bazaar)
24 Sep – 27 Sep: Siem Reap, Cambodia (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm, Victory Gate, Banteay Srei and various others)
28 Sep: Bangkok (new tattoos)
29 Sep: transit back through Dubai

And on 30 Sep, I was back to the daily grind. Just in time to start scheming for the next trip :)