Mangosteen!!!

It isn't so often that I discover heretofore unknown (to me) foods that I can casually discount them. My introduction to mangosteen, however, far outweighed even the expected reaction to a delicious new substance. This:

(Thanks, wiki!)

"queen of fruits" truly deserves its name. It's sweet, light, similar but different to peach/mango/?? flavor and custardy orangeish texture is hard to describe as anything but sublime. I was terribly disappointed to find out that these jewels, given out by the Thai Embassy for a very successful and (at least by me!) well-received Thai restaurant week (ages and ages ago, but still worth recalling), were in very short supply. I called several restaurants to see if they were still giving them out later in the week, but alas, a fruitless search. I've yet to see them in the store, and I'm not sure the average-of-$7-a-fruit cost before gas prices started skyrocketing is really in my price range. Thus, I was delighted to find that TJ's has a freeze-dried version. I procured a bag:

and I have to say that, while fresh mangosteen = SO DELICIOUS!!!! (must use caps and exclamation points), the freeze-dried fruits = SO NOT DELICIOUS#$%^&*@! (must use caps and other modifiers). The texture is, well, freeze dried - gritty, coarse, with a baked-in (freeze baking?) nut (well, that was interesting). The flavor was pretty spot on, but the overall experience couldn't even compare.

Sad now :(

The Green Machine

My sister's cars are green, so, despite the iteration, it is the green machine. This one deserves the name more than most. It's a beautiful car, heavy, but with a light touch at the wheel. The engine growls and I long to open up on the road. I think I will have to stay with my car, and my engine, because anything bigger creates a misery of desire to flout the speed limit. Racing down the Long Island roads (NOT highways) at 85 mph just feels like pleasurable gliding, and it's almost painful to slow down. Definitely not ordinary-day-driving material for me! I think I'd like a crack at the Audobahn some day in some classic German machinery. My one time in Montana while there was no speed limit, playing in the Celicar, is becoming a far-too-distant memory...

After a weekend in parentland

I am so glad that my back is finally (mostly) in working order, because as soon as that little person runs at you with arms open wide...there's not denying a hell-bent toddler!!! And much too late to do anything about it once they are in your arms, demanding a hug, a ride, a swing.

I think, despite, the tantrumming, the restless energy, the refusal to eat, and the moments of all is not well in cuteland, that I could maybe possibly someday want to do this. While it is lovely (wonderful! gleeful!) to hand them back to the rightful parents once your part is over, the sweetness and laughter in childcare is rather fantastic. Even if your IQ shoots down (temporarily, I hope) to accommodate short sentences, an insane amount of repetition, and obsessions (look, Green! There, green! Again, green!) of the moment. So, if I had charming, smart, cheerful, friendly, good sleeper, unfussy, outgoing, gentle, mostly well behaved, cute, kind, funny, generous offspring, (ooh, and preferably a good, nonpicky eater that never gets sick) then I, too could be a parent. Now, where can I order one of those?

There's a doctor in the family!

It's all my parents have ever hoped and dreamed for. Plus, she's a married mother of two in vastly less dire financial straits than other newly hatched medical students. What more could you ask for?

A lot, apparently, making it a most proud, but also bittersweet of days. Sigh.

Overtime

When you're in the midst of crushing deadlines, working actual overtime (and being paid for it, for once, hurrah!), and lining up a whole chain of folks to snap to! at will to complete stepwise tasks, it's not the best time to take a minibreak...

And yet here I am, having Southwest whisk me away on a very long weekend jaunt! Thank goodness for my tiny, tiny laptop and the wireless access that enables me to work from almost anywhere. God, I HEART technology!!!

Evenings at the theatre

I haven't been to non-singing and dancing theater in quite some time. In general, I like to take my culture in musical or spectacular doses (old sense of the word - literal spectacles, and a few sequins never hurt). For an excellent studentish deal and the promise of a somewhat entertaining evening, however, I'll suffer through pretty much anything.

The suffering, happily, was limited to my back. Yes, it was actually difficult to sit erect for several hours at a time. Otherwise, the seats were fantastic, the price could hardly be better, and the theater was so shiny and new that we more-than-imagined faint paint fumes. Ah yes, and the plays were good, too. The actors were very fine performers, with enunciation almost painfully (and spittle-fully) clear and very little scenery-chewing, but in seeing two Shakespeare plays of vastly differing quality and tone in three days (even two plays that flow very naturally together as one LONGA** show), the most striking afterthought was how they presented an excellent study in compare and contrast.

Same actors, but significantly different tenor for the characters, even those that appeared (as the same character) in both plays. Same time period, but an emphasis on romantic tragedy and personal relationships doesn't compare well with the themes of king making (and unmaking) and upholding honor. Mirth and buffoonery doesn't shouldn't solemnity and genuine (rather than calculated) passion. Quite frankly, Julius Caesar kicked Antony and Cleopatra's butt out of the park, but we knew that already...

The hills are alive

There are signs of life on my porch! Naturally, I had nothing whatsoever to do with it, but it sure looks nice.

There might even be food!! I LOVE the idea of making food, from genuine scratch. Hopefully there will be tomatoes later in the summer.

There will most likely be herbs pretty soon. Yay, herbs!! You can't eat Gerber daisies, but they are very cute, and RED, so it's okay.

Slurp

Curry has become a mainstay food here. I'm starting to put more colorful vegetables in it (and veg that don't disintegrate), so it stops looking so damn ugly.

Slightly better, I think.

Eh, at least it tastes good. Especially with Trader Joe's naan.

Mice. Playing.

There are some, not many, but a few pleasures of being left Home Alone.

I haven't made the bed in two days!!!! Mwahahahahahahahaha.

DONE!

The semester is finally over, and I'm ever so glad. Even though I can't in recent memory recall the last time I scored a hundred percent on an assignment, let alone an entire class, I'd just as rather put this experience behind me. It's been quite a slog, full of hard work and tinged with bitterness, and I'll take my summer off with great abandonment. Fun, careless times, ahoy!

Yay, drugs!

Not to be all Just Say yes, YES, YES!!!, but finding the right pain reliever makes all the difference in the world. Turns out, I'm a prescription-strength kind of girl. Whee!

Premium

What's the trade off between an HVAC system that doesn't lurch on and off, sickeningly loud, sputtering and clanking every couple of minutes, struggling to maintain an even temperature, but runs quietly, is constantly regulated, and balanced for optimum temperature comfort?

Nix the free Internet, in-room water, breakfast, use of the business center, and cookies...pretty much every last complimentary perk.

It was well worth it. Plus, there was a Jamba Juice within walking distance [swoon] :)

To those who've gone before

Because of people like this, well before I was born, I was allowed the freedom, growing up, to contemplate romantic liaisons with the pasty-faced, light-eyed folk around me. I've never even really considered not being in a mixed-race relationship, and I'm grateful that, once again, it's a fight I didn't have to experience.

Accidental pioneers? Sure. But thank you, all the same.

Back in the saddle

After 2+ years away, I have once again felt the scalding embrace of a hotel whirlpool/hot tub. Mah achin' back beseeched me to attempt a foray back into the soothing, searing waters, and so, swallowing back the image burned into my brain of lovers being (gee, so sorry!) coitus interruptus by yours truly (all I wanted was to get some steamy relief for my aching joints, and TRAUMATIZATION is what I got!), I resolutely marched myself downstairs, plunked into the tub, and was forced to relax. You know what? It was HOT (sweat-inducing) and wonderful.

(It probably helped that I had the entire pool room to myself.)

Warm product

Would you like to taste the warm product?

Would I? Would I?!! That would be a resounding YES! I toured the entire factory and I can tell you, with my own eyes, that the Lays, tortilla chips, Doritos, and those chips that look like fries being sold in the Bay area are safe to eat. (Did you know that one factory, pumping out 150 million pounds of potato chips and other chip products, can only feed the American annual chip appetite for a few large cities??!!) At the end of the inspection, the offer was made and things looked good enough that I jumped on the chance. Let me say that chips fresh off the line are AWESOME.

Hard to breathe

Nope, still allergic to Virginia. A lot. After a week off from itchy eyes, I've managed to rub them raw mere hours into my return. Oy.

Trunkline

A back is an important thing. A vital thing, even. It's central location and connection to...everything in the body makes it a most useful part to be, um, not BROKEN. This newest pain has me hunched sort of sideways, holding myself like a prematurely wizened old crone. But, because it is not holding still, sometimes I have to stand up very straight and walk (very slowly, and without a lot of motion to jostle myself) like I'm carrying books on my head. Then I'll stand up (again very slowly, so as not to destroy the fragile non- or less- pain equilibrium) and must stay slightly bent over so the lancing (TUMOR, I know it!! MUST BE A TUMOR) haunt in my lower back stays quiet. Right now, the only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm laying down, which means that it's a compression problem. Which is ominous. I've made it through the week mostly because travel-work wait for nothing and I've had to keep truckin'. The overall experience has not been quite as miserable as when I was traveling with the raging flu, but it is creeping up there every time I have to move my luggage or strap on my steel toes. I'm especially not looking forward to the plane ride home.