I saw Yes Men Fix The World, finally, with B. I am sort of in love with them. B wore a sweater that came with 3D glasses. We went to Joe’s, which is still an incredibly lovely place, so I am happy.

For Im’s birthday, we are going on shopping sprees (plural) in which I make Im buy things, and then buy the same things for myself (force Im to buy a coat, buy Kim a coat; force Im to buy a dress, buy Kim a dress). I am very excited and so I have decided to make this a two weekend event starting this Sunday (it is on the calendar).

We are also going to see Cat Walleck in Royal Family on Broadway which is crazy (on Saturday and also on the calendar).

I think I am becoming even more sentimental with age. And when I am not overcome with love for everything moving or otherwise, indiscriminately, I am inevitably flinging righteous anger equally without discrimination. I think this frightens the new Quality Manager. But I like him a lot. (Just like everything else moving or otherwise.)

Norm quit and his last day was Friday. We went to Baja Fresh (his fav) with Don, and the lab, on Wednesday and Norm drove me in his tiny, run down truck with the Navy stickers on it. I wish he’d come back (but I’m keeping his desk). I am now, officially, the highest position in QC lab which will make me laugh until I quit too.

We went to DC two weekends ago. It was perfect. All the photos are here (every time you see four photos of the EXACT SAME THING you can pretty much assume I took them. Thus, I did not take the photo of my foot, nor does my foot have any recollection of that night, but I did take photos over and over of my cat) so please go be a creepy stalker because you know I would.

The end!

tea

care packages

pumpkin (we made pumpkin spice lattes the other day and I think, if you actually like pumpkin spice lattes, you would like this recipe because I do not like pumpkin lattes and I almost really liked it, except for that bit where the coffee clashed disgustingly with the pumpkin)

cinnamon

rain-cold-dark-doom

hitchcock movies (current: Foreign Correspondent; ordered Rebecca in honor of Marissa and because it’s a fucking good movie)

walking to the library

alias grace

running

god (jerry says there’d be no values without christianity – i say even for christians, values come down to personal choice, personal interpretation. i read one section of the bible last year, so year 2 – exodus.)

re-decorating the apartment (today we bought picture frames)

lotion

I made an attempt to start looking at the pile of recommendations I have accumulated. I now have 6 books, 1 tv series borrowed + 3 tv series recommended, and 3 movies. 3 movies down from 4 because this week I FINALLY watched Control Room (which Alex sent me approximately a century ago). Intense but amazing – all about propaganda, Al-Jazeera, the Bush administration, etc. etc. Lovely after months of mind-imploding conservative prejudice (= Quality lab).

I am thinking maybe I’ll actually read something I’ve borrowed…after Commencement…

Im studied GRE words while I did things that entirely lacked purpose such as reading the Prisoner of Zenda (which, of course, was from the library – not from my pile of recommendations, and most definitely not from my 2 bookshelves of unread books) about swashbuckling men who rescue damsels in distress as a sideline to gallantly saving the world.

Ran outside on the path by the ocean which is always incredible. Atlantic Highlands flea market had no good books to add to my unread piles. Walked the boardwalk with Uncle Jim and Aunt B post-free lunch (yay for family). Melinda moved to Jersey so we had cheesecake and went on an excursion to Target for toothpaste, dental floss, and other related dental products.

I watched Rachel Maddow a lot. I wore closed toe shoes.

It’s fall.

This is the only photo I took in Washington D.C. last weekend (from left: Joey, me, Jacob). Goal: take more photos. Im taking photos doesn’t count.

I spilled coffee all over  Peregrine with Julia (where I had a superior croissant). Slept in a (treacherous) lofted bed 13 million feet of the ground. Paid $7 for a smoothie because I wasn’t paying attention. Talked to lovely gay man at Human Rights Campaign who convinced me to buy a rainbow flag (that will probably get me killed in Jersey). Dragged the men to the Holocaust museum. Survived a bee attack with Kasmin. Walked the memorials at night. Saw Thomas (Jake’s roommate, my favorite). And had a milkshake for breakfast in a diner in Bethesda (with Abby!). The end!

I like D.C. (and everything is cheaper, except, of course, for that smoothie).

Spent the weekend with Helene who hobbled around in her space boot post-3rd (and hopefully last, thank you) ankle surgery. Have successfully read 40 pages of Arendt and have this solid feeling in my stomach (feelings which come from the soul or the thinking ego or authentic or inauthentic appearances or…ahh) that those are the last pages I will ever read of my 400 page book.

The Helene mom and I talked about: Malcolm Gladwell. Running 5 miles (her, not me). Teachers’ unions. Racism, the NYPD, the prison system, and gender identities. =favorite

Carl-face (the boyfriend) stopped by for Roll-N-Roaster part 2 (and we fought generally but without pissing each other off, for once) and Bree (H’s sister) was even home and burnt me her entire CD collection (approximately sort of). Thus, the full Helene family experience.

Started watching True Blood which is HILARIOUS. I laughed so hard and the Im thought it was TERRIBLE and INCREDIBLY AWKWARD which just enhanced the experience. You should watch.

I am on strike against all groceries everywhere (= starvation. also, a lot of soup).

“Could the activity of thinking… , the habit of examining whatever happens to come to pass or to attract attention, regardless of result and specific content, could this activity be among the conditions that make men abstain from evil-doing or even actually ‘condition’ them against it?” – Hannah Arendt (Life of the Mind)

I finished The Reader this week. Read it – it’s worth your time. Su and I walked a century from the West Village to 10th and 2nd (Friday) to get three course dessert, which we never actually ate. Instead, we ran across the upper west side to her apartment (or east side? I was tired…) Somewhere during the century, we found a bookstore (which Su insists began all our troubles), which was very cute, and where I discovered that Hannah Arendt wrote books.

I forget that when people write articles, which one is obligated to read for class and such, they likely have books too. Anyway, it was an epiphany (even if in writing it doesn’t sound it) so I went to Barnes and Noble on Sunday to buy 1491 AND ONLY 1491 (most decisively, and because I wanted a non-fiction book) but had a sudden burst of intense need to read large tedious philosophical things (the only time I’ve ever bought anything from the philosophy section) and somehow ended up with The Life of the Mind by Hannah Arendt which is a ridiculously huge book (fate removed all her thinner books et voila).

Over several days I have managed to read 10 pages. At one point, I fell asleep and woke up (just in time) still believing that I was just about to close my eyes and ‘rest.’ So it’s brilliant, but it’s crazy pretentious sounding, and involves intense wading which inevitably leads to many long naps. I could make a monster exercise plan surrounding this book.

I also saw a really well-done documentary on Friday (with B; Kimjongilia, about North Korea). Im is translating her step-mom’s proposal for a project in Japan on the couch (English hurts). That’s all I have to say – for J! (as requested…demanded<3)

am awake. despite resolutions to not sleep til 8pm fell asleep at 5. oops. without brushing my teeth (gross).

i made fun of Im for falling asleep during Bones (who falls asleep during Bones?) and five seconds later i blacked out and missed the rest of the episode.

apparently she tried to wake me at 8 to eat dinner and I just rolled over (??) so now she’s asleep and here I am.

i am so thankful for our ridiculously comfortable bed. and for luden’s cough drops. but not for the cough I woke up with (on the airport seats) in Tokyo.

You can’t wash or put up your hair for three days after getting it straightened. So Chiang Mai was kind of like camping except in a nice hotel and I was the only one rotting yea.

The night train – definitely the best way to travel. It was (surprisingly) super comfortable, with a huge ass window and a curtain so I didn’t have to talk to anybody. We arrived to rain in Chiang Mai at 7am.

Breakfast – chicken over rice, the Thai version with broth on the side.

Chiang Mai taxis:

Tuk tuk – our transport back to the train station last night.

We took taxis that looked like this the rest of the time – basically a truck with two benches along the sides and no door – just an open space to hop in and out the back which I liked. Im is apparently dying (love!)

Chiang Mai from another temple at the top of a (much bigger) mountain – but only 300 steps this time:

This is just the beginning.

Definitely the best/biggest temple we’ve been to but also the most people. Chiang Mai in general had a lot of tourists. So many shoes!

Pictures of the royal family are everywhere along the roads, in restaurants and homes – photos from when they’re young or old or somewhere in between. At every movie they play a short video of the king at different stages of his life and everyone in the theater stands.

I finally heard the national anthem (played on the radio and TV every morning and evening) – Last Life in the Universe! – in the car with P’Aun and P’Big (her fiance) Sunday night.

Roti on the street – bananas and chocolate, and condensed milk and sugar – we ate these 3 times in 24 hours. Once for dinner.

My other favorite thing:

Pineapple shake. I had this with every meal. I still look hot even on day two of rotting hair. I think I’ll end with that.

Drove to Northern Bangkok yesterday from Hua Hin and staying with Im’s grandmother (mom’s side). Her grandmother is lovely – she feeds all the neighborhood cats every morning (I feel like Julia’s mom would like her.) She brings out the food and cats (about 20 total) appear on the walls around the house, on the roof, the patio.

She also has 4 cats of her own and 3 dogs. This is my favorite cat Mai (silk):

We had really good Thai curry at an Indian restaurant (?) with roti down the street from the United Nations yesterday. Im and I saw Pen-ek’s (director of Last Life in the Universe = best movie ever) new movie Nymph in the theater!

Driving with the brothers:

Poon (“the little one” or “monkey boy”) tends to do that to his parents too.

Standard taxi in Thailand – the bright pink is my favorite. Toyota Corollas.

I have been eaten alive by mosquitoes. I have a particularly large one on the bottom of my foot (highly unnecessary). Mosquitoes in Thailand have no manners – I have about 10 bites on my feet. I was bitten twice on my face and looked briefly like I had been slugged, but they disappeared by morning.

Our room at Hua Hin:

Im has the rest of the photos so I’ll post more later. I got the flu (from Im) the day we arrived and so I spent most of the time watching movies or reading on the beach and dying. Eating “American breakfast.” Everyone drinks Ovaltine and Im’s dad listens to Suzanne Vega in the car. Im’s parents are also all about good coffee – they’re collectively my Thai Brian, so I am happy.

Tonight we take a night train (one of those ones with beds like in the movies) to Chang Mai. I’m going to get my hair straightened now which makes me nervous but I couldn’t think of any reason not to so I have badgered myself into it.

We’re at the beach near Hua Hin right now. My camera battery is happy now so photos:

In the Tokyo airport we found green tea and… apple vinegar (?) kit kats. I think I might have to grab one on the way back just to see…

All the Japanese Airlines people trying to figure out what to do with us in New York. Pretty much the whole airline got involved.

Monday (first full day in Thailand and in Nakhon Sawan) we visited temples near Im’s house. We took a boat across the river (a man in a pink shirt took us - lots of men in Thailand wear pink shirts which I appreciate) to a Chinese temple. We left our shoes outside (as one does at all temples and at other places too, like doctor’s offices, and some cafes).

We went to the Thai temple next – lots of monks everywhere, all wearing bright orange. Apparently all the men are monks for a short time because it gets the parents a ticket to heaven (did I get this right, Im?) so Im’s dad was a monk for 3 months.

Im’s motorcycle - my favorite, even though I generally feel I am going to die – and rooster (one of many animals found walking around at random in Thailand; more later) at the Thai temple. Monk in background.

Im’s house. This is sort of a sunroom, except it’s got tiles and a fan, so it’s where the Im hides after being outside in the 90 degree weather. It was cloudy and humid the first few days in Thailand – we saw the sun for the first time yesterday.

The parent’s bedroom – you have to walk through it to get to the sunroom behind. The half brothers sleep in here too. I like how Im’s house is decorated (it has small doors – I’ll take more photos when I get back next week.)

Im’s bedroom.

Some pictures of Nakhon Sawan:

Everyone rides motorcycles. Women in skirts and heels ride side saddle on the back and I think they’re crazy. Often 3 or 4 people are jammed onto one. We all drive on the left side of the road – it’s weird that right turns are left turns. I don’t know which way to look before I cross the street.

I always like what trees look like in other countries – I’ll try to get better pictures. I am amused by the mountains in Thailand – they don’t cover the horizon – one mountain on this side, two mountains over here.