Things To Look Forward To:

1. This weekend.  The pool.  BEYOND excited about some Vitamin D and my back issues of People magazine (courtesy of Kitty Manuel).  And Erin Roderick.  She doesn't read at the pool which is why I'm bringing People.  Because we all know how Boracay went.  For those who don't: {Erin: Hey are you guys really reading?  Me and Rachael: Yes.  Erin: ...Now?  Me and Rachael: Yes.  Erin: ......Now?  Me and Rachael: Sigh. No...}  And that's why we love her.

2. Friday night (Monday for normal people).  Lillith Fair continues with Taco Pescados parte Dos.  AND some chocolate peanut butter cookies.  And maybe a special drink for the occasion as well.

3.  Friday night (entertainment edition). Finishing Season Seven of Weeds.  Our favorite.

4. This weekend.  Staying home all weekend except for paying rent.  Yes.

5. Nga Tm's this weekend. An afternoon/evening in Coloane with friends, food, and Casal Verdhe.  Because who DOESN'T love that stuff???  Shaping up to be a fine weekend indeed.

6.  Having a lie in/Templeton Day this weekend. (See previous post for clarification re: Templeton Day)

7. Dive inspection Monday to kick off the weekend with a wetsuit of my very own courtesy of the Aquatics Department (Thanks ROB!!!)

Man, after this weekend, next week (back to work) is going to be a huge let down.  But as a soldier of fortune, I will march on.  Getting ready for the next one...

Living for the Weekend.

This was my first weekend in a long time where I had time to have a lie in.  Lie-ins are the future.  We used to call them "Templeton Days" growing up.  After the rat from Charlotte's Web.  We were allowed something like one per summer, maybe more often than that, I can't remember that much, where we were allowed to stay in bed all day in our pajamas and watch movies and just be lazy in general.  Now that I'm an adult, I can have TWO Templeton Days a week if I want to (because I am considered an adult), only to call them lie-ins is more adult like.  So today I had a lie-in.  I slept til 1030, which for me is SUPER late, and then decided I didn't even want to go to the pool to enjoy the sunshine.  I stayed in my airconditioned bedroom in my super comfy bed and watched Gone With the Wind.  I am ashamed that as a Southern girl it has taken me this long to watch said movie, but it has.  I am pleased to say it was well-worth the wait, although it didn't have today's typical Hollywood ending, which I appreciated.  Interesting, isn't it, how as society has become more and more "politically correct" and "socially concious" our movies stopped having real life endings and began having unrealistic lofty endings.  Oh this world.

I did interrupt my Templeton Day to pay our electric bill, even though it's not due till next week!, and go grocery shopping, because I do have to eat lunch tomorrow.

Yesterday in Hong Kong, I was productive enough for two days I think.  I had new pages put in my passport at the US Consulate, which was uber productive as I was almost out of pages and now I have two new sets, at least!  Yippee!  Then I sat in the Hong Kong Botannical Gardens with Erin for three hours waiting for my pages to be ready.  Following that was our eye appointment, where not only did I have a thorough eye examination, I got some new glasses that I am super excited to wear.  They are super bright and though not hot pink, still colorful.  I lurve them.

I also bought two new books to read with my new glasses.  Such a productive day it makes me tired just thinking about it.  And now, I should retire because tomorrow starts a new week.  Already looking forward to spending next weekend by the pool, because it is time for Erin and I to begin our Hard Rock season!

You Catch More Flies with Honey...

Salads are the new Pasta.  I'm all about warning people on new trends and this one is here to stay. I may have just made that one up, but salads are awesome.

As I got older, I started to trend my eating habits away from meat.  Like it or love it, I did.  I'm from the South (SHOCKING, I know.), so this wasn't a problem because seafood is our meat.  I was always prejudiced against Chinese shrimp and refused to buy non-Louisiana shrimp in the supermarket because I support my local commerce.  Here in Macau, it's even more imperative that you monitor what you eat.  So I stopped eating meat completely after the incident with the chicken in the Red Market, surely I wrote about that..., and I only eat fish and the like, but mostly veggies.  Healthy is the future.

Also prawn crackers.  I know, I thought "Gross" too before I moved out here and they're everywhere.  Prawn crackers are the new potato chips in this household, at least.

Work is productive.  I think (knock on wood) we have a prototype at last that seems promising and stable.  I have the utmost faith in its ability to produce results.  Once that is determined, the sky is the limit.

Also, we did end up going to see Lady Gaga last minute last week.  She added 3 more tour dates in HK and released a ton of tickets last minute and we snapped five of those suckers up.  It was actually a super good concert and in light of a vote the UMC conference held last week (from my best friend's fb posts, truthfully and in a nutshell, I gather it was to look down on same sex couples...), her concert was a message of acceptance and love and being proud of who you are.  I can appreciate that message.  Also to the UMC: you are human and who are you to judge?

Soapbox moment: If you have been made a God in the eyes of the world, fine, you can judge.  But let none of the rest of us forget: judge not lest ye be judged.  The reason I am not married to a church is because when I worked for mine, I found out my church is human.  Glass shattering moment there, folks. The bottom line in this world should be that we treat everyone with respect and love because the fact of the matter is: no one knows what is out there in the ether.  We believe, but no one KNOWS and there is a fundamental difference between the two.  So have your convictions.  I choose to live by another law and when you condemn me for it, it doesn't matter because I know that I love my fellow human beings.  I will come back to my church when you accept everyone without judgement as we were meant to do.

Soapbox moment over.  I'm sure I'll get in trouble with a lot of people for that one.  Keep it to yourself though, because I have spent 26 years trying to be comfortable in my own skin and come up with my own beliefs.  I finally am and I have.  At LSU, the holy rollers scream at college students in "Free Speech Alley" as if they will actually make a difference to a bunch of twenty-something year old sinners.  They're merely a pageant. Garnering attention for themselves, but not for their message because hate does nothing to communicate a point.  "You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar." How many times did I hear that from my mother growing up?  Heck, I still get that from her!

Anywho.  Enough of me being preachy.  I'm tired of hearing myself rant.

And in True Me Fashion...

It has taken me two months to get back on track. But here I am. Back. AND on track.

I know, you're welcome.

I wish I could sum up my two vacations in March in one sentence apiece.  I can't, so I'll just give you a brief overview in a few words.

Bali: Scuba diving, Open Water certified, beach, floaties, water, friends.

Japan: Brother, cold, walking, amazing, sushi, rice balls, cherry blossoms, clean.

Maybe later I can write more.  Because there is oh so much more to say about all of theses places and things.  Don't take my word for it, go! And see for yourself.

Tonight was date night: Erin and I went to see the Avengers in 3D.  And Date Night did not disappoint.  Naturally.  I for reals am going to be lost without my best roomie.

We have started doing dive inspections at work: win! Tomorrow is diving and that means I miss yoga, making me 0-3 in getting to yoga this week, but at least it's some form of work out and I get to have lunch, instead of spending my lunch period wondering why I do this to myself (as I do in yoga, sometimes).

Big weekend planned: it's Tuesday in HK with Roomies.  We have an appointment at the consulate for new passport pages and then we're going to the EYE DOCTOR.  Exciting right? Totally jealous?  I thought so.  And it's ok.  Not everyone can be as awesome as we are.  Maybe there will even be some Greek food involved AND some tax discussion.  But don't get crazy.

There it is folks.  I am still alive and well in Macoma.  Still missing home, still having good days and bad days.  But mostly good ones lately.  Never boring, never dull.

Also, if you ever get the chance to see Bobby McFerrin in concert, doooooooooo ittttttttt! He was awesome. And I say that not only because he's the only concert I've had the opportunity to see since the Red Hot Chili Peppers in August.

We'd go see freaking Lady Gaga but bitch so popular she sold out in a couple hours. Freaking lack of good concerts in Asia. Let me tell you.

But anyway. A lovely evening out had by all in Macau tonight. And the only people we saw were three of the good ones. We had a pre - dinner drink, dinner, concert, and post concert drink (x 3) and only saw three people from work. And they were all people we enjoy spending time with.

Congrats to the girls involved for a lovely evening with LOW drama and high drinking/fun content! I love you all and I am stoked about our evening!

Tuesday is the new Saturday.

Get on board people. You heard it here first. Tuesday is the new Saturday.

But first, Monday.

I set our microwave on fire Monday night. Completely unintentionally. The moral of this story (because there always is one...) always read all of the directions first before commencing the recipe. Because generally there are key words you might miss otherwise. For example: Cook for eight minutes on high. Some microwaves cook at different temperatures, so be sure to monitor your potato chips. ~ When they say this, they mean it. I didn't and it so did. I set our microwave on fire. And Erin and I reacted about the same, which was to hope that the fire would go out on its own.

It didn't.

So we put it out.

So we had ceviche, Ruffles with Ridges, and sangria. Whilst watching Weeds for our Monday night extravaganza. I'm now taking applications to be my Monday night buddy for a short period of time between Erin's exit and mine. Little effort involved. Must like: cooking, baking, wine, Fleetwood Mac, being a hermit, beer, libations, fresh food, our bodega across the street, The Porch, sleeping, genuine people, and vacations. If interested, apply within. Much pressure, big shoes to fill.

Must also keep calm under pressure and have extreme anti-social tendencies when appropriate.

So out of the three recipes attempted on Monday night (the new Friday), two were an unabashed success. Ceviche and sangria were amazing. The potato chips were awesome when baked - regular AND purple yams! But the microwave potato crisps remain on hold.

Setting my microwave on fire once in one week is enough for now.

Fleetwood Mac said it best: Never break the chains.

Sometimes life starts spinning out of control and instead of grabbing onto it, we kick that proverbial ball and it just spins away, forgetting that we're supposed to be on board.

I think somewhere in this past week/weekend of mine, my ball starting rolling and ran away without me. I kicked that kinetic ball of life and it said "thanks for breaking the chains" and escaped as quickly as it could. I'm left holding the remains of those chains and wondering why I kicked it, what prompted me to kick it, and what I might be able to do to get it back.

I'm a control freak, Type-A personality through and through. When I start to feel out of control, I bake or throw myself into work with a reckless abandon. I baked a lot this weekend and today at work, I want time to pass as quickly as possible so I can go home and maybe take a sleeping pill to forget everything for 9 hours or so until I wake up tomorrow, and so on and so forth until my life gets tired of rolling and we find each other again.

I don't think I expect too much from life, but I do wish it would give me a little bit better of a chance. Or maybe I should say, I wish it would let me give myself a little bit of a chance because quite often when I get a glimmer of something good and hopeful, I manage to snuff it out post haste. What is it about basic human instinct that disallows us from just letting ourselves be happy and relinquishing control of those things we can't really manipulate to begin with?

I need a beach in my future. Stat.