Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Vodka... the cause of and solution to all life's problems

(adapted from Homer Simpson)

Hmmm.... I feel somewhat obligated to post something. I have also been feeling somewhat obligated to increase the quality and decrease the quantity of what I post on my blog. I know I always say I keep this blog for myself... but I do care if people read and I do care if you're enjoying it or being bored to tears by it.

I have cognitive dissonance.

I have vodka.

Let's see what happens.


1. The other day I went bowling with Bunny, Bobby, Donny & Marie (Philippino brother & sister I'm not sure I've mentioned yet), and two Thai guys.... I don't know what to call them yet. How about Rod & Tod? It was so much awesome! The bowling alley is essentially identical to what you could find in any-town USA which is always comforting. The girls drank Spy wine coolers, the boys laughed at us. We practiced our Thai and I even wrote a word in Thai.... "chicken"... it was exciting. I tried to write the name of our neighboring city but made a couple of mistakes, the first I could self-correct when it was pointed out to me, the second I understood as soon as Rod wrote the correct letter. I went home a little early. When Bunny & Bobby came back they found they'd locked themselves out so we had an impromptu sleep-over in my room. We played "20 questions - Harry Potter edition" and I fell asleep laughing.

2. Last night Bunny, Bobby, Donny & Marie and I all watched Quantum of Solace and ate pizza in B&B's room. The pizza was okay, the movie sucked. I drank a lot of vodka.

3. There's a party tonight, but I didn't feel like going. Mostly I was concerned that once I got there, I wouldn't have a ride home. I hate having FOMS (fear of missing something) about the party... but even more I hate feeling trapped somewhere when I'm not having a good time.

4. Bobby, Bunny and I want to go to Chiang Mai for New Year's but just learned that all the flights and busses will probably be booked already. I'm usually good about thinking these things out in advance, but the weather here is tripping me up. It's still just about as hot & sunny as it was when I got here in August. If nothing - it's sunnier now that the rainy season is over. How can it possibly be the end of November??

5. THANKSGIVING IS COMING AND I HAVE NO ACCESS TO STUFFING!!! Or cranberry sauce, or pumpkin pie, or mashed potatoes, or pecan pie, or ...or even crudites with ranch dressing.... no ceasar salad... no cheese cake, no fresh baked rolls, no... none of it. OMG this is actually making me cry. I'm 99% okay with the no kitchen situation, but no kitchen + no American restaurants is just not fair. =( We're going to do our best at the market... but .... without stuffing, does it really count as Thanksgiving? I'm totally making my students learn about Thanksgiving in class. I may even force them to draw hand-print turkeys. Yes... even the Dirty Old Men Business English Class.

6. I'm questioning several of my moral assumptions. It's strange how much environment and culture shape what you believe is 'right'.

7. I've been drinking a lot lately.

8. Not nearly enough.

TAG - Code Pineapple, I still have a cold, it's been well over a week since I went to the beach... other than that I'm fine.

8 comments:

turtlegirl76 said...

They gotta have some sort of bread product that you can jigger into a stuffing of sorts. Gah! I don't know what I would do in a foreign country trying to celebrate a US holiday that's food based. That's gotta be tough. Hey, you could always go the Christmas Story route and have Chinese. That's gotta be easier to find, eh?

Mag said...

I guess you could do without all that American food (Thai food's been good to you so far, no?) and just focus on your thanks-giving.
I've got it all right here and I'm not having any. Not even pie! Sacrilege!
Alcohol is a slippery slope~ Marge Simpson

marissa said...

"I have cognitive dissonance.

I have vodka.

Let's see what happens."

i've found that the latter alternately causes and remedies the former...

i wish i could fed-ex you some turkey and stuffing. we're having my "first ever actual grownup thanksgiving" where we make all the food and have my whole family down to sit at a table that is both big enough to fit everyone and small enough to fit in my dining room.

i've got cognitive dissonance too. but no vodka. i'm actually sober right now (and by right now i don't mean just this moment, i mean for three weeks!). i'm not preggo again, but i'm making damn sure that whenever there is a chance i might be (between weeks 1 1/2 and 4 of the cycle every month) there won't be a drop of alcohol anywhere near my bloodstream. which makes for a relative heck of a lot of sobriety. it's been good and interesting. i've been in my head a lot lately.

anyway, happy thanksgiving. i hope you find some turkey!

Lady Miss Violet said...

I wondered how you would handle Thanksgiving. Think outside the box. Work with what you have access to. Rice and pineapple stuffing?

I remember spending Thanksgiving in Hawaii. It was odd having a potluck picnic in a park, but it was fun!

Rebel said...

Turtle girl & Violet - if I had a kitchen I'd be all over it. I could do the whole thing from scratch, even with limited ingredients. But I've only got a hot pot to work with. =/

Mags - it was good for me, but now that I know my way around, and I have people to go out with, the whole weightloss plan has gone out the window.

Marissa - good job on the temporary sobriety. =P I'm *always* in my head (if you hadn't noticed) so it's good for me to stop thinking every once in a while.

jovaliquilts said...

I hope everything's ok. Just saw a headline about protesters at the airport and a full-blown "national crisis." I never know what that means in real life to those living somewhere. I hope this isn't something that affects your daily life.

Michael5000 said...

Personally, I think your quality rocks the house, and I've enjoyed the steady output. Not bored to tears! Not!

Karin said...

6. I'm questioning several of my moral assumptions.

Do tell!