Rachel K Meals on Wheels

I woke up at a decent hour this morning and proceeded to shower and then [gasp] study for the GRE!

Not only that, but I managed to REGISTER for the GRE, which was an easy process, but will be a grueling commute. Why can't they have a test center that is bus accessible? The closest bus stop to the center is still about a mile away so I'll have to walk after taking two buses, or rent a car from Zipcar. I'll figure it out; I'm sure it'll be the least of my worries that day, anyhow.

General financial panic is setting in as my Japan money still hasn't arrived and I'm not sure if the checking account correction I made and sent back to Tokyo ever made it. I trust in Japanese bureaucracy almost entirely, but when it comes to the postal service, I'm never sure. I just need those thousands of dollars so I can do things like buy real bed-side tables, get a coffee table, and go to the dentist. I still have enough in my savings account to last me more than the next few months of unemployment, but I want my Japanese pension refund already! I want it! Gimme!

Now begins the ides of March! Today after studying for a solid three hours (aided with TV in the background, coffee, tea, lunch, a snuggie-cape that I made complete with belt, and colour coded notes), I'm off to Kumon for tutoring! Then I will scurry off to meet Kevin at Chipotle for our weekly tradition; burrito Monday. It makes Mondays bearable and delicious.

The weekend was relaxing and exhausting. Kevin and I visited my old Starbucks to pick up my last batch of tips and to say hi to the weekend girls (Hilary, Ashley, Ally etc) who I miss now that I don't work there. Kevin said it was cute to see me with all the tittering girliness of the store -- and I was happy to have him see that I had friends outside of Megan and Sarah. Friends who I miss! We spoke to Hilary about joining us for rock climbing on Sunday and went off to the Mobile Food Festival near Safeco Field.

The food festival should have been cooler, probably. There were too many people, the lines were too long and there wasn't enough seating or shelter. The temperatures ranged between a chilly, sunny day and a blustery cold one. Kevin and I trouped through three lines total; pizza, hamburgers and finally hot dogs (after meeting up with Sarah and Ian from Fremont). The food was good, but in the end it was just too cold and crowded.

Kevin and I later played board games at his friend Greg's house and then we went home early for rock climbing with Hilary on Sunday! We sprinted for the bus to Ballard, which we then had to wait for, and met Hilary at Stone Gardens around noon.

We climbed and climbed! Kevin had gone climbing the previous day, but went again with me because he is a trouper and loves climbing fake rocks. Hilary turned out to be a BEAST. She did most of the bouldering routines with ease and grace and went to work out in the gym after Kevin and I were ready for naps and death. I wore myself out, but I feel like I'm making a little progress considering the dearth of times I have tried it. I'm able to do routines more quickly, although I still can't finish a lot of them. I need more upper arm strength and then I will be able to do things more easily, I think. In any case it's nice to have an 'athletic activity' that I do once in awhile. How unlike me!

After grabbing food at Zak's burger place on NW Market Street, we grabbed a bus downtown and tried to catch another bus to a game store in upper Queen Anne so Kevin could find this game called 'agricola' that he wanted. I was looking for 'Mexican Train' anyway, so I decided to join him. We sprinted for another bus, catching it narrowly and with awesomeness, and went to the game store. The store was really decked out in all sorts of games, but they did not have the ones we were looking for. A bit disappointed, we returned to my condo to nap until hunger struck again.

Kevin had the idea to take us out for pasta at The Old Spaghetti Factory, where we got to sit in the fake trolley table area and dine on delicious spaghetti and something called a 'strawberry citrus fizz', which was mostly high fructose corn syrup in pretty colors.

I came home on Sunday night to hang out with Megan and we watched the newest episode of America's Next Top Model. I'm not sure if that show is getting stupider or I'm just getting older, but it's probably some combination. O Tyra, why are you so crazy?

Rachel K. Acclamating

I feel like I'm already going crazy from all this free time. What am I doing?! Why did I quit my job? I mean, I know I quit my job because it was super lame and stressful, but ... BLAGAGGHH!

I'm not doing all the things I told myself I would be doing! I keep freaking out about all the to-do-for-LIFE lists I've made for myself and running off to do random things like read blogs or watch old episodes of House. Shouldn't I be studying 9 hours a day? Or writing cover letters for assistant teaching positions?

I had a good Kumon day tutoring the children, but I am not bold enough to go up to the substitute teachers who work there and ask them, "HOW DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO AND HOW CAN I ALSO DO THIS?!" I am the meekest.

I admire Amy D., who I met on JET a few years back. I'll be visiting her in June when I go to Berkley to do my iD Tech Camps training and I'll have to pick her brain. Not only can this girl play the banjo, but she went through a masters program that she hated and now she has a job that she's really doing wonders with ESL kids. I wish I could have some of her awesomeness, but for now I'm just glad to be buddies with her so I can ask her a million billion questions about ... things.

I sat down with dinner tonight in my rocking chair and felt lonely all of a sudden. Megan is out with friends tonight doing JET alumni things and Kevin is out with his friends doing happy hour, which I opted out of because it feels irresponsible to spend money on beer when I should be saving my money for grad school and impending unemployment etc. All  of this non-Rachel fraternization leaves me high and dry in the social department. I guess after all those hours alone in my apartment, the last place I want to be in the evening is alone in my apartment. Although I should probably get used to being by myself since that's what happens when you don't have a job! Baby steps. 

For now I'm going to run away from my crippling fear of inadequacy by actually going for a jog on ye olde treadmill in the downstairs exercise area.

Rachel K. Things that start with the letter M

I woke up at a reasonable hour and decided on how to organize and clean Kevin's room in my head.

Went home to work out a little bit, do dishes and shower. Then I took on THE MIGHTY TAXES. Ian in Kyoto helped me out a lot with this one. I am able to file for something that essentially says, "UNCLE SAM DON'T TOUCH MY JAPAN MONEY! I HAVE A FORM! MWAHHAAH" and then I can put said money into a Swiss bank account and let it fester into riches. Or spend it on a coffee table. The important thing is that I did something productive with my time.

In the afternoon, I joined Sarah for a viewing of Alice in Wonderland, which I'd give a 7 out of 10, although I didn't like the amount of bad CG. We also ate delicious sushi! Afterwards we explored the Pike Place Market some more and I bought sausages for dinner.

After another trip to the non-market grocery store, I went home to cook a large dinner of fettuccine Alfredo with sausage, corn and broccoli for dinner. Megan and Kevin showed up to eat it and we finished the meal off by drinking red wine and watching Zombieland, which I would give a 9 out of 10.

I'm still going to bed at a reasonable time and waking up at reasonable hours. So far, anyway. Tomorrow I have work at Kumon!

Rachel K. Rachelmas

As is characteristic of my blogging habits, whenever I have a real life outside of video games, blogging, and reading blogs about video games, I stop writing.

So since my last few entries a few things have happened:

• Landed myself a boyfriend
• Thanksgiving
• Festivus
• Channukah and Failed Failed™ Latkes
• Hosted Rachelmas 2K9
• Had six guests stay at the ol' abode. 
• Resigned myself to working at Starbucks for the rest of my nubile existence.
• Wrote 45 Christmas cards
• Knitted an awesome scarf of awesomeness. 

So yeah, I'm the kid who starts dating someone and gives up on writing about the inane details of their lives. Deal with it 'cause I'm not apologizing for that. He's pretty rad, he works from Microsoft so he's a PC user and I'm a Mac user and together we are the most boring Shakespearean tragedy ever not written. He's tall and we both enjoy octopuses and eating, but not octopus-eating. And that's that.

Around Thanksgiving, Natanya (my friend from Japan) came up from San Francisco for a visit in Seattle. We didn't do too much together (on account of work), but she spent a few nights and I got to meet her friends from college. It was really awesome hanging out with someone from Japan and feeling so nonchalant about the whole thing. Also she managed to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy while staying at my apartment, which is damned impressive.

Other than that, I spent Thanksgiving with the Family Sreebny up in Matthew's Beach. There, we dined on too much food, accidentally sugarless pumpkin pie, a headless turkey cake, and all the Irish Coffees we could remember. The feasting was mighty and lengthy, the children played a youthful game of RISK (ohhh why do the wee ones always try to take over Europe!?) and I eventually tryptophan'd myself out of conversation and looked at a big book of architectural sites until it was time to drive home the old people.

Natanya left shortly after Thanksgiving and her visit was directly followed by a visit by my sister, Laura and my parents. The parents stayed in the fancy schmancy "guest suite" in the apartment complex and Laura stayed with me. I had been feeling a cold coming on for a few days, but it managed not to hit me entirely until Friday night. Zaydeh, the patron Sreebny, threw a swanky soiree for the family Sreebny and we ate fancy cheese on his couch while looking out the window at the glorious space needle. Laura and I then dashed off to our other party that night (at my place) for board game excitement! It was the first time Kevin was meeting a lot of my friends as well as Laura, so it was a really fun night despite the fact that I was basically sick.

The next day we went out to Bainbridge Island to be tourists. We drove around the water front and had a nice lunch at a local pub. It couldn't have been nicer outside, weather wise. I was sick as a very sick dog and downing sudafed and tea by the metric ton. Still, the day was totally enjoyable and as I napped in the car on the way back from the ferry, I fever dreamed happy thoughts.

When all the guests were gone, it was time for more parties and holidays. Between the two, Laura and Megan and Megan's friend Kelly and I managed to see the most spectacular version of the Nutcracker EVER. The backgrounds had been designed by Maurice Sendak and they were as animated as the dancers. Being the sickest had no effect on how glad I was to have seen the ballet.

Thanksgiving was followed by my 25th birthday, which was more memorable than I had anticipated it to be. I originally would have spent it eating a burrito (thanking God every day for the Chipotle that has opened on 3rd and Pike) and watching reruns of Jeopardy from the DVR. Thanks to my wise roommate, Megan [pictured right], dinner plans were soon made. We had tried to make reservations at a classy Japanese place called Chiso in Fremont. However, they were changing management and wouldn't be open on that Saturday. Instead, I made a reservation at Anthony's, a really fun seafood restaurant nearby the condo. We figured that would be good food for everyone since it has seafood, steak, pasta and just about everything else. Plus, free rolls.

Megan, Sarah [pictured left] and I got dolled up and walked over to the restaurant with Ian (Sarah's roommate) and Kevin (the kid who is dating me of his own accord, HA). The hostess took us upstairs, which was new and exciting because I had only ever been on the first floor dining area. Unfortunately, the upstairs was three times as pricey and had half the menu. Why does less choice make something classy?

With the realization that our $14 dinners were now going to be $60 (everyone knows that 14 x 3 = 60, shut up), we ordered drinks. Sadly, my brand new Washington state license was at home in my other jacket. Instead of getting a cherry coke and calling it a night, Kevin and I walked back to the condo, grabbed my ID, and returned triumphantly to our alcoholic beverages. I wasn't going to spend the evening of my 25th year sober, no sir.

The dinner was delicious and totally pleasant and we managed to pay for the bill (by which I mean that the girls in the group were completely unable to chip in and the boys paid for everything instead. I'm glad to be supporting 1940's gender stereotypes with my poverty and addiction to absinthe and cigarettes in no particular order.)

Thinking back on it, I can't think of a more memorable way to turn 25 than being carded and not having an ID, and failing to pay for my own dinner. I've come along way since the birth canal. Maybe by the time I'm 26 I'll have mastered the art of picking up after myself or flossing.

Festivus was the very next week! It was a party hosted by Kevin and his enigmatic roommate, Waseem (Canadian, works for Amazon, extraordinarily tall). It's based on the Festivus episode of Seinfeld and has traditions such as an unadorned aluminum pole (purchased at Home Depot), the airing of grievances and feats of strength. It was really fun getting to hang out with the few of Kevin's friends that I've already met and a lot of new ones. His pals are really friendly, fun types and I felt right at home with their excitement for video games, drinking at home, and celebration of things that come from TV. The airing of grievances was interesting to listen to... it started out as things like, "I hate my job" or "not getting laid" and eventually broke down into incoherent screams or multiple guys yelling out, "F*** Tom Brady!" and who can blame them? We can't all be professional athletes who marry Giselle. It's just not plausible for that to happen to more than one person. Meanwhile, the female of the friends, Madeleine and I just talked about clothing from Victoria's Secret because we have the same sweater from their catalogue. It's almost the same thing because Giselle worked for Victoria's Secret. Everything is connected. The feats of strength deviated from the hosts 'rassling' one another and turned into a very organized Street Fighter contest. I died and soon after lost interest, but the final battle was between Waseem and Kevin, which was fairly epic.

December as a month generally boiled down to the epic holiday preparations for Rachelmas 2K9, which involved Xmas cards, facebook invitations, 600 coloured lights, and a lot of baking. Not all of this happened at the same time, but every part of it was epic, as always.

A lot of people were able to show up to Rachelmas this year, though none of my coworkers from Starbücks (sad!) We had a lot of people visiting from out of town, including Natanya (again!), R2 and Ian. Ian's visit was plotted more than planned. We decided to surprise Megan with Ian's arrival by telling her that Ian couldn't come for Rachelmas. Despite some weak alibis and the fact that both Natanya and I accidentally spilled the beans about 4 times, the surprise appearance was a success. I took Ian and Natanya out to Chipotle (Thank you, Jesus) and we called for Megan to join us from work. We had Ian sit at a separate table and when Megan sat down, Ian came over and bumped into her. He apologized and walked off and Megan had the most ridiculous double take before turning purple and jumping up to hug the crap out of him. "I'm so happy you're heeeere". It was momentously joyous. Other than that I discovered that though I had bought Natanya some earrings for X-mas, she hadn't had any pierced ears. The clear next step was to go out and force her to put some holes in those lobes. And we did.

Surprise visits over and done with, R2 showed up a few hours later and so began Rachelmas 2K9. Sarah and Ian brought about 100 chocolate chip cookies, R2 baked some macaroons, Natanya baked me a magnificent cake, Megan made buffalo chicken dip, and Cheryl brought lasagna! It was an impressive feast to be sure. Natanya and I started off the party at the Marriott next door to the apartment and did some tequila shots before returning to the party and welcoming the guests with red cheeks and dizzying smiles. Huzzah!

We played celebrities and loaded questions and of course "Never have I ever" while dining on cakes, cookies, dips, pastas, and delicious drinks. Kevin's flight was delayed so he was even able to stay longer, which was great for me (drunk and obnoxious) and less wonderful for he (itching to leave, frustratingly sober). The evening came to a close with a "She Wolf" dance contest and watching inappropriate muppet-related videos on Youtube. My friends rolled me into bed and removed my socks, and another Rachelmas had come and gone.

And so I wrap up my epic blog entry and go to watch It's a Wonderful Life with the Family Sreebny.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good snowstorm.

Rachel K. Caprese

Megan's friend, Cheryl had a belated birthday party for herself. Whereas a party for myself would involve cake, wine and board games, Cheryl decided she wanted to cook for about twelve people. The results were first-rate. I'll let most of the photos speak for themselves, but Cheryl managed to cook Brussel sprouts with bacon, a roast, garlic mashed potatoes, a caprese, basil and tomato plate, and various side dishes involving cheese and general swankiness.


The ambiance was calm and affable -- I got to spend more time with Megan's friends from the Jet Program alumni association, to which they all belong and for which they all organize events. While I am still not sold on the idea of joining an alumni association (it goes against my James Dean "I aint a part of no organization, man" persona), it's always nice to hang out on someone's couch while eating cheese.

After a few hours, the conversation turned into Japan-talk, which I'm still not quite ready for. My experience in Japan will never be the crazy city-life, dancing-til-3am-with-my-teachers, fun-fest that it was for a few others. I do my best not to feel bitter or unapproachable about the subject, but I'm still not ready to have a conversation about my feelings on Japan or my two years spent there in general isolation. I also still have no idea who any Japanese pop singers or actors are, which made it a little difficult to follow along with most of the conversations going on.

This was all solved when the home-made pumpkin cheesecake was brought out and my insecurities were drowned in baked goodness.


Now that all my coworkers are female and all of Megan's friends are female... it's about time to start making some male friends. I'll put that in my wishlist to Santa this year.

Rachel K. Linens 'n Things

I slept a proper night's sleep! Hooray for me!

Zaydeh and I had a 'proper breakfast' this morning of eggs, potatoes and mushrooms. We made too much and fed the leftovers to the trash can.

Then we decided to take down the mighty linen closet -- full of Bubbeh's stuff. So we divvied up napkins, napkin rings, napkins (thousands of them), place mats, tablecloths and odds and ends that we found. I can't believe how much she put in that closet that we never knew about! Pot holders and aprons GALORE.

So Zaydeh and I will wont for nothing. Hooray for Bubbeh! I also found a big box of embroidery kits, which I want to practice embroidery on of course, and a lot of spare yarn and knitting needles. A woman after my own heart! Meanwhile Zaydeh and I appear to have more and more in common every day... such as our fondness for milk and Hitchcock. Or our love of too-strongly-brewed coffee.

In the evening I met up with Sarah and Ian and their neighbour, Justin. Justin's a youngin' from Berkley who moved up here to work for Amazon doing clever computer things that earn him more money than I will ever dream of. Speaking of not dreaming of money, tomorrow I'm going to take a crack at applying for jobs. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, the four of us were driven (how nice!) to an izakaya in the International District called Kaname (which probably means something in Japanese but I sure didn't know what). The food was good. It was different than the stuff I've been eating for the past couple of years, but it was still full of tofu and there was beer so no complaints here! It's really nice having Sarah back as a friend in person again! No more of this internet friend nonsense.

Today Megan, my future roommate and platonic life partner, stopped seeing this nice kid she was dating for the past month or so. I guess when the sparks aren't there the sparks aren't there! But it's hard to explain that to someone who sees sparks despite the fact that you DON'T. Alas, such is life.

Rachel K. Reacclamating

The first monorail (the word itself a magnificent combination of Latin and ... Rail) was built in 1820. They were gyroscopically balanced. This predates the discovery of penicillin by over 100 years. At least the human race has its priorities in order.

It's the hottest weather in Seattle since THE DAWN OF TIME. That's not true at all, I just can't remember the last year during which Seattle reached 102ºF. That's hot, man! Seattle, as I understand it, is meant to be a lovely, cloudy metropolis filled not with heat, but with coffee. Or possibly flannel. Maybe even a little street music -- but not blinding, inescapable sunshine that brings with it immense waves of warmth (or warmthwaves, as some call them).

What do I think about all this? I just moved here. From Japan, where it is also hot and terrible. The forgivable things about Seattle are that:

• This heat will go away. Soon the clouds and the chill and the drizzle will return.
• Seattle isn't humid like Japan. In fact, a sauna isn't as humid as Japan in July.
  

So I'm settling in just fine. I'm messily and partially unpacked on the floor of my grandfather's study. He has recently agreed to let me and my fine, ginger-haired friend Megan move into his lovely condominium across from the Seattle Aquarium. For this we are thankful, but the move in will not be until September or October. So, until then, I will remain spread out, partially unpacked on the floors of helpful strangers and family members.

Oh, and I'm unemployed.

First impressions:

• In Japan, there were monkeys in my backyard. They screamed and squawked in the mornings to each other. I woke up this morning listening to these same sounds... except that they were apparently seagulls. Someone should have called them Monkeygulls, or perhaps Gullkeys but I'm no etymologist.

• I am not accustomed to hearing motors from my house. This morning I woke up to the sound of a jet flying past my window and was convinced that North Korea had just shot a missile toward the pentagon, miscalculated, and I was about to explode in a cloud of communist fury and kimchi. Instead, the airplane simply reached cruising altitude and enjoyed an in-flight meal of various foods heated at various temperatures.

So I sit here, in the midst of my space bags stuffed with clothing and ridiculous Japanese souvenirs, typing my virgin blog entry at 4:30am, wishing for sleep or dawn-- whichever comes first.

Today I become a resident of Seattle! Today I pay $45 to a DMV for a card that will validate this fact. Today, I will be exhausted.