Fun Little Discovery

So, when I was in Vietnam last time, I was hit by a major craving for macaroni and cheese. The fluorescent orange kind, where "cheese" should really be spelled “cheez”. I have now, quite inadvertently, discovered a quick fix for said craving – Cup-A-Soup broccoli and cheese soup. Before I left, Mom stocked me up with lots of soup and oatmeal for dinners and such, as well as the best invention ever – a dual-voltage heating coil for boiling water. So, today was my first time trying the broccoli and cheese, and I’ll be darned if it doesn’t replicate the artificial goodness of the real deal (by which I mean Kraft mac and cheese – it really is the definitive classic.). It’s probably got a better nutritional profile, too. I’m only guessing, but since I didn’t add four tablespoons of butter to the soup to make it, I’m pretty sure I’m right about this one.

Mmm…cheez.

And now for something completely different…I find that, although I’ve gotten older, and hopefully a little wiser, I still have absolutely lousy study habits. Just terrible. I have, with the best of intentions, come into the office before 8 am, leaving after 5 every day, occasionally busting out the computer in my hotel room, all with the goal of sitting down and pounding out a few chapters for this next report. What do I have written? A handful of pages. Is this because of all the extensive research I’ve been conducting that I just haven’t put down on paper yet? Oh, how I wish that were true. No, it’s been because, lately, I can’t concentrate for more than a few minutes on anything work-related. This happens more than I’d like, and unfortunately my M.O. tends to be this: read a little, write a little, check e-mail more than is advisable, realize the deadline is imminent, then work like a dog for two days to get all caught up and get everything done on time. Now, unfortunately, the quality of whatever I turn in tends to be good (not patting myself on the back – just going on grades and other feedback), so I never really learn my lesson.

TL arrives on Saturday, though. I have a feeling that might provoke my pseudo-crisis mode.

Yes, I’m pathetic. But at least I’m consistent.

S, our housing specialist, has arrived, and I’m very glad to see her. Not only do I find her to be a delightful and interesting person, it’s just nice to have some company! She stopped at the office briefly but then went straight to the hotel to collapse after a long and tiring trip. We’ve agreed to meet up for breakfast tomorrow morning at 7:30, although I have a feeling that we’ll both be up considerably earlier. (On a side note, I was able to stay up until 10 pm-ish last night, and slept until almost 4 am – yay progress!)

Since it’s Eid and most people are taking a good week or so off, I had expected that the road up to the hotel was going to get worse and worse over the course of the past week. What had been necessary for the past few days was for someone else to take me from the hotel to the construction zone, since L’s sedan can’t make it up when the road is really torn up. (I’ll have to get pictures of it some day.) This afternoon, though, it appeared to be in pretty good shape, which I remarked upon with pleasant surprise. Apparently the owner of the hotel came to visit, and his little sports car couldn’t make it up (the dirt road had collapsed away from the paved road, leaving a concrete overhang, if that makes any sense), so one irate phone call from the guy in charge seemed to get it fixed. The mental image of both his car trying to get up the hill, and the expression on his face at seeing the road, made me chuckle.

Ah, life in za tropics. (Yes, I realize I’m not in the tropics anymore. It’s become an all-purpose expression for me.)

As a p.s. – why do non-native English speakers insist on correcting my English? I do understand what you’re trying to communicate, my friend, I’m just saying that you’re communicating it in a way that will make it incomprehensible to any native English speaker. TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.