My dear friend Rain will be here tomorrow! I am terribly excited because she lives in Manila and I haven't seen her since I left there in May. I credit her as one of the people that kept me sane while I was in the Philippines. Michael has been hearing about her for ages, so I know he's interested in learning what all the fuss is about. Here is a primer on Rain:
- She is the littlest person I know. Even in a country like the Philippines, she is super small.
- We look delightfully ridiculous together. She is my complete physical opposite.
- She can drink A LOT of wine. This is doubly impressive considering her size.
- Her boyfriend Alex owns a great little bar in the Legaspi Village area of Makati City. If you are ever in Manila, you should check out Cyrano and tell the owner the tall blonde American sent you. Some of my great Manila moments happened in that bar. Particularly the morning that Alex stayed awake all night to host Rain and I at 8am (after she and I got off work). He kept the security doors closed to block out all the sun so that we could pretend it was night and that we were normal people. We spent the morning talking and laughing and drinking. We staggered out into the daylight about 5 hours later and Alex thankfully drove me back to my condo.
- She is a great travel partner. We had a great weekend in Bangkok and I have always regretted that we didn't get to experience Baguio together.
- Breakfast with Rain and Alex is always a treat. Whether it is at 7am at Apartment 1B or 3am at the weird Indian place off Burgos.
- She is my "secret friend". In the Chinese zodiac, each sign has allies, and her Ox is the secret friend to my Rat. We thought that was fabulously ironic as we were great friends well before most people realized it.
- Some day she'll stop smoking and I hope to be partially responsible for it.
- She is one of the laziest people I have ever met, yet somehow manages to make this an advantage and be a highly productive person.
Rain will be here tomorrow! She has never been to North Carolina and isn't exactly fond of dogs. Since she and Iona are roughly the same height, this could be very interesting. Iona doesn't typically care for small children so I hope she doesn't get confused and just bite Rain out of principle.
As an aside, Iona is presently sitting on my Blackberry. If her ass calls you today, I apologize in advance.
Recently I feel like I am in a time warp and am in the Philippines again. I have been working ridiculous hours and feeling a bit stressed. I actually woke up at midnight and then at three am trying to figure out how to get everything done before the holiday weekend...just like the old days. Our personal life is also a bit ramshamble as we balance the multiple houses and try to get something moving on the construction. And of course I haven't been taking the time to talk with any friends and family....who are ironically the people that keep me calm. The past two nights I have been so exhausted when I get home that I haven't felt like cooking dinner or engaging in any meaningful conversation. Instead we dined on grilled cheese sandwiches and sunk into the couch watching "America's Next Top Model" or reruns of "CSI". I fall asleep on the couch, then drag myself to bed only to wake up two hours later. Sounds frighteningly like my life in Manila.
Fortunately the light at the end of the SHORTER tunnel is much BRIGHTER here. I do go to bed at night instead of noon, which is an amazing luxury in itself. I get why some people like the graveyard shift, but you will never ever ever be able to convince me it is worth it. There is a fabulous orange corgi snuggled up to me at each night - on the couch trying to steal my dinner and my space, and in the bed wanting my warmth and my pillows. (She still isn't completely accustomed to having TWO people in bed with her at night.) And most importantly I am making grilled cheese sandwiches for two (and a 1/2 if you count Iona) and there is someone sulking next to me as we watch something other than pre-season football. We are all making sacrifices with this move, and it seems we are all finding it worth it.
This weekend we get to demo things at the House. Aggression be gone!
We feel that having two homes is just not enough. If John McCain can have six or ten or twelve (who's keeping track?), then why shouldn't we? Therefore we signed a lease on a condo this evening. Now we have House, Fake House, and Condo.
Actually, we wanted to be closer to the House while the construction is going on. It also makes it easier to just run over there at night or on weekends to do small jobs. The Fake House is about 20 minutes away and it was just getting hard going back and forth all the time.
Now, while the Fake House is in a neighborhood that is totally not our style and everything on the house is plastic, it is nicely furnished and owned by an accommodating and wonderful person. The Condo also appears to be owned by an accommodating and wonderful person, but it comes with nothing other than appliances (he is leaving the microwave which made me giddy). With only our blow-up mattress, pets, computer and stereo equipment, and clothes, we will officially be living like the oldest college students ever.
We move (again) in mid-September and will have one week of overlay with the Fake House. If you happen to be in Raleigh then, let us know. We have a house or two that you can crash in. Just don't be expecting any great amenities like homemade breakfast, daily housekeeping, turn-down service, silverware, or beds.
