Immeasurably More

Since I've moved to the UK, I have been away from home for more days than I have been at home, and I have been lax about cooking. As evidence, I offer a single fact. After I had boiled the rice and chopped all the other ingredients, I opened my cupboard and failed to find soy sauce. Had I been home for more extended periods of time or had I been more inclined to cook during my brief stays here, this could never have happened. And the grocery store closes at 5 on a Sunday. What's a girl to do? Go to the 24 hour Corner Store, which purveys all manor of ingredients one might need on short notice as well as providing a hang out for the male family members of the Pakistani (?) guy who (I assume) owns the place. Him ->"Soy sauce. This is for making Sushi?" Me -> "Sort of. Stir fry." Him -> "That's the opposite of Sushi! With cooked food it makes sense. But even the Sushi places give the little packets of soy sauce." Me -> "We...

This return from Sydney to the UK has resulted in the worst jet lag I've had to date. I was wide awake at 11:30 pm last night (8:30 am in Sydney), and only managed to get back to sleep around 6am. You can accomplish a lot of things while being awake at 3 in the morning. Ironing. Dishes. Finding a new favorite tv show. ( Being Human - about roommates who are a Vampire, a Werewolf, and a Ghost. Coming soon to the US. Look for it if you like that sort of thing.) My bizarre sleep schedule resulted in my taking another day off of work. And it was a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. I joined some friends (Mother, 4-Year-old, 2-Year-old, and 9-Month-old to play soccer (I was declared "really good at this" by the 4-Year-old), chat about the virtues of electronic book readers, walk in the sun, and watch the soldiers march by for the changing of the guard at Windsor Castle. And then 4-Year-old noticed the police motorcycles coming up the long approach to the castle. They we...

Last week I walked into Starbucks in Sydney with a group of my co-workers and gave them my usual order. When I got my cup back, it had Nestle neatly written on the side. Well, I did order a mocha...

Santiago and Sydney

I have come to believe that the traditional rating system for films is inadequate. It is impossible to express with a single line of stars opinions about both a films quality as a film and it's entertainment/educational/emotional value. Below you will find the 5 films I watched on my flight from Santiago to Auckland, NZ along with favorite moments and quotes, misc. commentary and my double 5 rating. The first number represents what I thought of the films acting, direction, visuals, message, etc. (see comments in previous posts); the second number represents how much I enjoyed the film and whether I would be likely to watch it again. Film 1: Horton Hears a Who Favorite moment: Horton tucks one ear under the other to form a swimming cap. Quotation: Horton: I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100% Morton: I've never been more than 99%, and I think I'm awesome! Comments: Good if somewhat goofy fun. Rating: 4 - 4 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Film 2: Ga...

Dear Reader, When I checked out of my Santiago hotel room this morning, the message light on the phone was still flashing. Actually, multiple lights were flashing. Two on the phone by the bed, two on the phone on the desk and one on phone in the bathroom. I assume this means that someone called me, but I don't know who. The first time this happened was sometime last week. I never even noticed the flashing message lights until I turned off the lights to go to bed. When I picked up the phone, a recording of a woman's voice said (in English), "You have a callback request. You can still make a call by pressing * and dialing the number as usual." And then the phone dialed some number and started ringing. It was 11:30 pm and no one answered my call before the second ring which was the fastest I could hang up the phone. The lights blinked on. Out of curiosity about the way things work, I picked up the phone again, pressed * followed by the "voice mail" but...

I've been on elevators all around the world. Glass elevators at shopping malls. Elevators in office buildings that only visit floors 1-15. The world's fastest elevator in Building 101 in Taipei. All of these elevators work on the same principle. The passenger approaches the elevator door and presses one of two buttons. The upper button calls an elevator to take the passenger up; the lower button brings an elevator to take the passenger down. Sometimes there is only one button which makes the decision that much easier. Once the passenger has boarded the elevator, there is a large number of buttons next to the elevator door, usually labeled with numbers and each representing a floor in the building that houses the elevator. Sometimes difficulties can arise at this point from carelessness on part of the passenger. They may neglect to insert their hotel room key into the key reader before selecting a floor. They may have boarded an up-going elevator and choose a downward ...