your face is all that i see, i give you everything

I'm running out of steam, so I need to plan to get nine hours of sleep tomorrow night since it won't happen tonight. Today was made slightly more brutal because I didn't sleep that well last night; when I woke up this morning, it was a struggle to get ready, and so I didn't leave until 6:40. Luckily, traffic was okay, so I got to the office by 7:40; unluckily, I spent too much time socializing - first talking to Ben, who is a frequent coinhabitor of the coffee place in the early morning hours, and then being generally distracted by Dave until I threw in the towel on productivity and had breakfast instead. Of course, I'm so behind on the day job that I'm not going to catch up anytime soon anyway, so breakfast was better than slogging - but I should probably make an attempt at productivity at some point.

That attempt wasn't made today, however. After breakfast, I had a whole slew of meetings - I was supposed to have meetings straight from 11am to 4pm, but luckily my 1pm lunch was canceled. So even though my noon meeting ran twenty minutes late, there was time to get salad and an iced latte before my 2pm meeting, which is probably the only thing that saved me.

I finally made it out of the office around 5:15, and I came home with all sorts of glorious intentions - but instead, all my intentions went out the window and were replaced by an even more glorious visit from Chandlord. Ostensibly she came over to help me unpack, but I unpacked approximately three boxes while we drank an entire bottle of wine and ate takeout Thai amidst the detritus of my life. The lack of unpacking productivity was totally worth it, and I've resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to have to leave most of my stuff unorganized until I get back from Tahoe - c'est la vie.

Now, though, I shall sleep; the morning will come too soon, and I have to train with Alyssa before going to work (and I have to eat leftover Thai for breakfast, since I haven't bought any groceries) - so the morning will be brutal if I don't sleep asap. Goodnight!

baby turn the lights out

Today was yet another extremely long day, but I feel v. accomplished as a result. I woke up at 5:45, was out the door by 6:20, and was pleasantly surprised by traffic (which must have been impacted by spring break), so I arrived at the office at 7:15. I then proceeded to do day job stuff (which needs to stop interfering with my writing mornings asap) until 10:45, at which point I snuck out (translation: boldly strolled out) to see Alyssa. She took it slightly easy on me since I'm in moving hell, but I still did enough swings/snatches/presses/lunges/whatever to feel like I got a good workout.

When I returned to the office, I was lured into getting salads at the new salad place on campus, which meant that I didn't dry my hair since my choice was to a) eat or b) look pretty before my next meeting. Eating was the right choice; they make a chicken cobb salad that is totally delish, and now I want it every day. Unfortunately for me, it's not the closest cafe on campus; fortunately for me, it's free, so if I want to do it, I can. After lunch, I had several meetings, followed by coffee with Dave (half the team seemed to have the same idea, since we couldn't rally any of the people near us to go, but we found the rest of them in varying stages of walking to coffee / getting coffee / coming back from coffee on our way).

I left the office at 5:15 to begin what felt like the second part of my day...and the first stop was v. unusual, since I went to the San Francisco airport to do my global entry interview. It was remarkably efficient, which was a good thing, since getting the last stuff out of the old apartment was remarkably inefficient - what I thought would take thirty minutes actually took two hours, as moving always does. Between all the recycling, all the trash, all the alcohol I still had to put in my car, and the (thankfully empty) vodka bottle that I shattered in the garage and had to sweep up, I made a lot of trips up and down the stairs. So it's extremely fortunate that I canceled my swimming lesson in favor of my global entry interview tonight, since moving all that stuff after training with Alyssa and swimming for an hour might have truly killed me.

But now I'm fully done with the old place, and I can focus my efforts on unpacking this one. But that will have to wait until at least tomorrow night; now, I must sleep, since I have to get up super early and do all the work I should have done tonight. Sadness. Goodnight!

i won't be held responsible, she fell in love in the first place

Today was going totally swimmingly, but I suddenly crashed from lack of energy and have reached the despondent part of the move...the part where there is still too much stuff left to be unpacked and I would like to sit down, but there's no place to sit down. That's not entirely true -- my bed area is completely done, and both the couch and the loveseat are free of boxes. But they aren't free of the view of boxes, which is making me feel all sad and hemmed in. And it's probably worse because it's unlikely that I'll get fully unpacked before I go to Tahoe on Friday, which means I'll come home to something of a mess, which I *despise*.

But still. Today was full of progress, even if I'm not done. I got nine hours of v. blissful sleep, woke up happy, showered, unearthed some clothing, and unpacked all morning. The internet guy showed up around 9:30, and since I signed up for this new ISP (webpass) that seems to prize customer service (and is also preinstalled in the building), the installation took less than five minutes. Amazing. After that, I continued to unpack, and was joyfully interrupted by Chandlord, who failed to give me three days' written warning of entering my place, but she showed up with my garage keycard and spare keys to the apartment, so I'll forgive her this time.

After Chandlord left, I picked up Lauren (aka Subz) so that we could be ladies who brunch in Laurel Heights. We went to a place she chose specifically for the patio, but we were later than planned, and so we ended up seated at the window overlooking the patio (tragically close, tragically far away). Still, the food was lovely, the mimosa was even lovelier, and Subz herself was the loveliest of all.

But all loveliness came to a crashing halt when I went back to the old apartment and spent an hour lugging the remaining stuff downstairs, taking what I wanted out of the fridge, dumping alcohol I would never drink, etc., etc. We're basically out now, but there's a whole bunch of trash and recycling left to be dealt with, and the trash/recycling bins were totally full, so I have to go back tomorrow night and finish. Boooo. Still, it wasn't horrific, so I'll take it.

Then I took some stuff to the storage unit (which I'm exceedingly glad I got, since if all that stuff was here too, I would probably have burst into tears at some point), came home, unpacked a couple more boxes, and got a manicure (the manicure was the most necessary thing of the day, since my nails were looking a little cryptkeeper-ish after all the moving). Then I talked to my parents, who were in fine form (and practicing the barter system, which reminds me that I'm v. far removed from the heartland). And then, even though my energy was flagging, I had dinner at this newish rotisserie place near me, and then spent another two hours unpacking.

Now, though, I have to sleep; getting up early tomorrow is going to come all too soon. Goodnight!

don't look back in anger

I'm in my new apartment, which is strangely similar to my old apartment...oh, wait, it is my old apartment. It's simultaneously great and totally surreal to be back after almost six years away. The only really unfortunate ting is that I have more stuff than I did six years ago, despite my efforts to purge over the past few weeks...while I purged books and clothes, I didn't purge furniture, and what I have now doesn't fit completely easily in the space. I think it will be great once I empty all the boxes and can actually walk around, but that's a task for another day.

However, the move went about as smoothly as these things can go. I woke up at 6:30, enjoyed a final few minutes in my bed as the sun rose, and then packed until 8:30. I managed to take a break long enough to shower and have breakfast down the street, and I got back just as the movers arrived. They did a great job, and I'd had one of them move me before (out of this place and into adit's), so that was weird as well.

But we got everything here, and it only took seven hours....the 2-4 flights of stairs at the old place plus the elevator situation here slowed them down, but they did an admirable job. They left around 4:30, and then I took my desk and filing cabinet to storage, went to the old place to grab some stuff, came here, went to whole foods, considered staying up all night to unpack,and instead unpacked only the most important things (bed sheets, toiletries, and tea making stuff for tomorrow).

And now, even though it's not quite ten p.m., I'm going to sleep - I have a million things to do tomorrow to get sufficiently out of the old place and into the new place, and that requires a million hours of sleep first. Goodnight!

let's not make it harder than it has to be

I should have gone to bed two hours ago...but then, I shouldn't have spent two hours tonight playing hooky from the packing (#yolo). I woke up at 5:30am so that I could say goodbye to Terry; we hugged it out in the living room, and then I went downstairs with her to say hi to Lauren, who took her to the airport. It hasn't sunk in that she's gone, and it probably won't for awhile...just as it hasn't sunk in that I won't sleep in this place again after tonight.

But there wasn't time to wallow; as soon as Terry was gone, I made tea, and then did day job stuff straight from 6:30am to 1pm. That was a lot of stuff, obvi. I took a break for a late lunch, came back, had a couple more meetings, and then abandoned the laptop to start packing. Packing consumed the entire afternoon/early evening, but I diverted myself out of packing and across town at 4pm to rent a small storage unit, since I realized that there were some things I am still debating whether to get rid of, and the studio will be cluttered enough as it is with all my moving boxes without the added clutter of extra books/clothes/catfish pillows. But even though this was not on the plans for today when I woke up, I'm glad I took the time to do it now - it should make other tings easier later.

sssanyway, I came home, packed some more, and then dashed out the door at sevenish to get my bangs trimmed, since it was critical that I do it today before going out of town next week. I had planned to get takeout from the grocery store across the street and come home for more packing, but as I was walking into the grocery store, Adit texted me and asked about dinner. I was promptly lured into meeting him and Priyanka for dinner, which I had said needed to be quick; sadly, we stood in line for 20ish minutes, but the food (dosas and paneer makhni at Udupi Palace) was totally delish, and the company was pretty delish as well. It was good to see them, and good to get out of hermit mode for a couple of hours, even if it totally screwed me for tomorrow.

Then I came home and packed for the last three hours. And now I'm going to sleep for ~6hrs, wake up, and hope another 3ish hours of packing is enough to be ready for the movers to show up - it's probably not, but it will be close enough. Goodnight!

let the dream begin, let your darker side give in

Terry is leaving for NYC tomorrow morning, and so today was spent in last-minute preparations for that eventuality. Granted, I had v. little to do to support this, since she hired movers, but I worked from home so that I could be around in case there was any confusion about what was mine v. what was hers. As it turns out, she had things well under control - which was good since I had meetings most of the day.

But I survived the work day, and I even had time to sneak a load of stuff over to my new apartment and grab coffee at Philz before finishing my work day. Then I packed one box before meeting Terry at Ottimista for a final glass of wine. This turned into dinner at Mamacita, where I sent her off in style with decent tacos and excellent margaritas (since NYC is not known for its Mexican food). I still haven't quite processed that she's leaving, but since my stomach started hurting ferociously on the way home, I think my heart knows it even if my brain doesn't.

Now, though, I'm going to sleep so that I can get up in time to see her off - and then I need to work excessively while also packing v. efficiently. Wish me luck with that - goodnight!

i've gotta stay high all the time to keep you off my mind

Packing continues mostly on schedule...in fact, I would say I'm ahead of schedule compared to previous moves, but that's mostly because Terry's movers are coming tomorrow and so I was forced to do things the last few days when I normally would have avoided the whole situation entirely. Today I had company in the packing debacle; I gave Chandlord a ride home from work, so she hung out (and we ordered pizza and drank wine) while I packed more stuff in the kitchen. Claudia came over later, and she picked up where Chandlord left off (drinking wine, eating pizza, and watching me pack). The company + the wine meant I probably packed a little slower than usual, but I also kept going long after I would have normally quit, so that probably evens out. I'm mostly done with the kitchen (optimistically) - there still stuff left to do, but it feels manageable.

Sadly, though, I need to work tomorrow and Friday, so I'm going to have to keep making progress in fits and starts. Happily, though, I'm working from home both days, so I should be able to do things in between the madness (and be here to support Terry tomorrow, and by 'support Terry' I mean 'make sure she doesn't steal my stuff'). And then I'll move Saturday, and begin the same process in reverse Saturday night. Yay!

The rest of my day was fine; I got up at 5:40, made it to the office by 7:15, and slogged over coffee for an hour or so. I grabbed breakfast with Dave after, and we took bacon and fried potatoes back to Tomas, thus buying his love forever. Then I had meetings for a couple of hours before training with Alyssa (I did 45 deadlifts at some weight that I don't remember, plus a bunch of swings and snatches)...so it will be interesting to see how the deadlifting impacts my ability to lift real-life things while I'm packing tomorrow.

And then I slogged until four, at which point I peaced out, and you know the rest. Now I must sleep if I have any hope of doing this again tomorrow without wanting to die - goodnight!

when you're feeling low on love, i'll be what you're dreaming of

Today was mostly much better than yesterday, if only because I ignored most of my real responsibilities in favor of attending meetings (this time meetings that didn't annoy me) and working on my expense report for India/Tokyo, which is due immediately (as in, three days ago) and is sufficiently mindless to get me through a couple of hours of messing around with receipts while listening to music at my desk.

I also got down to campus early enough to get some work done in the quiet of the coffee shop (sadly, day job work rather than writing), and then Dave and I grabbed breakfast at one of the cafes where they make eggs to order for you (the fools who turned down our invitation to go to breakfast with us (okay, it was one fool - Tomas) should have regretted their decision all day). In fact, I'm guessing Tomas did regret missing the eggs, since he went with us (and some other people) to get tacos for lunch.

And then I peaced out at 3:30 and was home before five (it would have been even earlier, but I stopped to get Philz coffee to fortify myself for the slog ahead). I spent most of the evening packing, although it was somewhat slow going - but I sorted through a ton of papers, packed the rest of the books in my room, and took a ton of stuff to my car, so I'm pleased with what I got done. The kitchen has to happen tomorrow night, and if it does, I think I'm in pretty good shape (theoretically - moves always take way more time than one can ever imagine). And I even got to take a break to eat pizza with Terry and her mom, who has come up for one final visit (and to help Terry with the last bits of her move); Terry's brother Tom (a somewhat-loyal reader of the blog - hi Tom!) was also here, so it was all v. nice and familial.

But now I must sleep so I can do this all again tomorrow, in exactly the same order, but with the added wrench of doing a training session with Alyssa instead of a lazy lunch in the sun...I think I can, I think I can. Goodnight!

could not kiss, just regress

Today was a mostly awful day. It started off somewhat decently, since I woke up at 5:40, decided to fuck my whole morning schedule, and slept again until 7:30. Then I got up, showered, made me and Terry some eggs, and took a couple of meetings from home. I was supposed to train with Alyssa this morning, but my work stuff was all too crazy to get away from, so I made the highly unusual move of canceling on her :( This was probably for the best since I need to get caught up and was going to have trouble leaving the office in the middle of the day, but still.

sssanyway, I slogged a lot, dealt with some move stuff, had a bunch of meetings (some of which were beyond ridiculous on the ridiculous scale), took a break to talk to a friend, slogged some more, and eventually cut out of the office so that I could go swimming. Swimming was good, and I'm making fast progress (getting over my fear of having my face in the water is the real key), but it left me exhausted.

So that was all fine on paper, but most of my human interactions today were pretty stressful/sad/anger-inducing, and it left me contemplating life and fate and mortality along a lot of different spectrums. But tomorrow is another day, and I plan to start it early where I failed to do so today - goodnight!

coming of age

I'm beyond exhausted tonight, so I'm going to go to bed at 9:15 and hope that restores me to some level of ability before I have to go to work tomorrow (and also survive training with Alyssa and taking a swimming lesson, which seems like a fool's errand). Last night was fun, and I behaved myself more than I expected, but I didn't get nearly enough sleep (stupid adulthood and stupid waking up at 6:30am even when I don't have to), and so today was brutal.

It was particularly brutal because I spent almost the entirety of it packing (or taking breaks from packing), and it's always a little emotionally taxing to pack up stuff and consider the exciting step of moving to a new place while also mourning the old one. This is the longest I've ever lived anywhere since Iowa; we're at three years and nine months here, which is over two years longer than my previous record. And a lot of great stuff has happened here - while I was packing up the paperbacks of my published books, I realized that all five books that I've written were released to the public while I was living here, and this place won't see another.

So that was a bit surreal. But the packing went mostly fine; I'm getting close to done in the kitchen, and I packed nearly all of my books. I'm hoping I can do some stuff every night this week so that Friday and Saturday aren't too brutal, but tomorrow's likely to be a wash if I'm as tired tomorrow night as I have been after my previous swimming lessons. We shall see, we shall see.

But it wasn't all work - I also called my parents and wished them a happy anniversary (they were having steak, while I had indian takeout with Terry, so I'm guessing they were happier with their choice than with mine). And I watched a bit of basketball, but it mostly all served to obliterate the remaining shreds of my bracket. Now, though, sleep beckons...goodnight!

don't say i didn't, say i didn't warn you

I'm frantically trying to get ready to move next weekend, but today wasn't all work. However, the first half of it was very filled with packing-related activities. I made it through everything in the dining room, but I had to take a break to go get more packing supplies, which substantially ate into my productivity. However, I hope to get through the kitchen and most of my books tomorrow, which should go a long way toward making me feel just a little more ready for my move.

But that's all boring...the non-boring part of my day was that we had a final going-away shindig for Terry, who is leaving Friday morning. Her siblings, along with Lauren (aka Subz) and Nathan and I, started at Barrique, where we had wine in the unfamiliar environs of North Beach. Then we proceeded to Park Tavern, which I'd never even heard of, but it turned out to be totally delightful - the deviled eggs and the brussels sprout chips that we started with were awesome, and I had a v. good hamburger with some horseradish aioli for the fries that was beyond excellent.

After dinner, we moved on to 15 Romolo, which is a bar in North Beach that I went to a million years ago with Katrina (okay, it was on September 7, 2012 - but it feels like a lifetime, since I was working on MARQUESS then, which was 2.5 books ago). We managed to score a decent set of stools together (and, along the way, helping a gorgeous couple secure a table for themselves rather than having to share bar space with us), and several of Terry's coworkers showed up for drinks, so that was great. The evening eventually morphed into family time, since Claude, Chandlord, and Adit all showed up as the rest of the group was leaving, and so we asked Terry a variety of overly-specific and personal questions while we continued to drink.

But I abandoned the family early (with Terry in tow) so that I could go to bed and get up and pack tomorrow, rather than pursuing the alternate, far more appealing idea of getting food at Grubstake (or, more likely, more drinks elsewhere followed by Grubstake many hours from now). But getting up and packing requires sleep, and sleep requires shutting my laptop - goodnight!

fill the tub up halfway and ride it with my surfboard

Today was destined to be rough, and I feel that I paid the wages of last night's sins; I went to bed at 2:15am, and even though I was hoping to sleep until eight, I woke up at 6:30 and merely dozed until the alarm went off. But getting up at eight gave me enough time to shower, take last night's dress to a UPS place to ship back, and then have v. restorative, completely necessary huevos rancheros before my first meeting of the day. I walked into the cafe this morning and demanded huevos, and Tony said, 'you were drinking champagne last night, weren't you?'. This is why I love that guy.

sssanyway, I brought my hungover self home, where I proceeded to have meetings almost straight from 10am to 3pm. I managed to keep it together, but it was not exactly the most pleasant day I've had recently (even though the meetings were all fine). As soon as I disconnected from the last call, though, I ate some peanut butter toast, and then crawled into bed and took a nap. My need for a snack and a nap felt very toddler-ish, but I'll take it.

However, I rallied (despite reaching the bleak/despondent phase of the hangover) and put on a v. sparkly (but not as sparkly as last night) dress to meet Kathia at a cafe for a writing date. I didn't write, but I did make a lot of to-do lists so that I could plan for the packing and moving that needs to happen this week. After the cafe, we swung by my place to pick up Terry, and then we went to Nectar, where we drank a bottle of pink champagne in honor of Terry's imminent departure to the land of snow and cynicism. Then we adjourned to Aix, where we had a scrumptious dinner.

And now, I hope to sleep nine hours and awaken refreshed and ready to spend the day packing - goodnight!

drunk in love

Today was an incredibly long (obvi, since I'm blogging at 2am on a school night) but incredibly lovely day. I woke up in time to make it into the SF office by 8:30am, which gave me enough time to grab breakfast and work for a couple of hours before my meetings started. I made it through said meetings unscathed, although I interrupted a meeting that I was leading to scream over Iowa State's loss in the NCAA tournament, which may have made it clear that I wasn't paying complete attention to the meeting. C'est la vie, I guess.

After the meetings were attended, I had lunch (trout + some salad eaten with metal chopsticks, which makes me entirely insufferable), followed by more work and meetings, all of which felt vaguely productive. But I left the office at four to come home and get ready for my evening's activities (which was the whole reason I went into the SF office rather than working from Mountain View). This charity that I gave money to at work during our charity week a few months ago was hosting a gala to continue fundraising, and I got to go and have a delightful time while drinking a lot of champagne and wearing a fancy dress. I also saw the winemaker whose rosé I drank in the SF office the day after I got back from Tokyo; while I have no real confidence that the wine was good, since I was too jetlagged to make decisions, the winemaker himself was quite lovely.

sssanyway, I was at a table with other people from work, including Dave (who sits next to me at work, so sitting next to each other at dinner was v. standard) and Genevieve (who I sit nowhere near, but we enjoyed each others' company in Frankfurt and may be real friends someday). And as I mentioned, I drank a lot of free wine and champagne. You can also see my dress on instagram, should you be interested (the dress is from Rent the Runway, fyi). We ended up shutting the place down, which was fun, but I'm seriously going to regret this tomorrow when I have to sit through multiple hours of meetings.

But tonight, at least, was fun. And I'm hoping that I can get up early enough to have huevos rancheros before starting my string of meetings; there's no way I'm going to make it to Mountain View, so really, the only responsible thing to do is to have a delicious breakfast down the street. Goodnight!

just say there's nothing holding you back

I had a pretty decent day, considering that I didn't get any writing done - I woke up early and was in the office by 7:30ish, but since I had an 8:30 meeting, I decided to do some work for the day job rather than trying to get into Rafe and Octavia's story. Today was all about trying to get caught up, which is a fool's errand, but I made some valiant efforts. I also snuck out to train with Alyssa (who made me deadlift many reps at 135lbs, so my back is shot), and it was good to sweat out some of my aggression.

The afternoon was more of the same (four hours of meetings), but I escaped around 5:30pm and went to the mall, where I bought a pair of shoes for the thing I'm going to tomorrow (well, two pairs of shoes, but I'm taking the first pair back). Then I drove to Belmont, where I had dinner with Shedletsky and Tina at some amazingly absurd French place on El Camino. I say it's absurd because it feels like it was nice in the seventies, and it has multiple neon signs out front...but it's actually somewhat pricey and the food/wine/cocktails were all v. good. I had a delightful time, both because the restaurant was ridic and because Shedletsky and Tina are highly entertaining and surprisingly adorable (a word I wouldn't have expected to use for Shedletsky when I met him at Stanford oh-so-many years ago).

But now that I'm home, I desperately need to sleep - I have to go to work tomorrow, but I'm working out of SF, so at least I can sleep in a bit. But although I can sleep in, I expect to go to bed late, which means I should get my rest now while I can - goodnight!

she said to get better

Today feels like it lasted forever, but that could be the stress and caffeine talking. I'm feeling incredibly behind on everything important...probably because I keep spending time socializing, which goes against everything my puritanical heart believes in. But I got to the office this morning in time to write for forty minutes, and I was actually a little productive on that, so at least something went right. Then I grabbed breakfast, led a team meeting, walked over to main campus, had a couple more meetings, and then had another rambling multi-cafe lunch (this time in weird order; soft serve ice cream to start at a cafe on main campus, followed by salad and hummus and feta with several teammates at another cafe, followed by the salad I'd wanted to eat all along at my own cafe, which I ate while sitting through an interminable meeting that always gets on my last nerve).

And then I slogged the rest of the afternoon, with a break to get annoyed at gender politics in corporate america (this may be why I love writing romance novels - the community is overwhelmingly female, so I don't have to deal with mansplaining and obnoxious gender issues), and then another break to get coffee with Jen and Tomas. Then I drove back to the evil city, and I gave Dave a ride so I could use the carpool lane...he may have gotten more of an earful about gender politics in corporate america than he was expecting, but since he got it, you don't have to listen to it!

After I dropped him off, I came home, tried on dresses for this thing I have to go to on Thursday (verdict: time to buy some shoes), did some things around the house, and grabbed dinner at Roam. And now, even though I have a million things to do to catch up on my job / write a book / move apartments, I'm going to go to sleep and hope that tomorrow morning is kind - goodnight!

while i can't eat i bet you sleep with someone's heat against your bones

If I don't sleep amazingly well tonight, I'm going to be shocked. I woke up at 5:40 this morning and actually made it out of bed even though I was *not* feeling it (the combo of last night's wine + this morning's knowledge that I had to go to work was not really conducive for leaving the safe confines of my bed). So I was on campus by 7:20, and I did about forty minutes of work for my own stuff (attempting to write, mostly playing pricing games) before beginning the workday. Not that the beginning was too onerous; I grabbed breakfast at one of the better cafes with one of my coworkers before our first meeting of the day, and the breakfast (chicken hash with poached eggs) was rather delightful even if the meetings were not.

So I continued through my meetings, most of which involved me telling people I hate them and everything they do (okay, I don't hate them, but I was v. cranky about projects today). Then I went to train with Alyssa, but for the first time ever, she somehow didn't have me in her calendar and so wasn't there. When I finally texted her (after ten minutes of glorious foam rolling), she apologized profusely and then told me how many kettlebell swings/squats/snatches to do without her. I actually did them, too, even though it was tempting to just go back to the office - but it felt good to work out, and perhaps to sweat out some of the wine that was probably still sneaking about through my bloodstream.

But working out on my own was mildly faster than working out with Alyssa, so when I got back to campus, I grabbed lunch with Dave - which was a tour of the cafes on our side of campus, since we got sushi and salmon at one, pizza and quesadillas (for him; I skipped this round due to gluten) at a second, and hummus (for me) and flourless chocolate cake at the third. And then I stopped at the cafe in our building to make a salad for tonight, which was a v. smart move. This didn't take that long, since we only sat down at the first cafe, but it was long enough that I had to go to my next two meetings in my gym clothes - but I don't think anyone cared.

Then I showered, had a few more meetings, did a bit of work, and then went to the pool, where I had my second swimming lesson. It was actually kind of fun; I think I would like swimming a lot if I wasn't so worried about drowning. But putting my face in the water was easier than it was last time, and I managed to swim the whole time without losing my legs to fatigue, so that was good.

Now, though, after two workouts + my wristband telling me that I walked 12000 steps today (between my tour of campus lunch options and my later trip to get coffee, this isn't surprising), I think I need to sleep before I die - goodnight!

my church offers no absolutes

I'm not ashamed to admit that I had too much to drink this afternoon. This is all in pursuit of wishing Terry a proper farewell before she absconds to the east coast (beast coast) with all of our hearts, so I feel that I've done my civic duty.

But I digress. First, the day started off with waking up (as most days do), followed by a shower, followed by eating at the cafe down the street. Once I was properly nourished, I got a gel manicure and a pedicure; this was perhaps not entirely necessary, but I have a fancy event to go to on Thursday (which you'll hear about on Thursday, if Thursday's open bar doesn't get in the way of my typing skillz), so it felt somewhat necessary since I like showing up at fancy events with cuticles that befit a fancy person instead of a troll. Yay vanity.

sssanyway, after getting my nails done, I called my parents, and they were gracious enough to talk to me several hours earlier than usual; I had intended to call them last night, but by the time I remembered, I would have interrupted the Iowa State/Kansas Big 12 champion game, and while they're gracious enough to talk to me four hours early on a Sunday, ain't nobody got time to interrupt the Cyclones. But my parents seemed to be in fine form, so that was good!

And then I ran away to some relaxation in the form of a massage at my favorite spa (Senspa), where Terry and Lauren (aka Subz) got treatments of the same length. And then we made ourselves pretty and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, where we had drinks, snacks, and dinner at Cavallo Point. It was pretty much perfect; we sat at a table overlooking the bridge and the water, and it was all perfectly lovely. Of course, it wasn't lovely because we're about to lose Terry to the east coast, but for tonight it was lovely.

And now I'm going to go to bed absurdly early and hope to sleep off my wine (and the remnants of Terry's wine, which I always drink) so that I can survive work tomorrow - goodnight!

in the best way, you'll be the death of me

Today I pursued a lovely mix of socializing and cleaning, with some downtime in the late afternoon (no doubt caused by the socializing). I got a bunch of sleep last night, and so I barely got up in time to shower and get dressed before running a couple of errands and meeting Chandlord for brunch. It was supposed to be a 'boozy brunch', but we only had one mimosa each, and instead concentrated our efforts on eating tater tots (this proved to be a mistake). We had other things before the tots - fruit, in an attempt to be healthy, + some breakfast tacos/sliders/whatever. But the tots, with warm queso, were not as good as we wanted them to be, but good enough that we ate most of the damn plate of them. Stupid.

Thus feeling v. full, we wandered down the street and rendezvoused with Terry, whom we kidnapped and took down to the Ghirardelli Square area to have irish coffees at Buena Vista Cafe. It seemed that many other people had this idea as well; despite the fact that it was one of the hottest days we've had in the city in awhile, the proximity to St Patrick's Day made irish coffees top of mind for a lot of people. But we managed to get three seats at the bar immediately, and we happened to be in front of the station where one of the bartenders makes irish coffees en masse...it was kind of amazing to watch him make fifteen at once. Buena Vista supposedly invented the irish coffee, so it's what they're known for - and this guy made a couple hundred while we were sitting there. It involved a lot of pouring (and wasting) of coffee and a lot of stirring of sugar, but he seemed to be in the zone, so it was pretty entertaining to watch.

After two irish coffees and more walking in the heat, I was quite desperate for a nap, which was duly accomplished. Then Terry and I tackled the first part of our storage closet before it was time for her to get ready for dinner and for me to continue to procrastinate on cleaning. But eventually I sorted through my closet, purging some clothes and approximately twenty pairs of shoes, along with several Indian bedspreads (I still kept three or four, but do I need eight? no). The stuff isn't out of my house yet, so it's possible I'll change my mind about some of it, but I'm really trying to declutter, and an impending move is a good chance to do it.

But now I need to sleep - I have grand plans to relax tomorrow, since I'm doing some spa-related activities with Terry and Lauren (aka Subz). I would ask you to wish me luck with that, but it's probably the only day of the week I don't need luck for (as long as I didn't jinx myself)...goodnight!

this is hungry work

I intended to go to bed two hours ago, but true to my weird sleep patterns over the last week, I totally messed that up. But today was really lovely, even if it started too early (but not as early as they usually start, so I shouldn't complain). I got up in time to drop my car off at the dealership to get service + recalls, and then I took a lyft to the SF office (which is always gorgeous). One of my Mountain View coworkers was there this morning as well, so I had someone to have breakfast with (I know, weird that I would choose to socialize rather than being a hermit), and then we worked in the coffee area for a couple of hours while I caffeinated and tried hopelessly to catch up on email.

But eventually I had to take care of the multiple hours of meetings that were on my calendar, so that was too bad. But I snuck out in the mid-afternoon and made a brief foray to the mall, followed by a trip to my salon to get my bangs trimmed and my brows waxed. Thus feeling pretty again, I came home, did a bit more work, took care of some household stuff, talked to Lauren (aka Subz), and talked to Chandlord. And then I pursued the best portion of the day - Claudia came over, and she, Terry and I had dinner at my favorite local sushi place. Terry brought a bottle of v. nice wine (which she needs to drink before she goes to NYC, and I'm happy to help her with this noble mission), and it was great hanging out with both of them together - particularly since I missed Claude's birthday festivities while I was in India.

But the fun ended when I realized I was too tired to stay there any longer, so we came home, and then I spent the last hour messing around online rather than going to bed. Stupid. But I can sleep as much as I want tonight, so I'm going to follow through with that plan - goodnight!

she may contain the urge to run away

Today feels like a repetition of previous days this week, so I shall be brief in my recap. I was 20+ minutes late to my training session with Alyssa due to traffic, but the workout itself was good. Then I went to work, where I had more time than usual to shower before my first meeting, and so I of course wasted it by sharing breakfast and gossip with coworkers. But I made it to my meeting, and then I did some decent work over the course of the middle of the day - I even turned down the possibility of lunch at one of my favorite cafes so that I could keep working, which I think qualifies me for sainthood.

But after another round of meetings I was wrecked, so I absconded to the coffee place (in a topless jeep, with four other coworkers, which felt surreally like the orange mocha frappuccino scene from Zoolander (before the jeep blew up, since it did not in this case)). And then I did a bit more work while attempting to revive myself with an iced latte, but reviving wasn't going as planned, so I came home. And when I got here, I didn't do as much as I had planned; instead, I took care of some errands, and then I went to Mezés, where I wrote and stared off into space and occasionally talked to the bartender.

That's all good, though. If I can survive tomorrow (seems imminently doable), I can spend the weekend organizing for my move and hopefully enjoying the gorgeous weather...but to survive tomorrow, I have to sleep tonight. Goodnight!

hold her down with soggy clothes and breezeblocks

I was minimally productive today, but I think I'm coming out of the last of my jetlag haze, so I'm feeling the urge to be productive tomorrow. Today I woke up at 5:40, realized that if I had to drive down and back I might die, but also knew that I needed to go in...and so I showered as fast as possible, threw my makeup and hair stuff in my bag, and caught the 6:20 shuttle to the office. This was the first time I'd taken the shuttle in months, and coincidentally it was magical today - I slept most of the way to the office, got there by 7:15, and was able to finish getting ready before working on writing-related stuff until 8:45ish. I'm not saying I'm going to do this every day, but having the option is nice.

After writing, I ate breakfast, had a few meetings, and then skipped out with Dave and Tomas to go to Palo Alto on an ill-conceived adventure. We were testing some electric car that it's possible for us to rent for short journeys, which was all well and good; we also went to downtown Palo Alto before abandoning downtown for the less-fancy environs of El Camino, where we (oddly) grabbed food at Ace of Sandwiches. I say 'odd' because we basically paid for food to take back to our desks, where we ate it within a hundred feet of free food - but the sandwiches were good, and it felt weirdly good to be a real adult and eat outside the office. And I got off pretty cheaply anyway, since Dave had a groupon and so I only had to kick in $3.50 for our chips.

So that was a lovely interlude, with plenty of ridiculous conversation (the three of us together tend to hit max ridiculousness pretty quickly, even when sober). Then we returned to the office, where I had meetings and slogged for several hours. But the lure of sleep and the city drew me out of the office and onto the shuttle, where I slept all the way back. And then I spent the evening taking care of a variety of desultory tasks and having a quick dinner with Terry at Roam.

That's all I've got for you tonight - goodnight!

even on a cloudy day

I meant to be in bed an hour ago, but the desire to unwind online (plus some residual jetlag + time change situation) meant that I sacrificed sleep for a bit longer than I should have. But today was decent enough - I wasn't nearly as sore as I expected to be after yesterday's double workout, and I made it into the office in time to work on my own stuff for an hour or so before buckling down for the day job. And by 'buckling down' I mean that I had meetings, followed by lunch at the new salad place on campus, followed by another meeting, followed by coffee, followed by more meetings. This generally made me feel like a total slacker since I spent the whole day talking rather than accomplishing anything, but since that's what they pay me for, I guess I'll take it.

Eventually I escaped the day job and drove home, where I met Terry so that we could have dinner at my favorite Greek place. We discussed a lot about life and the future, since we're both on the cusp of moves and other sundry decisions, and it was all greatly enhanced by quite a bit of Greek wine, which made for a lovely and relaxing evening.

But now I must sleep if I have any hope of writing in the morning - goodnight!

love is a cage, these words on a page

I'm too wrecked to blog tonight...apparently writing, working, deadlifting with Alyssa, and taking an hour-long swimming lesson is a recipe for complete and total exhaustion. All of those things were good, but all of them in one day was a little much. But I had a lot of coffee, a delightful lunch in the sun with some coworkers, and I didn't drown, so I think it was all successful. And hopefully this level of exhaustion will overcome my jetlag...but the only way to find out is by going to bed, which I'm going to do right now. Goodnight!

between the drinks and subtle things

Today was lovely, thanks for asking. Last night was not so lovely; I should have taken melatonin, but I was so smug from sleeping for nine hours the night before (likely because of the melatonin) that I didn't take it, and so I woke up at one a.m. and tossed and turned for what seemed like an eternity after. Of course, the switch to daylight saving time was nothing compared to what my body is already adjusting to, but it was still a little rough to get out of bed this morning.

But get out of bed I did, and I managed to shower, put on something mildly cute, and meet Kathia for a writing date (to which I was half an hour late, but that was as much because I was avoiding Rafe and Octavia as it was because I was sleepy). So I worked for forty-five minutes or so, and I had a pretty great idea for something (which I can't remember now, but I wrote it down, so hopefully it still looks brilliant tomorrow). Then we adjourned to brunch, which was what I really wanted, and we caught up on life over tasty eggs and potatoes.

After that, I came home and promptly took a nap, alleviating last night's problem and creating tonight's problem. Then I did a bit of shopping - I'm starting swimming lessons tomorrow (I know, crazy - I can swim, but I want to get over my fear of drowning so that I can go snorkeling on my spinster honeymoon, so we'll see how that works) and I needed a sport-style swimsuit that won't fall off since the swimming lessons are in a pool at work. Luckily I found what I needed with no drama at a swimsuit store on Union Street, and so I rewarded that effort by buying a couple of new shirts at Marmalade. As Priyanka would say, that was penny foolish and pound foolish, but I'm okay with it.

Then I talked to my parents, who were in fine form (even if I offended them by casually saying it was seventy degrees here today when they were all excited about it being above freezing in Iowa). And then I went to the neighborhood where I used to live with Adit and had a latte and a macaron at Cafe du Soleil; it was colder than expected while sitting outside, but it was still a lovely interlude.

After I finished my latte, I picked up John and Jess (who also live in that neighborhood), and we rendezvoused with Adit and Priyanka for family dinner at Enjoy Vegetarian. We discussed all manner of lovely and terrible things, such as murphy beds, female names that sound male, venmo, asthma, Hawaii, candle ceremonies, India, etc., etc. And then I came home, and I took a melatonin, and the bitch better work because I have to go to work tomorrow and ain't nobody got time for insomnia. Goodnight!

i'm trying hard to take it back

I continued to be hermity today, but that was in the interest of getting over my jetlag and also getting stuff done. I slept nine hours last night, which went a long way toward restoring my sanity - I may still be operating ~5% slower than usual mentally, but that's ridiculously better than I was on Thursday, when I think I mostly came across as a crazy person to everyone I hung out with.

So I slept late, showered, made myself some eggs, and spent most of the late morning/early afternoon sorting through my bookshelves and ruthlessly culling books so that I can move fewer of them to my new place (and also feel less wracked with guilt when I look at my shelves and see books I'll never read, books I never finished, books I loved but no longer wish to read again, books I want to write but can't, etc.). Quite a few of them were picked up for free at conferences, or for almost-free when I went mad during the Borders bankruptcy and bought them by the bushel. And I'm going to want space on my shelves for other things.

So I cleared out what will probably amount to six or seven shopping bags full of books. That still leaves hundreds, but I feel good about what I cut. Most of what I kept involves research for the various time periods I write in / want to write in, as well as some favorite romances / fantasies / books from childhood that I want to preserve in paper form in case the apocalypse comes and I somehow survive while the internet and all ereaders die. But I also kept some books I hadn't read yet (although I told myself this couldn't be more than fifty - I think I achieved that), and now that I've thinned the herd, I'm actually kind of excited about the ones that are left.

After all that deep, deep concentration and decision-making, I was mildly dead and in need of a break. So I walked down Union Street, had a tuna and white bean salad (yum), checked out paint colors for the new place (I think I'm narrowing it down, but I need to go back, get samples, and test them), grabbed an iced latte, and walked to Marina Green, where I was going to read but instead relaxed in the sunshine and contemplated the water for awhile. And then I came home and read most or all of three books for a contest I'm judging - scores were due tonight, and while I'd read two books on the plane to India, I didn't do any reading on the way back as I'd planned. But given my reading speed and the shortness of two of the books, I was able to accomplish the task (and I even really liked one of the books, and mostly liked a second one, so that was an unexpected benefit).

And now I must sleep so that my body can get confused again by another time change...and I hope it wakes up in time for my writing date with Kathia, since Rafe and Octavia need some love. Goodnight!

boys only want love if it's torture

I barely survived the work day - the jetlag struck *hard* today, but that was probably my own damn fault for having too much wine and not enough food yesterday. I didn't sleep particularly well as a result of my bad decisions; I kept waking up, which could have been the wine or the jetlag, but either way, it was a most unwelcome way to prepare for the day.

However, I managed to get out of bed in time to grab a coffee at Philz on the way to train with Alyssa (since I didn't have any milk in the house for tea), and it kept me awake long enough to get to Palo Alto. It was great to see her, and I was actually moving surprisingly well considering last night's wine consumption + two weeks of eating butter chicken and sitting on planes. Then I went to the office, where I was reunited with everyone (well, everyone who chose to show up on Friday) in glorious fashion. Several of us went to get coffee as soon as I showed up (before I'd showered, which shows how much they love me), and then I showered, did a little bit of work, caught up with the people around me, etc. And I grabbed a gluten-free sandwich with chicken/bacon/avocado/pesto, which went a long way toward making me feel at home again.

But I knew I wasn't long for the world of wakefulness, so I left the office around 1:30 (and convinced Dave to skip out at the same time and ride back to the city for me in an effort to keep me awake). When I got home, I took a brief nap, did two more meetings (where my cracked-out jetlag was probably apparent), and then met up with Chandlord to discuss flooring choices for her apartment + paint + general life topics. She invited me to have dinner, but I declined in favor of being a total hermit...

...which is exactly what I did. I ordered a pizza while I was walking home, and it was delivered in record time. Then I took another quick nap, took a bath, put on a face mask (the treatment kind, not some weird role-playing kind), painted my toenails, and used the leave-in conditioner that I bought in Japan (I'm pretty sure it made my hair softer than ever when they used it during my facial, but it could also just be the juxtaposition of Japan's clean water vs. India's dirty water, in which case the conditioner will do nothing here, but we'll see).

This is all very very interesting for you, I know. But by doing all of that, then doing some online browsing, then writing this, I managed to stay awake until 10:45pm - which means I may sleep through the night tonight. Fingers crossed, since I have a lot of stuff to do this weekend - goodnight!

i'll worship like a dog at the shrine of your lies

I have already taken a melatonin, and I had more alcohol tonight than is perhaps advisable for someone my size, so I should probably be brief so that I don't write anything embarrassing. However, today was a great (if not particularly productive) reintroduction to America. I woke up at seven after sleeping for almost nine hours, and then I laid about in bed for another hour before showering, grabbing breakfast down the street (Tony was glad to see me, I think), and going into the SF office for meetings.

The meetings were accomplished in due order, and I had a nice break to have lunch with Gyre, who is in fine form, and to have impromptu coffee with Katrina (I was too jetlagged to contact her in a timely fashion, but I suddenly and eagerly remembered that she existed, and she was miraculously able to hang out with me for half an hour or so). Then I worked for another couple of desultory hours before having drinks at work - Thursday always holds the potential for drinks, and there was a winery tasting in the SF office that made drinks even more appealing, so that was lovely.

But all drinking must end (to make way for more drinking), so I got a ride to western addition/the haight, where I had a delightful dinner with Terry and Lauren (aka Subz) at Nopalito. We had a lot to catch up on, which was duly performed over margaritas (okay, they'd already started their drinks without me, since I was late due to a series of unwise decisions getting out of the SF office) and a variety of tasty Nopalito-style foodstuffs. It was great to see them both, even if I was too jetlagged to actually make sense - I felt like my brain was operating at 80% of its usual speed today, which made for a strange and irritating type of interaction with others. But Lauren and Terry were delightful, as always, and they tolerated my tendency to misspeak and break things, so I think our friendship survived.

And now I must sleep before I start typing gibberish - I have to get up early tomorrow, although I hope I make it back to the city of sin before my jetlag kicks in and my risk of death increases. Goodnight!

maybe i fell in love when you woke me up

I took a melatonin twenty minutes ago and I'm suddenly having trouble typing properly, so I think I should keep this brief so that I don't devolve into nonsense as I usually do when blogging under these circumstances. But suffice it to say that I made it to San Francisco without incident; I've already seen the beginning of Thursday while in Japan, but then I relived Wednesday and I doubt that I'm going to stay awake long enough to see the start of Thursday again. Since I'll have plenty of time tomorrow to experience Thursday while trying to get caught up on the day job, I'm not really mourning the missed opportunity.

And really, that's all to say - since I last blogged, I mostly spent my time in planes and automobiles, with some line-standing sprinkled in to alleviate my comfortable boredom. When I got home at six, after a rush-hour drive into the city that reminded me immediately why certain parts of my life suck, I unpacked, took a quick shower, and then had dinner with Terry at Aix, since we had a ton to catch up on (and I wanted something that would force me to stay awake until at least nine p.m. in an effort to avoid making my jetlag worse). This was a success on all counts....I even made it to ten p.m., which is a minor miracle.

But sleep is necessary now...my apartment ain't the Ritz, but I'm v. excited to renew my acquaintance with my new bed. Goodnight!

don't wake me up

I'm sitting in the lobby of the Ritz, having a final cup of tea before going to the airport. It's 8:45pm on Wednesday here, which is 3:45am on Wednesday in California...which means I should be on the ground in San Francisco in thirteen hours.

Tokyo has been more delightful than I expected (mostly thanks to my love affair with the Ritz), but I'm eager to sleep in my own bed and readjust to my California life. Granted, I'll probably feel differently when I have to immediately start packing and planning my move and writing a book, etc., but for now the idea of being back in San Francisco is dreamy. Still, my day in Tokyo was great. It started a bit abruptly at five a.m., when I woke up and had trouble going back to sleep, but I eventually slept until eight. Then I woke up for real and had to deal with work emails for awhile (including a hangout that I had to turn the video off for, since I was still in bed), but I was able to wrap everything up in time to shower, have one last breakfast overlooking the Tokyo skyline, and check out of the hotel.

Then I went to the office, where I had a couple of meetings before going to visit another team in a different part of the city. When we got back to the original office, I did some desultory work for an hour before having dinner with the team at a sushi place nearby. This sushi was way better than last night's sushi, probably because they knew what to order - the sashimi was perfect, and while I avoided eating the large fish eyes, everything else was really tasty. I also had three glasses of sparkling yuzu wine, which may have made me sleepy. And I really like the Tokyo team, so it was a good final bit of socializing before my departure.

But all things end, and my Tokyo adventures are ending imminently. Hopefully you've enjoyed the last few days of blog posts where I had something to report other than my typical discussions of commute/gym/day job/writing/family time - we'll be back to our regularly scheduled boring posts by the weekend. Goodnight!

second heartbeat

I'm overlooking downtown Tokyo from my room on the fiftieth floor of its highest tower, enjoying the lights on my last night in Asia. It would have been way better if I'd spent a week in Japan and two days in India, but beggars (or corporate drones) can't be choosers, so I guess I'll have to come back here sometime and take a proper vacation...

...but proper vacations will have to wait (and anyway, this year's proper vacation is already committed to my spinster honeymoon in May). Today was about work - not that I slogged all that hard, since I didn't get to the office until ten, but it was work nonetheless. I woke up at a reasonable hour and spent the first forty-five minutes awake getting ready while fielding conversations with the people back at the day job - they were awake and at work then, which made for the first almost-decent overlap since I left (India is completely not conducive to coordination with California). Then I had breakfast with Lillian before walking to the office.

The office is really nice, as it turns out; they moved buildings sometime after I was here in 2010, and the space is lovely. They have a bunch of entirely strange, quintessentially Japanese vending machines (free, of course) in the microkitchens, and I enjoyed drinking whatever I was able to order out of them. Their lunch cafe was also really delightful (if you like Japanese food, which I mostly do). And I had a bunch of mostly-productive meetings, with time to catch up on email in between.

I was going to sneak out at the end of the day to make a pilgrimage to a seven-story stationery store in Shinjuku, but I miscalculated and got caught by my coworker, who wanted to have dinner. She agreed to go to the stationery store with me, but we came back to the hotel first, and ended up just shopping and having dinner in the mall here. Dinner was pretty nice; it was some sushi place that was decent (food in malls here isn't anything like food in malls in the US), with one Americanish waiter who was clearly hired specifically to deal with people like us. And while I didn't buy any stationery (the one stationery store in the mall was an Itoya, and there's an Itoya on Union Street in SF that carries most of the same merchandise), I did find a pretty cute tote bag, so at least it wasn't a total bust.

We parted ways relatively early, and then I spent the evening packing, relaxing, and continuing to catch up on email. And now, I shall get as much sleep as possible so I can survive my final day of work/travel before going home...goodnight!

the floating world

The contrast between the chaotic intensity of India and the restrained perfection of Japan is crazy to experience on the same trip. Yesterday morning I woke up in Jaipur, got a massage, endured a five hour car ride in the rain, etc. Today I woke up on a plane, took a bus to the Ritz-Carlton Tokyo, and had a luxurious, pleasurable experience that would have made the geishas and artists of Edo's floating world proud.

Okay, maybe I didn't do anything pornographic. But I had afternoon tea in the gorgeous lobby bar overlooking all of Tokyo (the hotel is at the top of the tallest tower in the city), then got a facial to remove the worst of India's smog from my pores. After the facial, I hung out in a hot tub with floor to ceiling windows over Tokyo, which was gorgeous. Then I showered (it's amazing how great my hair looks when washed with water that won't poison me) and did some writing over a burger and a rather delicious Japanese merlot in the lobby bar. As you can tell from this, I basically ditched my coworker as soon as we got to the hotel - we weren't supposed to go into the office this afternoon since we got in after three p.m., and I rather desperately needed some hermit time. Maybe I should have gone out...but at this point, Rafe and Octavia are screaming at me to start writing, and I'm feeling like obliging them.

Tomorrow, though, I have to go to the office and do the job I was meant to do here, and I'll probably get roped into have dinner somewhere in Tokyo rather than getting to write tomorrow night. C'est la vie...I'm only here tomorrow and Wednesday, and my flight leaves Wednesday night, so I suppose it won't kill me to be social one more day. Goodnight!

I'll carry you home tonight

I made it to the airport in Delhi, and I'm sitting in the premier lounge waiting another hour and fifty minutes for my flight to Tokyo. Getting through security was surprisingly uneventful, and I was able to buy an upgrade on my flight for only three hundred dollars, which may preserve my sanity for another day.

The rest of the day was completely uneventful as well. I started it with an eight am massage, which feels like it was a lifetime ago. We got out of Jaipur by eleven, and traffic back to Delhi was pretty good despite the rain. So to kill time, we spent several hours having tea, followed by dinner, at the Leela Hotel, which was super fancy. The driver misunderstood our initial request and took us to somewhere that was decidedly not fancy, but we cleared that up immediately and spent the evening basking in luxury.

But it's time for my India adventures to come to an end. I'm going to be wrecked when I get to Tokyo since this is a red eye, but I only have to survive 2.5 days there before going home, so I think I can do it. I'm staying at the Ritz, so it's not like it's going to be a hardship....

Now, though, I'm going to put my screens away and rest my eyes (hopefully without falling asleep and missing my flight) - goodnight!