therapy

That moment when a bunch of smart people admit that no one knows what they're doing is such a relief. It wasn't just me.

credit

Google Now told me last night that my mom's flight today was already delayed (she forwards us her flight confirmations, and the flight info shows up my phone). I called to tell her, and now she thinks I'm extremely thoughtful for tracking her flight status and giving her an extra hour to sleep.

back to work

No more long weekend, but I showed up to work to find flowers on my desk from one team, then plowed through a ton of stuff for two other teams.

down time

Took advantage of Boyfriend's weakened state over the weekend to plow through a Teen Mom 2 marathon. Addictive and unhealthy, and embarrassing to admit. Didn't stop us.

good monday

Surprise visit from out of town friends in Monday (a holiday) justified a lobster roll outing.

good friday

Working from home in my pajamas, friend dropping by later, three day weekend coming up.

good thursday

Boyfriend home from three nights in the hospital, project announcement went smoothly so far, and I'm not that stressed. I'm going to count this as a win.

january in california

Highs in the 70s.

just kidding

Convinced a lot of people I was pregnant with a picture taken after one of our big dinners in Tokyo. I'm still getting confused congratulations. Highlight of my year so far.

visitor

Annual visit from an old friend who lives in London happened last night.

care package

Last thing I did before leaving work late on Friday was pick up a care package from the mail room. Jaffa cakes, chocolate, and gummy candy + Friday night = good end to the week.

room set

The only thing better than coming home from work and changing into my pajamas is coming home from work on a Friday and changing into my super comfortable Japanese pajamas, strangely named "room set."

happy new year

Happy, indeed. The last couple weeks had lots of frabjousness:

• A last-minute failed test and successful resuscitation of a cranky old underwater camera strobe, just in time to take it on the trip
• A three-star meal at Sushi Mizutani in Tokyo: uni that made us forget why we don't usually like uni, needlefish, otoro to make your mouth weep
• Another three-star meal at Ryu Gin, also in Tokyo: resident owls in the waiting room, an introduction to cod milt, perfectly cooked mackerel that tasted nothing like mackerel, a tangerine dessert that was the love-child of pop rocks, sherbet, and pie
• Two nights at the Four Seasons in Tokyo, which may be the best hotel ever (lovely rooms, excellent staff, and they even bring you and your 150+ pounds of dive gear and luggage to the train platform)
• Baffling but funny ads on the train
• Two nights at the Ritz, where we could watch the sun set behind Mount Fuji
• Reunion meals with my host sister from Japan, a law school friend, and a friend from my Zurich days
• Hot ginger ale in a can from a vending machine, both strange and delicious
• A reprieve from winter, complete with swimsuits, flip flops, and sunscreen
• 20 dives in Palau, where we reveled in being in the water again (has it really been over two years?), saw mantas on our first dive, lost count of the sharks, and saw the strangest crabs on our night dive
• Stars in the sky, phosphorescent plankton in the water
• A hilarious Christmas Eve with the other guests, including attempts to translate joked from English to Chinese to Japanese and back, an impromptu sumo contest, and experimental drinks made with sriracha
• One of the oddest people we've ever met, and will remember forever through a series of catchphrases
• Not a single episode of puking, despite taking minimal Dramamine and going on the boat every day
• Zero email access for over ten days
• Island puppies who loved to lick the salt water from our dive gear
• Lots of reading (twelve books in eighteen days), bringing my year-end tally to 114
• Upon returning, a dog completely overwhelmed with joy and excitement, and parents who have decided that they love this new dog
• A couple of light work days, to ease back into the idea without too much strain, then a weekend to forget about it again