One Year

It's been one year since my surgery.... one year without a single stomach ache or any other effects of cronhs. Most days I don't even think about it and that's a huge relief.

Hope you're all gearing up for lots of familial holidays and delicious foods! I hope the snow doesn't get you too bad ... believe me, I'm not missing that here. xo

Classic randoms from the past few months

Here is a random selection of photos from random evenings.

Graffiti

Happy Birthday, Lizzie!

Fish tank in the bathroom... kinda creepy, gotta say, especially since that fish follows you.

So true. Beer cozies in the Bread and Butter; you would only find this in an American owned establishment I'm betting.


Double date Friday:

Maria and Duy

Random cat and I, ha

More from Nha Trang, Round 2

Here are a few photos from my second trip to Nha Trang back in the beginning of October. There were 11 of us and it was really rare that we were all able to agree to do the same thing except get on the train.

View from the beach at 8am

Where Bill laid nearly all day Saturday... that's what you get for drinking on the train all night :P

The Euros (and their two token Americans)... All 11 of us in one place! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESSICA

Before the mist...

The mist before the storm that inevitably sees you out of Nha Trang

Maids

I think it's a well known fact that I have a maid... and I'm going to start off by saying that I feel like an over-privileged jerk even complaining about the situation, but:

I don't know what this woman does. She folds our blankets and sheets and puts them on the pillow as opposed to making the bed, so when I come home late, like tonight, I have to make my bed before I can sleep. She washes dishes, but she doesn't put them away. She moves stale/bad food from one place to another in the refrigerator as opposed to throwing it away. She washes the toilets and some sinks, but doesn't clean the mold or soap scum in the showers. I don't think she mops the floors in our bedrooms. She doesn't wash, hang, take down, or fold our laundry. She throws away perfectly good contact lens cases with contacts in them. She doesn't clean behind, under, or around anything. I don't know what she does?!

Oh wait, she makes sure our bills get paid, as long as we lay the appropriate amount of money out on the table, but we have to wait a week or two to get refunds or change.

The icing on the "I have an awful maid" cake: my flatmate came home to pen drawings on his wall... know who will have to pay for the repaint? Us.

I'm not very happy with this woman. But then again, I feel immense guilt complaining about a luxury that I will probably never be able to afford in the western world.

My friend has a studio and pays his maid $25 more dollars than we pay ours a month and she does all the things my maid doesn't PLUS his grocery shopping. I seriously think it's time to switch. (Or maybe start doing these things for myself in the event that I move to a place that I can't afford to have a maid and realise how much I really appreciated what little my current maid does ... I know, you don't have to remind me.)

But really, as I told a friend, if more people in the US had maids, more people would have jobs. Just like if more states had gas attendants. Sure, they aren't the most exciting or prestigious jobs, but I'm just saying.

Goodnight!

English lesson and life update

Just when you think rainy season is over you're soaked in 30 seconds flat... sweet.

Anyway, this link gave me a laugh, hope you can make it through, and pronounce all of the words!

All is well here. Half way through our 2012 MS collection... it's the easiest collection with only 10,000 words and 122 captions. Not always the most relevant text to go with the images though.

Rumour has it the NY Times wants to interview the boss-man about 'Bikini Story', that would be kind of cool. I'll let you know if that happens... or rather, you let me know if you read about Parkstone Press in the Times.

This past Sunday I had a (very expensive by Vietnamese standards) free-flow champagne brunch. The food (and champagne) was delicious. Halloween, on the other hand, was nothing to write home about.

No exciting plans for any upcoming weekends, the guys are having a 'boys weekend' in Singapore... as it's mostly a shopping city, I look forward to hearing about it. I'll be in touch, love to all!

Found this in a book...

"We are, after all, nothing more than the sum of our memories and the indelible impressions that we have felt at one time or another."

So true.

Vietnamese Crack

So, my colleague stopped in this morning to pick something up and brought me a cup of crack... more widely known as coffee. Vietnam is said to have the best coffee in the world. I like coffee as much as the next guy, but I'm no expert. I will say, however, the coffee here is among the most delicious, fantastic, nearly refreshing things Vietnam has to offer.

I didn't really need it though so now I feel wired and strung-out. Maybe when I get out of work I'll finally do the fabric shopping I've been putting off for the past eight months.

Disclaimer: Vietnamese coffee, while sweet and delicious, will wreak havoc on your digestive system, and then you will crawl back for more because, despite the probable discomfort, you simply cannot resist.

Technologies of the Future

I'm sure I'm supposed to be excited about all of the things this article discusses, but is anyone else out there mildly terrified about all of the potential bad that will come with this supposed "good"? (You know, assuming we make it through 2012.)

23 incredible technologies you'll see by 2021

Matador Network is my all-time favourite site, it's full of interesting and informative information and a lot of the writers are just travelling around, experiencing life and the world. I'd write for them, but you have to take their class and that, like most wonderful things, costs money.

Hope you're all well. It's a working weekend for me :( But serious discussions about Siem Reap are happening. So exciting!

Lauren, You can live, work and study in the USA

Dear Lauren,

Please find information about applying for a Green Card in the USA below from our Client "USAGC".

Best Regards,
The TipTopJob Group Team


Really? Can I live, work, and study in the USA? I didn't know my CITIZENSHIP allowed that. Idiots.

Off to yoga!

Good advice

"We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody and they don’t have books, [leave]." John Waters

So, "leave" was a different phrase, but it wasn't appropriate for all of my readership. Even if I wasn't working in books, I'd have to agree.