Older than the Docs

I had to start physical therapy a few weeks ago after tearing up my knee playing dodgeball (of all things)! Its been an interesting thrice weekly event for me... First of all, the docs (can you call them that?) are really pretty cool. They laugh with me, and on one occasion even drew everyone in the office into a debate with me on which celebrities had nose jobs... while massaging my leg, of course. I'm getting better slowly too, so the overall experience has been positive, despite the pain.

The one thing I haven't yet been able to get over has been the fact that the two physical therapists that I see are younger than me. Both of them. This is the first time I've gone to see someone to 'fix' me and they've not even been my age. I understand this is inevitable. I'm getting older, and students are continually graduating with fancy degrees allowing them to work in these professions. This is the first time this has happened though, and I find the it extremely discomforting. Maybe the second time this happens will be easier. Or maybe the feeling never goes away. I find myself thinking "I could have been a doctor by now"... if only I'd enjoyed chemistry. I'm successful and happy where I'm at, but the positive stigma of being a doctor still sticks with me. Knowing I could have done that already in my life irks me. I suppose I just have to take a deep breath, realize I'll be dealing with this the rest of my life now, or start a mission to find old doctors. Haha!

Thankfully I have good and amusing doctors.

Its been a while...

So it has... I think I've had too much going on to focus on writing. I'm working on grad school applications (scary!), the associated personal statements, taking care of my cats, traveling for work, breaking myself playing dodgeball, etc. And now I should have the time to write since I'm down and out with a bum knee, but I find I'm just exhausted and frustrated continually since I really can't jump up and run around the block or walk down the street to the park or simply get out easily.

The thing is, life is good right now. Yeah, there are bumps and twists, but overall, the past 2 years have been the most enjoyable two straight years I've had in memory. I feel like I'm complaining unnecessarily because all the bumps and twists are temporary and even still, good things are happening.

I went to my sister's baby shower last weekend - she's having a girl in 3 weeks! I'm so baffled by the different paths our lives have taken, though Em does seem happy, which is a good thing. Her boyfriend is a darling too, which is fabulous! I'm convinced the child will be born with a southern accent... I'll just have to take up for NYC visits to cure it. ;)

Kitties!

I (finally!) got my new kitties a week ago! They arrived by delivery (of course… I live in NYC… everything is delivery here). They are the cutest little kitties possible. Before they came to live with me, they were named Bitz and Sadie. Then it was found that Sadie was a boy. I was going to name them Bits and Pieces at the urging of a few people around me, but when they arrived at my house, Pieces was simply a Tucker.

So my kitties, Bitsy and Tuck, are now the huge focus of my attention. When they’re not being cute and cuddly, they’re chasing anything that moves across the TV, dumping their food to play with the bowl, climbing up my shower curtain, and stealing rolls of toilet paper. Who knew that taking care of 2 kitties required this much attention!? Certainly not me, but I am enjoying it. Bitsy was the runt of the litter, so she is the smaller of the two. The funny thing about her is her squeak. She can’t quite meow, though she definitely has mouthing it down. What ends up coming out is only ever a high pitched squeak though! Tuck has a little belly, on top of being about double Bitsy’s size (they’re the same age!), and looks more cat-like now than his kitten-like sister. But they’re both still super-adorable. Here they are:

The New Year's Post

I have always hated the idea of making New Years resolutions that you never intend to keep. There is absolutely no point to it! I do believe in making a small number of resolutions to provide some goals to attain. It’s a good reason to write down the goals that are floating around in my head anyhow, right?! So here are my 2009 New Years resolutions:

• Increase my fluency in Spanish (and go somewhere to use it!)
• Hide some money (i.e. Find and use a good income tax shelter) – buy a house, increase my 401k, etc.
• Stop eating at the same places! Limit myself to dining at a particular restaurant no more than once a month. (i.e. stop going to Bella Vita and Supermac so often – this will be hard!)
• Apply to (and get into) grad school. And find a good student loan where interest doesn’t begin accruing until after you’re out.

Last New Years I made a list of events and realizations I made throughout the previous year and found it refreshing to hash through what I’d learned over the course of a year. This past year has been far less eventful, but there have definitely been some realizations and subsequent changes made.

I vowed not to work more than 60(ish) hours a week last New Years

+ I learned that some resolutions are worth working on

+ I succeeded on this one for the most part

+ I’m happier with the balance in my life

I left town for every major holiday in NYC (New Years, 4^th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas)

+ I realized that once is enough for each of the big holidays in NYC

I took some friends and hung out at my parents house mid-summer

+ I savored the fact that I have fantastic parents

+ I realized having a place on the water to vacation is a fantastic luxury

+ I thought about how nice it would be to own a river house with a boat, a dock, and a rope-swing

I moved into my own apartment

+ I found relief and peace in coming home to a quiet spot all my own

+ I realized how much stuff I actually have (and that I could not fit into a studio apartment)

+ I have re-learned how much I appreciate living on my own

+ I found that I love hosting game nights

+ I got lucky with what has thus far been a great landlord

+ I did forget to take pictures of my apartment before I moved in again (D’oh!)

I paid off my car and all credit cards

+ I realized how relieving it is to know you have no debt.

+ I thought about how much debt buying a house would incur

I went to South America on vacation

+ I learned how fascinating socio-political setting and economic development is to me

+ I realized you need more than a week to really understand a country

+ I remembered more Spanish than I thought I did

+ I found a new love in the beautiful butterflies of Iguazu, Argentina

+ I learned to keep a better eye on valuables while traveling (my iPod is gone…)

+ I realized a vacation from your vacation is necessary after spending it all on adventures

+ I learned if you declare everything in customs, you can bring back lots of good wine

I moved my office into my apartment

+ I figured out how much I could save myself and my company by not having an office

+ I realized the dedication needed for taking showers and getting dressed in the morning

More friends got married, had kids, or bought houses

+ I am continually baffled by how all this growing up happens…

I ended the year in Vermont with a boy and good friends

+ I realized I only like to sleep in rooms with people I know

+ I realized how long ago college seems now

+ I thought about how nice it would be to own a ski chalet

And I am still keeping track of that balloon ride I won in 2007 that someone still owes me.

Argentina: Mendoza and the trip over the Andes

I have to say up front that South America was absolutely amazing. It was amazing in so many ways, and there wasn’t a second of it that I would trade. It is, however, is a unique place in terms of their recent and cultural history, the separation between city centers and everywhere else, and how unbelievably (dis)similar it was to the US. There are adventures and stories that may portray some areas in a negative light, but take this with the idea that it is simply different – not better, not worse – than to what I have been accustomed. It allowed me some visibility into a world that truly has not been my own…. I believe I’ve traveled my fair share and honestly was prepared for an experience more similar to that of my trips to southern Europe than to the some of the places I was fortunate enough to see.

The flight down there was a business class red-eye. (All done with airline miles!) I highly recommend this since the flight didn’t seem close the 11 hours that it was – I slept nearly the entire way. I did learn that the “lay-flat” beds are a far cry from coach, and are flat… just not parallel to the floor. I think I had to hoist myself back up the seat a few times during the night to keep from sliding under the seat ahead of me. J I know I know… What right do I have to complain about business class?!

We landed around 9am in Buenos Aires, and were to take an overnight bus (another 11 hours or so) later that evening to Mendoza. The international airport in Buenos Aires is almost amusing. A single runway, and the airport itself appeared more like your regional airports in the US. The airport is about 40 minutes outside of the city center, so we got a remise (hired driver) to take us straight to the bus station thinking we absolutely had to get there at some point, and could wander around there a bit until our bus left. Taxis abound in the city and at the airport, but we heard (and later experienced) that the taxis in Argentina can be a scam – meters that clock in double time, drivers taking you in circles, and being given fake cash when you get change. A remise is the way to go….

At the bus station, there were stray dogs all over the place. I can’t really call it a problem since the dogs were all quite amenable and didn’t bother anyone, but they really were all over. I had to keep telling Brian not to pet the dogs (for fear of him bringing fleas back to the hotel, much less anything else!) I thought the stray dogs were perhaps a bus station issue, but they’re in every city like that – in parks, on the street, wandering down the sidewalk… Keeping Brian away was a full time extravaganza. I finally bought hand sanitizer and just made him wash his hands every 15 minutes (exaggerating! kind of...) The dogs seem smart though! They even wait at the cross walks to cross the street. Very strange…

We found a place to store our luggage for the day and went in search of lunch in the sweltering heat. We found this huge but empty place at the rail station that was air conditioned and decided anywhere with a/c was good enough for us. My first real experience in trying to communicate in Spanish happened here successfully! The food was good, but what I most remember was converting the Argentinian pesos into $ and being SO happy that our meal (a pizza and 2 liters of beer) cost all of $8. The rest of the day we wandered close by the bus station, found the hotel we’d be staying at later in the trip (not far from the bus station), and relaxed. I also had the task of keeping Brian from trying to pet every dog that entered his eyesight.

The bus that night was actually quite nice. We took a first class bus to Mendoza, which has lay flat seats (parallel to the floor!) and was quite a comfortable ride. The food wasn’t bad either! We arrived in Mendoza around 9am the next morning, took the risk and grabbed a taxi to the hotel, where we were able to check in early to our suite! We showered (for the first time in 2 days – ugh!), and got some rest before heading out to explore.

Mendoza is a very outdoorsy place. There were lots of small travel agencies that specialized in mountain treks anywhere from a day to a week, paragliding, whitewater rafting, biking, and wine tours. Wine is BIG in Mendoza – the area is the largest producer of wine in South America, and their malbecs are world-renowned. We only had 3 days in Mendoza, and then were planning to take another overnight bus to Santiago, Chile, so we quickly decided we needed to do a wine tour and go whitewater rafting. The whitewater rafting was not so long in the water (45 minutes?), but it definitely gave us a sense of Argentinian’s time. If they tell you they’ll be there in 10 minutes, they mean around 40. They’re very relaxed people. We did the whitewater rafting our second day and spent most of the afternoon hanging out above the water with some other Americans that we met and waiting for the van to take us back into the city.

That night, we were able to go to a 5-star restaurant in Mendoza called 1884. It’s a restaurant that’s been written up in the New York times, and the food and atmosphere were absolutely amazing. The entire restaurant is walled in. You have to have a reservation to enter, and its an old winery that surrounds a beautiful courtyard and grill area. Apparently the governor of Mendoza was there the same night we were, so security was very tight. The picture here is of my dessert, "burned fruits". The absolute best thing I've ever eaten...

The next day, we’d hired a driver to make reservations at 4 wineries in the area and take tours of them. Wineries in South America are not like those in Sonoma/Napa – reservations are a must, and you get a full tour of the winery in addition to the small tasting sessions. We had a beautiful lunch at one winery, were able to drink wine straight out of the barrel at another, and bought a handful of bottles to bring home with us. It was a quite intimate experience, and we met a few other people – both from the US and South America, as well as Germany and elsewhere. I think the rest of our time in Mendoza was spent eating… I love their food… And I gained about 20 lbs because of it.

In all of our chats with other people, whenever we mentioned our overnight bus that was planned for Santiago, it was heavily advised to take the bus during the day. So we did.

The trip over the Andes mountains into Chile is a beautiful 7 hour ride, and a little scary at times! The road just after the border crossing turns into an extreme version of that twisty Lombard St in San Francisco. I was completely convinced we were going off the edge of the cliff at every turn. The transition from Argentina to Chile was almost shocking to drive through though. Argentina is very poor in the rural areas. The highways we were on in Argentina were dotted with small shacks that were lucky to have windows, but all had bars over the doorways and windows (or where the windows should be). On the Chilean side, the level of living was noticeably higher. The houses rarely had bars, and were actually quite cute cabins in the mountains.

Santiago is just at the base of the Andes, and is a wonderfully clean city. Their subway system (although it closes at 10pm) was so clean and decorated so nicely, it could make you think the Manhattan subway stations were from a third world country. I have to wonder how heavily subsidized the subway system there is, or what NYC is doing wrong. Santiago may be cheaper than NYC, but its certainly not the place you should visit if you want to save cash. The exchange rate was something like 660 Chilean pesos to 1 US dollar (insanely hard to figure out how much you’re spending on the fly), but you’d spend 20,000 pesos for a taxi ride....

More to come when I have some more time to sit down and write...

Efforts to be a wise old owl. Or an old maid. :)

As I'm nearing the end of my twenties, I have been feeling that I should start planning for the future - namely ensuring I will be OK in 30 or 40+ years. Financially, I am doing the things I think I should: saving, contributing to my 401K, etc. Minus owning a house. Its a good time to buy I think, but that's such a scary idea for me, and buying in NYC is exponentially more scary compared to buying outside the city - who outside NYC would agree a one bedroom apartment is a deal at half a million dollars?! But I digress...

Outside of financial security, I am determined to have mental security: I will be a sane, lucid old woman (even if I end up as an old maid with a cat)!

I've known for a while that crossword puzzles increase brain function and decreases the susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease. I am fortunate to be the nerd that loves crosswords. So check that one off my list in my efforts to be mentally sound.
Tonight PBS had on a show about brain functionality. Supposedly your brain function increases if you concentrate on good things in your life... And thinking of 5 things a day for which you are grateful has proven to help your brain function. The nice addition to this practice is that I just get to think nice things and have my own personal mini-thanksgiving in my head every day, which hopefully should help me start (or end) my days with a happy thought.

Don't expect me to do this constantly here, but for today, as a start, I shall list 5 things for which I am thankful/grateful. Here goes: I am thankful....

• for my parents' support. My parents build me up and are proud of me. They let me know when they're disappointed in my actions, but always let me know they'll be there to support me.
• that I am able to support myself. Although I have worked hard to get where I am, I know that a piece of my success is simply luck in being at the right place at the right time. I am thankful to have worked hard and to have had luck on my side.
• that I have had the opportunity to travel. To have been able to visit much of western Europe and will soon see some of South America before my 30th birthday, I am fortunate.
• that I can read. Simple, I know... but I love where books take me and how they stir up images and people from words on a page.
• to have fantastic, interesting friends and a boyfriend that all care about me. They all contribute to the person I am and make me a better person for their friendship.

He tried to steal my blender!

Oy vey... Maybe I should write a book on the trials and tribulations - and un-fun adventures - of living with a psycho.

I'm down to less than a week living in my current apartment and CANNOT WAIT to get out. Roommate number 2 moved out last Friday, so its just been me and the Psycho packing up. The apartment is a colossal mess right now - boxes everywhere and a resulting layer of dust on the floor since most of the furniture is now gone.

I walked in the kitchen the other day to make my last meal in the apartment. (Nothing to worry about regarding my eating habits - I'll be eating out the next few days.) Psycho has a box of the few kitchen items he owns on the counter, and I happen to notice my cutting board sticking out of it. He tried to steal my cutting board. I grab that, of course, and in doing so, it moves the handy towel he has COVERING MY BLENDER! In his box of stuff! He was going to abscond with my blender! A good one at that - glass and 20 different mixing speeds!

I have taken control of that situation (ie, taken and hid the blender), but I wonder how much more he has already taken and what more he will attempt to take. I tried to pack up all the kitchen stuff I could and move it into the new place (I got my keys yesterday!), but I'm still feeling very suspicious. All my boxes are in Roommate #2's old room, and I even wrote down the number of items in there so I could count and make sure nothing was missing. This is so crazy.....