Finally a Great Day

Just lost everything I wrote and I cannot recapture the excellent writing I put down on this illustrious blog. Oh well, gotta start over and deal with it. Not gonna let it steal my joy. But I do have to figure out how to fix this damn computer and the blog itself so these things do not keep happening. That will be next.

First is the description of my great day. Good weather and good reading. Decent travels about the little part of town I know. And some fun.

Had to slog down to the Consulate to get my new passport. I really thought this was going to be a drudge trip to hell. Got a decent taxi, he went right where I wanted to go, their were no huddled masses at the window and whoa, we were in. I did have to take off my shoes and walk over carpeting I am sure infected my feet with some unknown diseases but that will be a later post. When I have huge nasty---never mind, later. Anyway got a ticket at the counter that was about 400 off and watched the sad waiting people and wham, I was next. Whole episode did not take 15 minutes.

Got a taxi back to the rabbit warren with no problems and we went to have a drink with Amay. She volunteered to go with us to the wet market to buy tea as Big Daddy and I cannot make heads or tails of the tea choices. We now have cred with the tea guy. Bought some great black tea and he gave us a gift of some more expensive tea to try. And Amay explained that the snakes in the plastic bowls are not snakes. They are fish, from the river. They look like fucking snakes. They are spicy when cooked. So Big Daddy is really up for cooking the fucking non-snake things for our dinner. At a later date.

BD-initials to be used from here on out for Big Daddy-made a great dinner, mixed salad, honey glazed chicken breasts (we stole the recipe from Blackened Out) and green beans. Then we had to go for walk as we are fat. Well, walking over to the other side of the complex BD decides we need go look at the ovens at the place he bought my hair appliance. My curling iron died about 2 weeks ago and with the shit haircut I got from the HAIRDRESSER WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED-as it is the only hairdresser in town-I was in distress. So bald BD goes to this store and pantomines curling his hair. I guess this was somewhat entertaining as BD says all the staff was there staring at a man trying to show how curl hair on his old bald head. YES, I know I am loved. He got the appliance. Another story. Anyway, this is now his favorite electronics store. So off we go.

We purchased a convection oven and a blender/processer type thing for around 180 US dollars. Quite a good price I think. They made a deal on the oven, nothing on the blender contraption. But they did seem really concerned we bought the better products-the products they were happier to sell. And I do mean products they seemed to like better, not just to make money on. The prices were the same between some things. I seem to think if you are a repeat customer and do speak a little Chinese (very little in our case) they really do give a damn if you are happy.

So I got to pet a really nice dog at the store, BD got his cooking shit, we got great tea, and there are not snakes at the wet market. What more could you want?

More tomorrow on Anthony Bourdain, really bad hair, and why do I have zits at my age?

I have a stepstool

It is orange and white. It is easy to open and shut. It fits in the space by the fridge. I can reach the dishes. It is too dangerous to try the microwave but still this is a huge improvement. In order to make space we had to get rid of the shopping cart. We put it in the stairwell as this is the getting rid of stuff procedure. I know this is hard to believe but the cart was too short for even me to push. I think when Big Daddy bought it he must have gotten it in the children's department.

Pretty much when you get something new you have to get rid of something old. There is not much storage here for all the actual space. And throwing stuff out here is really hard. The ayi's always bring it back to you and jabba jabba if they find it. Big Daddy threw away some useless cords and such from his collection and when he got home I had a nice pile on the table for him. I tossed a bottle of creme rinse I was never going to use and the ayi brought it right back. We made a mistake once and over ordered from Meal Bay so Big Daddy took the extra food down to the security guards on his way to the dry cleaners. When he got back they were all still guarding the food for him. Thank goodness a Chinese lady came in told them the food was for them or they might still be guarding it. I am guessing small acts of kindness are not usual in China.

New news-tomorrow we have an appointment to go to the embassy and try to get my passport renewed. Then I have to apply for a new visa. But they take your passport for the new visa and I have to walk to Hong Kong early this month as Big Daddy's boss is coming to visit. And I can't travel without my passport. This is getting really confusing. And then something about a different visa with a 2 day physical. And oops, I lost my registration papers from the hotel.

Also new, Big Daddy found a bookstore with English books. It is on Shaanxi not far from the hairdresser. They had the new Anthony Bourdain book, so new I did not even know it existed. And he found a new place to cut his hair and they did a great job. And he found a huge beautiful orchid for less than I would pay at Trader Joe's. And I may have found a friend I can buy. And it is not raining so far today nor is it steaming hot. I hope this is not the good weather day as Big Daddy is out of town and won't be home until late.