Yesterday was a very random Thursday.

My friend asked me if I wanted to have lunch before work and I said yes. Then she asked me what else I was doing that day and I said not much, just a couple of classes and that I had to catch the train about an hour before they started. She said that she'd drive me so that I wouldn't have to take the train, and after many, "are you sure?"s we made plans to meet up, go to lunch in the city where I was working, and hang out in the vicinity so that it would be convenient for class.

I usually keep things low-key before work, so that I can de-stress and prepare for everything, but I figured lunch would be no big deal.

So we get on the expressway, and I zone out for a bit, but then I start paying attention to the exit signs and we are going waaay out north east. It's okay, we have plenty of time and everything, but I just wasn't expecting we'd travel so far. We kept passing more and more signs, before I finally asked where we were going, and my friend's like, "it's okay, just 38 more kilometers!" This was like someone in Seattle asking you to lunch and taking you to Bellingham. Not what I expected at all.

We had a lovely time, got lunch, went shopping, etc. But I couldn't understand why we went so far.

When I got home I told Bret about my lunch date, and he was like, "Oh yeah, lots of people out here just like going for drives. It's like a hobby." I'd heard this before but I guess I forgot since I regard long drives solely as an inconvenience. We didn't even have a destination! I could see if there was a specific awesome restaurant or attraction, but we had zero plan.

In the end, it was a great day. Next time I will be more careful what I agree to :) It's interesting to see things from new perspective. I feel like just going for a drive went out of style with the rise of gas prices, but for some it's still worth it!

The Gold Collectors

They come by...all the time. Today they came by while I was making pumpkin bread and watching scrubs. I don't have any gold!!!!

Are people back home getting hassled by these people? I swear, it's either the Jehovah's witnesses or the gold people every other week. They're bold, too. They walk in through the garage all the time. 

Taiwanese Food

So today after we went to the bizarre city office in an attempt to find Vikram, we went out to lunch at a Taiwanese restaurant.

First of all, I don't even know what Taiwanese food is. Seriously. I hear the words and I think of Vietnamese food...so yeah.

Anyways, we go to this place that Bret had been mentioning, that we'd actually attempted to go to before but it was closed.

It was not good. The whole menu was pictures of semi appetizing chinese food looking stuff. Taiwan is above the Phillipenes, to the right of China. So...maybe the food is like Chinese food. I am not great at geography, as I have stated in the past, so I looked all that up just now.

So...when you have bad food are you supposed to pretend it's good? I mean...I feel like I should just cut my losses, pay the 6 dollars, and get out of there, but Bret gets all...disgruntled at my complaining. Which I understand, but I still don't want to eat microwaved freezer food. Lunch is an important meal of the day! Usually the only big meal I have.

He had this omellete with some sort of sauce and crab on top and I had...some sort of pre-cut vegetables with chicken in a sauce that tasted like cornstarch and water. Seriously, it was bad. Bret described his crab as tasting like it was dried and re-hydrated, while I think it had just gone bad. It tasted terrible.

But...we have different opinions I guess, and he doesn't like to waste food and all that...

After that we went home, he got ready for work, and I've been sitting around with nothing to do. I decided to write this because I think it was funny. Bret's probably going to read it and be all like, why did you write that...etc etc.

I just don't like eating garbage.

After all of that, I looked up Taiwanese food on google images and it does, in fact, look like Chinese food in a lot of cases. I tried to find things that didn't look like Chinese dishes. Here are some pictures.

To be fair, in the countryside it's rare to find foreign food that's done well. At least in my humble experience. We have an amazing Korean place that does killer bulgogi, but it is pretty expensive so we never go.

Festivus for the Restuvus

Vikram Update

We're going to the pound tomorrow to see if he's there.

Well, it wasn't open during the weekend and when we went today it was just an office building and they we went to some random department where they took his description like he was a missing person. WEIRD. No success yet...

:(

If you're having a bad day, it's good to remember that things could be worse. You could have this dog's life.

Festival Street Food