adventure in santa monica....

Pat's parents are here for the weekend and they took the car on Saturday to go to Disneyland. Left without our normal means of transportation, Pat and I decided to be adventurous and take the bus to Santa Monica. I can't believe I am saying that taking public transportation has become an adventure and an event in itself. Growing up in Japan, taking the bus was like breathing. A necessity, more than anything else. But living in LA, and having done this only once before, it has become a BIG deal. To my surprise, the bus only costs 70 cents each way, it's clean, and has air conditioning. It only took 18 minutes to get from Sawtelle to 3rd Street, AND I didn't have to look for parking. The driver just dropped us off, right in the busy area of town, exactly where I wanted to be. Amazing! Why didn't I think of this before. LA is often thought of as a automobile city. In fact, it is. The type of car one drives is indicative of one's social status or so I've heard. That puts Pat and I with our unwashed Honda Civil '81 and'94 in a pretty low social status in this city. So today, I decided that I need to change that and "up" my status by paying 70 cents to get on that big blue shiny bus, complete with air conditioning, comfy seats, and a chauffeur. The chauffeur will certainly pick me up on time, and drop me off where I want to go. It's a great luxury.

What's keeping me up tonight

Discomfort of pregnancy stems from variety of basic physical needs. Tonight was my stupid bladder again! I woke up at 3:30 needing to pee and can't go back to sleep. I started thinking about work, which I hate to do outside of the office, and it's been keeping me up. I realized that I've been working through that stupid recruiting agency for over 5 months now. The pay is good but it puts me in a very insecure position with no benefits. I basically work hourly, and am starting to feel the strain, especially when I get sick one week, and now there's the holiday, without pay. Reminder to self: talk to management. Are they going to hire me before I take maternity leave. If not, what does that mean, and what position is that going to put me in.... Reminder to self: need to look into disability leave..... Agh, bad timing, and another reminder to self: never do this agency business again!

Terran....

My mind has been totally preoccupied by our little baby. At 30 weeks in my system, he is kicking strong, always keeping me entertained. While I sit in front of my computer at work, he would be busy, doing this and that, and going here and there. He pushes against my ribs, and I get a sore spot. So I touch my bulging stomach, find the hard spot where his little foot must be, and tell him to play somewhere else. Sometimes, he would bounce against my bladder, and I get an urgent need to go pee. And other times, he would kick one corner and another corner of my stomach at the same time, letting me know how big he must be by now. Recently, my walking have slowed, and I started feeling the heaviness of pregnancy. I go up the stairs to third floor of our apartment, and I am totally out of breath. All this put together, occupies my day and night until I go to sleep.
In the mean time, dishes don't get washed, my hair gets no trimming, refrigerator stays empty, and mail gets ignored....

doctor's appointment

My monthly appointment was today. Pat has gone to every single one of them so far. If there was a time that conflicted with his schedule, he would make me work around it. He's been there from the very first one, when we went to the doctor in disbelief to confirm our accident. The nurse automatically knows that he's in the waiting area, so when I'm ready, she goes to get him. I am quite sure there's not too many husbands/ boyfriends, who would go with their partner to these uneventful doctor's appointment every single month. The doctor seems happy to see a male face in the predominantly female environment.
Weight gain: a healthy 5 lbs.... again....
Diabetes test result from last month: negative
Is it normal for the baby to spend most of his time on one side of my stomach?: Baby has found a spot that he likes so it's ok.
Baby's heartbeat: loud and clear.
Fortunately, another uneventful appointment.

ribs

We did a pre-memorial day bbq this weekend and had nearly 30 people over. We bought 10 racks of ribs, and only went through 5 of them.... So now, we are left with lots of ribs for a very long time.

Compliment

Yesterday at work, one of the principals came up to me and told me with her hand on my shoulder: "during the meeting, we were discussing that you are the best person we hired in months!" My immediate thought to that was, so where's the money? But I didn't say that. I just said "Oh, that's really cool!" I guess it's a good compliment but I was a little annoyed. When I was little and when my mom told me that I was a good girl, I felt very proud. These days, when Pat tells me that I look sexy with my huge belly, I get so happy and feel like I should be like this forever. Even though I do like my work and take pride in what I do, what I know and what I learn, I realized that it's all very personal and compliments from others, especially when directed to me, becomes awkward. In a way, I feel violated that someone had judged me and had bothered to tell me about it.

Daily horoscope - Scorpio:
There's nowhere you'd rather be than where you are right now, and no one you'd rather be with than the person sitting right there across from you. Cancel all your appointments.

That's here at home, and he's sitting in front of our little TV, engrossed in a movie. I stare at him across the room for a long time, and he doesn't even notice. This is where I want to be and there's no one I'd rather be with.

Booooo

Booooo to 4th of July. Nothing was in depth, no character development, barely any interaction in women's murder club, fast read, but no thrill, and unconvincing, to say the least. And what's 4th of July got to do with anything! Totally disappointed. Boooooo.

4th of July

I tried to get the book from the library but I am waitlist number 275, and there's only one book in the whole lapl system. So I finally bought the book. James Patterson is one of my favorite writers. Actually, I don't know much about him or his books except for the Women's Murder Club series. I look at James Patterson's photo, prominently displayed on the back cover of the book. He's chubby looking caucasian male, grey hair, and some wrinkles around his eyes. He wears a red cap that reads "RELAX", and a loose navy blue sweatshirt. Looks like an average Joe. But then, I just can't help but wonder, how the hell does he write about women like that!? As I read the book, often narrated by Linday Boxer, I am totally convinced. What she sees, what she feels, what does, she's 100% woman. And to think that this character was invented by this slouchy guy on the back cover.... That blows my mind, and in itself, a great mystery.

birth

I feel oddly tired and generally unintersted in what is going on around me. The life inside is sucking all my energy and begs for my complete attention. Small but very powerful, it is only possible that a soul has found its home.

kakuni for pat

I found a recipe for one of your favorite dishes. You can return the favor by making it for me!

Kakuni:

1.5 lbs Pork shoulder or butt (part with higher amount of fat)
4 boiled egg
1 chunk ginger - sliced
4 inches green onion
2 star anis
0.4 cup sake
2.5 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
vegetable oil a bit

1. Cut pork into 2 inch cubes. Cook pork in a pot until the outside is brown. This process seals the pork flavor inside the meat. Drain extra oil from the pot. Boil eggs 10-12 minutes in a separate pot, or until done.
2. Add water to the pot with pork until water just covers the pork. Also add ginger, green onion, and star anis. Bring to boil then lower the heat. Add sake and cook for 30-60 min until the pork is done.
3. Take out ginger, green onion, and star anis from the pot. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, and mirin in the pot and cook for 10 min. Add boiled egg and cook for another 5 min. or until all the flavors blend. You can also add bok choy when you add the egg. Serve with some mustard if you want.
voila!

Monday at home

I've always thought about starting a weblog but never did. Today, I am at home, sick. I woke up at 4am and dashed to the toilet to throw up twice. I don't know if this is because of the baby or because I ate something funny. Even though I am pregnant, and very visibly so, I pretend not to be physically, and carry on most activities as usual. It may have been over exertion, I don't know. So I got up this morning, got dressed for work, ate breakfast, and got sick again. Taking a day off was a good decision. So I start blogging....