The Great Recovery of 2012

It seems more of this year has been recovering:

Recover from Scott's trip

Recover from Arisia

Recover from Boskone

Recover from arrival of new roommate

Oh, yes, an old friend has moved in with me.  :)  I'm very happy about it, but there is a lot of work involved because my house really is quite a mess.

I'm back in that pattern of reaction as opposed to pro-action…

Or not… it was my invitation that brought Katie here, and part of that plan was some serious house fixin' work.  To make Scott's old room livable, I knew there would be a lot of work.  It was pro-active.

But now, I have to react to fit the rest of my life around this.

As it is, I'm going to have to work around much more travel than I planned: two extra international trips to visit Scott.

"Work around" sounds so negative… it's AMAZING to get this chance to travel with my Husband-of-Awesome.  It's an opportunity I can't miss.  But, I do still have responsibilities and deadlines (many of those new, too) that must be balanced around the opportunity.

My blog has not been as regular as I'd like, though.  I'm back to making it a work in progress.

I'll aim for Monday and Thursday updates for now.  That's about all I can promise.  There are too many Fridays that I am traveling and Thursday nights I'm prepping. 

I'll do my best to keep things updated… like, ahem, my website… for which I'll send my webmistress edits tomorrow night.  (And I'll see if I can sneak in a person-to-person visit amidst my errands tomorrow.)

In any case, it's another reinventing of my work, my job "title," and, in essence, my life.

And I'm happy to share it for all its lessons.

Go to Bed!

Inevitably, my pre-dawn posts inspire well-meaning friends and family to order me to get some sleep.  I understand, I do.

Sometimes they're right.

I will often stay up late trying to fit in all of the to-dos that I overbooked myself to accomplish in a day.  Sometimes I wander off to read some of my favorite webcomics and lose track of time.

Other days, it's not my fault.

Tonight I'm awake and typing on L'il Rosie while Big Rosie is getting a huge scan to kill some piece of malware that attacked earlier this evening.  Scott stayed up as late as he could, but he has less flexibility than I do in scheduling – especially this month.  So, I'm up, babysitting a malware scan.

My note for tonight actually had written on it (in caps): BED BY 1AM.

Ha!  The Universe continues to focus on me as a bit of late-night entertainment.  Obviously, some celestial being/s appreciate the irony of me being mostly able to complete my to-do list and moreso at the expense of being unable to meet a particular list item.

(Well, two list items.  Broadly Speaking was supposed to go up tonight.  Yeah… let's not post a file that may be infected! The link is for last month.  In the mean time, enjoy this month's Broad Pod.  It's still the PRIDE theme!)

Another loss, all of my short stories and poetry are on Big Rosie.  While I had one WIP that got sent out tonight – so I DID meet my "send subs" list item, I could not send out more.  :( 

As I am doing a bloggy-type-blog and not relying on the Broadly Speaking announcement to be my Manic Monday blog, I may as well tell anyone interested what I've been up to… and why the last two scheduled blogs are mysteriously missing.

I've had a lot of deadlines.  Like, a LOT.  And a lot of out-of-the-house plans.  And meetings.  And computer problems.

Basically, I will be facilitating an online course for the next 8 weeks – the same one I finished all the edits for.  That was a bunch of meetings and projects for this week.  I also had some articles due and follow-ups on my team reviews.

And I had a well-deserved writer-girl day on Wednesday where I went up to Portsmouth, NH with my Broad Universe buds, Jennifer Allis Provost and Justine Graykin.  We went to hear Neil Gaiman speak.  As it was an educational experience, it's totally a work-related business trip and expense.  And Jenn and I did a Mexican food review that I turned in that day.  Dinner at the Coat of Arms, a proper British Pub in Portsmouth, was excellent research for those of us writing about the UK.  Sometimes I really, really love being a writer!

And then, of course, the sleep deprivation sinks in and your hopes of catching up slip from your fingers with the flowing scan bar progress of Malwarebytes.

I still really, really love being a writer.  And I'll go to bed when I damn well feel like it!  (Here, Scan Gods, have some chocolate so this will be over soon so I can go to bed?  Please?)

Flying and Foodie Friday: Myrtle Beach Red Eye Special

A thick fog consumed Worcester Airport, leading to a series of misadventures that dropped the Wooldridge Clan in Myrtle Beach at 2AM and without access to their rental car…

… Our first southern meal was at 11AM today, after finally obtaining said rental car, at a Waffle House.

Any further blogging on the subject is irrelevant.

Coffee, waffles, coffee, and (unpictured) "scattered" hash browns with "all the works."

Fun to blow out your entire caloric count in one meal, huh?  Good thing I'm doing a lot of walking while I'm down here!

Manic Yet Writerly… bunch of days…

I'm reminded of my earlier comment about having to figure out automatic posts BEFORE I next travel.

For those of you who follow me on Facebook & Twitter, you may already know I'm stuck in a Comfort Inn in Detroit.

Not in the city mind you… on the outskirts of the Detroit Metro airport… which is not entirely bad. My hotel window looks out over some beautiful farmland and a pretty bush that looks like honeysuckle, but if I were down south, I'd have smelled it through my window, so it's either a non-scented northern version or something else. I scared a poor little chickadee doing lower back and calf stretches by the open window; poor thing doesn't realize the screen is bolted closed.

The smoker before me did and burrowed a tiny hole in the bottom where cigarette ash betrays their peccadillo – if my lungs hadn't already clued me in when they required an extra inhaler puff.

I thought it was just the stress of having my flight cancelled after running through the hellishly long corridors of Detroit Metro.

Regardless, I had intended a rant post about crappy flying, but while I'm still indignant, I'm not furious… and I fully intend to negotiate with Delta about making sure I don't pay double luggage and seeing what they can do for me regarding plane tickets for Dragon*Con. I have been very nice and cooperative – if not pitiful or sweet enough to get a nice pilot to kindly skip to the front of the line for me to obtain some basic info, a hotel voucher, and then walk me to the shuttle area in said hellishly long airport. There were very, very many families who were absolutely hysterical because they had to get home to children and sitters. One woman who got word of a death on her cell phone right beside me. And two other families who had separated from children on the connecting flight and now the children (not little, but around their teens) were "home" and they were not.

So, I gird myself for calm negotiating now because I do have a Husband-of-Awesome who is picking me up at midnight on a work night… who I really hope I can get a free or steeply discounted flight for over Labor Day weekend. And no kids.

(To those of you who ask me why I don't have kids yet, see above comments.)

The cause for this disaster? Heavy thunderstorms and torrential downpour & flash flooding at the airports in Detroit and Chicago.

How am I also turning this Writerly post (because, it ought to be pretty evidently manic)?

If you're flying to conferences or conventions…

Don't use those cutesy carry-ons that look like mini suitcases. They are the first to get put below when you have an overstuffed flight where everyone uses them as their two carry on items. Get yourself a small duffle or high-school sized backpack (No, not one of those fancy hiking packs!)

And then pack your netbook (or laptop, though I strongly suggest you get a durable netbook or something of similar small size) in it's protective skin, surrounded by one spare set of clothes, underwear, extra socks, and pajamas, along with all your charging wires (for cell and computer), your important jewelry, and paperwork and/or reading material.

Ladies (and open minded men) you can also carry a small purse (or a small laptop bag that may function as a purse).

The back-pack or duffle should be squishy enough to go below the seat in front of you along with said purse or laptop bag because those stupid carry-ons DO NOT. And if you can get it under the seat in front of you, you won't lose it!

Things that I will now ensure to take in my carry on? Toothbrush, toothpaste. The hotel ran out of it.

I did have baby wipes though (long story, but I keep them in my purse). They make a great facial cleanser in a pinch. I also have a tiny handcream and moisturizing hand sanitizer in my purse. The hand sanitizer also makes a decent facial moisturizer while traveling because stress makes me much more likely to break out – and that is the best anti-zit treatment besides straight-up triple-antibiotic gel to destroy threatening or existing zits.

Looking ahead, and assuming I _survive_ (cue melodramatic music and hand stapled to forehead gestures) the trip back home, Foodie Friday will be usurped by Feminist Friday where I'll disclose my Wiscon adventures… and the Friday after that will resume Foodie-ness because there's lots of fun food to talk about from this trip.

In the mean time, grab a copy of Massachusetts Horse magazine or buy a book from K.S. Augustin and help the awesome horses that I'm missing at the Bay State Equine Rescue.

Also – happy thoughts for making it home tonight are much appreciated!!

Passover in Tokyo

(Aimee & husband, Marc, posing beautifully at an equally lovely Seder setting.)

I'm happy to share this Foodie Friday with my good friend and colleague, Dr. Aimee Weinstein. Aimee is a writer and recently was contracted to do a non-fiction book about English translation on signs in Tokyo. She also has one completed novel going through a final round of edits before she embarks on a query adventure with it, and a second novel that she's finished in draft form. Aimee writes for several magazines and ezines on travel, food, and Jewish life. Today, she's talking about her adventures following Jewish food traditions for Passover while in Tokyo. For more of Aimee's work, you can visit her at tokyowriter.wordpress.com

Thank you, Aimee!!

xx

It is that time of year again, and I alternately love it and dread it. It’s time for the Jewish holiday of Passover, which by standards is, along with Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah in the fall, if not the superbowl of holidays, then at least at playoff level. By way of explanation, the holiday is based on the story of the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The story goes that after the ten plagues, the Pharaoh released the Jews to leave the country and the Jews wanted to get out of there quickly, before he changed his mind so they left Egypt in a great hurry. Because of their haste, they did not have time to wait for their bread to rise to take with them on the journey. In commemoration of the leave-taking, Jews are commanded to eat matzah – unleavened bread – for eight days every year. Jews eat matzah to the exclusion of other types of grains. No corn, wheat, rye, barley, rice or anything. Eight days. It’s a full week of meat, potatoes and veggies.

Since I live in Tokyo, Japan, Passover has always presented a particular challenge. First of all, none of the traditional foods are readily available. I’m very lucky that the Jewish Community Center (www.jccjapan.or.jp) imports all of the really important foodstuffs directly from Israel. The biggies include boxes of matzah; matzah meal, which is crushed up matzah used for frying; and jars of gefilte fish, which is a conglomeration of fish that’s gelled together into balls – hey, it’s ethnic food – don’t ask! They also import and sell Kosher-for-Passover wine, macaroons, and even ketchup. Food for this all-important week has to be labeled not just Kosher, but Kosher-for-Passover, meaning free from all grain except matzah meal – the ground-up matzah.

In the U.S. there are often aisles of the grocery store devoted to Passover items. I remember growing up that it was the one time of year my mom would buy candy. Remember, it had to be labeled Kosher-for-Passover, and that means no corn syrup, so it was special candy. She made us eggs for breakfast every morning because cereal and toast were against the rules. Sometimes we’d have a board of matzah with sauce and cheese on it for lunch – matzah pizza. There was meat and potatoes every night for dinner.

When I had my own home in Virginia, I went even further with the traditions of the holiday. I changed over my dishes so that I had special pots, pans, plates and silverware for the holiday – things that had never touched anything leavened. It was the one week a year that my husband and I kept completely and strictly Kosher. My family thought I was crazy at the time, but it was not so hard for us to obtain the items we needed and make the extra effort to use different kitchen items.

But in Tokyo everything is different. The entire diet of the country is rice-based. Noodles are omnipresent in day-to-day life. I don’t have the storage in my little house to keep the extra dishes so I gave them away. We go out to eat a heck of a lot more often here than we ever did in the U.S. because we live in the middle of a city with one of the biggest concentration of accessible restaurants in the world. We are nowhere near family with whom to celebrate and have the traditional seder meal on the first two days of the holiday. All of this leads to huge issues with keeping Passover properly.

And so we adapt. There are two types of Jews in the world: Ashkenazi and Sephardic. Ashkenazi Jews are from Eastern Europe originally and Sephardic Jews are from Western Europe – Spain, mostly. Sephardic Jews eat rice on Passover. Most of the Jews I know in Tokyo magically become Sephardic on Passover no matter their ancestry. The Jewish Community Center holds two big seders that are well-attended. Many people host their own seders at home for their “family of friends” – everyone is in the same boat, so we form our own families. We splurge on the very expensive meat here to make up for the lack of carbs. I make my own candy – chocolate matzah to be exact. It’s messy and annoying, but the kids love it and it brings back good childhood memories for me to have candy in the house when I normally don’t.

So much of life overseas is about adaptation. I miss my family at this time of year and know that they are getting together without me. I miss my favorite holiday foods (carrot soufflé, brisket, matzah-stuffing…) which never taste quite right with Japanese ingredients even if I make them from scratch. But as I make my own seder for sixteen people this year, I know that my kids will have their own childhood memories of these times. The sixteen people who will be at my house next Tuesday night are special, wonderful humans with whom I am grateful to share my life – Jewish or other parts.

And so while Passover presents its challenges and problems, especially in Tokyo, it’s still an important time of year to be a Jew no matter where we are in the world. It’s comforting to know that all Jews across the globe are celebrating the same idea in their own way. And eating the traditional foods in the best way they know how.