This is a state best achieved by making a flash decision to move to a city you've never lived in before. For extra points, make sure you pick an international location or at least move to the opposite coast. Doing this multiple times in a row will earn you the coveted Gold Star, and possibly even a really big cookie ( Read more... )

So! Actually, I'm not home yet. I thought I would be, it's what the itinerary led me to believe would happen. But as it turns out, when your plane is over an hour late leaving Berlin, sometimes you miss your connection in Dublin ( Read more... )

So apparently, I'm really old. It's all right, I'm cool with it now. Everybody knows that birthdays are less exciting after the age of 25, but I actually started resenting the aging process at the ripe age of 10. I didn't want to have to trade my plastic horses for make-up, I didn't want boobs, and I certainly never ever wanted to like boys. If ( Read more... )

I am now officially staring into the maw of my last ten days in Germany. This is usually the time at which I tend to unveil my plans for What Happens Next. Are you feeling the anticipation well up inside you? Yeah me too. In fact, I have no very stunning revelations. First, I am returning to Massachusetts for a little over a month, to take ( Read more... )

It's important to learn the rules, wherever you live. Don't run in Salt Lake City before you've adapted to the altitude. When in New Orleans, don't walk down Bourbon St. unless you're prepared to see a lot of boobs. Don't mention to the Australians that they're descended from criminals; they have absolutely no sense of humor regarding this ( Read more... )

Over the past week, Germany seems to be determined to give me free food. First, it was the porcini mushrooms that we found in the cemetery. Then his roommate gifted me with a box of green tea. Then the blackberries that called to us from the other side of a fence, and were stealthily smuggled through. A zucchini the size of my arm, abandoned ( Read more... )

Elderly Germans whiz around town on bicycles. I cannot describe to you how much this pleases me. They bounce over the cobbled streets, fill up their baskets at the local market, then zoom home again. None of this old-fangled tottering about; Germans will Zoom ( Read more... )

You pick up a chunk of plastic-wrapped cheese at the market. It looks creamy and delicious and almost like havarti and although you don't recognize the name, your instincts are singing love songs about this cheese. You consult ManMeat, your local guide, and he says this cheese is excellent, and should be bought by you ( Read more... )

I know, I know. I promised. I shouldn't promise things. It's not that I don't want to tell you things, you know how I love to babble on about my life. The real issue is that jet lag is currently kicking my ass. Usually, I am jet lag's master; I'm generally pretty decent at careful manipulations of caffeine and sleep schedules that get me on ( Read more... )

Soooo since I last posted, I've sold my bed and couch, given Ms.Kittypants to her permanent home (where she has permanently installed herself under a bed), packed my life into my car and moved out of Columbus. And that's just the half of it. One car trip, two nights in Pittsburgh, one week of vegging the 'rents in Massachussets, and 24 hours of ( Read more... )