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It's Just Really Nice Here

As a connoisseur of great places to go, I feel compelled to write a bit about our trip to Hudson, NY a few weekends ago. Hudson is absolutely the bomb-diggity and we always have such a great time while we are there and our latest escape from the city was no exception.

The cool thing about Hudson is that it has a great small-town feeling for those of us wishing to escape the hustle and bustle of NYC, but still has some cosmopolitan aspects that save it from being a one-horse town. The main street is filled with antique shop after antique shop after antique shop, each specializing in different periods – with amazing art, furniture, clothing, and knick-knacks. Unfortunately for Rusel and I, it’s all a little bit out of our price range, but still so much fun to look and get ideas.

And once we’re all shopped out on Warren (the main street in town), the city boasts two of our favorite thrift stores – a great local Salvation Army and a Goodwill. For many of you who have coveted Rusel’s ‘N SYNC t-shirt (Krista!), this is where that little gem was purchased a few years ago.

There’s also a spattering of great galleries, in particular the John Davis Gallery.We always make a point of heading in there as soon as we arrive and their shows are usually interesting. The space is the best part, however. He has the main storefront, a basement and then a back building that used to be a mill or something like that but now houses even more art. I told Rusel that once we buy our house in Hudson, we will become friends with the gallery owner and he can hang some of Rusel’s stuff (if he’s not too big by then).

We always stay at the Country Squire Bed and Breakfast, with Paul at the helm. He’s a super sweet and nice guy and the rooms are impeccably decorated and always clean. It never fails that at breakfast in the morning, served family-style on a big, antique table in the dining room area, that we meet other interesting folks. Paul usually sits with the guests as well and tells them about things to do in town, the book that he is working on, or local gossip.

Once we’ve worn ourselves out in town (which, to be honest, takes a while because there's so much to see and do) and are itching for some green, we usually drive out into the lush countryside that surrounds the small town and go on a hike, or just drive around and take pictures (Rusel), or pick flowers (me).  If we’re feeling ambitious, we cross the Hudson River, which lies to the west of town, and head up into the Catskill Mountains. So gorgeous!

The cool thing about Hudson, and the American Northeast in general, is that there is so much history everywhere. It’s fun to imagine all of the wealthy New York City socialites heading up to their Hudson River estates for the summer back in the day. Although the area has had its ups and downs economically, it is definitely experiencing an “up” time as a tourist destination. I particularly love that so many people have bought homes in Hudson and are restoring them…and of course, I have my eye on a few for when we hit it big.

 Another cool thing I was able to learn about before we went up was this amazing blog about Hudson: The 12534. (Thanks, John!)  Rusel and I usually roll into town without a plan and not really knowing what events are going on, so it’s good to have a place to go to find out what is happening. The town is so vibrant and filled with artists, ex-city people, longtime residents….just a cool mix of my sort of peeps.

Our trip was over way too soon and back to the city we drove, which is only about two hours depending on traffic and depending on whether or not you get an emergency phone call from work and need to speed home and get pulled over for a ticket (Rusel). Hey, I thought that there were no emergencies in advertising?

Regardless, we were pretty much on our way home anyway so it wasn’t too big of a deal and the officer was pretty nice as he wrote out the ticket. If you don’t have a car, a train goes there directly if you live in New York City. It's also a short hike from Boston as well.  Highly recommended to head up to Hudson, although in some ways we feel as if it is our little secret….so don’t tell too many people, okay? 

Bye Bye, B61!

It’s been a pretty fun spring and summer in that every one of my family members has been out to see my new digs and visit. When I first moved to NYC and got my own place it seemed as if friends and family came out of the woodwork to visit -- which was great --but then the influx of visitors died down for a few years.  This past week, Rusel and I were honored to have my brother, Christopher, and his son, Duke, visit us from Hawaii.

They took to the city like fish to water and I even commented to Duke, when he pushed through a crowd of people while we were racing to catch a train, that he was one step away from being a “true” New Yorker. Although Hawaii and New York are about as far apart as you can get, both physically and in almost every other sense, the kid is fearless and fit right in.

I hadn’t seen Duke in about a year and a half and he’s grown quite a bit – he’s all of four years old now (five in September). His full name is Steven Duke Thomas, after my Dad, and he is on his way to be just as big of a Yankees fan as my Dad was. He knows all of the player’s names and they went to three games in the four days that they were here. We caught a game with them on Sunday against the Kansas City Royals and the Yankees won – whoo hoo!

Duke plays a mean game of the card game War, uses the word "actually" quite liberally (sometimes fitting it into a sentence three or four times), has a knack for celebrating joyously when he wins at any of the several games that he loves to play and negotiating for a "tie" when he doesn't. He's super sweet and sensitive and smart and was so much fun to be around. 

It was fun to see my city through a kid’s eyes and it was also fun to see how people react to kids here in the city. Normally here, everyone has their guard up as a defense mechanism, but kids seem to break through the barrier. Or maybe it’s just that Duke is so damn cute. People gave their seats up for him on the subway, he was able to “trade in” his half-eaten frozen lemonade for a new one at the game just by asking, and in general people just seemed to look out for him. It was really nice.

The funniest moments were definitely spent trying to catch the bus near our house. We live in a nice part of Brooklyn with the only major downfall being that to get to either main subway line from our apartment you need to catch the B61 bus (the bane of my existence), or bike or walk to the subway. Because the bus is annoying and never on time, I usually just ride my bike to the subway, where it is only one stop in on either the L train or the 7 train into Manhattan. It is just far enough away that you can’t really walk it very quickly (about 20 minutes by foot). With Duke and Christopher here, we relied on the bus because they obviously didn’t have bikes. One day, we waited for about 25 minutes for the damn bus, which wasn’t running on schedule as usual. Ultimately, we had to take a cab to the subway because Christopher and Duke were going to be late for their first Yankees game.

The next day, we were walking down the street as we saw the bus go by at the end of the street. “Bye, bye, B61!” Christopher said right before I shouted to everyone, “RUN!” Little Duke, Christopher, Rusel and I booked it three blocks to catch the bus, which was stalled at a red light (thankfully). Duke ran so fast “his eyeballs almost popped out” and was able to hold onto his beloved Yankees ball that they had bought at the game the night before. We all high-fived each other as we got on the bus and jumped on the subway and went into the city to the American Museum of Natural History. It was so much fun.

The city turned scorching overnight on Saturday and it has been really really hot here ever since. They both handled the heat just fine and Rusel and I – and everyone else in the city – is now trying to move as little as possible to stay cool. It’s definitely “disgusting” hot at the moment.

It was hard to say goodbye to them when they left early this morning. Duke is flying to Nebraska to spend the next couple of weeks with various friends and family and Christopher is staying a day or two before he heads back to Hawaii. Like I said, it was great to see both of them and I’m so glad that they made the trek. 

Neene Takes Manhattan

My “little sister” Whitney came to NYC this weekend with her friends Kelly, Tara and a new friend named Robin. It was great to hang out with Whitney and her friends. Whenever Neener and I usually hang out, it’s with the entire family (my Mom, kids, etc.) and while that is really nice as well, it’s good to have some one on one time, too.

We all went to a piano bar called “Don’t Tell Mama” on Friday night and that was pretty funny. It was great for me to go out in the city and do some “New York” stuff because I’ve been a bit of a hermit lately, with school and work and winter hibernation/nesting issues going on.

Friday night was fun but Saturday night was the real adventure. We met up at Lucky Cheng’s for dinner. Lucky Cheng’s is this institution in the east village and all of the servers are actually transvestites. It’s one of those places that you go to when you first get to the city, so I hadn’t actually been there in years. The last time I went, I was singled out by one of the servers/performers and my ex-boyfriend, Kenny, was forced to eat whipped cream off my stomach while everyone stood around and hollered. It was mortifying, so I guess that explains why I haven’t been back in a while!

The food is pretty horrible and the place is a circus but it’s probably worth it just for the entertainment. There was this one very large, black transvestite who did lap dances that was especially entertaining. Words seriously cannot describe the show that she put on multiple times. It was totally embarrassing to the poor victims and we all quickly agreed not to do that to each other – thank God! Usually it’s me going through these horrible ordeals while other people laugh and think it’s funny (see above).

The funniest part of the entire night was the people one table over. The place is basically packed with bachelorette parties and birthday groups. The table next to us had a girl who didn’t look much older than 16, a bunch of other people, and then an older grandma with a shock of white hair. I was totally embarrassed for the grandma half the time, because the things that the transvestites were doing during their shows and the lap dances made even me blush.

A little bit before we left, we looked over and noticed the 16 year old puking in a bucket. That was funny/sad enough, but then the table paid for the large, black transvestite to do a lap dance on the older grandma. It was like a bad car accident – I wanted to look away but I just couldn’t. I seriously thought that grandma was going to have a heart attack or get hurt because the lap dance/show was pretty physical.

After Lucky Cheng’s, our friend Seth met up with us and we went to Winnie's, a karaoke joint downtown. It used to be quite the spot, but its day is definitely done. I will never go back there – the drinks were overpriced and the karaoke machine was hardly turned up at all. To add insult to injury, it was a two-hour wait for karaoke, which was disappointing because Tara has a beautiful voice and we really wanted to hear her sing.

So off we went to a dance club in the East Village – Lit. It was fun to dance and the crowd was good.

On Sunday, we all met up again for brunch at Odeon. My friend Roger met up with us, thereby completing his goal to meet everyone in my family! Roger really liked Whitney and that was fun because now Rog is officially a member of the family. My friend Meredith and a friend of hers, Marcus, met up with us for brunch, which was fun because I felt a lot of worlds colliding. It was a nice brunch and I have to say that the service at Odeon was really great, as well as the food.

We had just enough time to walk down to Ground Zero, which made me really sad. I haven’t been down there in so long and yesterday I was reminded why. It’s pretty disgusting to me all of the political wrangling that has gone on down there and that a memorial isn’t even built yet – just because of politics and money.

I took the girls down to Wall Street and then Battery Park and then Neener and I jumped in a cab and I showed her our “new” apartment. That was fun because I’ve never really had a nice place in the city to show off. Thompson St. was great but more of a novelty, and my apartment with April…well, we all know how that ended. And my studio in Prospect Heights was cute but so small. This place is really starting to feel so homey and it was nice to show Neener.

Today I am working on school stuff and work stuff and then tomorrow I fly with Neener to Kansas City and then on Wed. we are driving to York for the weekend and my Grandma Babe’s birthday on Sat. I’ll probably update then!

From Lenin to Mao

Today, I realized that I never wrote about seeing Mao’s body in Tiananmen Square. It certainly was a trip highlight -- in a totally creepy way -- to see Lenin’s waxy figure in Red Square and then finish our trip with another corpse in Beijing.

The thing that I guess I never realized is that countries actually preserve the bodies of their revered leaders. I mean, I guess it’s kind of a modern-day phenomenon. I don’t think that it was probably possible, scientifically, to preserve bodies so well until quite recently. Mummies are the best attempt to do this and who knows how they looked 50 or 25 years out.

The preservation of Lenin’s body is mired in mystery and controversy and it is even rumored that it’s not his body on display but a wax figure. To be honest, Mao’s body looked faker than Lenin’s, but they both were totally weird. Maybe the thing that made Lenin’s body look more “real” was the fact that we could see his hands, whereas with Mao’s body it was just his head. Both were decked out in finery: Lenin in a nice suit and Mao in a military-like uniform.

In Russia, we were ushered in two at a time (I guess if you’re alone, you’re ushered in alone) and, as we entered the mausoleum, a Russian soldier who pointed to his left promptly shushed us. We followed his direction until we came to another Russian soldier who pointed to his left, and so on and so forth. This probably went on for about seven turns and seven different soldiers, all in dimly lit corridors and stairways. When we finally got to Lenin, there was a strange, low light shining on his body, which was placed in a glass box.

For a few moments – ten seconds, max – it was just Rusel, Lenin, and I. We were then motioned on by yet another Russian guard and the same process that had happened before, in reverse, took place until we exited back into the cold Russian winter.

Viewing Mao’s body was a completely different experience and ultimately, it says a lot about the differences between the two countries. We got to the mausoleum at about 11:20 a.m. and it closed at 11:30 so we were cutting it close. The actual building was about ten times the size of Lenin’s, as was Tiananmen Square. The long line outside was crowded with Chinese tourists – we were the only Westerners.

As with Lenin, security was extremely tight at Mao’s memorial. We had to check our bags and cameras and, as we were running late, we didn’t know where to go or what to do. A Chinese man, whom we mistook for an actual employee at the mausoleum, offered to “help” us figure out the entire system in exchange for 50 yuan – about $6. In the end, the mausoleum was free to visit and he did really help us so it was probably worth it. Had he not assisted us we may not have made it in time.

After we hurriedly checked our bags across the street from the building and ran back to the line, we were pretty quickly ushered up the huge stairs with a big group of other tourists. We entered a large room with high-vaulted ceilings and a statue of Mao sitting in a chair (perhaps this is why he’s called ‘The Chairman’?) in front of a huge, tacky mural of mountains. In front of the statue were hundreds of flowers left by previous visitors.

Unlike Lenin, where it was only the two of us, this time two huge lines were formed in their outer area and the foot traffic just flowed into one huge room behind this one. Before we knew it, we were staring at Mao’s body – with about one hundred other people. And then, we were gone.

The experience was definitely a shared one. A baby in front of us was crying and someone’s cell phone went off behind us. Everyone was trying to be quiet, but there was an excited buzz in the room as we actually walked by the body, which was also enclosed in glass. It was evident that Mao was just as respected as Lenin – if not more so – but this experience was more communal.

In the end, that’s probably what I liked so much about China. Today, as we were through the French Concession’s narrow back alleyways, it was evident that so much of China’s space is shared space and there seems to be a totally different mentality about identity and relationship. It’s more like Bali, in a way. Here, people are literally living on top of each other and I get the feeling that they’re happy to do it that way and probably even prefer it.

It got me thinking about New York City as well, where people live in a similar manner. But it’s different. Here, people’s doors and windows are open and friends stop by to chat, play cards, drink tea. In New York City, once you get home the door is locked and the city is left behind. Loneliness seems to be more of a hallmark of New York City, whereas here more value seems to be placed on shared experiences.

But all that is changing in Shanghai and perhaps other places in China as well. Loyal and well-read reader Julie sent me some information today about the demolition of Shanghai’s traditional neighborhoods to make way for new apartment complexes and buildings (read more about it here). I do get the feeling that China is in a current state of rapid change – which is exciting and sad at the same time.

We’ve had such a great time here and I have really fallen for the people here who have been so quick to smile and lend a helping hand. I wish them the best in this transformation, although my sentiment is slightly bittersweet because I actually like it just the way it is right now.

Before & After

On October 12, 2002, two bombs exploded in Kuta, a large tourist area on the southern coast of Bali. More than 300 people were injured and about 200 killed. About three years later, another bomb again rocked Kuta, this time killing about 20 people.

One thing that is very similar to Aceh, and New York City as well, is that Balinese often demark time with “before” and “after.” “Before” in Bali is when tourism was great, and everyone could make a great living selling their woodcarvings to tourists because there were so many of them. “Before” in Aceh was when everyone in your family was still alive, and there was a war raging. “Before” in New York City was when you didn’t think twice about getting on the subway in the morning, and the World Trade Center was a place you went to when your friends from out of town were visiting – on a clear day, you could see all the way deep into New Jersey.

People in Bali speak of “after” with some bitterness. Naturally, the bombs really frightened people away, and tourism still hasn’t completely recovered. Nobody really ever determined who was responsible for the bombs, but an Islamic terrorist group that has links to al-Qaeda is believed to be to blame.

Martin told me that by bombing Kuta, whoever did it was trying to send a message about decadence and “sin.” It’s a hotspot for young Australians looking to get drunk and hook up – and all of the vices that come with attaining these goals. It’s about an hour or so from Ubud. Needless to say, I’m enjoying my quiet little haven and am not planning on heading down there but even if I were, I think that it’s pretty safe now.

As hustling and bustling as Bali is, to an extent I feel a sort of emptiness regarding tourism. There are many, many more restaurants and hotels than there are tourists, as far as I can see. As we drove up to the mountain yesterday, Badung and I passed shop after shop along the road without a tourist in sight. However, my “friend” Blank at my hotel told me that this is the first reprieve they have had from being completely booked for three months, and I read in the Jakarta Post last week that tourism has largely recovered, although still not up to it’s “before” levels.

Anyway, by writing of the absolute beauty of Bali and the safety I feel here, perhaps someone out there will consider traveling here who hadn’t thought about it before. It’s truly an exceptional place to see and has just the right combination of beautiful scenery, genuinely sweet and friendly people, great food and a plethora of authentic cultural experiences. All at great prices. As Made said yesterday, “There is a bomb exploding somewhere, everyday. Unless you’re in Iraq -- then there’s more than one.” As depressing as his words are, unfortunately they’re true.

Institutionalized?Or: The Fun Stuff You Leave Behind

One of the hard things about leaving the country for a while is handling the details while you're gone. I was able to turn off my cell phone, I returned my cable box, and I put everything in storage. I changed my forwarding address to my "permanent address" in Nebraska and off I went.

Last week, when I got back from the bike trip, I received an e-mail from my Mom telling me that the storage company that was storing my stuff (for the low, low fee of $185 a month....note to self: downsize!) wrote me a letter stating that I still owed them $600 for "packing materials." Um....I packed myself! I was furious! I enlisted the lovely and loyal Rusel to call Brothers Moving & Storage and get to the bottom of it so I wouldn't have to spend $1 a minute to deal with it. He instant messaged me that the woman had hung up on him, because he "wasn't on the account."

Now, I was livid and decided to call -- $1 a minute, be damned. After putting me on hold for about 5 minutes, a woman at Brother's Moving and Storage in Brooklyn got on the phone and proceded to tell me that I owe $600 for bubble wrap, and a lock!

Needless to say, I was upset about this and I told her as much. The phone call ended when she promptly hung up on me. How's that for service!

My Mom said that she would take it from there......now there's about all of the background that you need for this little instant message communication: 

Cheryl Thomas: I know you have a busy three days ahead of you, just talked to Paige. So nothing new here except thanks for your itinerary. I printed it out. Also got the storage thing figured out. they were charging you for the month you already had paid for and the last month. So it is all worked out now, don't worry about it.    I told them you were in an asylum and I was taking care of your affairs.  So there.  Done.

lexthomas: LOL

lexthomas: what is "asylum"?!?!?!?!?!

lexthomas: mom, you are a SERIOUS nut and I love you.

Cheryl Thomas:   Just subst. at 7th grade level...what a trip!

lexthomas: you are a saint for doing that. angry youth with zits!

Cheryl Thomas: An asylum is a place where they put crazy people....like you and me.

lexthomas: LOL -- did you REALLY tell them that?

Cheryl Thomas: Yes. Made lots of memories come back. 

lexthomas: so they were charging me for the first month, and the last month?

lexthomas: and nothing about "packaging"?

Cheryl Thomas: Truly, I did tell them you were in an institution so to please excuse past phone calls.  They are happy.    Packing was a flat fee, just like you had said.

lexthomas: LOL -- MOM!!!!!

lexthomas: don't go telling people i have been INSITUTIONALIZED!

Well, this ties in very nicely to a story that was in the news bulletin I received today via e-mail:

Reaching The Top

Banda Aceh - A patient of asylum (hospital for lunatic peoples)  in Banda Aceh is waving at the spectators when he succeeded to reach the top of an areca nuts tree where many presents are hanged on to of it. This event is aimed to celebrate the Independence Day at The Hospital for Lunatic peoples (RSJ), Banda Aceh.

What's Good About America?

Martin asked me this morning. He is contemplating a move to the good old US of A and wanted to know.....

It’s weird when you leave home and suddenly you quit being you, and you become someone who is from a certain place. Something that you don’t think about that often – being an American – is suddenly a large part of your identity.

Where are you from? That’s usually the first or second question people ask you here, after they ask your name. It’s a good way of placing people, I guess. I always tell them, “New York City” and then ask them where they’re from. They always break out into a big grin – come on, where do you think I’m from? they seem to ask with their eyes before realizing that we are both in on the joke.

Upon arrival here, I found myself being asked to defend Bush, or explain why USAID was blasting through a mountain to build a road from Banda Aceh to Calang. People expect you to answer to “The American!” and want to know if you like Britney Spears. Oftentimes, when I’m out with the girls and we’re talking about other people here in Banda Aceh, it’s a good way to describe people as well….”Oh, you know, the Canadian we saw that day at Caswell’s.”

I have to say, it has definitely made me think about being an American and what it really means. It is difficult for me because on one hand, I have serious issues (for those of you who know me well, you know that this is a gross understatement) with our current administration. It upsets me, because on one level people assume that because you’re an American, you voted for Bush and you support his policies.

In my case, nothing could possibly be further from the truth. But at the same time, I don’t really always want to share my feelings of utter despair, disappointment and embarrassment when it comes to our current government. It’s kind of like the theory of how you can talk for hours about how your Mom drives you crazy, but the minute someone else says it…you’re defending your Mama’s honor!

The interesting thing about being an American is that everyone knows your politics. Today, at lunch, I was speaking to the head of our office, Marcel, who is Dutch; Martin, who is British; and Dr. Noor who is from Bangladesh -- about Nixon! Then Marcel started listing all of the American Presidents since Nixon. Luckily, I worked on a documentary about Nixon for The History Channel so I knew my stuff about good old Richard. But sadly, I probably couldn't list ONE of Holland's Presidents in the past 30 years, not even the one that they have now.

Anyway, after being stumped for a moment on “The Rocky Mountains,” “Nebraska!” and “New York City,” I came up with a list for Martin. They are:

-The American Dream. While this is a cliché and a myth to some extent, it really does exist. People who work hard can rise above their current lot in life. Hard work is rewarded and you can be born with nothing and die with millions. It is possible, and this isn’t true in every country.
-No Class System. After traveling in India and witnessing the caste system first-hand, I realized how lucky we are as Americans. Who you are born to doesn’t determine the rest of your life in America. You can be a self-made man or woman.
-Diversity. New York City is a perfect example but it’s not the only one. America truly is a melting pot of people.
-Good Food. He laughed at this one, but it’s true! You can get so many different types of food in America, because of the diversity I mentioned above.
-The power to vote. Again, the 2000 election was brought up…..but we’re trying.
-Freedom of Speech.
-Freedom of Religion.
-Good transportation system (after dealing with crazy roads here in Indonesia I really appreciate straight, well-cared-for roads). However, Kate chimed in that there isn’t a good mass transit system in most parts of America and this is true. To be poor and need transportation in most major American cities isn’t good.
-Creativity is highly rewarded. This is another one of Kate’s, and it is true.
-Women theoretically aren’t discriminated against. In the big scheme of things, this is getting better. Hey……we might even have a woman President soon!
-If you are wronged, you actually have a way to rectify the situation. People make fun of Americans all of the time for suing for no reason – and in the cases of “I spilled my McDonald’s coffee on myself as I was driving down the road talking on my cell phone and putting on lipstick” this is true and it is ridiculous. But at the same time, at least in America there is a system in place to deal with injustice.

Ivana, who is from Serbia, went to her senior year of high school in Ohio and then went to college in Virginia, so we thought she would be a good person to ask. She separately said “the food” and she also said that she really liked the University system in America and she thought that she had great professors. She also mentioned that physically, America is very beautiful, as we all agreed. There is much diversity in this beauty as well -- we've got it all when it comes to nature. And she said that she really loved America as well.

So there you go. If you would like to add some more, feel free -- that’s what the comments are for. Oh, and if this idea is interesting to you at all, please read The Corrections. It’s an amazing book I read last week about the disillusionment of the American Dream, consumerism, and family relationships. It’s truly brilliant.

And the picture above was snapped on the beach at Coney Island a few years ago on Meredith's birthday. A group of people, just down from where we were laying out in our swimsuits, were having some sort of baptism in the ocean. I thought that it was cool that the two can co-exist.....nicely illustrating freedom of religion in America. I have also included some paintings that Rusel made based on scenes from that day as well. To check out more of the amazingly talented Rusel's paintings go here.

I Need Protein!

Here's a picture from my last day of work at Murphy PR. Jessica, John, Nathaniel and Chad all went out to lunch with me to a delicious vegetarian restaurant in the city. We originally planned to go to a Korean BBQ but somehow got lost along the way and ended up at this truly great find. It was one of those places that is vegan but everything was so flavorful you really didn't feel as if you were being deprived.

It was hard to say goodbye to my pals at Murphy PR. We had some really amazing times together and it was a hard decision to leave. But in the end, this opportunity to work with the International Rescue Committee proved to be too great to pass up.

I'll miss all of you! And remember, anytime you're feeling down, just page someone else at the office and scream....I NEED PROTEIN!

My Last Days In The Big Apple

The countdown is on and things are a little bit hectic right now. I'm packing not only for Indonesia but for the three months of traveling afterwards. It's hard to sit down now and think of what I want to wear for the next six months, and then get a little bit depressed when I realize that it's going to be the same things over and over again!

Packing for Indonesia is easy -- I will have to wear casual work clothes. After that is where things get tricky. When Rusel and I meet up in Moscow, it will be October and a little bit cold? Mongolia also will be chilly, but then China should be warm. Japan in November might be cool...need to do some research on that one. Once we hit the beaches of Thailand we'll be fine with just swimsuits and then hopefully the same in Australia.

Right now I'm basically just packing up my apartment -- the movers come tomorrow. Thursday is my last day of work, and then I'm off to Christy and Craig's wedding in Ohio.

Back to work, but this fortune cookie that came with my Pad Thai today helped me feel better about the next couple of days!