Ramblings

I must say I'm disappointed with myself. I'd planned on hitting one hundred posts this year, but at the rate I've been going the past few months, I'll never make it. There's definitely plenty of fodder to fill the pages, but time keeps whizzing by. When I first started the blog, I was working full time at Clemson University. I managed to update regularly...ok...so maybe sitting at a computer all day allowed me easy access. Being unemployed and in a new country should have given me ample opportunities to write. I'd even thought of writing a book. New topics presented themselves daily. How grocery shopping and defensive blocking are similar, the best way to get around China is in the back seat of a car with your eyes closed, the art of negotiating, or public urination...I mean REALLY public. Two years later, I still shake my head at the sights that initally shocked or scared the living bejeegus out of me. The book idea still tickles at my brain. Since I'm having a hard enough time trying to keep up with this blog, the idea will have to continue to tickle. Those who know me, know I have a tendency to procrastinate. Having more time on my hands did not allow me to do more, it just allowed me to put off things for greater lenghts of time.
Since rejoining the ranks of the employed and having my parents stay with us for three weeks, I've discovered a kind of frazzled focus, but focus nonetheless. The busier I am, the more I can get done. Yesterday, I taught five classes, baked and bagged ten dozen cookies for the Girl Scouts' coookie sale, did four loads of laundry, put up the Halloween decorations and had a decent meal on the table by 6:30. Life continues on, no matter in what country we find ourselves. Yes, things get extremely aggravating over here, like when I try to find sour cream at five different stores or when I pay close to $8 for a block of cheese or when I have to step over the fresh pool of pee made by the little toddler in the produce section at Auchen. Now, however, besides cringing, I file it away in my frazzled mind, wondering in what chapter it will fit.