The weekend was a slice of all right. Boy did I need that.
Went to the Green Market on Saturday and bought peaches, tomatoes, a ginger snap cookie, a hanging rosemary plant and a smoked duck. I also had a sweet interlude when I went up to a gruff old farmer to buy some zinnias. The guy looked a little off-putting but I was drawn to his stand of zinnias -- they were arranged in different color groups spanning the spectrum and if there's a constant about me, it's that I like variety and interesting patterns. So I found it satisfying to pick ten flowers from the bunch, looking back and forth from one bucket to the next to see which color might go well with the others I'd already selected. It took a little while but when I presented the final bouquet to him so he could calculate the charge, he had a wide smile on his face. It's hard not to smile when someone finds wonder in something. I'll have to go back to Mr. (Supposedly) Gruff Farmer Guy and buy some more over the coming weekend. The zinnias I bought on Saturday are still radiating happiness on my kitchen table. And they're flanked by fossil rocks from our ranch beach, which completes the aesthetic. It reminds me of home and family.
What else... well, Saturday I spent mostly writing and doing errands. Getting on the ball with "me" things. Finally emailed that professor who's an expert in Obaku calligraphy to ask for his thoughts on my future plans. Also posted for a roommate. Laughed at how all the French people who replied picked up on my foodie references and confessed to me their obsession for food right off the bat. Some ethnic stereotypes have a basis in reality. It's all good to me because I'm French and I'm obsessed with food too so we understand each other.
Sunday I went to my first GRE prep class and took a diagnostic test. Killed the verbal. Finished in 15 minutes even though they allotted us 30. I was really surprised at how easy it was. I was also surprised at how I was able to work out the math problems fairly well despite not having done a problem in 13 years or so. But I am feeling really good... if that's the sort of verbal section I'm dealing with then I'm gonna be more than all right. One of our homework assignments was to separate Kaplan vocabulary flash cards into two piles: Words I Know and Everything Else. I did that last night and it was pretty funny seeing this huge Words I Know pile stacked up next to the itty bitty Everything Else pile. I wonder how many English words I know. It occurred to me that I'm already going to have a quote-unquote edge on this test because it's in my native language. I'm a lot more fluent in English than in Japanese, obviously, but I didn't have a quantitative sense of that until now.
Today was good... took a much needed comp day. Slept late and woke up to a call from a college friend. Said he'd been expecting it to go to voice mail since he assumed I was at work, but I said "Nope, comp day." Turned out he was in the neighborhood on business so we went to a local Italian cafe for lunch and had panini sandwiches. I had bresaola with arugula and parmesan with a lemon aioli dressing. We both had cupcakes after that. Good times.
After that I did a couple of errands and then Dad showed up. We hung around and gossiped in the kitchen, then eventually made our way out to dinner. Hit up Cavo and sat in the backyard garden. With tonight's beautiful summer weather it was a meal to remember. Highlights included salmon and tuna tartare, lamb and filet mignon. There was a muscat dessert wine that impressed me too.
Now I'm looking ahead to a busy week. Got work tomorrow, then I'm up with the roosters to board an early train to D.C. for business. That'll be hectic but I love D.C. and I get to meet up with my friend Mike for dinner at an Ethiopian place afterward so that should be fun! Then Thursday's roommate interviews and Friday holds the promise of corned beef and hash for breakfast with Fred, then some work, then dinner with Valeta followed by Superbad, a movie I've wanting to see, like, super bad.
I have a feeling this week is going to go super fast...
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