Ten More

Both Pink Cherry Kitty (kawaii!) and The Kicker Is tagged me to write things you guys don't know about me. Now. God knows. There are more than enough details about me out on the Internets. But I love memes, and I like to play along, so here we go:

1. My sister and I went to see Kathy Griffin last week. I laughed all the (work) stress of the past few weeks right off - she was awesome! I think if you've seen the show lately, it might not have been as fun (repeat material, I guess), but I haven't turned my television on since July or something, so I laughed so hard I cried. It felt great.
2. I think I've decided on a vacation destination! But I'm not going to share it until I know for sure.
3. My favorite new blog is Alone in Kudamatsu - this girl lives not so far away from where I spent four of my last five years. She's new to Japan and going through all the WTF/OMG/what have I done?!? experiences that I did. Add to that that my American friend from Japan (lives in DC now) is headed back for a two-week vacation this week, and Japan is on the brain. I miss it. I miss, miss, miss it. I received a care package in the mail last week from my friend Hanako-san that contained two beautiful tenegui. Sigh. In the shower this morning I was thinking through an issue and started talking to myself, but it was in Japanese. Sniff. I miss Japan.
4. Must save enough vacation time to follow Backstreet Boys around for two or three or four shows . . .
5. Right this very moment I have coupons spread from hell to breakfast. Time to go to the grocery store.
6. Guess what? David Sedaris (this week) and Sarah Vowell (in three weeks) readings are coming up! (Note to self: where is Buffalo?) I have a lot to look forward to right now. That's going to get me through the hellish, hellish days at work, right?
7. I'm finishing up my (guess what?) Christmas shopping. Yes, I am. I'm enjoying finding Asian things on Etsy that I think my peeps would love. (I'm not an arts and crafts person, by the way. There's some fun stuff on there for everyone.)
8. Along those same lines, I feel so grateful to be in the States for the holidays again this year. When Halloween came around last year, it had been four years since I'd been able to celebrate American holidays, but it had been about sixteen or seventeen years since I'd been able to enjoy holidays with family. (My job in retail banking always kept me from getting home to Washington State to be with family.) You won't hear a peep of a complaint from this girl about Christmas items showing up early in the stores. I walked around CVS last night picking up each crappy holiday trinket and feeling grateful to be here to do it.
9. The cat is likely to not make it to see the first leaf fall. (Note: because he's irritating, not because he's sick.)
10. Finally, this is the best, most hopeful thing I've seen in a long time.