Managed to squeeze some life in. Of course, at the expense of other things. I can never get it…balanced. Or. forget BALANCED, I just want to get some things DONE. Every time I want to do THIS, I have to omit THAT. So I keep swapping things in and out to try and see what things I REALLY enjoy OR…figure out how I can best “life” productively. And still get some sleep. It’s a challenge.

MONDAY

Essentially gave myself the day off. Slept late. Puttered unproductively. Read. Watched show.

TUESDAY

A long day. A hot day. But not a bad day.

My dream is to have an apartment in the city with a balcony overlooking a people-filled street.

Highlights:

* Unpleasant 5-minute lecture from gas station attendant. UGH.
* Lovely drive into city with podcasts, Korean lessons, and music. Being alone in my car is one of my favorite things.
* Got into a parking garage only three blocks from doctor’s office. SCORE.
* It was HOT hot.
* Wait time was minimal.
* New doctor was nice (yep, you heard that right).
* I’m not dying but I do need a lithotripsy (laser pulverization of kidney stones so they can pass).
* They’re putting a stent in after the procedure, which terrifies me. Sister had bad experience with this.
* Have to get ANOTHER covid vaccine before the procedure, ugh.
* Had a lovely lunch of pear ravioli and an icy iced tea outdoors before picking up the car.
* Had a weird “where am I” experience driving home from the city. I convinced myself I had gotten onto some wrong highway and was headed who knows where, when really I was on the right road the whole time. Weirdo.
* Mucho traffic at that time of day – reread Item 2. I’m That Person that is just not bothered by traffic. It’s an excuse to stay in my car longer.
* Cranked ac when I got home and watched big storm roll in while watching k-drama.
* Spicy ramen for dinner. YUM.

WEDNESDAY

Same, my friend. Same.

I admit it, I set alarm an hour early to watch the LIVE Louis Vuitton Korea men’s fashion show featuring BTS before going to work.

It was worth it.

THURSDAY

Okay. Deep philosophical thought here: WHY HAVE I NEVER HAD STRIPED SHEETS?? Seriously! Me? The Stripe Queen?? Wait. No. I did have striped sheets once a long time ago – it was blue and white striped sheets with a floral comforter. I loved that set So Much. The stripes were immortalized in this first picture of Baby Papoose Katie. But that was 1991. How have I never thought of them again?!? I was a floral girl for a long time, then went straight white. Whitewhitewhitewhite. Cuz they’re so…SIMPLE…and you can BLEACH them. But this morning I saw these…

and these…

and THESE…

…and now I’m feeling obsessed with striped sheets!

And speaking of sheets, I’m trying this white-sheet-whitener, cuz at some point, even bleach doesn’t do the trick. If I had a washing machine at home and could let them soak in the bleach water, I think that would help, but you can’t really soak things at the laundromat. I’ll let you know how it works:

Here’s the formula: Add about a half cup of baking soda to the drum of the washing machine and then add distilled white vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser. The specificity in the dosing mechanisms is important to note: Allowing vinegar and baking soda to mix in the process will render each of them no more useful than salt. Splitting them up, on the other hand, allows them each to work their magic without interference, since the vinegar gets released later in the cycle through the fabric softener dosing cup.

The Results: Meh. Ha. They’re better (relatively speaking), but not the dazzling white I had hoped for. Has anyone ever tried that blueing stuff?

FRIDAY

Went to the beach after work with friend. Was hoping for dramatic waves after the big storm the night before. Wasn’t quite the drama I’d hoped for, but was nice to sit on the beach in the air.

SATURDAY

Well, THIS was a dumb day! I slept REALLY LATE, then woke up to a text from Mr. Landlord that the tree/yard cleanup company was coming at 8am and would be blocking the driveway most of the day. So I was trapped.

Not that I had anywhere to go, especially. But as soon as I know I CAN’T go…I WANT to go.

Plus, Saturday deli breakfast! SATURDAY DELI BREAKFAST!!! Mwuh.

So I just piddled around unproductively and the next thing I knew it was nighttime.

OH! Remember I told how you the guys stopped performing right on stage at their mid-June online concert to say hello to a bug walking across the stage? IT GETS BETTER. They didn’t just say Hello…Jimin wished the bug a HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Because it was BTS’ 8th birthday since debuting in 2013.

JUST STOP IT! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

The End.

SUNDAY

Not my picture, but so you can get a sense of the island (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)

After yesterday’s Dumb Day, I finished up the week with a Fun Day. I went with friends into the city to visit a newly-opened attraction in Hudson River Park, called Little Island. It’s essentially just a pier on interesting-looking concrete supports, but they brought in earth (which is fancier than dirt) and built it up into a mountain that they built trails and landscaping into. They wind around a lot so you cover a lot of ground within what is actually a pretty small footprint. There are some benches and observation areas for rest and photo opps, a concession and dining area down below, and an amphitheater where I guess they’ll have little shows or concerts.

Then we had what I will officially name The Best Brunch Ever. One friend and I shared two different entrees, so we had frangipane-crusted brioche french toast (cut into perfect cubes), roasted figs, and toasted almonds with star anise-infused vermont maple syrup. And lemon & ricotta pancakes with fresh blueberry compote and toasted hazelnuts. It was SO GOOD. Sadly, I dove into it all so fast I didn’t even get pictures, but…

THEN we headed over to Where The Boats Are and took a 2-hour sail around the bottom of Manhattan. It was a HOT hot day and I got pretty sunburned.

I think I did well at squeezing a little “life” into my life this week…though I did not do any Korean review after the last class, so I need to get that back into my routine. I forget now things SO FAST that if I go even a day, things seem unfamiliar to me the next day. And I haven’t jumped rope in TWO WEEKS!!! Ugh.

It’s hard to do it all.

WHAT I’M READING

Veronika Decides to Die by Paulo Coehlo. This is one of those books that, intellectually, I think is probably a “Good Book.” But I didn’t LOVE love it. It didn’t really move me.

It’s essentially the story of a young woman who is so disheartened by her life that she decides to kill herself. I mean, she REALLY tries. This wasn’t a “cry for help” kind of suicide attempt. She was just done and wanted life to be over. BUT. She was unsuccessful and came to in a psychiatric hospital where she is told that the medication they used to re-start her heart, actually ended up damaging her heart, and she had one week to live.

So for a week she lives in the hospital, engaging with other patients, rediscovering her love of the piano, having experiences, and…you can see where this is going. I won’t give away the ending.

There are significant life lessons, blah blah blah, ha. I have a LOT of dog-eared pages so I can go back and copy down quotes, look more into things, etc. And the story was an interesting premise. And I certainly wanted to keep reading to find out what happens, but…yeah.

Broccoli is GOOD for you. And I’ll EAT it. But I don’t LOVE love it. You know?

Annyeong! (goodbye)