It’s been nearly a year since Panda left to work on the east coast and we’ve been very fortunate to be able to see each other almost monthly.  I always knew our relationship would be fine despite the distance and I’m glad that it wasn’t as hard as I feared it might be.  Still, it’s challenging and I’m looking forward to the day when I don’t have to wish we lived together.

For now, we keep all lines of communication open, ranging from text messages and IMs to phone calls and Skype video messaging.  I think that video chatting is a critical piece to making a long-distance relationship work.  Being able to see and hear each other when you can’t be near each other is invaluable.  It’s so much easier to express yourself and bond that way.  Even something as simple as showing each other what we’re eating becomes a rewarding experience.

In fact, Panda and I often get on Skype and don’t talk to each other.  We don’t need to!  Just being able to look over and see what the other person is doing is comforting.  We’ve both got our separate things to do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t share our time as well.  A lot of people don’t seem to understand that and have been perplexed by our decision to sit on Skype without actively talking most of the time.  I think they’ve just got to try it!

Of course, nothing beats being there in person, so still we wait for the day when that is the norm…

My cat Missy is hilarious.  For some reason, she really seems to like hot, cramped spaces.  One of her favorite things to do is climb in under the blankets where it’s dark and warm.  She’ll get right in and cuddle up, even though it’s got to be tough to breathe in there.  Somehow, she manages to purr away, really enjoying herself in that little sauna.  It’s great for me because she keeps my legs and feet warm, but occasionally I move and squish her a bit.

Back in the height of the winter days, when it got quite chilly in my house and we didn’t feel like turning on the heater, I’d sit in a sleeping bag with my body pillow for warmth.  As I sat working on my computer, Missy would come along and eagerly crawl in under my legs.  She’d spend some time positioning herself until she was satisfied, then would lay back and sleep all day.  On the right is a picture of her back in one of those days.  The blue things to either side are my legs and the fuzzy light blue thing up top is the body pillow.  Apparently half-crushing her isn’t a problem either.

Everyday I marvel at all the seemingly uncomfortable positions she gets in, then falls asleep in.  I don’t know how she got this way, but you can put her in just about any position and she’ll be fine with it.  Maybe she just likes being smothered with love and affection, which I give plenty of.  In turn, I get so much back I now get lonely whenever she doesn’t come around after an hour or two.  Thankfully, it’s not often she won’t drop by within that time, so I get to sit with her nearby whenever I’m home.  Companionship can’t get much sweeter.

Is it just me or are there more blue cars on the road?  In the past week or two while commuting to and from work, I’ve seen so many more blue cars than I’ve ever seen in my life.  In fact, I think at any given point there would be a blue car within my view, which is pretty unusual.  Typically it’s just a sea of silver, white, and black.  Where did all that blueness come from?

Then there’s the naming craze, what with Beyoncé naming her kid Blue and I’m sure many more parents to follow.  Even our CEO’s daughter has a middle name that is similar – Bleu.  At least they named their child before someone famous made it popular!  There’s also the issue of Katy Perry’s hair, which she dyed blue not too long ago.  It might just be one huge coincidence, but suddenly the color blue has been making a strong appearance across such different things that I couldn’t help but notice.  I always knew blue was a color that just about everyone likes, but this is definitely taking it to another level.

Let me ponder this as I hunt down some blueberries to enjoy…

It’s probably not a real albino spider, but it sure could be. It was threatening me with its body lifted high, so I blew on it and was surprised by how quickly it balled up.

Our sense of smell can be very important in how we experience things.  A bunch of the guys at work have gotten into the juicing craze and to quell their craving for foods, they’ve taken to smelling food instead of eating it.  Apparently a good long whiff of my junk food can help satisfy some of their hunger for the items!  To a certain extent, I can understand that, since we often smell things and start to experience it before it reaches our mouths.  Still, there’s nothing quite like eating the food after smelling it, so their diet baffles me.

Their recent quirky behavior has reminded me of how intensely we can be affected by our sense of smell.  One guy gets paranoid when he smells Febreeze, since that almost always comes from the restroom after someone has #2ed.  Meanwhile, whenever he comes back from smoking, I tend to get a whiff of that, which usually gags me.  Also, the office has a lingering musty smell from the dogs that hang out there.  I’m sure those with dogs don’t really notice since they’re accustomed to it, but I’m pretty sensitive to it whenever I enter the building.  I wonder if my cats make our household smell any different.  Missy certainly can smell like kitty litter at times!

Of course smells also evoke plenty of positive memories and associations too!  I love going home to the smell of cooking and I have this fantastic shampoo from the Hilton that makes me smile whenever I catch a hint of it, since it smells like a gentle perfume and reminds me of when Panda is in town.  Similarly, I have a strawberry EOS lip balm that is succulent and makes me happy not just with its sweet scent, but also knowing that my lips will feel soft and hydrated.  I don’t think I’d experience these things quite the same if I wasn’t able to smell them.  Their scents really do help enhance the experience!

I find it interesting how differently each creature swims. You’ve got the glider, the floater, and the jerky kicker!

When I eat foods, the most important factor tends to be the texture of the dish rather than its taste.  That’s why I don’t eat calamari and why I love soup.  I’ll go for almost anything if it’s moist!  It’s very rare that I would like a dry dish with no sauce, so soup is generally a safe bet, since it has to have some liquid content at least.  I don’t know if other people care as much (I doubt it) and I think that usually people care more about the taste of their food.  However, it doesn’t work that way for me and I’d rather have a tasteless dish that wasn’t dry than a really flavorful dish that left me with cottonmouth.

For the most part, this isn’t really an issue – I love things that are smooth, crispy, crunchy, or any variety of textures as long as it’s not rubbery.  Something about the elasticity of a food (usually seafood) just doesn’t appeal to me at all.  Luckily, most things aren’t like that.  As for dishes that are very dry, I’ll still eat them if I have plenty of water.  I can’t stand it if I don’t get enough liquids to mask the dryness, which is why hot chocolate and tea are my friends when it comes to cookies and crackers.  Maybe my body’s trying to tell me that I’m not hydrated enough?

Whatever it is, I’m always looking for a place with great soup or noodle soup.  Yummm…

I’ve never been a fan of cold drinks, though I have enjoyed some here and there.  Usually iced drinks are too cold for me, so I opt for room temperature or even hot water.  Luckily, this seems to be a growing trend and I no longer get the raised eyebrow when I ask for hot water at a restaurant.  I’m glad that my beverage choice is something that more people are adopting, especially since it’s probably easier on your body.

I remember reading once that contrary to popular belief, ice water is not more thirst-quenching.  In fact, it said that warm water is the best for absorption and therefore more thrist-quenching.  However, through media portrayals, it seems we have learned that only cold drinks can satisfy our needs after a strenuous workout or on a hot day.  I think that cold water feels refreshing and it wakens you a bit, which gives the impression that it is better when you’re thirsty.  In addition, if you’ve built up a lot of heat from working out or are already too hot from the weather, you want to feel the coolness of the drink to help lower your temperature.

Still, I usually prefer at least room temperature water in those situations when my body is hotter than it would like to be.  I find that cold drinks numb my mouth and freeze up my insides, which isn’t comfortable at all!  I’ve always been sensitive to temperature changes, so when it gets cold or I cool down too much, my stomach and intestines throw a fit.  Perhaps that’s the real reason why I avoid really cold drinks.  Who wants to have a stomachache after they drink a cup of water?

Anyways, this whole cold drink popularity thing has always baffled me, since it’s not really the same in Chinese culture.  I don’t think the Chinese would have iced their drinks if it weren’t for Western influences.  Whatever makes cold drinks so appealing just isn’t worth it to me.  I’ll take the drink in the box over the one in the cooler any day.  And watch me quench my thirst better.  ;)

I am amazed that she can bend her neck all the way down for a scratch and that her knees bend the other way. Sitting like that doesn’t look comfortable. Is she even keeping the eggs warm?

How do you remember things in your life?  I’ve always found it to be a roundabout process to recall what year something happened.  First I think what I was doing at that time and tie it back to a location – walking to the bus stop while reading (St. Louis, MO), riding my bike into town (Brewster, NY), or playing in a beautifully large backyard (Topeka, KS)?  Once I pinpoint the location, I am able to identify what grades I must have been in: preschool (Pennsylvania), 1st/2nd/4th (Kansas), 3rd (China), 5th-7th (Missouri), 7th-10th (New York), 11th-14th & 16th (California), or 15th (England).  I then need to think of what year it must have been based on what grade I was in.  What a mess!

Similarly, when I recall what age I was when something happened, I think of the situation based on location, tie it back to a grade level, then calculate how old I was .  I’m not sure why it’s such a lengthy process, but that’s always how I’ve drawn on memories in my life.  It makes me wonder how other people who don’t move as much do it, since much of their memories would tie back to the same location.  They seem to do it much better too!

Today someone put on 90′s music at work and one song came up that was of particular interest.  Each song that I recognized put me back to a place and time in my life when I heard that song most prominently.  Backstreet Boys took me back to the summers I spent in China with my cousins and extended family.  Destiny’s Child took me back to the fun I had biking down a huge hill by my house in New York.  TLC took me back to getting driven to swim practice at the YMCA over in Connecticut.  Tupac took me back to the lounge I studied in my first year at UCLA (yeah, I learned of him later in life).  I wouldn’t be able to place a year on when those songs came out, but I could definitely get close.  Somehow other people seem to be able to remember just what year it was though.

I’ve never understood that ability and I wonder how I will remember things if I don’t continue moving around a lot.  When everything merges into one physical space, what cues will I use to differentiate between time periods?  The way I’ve put my life into context for over two decades would become irrelevant.  I’m sure I would adapt, but at this moment I can’t fathom how.  So I wonder, how do you do it?