Author: Jana

  • I’m back!


    Howdy friends!

    China was _fabulous_. It was scary and dirty and beautiful all at the same time. I loved the smalller towns (Hanzhou and Suzhou)the best. Beijing was military and sparse. Shanghai too modern and New York-like.

    I came home with a resolve to live in Asia. I’m no longer afraid of funky toilets, weird food, and seas of different-looking faces.

    Perhaps my biggest news from the trip was that I broke my leg on the flight over. (My right leg, not my left). As a result, I got to revel in attention from lots of older men who took pity on my incapacity. And everything turned out just fine.

    [Note: getting off the plane I headed straight into a dingy LAX bathroom and sang the praises of paper seatcovers, and TP, and soap, and beautiful white poreclain toilets….]

    PS: Kudos to John and Amy and Brooke and all of the other helpers while I was gone!

  • hiatus

    I’ll be on hiatus for awhile while I’m traveling. I may send some posts for John to add to the blog while I’m gone.

    But if not, you can all look forward to a big dose of China travelogue when I return.

    :)

  • halloween


    halloween
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Here’s a picture of the family at the local “Trunk or Treat” party. E is dressed as Hermione and C is dressed as a mage from the DragonLance book series. At almost every car C was identified as Harry Potter (even tho he wasn’t wearing his glasses!!). But then he slowly and mthodically explained that he was a mage [note the staff w/the jewel on top–not from Harry Potter].

    When the rather dumbfounded parent looked at me for clarification about the mage thing (why is it that no Moms who drive large SUVs in OC know what mages are?), C would then add:

    “It’s like a powerful wizard. You know what that is, don’t you?”

  • trailer

    For fans of God’s Army…Dutcher’s done it again.

  • confession


    I have two favorite web videos:
    Wanna-Be Backstreet
    Yatta (love the fig leaves)
    So here’s where I make my confession…I’ve always been super-attracted to Asian men. I’m not sure why, but I think it’s because lots of the Asian guys that I knew in high school were smart (and smart is good). And I like dark haired, darker complexioned people–not that I don’t like lighter-colored people–I just find dark more captivating, more visually interesting. I often dated guys who weren’t necessarily Asian, but had darker features just because this is what first drew me to them…

    So–the videos. I don’t watch these lusting ofter these men. First of all, they are probably much too young for me. Second, I just don’t feel lust over strangers. But I do find that these little clips always make me giggle. They are just plain entertaining.

    But most of all I like it when my sexy Asian husband does his own renditions for me :)

  • the sweater song

    I have a favorite sweater that I really like to wear
    Even on days when it’s covered with the kitties’ hair.
    I’ve had it for 5 years and I’ve changed the buttons twice
    It’s been to France and England, and it’s been in snow and ice.
    I put it in my closet, hiding it from view.
    Hoping to stop wearing it because it’s looking quite un-new.
    But when it’s cold and dreary, or when I need a hug,
    It’s my soft and threadbare sweater that I really, really love.

    Written in less than 5 minutes by me. In the few minutes I had today between picking up the kids from school and taking E to girl scouts.

  • overheard

    Last night:

    “I have a student who’s really cute. He’s not doing well in the class, but he tries really hard.”

    “Should I be worried that you think your students are cute?”

    “He’s not that kind of cute. He’s like wookie-cute.”

    “Wookie-cute? [insert really pathetic imitation of Chewbacca that sounds like a howler monkey w/hemorhhoids]

    “No, No, No. Not wookie cute, _ewok_ cute. Like a teddy bear.”

    “Oh. Yah. Big difference.”

  • gesture


    gesture
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    Not sure why, but when I get nervous talking to famous people I feel compelled to make odd hand gestures. What was I trying to say??

    Here I am getting my Rough Stone Rolling signed by Richard Bushman. I’ve had a nice email exchange with him since then. Also, I’m writing up an article about his speech for the “Church News.”

  • Joy


    Sandra takes E
    Originally uploaded by pilgrimgirl.

    A picture of E with her joy (Toby Joy).

  • manx

    Got a postcard from Mom today. Guess she’s enjoying her trip to the Isle of Man.
    Thinking of IOM reminded me of Peel Castle, kippers, the Prom in Douglas, St. John’s church, the elevator of Mannanen, Tynwald Day, etc.

    Quocunque Jeceris Stabit….

  • o-r-e-o

    Today in the history dept breakroom there was a package of halloween oreos. Day-glo orange creme double-stuffed between two chocolate wafers. I took one on a whim (I don’t usually indulge in breakroom junk food).

    As I headed up the elevator to my office I munched on the cookie (politely resisting the impulse to tear off the outer halves and lick the creme because I was chatting with a colleague). The taste of the lard-laden filling brought back a flood of memories.

    For almost a year I only ate oreos. For whatever reason, they were the only food that never made me nauseeous when I was on chemo. Maybe it was because, unlike other foods, they tasted almost the same going down as coming back up. I’m not sure.

    But whatever the reason, and lard notwithstanding, they are still soul-nourishing to me.

    PS: TJ’s Jo-Jo’s and Newman-O’s are tasty, but don’t hold the same visceral memory of the real o-r-e-o.

  • it’s back

    Today E got her expander removed. Her expander was a medieval torture device that was wired onto her upper palate. It expanded her upper jaw to make room for her adult teeth to grow in. It undid the damage from years of thumb-sucking. And it cost a small fortune.

    Well, today after she got the appliance-thing sawed off (and, yes, I sat in the waiting room cringing at the sound of the saw), she got her whistle back. I’m not talking about the regular kind of whistle that most people do when they pucker up their lips and blow. E’s is the kind of sweet little whistle that blows gently each time she says a word with an ‘s.’ I’d thought it was gone forever, and I really missed it.

    But it’s back, and I couldn’t be happier!
    :)