made it to yoga twice already this week and i am proud of my achievement. on saturday i will go to the 10am before going to brunch.

made my first purchase on bluefly.com- a trendy via spiga trench, perfect for spring. and since i've been called queen of returns, if it doesn't fit, it's going back!

made honey/oyster sauce/bread-crumbed chicken for the first time in a long time. it's so good but so bad for you.

made a wager with fede. we have a cook off- he has to cook an asian dish of my choice and i have to cook an italian dish.

somehow i find the oddest times of day to be productive. it is 2.10am now and i just spent the last two hours shoving my laundry in the machines and cooking three different dishes which will feed me the next couple of days. i carried my yoga mat around town today but got too lazy to head uptown from soho to go to class so maybe this crazy middle of night domestication is my subconscious way of making up for the yoga class i missed.

my Z key is acting up and doesn't type without me pressing down hard on it. v v annoying.

so glad i am not travelling this week. i need this break and i am excited to spend some time at home after four weeks of checking in and out of hotel rooms.

elaine is coming next week and i am looking forward to bah hu crunch and my video cam. and of course her company too. :) before she comes i have to try and eradicate the hamster stench that lingers in our apt. not that we have new pets at all. what happened was that i fell asleep while boiling some meat. lynette's call woke me up to a room filled with smoke and i ran to the kitchen to turn off the stove. the whole house was a smoky mess and i opened all the windows and our main door to ventilate. the odour got out into the hallway and soon enough someone reported it to security and five mins later a security officer turned up asking if everything was ok. so my point is that the apt smells like hamster because leftover smoke stinks like hamster. i have sprayed the air freshener to depletion, lighted scnted candle in the area but the stench is sticking.

other than a slightly sticky apt, life is just about swell right now and i cannot complain.

did my taxes in chi-town last week. justin and his thai friend picked me up in the friend's tiny m3 or whatever model of BMW it is that has only two front seats and a tiny trunk space in which i had to squeeze. i lay down like a poor pet for 20 or so mins while we drove to the south-side to see the tax accountant.

it was a mexican neighbourhood and the tax office looked like any other that i would never have stepped into if i wanted to be completely legitimate- emblazoned on the front window were promises of "low mortgage financing!" and "24hour return!". and so we ventured in and it was a scene totally out of a movie. at the reception area a little kid was running around and Juan came out and said, "hey guys, come on in!" so we proceeded to his office in the back with a tequila bar in the corner, a tv area with a cheap sofa set, walls of tacky artwork and the floor stacked with files. as we go thru my returns he lights a cigarette and we chat about illegal immigrants and how puerto ricans could never survive in that neighbourhood because mexicans and puerto ricans didn't get along.

so i got about 2+ grand back on my returns which was a pleasant surprise for the 70 bucks i paid to have this guy file my returns for me. NICE. ask me the real story in person because if i get audited then i am fucked.

so the blind date guy emailed me tonight and we might meet up for coffee this weekend so i can screen him for my girlfriends. if he is too eligible i might keep him for myself haha.

i've been having funny experiences with cabbies these days. i think it must be my little love affair with flagging down the yellow taxis rather than squeeze in an overcrowded subway car. one time i was talking to a cab driver from jordan who is also a free-lance diamond grader. as i got off and was going to pay, he said he enjoyed talking to me so much the ride was on him. he of course then gave me his email and said "i like talking to asians- i feel a connection with them you know?" talk about YELLOW FEVER! whoop! haha.

then another day i was on my way to the u-haul center and the cabbie started telling me about how the boxes from u-haul were very good, sturdy and value for money. i asked how he knew and he said that's where he gets his boxes when he goes back to pakistan. so we start talking about what he's doing here. apparently he won the diversity visa lottery and at the airport they presented him a green card upon his arrival in the US. this guy has a masters degree in english and he is now a cab driver in ny! this year he is going back to pakistan to bring his family over after 6 years of being apart.

my sister got 4As for As. haha. so proud of her because she has excelled in every way i could not possibly have- squash combined schools (captain no less!), doing super well at A levels, on her way to becoming a vet. in my family i have always been thought of as the more driven, smarter child (yes yes, hard to imagine i know but it's true) but i think that stems out of me being bossier and older. i think my sister has a lot to be proud of and i'm happy at how she's blossoming into a beautiful young lady and really coming into her own now.

i permed my hair but no one can really tell because the curls are just waves and it really just looks like i didn't comb my hair in the morning. i am still not used to having non-straight hair and haven't a clue how to style it or keep the waves looking more professional than boho during the week for work. yeah it's definitely the tousled look i like, but not sure that look works for work.

hang is finally back and i am glad. :)

and how many conversations i've had with people on planes that really came to nothing at the end when we say bye i don't even remember their names. on my way back this time from chicago i started talking to this korean dude and he is an oldish banker and married- but a good guy nonetheless and we talked about life in ny. he has a friend he wants to matchmake and i have girlfriends wanting to meet eligible bachelors so i have his card and tomorrow i will email him something like hi it was nice meeting you last night. how would you like to set up the blind date between our friends? haha. maybe to be fair to my girlfriends here i should have them all go out with this guy and they can do an elimidate type thing. haha.