Sheesh, it’s been an eternity since I last wrote on this thing. As you know, John and I were gorging ourselves the first few days back in the States. That level of gluttony has since subsided; my acupuncturist in California has determined that I have all sorts of qi blockage issues. She suspects the problem has been my diet: too many “fire” foods, meaning fried goodies and sweets. Have I really been that bad? Honestly, I don’t think so. The whole vegetarian thing has cornered me into meals that are largely rice-sauteed veggie based… I mean, sure I get those cravings now and then but geez, compared to the way people in the States typically eat, I still feel like I’m ahead of the game. I dunno. That shit never makes sense. But now I’m on pai du (qi opening) tablets. We’ll see how far that gets me. I think the color of my tongue is some kind of indicator as well. I dunno. My acupuncturist is Chinese, and she’s not exactly forthcoming with the information. I just trust her blindly. That’s what happens when your parent is a health professional. You just believe in the medical community. They have answers.

I heard a funny story today. At my father’s office, there’s a baby book in the waiting room. It contains pictures of all the babies delivered by the physicians in their group. One day, a patient’s mother was visiting from the UK. While she waited during her daughter’s appointment, she thumbed through the album. She grew disturbed seeing the same man pictured with several women and their newborns. “Jesus, how many kids did this guy father?” she asked the receptionist. “Um, he’s not the father. That’s Dr. Gou.” Haha. If you knew my father, you’d get a good chuckle from that too.

In other news, John and I did a quickie trip last Friday to Miami (of all places) to renew our driver’s licenses. Flew out of San Fran Thursday night on the redeye. Arrived looking super rough Friday morning. Of course, Wilma had hit the region just a few days before our trip. Bastard airlines. They didn’t care that DMV offices were closed, or that there was a gas and power shortage, or that police implemented a curfew to curb “problems.” The airport was open and the flight was on. Any change to our itinerary would cost $200 + the changes in fares. Since everything was last minute, we were talking about $1000 extra to change our trip. Screw that shit, man. We’re going in. So I call the rental car and hotel ahead of time to make sure everything’s running. Alamo tells me they’re renting out cars, and that the cars have gas. When we arrive at the counter, the Alamo office is all dark with a few bulbs here and there. The place is running on generators. The service rep then tells me they’ve had trouble getting gas. Waited six hours and the gas station ran out. Most the cars have only a quarter tank. So we upgrade to intermediate to get a car with half a tank. Then off we go into this surreal world of picture-perfect weather juxtaposed to post-hurricane chaos– debris everywhere and downed traffic lights.

Since some of the roads were blocked off, we got lost and getting to the DMV was a challenge (it was only 7 miles from the airport). When we got to the office/shopping plaza, my heart sank when I saw this “office closed due to Wilma” sign on the door. John was just about to explode, but I insisted the website said the license office was open. I SWORE it had to be open. Thankfully, the license office was another unit at the far end of the plaza. Voila. Was open and even better, there was no frickin’ line. In and out in an hour. Driver licenses: Check! Now we had all day Friday and Saturday to burn in Miami. What’d we do? Checked into the hotel early and slept til dinner. Yep, that’s what happens when you’re an old fart married couple. Hell, I don’t regret it one bit. Was the best night’s rest we had in a long time.

So now I’m in DC with the parents. Fortunately, they’ve spared me the “what is your plan” and grandchildren talk. Of course, I’ve been earning my keep helping with yardwork and researching various products (cordless phones, health insurance, flatscreen tv’s, cellular phones, etc.). Despite having sent their laptop in for service on four separate ocassions, seems like the damn thing still shuts off abruptly. I’m in talks with the manager now about getting this problem resolved. Customer service these days, man. Bad news.

Btw, guess where my parents took me for my first meal back in DC? Chinatown. Gotta love it. But hey, I got my MD crabcakes fix tonight at Gladchuck Bros. So succulent and flavorful! Can’t beat blue crabcakes, I tell you. Ok, hope to have another update soon. Stay tuned!