best quote ever for stressed out people...

"Your life's To-Do list must be a baffling document" Can't stop laughing and realizing how true that is.

And That's One to Grow On...

In anticipation of my trip to Beirut for Christmas and New Years I have gotten into the daily habit of:
1. wake up and immediately check weather.com for 10 day forecast in Beirut
2. check today's weather for san francisco
3. walk outside on my patio to see how I think san francisco weather compares and try to assess how much warmer it will feel like in Beirut.

This is all for the insane making process of trying to figure out what to pack. Yesterday when taking on and off layers of clothing to try and mimic weather changes I realized that now we're entering obsession territory. It is very difficult to try and accurately predict what a temperature difference would feel like by this method alone, so I got the brilliant idea that I would stage a mock climate shift in my house. I closed up all my windows and cranked the heat...and waited....waiting....waiting....

A point to note: I don't have a thermostat in my house. I have radiator heat so you turn the nob, the thing hisses and heat surges out from the metal thingy. So about 15 minutes into this experiment I realized my error of not being able to measure the temperature. Refusing to give up on what I had felt sure was a completely innovative (read: Darwin Awards) initiative, I grabbed the only measuring device I had and again was impressed by my own ingenuity. I stood there for solid 10 minutes holding the human thermometer in my hand. Looked at it to check the temp "HOLY SHIT IT'S 98 DEGREES IN MY HOUSE!" oh, wait...i guess it's reading my body temp.

[puts on an oven mit, holds thermometer]
5 minutes in...wait wouldn't this still pick up body heat? I am friggin roasting! [radiator still blasting, takes off sweatshirt and socks]

[puts thermometer on the table and stares at it for another 10 minutes]
"phew - now i'm comfortable let's check the temp"

[picks up thermometer....88 degrees]
"This F'ing this is broken!"

[goes outside on patio]

I decided the combo of me being too hot from my sweatbox of a house and the cooler air makes it feel at that moment like 70 degrees so whatever i'm wearing should be exactly right.

So when I send my photos from Beirut it will be super easy to spot me amongst the crowds. I will be the one in bike shorts, a tank top, flip flops and an oven mit.

Moving Woes

Today is the day! After months apart my stuff and I get reunited! A much anticipated and stress-filled reunion. Getting into a new place is always wrought with stress and problems and anxiety - what if I cannot get in, what if they keys aren't where they said they'd be?, what if my suitcases I came over here with are too heavy now for me to lift, or if the cabbie refuses to take them cause they're Sasquatch sized?!?! This is a mere glimpse of what has been running through my head for the past 72 hours. But the day is here and I managed in two taxi rides to get my things over to the new place, yes got into it, and even got the coffee maker set up for the movers (critical!).

However, one giant fly in the ointment...as i was leaving my old flat this morning at 6am, taxi waiting downstairs, i was rushing to get my final suitcases and bags down the stairs, close up the old flat and get going before the cabbie decided i was a friggin mess and left. In my haste of doing all this and calling the taxi, I did something i NEVER do - i put my phone done on a random shelf. Just as I closed the pre-locked door I felt my stomach drop. oooooooh NO!!!! I've just locked my blackberry inside my old flat. No time to figure out if by some batman like stealth plan I can break back in as the cabbie is downstairs honking his horn. nice.

So now i'm waiting on my movers, hoping they don't call for directions and thanking god for the magic of unsecured wireless internet access!!