John and I are finally reaching equilibrium. Hurray for normalcy! Activities are once again populating my Google calendar, I’m sleeping better, and after a couple of really gorgeous, sunny days, I’m feeling like life is good again. Of course, it probably helped that my buddy Pamela came up for a quickie weekend visit. The last time I’d seen her was way back in 2008, so it was nice to catch up and hang out. She was only in town for two days, but man, we maximized our time together. I took her hiking at Villa Montalvo, we shopped (unfortunately, I came up empty-handed… again!), got pedicures, caught a movie, wined, dined, and then last night, we partied like it was going out of style. Seriously. We did karaoke with John and Dave for 3.5 hours!!! So much fun. Unfortunately, my weeks of home training with Peter Cetera’s Glory of Love proved useless; thankfully though, I did all right with Lionel Richie’s Hello. And my rendition of LL Cool J and Boyz II Men’s “Hey Lover” was pretty hilarious, especially the line about “toning ya down with uh, vanilla ice cream.” Yeah, pretty raunchy, especially for a little puritan like me. Honestly, I think karaoke is gonna replace my Game Nights. Add it to the list, right?

I know, I have some big ticket items on the list right now: home karaoke system and used hot tub. Gonna have to start plotting what to sell next to earn some extra spending dough. 🙂 John thinks I should refurbish yard sale/old/used/free furniture and then re-sell. Sounds like too much damn work. I’ve never been much of an artsy DIYer. Plus, I’d much rather rent out my spare room through AirBnb, which also happens to be a service I’m dying to try. But John’s not keen on having strangers in the house. Bummer.

Anyway, we belted songs out for hours, and afterwards, I was totally hyper, so then the partying continued at home with board games and trashy tv. You see, John’s recently developed an affinity for nasty shit on tv. I’ll find him watching Jersey Shore and International Girls and anti-feminist crap like that. Ever since he had a guys’ night out (with MY guy friends!), I tell you… Long story short, we were all up past 2:30 in the morning!!! And then I had to take Pamela to the airport at 8 a.m. Yeah, I’m kinda bragging about it. You would too if you were never up that late for something fun. 🙂 Usually, I’m up in the middle of the night from neuroses or insomnia or web surfing bullshit, so this was kinda a milestone of sorts.

And then today turned out to be a pretty chill day. After the airport, I farted around, then went back to sleep from 10-2 p.m. Yeah, my schedule got all screwed up, but when I woke up this afternoon, I felt really refreshed. We hit the grocery store, John made an awesome steak dinner, I cleaned the house, bathed the dogs, and then at 10p, I sat down to catch up on some work. Yup, I work for the government, but we’re not all slackers you know… Tomorrow I’m off for my flex schedule. I had actually contemplated going into work just because what else was I gonna do… but after karaoke, I decided I would clock in some practice hours when the KTV place is dead and charges only $1/person/hr. Haha, my latest addiction grows. I think I’d like to do a rap song of sorts, maybe TLC or something.

Like John says, I’m aging backwards. Not only that, I’m at least a decade behind on all fads. Karaoke was huge like 10-15 years ago. Did I ever try it then? Nope. Even when John and I were living NEXT DOOR to a KTV joint in Shanghai, we NEVER tried it. I dunno what our problem was– too self-conscious maybe, too uptight. But now? I’m into it like we’re in the heyday of KTV. Oh well, at least there are places to go for it still.

Btw, the other day, an idea finally came to me for my tattoo: Chinese papercuts, like the cute animal/zodiac ones I purchased when I was in Shanghai. I especially love the water ox and the piggie. Anyway, note to self for that tattoo I’ll maybe get before I turn 40.