Impatience, Presidents, and Squid

I was going to write about flowers this week, but I think my frustration is mostly due to impatience so I’ll withhold final opinions for a bit longer to try and be fair. Patience is a virtue, yeah? Instead, I’d like to talk about some random things that have had me thinking this week.

Yesterday, I finally watched the Swedish film adaptation of A Man Called Ove. It was really good, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would definitely recommend (after reading the book, duh). The book obviously had way more detail, so many more stories, so much more life and emotion. But the movie was in no way a disappointment.

Also, did you know that only two presidents have been born west of Stonewall, Texas–a small town just west of Austin? Nixon was born in California and Obama was born in Hawai’i. Wikipedia lists California as the primarily affiliated state for two others, but still. As a West Coast individual through and through, I’m not sure whether to feel relieved or upset by this. It’s not really a surprise, I sort of know in the background of my mind, but I jsut thought that was kind of a lot, considering California has been the msot populous state since the sixties, and was in second place from the forties, overtaking Pennsylvania. And, as of the 2010 census, California had in excess of 12 million more people than the next largest state, Texas. I mean, being president isn’t and shouldn’t be directly related to population, but seeing as the West Coast is the Best Coast, I feel like we’re generally just better. But whatever, that was my random rant for today.

I’ve finally gotten my Alien Registration Card, so I think I’m done with all immigration things for the duration. I hope. But also, it wasn’t hard at all, I literally just showed up, gave them the sheet that said I’d applied, and they handed me the card. In and out in like fifteen minutes, wait time included. So that was nice. And, once I had that, I could get my bank card. So I’m pretty much all in here. I also bought trash bags for the first time last weekend, it wasn’t really a difficulty but it was more difficult that I wanted it to be.

I did have lunch with a friend and her mother this week. The friend is Korean and my family had hosted her as an exchange student a few years ago and now she’s going to college in Washington. She was visiting for spring break and it worked out that we were able to meet and I’m so glad. We had a lovely lunch of…something chicken and noodley that was served with an entire squid on top. The squid was fine, but nothing great. It was better than I expected of strange seafood (as I already don’t like seafood much) so I can say that I can handle it if needed in the future but I’m not ever going to seek it out deliberately. Anyway.

I wish I had some goings on to share. I still haven’t been to any of the palaces. I haven’t participated in any protests. I haven’t done much of anything. I’m getting through my book, which is good, and I’m reading various Wikipedia articles as per usual. I’ve settled fairly rapidly into my standard do nothing, ever sort of routine. Teaching continues to get more normal every day, though I will no longer say it is getting easier. It got easier for the first while, now it just feels a bit better as I get used to it. But it’s still hard.