Shot the Tiger 'Round the Chain

After finishing Naked by David Sedaris and getting myself up to date on (former Top Model contestant) Elyse Sewell's livejournal, I'm ready for their new influences to shape my blog writing! Mr. Sedaris does two things well: self- deprecation and grotesque description. And Elyse, blessed with both brains and beauty, peppers her lively entries with words I have to look up (i.e. overcoiffed). Somehow, my title as the 6th grade spelling bee winner pales in comparison. I saw her photographed in a series of ads passing by a jewelry store today. Wonder if she's still in HK.

Airplane seats: could they be any less comfortable/ ergonomic? The 13 + 4 hour flight to Osaka, Japan and then transfer to HK was not as grueling as I remembered, but I did get a bit airsick (or as Keke would say, carsick) near the end. Some people are very skilled at hiding their discomfort in public. Like, say they're at H-E-B and their foot gets run over by a shopping cart gone wild, and they manage to twist their face into a lopsided grin at the offending brat whose mother is off nosing around in another aisle, and steadily walk away. I have far to go in achieving physical stoicism, as I must've scared the flight attendants with my unladylike grimaces and indelicate postures. What a regular baby.

So the fashion here is interesting. It spares no one under the age of 55, and then some. It's ordinary to see even hunchbacked grandmas walking with canes and sporting Pumas and Asics that would make a rock band singer proud. When I was here during high school, I recall wanting to assimilate, because everyone was cuting me out with their fitted jeans and thick, plastic spectacles. Well, five years later, everyone still looks that way. But now that is much less appealing, after I devised and continually failed the t- shirt test this semester. The girl sitting next to my mom on the plane nearly blinded me with her white Converse Chucks. So did my forty-ish year old aunt. Now, it's kind of unnerving when your own aunts are trendier than you are. Like, I'm not that nerdy, right? I mean, I only wear tapered exercise pants, free t- shirts and granny undies every once in a while. Give a girl a break!

The first thing we did after settling into my grandma's little second story flat was walk down to the streets and get me a haircut. It's kind of a girl mullet, not unlike Sara Linville's current mop. However, the natives can still tell that I'm not from around these parts. Must be the heavy American cookery in my flesh.

Rain, it's been three days now. Time to stop!