Blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

Looking for a good time? Try booking a 4-country, 10-flight, 15-city trip using 500 different airlines and a million different travel websites. Around the holidays.

I need a personal assistant.

Update #1: OMG! For the first time in about 10 years of trying, American Airlines frequent flier miles have proven useful. Direct flights and everything! (As opposed to the usual "sure you can use 200,000 miles each to get from Zurich to New York, but you'll have to spend the night in Dallas and have another 68-hour layover in Nome, Alaska, where we will require you to gnaw off your left big toe before you are allowed to board your final flight segment.")

Update #2: Orbitz.com, you are on notice. Returning search results with cheap fares and then conveniently updating them to almost TWICE THE PRICE when we click "purchase." Hang your head in shame.

Don't try this at home (or anywhere else for that matter)

Lest I leave you with the impression that it's only Americans who are out there dreaming up stupid products, I offer you this: Sputnik Vodka Flavoured Beer (notice how the 'u' in 'flavoured' precludes this from being an American creation). We came across it the other day while shopping at a Coop that is not the one we usually go to. Actually this Coop had a lot to offer in the beer department, and we went a little crazy with the let's-try-new-things thing.

I like beer, I reasoned, and I love vodka. So why wouldn't I love this stuff? Sounds like sound enough logic, no? So we took a bottle (and thankfully, only one) home with us to give it a try.

Here's the thing: whoever named this beverage concoction obviously has the word 'vodka' confused with the word 'Zima'. Beer isn't sweet, and vodka isn't sweet, so by what logic does Sputnik Vodka Flavoured Beer taste like a vaguely alcoholic extra-sugary Sprite?

I have learned my lesson: no more anything flavored beer, ever.

blogger, expat, novelist...

I'm proud to announce that I am an official winner of NaNoWriMo 2006. That means that I wrote a 50,000 word novel entirely within the month of November. As a prize, I got this nifty 'winner' graphic, so of course I had to make a blog post to show it off.

Before this experience, I really never felt compelled to try my hand at novel-writing, despite my tireless dedication to dilettantism. But something about this project drew me in. Part of it was the appeal of trying a new creative activity. Part of it was the attainable but challenging short-term goal. But most of it was the method.

I'm a big fan of using the 'quantity over quality' method of breaking through artistic/creative blocks. When you have to finish a whole novel within a month, you don't have time to stop and obsess over individual sentence structures or style nuances. You just have to keep writing. And inevitably, at least some of what you write turns out to be pretty good. And that's exciting.

So I'm not saying I've written the next international best-seller or anything. In fact, I'm not even sure anyone else will ever read my novel. Hell, I'm not even sure I'll ever read my novel. But if you happen to know a publisher looking for an exciting new 'chick lit' book to put out (about the adventures of two young American women in Italy), feel free to send her/him my way. I'll be sure to invite you to the release party.

I'm writing a what?

I know, I know - I owe you a whole lot of Japan posts and pictures. They're coming, I promise.

Along with 60,000 people (of varying degrees of sanity) around the globe, I am attempting to write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November as part of National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo for short).

I don't have a particularly good excuse for this behavior... it just sounded like a fun and challenging task to try out. I didn't have a clue what I was going to write about until yesterday. I still have no idea how the novel is going to end.

I was so excited to start (no starting before November 1st!) that I woke up extra-early this morning (ok, this was mostly due to my lingering jet lag) to get writing. With an average of 1,667 words to write per day to reach my goal, I will be spending a lot of time at the computer this month. Hopefully not so much that I completely miss out on fall (my second-favorite season), but we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck.