Day 40

It's Day 40. How forty days have already passed is beyond me. I'm not going to lie, I miss L.A. terribly. I miss the sunshine and palm trees. I'm already sick of looking at brick walls and concrete. (Dirty concrete, mind you.)

Things I found myself missing or craving:

- California wine (well, this is more the fact that I have to go to a specialty wine shop to buy it rather than just any grocery store...AND that it often costs more than double what it would have cost at my neighborhood TJ's in L.A.)
-McDonald's chicken McNuggets (fortunately, no shortage of those here. This is otherwise inexplicable).
-view of palm trees (as aforementioned)
-heck, view of anything but ugly old buildings
-my car (and driving)
-my $500 ergonomic OfficeMaster PT-74 "cross-performance" chair (for obvious reasons...my back is killing me!)
-my firm bed (ditto above)
-California fruits (I had no idea! And they say it gets worse in the winter!)
-pho
-personal space (as previously discussed)
-germ-free living
-shopping (it's just too much work here...plus no money).
-weekend brunches (it's just not the same here)
-my friends (of course!)
-a real, non-communal kitchen to call my own
-a couch
-all the clothes, shoes, and bags I left behind
-having a disposable income
-my old crummy comforter that probably cost nothing compared to the expensive down comforter I bought for use here (sometimes old crummy things are more comforting)
-proximity to real nature
-the sounds of birds chirping in the morning
-Step class at the UCLA gym
-cereal that costs less than $5 a box
-big box stores and chain restaurants (gasp! I said it! I'll admit I've been wanting Target, IKEA, Ralph's, Olive Garden, and PF Changs! Maybe even Black Angus! and Red Lobster! I'm a suburban girl after all...wah!)(Yes, I realize they have some of those here!)

-the list goes on...

I mention McDonald's and chain restaurants because for some reason, I kind of miss them or crave them even though I can access them here and even though I hardly went to those places back in L.A. In fact, I usually complained about them. In fact, I'm usually all about the independent stores! I can't figure out why I really wouldn't mind some pasta fagioli soup or endless salad from Olive Garden right now. Maybe because there's some deep-seated familiarity in those tastes and flavors. And having something familiar in an unfamiliar setting is easier to, ahem, digest (pun intended) than constantly being in the unfamiliar. I dunno...but I'll cut the philosophical discussion for now...


Anyhow, despite my long list of things I miss, it's not to say however, that there aren't cool, exciting things here or cool, exciting things that I am looking forward to trying. And it's also not to say that there aren't things that I definitely don't miss in L.A. But I won't mention those. :)

With that, today's theme song: