Goodbye 2022, an amazing wild year full of discovery travel and vision for the future

 Frigging finally this year is over and the writing for this year is over. I'm writing this exactly the week of the year ended, and it's such a relief of a burden being removed to get the year cleared. Because there was a lot of guilt associated with not writing, disappointing myself and being a general bum with regards to the whole writing process generally. I think four posts a day is not a big commitment, specially considering the not-great quality of the posts that have been spewed out in the last three years and that's yet another reason to not have to stress too much about what gets written as long as something gets out. That's been hard, and there's not too many excuses, so clearing that stuff is amazing.

This year has been the most productive in terms of the number of posts on this blog at almost 30 more than the previous record of the last year. That's one thing I'm hugely proud of, ignoring completely there was possibly some hit to the quality and the backwriting possibly has gotten worse. The sheer fact of trudging along, despite all the obstacles that have popped up, dealing with the guilt and anxiety of keeping up, the commitment of staying on the one thing through and though make me proud. Thanks to everybody who's kept along because I felt like quitting all the time and many of you reading this have already quit and there is nobody to blame but me. The show must go on though. No. Matter. What.

And that's an overview of what's happened to me specific to the blog.

In terms of other life updates, this year was incredibly relaxing and productive. I got more comfortable being with myself and the possibility that one might have to live the introverted life. The places I traveled to this year, national parks and so forth have by far exceeded those of all previous years combined, which is an incredible achievement too. It was also this year that I came to fully appreciate an internalize my existence on this planet, being comfortable with 'being a loser', figuring out what other people want out of life, and how I relate to myself. The 'journey of self discovery' targeted for 2024 is still on, but this year has been quite  journey for that too, and I've gotten quite far in understanding myself.

That also goes for personal relationships. It's clear to me what I'm looking for, the sort of situations I'm willing to work with in a partner and things that wouldn't work for me, and what things matter the most to me in a partner. The idea was to come to this understanding after the democrats lost the 2024 elections, the presidential and everything else, but it came way before they lost the 2022 house.

The daily walks put me in such a zen mode, the endorphin rush is incredible. I've told many a person in recent weeks that my existence lately has been that of a rishi-muni, the ancient sages who lived in the forests and wrote great tomes. The writing part is the only thing I'm lacking.

Final discovery for this year: I don't mind the Seattle weather at all. Dare I say I even love it because the rainy-chilly-cloudy weather that doesn't get too extreme is perfect for walking outside and hiking. Summers are hot and oppressive but at least you can do stuff with friends outside. Winters are cold dark and gloomy but they're also perfect for you to explore the wonderful winterland.

And that was the year for me. I'm grateful for the situation I find myself in, and wish for this situation to continue for ages.

Thanks for coming with me on this journey!

Eight things you need in rear trunk when traveling in the winter in PNW

1. Blankets
   
   
2. Sleeping bags
   
   
3. Extra water
   
   
4. Food for at least two days
   
   
5. Books or ereader
   
   
6. Backup battery to recharge electronics
   
   
7. Winter tyres or chain
   
   
8. CB radio
   

The best walk I've had in recent memory

On December 31 I had the best walk in recent memory.

So relax, so chilled, so at peace with myself and the world. Went to Interlaken, then down to the lake, towards the islands, crossed to the other side of the islands for the first time ever, over on the canal-side from there, canal banks to the UW bridge, crossed it to get to West Montlake park, the yatch club, and then NOAA quarters, underneath the highway then a bunch of neighborhoods, towards interlaken park through a very steep mountain climb. It was exciting because I'd first discovered Interlaken park way back through this particular segment and had forgotten about it. Now that I have found the route again, something I will put in my back pocket for for changing things up. From Interlaken it was on to Volunteer park and home.

Upsides of this walk were: discovery of new route, seeing exciting new neighborhoods and parks, didn't have to take the same way pack ever, and the canal path is fun. Downside is that there's not insignificant walking on city streets, and the under-highway path is not the most ideal. Plus, perhaps it's only because the route is new to me or what but I lost my bearings for a bit and felt so very lost, it was unclear what way I was headed. I'm sure it'll be fixed soon. But the lack of scenery as much as Arboretum was not great. Still, there's only so many parks to go about I guess, and walking on city streets is fine for a route taken every so often.

The length of the route is about the same as the larger one. Possibly a bit shorter. More to explore here, I'm excited!

New Year's Chhyang for the new year

 I cooked about sixteen pounds of sweet gluttonous rice this morning, on the first of Jan. It took me three hours to cook and process everything, to make chhyang. It wasn't as bad as I had feared honestly, and if I'd known it'd be so manageable, I'd have scaled out the production process right from the start. Because traditionally storage has been a problem, but if I'm willing to compromise on storage by storing in soda bottles, it can go a long way.

The plan is to wait for five days until looking up the three gallon jars, then adding boiled degassed water into them, as has been the process this far. Then have AS, who'll be staying in my place, move them to the fridge 35 days from now. Because it's winter 35 days is probably going to be a good time for total fermentation to take place, if that's not enough we can always put it out in the room and let it work some more.

The great thing about starting on Jan 1 is that it's really easy to measure how old the drink is, and celebrating major milestones by drinking the batch that was brewed at the start of the year. Such exciting times!

I've seen so much of the country this year!

Earlier this month, AS and I drove down Washington, Oregon, Eastern California to Death Valley, almost to Los Angeles. Saw Mt. Shasta, Bend, Eugene, Reno, Vegas, and so many other fantastic places. In the east coast I went to Virginia Beach, and then to Boston. Before that we went to the Cascades, the amazing snow-filled peaks. Before that I went to Rocky Mountain National park. And then there was Mt. Hood, Crater Lake and Highway 101 in early summer. In the middle of this all, we traveled to nearby islands and places, the Olympic Mountain Range in February, and Mt. Rainier has always been in the picture.

This has been a productive year geographically for me, it's a revelation on how much of the country there is to see and travel to. I'm living the best version of my life in this way, and my expectation from this has been blown way way past.

What I did for christmas eve celebrations

Christmas celebration turned out to be effing fantastic this year!

In the morning S (who was here from Nepal on his way back to Canada) and SK went to AR's place for lunch and to play with her doggo. We did that for several hours, after smoking up a bit, it was such a goddamn good time I almost forgot I had plans for later in the evening. I rushed home from her place, gathered the pies: apple pie and pumpkin pie that I'd bought at Costco in Eugene the day before, and headed the way to PG's home. Somehow I got lost yet again in the dark and the rain but did make it on time before the meal to start.

For appetizers we had potstickers and spinach, yum yum. Then we had mac n cheese and potato cooked in milk and cream, with I had made, it's some sort of french recipe I forget what it was. It was yum yum and I wish I hadn't filled up in the lunch because man I really wanted eat a lot. Then we had multiple desserts, including two kinds of tiramisu: one store bought and the other made by I. So freakin' good, I still miss that.

After meals two girls talked about relationship situation while the rest of the gang watched tv just to avoid listening in on the convo. Board games were played after, including exploding kittens, and 'guess the thing', plus charades.

Left for home at 1.30 or perhaps 2 in the morning. P's friend K dropped me home and then A later.

Second course paid for and ready to start!

 The second course in my leadership certification program has been paid for, it was slightly more than three thousand dollars which means that I might be losing sixty bucks out on the whole deal unless I want to work an extra year in the current job. But it'll be starting soon, in two days, first day of work after holidays: it's on project leadership, which....wasn't very descriptive so I know as much about the course content as you do but it's supposed to teach us how to lead remote teams and plan for future and organize work schedule. I have no clue how useful that will be in my daily activities, but fairly certain that once I become the CEO/CTO of some company, I'll be able to use them to become an effective leader.

I'm quite excited actually!

Brown rice is the freakin' worst, it's just like white rice but tastes worse and has better marketing

 Exactly what the title says. I'm sick and tired of brown rice, it's so hard to cook, doesn't taste good, terrible to chew on, takes forever to cook, and apparently isn't that much better than regular rice in nutrition. Which means it's a bit of a scam, isn't it, to feed yourself less than ideal rice only because you're too lazy to work out or be involved in physical activities? It's terrible, doesn't do anything good to the mood either.

Idea: improve the data provided by local governments by creating an open-ness competition

 Recorded.

Here's another idea. Nepal's freedom of information act forces local federal and state authorities to grant public all the public documentation produced by a government office. Which includes documents such as planning, budgets, etc. Because of this concept of e-governance all the local bodies have their websites where they post those office documents. This is in regards to municipalities. 

The reality is, some municipalities are better than others. So some will put forward detailed documents with their original pdfs of their detailed 200 page budget and all the discussion documents and everything in there and some will just half-ass it. 

So for example, Tanahun nagarpalika's budget is 115 page long and it is extremely detailed the up to the line point. Whereas Bhaktapur's budget is like barely seven pages and it's really half-assed because it's not original pdf document. It's scanned. And it's only the numbers that are barely readable. So, the idea is create a non-profit group that rates different government agencies, based on how accessible their data is and make a big deal.

Make a big show out of it annually or semi annually and name and shame the municipalities that do poorly and reward the municipalities that do better. Also provide resources and possibly volunteers, possibly paid, to municipalities that haven't been able to provide good documentation on their website. 

This can probably be easily done in collaboration with open data Nepal?? And there's this other group of nepali programmers open source....something like that.. AD knows that, I have to ask him, but if we can do that, this is an easily achievable project. That will be highly visible.

It'll be good for me, it'll be good for the public, and everybody else and will be good for the country.

Man Off Menu latest season really killed it

The last season of Off Menu was so good! Two Christmas shows with two amazing guests, and then a live holiday show! One can rarely ask for anything more from a podcast and a tv show with such talented folks.

And apparently Tina Fey was there in the live show in London? Ed's absolute rockstar, and Ed can quote every 30 Rock line, that's insane!

So excited for the Off Menu boys!

Minor notes on the war in Ukraine

 This is about Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing war.

As we turn corner into a year since the original thunder run it's becoming clearer that the aggressor does not have the capability to cleanly win the intended territories. As a corollary, neither does Ukraine have the ability to take over the defeated lands, but the West is flowing weapons into the country and an accelerated pace, so it's possible if not likely that things will run around soon. It's possible in the next year or so, by 2024, Ukraine will have taken most of the original non-Crimea territories, and with some luck and a whole lot of US military assistance, could make a realistic approach to Crimea as well.

Am I prepared for the journey to Nepal?

 I don't know.

Don't know what to expect, the exact set of events will take place, who I'll be meeting and how I'll be spending time with them, and what the work situation will be. This is the first time I'll be doing work from abroad, and the HR is likely to be a pain in the butt, but it's going to be fine, I hope.

There's multiple problems I'm concerned about, the distractions, the lack of proper facilities, the total and complete lack of motivation, even for me, and the unreasonable expectation of socializing whenever and wherever. And that's not to even begin with the marriage related conversations. Ugh, I'm afraid, I'm concerned, I'm a bit worried, but it's not clear I'm ready. Hope to be better prepared.

Trip to Chelan through Snoqualmie pass and Blewitt pass

 Couple of days after I returned from my drive down to Cali and Vegas, Sk and I went to Chelan in the East, to collect M the dog from her family, who she was chilling with for the past three months when Sk was in Nepal. They previous few days had been quite snowy and rough weather-wise, but our planned day seemed good. Sk said you know what fuck it we don't need an SUV I'll take my two-door car, and I went along. We did add some snacks, blankets and bottles of water in the trunk to be sure we'd be well fed, hydrated and warm if there was a fluke snowstorm on the way, since we didn't have tire chains or socks, and off we went.

The first part of our trip went...alright, after we left at 10.30 in the morning. Then it started getting weird. Google would increase the expected time for the journey the longer we drove. It was a bit concerning at first, we figured there was probably some minor traffic incident ahead that'd soon clear up and didn't bother ourselves much. Only when the expected delay was up to 50 minutes did we start worrying. Even then, we figured it wouldn't be much of an issue.

Snoqualmie pass was easy, clean, no rain or snow. A big relief, we thought we'd made it and the rest of the day would be eventless. How wrong.

An hour later, we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic around Blewitt pass, unclear what was happening ahead of us and how long we would be waiting. No concerns though, we could stay in Chelan for the night and come the day after, so I took out my kindle and started reading.

It started raining. Small drops at first. Then larger drops. Then the drops got bigger and bigger until the drops started bouncing off the windshield. It started snowing. The snow picked up pace, and soon the road was covered in a thin layer, and the snow shovel was removing it off the road.

We evaluated our options. To wait might mean we'd be stuck in between, because we were not prepared for winter driving, we could find ourselves in a situation where we'd be snowed in from both the directions. So it was decided that the best decision would be to turn back. Also a guy from the other side said there were two semis which had hit each other and there was no way the road was gonna open.

We drove back for 30 minutes, and I checked the directions the other way again and it seemed the expected wait time had gone town. We reconsidered, and figured it might be worth another shot. So back we went, expecting some of the traffic to have cleared up. We were back in the same line, except two miles behind our original location.

The traffic did eventually clear up, we got to Chelan safely, collected the doggo, and drove back through Blewitt without any incident. Except this time around there was massive wind, rainfall and show around Snoqualmie pass, the 'atmospheric river' the PNW was supposed to have gotten from Hawaii. And yeah it was rough, much rougher than anything we'd seen in our 6 day trip to down south in the middle of winter.

Eventually reached home safely with no incidents at quarter past nine. Phew.

New idea: blogging through recorded transcripts part-time

This is something I've been considering. Doing audio recordings and their generated transcripts from google recorder and posting them here as blog posts. Instead of, like typing out everything and writing down on a regular basis because I've realized the reason I'm not posting here regularly, especially when traveling is that I don't have access to proper writing equipment, you know, as in laptop and a desk and don't have enough motivation to do that.

With typing I'm always on my phone and always am charged so I can speak all the time even in an airlines even during a flight even in a car trip, you know, like I don't have any limitations with recording but they're so many limitations with writing. So this is something I'm considering we'll see where this goes.

Also, this post was first recorded and I basically just copied and pasted the transcript up to this point literally, no edits until this point.

Rewrite: okay rare edits made, mostly with capitalization and minor punctuation.

The holidays season are coming to an end

 I write this on the first day of the following year, dating to the day before.

The 17-day vacation is over and I'm a bit excited for the work to be back? Because it adds structure to my days, gives me purpose and even when I'm not doing anything it's a fine excuse to keep myself occupied doing fun and exciting things. Also the work's sometimes quite productive and rewarding by itself if properly organized. So couple of interesting things to look forward to there.

Plus because it's been the holidays the wakeup time is around 12 anyway, which means basically I'm working 1.5 hours of extra until my free time, and the nights are tighter but it's not like there's anything productive being done at nights.

So wild times are ahead, I'm excited to see how the new year will turn out!

Everybody is getting dogs these days

SK has a dog, SM who is a musician got a dog last year, and now AR (e) got a doggo too, such a nice fluffy doggie, so white and pillow-like. It's the Seattle vibe: more people have pets in dogs and cats than those who don't, which is nice if you like those cutie pies, and not so much if you want partners who are uninvolved in any single-parenting situation which is pretty much what pet ownership by a single person is.

I considered for a bit getting a dog last year but abandoned the idea because I'd be traveling around a lot and don't want to have to leave the doggo to somebody and traveling with pets is always a hassle. Plus you have to live by their timetable so you do lose a lot of flexibility of living a single person's life. Ugh.

The best walk ever, new route discovered, rice tarkari dinner, setting up rice for large batch chhyang, second dinner with Domino's, ride to AR's for NYE viewing, meeting new people, bailing out early, walk home [Sat 31]

In the day I had the most relaxing walk I can remember. I don't know if it was the vacation getting to me, the lack of stress that's been happening in the last six months or so, the anxiety medication I've been taking, maybe the weather, perhaps the combination of everything. Or it's possible there was something in the air that just made me so goddamn happy, but yeah it was the most wonderful walk.

I walked all the way to the Arboretum listening to podcasts, to the point at UW, then to the islands, crossed to the other side of the islands, kept on going by the canal banks until I reached the UW bridge. Crossed the street by the bridge, on to West Montlake Park, the Yatch club, next to the NOAA offices, underneath the highway, Montlake park, got lost around the neighborhood there, took a high climb to the Interlaken park as I talked to parents who were just about returning from India to Nepal, walked through the forest to Volunteer park, and back home the regular way back from there.

Chilled in the afternoon, had rice and tarkari for dinner early in the evening.

Spent three hours or four hours making chhyang in the morning, I figured it'd take me the entire day but it happens so that 12 litres of chhyang is not so much and if I'd planned the whole thing a little better it could have happened in one round.

By 9-9.30 I was not even hungry but had been thinking about Domino's pizza for a while and explored their menu. Figured it was the New Year eve and I deserved celebration, so I got a pickup order from Domino's nearby for pan pizza.

Ate half the pan pizza, second dinner of the night.

Soon after, walked over to Sk, chilled, then we took the uber ride to AR's for NYE. We spent an hour or two prematurely on her 3rd floor roof waiting for the fireworks. I met a bunch of pretty decently chill guys I wish I could have kept in touch with because I'm sick of the Seattle folks who only talk about tech and money but we disconnected. They were so much fun to talk with, there are Nepali dudes I get along with.

Bailed out right as the fireworks ended and walked home with a massive post-fireworks crowd of people. Went to sleep soon enough.

Rice for lunch, noodles for dinner, quick TJ's grocery trip finally, my projects start yet again! [Fri 30]

 Had leftover rice from the day before for lunch.

Cooked the thick thai noodles with all asian ingredients for dinner, it was far far too heavy and oily and I couldn't finish it, but kept it around in the fridge anyway. In the future I will discover that actually the leftover noodle with rice is better than the fresh noodles.

During the day I went to Trader Joe's and got some random groceries like tofu and chickpeas and coconut water and milk

Since I had coconut water again, I started the actual round with water kefir, and milk kefir batches started again as well!

I was back into form, bayyybeeee!

One pot ricecooker recipe for brown rice

 This is the recipe I just used to cook some brown rice earlier today on Jan the first.

Take some brown rice, put it in the rice cooker, put way way more rice than the rice needs. Once the rice has been boiling for 30 minutes, dump the extra water out, put in frozen veggies, spicy sauce, chinese chilly oil, frozen spinach, dal and msg, plus soy sauce and multiple kinds of dietary fats. Add some vinegar and sesame oil when needed.

Let it cook for another 30 minutes, and the dinner is ready to eat!

Domino's pan pizza: A review

On  new year's eve I had a solid bhat-dal tarkari dinner at 7. Later in the night, before I went to AR's place to watch the fireworks I got bored and figured I deserved a quick reward for the end of the year. Which was a Domino's Pan pizza. It was a single-topping one, with the toppings split into halves I got mushroom and pineapple.

And it was uhh. Yumm? Reminded me of the Sicilian Slice I used to get at the Italian place La Cascia back when I was in Boston. Bready. Fluffy. Thick. Cheesey. Saucy. Yummy. It tasted a lot like home-made pizza, and the crust was something worth dreaming about. I don't mind myself Domino's every so often, but this was a particularly good experience. It's a surprise I haven't had those pizzas before, gotta explore.

Normally with Domino's pizza I can't taste the tarty tomatoey sauce but this time was different, the sauce was remarkably tasty and yummy.

It was so good I finished half the pizza before leaving for NYE celebrations. And when I got back late at night, gulped down the rest of the pie. Yeah, I did have a double-sized dinner on New Year's even and by god I felt amazing about it. SO fresh and yummy. A good end / start to years.

If you've not tried the pan pizza from Domino's, it's definitely worth trying. Even if Domino's is usually not your jam, their pan pies are worth at least an evaluation because they're a different style compared to everything else!

A house in the city

A house in the city
Is that what I want?
Close to the shops
And the parks
Easy for the parents
To go around on walk
And easy with transit public?
But the prices are high
And I'm just a man single
The crime rates
Do sometimes
Give me a bad tingle
And where is all the land
For me to put my plants,
And oh the noise and the filth
What would I do with all of it?
Plus when the rest of the family
Does gone in
Where would we place them
For the crashing
Two bedrooms is fine
But not for hosting
When you want to wine and dine
And so I'm lost
On whether I want
A house in the city
Or do I want
To go to the burbs
Where things are easier
But walking is hell
Or in the middle
Where the prices
Are just impossible?

I'm just not that into you

You are single
And I am too
And we live
In the same city
Me and you.
But let me tell you babe
I'm not just
Not that into you
Even less than
The other way around too.
You see the world
In pure numbers
And how you can
Optimize the
Chances of amazing encounters.
You look at the tables and charts
And target the demographic
group you're more likely
To go along with for the long-last.
You look at the men
And see their job descriptions
And companies
all the rest
But what you're missing out
Is the humanity
In all of this insanity.
They're not just graphs
And you're not a demographic
You're fighting against yourself
And the demons get projected
Into the rest.
Where is the fun,
Even?
In conclusion
Let's put it short,
I'm just not
That into you?

Seven reasons winter travel is so terrible in the Northwest

1. Because it snows like once a year, and everybody forgets to drive in the snow
   
   
2. No resources to remove snow because it snows just once a year and overdoing it is a waste of resources
   
   
3. Somehow the feds forget to sand and salt the interstate highways
   
   
4. Seattle and city folks think driving in the snow is no big deal and snow tires and chains are a big fat scam
   
   
5. The roads are all curvy and the weather's windy in the mountains unlike the East, so it gets worse with accidents
   
   
6. 28-wheeler semi trucks on single-lane highways are already dangerous, in snow rain and wind it gets as bad as it can get.
   
   
7. Everybody drives like an effing idiot all the time!
    

Frequently asked questions about the senator's educational attainment

Q: Does the senator have a Master's degree or not?
A: what the senator has meant clearly and repeated several times if anybody would listen to him, is that he has a mastery of various subjects, to a degree most people can only dream of. And it is in no way misleading to state the matter suchly. It is the media which misunderstood the original statement to besmirch his good name and make a fool out of him.

Q: Does the senator have a bachelor's degree?
A: Such gotcha questions have got to stop, because we believe politics can thrive only in an honest environment where all parties have mutual trust among each other. Lies and misdirections hurt everybody involved and cause the political environment to grow toxic and unreliable. The senator is a single man, which makes him a bachelor, to a great degree. There is no other comment from his staff at this point.

Q: What exactly is the senator's previous experience?
A: Everything stated in his resume that was made public is true, obviously, why is there even an expectation for the senator to verify all of his points and nobody else? This is unfair obviously to the campaign and his team. The senator has done every thing in the resume as a dungeon master in a game of D&D and that could be as clear as it is.

Eight warm beverages you can make at home for a cold winter evening

1.  Hot apple cider, powdered form
   
   
2. Ginger-honey drink, yum yum yum
   
   
3. Green tea with lemon
   
   
4. Hot chamomile tea
   
   
5. Herbal tea
   
   
6. Warm sweet iced tea
   
   
7. Peppermint tea
   
   
8. Hot choco
   

A list of all the goddamn desserts I had on Christmas eve

1.  Tiramisu, bought
   
   
2. Tiramisu homemade
   
   
3. Apple pie
   
   
4. Pumpkin pie
   
   
5. Blueberry pie
   
   
6. Cheesecake
   

Getting to Vegas and exploring the first buffet there!

 We got to Vegas on one of those days, and I skipped going to the Strip because I'd had enough of it: the first time was with ND where we spent four very well-fed and stoned days and the second time with Sb last year on our way back from Colorado when we spent an entire night there without a hotel room. It was one of the most terrible experiences I've ever had and it's changed my impression of the city there. So when we finished our buffet (a low key, inexpensive one) and found a parking lot 20-minute uber ride from the strip, I stayed back in the car and AS went to check out the town. He absolutely loved it, loved the fountain, the lights, people and the glitz. It's always like that for the first time in the city of lights. But soon you see the peeling paints, the pathetic people, the sadness, the extravagant wealth and the inequality and how hard people are trying to have fun, the sort of people who very much can't seem to get one.

The buffet we went to was off-strip, it was pretty cheap, and a little more than twenty bucks, and the offerings reflected that. Not many more options than a college dining, though to be fair the individual offerings were pretty incredible.

Five More interesting ideas for consideration

1. Value generation at source in agriculture. The problem with Nepali agriculture is aggregation and transportation of low-value items. What if instead of paying 10 rs on transportation for tomatoes that go for 30 rs/kilo, they increased they value of tomato-associated products so that they were selling something (sauce/tomato-in-oil, etc) for 500/kilo. Transportation costs being the same, the issues associated with aggregation and transportation would go down.
   
   This would also solve the 'preservation' problem for a lot of rural farmer, because value-add would involve preservation.
   
   
2. High-value produce near customers. The problem with agriculture transportation is that tastier varietals don't travel well, and those that travel well don't travel as well. So what if farmers near Kathmandu grew the really tasty varieties that are otherwise tricky to transport or don't last. Because they're close to customers, and ideally they're ordered by customers on-demand, there won't be loss associated with storage and transportation.
   
   
3. Creation of a 'market' for goods transportation, specifically agriculture products. Say for example taxies and public transport vehicles going to tourist destinations, if they have to come back empty, that's a lot of lost potential value. What if we could create a market between local farmers/producers, and transportation folks (private, public, rapid, whatever) where folks could decide to transport products from one place to another for price. The trust issue involved could be solved by the involvement of local authorities. "Let no vehicle go empty"
   
   
4. Homestay programs for rural villages, where the villages have left. People 'rent out' their homes where nobody lives for super cheap. An intermediary refurbishes the place, and rents them out until the cost is recovered. After the recovery period, the profits are shared between the intermediary and the owners.
   
   
5. Use local raw materials (eg. goat hair, goat hide, agriculture waste) to create value-added products.
   

Man this year's bonus and salary were absolutely disappointing

 Yeah that's pretty much it. Single digit percentage of the annual salary as bonus and nobody talked about a raise which probably means there's none waiting. In real terms that means there's an effective eight percent salary reduction, which is one fuck of a disappointment. But like whatever I guess I'm not a go-getter and I'm in the current job without a lot of flexibility. Wish it was better but there's no point in being bitter about things like these. Just gotta get myself more ideally situated to uhh make best of the situation, and this ain't good times.

I paid this month's rent but it's not charged?!?

 This is a super small observation. Every month-end I get an email from my property management company talking about the rent being due, and I immediately pay the owed amount. The money is reduced from my bank account in parallel and that's the end of it.

This month though I paid, as usual, but the money hasn't been reduced from my bank account. I'm guessing it's due to holiday season and the fact that there was couple of days of bank holidays. Well...either that or the property management company has decided that I've been such a good tenant they need to stop charging me money. Only annoying thing about the situation is that for the next couple of weeks I'll need to keep the monthly rental amount in my bank account or risk being overdrafted.

It takes me forever to get to my groove. That needs to change

 The title says it all. I got back from my long road trip eight days ago and only now have I completely settled down to my regular routine. It takes me months and months to establish my routine and once the routine gets going I can live by it for weeks and months and years, but every time there is a disruption, building back is hard, so very hard and I need to gather all the resources, the energy to do things over and over and it's a mess. It's a big goddamn mess. I haven't gotten back to praying since coming back from the East coast 1.5 months ago and that's a goddamn shame, it gave me such direction and strength.

I wonder how I can get back my groove and routine every time I move to a new place. Aka how I can carry my 'mental house/shell' everywhere I go. This is a big realization, I don't need to carry all my physical items with me, if I took the emotional and psychological stuff it'd be enough to rebuild my life and recreate physical circumstances.

Wish it was as easy to implement as it is to talk about.

Work does give my life structure, and without it organizing anything around anything would be rough

This has been written about a billion times before on this blog. There's feeling of hectic pressure and general bummed-outness when I haven't had a vacation for a while when I think work is stupid and I'd rather do anything but work and it's such a drag, this enforced timetable etcetera. And then I start working and realize actually it's one of the more stable things in my life, something I can count on being there generally all the time, my place to seek solidity and safety and hold me connected to real life. Like I'm always traveling, seeing new people, doing new things, coming up with new ideas, making different plans, changing interests etcetera, but the work remains. And the more productive I'm at work, the more productive I'm in my personal life. It's not that work gives me meaning, but that it helps me start the momentum of personal achievement that allows me to keep running in achievements in my personal life as well. And without that push, the initial momentum, getting motivated to do anything at all is quite hard. That is all.

Idea about Nepali caps and dresses and a Nepali clothing brand

Recorded.

Okay, so here's the idea: figure out all the different kind of topees and caps of Nepal, historical and regional ones in Nepal. Start a production line for them if that doesn't exist, if there's existing productions, then i need to buy them all. And also figure out Daura Suruwal. If we can replace toona maybe with velcro. maybe it can be made modern, and I can start wearing it. I would like to start wearing it on a regular basis with all the different kinds of caps and maybe a waist coat or a full sports jacket and, you know, nepali shoes, that would be pretty sick. I would look so hip. I should do that man. Like first figure out a look for myself with different Nepali dresses and caps, and start dressing that way and then use that as a marketing for actually branding and creating my own brand, or working with friends and Acquaintances.

So lots of opportunity there, something to think about.

Busride home, volunteer park walk, dal-bhat-airfried tarkari for lunch and dinner, four rounds of laundry [Thu 29]

 In the morning I took the busride home, but I was still so confused from the night before, I missed my stop and had to walk two stops home.

In the afternoon I went to Volunteer park for a nice long walk.

Had tal-bhat and airfried mixed tarkari, the frozen one from Costco, for both lunch and dinner.

Did my laundry after like three or four weeks, a full four round worth. It was lots of going up and down the building, but I've realized as long as I'm folding them properly, it's not too much of a deal.

Also the laundry machines in my building are some bullshit, if you pay by the app they're 2 bucks each for a load but only dollar seventy five when coins are used, so I feel a little cheated as I recently converted to the app. I'd rather get the coins despite the inconvenience.

Volunteer walk with SK, Costco trip with A, I stay in the car dogsitting, eat a pizza and never get my eggs, chill and tv at AR's, I crash there [Wed 28]

As I write this, exactly a week later, covering up the journal entries for the entire freakin' month of December, I'm saying to myself, aloud, oh my god this is painful I can't do this, this is too much, it's really much much simpler to write those things at the end of the day, or maybe even record it for thirty seconds and copy paste it at some point than just dump it all at once. This cannot be anymore.

In the morning -- aka after Sk's work -- went to Volunteer park with SK and M the doggo. Came home, chilled for a bit, then AR came to pick me up and we went to Costco with her unnamed doggo. Since they didn't let the cute fluffball into the store, I stayed with in the car. A got me a slice of pizza and large eggs from Costco, which I haven't gotten yet because apparently there's an egg shortage going in the country and I think A kept the eggs for herself.

Back from Costco we smoked up, played with the doggo and chilled. Because I was so high I couldn't come back home late at night. Just stayed there, slept in, and got home the next morning.

Chelan drive, stuck in traffic, snow, turn around, go back, get the doggo, dark returns, snow rain wind and thunder, persevere, back safe for fried rice dinner [Tue 27]

 I've written in detail about this day and I'm kinda tired of having written 27 journal entries in a row for the last three hours, so I'll keep it short.

Departed Seattle at 10.30, cleared Snowualmie but stuck real real real bad near Blewitt pass. Thought it would be fine, but started snowing, the best idea seemed to be to return back Seattle-wards. The rain and snow stopped, and google showed traffic clearing up, so we went back towards Chelan. Except the traffic hadn't cleared up and we were in the same traffic as before, except two miles behind the original location. Eventually the traffic cleared up after Blewitt pass opened after three hours of closure caused by 2 semi trucks crashing into each other. We went to Chelan and got the doggo, the doggo missed us a lot apparently.

It was dark when we returned, around Snoqualmie it was raining snowing and quite windy, the atmospheric river brought by pacific from Hawaii was scary, but we persevered, and went slow. Eventually made it back home safe about 9.30.

At home I made fried rice before going to sound sleep.

Volunteer-SeattleU walk with SK, I fitter my days away, yes I know [Mon 26]

 In the day I went on a long walk with SK to Seattle University and Volunteer park, he was missing his doggo M a lot because she was in Chelan and his plan was to go this day to pick her up but it hadn't worked out. We talked about our plans, Nepal, and relationship situation -- how we were ready for things to start working out and what we need from our partners soonish.

For lunch or dinner I had massive leftover of rice etc, I was so goddamn full.

I...yes, wasted the day away not writing, just chilling hanging, using the internet and relaxing but hey that's what holidays are for, right, I wish that the online websites weren't there, besides that it's alright.

Hang with the boys at A's, farewell to S, relaxing day [Sun 25]

 In the morning I went to A's place and chilled with the boys, caught up on the Nepali political happenings and all of that. Went on walks with S. S got packed up and ready for his journey back to Canada, left around 2. Didn't do much for the rest of the day, I was still a bit tired from the trip, but had far too much to eat the night before.

This is the longest I've gone without buying the staples groceries

 I wrote about this sometime in the current post dump that I'm doing, which in search terms could mean anytime during this month. In that context I was talking about how much rice and dal I've been eating recently.

The thing is I have a lot of staples in my kitchen. Rice, quinoa, oats, frozen veggies, dal etcetera. I could go for weeks and weeks without buying anything. And I didn't ever thing about finishing those staples because I was always out getting more supplies, fresher and yummier. After coming back from our road trip though there's been some laziness to get fresh groceries, which means I've been eating up the old supplies, using the frozen veggies as fresh food.

So yeah, this is the longest I've gone without buying fresh groceries, and also the most serious I've been about finishing existing supplies. The outcomes have been...mixed...like right now I've got stomach issues...because...who knows why, but generally it's been awesome finishing up everything in the kitchen!

Taco Bell veggie fiesta, a review

 My favourite veggie burrito at tacobell was the cheese and rice burrito that came in at less than 2 bucks for 500 ish calories, and you could add a couple of addons for less than three bucks.

Now taco bell has a new vegetarian item on their menu: the veggie fiesta burrito. It's got rice, cheese, beans, lots of other stuff and then avocado. It tastes really really good, and is so very healthy, not to mention the avocado in the scene. Which means that this is going to be my go-to burrito from now on, filling, cheap and yummy, what's not to like! And he right access too, etc...

Costco hot cider powder: A review

I didn't know what I was getting when I bought the hot cider powder from Costco a month ago, just thought it'd be fun to have a non-tea drink around for when I'm feeling a bit parched and want a fun thing. How my expectations from the drink have changed, oh, it's turned out into a stable of consumption -- I'm almost done with the 120 pack over a month and a half, an achievement that's worth great pride!

There's not much to say: unless you want to hold on to gallons and gallons of cider, and even if you want don't particularly like cider, this is a fun product to keep around the house in case guests who don't like tea come in, or you're in the mood for warm sweet drink that's not hot chocolate. It's a fruity, healthier alternative to sweet tea and soda.

To put it briefly, this is brilliant, I hope to be stocked up on the drink throughout the year, it's tasty, bit healthy and warms up the body. On the summers it's quite easy to ice it up and make it a chilled drink. Just get it, get as much as you can and enjoy!

Luggage situation for impending travel

This is a silly post but I've backed myself into this corner by not writing for weeks, so there is really not much else that can be done. I'm talking about all the various luggage carrying situations being evaluated for my upcoming Nepal trip. The trip starts in less than two weeks (yikes!) but the actual flight to Nepal still has fifteen days to go.

Because I'm going to stop for a few days in Virginia, I don't want too much luggage on me. One piece of luggage should be enough normally, but there's some stuff I'm taking for parents and winter clothes are heavy so maybe I should consider a second luggage as well? Was also evaluating taking two hand-carries, but that doesn't make sense plus I need to help my cousin with niece, so one light backpack is what I should have on me.

So ideally, the situation might be as follows: from Seattle I take two pieces of hand carry and one large luggage. All the personal stuff including winter clothes go in the hand carry plus the luggage. The from VA to Nepal I convert one of my hand carries into luggage. That way I don't have an overwhelming carries at the airport and in the layover, but still get most of my stuff in. All without the hassle (and extra fourty bucks) of two luggages.

Now on the matter of how I'll get to the airport, considering asking the boys or girls to drive me to the airport, but if it's just one piece of luggage, just taking one is probably fine as well.

What will I do with my plants, projects and the apartment when I'm gone?

 Here's my plans for my projects and plants for when I'm gone.

AS(y) will be staying in my place in my absence, so he will water the plants. The chhyang needs to be put into the fridge after 35 days, which isn't a lot of work. In terms of kombucha and the kefirs, I'll be pausing my projects, but take the grains with me to Kathmandu. The solid state fermentations will be put on pause.

I am concerned about fertilizing my plants because they're supposed to be done at the start of the season, but May is probably not too late for me to do that. In case A is gone, Sb will be around for some time, so he can take over. And when he's gone, I'll reach out to a couple of other folks for the watering of the plants specifically. Hopefully they won't suffer like the last batch did.

So the apartment: yes I'll be subletting to AS, because his apartment lease will run out. I'll give him a significant discount over what I'm paying, but he's being super unclear about his plans, and considering the possibility of quitting Seattle. In which case, yeah it'll suck for me, but at least I won't have to pay for the rent in Kathmandu. Plus any money I can get while I'm gone is a plus in my book.

Frequently asked questions about what's happening at the office

Q: Who are the people outside our doors?
A: They are the building management, please do not be concerned and keep your daily activities ongoing.

Q: Why has trash collection stopped?
A: Due to the company's disagreement with the building owners, we are currently undergoing negotiations on the status of our stay and in the interim they have decided to halt trash management to pause as a leverage in negotiations. Please manage your trash by yourself, you can save the company millions of dollars by supporting us in this situation.

Q: What about the news articles concerning the company vis-a-vis our business partners?
A: It is true that we are renegotiating all the existing contracts, because the previous management was so careless with issues of finance, the contracts were not optimized in our favor and third parties were taking advantage of us. Now that the cash situation has gotten quite complex and tight due to larger macroeconmic environment it is time for us to reduce our footprint, and use this opportunity to decrease the amount we owe to our suppliers.

Q: Are we going bankrupt?
A: Possibly. But if you don't work weekends, evenings and holidays, and work less than 90 hours a week, we WILL definitely go bankrupt, so make sure you destroy your life in favor of the company, or else...

List of things I would pay for a social media management company to manage for me

1.  Linkedin management, including CV and comments, likes
   
   
2. Instagram management with just my profile and reaching out to potential business partners
   
   
3. TikTok management, including regular posting of my life updates, which they will ask for me regularly
   
   
4. YouTube management, community creation, and reupload from TikTok as an archive.
   
   
5. Personal website management where my resume is updated, my contact info is updated and latest content is posted which can be used for potential clients.
   

Overview of the 3000 mile roadtrip to Vegas

AS was excited that Argentina won the world cup and wanted to do something fun. We rented a car and started driving South. That's the end of it, hah.

First we planned on going to San Francisco. We stopped by Mt. Shasta because I'd always heard of it and wanted to explore the region. The weather was not too friendly though and we didn't get to see much. The next morning we drove up the mountain so check if we could get any hiking done, no such luck, the weather was worse. On our way down, we discussed if wanted to re-evaluate our destination, A said he'd always wanted to see Death Valley and Vegas, so we said fuck it, and decided to go the way of Vegas, through Reno Nevada and Lake Tahoe.

We drove through Eugene, Reno, and stopped that night at a small town in Nevada whose main gain to fame was as 'the gateway to Death Valley'. Majestic beauty, insane really, we soaked up all the beauty. By the way I should really be reviewing all the hotels we stopped as too at some point because hoo boyy so much to write!

The next morning we drove a couple of hours and finally reached Vegas! There we stopped at a Casino outside the strip, because A was very very hungry and not patient enough to find parking on the strip. We had the lunch buffet, he spent fourty bucks learning that the house always wins, and napped in the car for a bit. Then we drove around the city, and parked at a lot by Trump tower there. I didn't want to go to the Strip because I'd been a couple of times and wasn't a big fan of it, so A went by himself, first on foot and then an Uber.

He spent a couple of hours seeing the bright lights of the city, I chilled in the car.

In the evening I wanted to go to LA, or maybe Salt Lake City, or maybe elsewhere, so we drove a couple of cities, filled up and decided all the other options but returning back to Seattle were unviable if he was to make his flight back in two days. We drove for four hours, and stopped at a town quite a bit further away from the one we'd crashed at the night before.

The next day we kept driving, explring valleys and lakes and rural nevada roads and oregon and california and pyramid lake and native American lands etcetera, in the evening we stayed at Tonopah which is just one of those towns. The cheapest and the best stay of the trip, by the way. No actually, the Tonopah stay was the night before, this night we were at Klamath Falls.

The next morning we drove to Crater Lake to see how it's in the winter but the roads were terrible and I mean really really bad. A had never driven on such conditions, so we went really slow. This will be important later. We went into the park and the ranger was kinda' rude, and tried putting our tyre socks on as I didn't want us sliding down the mountain, but turns out nobody had tested if the sock fit the car. The sock was too small for the tyre. So we drove around in the massive snow, slow, and headed our way to Seattle.

Our drive was pretty chill and relaxed until we reached the I5. I5 was the scariest, right from Eugene to way past Portland because the roads were not at all ploughed well, it was still snowing and everything was so goddamn slippery. We drove slowly, but because he'd driven on the snow earlier in the day, A had had a lot more confidence by now, so we eventually picked up speed. And yeah we got to Seattle at a pretty decent time.

S (canada) and Sk were waiting for us at A's place, hung out with them a bunch, and came to crash back at my place, with S crashing in my living room, a bit after midnight.

Got up next morning and kept driving.

I screwed the pooch on writing for the past two weeks, I'm back

 I wish I'd kept up the writing through December but writing when you've traveled for thousands of miles every day is hard and then it was the holidays season, by then the whole leftover writing was so overwhelming, and then I gave up on it. So much left, to cover up and write and get back on the boat, it kept being pushed back down. But now I'm back and in a week I'll have been done with December. The only thing remaining: to get back the habit, because it's not about the writing dammit, it's about the habit!

Seven things to eat when you're hungry

1.  Banana, either raw or fried, but you'll have to put more effort into cooking it
   
   
2. Leftovers from the night before, you didn't think you'd get around to eating it but you don't have an option now, do you?
   
   
3. Chocolate or snacks of some kind
   
   
4. Tea or warm water or liquid of some sort to fill yourself up because this might not be 'true hunger'
   
   
5. Cook yourself an elaborate meal
   
   
6. Quick yourself a 'quick' meal, something that can be easily microwaved or prepared
   
   
7. Nuts!
   

Been eating a lot of dal bhat recently

 It started with the Jaulo, I wrote about it in November's posts, in December too. And then I got too lazy to make the full jaulo, mostly because I ran out of oats, then the quinoa, then eventually dal, and then rice. But I get ahead of myself. This was for before I ran out of the dal and rice.

I was eating bhat-dal twice a day for days and days to the end. Why? Because I had way too much white rice in the apartment, older than sixteen months and they needed to be finished. So that was the origin for bhat. Same for dal. And for veggie I just took the veggies in the freezer and put it in the air fryer with the quick spices and addons. That's it. It's such little work, gets cooked pretty easily, and is decently healthy. Not to mention filling and tastes good. And finishes the remaining staples in the apartment because man I'm so slow in finishing old pantry items. It's going to be the topic of a different post but we're getting towards finishing all the core staples bought and I'm getting excited!

Some bad habits people in Seattle should perhaps give up methinks

 Here's the situation: K is not a casual recreational drug, neither is acid and neither are shrooms, and people here, some of the extended group of people I have hung out in the past have been taking those substances like nothing, without pre-planning and planning for the trip. It's awful for your body, but that's just the start of it, takes toll on your everyday performance, really awful for the mind, and you mild build addiction to the substance. You also cannot develop real skills if you're using the drug to cheat. Bad stuff. People need to be more careful dealing with drugs like these!

Another reason of why the Seattle like is

 The other reason why I like Seattle is, well the summers re nice and fun, and in the winter there's so much greenery and mountains it feels like I'm in Nagarkot or somewhere fun and exciting from back home with fresh air, so it never gets gloomy in the worst of days. Exciting times for me!

Apparently coconut oil and coconut water are quite different!

 Something rather foolish happened a couple of weeks ago, the consequences of which are still being felt. It's not a big deal but I want to remind the future me that I made such a decent sized blunder!

AS(y) and I were at Costco, my water kefir grains had arrived and I was looking for bulk coconut water to feed those grains. I was carrying a box around when I found another box half the price of the cheapest water I'd found yet! Considering myself so very smart, I dropped the one I was carrying and picked up the new one.

Well...turns out I bought a cartoon of coconut milk 6-pack and not coconut water. And after I put the grains into the milk, the milk curdled over in a couple of hours. Apparently they're quite very different drinks, the milk is not intended as a chill recreational liquid.

In any case, I was worried about the health of my kefir grains but turns out my grains thrived in the oil, and pretty much doubled over like ten days.

Exciting times ahead, regardless of more boring plot-points being produced by hollywood.

2022: A rushed review

Here's what happened in 2022:

1. Had a great time in Nepal, got very sick, and came back, visited the East Coast a couple of times, but not for too often.
2. Went to Colorado to see family, and VS, friend. Visited Rocky Mountain National Park and Estes Parks among another, massive achievement.
3. Traveled down to California twice, once to Crescent City, then all the way to Death Valley, Vegas and pretty much LA. 
4. North Cascades visit. Insane. I need to figure out a way there once more.
5. Got stuck in the snow at various times of the year, including in the middle of the summer. Oh, Mt. Hood and Crater lake were insane!
6. Got a 30% raise at work, somehow, and I feel alright?
7. Year of so many walks, the most recorded walks ever, most consistent walks, and perhaps the most chillest walks I have had in my life.
8. Came to peace and in terms with myself.
9. Got ready for the forward future.
10. Fucking finally started investing in the Stock market. Lost a lot lot lot of money. Lets not talk about it.
11. Seriously considered exploring alternative career options, settled down on one that's worth considering.
12. Made further educational advancements through the UW degree that I'm taking.
13. Golfing and Comedy, comedy's not gonna work out, golfing might, fingers crossed.
14. Finally settled into my apartment well and good.
15. Lost contact with Boston for good after everybody moved out of there.
16. Decided I was way more than comfortable acting like adult and 'inspiring' others to act grown up too.
17. Work-wise, it was just so-so.
18. Took initiative at the start of the year, it kinda slowed down towards the end.
    

Honey-ginger prepackaged drink mix from the Asian store: a review

 I bought the premixed honey-ginger drink powder from Hau Hau a couple of months ago. Review of it. It's pretty short since it's so excellent.

First the price: per drink it's quite pricey, and not comparable to making your own drink. It's a 'cheat' so you're paying for the convenience. It's not for the penny-pinching, price-optimizing buyer who would rather spend a couple of minutes making their own drink.

The taste is excellent, it's sweet enough but not too much so, and the ginger flavor comes through quite strongly, which is exactly to my preference. It's spicy enough to remind one why ginger has been the base for wintery ginger drinks for millennia. Even with just a watery mixture the texture is thick and hits the tongue well enough.

Now for the health benefits: it's got ginger and other herbs, so that's an upside. But it's obviously got sugar and powdered honey and the calories add over to a bit under a hundred calories per drink packet, which is not too bad all things considered.

Verdict: highly, highly recommend for a body-warming relaxing drink, worth a buy even for those not into these fancy powders because this is excellent to serve to guests who are not fans of regular ginger tea or drinks.

Turns out Golf is not a cold-winter game

 I haven't gone golfing for a month-and-half now. Here's the reason: it's so very cold, freakin' cold in the mornings, all the time actually, and often it's raining and cold and yeah I said I'd go golfing rain-or-shine but turns out golfing is really more of a warm and sunny weather sport than anything else, and spending 40 minutes on a one-way trip to stand in the cold and fog to hit a couple hundred balls miserably does not sound like a good proposition.

And that's awful. I really really wanted to get good at golf, make golfing my thing, and you know start playing the course. But that's not happening immediately looking at the weather and all. Wish there was some way around it. Ugh.

Man, plans grow super slowly in the winter

This is a minor observation. Over the summer I was used to plants growing hot and fast, the bird of paradise got to be taller than I am over several months. The succulent thrived, and so did all the other plants, despite the total lack of fertilization. This was a productive growing season for indoor plants in my apartment.

But now that it's winter the growing season has slowed. The plants are not dead, which is great and they haven't dried out either. I've been watering them regularly too. But despite that, they've not been spouting new leaves or growing fast. It's super duper slow and boring, nothing exciting to see. It's lame, and I wish I could trick the plants into thinking it's summer!

Across the Snoqualmie and Blewett Pass

Across the Snoqualmie did we go
After waiting for hours
One two, three and four
At the pass of the Blewitt
Where two semi trucks
Hit each other
To bits.
Then to Chelan,
The drive went on
The weather was cold
But the roads well-driven
Got the doggo
And thought of
Stopping at the shops
But the night was falling
And the chance
Of precipitation high
So we set forth
TO get back
To Seattle town.
And on the way
It rained and snowed and hailed
Though to stop us completely
the weather failed
The winds were fierce
And the snow harsh
But we kept going
Until we skipped
The dangerous parts
And eventually
On to Seattle did we make
Without so much as
Stopping for a cake
Safe and sound
Back in town
In my warm abode
I finally had tea
And diner so late.

FAQ about who might be the country's leader, or maybe not

Q: Considering the oath-taking ceremony is later in the day today, who exactly will become the next Prime Minister of the country?
A: We have three serious contenders for the position and there's a fair chance for all of them. When exactly will we be able to come with the result, you say? Definitely before the oath-taking, we will have figured that out, so no matter where the current deliberations go the country will have found its leader within the next twelve hours.

Q: Do we have any ideas on the situation of the governing coalition?
A: There will be a coalition, for sure, because without a coalition there will be no governing. So yes on the coalition, there will be one. Besides that there are no clear groupings yet as intense rounds of planning and negotiating is underway to figure out the departmental distribution. However for the government to form by the end of the day we will need to have a coalition and it will have been formed, so do not worry. We'll get there!

Q: What is the goal of the negotiations? What exactly is being negotiated away?
A: The goal of the negotiations is to match the perfect folks for the departments they're most suited for in ...governing. Value extraction is not a part of the consideration because this is good-faith honest strategy for us to hold the government so pay no consideration to what might be rumored in the community.

You can approach things the positive and negative way, and the negative way drags everybody else down

This is a general rant and vent that needs to go in here because I've talked to people about it. Perhaps mentioned here before, in how Kevin Hart writes in his book about what a terrible childhood he had and he could have treated it as a terrible violence done upon him by the circumstances, but decided to make light of the situation and turned it into a funny situation.

That's what I think the problem with the current political situation in the country is, meaning the US. Everybody has victim mentality, and that's not a criticism of victimization but of the way people treat their circumstances. Like you don't have to be bitter and annoyed and angry all the time, no matter how shitty things are because you only have a limited store of those emotions. Besides such negative emotions breed more negativity and turn into a social pathology. Finally those negative emotions sap all productive energy out of one's body, meaning you don't have the ability to act on your wellbeing proactively. Not to mention a 'social depressive episode' this puts young people in is really really bad for society because when people stop thinking about the future, when they believe they don't have a future, they stop caring about the future. They stop caring about the society and other people and the social contract breaks down, further fueling social malaise and negative emotions.

The way to deal with adversity is with humor and optimism. Not by going into a societal depressive episode.

FAQ on where your money might be found

Q: Where, exactly, is.our.money?
A: Your money is safe in our reserves, open for withdrawal at any time pending minor technical issues?

Q: Why have the withdrawals been stopped for the last two months?
A: We have encountered technical issues around the withdrawal process, but the other parts of the operation are operating well, including depositing and gaining interest on the reserves. So stay assured that your money is safe and earning itself more money, compounding your savings into hundreds of times its original value. You just have to be patient!

Q: What about the talk of bankruptcy that's running about in the media?
A: It's all FUD. People who are envious of your great wealth and the opportunity you got to invest in this incredible opportunity have been spreading this conspiratorial worldview that our project is fake and doesn't generate real returns. They are lies, goddamned lies and nothing could be further from the truth. We are stable, guaranteed to provide promised returns and make all our investors wealthy beyond wildest dreams.

Q: What about the news of the founder escaping to a safe country?
A: Our founder has business interests associated with the organization all over the world. He is currently in the remote island as a part of the project, growing your gains and making you even richer, do not be concerned about the matter!

Q: Is there an arrest warrant against the top executives of the company, and what are the implications of it?
A: It has been learned that the government has issued arrest warrant against some of the top executives of the company and there are various implications of it. What you need to understand is that those are some bad apples who are giving the company a bad name, so do not be concerned, we guarantee that your money is in safe hands, please provide us all of your liquid savings, in a limited time offer we will triple your investments in three months!

Considering getting 5g home internet instead of the stupid xfinity internet

 I  have a really shitty internet service at my apartment. It's prepaid, 45 bucks a month with free router from Xfinity, but the speed is real slow. I don't like it. But there's not a lot of options.

Now I'm considering getting an alternative service, T-Mobile or Verizon 5g service, but the problem is they're way more expensive if I don't get their phone services. I pay $60 a month for internet and cellphone service. If somebody could provide reliable 5g and phone service for about 10-15 bucks more than that I'd be happily switching to their service.

Considered getting at the Calyx institute but they're not sellers, they're non-profit that happens to provide the service. So if the device is borked the costs really add up, and the service is not guaranteed and if I'm in the signal shadow I'm doubly effed.

We'll see where this ends, and it's not like my life's stopped because of slow internet but I would like to feel I live in a big city with fast internet speeds etc.

Ten things the Blue people from Avatar 2 could have done to protect themselves from the human invasion

1. Prepared for the human invasion
   
   
2. Invested in powerful telescopes, land-based and orbital ones
   
   
3. Invested more in researching their own biome, and extraterrestrial physics
   
   
4. Launched space ships to threaten the human situation back on earth, as a defensive move
   
   
5. Got some semblance of planetary defense going so they wouldn't be caught pants-down
   
   
6. Elected a visionary war-time leader with great courage who would say things like 'i need bullets, not a ride out of here'
   
   
7. Reverse-engineered human biology and equipment and figure out ways to undermine them for a future threat
   
   
8. Gone at least mildly urban to get economies of scale to be resource-efficient as well as protecting the ecosystem and themselves
   
   
9. Tried united the tribes and people across the planet  / moon for shared defense
   
   
10. Create governments that are larger than small tribal confederacies for better governance and organization
    

Those people from the 'funny' warmongering forum are quite annoying truth be told

Not much to say except this was a disappointment, a bit of a disillusionment I'm bummed about. There's this forum online that is funny, and supportive of the right side in the current war in the East and their other political opinions were generally aligned. They made some weird blood-thirsty jokes and I thought it was weird but thought they were joking, and I'm sure they are. Here's the thing, I don't support the blue people from Avatar, they're poor at planning and just so...ugh...helpless politically, and it's hard to be on their side from a practical perspective. But it's much much harder to be on the side of the other side from the movies, the pro-colony, pro total-destruction of planetary biome and imperialism side. I dunno man it does start to feel sometimes that the joke and comedy is just a mask and maybe they do believe they deserve to rule the world as imperial masters ugh. Anyway, not into it anymore. A bit bummed out but such is the nature of a culture based on milkshake duck.

Lists of five things to do to keep yourself warm inside in the winter

1.  Turn on the heater or portable heating appliance on, you don't have to warm the entire house, just yourself
   
   
2. Turn the heating system on, heating the entire room or the house.
   
   
3. Wear warm clothes
   
   
4. Cover yourself up in blankets etc to keep yourself warm throughout
   
   
5. Drink warm foods and drinks to keep your body temperature relatively high
   

Trouble connecting to other cosmopolitan single people

This is a rant, a complaint, a not very useful expenditure of the bytes to the cause, but this needs to be said.

I was at the xmas party in PG's home, and two of her friends, one from work and one from her school from wayback, were talking about being a single person in the city. I am one too, so I figured maybe we'd have notes to compare, experiences to share. Turns out there is a lot of mismatch in different people's experiences. Like when K said at least in Seattle men pay for the women's food whereas in NYC they have to pay for themselves, and that's what the women have got going. And how she considers every person who likes her who's not of her race to have a fetish for her race. Also the expectation of hard work from her partner: how she didn't understand people having hobbies because if she had had any free time at all she would get a second job to make more money, and that's what she would expect out of her partner too. And on and on it went, it was pretty miserable. I didn't have a good time hearing it. Fortunately for me, PG and her partner, and her younger sister MG were also on the other side of the room, trying to avoid that unpleasant complaining conversation, so the four of us started watching movies to drown out the miserable exchange of experience. The rest of the group took a hint at that point and somebody suggested we play board games for fun, and the night turned for the better. I lost obviously, multiple times in multiple games, but it was so much more interesting than listening to the other conversation.

Frequently asked questions about the giant creature on the main street in town

Q: What is that giant creature right on the main street, tall as an office building, heavy as four elephants, that's disrupting traffic and swatting away minor drones?
A: The the time of reporting, we have identified an unnamed animal disrupting traffic in downtown and have deployed personnel to clear the road. Reports of the animal's size and appetite are varying, but we will take this opportunity to remind the public to not feed any wild animals or try petting them, as they could be vicious or rabid. Please contact your local animal control in case you encounter such creatures.

Q: Is it true that the animal is an escapee from the new genetic-engineering lab, possibly a dinosaur?
A: Authorities at the Greater DinoLand Genetic Research Park have not reported an escape from their enclosures at this point, but we are exploring the matter further. Having said that please be informed that wild animals are often not violent by themselves unless provoked, and even then have limited appetite for violence unless they are driven into a fugue state by attacking them. In addition, we have been informed by the park authorities in the park that sufficient animal containment systems, including massive ditches, have been deployed that make the escape from enclosure unlikely, and escape to the community almost impossible.

Q: What's with the smoke coming out from the nearby nuclear power plant?
A: There are rumors floating online that creatures escaped from the genetic lab have found themselves in the nuclear power station and have gained super powers. We will use this opportunity to remind the public that this is not how biology or physics works, so the so-claimed abilities are not only impossible, the poor creatures are probably suffering from painful radiation sickness if they did indeed encounter harmful dosage of radiation.

Seven things to do when you're freaking out, probably

1. "I'm going to Nepal"
   
   
2. "I'll hang out with as many people as physically possible to make that asshole jealous"
   
   
3. "I'll keep calling that person until they threaten to call the cops and/or medical authorities on me"
   
   
4. Call everybody who'll pick your phone so you're distracting yourself from the situation
   
   
5. Meditation and workout, long walks to calm yourself
   
   
6. Sleep, a lot
   
   
7. Get drunk
   

Frequently asked questions about living in our all-natural organic commune

Q: How can we contribute to the post-revolution commune?
A: In any way possible! You can be a teacher teaching 12th century musical instrument making to 9 yearolds, you can be a public librarian, along with ten thousand other volunteers who want to do the same, and you can also join the various poetry collectives -- our commune has a record 1.3 poetry collective per citizen. There are also alternative viable options if you're so inclined, you can choose to be a counter-revolutionary, a CIA agent, a capitalist, or a neoliberal trying to undermine the commune, if that suits your interests.

Q: How is anybody getting paid?
A: Nobody gets paid in the commune. Alternatively, everybody gets paid the same, no matter how high they were born, or how rich their parents might have been. We value all human beings equally here, regardless of their connections or reach. Which is why our thirty seven basket makers are paid the same hourly wage neurosurgeons here.

Q: Why is there so much sickness and disease in the commune?
A: While the commune may be experiencing a slight increase in negative health outcomes at the present moment, this is not of serious concern to anybody. Humans have lived for thousands of years without overpaid doctors sucking blood and sweat out of poor citizens who will save precious human life only for money and put a value on human life. We are confident we can maintain the stable community without such unfairness. Commune members may be able to distract themselves, as they are cured from their ailments by natural processes, through perusing live poetry, musical performance, theater and other artistic endeavors.

Q: Why are there so many youtubers and tiktokers here?
A: Because at the commune we allow our members to do whatever they want to, and it turns out the younger demographic prefers to be in those occupations. So we have a high ratio of similar broadcasters versus persons who are in higher need, in manual labor more specifically. We are confident however that this problem is self-solving, as the higher need of manual work will encourage individuals with kindness and generosity in their hearts to take up those vocations.

A list of twenty people, randomly sorted!

1.  Obama
   
   
2. Miley Cyrus
   
   
3. V Zelenzky of Ukraine
   
   
4. Rupi Kaur
   
   
5. Priya, formerly of the Bon Appetit
   
   
6. The main character from Slaughterhouse 5
   
   
7. Sohla, the cook formerly of BA
   
   
8. My friend N, from Boston, who is one of the very few people I respect morally
   
   
9. Salman Rushdie
   
   
10. The captain of the ship from End of Time
    
    
11. Super Hans
    
    
12. Balen
    
    
13. elMusk
    
    
14. Hokusai
    
    
15. Terry Pratchett
    
    
16. Luna lovegood
    
    
17. Kamil Kazani
    
    
18. SK of Boston, who's in Kathmandu with whom I'd had the greatest time
    
    
19. MBS, ready to get couped
    
    
20. James Acaster
    

Production / Industrial sector is the path for Nepal, not the service sector

I was watching this youtube video about a wallet factory owner on youtube, and something he said really caught my attention: that Nepali industry needs to focus more on the production sector, where everybody wants to make money in the service sector even though there's not much value gain to be had yet. The reason is Nepal's relative advantage lies in production and the raw materials are cheaper here, whereas the economy is not educated enough or rich enough to support an expanded service sector. That makes total sense to me. I'll bee keeping an eye out for other production opportunities during my time in Nepal. What a great idea.

The guy with the wallet factory talked about how he was making sales hand-over-feet and having issues meeting demand so he was actually importing wallets from China to meet his supply obligations, which is an insanely good place to be at, particularly in Nepal where everybody thinks there's no production or market opportunities in the country.

This is exciting, really and I hope I could research more into this philosophy, and on how to identify opportunities in the market and optimize for the most profitable products!

Where lies the future?

 In Nepal, or the US? In the city or the suburbs or the boonies? What about jobs?

Friends are planning to situate themselves in Nepal semi-permanently. Will I want to do that? Not sure if it's for me, but I do want to spend not insignificant part of the year over there. In Nepal though I don't want to live with parents, and it's unclear where I'll make my abode, or if the independence plan is even viable.

In the U.S, I wrote a poem about if I want to live in the city, in the suburbs, or out in the boonies. Perhaps a mixture of those but that means additional capital which might not be available depending on the partner situation. Living in the city is good for parents, easily accessible, fun, and convenient. Downsides are, it's gonna be pricier, 2 bdr is hard to host family coming from out of town in, and city houses and apartments don't have much land. Nicer better suburbs that have most amenities of city are unaffordable. The affordable ones have no connection to transit, and isolated from shopping, so parents lose out on their independence. There's also limited land. Far out in the boonies there's a lot of advantages but the downsides are...no people around there, and the drive might take some time. Plus having plants and animals too many to take care of means one needs to hire a keeper for when they're away, which is...a lot of commitment to a place, worth evaluating if that's the lifestyle worth taking.

The football cup is over, final was fun yes but the whole tournament was a goddamn disgrace

 So I watched parts of one worldcup game, the france versus morocco and it was fine. Not particularly exciting, and I was thoroughly embarrassed about watching the whole thing. The finals, which I missed thankfully was apparently really fun to watch. A big loss for anybody who cares about human rights, dignity and respect for labor. Ugh, it was a goddamn disgrace the worldcup was, people should have boycotted right from the start. The shameful treatment of lgbq+ issues, where the participating teams ran away with their tails under their butt at the mere suggestion of threat by FIFA was outrageous, it's pretty clear the football teams and their owners care nothing about human rights and gay rights, everything pales to the concern for wealth and profits, clearly. This is a terrible situation for football and human rights and the treatment of modern slavery. I wish only bad things for the people who caused bad things ugh. What a shitty part of the world that is.

CalmAid tablets, a review

 I got the CalmAid tablets from Amazon, they're quite pricey at almost 50 cents a pop but figured if they're worth the claims made it's a great value.

First the good parts. I can't say I feel bad after taking them. It's possible they do calm me and make me feel less bad about everything and help with the general background anxiety because my mood has been astoundingly great in recent times. It's not clear if it's the weather, the circumstances, or my attitude to life that's changed, or this tablet, or the other supplements I'm taking, but something's happening and worth talking about. So yeah, it's possible it may be doing me good, and it's possible I might spend some more money getting more of it.

Now the questionable part. This is prescription medication in Germany after academic research strongly suggested it performs well. The part that's a bit suspicious about the matter is that there's only one person who appears on almost all the research papers that show the positive outcomes associated with this medication. It's a bit sus, and if that person is somehow compromised, either financially or emotionally, we have a big problem. It's possible they're not and literally nobody else is interested and they're actually the lone fighter bringing happiness into the world but somehow...it's questionable at best.

Now for the downsides, the side effects. Your farts and your burps will start smelling like lavender oil, your sweat will get a lavender smell too, and for the first month or so your body odor will completely adapt to lavender. This could be an upside perhaps but it's made me a lot more conscious about weird-smelling body odors, and all things considered I'd rather a medication with questionable effects not change my body odor chemistry permanently.

Yeah, so the benefits might be marginal at best as far as we know, it has a pretty remarkable side effect, but if the effects do exist, it's totally worth the purchase. I might get more!

Where the hell am I going to find a wild animal snare

 Folks back home have been bothered by out-of-control wild animals encroaching on the fields and need something to scare them away and/or capture them to show them who's the boss. And I'm tasked with finding the snare or trap of some sort to bring to them so they can scare the wild hogs away. How the hell I'm supposed to find and identify a good one and take it home is left as an exercise to the reader, a challenging, one might even say almost impossible exercise. In any case, my google search history has been littered with searches that look very poacher-adjacent, and it's not because I'm into poaching protected wild animals in the USA, but getting rid of annoying buggers elsewhere yadda yadda yadda.

To Belltown at A's for lunch and doggy-seeing, eats and smokes, rush with pies to PG's, board games more like bored games, intense and very yummy sweet Christmas dinner, good times [Sat 24]

 In the morning, meaning around 12 since this was vacation and S was around so we did talk a bunch too, we -- the three of us boys, since A went to DC in the morning -- went to AR's place for lunch. Lunch was yummy the gigglies were great, we met the new doggo and played so much with the little guy. I had so much fun, far far too much, because I almost forgot about the invitation to PG's. I rushed home, collected the two pies I'd bought at Eugene OR the night before, took the bus near their place, got lost for a while and finally made it.

The party was lots of fun, we played so may board games and charades, many of which I lost, but we won exploding kittens so that was exciting. The three ladies among four in the group were super intense about winning and it wasn't that much fun, plus two of them were super into having 'single people conversations', the rest four of the gang was not into it so much, so there was different interests. We had five different kinds of desserts -- two different kinds of tiramisu, french dishes, dumplings, spinach, whatever, and it was so great!

PG's friend K dropped me home at around 2 in the morning.

The best unexpected heavy breakfast, driving to Crater Lake, sock failure, snow drive, scary Eugene-Portland sector, BK burgers yum yum yum, skipped dinner, hang with the boys until midnight [Fri 23]

 At the motel in Klamath Falls I had to most marvelous breakfast of the trip. The cheapest motel, and the best breakfast my far, so big that I could easily skip lunch because it involved multiple courses: three boiled eggs, two omlette sandiches, jelly sandwiches, yogurt, pancake, and so much more. Yum yum, juices too!

After packing up from our last day of stay in the journey we drove to Crater Lake to see how it would be in the winter. The way there was...not good...I've written about it in detail in one of the earliest posts, but the way was bad, we somehow made it there but still missed going into the Crater Lake National Park since we didn't have tire socks -- we did but we never tested them and it turns out our tyre was too big for the socks.

We drove in light snow all the way to Eugene where we got gas at Costco, plus I bought Pumpkin Pie and Apple Pie there, it's relevant for the next day's Christmas Eve dinner.

The Eugene-Portland section was the scariest because the roads were unplowed and still slippery, though thanks to our earlier drive at Crater Lake A was quite confident and we overperformed our expectations.

We stopped by a Burger King couple of towns over Portland towards Seattle and I had two impossible burgers -- those babies have gone down considerably in price and taste way better than when they started out.

AR invited the two of us to dinner but we couldn't make it, besides Sk and S (from Canada) had arrived from Nepal the same day -- they met at the airport, and PK had also arrived from Nepal the same day -- and were waiting fro AS at his apartment's shred space.

So we got to Seattle, hung out with the boys until midnight, and S and I came to my place, S crashed in the living room!

Bye bye Death Valley, straight-road superquick driving, drop by at Reno TB lunch and Costco, it's alright, Pyramid lake wonders, off road driving, it gets dark, TB dinner and smokes, Klamath falls Cimarron Inn stay [Thu 22]

 We were going to go up from Nevada to California, and Northern Oregon this day.

We drove a couple of hours in the morning on the extremely straight and boring road that we'd driven the day before to Reno. It was boring because this was the second time we were driving this road and also the desert ecosystem gets boring after a while because there are no points of interest once you get used to it.

We stopped at Reno to fill up on gas at Costco, get our tires checked, and eat lunch at Taco Bell. The city is right next to the mountains but it's alright, not very good...a bit rundown and uhh bit crappy. I wouldn't be back in town honestly, lots of homelessness there and industry doesn't appear to be thriving.

From Reno we drove to Pyramid Lake, A really really wanted to see that. It's an amazing place, we take a couple of photos at the start and keep driving the banks of it for hours. Very soon the pitch road turns into dirt road and we're doing offroading for hours and hours. Soon enough it's evening and scary to be driving on a single-lane country road. Fortunately, California comes in soon and our good roads are back again.

Despite being hungry and tired, we keep driving, and surprisingly, shockingly A takes us to Klamath Falls town, way earlier than I had projected we'd get there, because we were running a bit ahead of the speed limit thanks to the straight roads. The town is massive, I borrow his maiju's 20 bucks to buy a nice big premium joint and a gas lighter. We smoke up a bit, and I eat a massive TacoBell dinner.

The motel we stayed at, the Cimarron Inn, was by far the best and the cheapest place we'd stayed over the course of our trip. Not just that, we got a price match from online in the place just for asking, so so much savings, great amenities, and as I will write in tomorrow's post, by far the best breakfast we had on this trip.

Death Valley Drive, we get to Vegas, strip skipped, South Point Casino, Garden Buffet, so much food, I chill for hours, A sees Vegas, deciding the way, TB dinner, 4 Hr drive to Tonopah Travel Inn funny [Wed 21]

 We were a couple of hours away from Vegas at Beatty, so we drove straight to the city of glitter, right through the Death Valley. Straight roads all the way for 25-30 miles, scenery right out of one of those movies, it was quite insane.

We drive into Vegas but we decide to skip the strip because A is too hungry and we don't have the time to figure out parking and walk to a casino. So we go all the way South of the Strip and get out at South Point Casino which is this lower-end casino off-strip, but it had everything we needed -- the machines, the gambling, poker tables, and most importantly of all, all-you-can-eat buffet!

We waited for 45 minutes in the line for the buffet at the resort, the Garden Buffet. I had four rounds of food, the food itself was alright, better than my undergrad but way worse than grad school but it was only 20 bucks so no big loss. We spend hours there, take a nap in the car for a while, then drive through downtown to nearby the Strip. A wanted to see Trump tower, but we couldn't find  convenient place for him to walk around, so we stopped at a parking lot close to it. A wanted to visit the strip but I didn't so he took the uber to the strip and walked for hours while I sat in the car chilling and talking to international friends.

When A came back, I wanted to go to LA to meet my friends but timing-wise it was impossible to make it back on time. We evaluated going to SLC but that was an even worse idea, so we drove back the way we came (for the night, the next two days would be very different routes). We filled up gas at Costco in Vegas, had TacoBell dinner, and drove full-speed. Driving in the dark at such straight stretches i really strange because you can see the cars from the other side for minutes before they cross over you.

We drove four hours at night and stopped at Tonopah, Nevada. First time around I accidentally went to a 'slightly' nicer motel, but thought it was weird, and the pricing made it clear that the place was on the higher price range than the kinds of place we were staying, eventually we ended up at the Tonopah Travel Inn.

It was a pretty decent place to stay.

Everybody's getting married: part seven or something

This sort of complaint post will be coming in every so often. I was talking to Sk and S (who's in Canada) who recently came back from Kathmandu, they mentioned how pretty much everybody there is either married or on the precipice of doing so. That does increase the pressure upon us quite a bit, interesting to observe how things have changed over recent years though. Single guys and girls of our age are in the rarity and it's much much harder for women in our batch to get married than it is for the guys, though as we age it's going to be complicated for folks of both the genders.

Regardless, I've guided my single friends into searching for partners and putting themselves in the hitching mindset because as our options get reduced it'll be more challenging. There's a lot of single eligible young (er) women who we would get along with in Kathmandu but how does one get about meeting those without having the annoyance and the overwhelming oversight of their family hanging overhead? Things to ponder upon and work through.

Hoping this situation works out well for everybody, maaan.

Drive up to Mt. Shasta, realignment of plans, Vegas not Cali, amazing snowy wonderland, distractions, TB at Susanville, Honey Lake, Reno, stop at Motel 6 Beatty after long day, A gets Subway [Tue 20]

 HELLLO DEATH VALLEY!

In the morning we drove up Mt. Shasta to see if we could see anything fun or do any hiking. No, it was impossible there was twelve foot snow cover on the mountain, even on the roads, and the fog was so thick we could barely see twenty feet in front of ourselves.

On our drive down from Mt. Shasta we reconsidered our plans to drive to San Francisco and discussed if it would be more fun to go to Vegas by way of Reno. I was into the idea, so off we set, at the drop of a hat, to Vegas instead of San Fran.

We saw the most amazing winter wonderland on our way, amazing snow peaks, expansive fields, tall snow-covered pine trees, the most shiny snow all over. It was amazing.

We went by Reno which didn't seem like a big deal. Stopped at TacoBell at SusanVille where I got the Fiesta Veggie burritos. Right after the town we drove by Honey Lake which was amazing, unbelievable, it was out of scenes from National Geographic.

In the evening we stopped at the Motel 6 in Beatty NV, the town that calls itself the gateway to Death valley. Before that though we were really hungry, and A stopped by the Subway next door to the motel and got himself soup and sandwich.

This motel was pretty decent, they had tea and hot water in the lobby and the scenery right outside the otel was unbelievably pretty.

Long road trip begins early morning, TB lunch, costco gas, long long long drive, stay at the Cold Creek Inn (ugh) at Mt Shasta [Mon 19]

AS came to my place at 10 in the morning, i'd gotten packed up, and we headed out on our drive down South.

We stopped near Portland to get Taco Bell for lunch, I got two burritos, yum yum. Stopped at the Costco for gas too.

We drove the entire day, it was long and we listened to music, enjoyed the scenery, had lots of fun. We stopped by a McDonald's in the evening where I got an apple pie.

At night we stopped at the town of Mouth Shasta at the Cold Creek Inn. The Inn was very cold at night before we turned the air conditioner on, and it smelled of...cheap motel.

Tofu fried rice for lunch and dinner, sweet sweet desserts, holidays begin!, early to bed for the trip [Sun 18]

Had tofu and fried rice for lunch, invited AS for lunch as well because I was having a tough time finishing the meal and needed help. We also had the tapioca pudding as dessert.

AS and I decided that we wanted to go for a drive down south because Argentina won the match early in the morning and as a fan of the team AS was super duper pumped. So he got the car reserved later in the day, but we didn't leave immediately because it was already quite late and it was figured out that we'd not make it too far during the day, might as well do a fresh start the next day.

So I went to bed early at night, to get up early and be ready for the trip.

Afternoon walks, moviewatching at AMC, AVATAR!, Target, Nepali restaurant, sandwich dinner, HOLIDAYS! [Sat 17]

This was the first formal day of vacation, Saturday the 17th was the first day of vacation until January the 3rd, such a privilege for somebody working full-time to have extended winter breaks!

In the afternoon walked with the boys around town, first to Pacific Place to the AMC, here we watched Avatar 2. It was too stressful for me so I got the drink from the concession stand, it's insane how expensive movie food as, one cup of drink over there was SEVEN BUCKS FIFTY! But I made the most out of it by drinking multiple rounds of slurpees and various drinks from that coke machine that has a hundred different flavors. The movie was great but I didn't feel like watching it all the time because stressful. AD and SB who live in Texas called, informing me of the good news, congratulated them and promised to come to their baby events after the baby is born no matter what.

After the movie we walked over to Uniqlo and explored their offerings, G bought some stuff that I forgot about. Then we went to Target where AS bought a bunch of t-shirts. Walked over to the Nepali restaurant next where we discussed the movie and the boys had dinner, I didn't because I'd had enough of the calories from the sweet sweet drinks from earlier in the day.

For dinner I made myself  a nice big veggie and chikn sandwich late in the night.

First day of vacation went pretty chill!

Sunny day, volunteer-interlaken walk, Sb comes for dinner and snacks and tv watching [Fri 16]

 Second day in a row of sunny weather, I did the volunteer-interlaken loop after a long time.

In the evening Sb came over and we hung out watching tv, eating tapioca dessert and the vegetable rolls with various dips. Good times were had. We watched a bunch of Peep show episodes, and like four episodes of the British tv show Ghosts.

Gotta read more books, dudeee

This one has to be quick. I was talking to friends yesterday and somebody said she'd planned to read 12 books a year in 2022 and read 10 and was fine with it because she got so close to her goal. i don't know how many books I read myself, and don't want to dwell too much on the matter because I've promised, nay lied about reading books for a couple of years now and never gotten about doing it. But it's time I got around to goddamn picking up the ebookreader and just reading it. Like I can't waste all the time on the orange site and the reddit and other bullshit I need to just read, get about reading it and not worry about rereading it or misreading or misunderstanding the books. Ugh, I don't understand what's been stopping me from reading the books.

Sunny day! Fried rice lunch, sunny walk, quick refreshments at Safeway [Thu 15]

 Sunny day after a while, I had a nice heavy fried rice for late lunch, and went on long and lazy walk, lots of great podcasts.

On the way back got thirsty and the weather did make me want to celebrate, so I went to the Safeway on the 15th where I got a nice big bottle of seltzer. Also was listening to really funny podcast with jokes about how jewish people name their children after characters in the old testament, which is why the comedian's newphew's name is 'snake'.

Out of work at early morning, Rhein Haus morning chills, barely watched a match, long time office party at optimism, I get tired and lethargic, mega flosspack arrives [Wed 14]

 Got out of work pretty early in the morning at 11 ish because I had work christmas party later in the day. Went with AP to RheinHaus and had one drink and watched the match but not really, france won against morroco and I wasn't a big fan of the bar. Also AP made her friend out of the palestinan girl so very quickly I was impressed.

The two of us went to the office party at optimism upstairs soon after, glad AP came with me because there was literally nobody else I knew at the party besides a senior manager. I had two fruit juices, which turned out to be beers, so I got tired. We went to a coffee shop where my friend got coffee and then walked back home. So very tired lethargic annoyed with headache and a but hungover.

In the evening the 3 pack of 300 flosses I'd ordered came in.

Fried rice lunch, walk to the license office, second failure at ID documents, walk home through uptown and the park, tofu and greens with rice dinner, tapioca dessert [Tue 13]

 Had fried rice for lunch.

After lunch I walked to the license office, this time with my social security card and my transcripts. Turns out none of my transcripts have birth date, and the ssn was not sufficient, so it was clear the only way I'd get my state Id is when I get my visa renewed in Nepal.

Sad but not broken, I walked back home from the ID office through uptown and cal anderson park, listening to off menu podcast on the way.

In the evening I had tofu and greens with rice for dinner, and the tapioca pudding for the dessert. It was yuuum!

Yummy new dessert, veggie rolls for dinner, volunteer park walk [Mon 12]

 Had the tapioca puddings as desserts during the day, yum yum yum, with ginger shavings and orange peel powder.

Went to volunteer park on the walk, wrote a bunch, really a lot during the day.

Had veggie rolls heated on the air fryer for dinner.

Drive to Costco, coconutty mistake, peanut-butter, veggie rolls, croissants and new desserts bought, volunteer walk [Sun 11]

In the morning A and I drove to Costco. Waited 20 minutes for the gas.

I bought coconut milk, massive peanut butter, vegetable rolls, croissants and tapioca puddings. I didn't mean to buy a frakkin' carton worth of coconut milk, it's just that they turned out to be way cheaper than coconut water and I didn't look clearly at the labeling, confusing the packaging for coconut milk to be coconut water. Bummer but in the end it did kinda' work out, more on this later.

In the afternoon A and I walked around Volunteer park.

Had croissants for dinner.

A list of twenty things just like that

1.  The most amazing days of my lives
   
   
2. Dating apps
   
   
3. Considerate family
   
   
4. Job hopping
   
   
5. Avatar 2
   
   
6. Cute girls
   
   
7. Snow storm
   
   
8. Heartbreak
   
   
9. Winter in Kathmandu
   
   
10. Moss
    
    
11. Foggy weather
    
    
12. Toilet accidents
    
    
13. Teapot
    
    
14. Monsterra plant
    
    
15. Random snapchat friends
    
    
16. Ballard
    
    
17. Casual drug abuse
    
    
18. Boats!
    
    
19. Big fish
    
    
20. Hope