Imagine this

[One of the structures in Jeong-In's case - this was her home in England, I believe.] I nearly crashed this evening, but decided to eat a dinner (small, but a dinner nonetheless, unlike what I've been doing since I've moved, which is not anything anyone needs to know about). I also took a hot shower and washed more clothes (which cuts time out of each day, but also has taught me that it's possible to live w/very little clothing. But I am still looking forward to a life that includes a washing machine). All of this revived me enough to do a bang up Korean homework job. Now I'm ready to tackle two emails in Korean - my cousin and another cousin's wife are helping my Korean reading / writing / typing by emailing me. I did some very rough translations tonight w/my teacher, and it's hard, but I like to think I'm better now than I used to be.

Everyone I've seen lately has wondered why I've lost weight, which surprises me. I admit I've been leading a lifestyle that should not be sustained for long durations (it doesn't involve exercise). The one time I had significant weight loss w/o doing anything in particular was when I moved to Chicago. I dropped 10 pounds, just like that. Hi, stress. Strange, though, since stress usually makes me gain weight. I must be dealing with a different beast now.

I was totally spazzed out this AM. Too much research, planning for a friend's trip here, helping my roommate in her scheme to move stateside, ignoring my research, recovering from weird dreams about Meryl Streep (I woke up clutching my heart, literally...I fear this is election anxiety), trying to summarize the latest over Skype to Terttu, and getting myself presentable for a lunch meeting. But deep down, besides the everpresent research stress, I think it comes down to not having a home that I feel settled in. When I think about it, I really haven't ever felt like I had one beyond the one I grew up in, at least nothing permanent. So maybe the dream will be to have a permanent home, and then I'll consider becoming a total slacker.