NYR 10-26-11 - it's the little things that will make you crazy

1. People listen to their iPods entirely too loud. Like they are going to be deaf from how loud they listen to their iPods. And Susan, how do you know this, you might ask? Well, my dear reader friend, I know this because when somebody sits down next to me on the shuttle going to the training facility, I can hear the words of the songs that they're listening to. Surely that is too loud.

2. I am very sensitive to noises. Not just any noise but there are some noises that will drive me crazy. A few months ago, I saw a tv feature on a disorder where noises make people go nuts. Based on what I saw, it's entirely possibly I have this disorder, but there's no cure for it, so I figure there's no need to join the support group. (And these people really were crazy from the noises to the point where they had to be by themselves and I'm not that bad yet.)

Anyway, the noises that can drive me crazy are things like people eating popcorn in the movie theater. Or people eating bananas if the banana goes all squishy in their mouths and they make squishy noises while they're eating. Or people crunching ice. OR THE GIRL WHO SITS NEXT TO ME IN CLASS WHO CHEWS GUM AND MAKES TOO MUCH NOISE WHILE SHE'S CHEWING.

Seriously, she is going to make me lose my ever-loving mind. It's a good thing she's such a really nice young woman because otherwise I probably wouldn't be able to handle the chewing noise and I'd lose all civility and have to say something, which would be rude.

For knowing that I won't have to live with these daily pet peeves forever, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-25-11 - a perfect fall afternoon

This afternoon when I got out of class at 4pm, I decided to walk the 3 or 4 blocks from my hotel to the shopping area in my hotel's neighborhood. And it was like heaven on earth. I went from Pottery Barn to Williams Sonoma to Loft to Barnes & Noble to Ann Taylor to Crate and Barrel to The Container Store to Baja Fresh for dinner.

'Nuff said?

Yeah, I thought so.

For some pretty amazing window shopping (which I never do in Bogota), I am truly thankful.

Oh, and it was perfect fall weather which made my window shopping even better!

NYR 10-24-11 - first day of class

This will sound juvenile and immature, but I hate being in situations when I don't know how things work. You know what I'm talking about?

For instance, today, I needed to catch a shuttle from a location about a mile from my hotel that would take me to the training facility. Sound easy in theory, but I wasn't really sure where I was going to catch the shuttle and then I was nervous about whether I'd recognize the shuttle as being the shuttle I needed (what if I got on the wrong one and ended up at the airport or something?), and then how would it work when I got to the training facility and then what would happen if they didn't accept my embassy badge, blah, blah, blah.

I am a Nervous Nellie worrier. Mac's teacher last year said that I suffered from what he termed Neurotic American Disorder, and it's totally true. I am a class A, numero uno, primo worrywart. These worries keep me up at night and make me stress beyond what is surely normal for a regular human being.

It probably goes without saying, but I managed to walk to the location where I was to catch the shuttle (using the very detailed map I'd printed from Google Maps), I caught what was the only shuttle that stops at that location, I got off at the right place at the training facility and I managed to get through security.

All that time I spent worrying was for naught and for that, I am truly thankful.

(But I possibly should look into tranquilizer usage.)

NYR 10-23-11 - a trip to DC

Today I flew to DC for a month of training. I had to leave Mac and Jimmy behind and that was really, really sad. I could hear Mac telling me "goodbye" as our apartment building elevator descended. That pulls at the heartstrings.

I made it to DC with no problems and got checked into my hotel about 8pm. I chose to stay in a hotel in the neighborhood we used to live in when Jimmy first joined the foreign service (which is my favorite area of Northern Virginia). I was feeling a teensy bit sorry for myself, being here all by myself for such a long time, so I decided ordering from what used to be our favorite Thai restaurant when we lived here would make me feel better.

It was good, and I over-indulged, but it was definitely better before.

Or maybe it was definitely better shared with Jimmy and friends.

Regardless, for eating pretty decent Thai when there's no Thai to be had in Bogota, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-22-11 - Mac playing football

There's a guy at the embassy who played college football and who now coaches a little group of boys in football. Mac hasn't wanted to go up until his football-filled trip to SC a couple weeks ago. Jimmy took him to "play" today and he loved it.

They practiced and played for over 2.5 hours, and he still loved it even after all that exercise.

So now we've ordered all the gear so he doesn't have to use the sweaty, borrowed, smelly stuff, which means he'll probably hate it by next Saturday.

For a Saturday afternoon of football, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-21-11 - my husband in the news

In case you missed my Facebook post, click here to see my adorable and super-smart husband's entre into the international news scene.

Jimmy's part of this interview was filmed several weeks ago after a lot of debate. Could he do it?; would the Ambassador and Washington, DC approve his doing the interview?; what about the very high, very real risk of negative spin?; etc. There was enormous potential for disaster since the story's original bent was to favor the family whose lives were destroyed by aerial eradication.

Once everybody signed off on it, Jimmy taped the interview via Skype. And then we waited with that awful, uneasy feeling that if they cut and splice it, they could make him say anything and look awful.

Needless to say, when the interview aired this week on CNN-International, we were all very, very pleased. And the higher-ups must have been pleased as well because nobody called him to tell him he was being kicked out of the country (which could have happened had he screwed up).

For a happy ending to this story, I am truly thankful.

NYR 10-20-11 - a cocktail party

Tonight we hosted a cocktail party to "introduce" Jimmy's new deputy director to official contacts. Thankfully the office hired a caterer so my only real job was to make sure there were flowers in the house. To accomplish that task, and with no time to go to the big flower market with that pesky job that now consumes my entire days, we stopped at the funeral flower market on the way home. The vendors tried to sell me some gorgeous funeral sprays and arrangements but I declined those until one vendor offered to let me into her little warehouse of flowers where I could just buy stems to make my own arrangements.

As an aside, since Jimmy and I left work at the same time today, I rode home with him, his driver and bodyguard. The driver stayed with the car while the guard came with us to protect Jimmy. I looked like a VERY important person, however, because it appeared I had both a Colombian and an American guard protecting the senora while she shopped!

For fresh flowers and parties for which I don't have to cook, I am truly thankful.