Friendship

  I woke up at 4:30 in the morning yesterday with a warm white glow hovering over my bed.  I immediately thought my mother had died, but when I checked my emails, there was no word from my dad.  Kayla says she thinks it was my own soul.  That could be it, but I'm not sure what to think.  Not being able to fall back asleep, I walked all around the base deep in thought about my relationship with Kayla.  I've got a lot of work to do on my communication skills.  Most importantly, I have to learn how to be a good listener.  Hearing another's opinion does not mean it has to automatically become your own.
  I also had a lot of time to think about all those other stupid things that fill my mind when I can't sleep.  I mean like, why do people only point at the sky and say, "It's a bird, it's a plane!" when Superman's around?  On any other day, they never do.  Oh, and what did they call the Fu Manchu before Fu Manchu?
  The other day I was at Taco Bell.  There was a sign posted talking to people with food allergies to fish and other seafood.  It repeated the message in Spanish, but it put perscado for fish instead of pescado.  I asked the lady if that was a misprint or if I had been saying it wrong all these years.  She told me she didn't know because she doesn't speak Spanish.  I thanked her for the food and left with my question unanswered.  I wasn't asking if she spoke Spanish.  All you have to do is think of the Zodiac sign of Pisces.  I think it's related to the word pescado.  Also, people who don't eat meat, but do eat fish are called Pescaterians.  That's all I wanted to hear was that I wasn't crazy.  Boy, I'm a mean Taco Bell customer.  It's not like she has the time to think about those things while there's a line of hungry people waiting to be fed.  I really shouldn't be so selfish!  She's just doing her job, which does not entail answering stupid questions from assholes like myself!  Thanks, Kayla, for pointing out how cruel I was being!
  Anyway, I've been looking up a lot more old friends on Facebook.  I've found a lot!  It seems that no matter who it is, they invariably have like 500+ friends or something.  Whenever I'm sending a friend request, I think of David Spade in Tommy Boy saying, "You've made a friend, which probably doesn't mean much to you since you have so many, but I don't."  I also think of a quote by Andrew Wood from the song 'Until The Ocean' by Malfunkshun, where he says, "If you were my friend, I'd give you the ball on every play until the ocean calls my name."

Cuisine

  I love food.  My wife says I have very expensive taste.  The monetary value of the the things I like to eat are sometimes cost prohibiting.  That's why I try to make due with what I can get my hands on.  I like trying to cook for myself.  Instead of going out to a Mexican restaurant for some menudo, I buy a can of Juanita's.  I cut up some cilantro and onion, put it into a pot with some water and boil it for about 10 minutes.  Add some lime juice and pepper if desired.  Then I open the can of soup and put it into the pot.  Let that heat up for an additional 10 minutes and viola!  A menudo fit for a Chinese/Korean zombie novelist.
  I love German food, Filipino, Ethiopian, Spanish, Thai, Mediterranean, Indian, Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, American, Italian and French food.  I also love Cajun and soul food.  I'd say I love Japanese ham sammiches, but I think that's a lost cause.  Most of these foods I had first at restaurants around Tucson, Arizona.  You don't have to be a world traveller these days to open your eyes to the varieties of tastes out there.  Did you know that the most popular way of eating food in the world is with your fingers?  Second most popular is chopsticks.  Fork and spoon only comes in third place.  Do shish kabobs count as finger food or are they in a category all their own?  I wonder where bobbing for apples ranks.