Was it Monday?

So one of the great things about being a teacher is that during the summer, we lose track of the day. That's how you know it's really summer.

Me, I will be conscious of the day when my Mandarin class starts, but that won't be until the last week of June. Until then, every day is a party.

This morning my body woke me up at seven; I was up for a while, made myself some bacon and banchan for breakfast... took a nap... rolled in to work around noon. Made a phone call (busy signal) and then left for lunch and World Cup viewing: Italy vs. Ghana. A and I went to The Attic on Madison Avenue and watched the second half of the match; I commented that I was rooting for Ghana; A realized that she was the only one in the bar supporting Italy. Of course, Italy won 3-0, and after paying for our burgers and fries and poking our heads in the kitchen store next door, we went to UBS.

A likes to look at cookbooks, mysteries and fiction; I like the "how to learn Chinese" section, as well as the books that pit linguists vs. the evil GRAMMARIANS. Afterwards, we drove down to Pacific Place and met J and C for SIFF movie, so folks, you'll have to wait for the DVD. Highly reccomended.

(One time my friend D mocked me when I brought up the Seattle International Film Festival, because she is from LA, and she's never heard of it. In fact, it's not a festival that's important to the film industry; it's goal is to bring a crap load of international films to Seattle movie theatres. Today I heard that it was now the biggest film festival in the country, with over three hundred films. And thankfully, NO actors, NO red carpets, NO limos, NO celebs. Mel Gibson debuted "Braveheart" at SIFF, but that was the last time we saw the big Hollywood monster. In fact, the Braveheart marketing event didn't even make it to the wikipedia article.)

After the movie, A and I met J down at the Elliot Bay Book Co. (note to self: next time one of my grad school friends shows up in Seattle, take them to there). There, we saw Bill Buford reading from his new book, exposing some of the more debaucherous aspects of the life of Mario Batali, while hoping to eat at Salumi tomorrow night (Salumi is Armando Batali's restaurant, father of Molto Mario). He also said that Anthony Bourdain would be landing in Seattle shortly to push his new book, (but really, who cares?). Anyway, the reading was entertaining. The Q&A session was a little gross, with pretentious people asking comment/questions (one comment/question actually ended with the words "...speaking as someone who has dabbled in charcuterie?" Gross.

Anyway, after that, A and I drove a few blocks to the ID. We had beef chow fun (dry!) and Buddha Special at Hing Loon. Our bill came to $20 even. A told me to say something in Chinese to the server, so when she came to take my money, I said: Ershi kwai meijin! ("twenty dollars, US!")

She answered with a broad smile: Ershi kwai, gaga! ("twenty dollars even!")

Now I'm back home, blogging. And it looks like my cable just went out.

What day is tomorrow? (answer: irrelevant! I'm on summer break!)