Well, now that I’ve been home nearly a full week, I suspect it’s time to give you guys a genuine update, rather than just some random and disconnected photos.
My flights last Thursday (I flew Busan-Tokyo-Detroit-Jacksonville) all left on time and all arrived early. Mia and I (and all of my suitcases, for once) made it home without any problems. Mia was very well behaved throughout the trip, and was fairly quiet for the most part. (Plus, on the trans-Pacific flight, we had a screaming baby which completely drowned out any sounds which Mia may have made.) I’m planning on writing up a completely separate post on traveling from South Korea to the US with your pet in a few days, so stay tuned.
Mia has been having some difficulty adapting to her new life here in Waycross, although it could have been a lot tougher. There had been five or six formerly stray cats living in my house, but a few weeks ago my mom installed a kitty door. Since then, most of the stray kitties have decided that they would much rather live under the house as opposed to in it. While there are roughly ten cats (including Mia) who view my house as their regular source of food, only two of them have spent a significant amount of time indoors since our arrival. As to be expected, Mia doesn’t like them in the least. However, they’re ghetto street cats, and are not intimidated one bit by a spoiled Korean cat. They haven’t gotten into any fights or anything, it’s simply that Mia keeps her distance from Alley Cat and Loki, and vice versa. Unfortunately for Mia, Alley and Loki are extremely friendly and rather needy; when they’re indoors they spend their time following me around being incredibly sweet. Mia, who is usually somewhat standoffish, has been looking on rather balefully at these interlopers who have usurped her Jane.
Mia (left), Alley (right)
Alley and Mia
Spot (front) and Shady (back) - two who live under the house
Life on the corner of Ass and Ass is nowhere near as ghettoish as it used to be. This seems to be because the drug dealers who lived next door to me (you remember – the ones who cut a hole in my wall with a butcher knife and took a baseball bat to my mailbox, among other incidents) were evicted while I was in Korea. The atmosphere of the neighborhood is completely different without them – not to mention quieter!
My hermitage :-)
My mom is in the process of negotiating the purchase of roughly 8 acres of land about three miles outside of the city. It’s nice land, currently planted in harvestable pines (well, they’re only three years old, it’ll be a good 15+ years before they can be harvested), and it’s in a great location. The land itself is high and dry… unlike its access road. If you saw the pictures in my previous post from where my mom and I managed to bury her Ford Escort in the mud and were wondering what we were doing… well, we were taking a look at her potential new property.
Before I left Korea, I ordered a new camera. I had initially been planning on purchasing a DSLR, but I figured that if my indefinite plans included not having an income, I should probably purchase something cheaper. What I got seems really to be the next best thing: the Nikon Coolpix P5000. It has so many functions which one would expect to find on a DSLR, not on a pocket sized camera. It seems to be a hybrid between a DSLR and a point-and-shoot, and I am utterly in love with it. I am still learning how to use it, as it has so many new functions that were not available on my previous camera (which I’ve given to my mom). If I had money, I could even purchase fancy lenses and flash attachments for it... but as long as I'm unemployed, I'll just have to stick with what came with it. And as soon as I get my high speed internet hooked up, you’ll be deluged with photos, I promise! (One of my readers - Don, possibly? - brought this little camera to my attention... thank you so very much!)
There’s still a lot that I need to do around my house, before I even get around to starting on more ambitious projects like painting and such. In addition to unpacking my two suitcases from Korea, I still need to unpack, well, pretty much everything. Nearly all that I own is still in boxes and suitcases from back when I left San Diego in 2005. There’s also all sorts of miscellany which I need to purchase for my house. Just last night I was in the process of cooking dinner, when I had to put everything on hold in order to run to the store for a can opener. Each day I find myself making lists of things which my house needs, then making the dreaded trip out to Wal-Mart to stock up. Not the most interesting news, but that’s what I’m up to right now. I promise you some photo-heavy adventures once I get settled!
My flights last Thursday (I flew Busan-Tokyo-Detroit-Jacksonville) all left on time and all arrived early. Mia and I (and all of my suitcases, for once) made it home without any problems. Mia was very well behaved throughout the trip, and was fairly quiet for the most part. (Plus, on the trans-Pacific flight, we had a screaming baby which completely drowned out any sounds which Mia may have made.) I’m planning on writing up a completely separate post on traveling from South Korea to the US with your pet in a few days, so stay tuned.
Mia has been having some difficulty adapting to her new life here in Waycross, although it could have been a lot tougher. There had been five or six formerly stray cats living in my house, but a few weeks ago my mom installed a kitty door. Since then, most of the stray kitties have decided that they would much rather live under the house as opposed to in it. While there are roughly ten cats (including Mia) who view my house as their regular source of food, only two of them have spent a significant amount of time indoors since our arrival. As to be expected, Mia doesn’t like them in the least. However, they’re ghetto street cats, and are not intimidated one bit by a spoiled Korean cat. They haven’t gotten into any fights or anything, it’s simply that Mia keeps her distance from Alley Cat and Loki, and vice versa. Unfortunately for Mia, Alley and Loki are extremely friendly and rather needy; when they’re indoors they spend their time following me around being incredibly sweet. Mia, who is usually somewhat standoffish, has been looking on rather balefully at these interlopers who have usurped her Jane.
Mia (left), Alley (right)
Alley and Mia
Spot (front) and Shady (back) - two who live under the house
Life on the corner of Ass and Ass is nowhere near as ghettoish as it used to be. This seems to be because the drug dealers who lived next door to me (you remember – the ones who cut a hole in my wall with a butcher knife and took a baseball bat to my mailbox, among other incidents) were evicted while I was in Korea. The atmosphere of the neighborhood is completely different without them – not to mention quieter!
My hermitage :-)
My mom is in the process of negotiating the purchase of roughly 8 acres of land about three miles outside of the city. It’s nice land, currently planted in harvestable pines (well, they’re only three years old, it’ll be a good 15+ years before they can be harvested), and it’s in a great location. The land itself is high and dry… unlike its access road. If you saw the pictures in my previous post from where my mom and I managed to bury her Ford Escort in the mud and were wondering what we were doing… well, we were taking a look at her potential new property.
Before I left Korea, I ordered a new camera. I had initially been planning on purchasing a DSLR, but I figured that if my indefinite plans included not having an income, I should probably purchase something cheaper. What I got seems really to be the next best thing: the Nikon Coolpix P5000. It has so many functions which one would expect to find on a DSLR, not on a pocket sized camera. It seems to be a hybrid between a DSLR and a point-and-shoot, and I am utterly in love with it. I am still learning how to use it, as it has so many new functions that were not available on my previous camera (which I’ve given to my mom). If I had money, I could even purchase fancy lenses and flash attachments for it... but as long as I'm unemployed, I'll just have to stick with what came with it. And as soon as I get my high speed internet hooked up, you’ll be deluged with photos, I promise! (One of my readers - Don, possibly? - brought this little camera to my attention... thank you so very much!)
There’s still a lot that I need to do around my house, before I even get around to starting on more ambitious projects like painting and such. In addition to unpacking my two suitcases from Korea, I still need to unpack, well, pretty much everything. Nearly all that I own is still in boxes and suitcases from back when I left San Diego in 2005. There’s also all sorts of miscellany which I need to purchase for my house. Just last night I was in the process of cooking dinner, when I had to put everything on hold in order to run to the store for a can opener. Each day I find myself making lists of things which my house needs, then making the dreaded trip out to Wal-Mart to stock up. Not the most interesting news, but that’s what I’m up to right now. I promise you some photo-heavy adventures once I get settled!
8 comments:
Cool about your new coolpix. I'm jealous!
Let me/us know what you you like and don't like about the P5000 after you use it for a while and if it takes as good of pictures as your old camera. It's slightly bigger, does that bother you? I haven't seen one yet.
Nikon just came out with two more little cameras with optical viewfinders, P5100 and P50. I'm interested in the cheap one the P50 to replace my coolpix. It a manual mode, and 8 megapixels.
not related to don's comment, but the cats in all your photos look remarkably healthy - shiny fur and all. kudos to your mom for keeping them that way!
Glad to hear that you are settling in well.
When you get your internet connected and have a little time on your hands, Scott's sister Yuna would like an "real" email from you. She's bummed because your previous reply was "too short". It seems that Scott was bragging that he got a longer message. I realize that you didn't teach her for the last 8 months or something, but she seems a little hurt. Sensitive teenagers.
Also, Ashley has been PSYCHO lately, but I'll save that story for an email.
Yeah Jane! I'm glad to hear that you are settling in. It's funny to read about things like Wal-Mart shopping lists -- you know that is the reality for many of us. :) I think that you will have fun setting up your house. I have my last comp exam tomorrow and then I can be a normal person again. We should get together.
Melissa
Woo-hoo, Janechik! The Hermitage looks nice :> Maybe I'll get a coolpix too, since my Konica doesn't want to repair itself.
Layla
Why do you dread going to Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart has everything under one roof. A few years ago, I remember going with my family on all day shopping excursions. First, to the department stores for clothing (Bealls, JC Penneys, Dillards, etc.), then the pharmacy, then a fast food joint, and finally to the grocery store. Talk about wasting hours of one's life.
Wal-Mart may not be high end and has some not so nice business practices, but it fills the need for many people on the low end of the socio-economical scale. I've also learned to hit the store in the wee hours of the morning when the crowds aren't so thick. And, on my recent vacation back to the U.S., it wasn't until I stepped into a Wal-Mart to stock up on medicine that I finally felt that I was back in the United States.
don - so far I love my new camera, although I certainly haven't had time to learn how to use all the neat functions. while it *is* larger than my old coolpix, it's not much larger, and i can still fit it in my teeny, tiny, impractical, small purse. And no more of that "image is blurred" crap, which was my main complaint with the old model. Yay!
Linda - these are the happiest, healthiest stray cats ever. You should totally come and play.
Gwen - I'll definitely send Yuna an email, silly girl. And email me the dirt on Ashley!
Melissa - congrats on finishing (er, almost finishing?) comps!! We must get together soon!!
Layla - thanks! And I definitely recommend the coolpix :-)
John - I mostly dread the people. Definitely best to go early in the morning, but I am not a morning person... PLUS, in my absence, the remodeled walmart, moved everything around and made the store BIGGER. It was already a Super Walmart; I didn't think it could get any bigger. I think I've spent hours wandering around that store trying to find things.
By wee hours, I meant 1-3 a.m. Yeah, the stocking practices in most stores are meant to keep you searching to add to those impulse buys and keep you spending money.
I sure wish South Korea's major stores (E-Mart, Homever, HomePlus, Lotte, etc.) had 24 hour, or even 18 hour, service. Shopping on the weekends against a sea of humanity is a little rough.
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