Everybody's alone. It's just easier to take in a relationship.

I took Hans in this morning, as his coolant has been leaking for quite some time. It has been getting worse, so I finally buckled and took him in. Even getting his oil changed as well...did you know they have a geriatric blend of oil for cars like mine? How nice.

Guy said he'd call with the estimate. Which scares me. Like, "this is going to hurt, so we'll start gently...and you'll want warning."

So then I jogged home, as the place isn't that far. At least, it's not a far drive. Green Oaks is kinda LONG, isn't it? It's also 71 degrees out, but because it's North Texas, let me assure you it is also quite humid. But I figure if I can take hot yoga...

Anyhoo. I survived. It's really not that bad, perhaps just under 4 miles. I did not puke 3/4 of the way home, though the thought may or may not have crossed my mind. (No, I did not run the entire time or my body might be on the side of the road somewhere). And nor was I abducted or run down! Which is good, because otherwise there would have been that awkward conversation when they have to tell my grieving parents, "Look, I know this is hard, but we just thought you'd want to know...there was some Britney Spears on your daughter's ipod."

And there'd be the shame, probably not unlike being a guy and having the bereaved find a secret porn stash.

So now I'm just waiting to hear what the monetary damage on Hans will be. There is cool, cloudy weather to buffer the inevitable suckiness part of the day, I just hope it's enough.

I'm also about to fix a yummy recipe from Fine Cooking I made a few years ago. The original recipe is for pork loin sandwich with homemade apple butter, but I think I'm going to substitute chicken this time. It's pumpernickel bread, spices rubbed into the meat and then roasted (after a nice searing), then slathered with apple butter. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Also got white wine in the fridge to go with it called, "Sweet Bitch," which frankly, how could anyone resist?

On a completely different note, people always act shocked when they ask me what the weather in Tokyo is like compared to here. I say you know, it's pretty similar. After all, North Texas and Tokyo are kinda on the same latitudinal line, you know? And SEE? I was reading on Pink Tentacle about a rare fungus that has surfaced in Nara (which is very close to Kyoto and where they have bizarre shitloads of deer running around) called Devil's Cigar--known only to have been found in Austin and southern Japan!

Also, you should look at this article on Pink Tentacle for great pics of Japan's tetrapod beaches...