good old san diego...after a stressful hour or so at the oakland airport this morning thinking that i would miss my flight (who knew so many people flew the day after xmas?), i arrived at the san diego airport greeted by warmth and sunshine. ive forgotten how perfect the weather is down here. wearing only a tanktop and light sweater, i was sweating within the first five minutes and swearing up and down that i didn't have the foresight to bring my sunglasses. ive been away for too long.

its been at least six months since ive been back and my first day here went by pretty quickly. my mom came to pick me up and right away i got my first san diego craving out of the way...dumpling inn. kung pao chicken anyone? i somehow managed to run over some shopping carts in the parking lot along the way but why get wrapped up in unnecessary details.

then it was off grocery shopping where we ran into des's mom, not even a minute after i had just texted des i swear to you not but here in san diego, anytime you're in the convoy area, you're bound to run into someone at some point. once that was checked off the list, james came over to eat dinner with my mom and i where we or i should really say she discussed relationships, dating and marriage for a couple hours or so but its the same message ive been getting without fail since i was 26 so i will spare you the details.

once my mom retired for the night, james and i went off to tea station where we ran into some people from church whom i pretty much couldn't remember at all but seemed to remember who jon and i were pretty well but i just chalk it up to those holes in my brain. a pretty perfect night in san diego if i could ever have one...but however, there is one big difference on this visit.

the fact that no one is here this time around. usually a san diego trip meant big gatherings at hong's for poker night or eating at claim jumper's together but on this trip it seems the only ones who will even be in town are myself, james and des. ameer and hong are off in la working. jon is also working up north and for the first time isn't home for the holidays, a big role reversal for us there. jimmy is on vacation. grace and nancy are at home playing wifey (literally and figuratively) and well thats pretty much my safe haven of san diego folks right there. i guess its up to james, des and i to get the most fill of carne asada burritos that we can. but san diego does feel a bit different without pulling up to hong's house and seeing everyone's cars outside, so much so that ill be hauling my ass up to la just to meet up for dinner.

thank goodness for james and des...seriously without them i would probably be here doing something horrendous, like actually get some studying done for the exam.

its funny how the more i pay in rent the harder my laundry situation seems to get. when i was living in san jose, laundry was never a big concern of mine as i always had a washer/dryer in the unit. the worst it got was when i had to share with four other girls in the same house but even then it wasn't too much trouble. but now here i am, paying almost double the rent i used to pay with no washer and dryer anywhere to be seen and now its routine to schedule my weekends around laundry day. when i first moved up to san francisco, the laundry room was located in my building down the hall which wasn't too bad but it was my first time having to use a laundry card and i think the first time i washed a load, i ended up washing six articles of clothing only to be laughed at by my roomate at the time. but i learned and got used to it and learned to fill the washer up to the brim to get the max out of your money. then one year later, i moved out into another apartment with another roomate where there was only one laundry and one dryer machine for the entire building. so instead of doing one load at a time, i learned to do laundry at a "laundromat". yes i am a surburbian girl at heart and laundromats in my world just did not exist.

so every couple weeks i would pack up all my clothes, lug it down to my car, drive to the laundromat with my ziplog bag full of quarters and sit around for a couple hours reading a magazine while waiting for my laundry to be completed. the first couple times was pretty fun but as the novelty wore off, it just got tiring. i could count on a good three hours of my day wasted where i couldn't do anything else but laundry. not only did i have to wash my clothes, i also had to fold it right then and there so i could lug it back to my apartment to be put away in their proper place and then i would just have to repeat the cycle again in a few weeks.

so i did that for a year and moved again. see a trend here? now i am living in a one bedroom by myself with the highest rent ive ever paid in my life and i thought all my laundry woes were gone forever for i had moved conveniently into a building right next to the laundromat i frequented. this was great i thought, the laundromat is right next door, i can just run up and watch tv while waiting and even have the luxury of folding the clothes in my own place...it will be almost as good as having it in my building. but what happens within the first week i move in. i receive a permit notice that the laundromat next door is to be torn down within two weeks and to be replaced by god knows what and torn down they did. all that is sitting there now is a big pile of dirt and construction trucks.

and now herein lies my problem. this was one of the only laundromats near me with parking and parking at a laundromat is crucial. so what ive been doing recently is packing up all my things and driving myself down to the safe haven of fremont where my brother lives to take advantage of his in unit washer and dryer. good old suburbs. although it does seem to be pretty silly to drive forty minutes down just for laundry but ive managed to get in a couple good games of clue or monopoly and my boba fix out of the way.

but these days im just tempted to bring it to a wash and fold place and have it done for me. and it may just be me gaining weight but i swear that ever since ive been doing laundry at jon's place my jeans have been coming back tighter and tighter...its got to be the dryer right? ahem.

i took two new classes at 24 fitness today. a strip tease and a salsa class. i wasn't quite sure what to expect as i had heard that it was best to wear an additional three layers of clothing and i had gone unprepared in only a tanktop but my fear subsided when i saw that everyone else in class had only one layer on and that there were several older ladies in the room. ive got to be able to strip better than a mom right? that question i can't answer because i was too damn busy the whole time watching the instructor that i have no idea what i looked like. it wasn't pretty im sure.

now for those that know me know that i don't have a sexy bone in my body or any rhythmn that seems to make any sense for real dancers out there but boy was the class fun. what i hate the most though are those show offs who have gone to every class and know all the moves and insists on standing right up front next to the instructor with arms flailing and hips grooving. being the hypocrite that i am, im sure i would be doing the same thing if i had the moves but for some reason my hips just wouldn't move in the same way.

you wouldn't think it but i got a really good workout out of all of this. its amazing how much sweat one can work up in salsa class and my abs even hurt a bit as i sit here typing this. but im really just not cut out to do dancing of any sort, my arms seem to want to go one way while my legs the opposite. who knows, maybe after a couple more classes, ill at least learn how to work my hips a little more.

if you're lucky ill show you some of the moves i learned today next time we're out but then of course i showed off some of the moves i learned in hip hop class a while back only to be laughed at (loudly i might add) and i hadn't even finished my entire eight count yet.

ive been following the kim family story this entire week now and sadly, the worst has happened. i can't even imagine what the family must be going through...its really just so sad. next time you're off on a trip anywhere, be sure to let someone know where you are and when you plan on coming back...it took someone four days from the day they were trapped to file a missing person's report and even then, the person filing it thought she was maybe overreacting and the family was just taking an extended vacation. so really...make sure someone knows where you are at all times!