Pei Wei ramblings with a side of Lovenox and Oman friends

Last night I wasn't in the mood to cook and we really felt like getting out, so we went to Pei Wei. Now, we LOVE Pei Wei since it's the only "Chinese" restaurant that we like out here...yes, I know how sad that is! If there was an Ocean Palace out here, we'd be there in a second! Anyway, to satisfy tastebuds out here in West Texas, they prepare their food a little on the bland side, so we always ask for a little extra spice and then it tastes great. Well. We asked for some extra spice as usual, and last night that meant an entire shaker of red pepper flakes. Oh. My. Gosh! We spent $23 on inedible food that had no flavor beyond the red pepper! Poor starving Nich ate the whole thing! But...maybe the spicyness worked out in my favor since I'm watching my waistline...come on who isn't, but I'm sure it won't be pretty in a few days :(

I've also been on my Lovenox shots for a few days and so far only one has bruised! How exciting! They still sting like crazy, but Nich's an old pro at giving them now! It's now a "fun" ritual every evening...I go find a spot near my hips and mark it with my fingernail while Nich gets 2 papertowels, a piece of ice, and an alcohol wipe. I ice up while the dogs watch with intense curiosity...Chester, the Aussie, in paticular. I get the alcohol rub, then my 40 mg of Lovenox, then breathe out the stinging that lasts about a minute, leaves, then comes back for a minute...all with an audience of impatient dogs. When it's over, they get to split the booty...Chester or Shadow get what's left of the ice, and Daisy and whoever's left get the papertowels - a fun toy to chew into a million pieces I get to clean up when I'm done resting. I have to stay still for a good 10 minutes after the shot or it stings and I have weird muscle pain.

Ok, as I write, I can feel the battle in my intestines...Ouch! But on a more exciting note, I just got back in touch with some of my childhood friends from Oman! Shelley, Jason, and Mayssan. I remember hanging out with Shelley constantly in 5th and 6th grades, we were connected at the hip! I remember wanting to pierce my ears so badly. She offered to do it but when I chickened out after watching her sterilize a needle, she gave herself a second piercing! I remember being a bit of a pyro and showing her the cool trick of setting the spray from aerosol deodorant on fire in my room, not too bright...well, the flame was... What I remember the most was I loved her tunafish sandwiches. Shelley got one every day wrapped in aluminium foil. She was so tired of them after years of eating them so we swapped nearly every day with whatever I had. I thought any sandwich in aluminium foil always tasted so much better than one in a plastic sandwich bag...but Shelley seemed to like the various sandwiches my mom unwittingly made for her :) I need that tuna recipe...I have always tried to make mine the same but they never seem to come out as good! Maybe it's the hours of marinating in a lunch box I'm missing...

As for Jason, he was always a sweet guy with a quick wit. He was so good-natured, hung out with everyone, and would participate in nearly any goofy thing we were up to. He was the only American I knew that managed to keep his American accent while the rest of us slowly turned British. To the Brits, we sounded like little Texans, while people in the States could barely understand us through our British slang! For example, I asked kids if they were skiving Gym that day...WHAT?!? How was I supposed to know the "correct" word was "skipping"...Little stuff like that make for such good memories and humorous differences in our languages.

Mayssan...we hung out the most in 7th grade. I remember spending hours speaking gibberish...anyone remember the "ithig" language so popular in the early '90's? Similar to pig-latin...we'd go hide in this GIANT bush at the enterance to my complex and smoke cigarettes while speaking in this ridiculous language... We were so secretive, hidden in a bush speaking so no one could understand us - we didn't understand each other half the time. Yes, we had such secrets to keep...but I'm sure no one could tell we were in there, they for sure couldn't smell the smoke...hmmm. I hope we've gotten a little smarter over the years! We'd then go into my room in my house and sing in front of the AC vent, turned on hi, to get the smoke smell out of our hair and clothes so we wouldn't be caught smoking by my mom. duh. Again...I hope we've gotten smarter...