Thoughts You Think At 4AM . . .

. . . when your cold meds haven't kicked in yet and everyone else is asleep.

First Thought: Shouldn't have eaten so much at the thai restaurant. For those who might be in GZ soonish, it was very good, it's just that I ordered all wrong. It was The Banana Leaf across the street in the taller of the two Friendship Store buildings, on the 5th floor. As you come up the escalators, it's the restaurant to your right. A little hard to spot because of the way the sign hangs, but definitely worth trying out. Very family friendly - it was near empty when we were there, and one of the attendants came over and made a star shape out of the chopsticks to entertain Calliope. Entertaining Calliope for me is generally the best way to win my undying gratitude. Only one word of warning . . . if you have a sensitive kid, you should know that the little bridge that takes you into the dining area crosses over water with fake alligators in it. Not a hit with our little miss.

Second Thought: From the 26th floor, the noise the tramways make here sounds like whale song, or like the pips and squeaks of dolphins swimming in their pods. It can change your whole perspective on the traffic noise if you think of the flow of cars as the tide, the horns as the call of sea lions, and the trams as whales serenely sailing through it all.

On the other hand, why the heck is there so much gosh durn traffic at 4AM???

Third Thought: Don't get me wrong, I totally appreciate how nice and helpful everyone was at the US Consulate today (yesterday?), but the poor lady who wanted to give us a bunch of stats and figures about how many visas they handle, and to your left are the windows where we do these kinds of interviews, and one day this office will more to a different location, and how many of you have been here before blah di blah clearly has never had to hold onto squirming toddlers or babies in a gov't building when all you want to do is hurry up and get through the LAST hurdle before being told you can bring your kid home, and yet still, I do feel bad, so . . . I'm really sorry that none of us seemed to pay attention to your opening remarks, nice lady who comes from Hawaii (see? I was paying attention to some of it).

Fourth Thought: It's hard to type in the dark. Why doesn't the new MacBook Air have a backlit keyboard?

Fifth Though: Oh yeah, now the meds are kicking in. Good night, all.

-starla