Things that have happened in the past few months (in no particular order):

* Callum came into the world. Nice work, Mich and Mel! He’s a beaut.

* Peggy left on a cross country road trip for her new home on the east coast. Sadness abounds. And there was another goodbye as well. Two big painful goodbyes in a short period of time definitely make for deep reflection and big changes.

* Jenelle returned home after nine years on the east coast. Rejoice! We’re all in the Bay Area together again. And the girl came back with a ring on her finger.

* Got crazy hungry for reading. Haven’t been this voracious for books since I was a kid. Been digesting lots of Edith Wharton, DH Lawrence, Richard Yates, Michael Cunningham, etc. Can’t get enough of bleak, tragic stories of dysfunctional families, forbidden love, life’s little injustices, lost opportunities, etc. My cup of tea. Next up is my first Updike, thanks to Peg’s recommendation and a lifelong curiosity, Mary Karr, more Yates, and more Drifting Classroom (thanks, library!)

* Been finally making good use of my Netflix subscription, and I don’t just mean with Instant Play either. My queue hasn’t seen this much action since I don’t know when. Speaking of movies, The Maid was really great. So was Step Brothers, surprisingly. Who knew?!

* Spent lots of time with an old friend as we try to take care of each other.

* Made a new fun friend who parachuted into my life out of nowhere. Social blindsiding, I call it, but with positive connotations.

* Haven’t engaged in any physical fitness activity WHATSOEVER. It’s quite worrisome and is responsible for my frown lines and furrowed brow, but I’ve sunken so deeply into my isolated, pleasurable, low energy pattern of reading and watching and cooking, that just the idea of marching back into the gym, walking to work, or getting on the bike fears me with dread. DREAD, I tell you. It’s awful.

* Gotten into the weekly habit of stocking up on lunch materials at the farmers market near work. Gone are the days of sporadic visits. Now I eat a boring ass salad (comprised of ingredients all bought from the farmers market) almost every. Single. Day (luckily, my work spouse’s homemade mustard adds some kick to the dressing).

* Worried about my job / career. It’s still a roller coaster relationship and I find increasing reasons to feel disgruntled and unvalued. Perhaps it’s a little symptomatic of a six year relationship.

So, in other words, my life is pretty much par for the course in its major ups and downs and mostly boring little happenings and routines.

Peg turned me onto the app and I usually check it everyday. Daily “outlooks” are written in such a sophisticated, peculiar style of “chinglish.” On top of relationships, family, and career, there’s usually advice about my kidneys, liver, bile buildup, etc.

ps – I apologize for the shoddy quality. Done last night before bed, plus photographed (I don’t have a scanner, take pity on me). And yes I know the three faces don’t match

recently an acquaintance and i were “catching up” — you know, the usual. she was asking about my life, work, dating…which segued abruptly to this comment (and i’m not sure how):

“i thought you only dated white guys!”

sadly, i’ve heard this before and it chaps my hide.

let’s think of the implications. what does it assert about who i am? my identity? and all the racial, political, sexual, gender baggage that comes with being jennifer yin? not only does this statement simplify the tangled complications of attraction and love, but it distills them down to a matter of racial preference. it also suggests a betrayal or affront to my own “brothers.”

if you can make me: feel good about myself, laugh like a maniacal hyena, hot and bothered, and truly get me, and vice versa, then i don’t care what color you are. DUH.

end rant here.