Guess what I'm wearing. I don't mean to sound like something out of a pornographically enticing film. Literally, I am in boxer shorts and a short sleeved T-shirt. It's mid January, but no, I do not have the heater blasting. As I am always keen on the weather, I can tell you, weather.com says that it's 63 degrees, but it feels about a good 70 right now (it's past 10 PM, by the way -- more than ample time for the scorching SoCal sunshine to have cooled off). We had a high close to or about 80, and my coworker, who wore a black turtleneck under a thick sweater (which I bought him for Christmas a year ago) suffered from the heat. He nearly had a heat stroke! I, thankfully, wore a three-quarter sleeved shirt and jeans with open toed slippers.

The east coast, as well as places like Iowa and most of the U.S. are freezing. Iowa City is freezing now at 19 degrees (fahrenheit, folks!) -- their high was in the low 30's, and their lows are in the high teens. Dang -- their highs are still lower than SoCal's low. I watched a bit of the weather forecast on the news (my favorite part of news on TV, because they are so often wrong -- how hard can it be in So Cal, where 350 days a year are sunny and hot?) and the weather-man said, "this is why we live here." So true. I love So Cal. Although it does get sizzling in the summer, at least it's not muggy or humid. I heard from my friend that Iowa has humid summers -- which means catastrophic weather for hair! I love So Cal. Even if the Pastrami comes Hot and Cold.

I finally went to work out today. I was still sore from the half an hour of Pilates I attempted on Monday evening. I haven't done anything remotely close to exercise in months, so naturally I would be prone to such post-workout aches. I normally can jog (lightly) about two miles over a 20-30 minute time frame. It's a really slow jog, but nonetheless it's half an hour of cardio which I need. After about three months of not working out, my abilities as a runner has diminished. I ran about three quarters of a mile, and walked the rest at 4.0 mi/hr, which may sound like a slow pace, but for a short legged Asian which I am, it's a pretty brisk pace. I burned 189 calories and jogged/walked 1.93 miles over 30 minutes. I'll need to re-plan my schedules. Speaking of which...

I am a very meticulous person. In many ways I am not meticulous, but don't let that fool you. I saw a movie version of myself in a recent preview of a new chick flick/romantic comedy, Along Came Polly. Ben Stiller's character works for risk management. He is a risk-phobe who does everything his way, which is the safe way. Enter Jennifer Aniston's character, who is spontaneous and risque, if you will. She's everything that he's not, and while he fears that, he gets drawn in. He eventually opens up and loosens up, finding true love etc. etc. Well, Ben Stiller's character is very much like me, except for the tidy part. Of course my mess is not your normal mess -- it's organized mess, so I can still be considered organized, meticulous, and risk-phobic. But about fearing risks -- that's probably very true of me.

I don't like being in situations where I can't be in control. I love drinking, but I'd be damned if I let someone else (even if he/she is sober/designated driver) drive me home. I don't enjoy being picked up from my home and letting someone else drive. What if I want to leave and come home but can't because I don't have my own method of transportation? I guess that's being anal, but it's very true. I like to make lists, and make lists of lists. I like to set goals and write down each step to reach that goal. I plan out the classes I need to take semesters ahead. I already knew what I'd be taking this semester about a year ago. I do plan B. I also do Plan C and Plan D. For example, I was waiting to get into the nursing program for over a year. Every semester, I had plan A, which was to get into the program and start nursing courses. Plan B would have been a set of classes I would have taken if Plan A did not work out. Then I had Plan C, which was another set of classes, should plan B fail. I don't quit a job unless i have another waiting. I tote around a purse heavier than the earth on top of Atlas' shoulders, because I have to carry this and that, for "just in case." I have tattered band-aids that I've had for years (when would you really need a band-aid in urban civilization?) and a full make-up set (just in case I have a photo-shoot?) and a pepper spray.

I planned to lose weigth this year and join those who are not over-weight (yes, I am slightly overweight -- I am not some weight-obsessed freak!). I have planned out each step of the way written in my organizer. What exercises I would do, how many minutes of them I would do, when I would do them, and how much calories I would consume. How much I should weight after a month or so, etc. etc. I don't know when I started to become so anal -- ahem, meticulous -- I used to be such a free person. I feel nostalgic about being the list-free person I once had been, but I feel much more comfortable in this risk-free zone that I'm in now.

I'm covering a lot of ground today, although not as thoroughly or as focused as I should or like to be. I actually went to Ralph's website, to send a comment to them about my Pastrami incident. I re-read what I wrote, but realized that I would need to taylor it a bit -- calling the Ralph's workers an evil demon probably wouldn't make me too credible. When I get around to it, I will. Because I have been wronged, and I will not stand for that kind of ill behaviour. I wonder if they would even read it, much less re-act to it. Hmm. If they did or didn't, how would I know? I guess I have done the best that I could do.