• Eating: frozen pizza. I give up for tonight.
• Wearing: business casual. the usual.
• Listening to: Feist Pandora.

The Joy’s of living alone: No pun intended, for those of you who remember my house’s name.

A self-proclaimed connoisseur, as a chef in-practice I’ve been grappling with a shocking amount of ordeals. The bane of my kitchen existence? The grilled cheese sandwich. Oh, the impatient cooking woman knows no difficulty like the grilled cheese. Mine are particularly disposed to turning out char-broiled on the outside &  yet un-melted within. This may or may not be owing to the fact that I cook them on a heat of about 7, but really, what’s the hang-up?

As previously mentioned, last night I delved into the inner-realms of the humid and untamed region of Asia—and made stir-fry for the very first time on my own. Without the help of my Malaysian domestic-goddesses Jessica & Ming, I got a little bit lost. It turned out all right, though, only slightly undercooked (but much better microwaved the second time around. Who knew?). It even ended up being one of the healthiest meals I’ve made since moving in, unconsciously vegetarian (I wanted to experiment with tofu, having never done so myself. Not too bad!) and served with a side of salad.

But that’s only the beginning. Houston, we have a bug problem.

My first night in, I made the mistake of coming home after dark. When the sun goes down, it would seem, the world’s roaches come out. And my porch collects them all. Day two? You better believe I was scoping the entirety of Wal-Mart for the most highly rated of Raids. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm got the best of me and I sprayed and sprayed until suddenly—I couldn’t breathe! Soon enough, I realized the source of my hacking was the toxic chemical I had dredged all over the screen door. Oopsies!

It all paid off, though, when I found a roach beneath my bed that very same night. And a giant spider the next day. And the next, another roach. Wait…

And then there’s the fact that every time I try closing my blinds it’s like the skinny, blonde, unnaturally weak version of the WWWF.

But that’s all for now, cheri! Off to face the challenges of another night alone, & maybe, just this once, come out on top.