camlin come to visit

Long lost loved friends from Taiwan, Campbell and LInda, were in town for a visit tuesday and wednesday, with ma and pa Way in tow. My prophecy was wrong and campbell, my soul sibling, announced to me that everyone thougvht they would be engaged after this trip and even if he was going to propose he wouldn't now just to spite us all. harumph. anyway, it was a lovely visit, felt like no time had passed. i hope to seduce them into living in california, san diego, maybe, whenever they return to their american roots. i didn't get to take them to enough places to really seal the deal, but we have a standing date for the fondue restaurant cam wanted to go to and couldnt b/c they are closed b/w lunch and dinner. linda's parents were totally adorable, they tented themselves with their jackets when we walked on the beach, in order to fend off that nastiest of all beasts: the sun. they also really enjoyed the mexican restaurant we went to and a plate of baba ghanouj shared at a cafe. they never knew other cuisines could cook up anything so tempting. i'm thrilled to have helped open their eyes. some greek restaurant in arcadia is going to get a sweet visit. it was nice to speak some chinese again. and they gave me a mooncake! aww, i do vaguely remember thinking in midaugust/september that moon festival was afoot and people were bbqing all over the streets and how i would have bought starbucks mooncakes. as it happens, i'm having quite a nice time celebrating fall here in the US of A. i cannot get enough pumpkin spice in my life. pumpkin spice and chai--things you cant find in their true form in Taiwan. so yes, nutmeg and clove and I have been bonding. i even hold off on certain calorie consumption so that i can drink heavenly pumpkin spice creations.

the drama of last night was that laura/michael and sortof uli on project runway accused jeff of cheating and not sewing all of his outfits himself. i was like "noooo" because i really like the final 4 and want to see all of their creations. my mom and i were in a tizzy--jeff is rough around the edges but he is still really endearing and last night we found out that he was saved from a suicide attempt and has a kid named harrison whom he adores and an adorable girlfriend and feels that every day he has now is a gift, a day he shouldn't have had. i feel that. besides, jeffery is definitely the most innovative. i like a lot of his stuff--very fun. well, a bunch of websites were like "reps for the show have been mum about the controversy" but dude, i saw on two sites that the four of them ALL showed their collections, so even if he is somehow disqualified from winning, he at least gets to show his stuff on fashion week. pheeeewww. they had this totally deceptive preview where tim says that they have taken the allegations really seriously and unfortunately...and the next thing you see is jeff crying. i was like "noooo, noooo" because i also just don't want to believe that jeff cheated. anyway, whatever happens, there he is on the internet with slides of his creations. PHEW!

ahem. in other news, my bulgarian coworker diana, who is, let's say it together people, ADORable, has just sprayed this designer-impostorsesque perfume all over me and i smell like a rite aid perfume counter. you cant get this stuff in the united states, she says....hmmm, pity.

speaking of communists, this week's project for postcommunist politics involved downloading over 600 pages of reports from freedomhouse. nice. he gets a little slack for being cool with me skipping class b/c i had bronchitis and b/c cam and lin were here. also for the fact that he gave me a totally respectable grade on a paper that was far less than respectable. i mean, if he adjusts his grading for the fact that he is incomprehensible, then hey, that's cool. i mean, i would like to feel competent in this subject but a decent grade would be nice either way.