Far East Cynic

Coming to terms……

With living in Shopping Mall USA.

The last few days have been a pretty up and down  ride. First of all, it has reaffirmed my faith in my company-which may yet prove misguided, but for now I am sticking with them. I think I am going to land on my feet-despite all indications to the contrary.

But the other thing this week has taught me, rather regrettably, is how much I have come to terms with life here in Shopping Mall USA-home of incredibly fat women.

Now part of it is that our daily existence is quite comfortable. I work, she plants, and the garden grows. Not my idea of what the S.O. should be doing , but our house is always clean, I have clothes and a tie laid out each morning ( Wednesdays are “cartoon tie” days-but I ask no questions about that, just tie the double Windsorknot.), and there is food on the table each night. ( That I paid for). More importantly-thanks to her frugal ways-and the ones she taught me, we have saved a fair amount of money for the future. For all my complaining-all she has to do is smile at me-and and I fold like a cheap suit. I’m not sure why that is-all I know is I don’t like it a lot.

One of the things that burns at the back of my brain is that -for right now-we can pay our bills.  Without ever worrying about that. This on top of putting 20% of my salary in retirement or other savings. So I am not in a hurry to leave either of that.

Our house is nice-I like it-and its more than enough for me and her and my stuff. The drive to work is short and I deal with it well. If I were either a boater or a football fan ( college not pro) life would be fine.

Still it frustrates me-especially now that I am back on the job prowl. I find myself advocating anything that would bring me back to Asia-but also not so dissappointed when it doesn’t happen. I’d love for some one to show me how to attract an Asian foreign employer.

Till then I keep swimming around. Kind of strange isn’t it?

But it is what it is-and after a very sleepless night last night-I am OK.

  1. Uh..oh..I already put a deposit on THAT bar and was hoping that we could be partners…you would “interview” prospective employees and I would…well, you know….

  2. Skippy,

    If your looking for employment. Boeing up here in the PacNW is experiencing a need for white collar middle management types to run a few of thier programs all at the various plants in the region. Plus if you come up this way you are that much closer to the land of Nippon by a flight. Plus plenty of the stores around here carry Asahi, Kirrin, and Sapporo beers in easy to carry six pack bottles or 24 packs of cans.

    Oh and “Cartoon Ties” are probably a way to get you to laugh and lighten up after you have gnashed your teeth at work up to that day of the week.