My brother and I used to have a blog called "School of Rice" that these pictures really belong on:

Twin Dragons and the Playboy bunny? Interesting choice of decals.

One day, I was eating a burrito at a taqueria and saw a pinata that I knew I had to buy, so that I could bring out its true form:

The blue power ranger will make a good base for my project.

I've now had a cold for a week, and I've been trying everything to get rid of it. I've gone through gallons of tea, mixed with ginger, honey, and lemon juice. I've taken various medicines and supplements in the prescribed dosages. I've taken time off, allowing myself time to sleep, which may ultimately be the one thing that helps the most.

Unsatisfied with canned soup, I decided that perhaps a kimchee / miso / dashi-based nabe might help to kill my cold. To fortify the broth, I added the following:
1 bunch of garlic, smashed
1 large chunk of ginger, grated
dried shiitake mushrooms

I let the broth simmer, as I added the following:
2 carrots, chopped
half of a kabocha, chopped
more garlic
finely cubed beef and pork
3 onions, cubed
1 block of firm tofu, cubed
2 cups of fresh shiitake mushrooms

After the soup was ready, I added boiled eggs, and also poached an egg inside of the hot broth.

I added instant ramen noodles.

To top the nabe, I added chopped green onions and cilantro.

I have to say that the nabe made me feel better, both in cooking and eating it. It didn't kill the cold, but I'd say that it was at least effective in boosting morale.

Next time, I am going to add more ingredients:
Bean sprouts
Napa
Sesame seed and nori topping
Raw garlic topping
Perhaps chopped peanut topping in a nod to Vietnamese stew and tonton ramen

I am sometimes astounded by where my mind wanders when it is disengaged from the body.

I have a deep abrasion that is taking a long time to heal (since I'm in the water 5/7 days a week), on the back of my right hand, and so my father gave me a special oil to apply to it to speed up the healing process. I dreamed that I put it on, and right away, the surrounding skin rose as the scab sunk into the tissue, first forming a volcano-like cone, and then the surrounding tissue folded around the scab, making a pod. It didn't heal completely, but seemed like it was healing. In the light of the morning, the scab kind of looks like it did in the dream: it's sunken into my hand, without the pod.

Another dream had a movie-like quality. I was being introduced to some children in Thailand, and ushered onto a bus by the principal, who told me that we were going to a very bad school. Many kids had crazy colored hair, some curly, some straight, and they were being pretty rambunctious. We ended up going to a graduation ceremony, and as the principal was giving a speech, my view floated above the crowd to the very back of the field where a boy took a sheet off a balloon.

The giant balloon rose, pushing a kite that fell off at about 100 feet, and caught the wind, and the attention of the crowd. An irate principal jumped off the stage and started to chase the kid. The kid almost made it to the gate in the back to safety, but the principal caught him and threw him fifty feet in the air on top of a pole.

The kid jumped off the pole, and it looked like he was going to die, but the principal caught him, and tried to throw him up the pole again, but his aim was way off and he ended up in the pond across from the gate and splashed down on a couple of ducks who were eating a wet salad with forks off of a plate. The male duck contemplated his splashed salad before jumping in to save the kid.

And then, just as things were getting really strange, the alarm went off, and now I have to go to work.

I can't wait to have strange dreams like this again...