As it comes to me

Random belly button pickings.

**Woo hoo! Thunder! One thing I've missed from Texas is the thunder and lightning storms. The climate of Rome is similar to that of Austin (slightly more humid than Dallas), but a bit less erattic. The saying I remember from Texas was "If you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes" This Roman summer has been weird. June was swelteringly hot. As in can't-fall-asleep-hot. July has been rainy, especially this week. Hot in the morning until about 2pm-ish, then the clouds start to roll in, and then we get torrents of water. Briefly. Then it's humid and cool, leaving you breathing the mist laying on top of everything. Just as long as the weather clears up for Sunday: I've got a tan to work on, baby.



**I go through periods of overusing certain phrases. It happens more in Italian than in English, usually in an attempt to include it into my subconscious vocabulary. Or just because I like how it rolls off my tongue. Stuff I've been overusing in English lately: a bit, hoary chestnut, blasphemies using the adjectives "hairy" or "holy" with a body part, any and all swear words, sundry, snog, shag, "good on ya mate", eh, any Aussie/Kiwi/Pom/Paddy/Canuck slang I've subconsciously picked up from other ex-pat friends.

**I have a weakness for cheesy pop. In particular, Italian pop. I can't help it. I like the lyrics. Not to mention singing along is not only fun, but educational. Heh. Think of cheesy pop lyrics in English. Tacky, trite, overused, right? They sound soooo much better in Italian. Playing in my cd player right now: Ligabue "Fuori come va"; Tizano Ferro "Rosso Relativo"; Elisa "Then comes the sun"; Jovanotti "Il Quinto Mondo"; Zucchero "Shake"; Laura Pausini "The best of..."; G Grignani "Uguali e diversi"; Articolo 31 "Domani Smetto"; Nek "Le cose da difendere"; Paola e Chiara "Festival"; Giorgia "Greatest hits" Doesn't ever leave my stereo: anything by Vasco Rossi.

**I'm out of cigarettes. This sucks. Soon to be rectified.

**I drink waaaaay to much cappuccino freddo. This will never be rectified and will only escalate into a habit where I can drink 48 cafe/cappuccini in one day. If this minimum daily amount of caffeine is not ingested, I will begin to twitch in ways that make Mohammed Ali look like he's standing still.

**Every once in a blue moon, I get REALLY FUCKING TIRED OF PIZZA AND PASTA. Which is why god invented meat. And Chinese food. I refuse to sink to the level of McDonald's. I mean, for fuck's sake, they put a MickyD's across from the Pantheon. Sacrilege.

**I lied. Come PMS time all I want to do is eat McDonald's fries. I think they dust them with crack. I manage to restrain myself on the fries, but eating entire balls of mozzarella di buffala, Nutella, and sour cream and onion Pringles is an entirely different story...I shudder to think what I might eat if I was ever pregnant.

**Speaking of pregnant, I never, ever want kids. Apart from the fact that any spawn of mine would most likely be the Anti-Christ, I'm too damn selfish and hedonistic. Not to mention I have a vague notion that my hips would stretch into battleship proportions. (Did I mention vain?) No way Josè. I am content to be every one's aunt (you know the kind that aren't really related to you); I can play with the kids, hop them up on sugar, and then they go home.

**I have a weird fetish for Zinadine Zidane's bald spot. I just want to rub it. Over and over and over....okay, now I'm freaking *myself* out.

**And to settle the debate between football vs. soccer, I propose using the Italian calcio. It literally means 'kick'. Simple and to the point, no?

**My typing sucks. So does my spelling. Ask me if I give a flying fuck.

**I had to wear my glasses today as my contact went extraordinarily dry last night and irritated the fuck out of my eyes. I hate wearing glasses. I've hated it since I started wearing them in the second grade. Since switching to contacts, I hate them even more. I'm used to using my peripheral vision, so glasses just give me vertigo and headaches if I have to move. Sitting here in front of the computer isn't so bad, but it is a hindrance when I want to get up and do something, say like buying cigarettes. Which is worse: a headache from vertigo or from nicotine withdrawal????

** I need new underwear. Because I'm bored with the old stuff. And there's nothing worse than a ratty looking g string.

Fuck it. The cigarettes win. As well as my stomach, which is growling. Off to go flick steamed dumplings across the Chinese restaurant with my inept use of chopsticks.