We're Back! & exhausted....

we've been settling in our new apartment these past few days. we've made three trips to target already, and robby always groans, "i never want to move again!" we've bought some shelving, a vacuum, & some light fixtures. we've just unrolled a crate & barrel 8' by 10' rug from the gandhis - it'll take up at least half of the floor space in our living room & we really like it. we've made great progress in putting things away and storing boxes. we need a few more pieces of furniture, and we will finally be able to call this place home when the last empty cardboard box has been emptied (there are still many boxes in the bay area that belong to me, so this settling will take a while).

yesterday, we strolled around sepulveda a bit - checked out the surprisingly empty ymca across the street. there are a few restaurants nearby, like pho show (asian fusion) & vinotheque (fancy cheese & wine), & we found two cafes (one with wireless). on the corner of franklin & sepulveda is an ice skating rink, which is a nice landmark for people coming to our new home. we're near a popular taco stand called tito's tacos, & the dmv is a stone's throw away (in case robby gets another ticket). plus, target, bed, bath & beyond, & ross are all less than a 5-min drive away. ralph's & costco are about 10 min away. best of all, my high school is less than 10 minutes away, & we've made it to usc in 15 minutes. even though the usc is further away from culver city than robby's hollywood apt., it takes less time to get there because there is very little traffic on jefferson avenue & fewer turns. we also found out that there are 8 farmers markets on the westside of LA each week.
disappointingly, there are a few thai restaurants, but they are all self-proclaimed thai-chinese restaurants, which probably means that they don't do either foods well. we heard that these were once chinese restaurants that are trying to jump on the popular thai bandwagon. we'll have to keep searching for a good thai & sushi restaurants.

we're happy with the size of the apartment, but we scuffle a bit over sharing space. robby wants a weapons wall (i think he is joking...i hope he is joking) & he collects a lot of random paraphernalia. much of my belongings are still in the bay area, so we still have yet to clash about whose stuff gets to be put on display. last night, he grilled salmon & made rice using spices from uncle david, and we had a nice candlelit dinner next to our new trashcan & partly filled spice rack.

we haven't separated for the past 2 months, so both of us are eager to start working. i think we've run out of things to talk about! my high school begins on sept. 3, and after a meeting with the magnet coordinator & dept. chair, i can see that i'll be on my own for much of the year. there will be meaningless bureaucracy coming down from the district (senseless mandates & endless standardized tests), and there is a clear lack of trust of the teachers (like having to request markers & chalk from the dept. chair instead of retrieving them from the supply room ourselves, having to sign in & out in the main office every day, and not having keys to the building). i've also found that just a few incompetent employees severely hinder teachers from doing their job. for these few systematic reasons i miss paly, where practically everyone is reliable & teachers are trusted to show up & perform well.