Sunday night potpourri...briefly

- I am still without an onward assignment. While this is not unprecedented, timeline-wise, and hardly unexpected, given the dearth of spots on offer, it is causing serious mayhem in everything from applying for private-sector jobs to planning my summer vacations and travel. Belgium really isn't looking good -- more technically qualified competition has arrived on the scene -- and the only new addition to the list is Belmopan (quick: which continent?), which, from what the Imaginator could piece together, appears to be an underpopulated, big muddy field with a craft market and precious little else, miles from anything or anywhere...dare we say, in fact, the Columbus, Ohio, of Central America?

- This week will bring us past the three-month mark that K and I have been apart. We're talking frequently, arguing often, and fighting occasionally. A clear trajectory has not yet emerged. The bond between us -- the one we've both bridled against now and then and even attempted to break, only to be pulled back in -- is still palpable. However, I'm starting to wonder whether the gradual chilling of distance and inattention will structurally erode it, sort of like how gum in the hair just spreads when tugged out at room temperature, but crumbles away once frozen. And yes, as the metaphor suggests, I do ponder whether that would be such a bad thing. While I can't say that I'm thinking about taking up dating again, I suppose I am thinking about thinking about it.

- This week also marks three months that I've been living off Trader Joe's boil-a-bags and the placement of random ingredients in the saute pan; my cooking skills have not progressed beyond frying. Three valuable lessons I've learned: (1) tempeh, cubed potatoes, and eggplant do not a dinner make; (2) tempeh is actually pretty gross; and (3) anything smothered in enough parmesan cheese tastes, mercifully, like parmesan cheese.