I should know better than to buy the cheap stuff.

I am the grocery shopper in our house, for no real reason than I have Wednesdays off so it's easier for me to go. Also, there's a super right near my work so I can easily pick stuff up on the way home. The problem is, though, that I have to do it on my own.

Usually it turns out fine. I know most of the words and everything has big pictures on it. Sometimes I flub up. I've come home with trash bags three-sizes too big, or olives that were sliced and not pitted. Nothing horribly tragic, but annoying. The latest mistake came in the form of jam. I wanted peanut-butter, but they didn't have the generic brand and I wasn't about to spend 19₪ for a regular-sized jar. So I bought strawberry jam instead, as it's equally good on toast or for a quick sandwich.

Simon was less than pleased. Simon also likes to complain (he's Israeli) so I just brushed him off. It's something new that he didn't ask for, of course he has an opinion on it. I like strawberries, they didn't have peanut butter, I made an executive decision, and if he was going to be that picky he can do the bloody shopping himself. End of discussion.

Until I opened it today and tasted some. First of all, it's a color of red I've never seen in nature before and, I think, glows slightly. Second of all, it tastes the way dry erase markers smell, but mixed with pancake syrup and extract of Strawberry Jolly Rancher. I turned it over to look at the label...

Yeah. 60% sugar. I don't think it contains a single natural ingredient. My teeth still hurt.

What's in an email?

Most days, the political situation here (by which I mean Israel's pariah-like status in the Middle East) doesn't really enter my thinking. Whether that's because it's become so rote as to be ignorable or because it's more smoke-and-mirrors on the part of politicians (::coughthelattercough::) I don't know, but that's what it is. Every once in awhile, though, something happens that makes me a bit nervous. Today was one of those days.

Well, looks like my timing was pretty off.

When I started this, my workload was relatively light despite a few projects that were in the pipeline. In the past four months, though, I've gotten all kinds of professional and personal projects piling on, taking a few international work trips, and now am slated to be transferred back to the US for a 12-month contract for my job. In the Old South. Awesome.

So hence the reasons this blog never quite got off the ground. My return to the US will be mid-summer and, obviously, Simon won't be coming with me. We've done 10 months apart before, so I have no doubt we can pull off twelve. Then we'll see where we are: if I come back to Israel or if we go find somewhere else entirely to live. Professionally we'll both be in better places in a year's time, so who knows what the future holds.

We'll see if I get anywhere on this blog in the coming months before I head back State-side, though don't hold your breath. I'm already juggling enough, nevermind now having to plan a move and find housing, furniture, etc. a few thousand miles away, and Simon is pretty overworked himself. The time and energy needed to convert a pretty humdrum life to interesting blog posts just isn't available right now.

In the meantime, my Tumblr is queued up with some interesting reads about expat-ness and GLBT stuff in Israel. I'll keep that running, since it's pretty low maintenance, and am always available to answer questions, but blogging...just not in the schedule right now.