I’ve just been watching a battle between the cat and the lizard. Usually, the lizard stays up near the ceiling, and the cat chills out on the floor, and all they do is eye each other. A few moments ago, the lizard descended, and poor sot chose to descend into the cat’s scratchin’n’relaxin’ corner. Some sniffing, scuffling and scurrying ensued, and resulted in the lizard climbing 1/2 way back up the wall, and the cat jumping up on the dresser to staunchly defend her assets.

I’ve also been waging my own battles with illiteracy in restaurants. I have no cooking facilities in my apartment, so breakfast is usually fresh fruit from a vendor on my way to school, and lunch is always at the same eatery whose proprietress is always bang-on with her suggestions. That leaves me to fend for myself for dinner. Since I have yet to meet a Thai dish I don’t like, it makes the random point-and-order method of choosing a meal relatively catastrophe free.

I have run into a few problems along the way though. A few nights ago, I tried to order from a restaurant I’ve had good success with so far. Unfortunately, I pointed to something on the menu that was just underneath what I’d previously ordered. The man must have thought I had mis-pointed, and brought me what I had ordered (and enjoyed) the last time. Although it tasted great, there really is only so much stir-fried kale and crackly pork rinds on rice a person can handle in a week.

My second mishap was this evening at a new restaurant. I thought I was just pointing to the menu and asking what things were…apparently the woman thought I was actually ordering more than one entree. I thought I was getting some sort of beef soup…which I did, along with a huge plate of curry fried rice, a chicken thigh, and some pickles. I ended up paying double what I expected to pay, but $1.80 for a dinner-for-two (even though it was just dinner for one), isn’t a bad deal at all. At least now I know that the chicken and rice there is really good, while the beef soup is just pretty good.

Oh, the cat now has her back turned, and the lizard has taken this opportunity to creep over to the doorway and make mocking faces. I do believe the little fella is actually sticking out his tongue at the ferocious feline.