I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end... not today though

I just had the most frightful coughing spell. I hope I don't die :-P.

It was nice being at home for a few days. Now it's back to work. I'm so excited - I get to spend tonight in the oh so fabulous Albany, GA. Saturday night I'll be in MSP with my favorite Amherst resident. I'm so excited.

Yesterday was a day of waiting. I had to go to the foot doctor and you know how doctor's visits go. You wait, then you fill out paperwork, then you wait some more, then you see a nurse, then you wait some more, then you see the doctor.. and that's usually about it.

After that it was time to take care of my car. I'm trying really hard to be a responsible car owner so my lovely car lasts me forever. The brakes were making funny noises, the oil needed changing, and I wanted to make sure it was ready for winter. And you know how it goes when you're at the mechanic. You wait, and wait. Except first we drove the car to hear the sound the brakes were making and of course, they were completely quiet. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I brake like a 25 yr old girl and the mechanic brakes like a 65 yr old man... I need to work on that. Needed a new air filter so $60 later my car is good for another 3k miles. Oh yeah, and it has a leak in the that I eventually need to fix. The part is only $275. Good times.

Next it's over to Verizon. I got my new phone last week which was great but it keeps freezing up, takes at least 30 seconds to respond when you dial a number that isn't already stored, and takes forever to wake up when i turn it on. I go in just to see if they can do anything about it and the same guy gives me a different phone. That seems great, but when he goes to swap all the numbers over it won't do it. So they keep trying. So I wait. And wait. And go across the street to the store. And wait. And knit half a scarf. And wait. I took old and new phones home, after deciding just to manually swap the numbers over, and discover you practically need a magnifying glass to see the screen on the phone. So maybe I'm spoiled. So what? I paid for the phone with the bigger screen. I shouldn't be swapped for a lesser quality phone... This morning I went to take the old phone back. I get a text from the guy and he asks how I like my new phone. I told him it was alright. Was trying to get used to how small the screen was. He said he'd mail me a different phone. For nothing... Nice hey?

After Verizon I went back by Faith's shop to get her to snip up the sides of my hair where I decided it should be shorter and to watch Tanya get her hair colored. More sitting around but much more enjoyable as I had Tanya and Faith keeping me company. By then it was nearly evening and time to go home and get stuff done.

Last night was apartment family supper. We made poppy seed chicken which was fabulous and asparagus which is such a lovely food. I cant' believe I ever hated it before. J's overnight last night got canceled so we had the pleasure of his company as well. Did 3 loads of laundry since I had no clean clothes and have to go to work today.

The weather is disgusting. It's drizzling. On the way back from Verizon this morning I had to stop and buy wipers. At least I can see now. My drivers side window has this problem of not wanting to roll back up when it's raining. It'll probably cost me at least one million dollars to fix :-P. I really have to go get ready for work now. Woo hoo.

eatin popcorn and playin hookie

What a lovely, lovely Tuesday afternoon... It's so nice to be at home right now and not working. I figured out that due to a lot of my flights earlier in the month being longer than scheduled I had enough hours to drop the day trip I was supposed to do today. I'm so glad cause if I hadn't I would've had to rush home yesterday to get ready for work, then rush around all day tomorrow getting everything done that I need to get done.

On Sunday I drove Joy back to school and had a really nice visit with her up there. At times I envy the dorm life, the closeness of going to a small school where the majority of the people have common beliefs. I can't help but wonder how different my life would have been if I had gone to a different college. Or moved when I went to college. It's not a matter of would it be better, would it be worse, but just as to what the differences would've been. I probably never would've gone to South Africa. But who knows.. I'm really happy for Joy and the life she has up there. Everywhere we go on campus people know her, and I don't think it's because of her reputation for meanness :-P. I got to see where she works and see her at work. (She washes a mean dish.) I was able to meet people I had heard stories about. We baked a cake, ate pie at a friend's parent's house, watched basketball practice (she's the manager), went to several classes, saw people I've met before... And just in case I had forgotten what a small world it is, I was walking into the main building to meet up with her for a class and a girl walking next to me asked if I was a Holby. Not surprising since Peter and Michal have been up there as well and a lot of people greet me by saying "Hi Joy's sister". Her next question was the surprising part. She asked if I had gone to music camp in Pensacola. I told her I had, wondering if she had gone there herself. She said no, but her sister in law had. Turns out the one other person from camp that I lost contact with and have wondered about is married to her brother. She had seen pictures of me from camp while visiting them over Thanksgiving, heard my name and made the connection somehow. I'm so happy to have found my friend after all this time.

Somehow, mid-blog I got really distracted. I'm trying to get stuff done around here before I go get my hair cut. I'm quite excited about that. I love getting my hair cut. After that it's Michal's basketball game and who knows what else... The world is my oyster - except I don't really like oysters. Where did that phrase come from anyway?? Anyone want to clean my room and do my laundry?

chillin with the mormons

I'm so far behind in blogging I don't even know where to start. Last week was really busy. One thing went right into the next thing and by the time I got some free time I was so tired I couldn't do anything.

Right now I'm in Salt Lake City. Been here for a couple of hours now and am allowing myself to veg and not feel bad about it. I should've just left my running shoes at home since my bag now weighs about a million pounds, but I guess I need to leave myself the option to run if I feel like it. I didn't run any last week. I feel kind of bad about it but it was pretty much all I could do to sleep, much less do anything extra. I'm really happy because for the next week I don't have to get up ridiculously early. I'll be here in Salt Lake again tomorrow night, then Milwaukee Wednesday night.

God has really blessed me lately. Things have been crazy and haven't always turned out like I wanted them, but somehow it's always turned out better. I dont' know if that makes sense. I did my charter flight on Thursday and didn't come back that night like I had planned. I had gotten tickets to take J to the opening of Casino Royale for his birthday at midnight and missed that, which was really disappointing, but because I had to spend the night in Ft. Lauderdale I got paid a whole extra lot of money. A whole lot. I also got a huge tip from the passenger so I earned nearly half what I make in one month on that trip. God is good. It's amazing how differently I feel about the holidays knowing that I'll be able to buy Christmas presents and not go into debt. This will be the first Christmas in years that I haven't used credit cards and it was making me nervous. I actually voluntarily listened to Christmas music the other day. It felt nice.

I also dropped my cell phone yesterday on the way down the steps to church. It went off and would only come back on when it was charging. A piece of metal had already come out the charger and I was wondering how long it was going to last. A little worried cause I don't want to have to spend a ton of money on a new phone right now. I can upgrade in June and wanted to hang on til then. I took it into Verizon and left with a brand new version of my same phone, all my numbers, pictures, everything from my other phone - for only $50. My phone has been through a lot of abuse so I was grateful to get a new one without spending all the money I just got.

There's a lot more to tell but I'll tell it later. I'm going to see if I can find some pictures of this airplane I worked on the other day. It was amazing. I'm anxious to get my schedule for next month. Wonder what I'm going to be stuck with over Christmas...

just emptying out the brain so it can sleep

10:15 on Saturday night and I'm in bed. What a way to end the week. This week feels like it's lasted for at least 2 weeks. 6am Monday morning feels like it happened months ago :-P. Okay.. maybe that's exaggerating a little.

I don't really know what to say right now.
Does anyone really live happily ever after?
I really need to get rid of the disgusting fishtank in my room.
I really need to clean my room. I can't walk without stepping on something. I'm running out of clean underwear. I can't find anything.
I have lots of scarves to knit.
None of my sleeping clothes feel right right now.
I'm happy with my schedule for next month.
I want to love someone and have them love me, all at the same time and not have to stop.
I want to be able to be happy whoever I'm with and whatever I'm not doing and not always feel this sadness below the surface because one person isn't there.
I need to change the message on my voicemail cause evidently it's annoying to some people - though when I went in to change it the other day it just made me laugh.
I want an ipod.
I want to go somewhere warm and relax on the beach.
I want the people I love to be pleased with me.
I want God to be pleased with me.
I want to want to do what's right.
I want my feet to stop hurting.
I want to stop feeling bitter.
I don't want my heart to be broken again.
I want my loved ones to never die.
I love this weather. The blue skies and windy days make me happy.
I'm nearly 26. I'm completely single. If I ever have children I will be an old mother.
I think that I pushed my limits on how much I can work and still like my job this week. It makes me happy to be nice to people though and I'm getting a lot better at it these days.
I can't believe this year is nearly over.
I'm reading a book about a lady who was from Zimbabwe but she also lived in Hong Kong and Manhattan. I wonder if I'll ever live in a foreign city again, and if I do where, when, how, for what reason, with who? I want to but I don't want to go alone again and am not ready to change jobs again (I don't want to lose my flight benefits.)

I'm going to sleep. Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, rested lots, ate lots, and spent lots of time with loved ones.

This is the part where I ate too much

Myspace has been quiet lately. I guess I haven't been making much noise around here myself. It's about that Thanksgiving time. Actually it's almost over. Today was a good day. The trip I just finished was a good trip. It's amazing what a difference it makes not having to get up at the butt crack of dawn. I have really begun to like my job. I think part of it has to do with my schedule but I know that for the most part it is only a God thing. It's an answer to prayer to realize that I now have a completely different attitude toward something, and not because of anything I've done. This isn't to say that I won't hate my job and hate passengers tomorrow, but lately things have been really good. I flew with a great crew and once I left the fabulous Atlanta airport at 7am Monday morning, I didn't come back until this afternoon. It's so much easier getting in and out of Salt Lake. Anyway... too much airline stuff.

I had all this stuff to write about and now I've forgotten. I just got back from eating with my family and some of our friends. I'm super full and should fall asleep soon. That's probably why I can't remember what I was going to write about. No one's going to read this anyway :-P.

Oh Atlanta, I hear you calling

I know, I know.. the blogs are getting to be excessive this week. What can I say though? I have a lot of time on my hands, no one particular to talk to, and feel like writing.

I'm in Allentown, PA and the weather up here is beautiful. I just now walked down the street to RiteAid in jeans and a tshirt it was that warm. I had to get some generic tylenol pm and airborne. (I refuse to get sick.) I would have stayed out longer but I've been warned about this town so much that I started feeling like every person I passed was about to mug me, and I really don't feel like getting mugged today.

We ditched our Jamaican captain in Atlanta this morning and now our entire crew is Atlanta born and raised. That's quite unusual, especially in the airline industry. Everyone is transplanted. Our old captain had this theory about sleeplessness. He said it's a female problem because they have 4 or 5 circuits going to their brains as opposed to the one that men have. That's why it's so easy for men to shut down and go to sleep, while women can lie awake for hours thinking and thinking. I think he may be on to something there... I've been having this problem lately and it's driving me crazy. It's getting to the point where I'm so focused on going to sleep that I can't go to sleep. I got in bed around 730 last night, watched Grey's at 8 (excellent, by the way), and was still rolling around half awake at 1015. Got up at 415 again this morning.

One of my passengers asked me to marry him today. It was pretty funny and evidently I blushed. Kind of picked my day up since I was really tired and dragging, and since it was the first time I think anyone has ever asked me to marry them. Too bad he was quite bald (and not in a good looking, Shane kind of way) and old (and not just 35 old ). I had another passenger that seemed to be under the impression that it was my job to care about his travel woes... Crazy people.

I'm going to go run. Hopefully that will help me be tired enough to sleep quickly tonight.

Why does it always rain on me?

The rain and dreariness seems to be following me around. It was gross in Atlanta the last two days I was there and evidently it's gorgeous now. Now I'm far from Atlanta (Toronto) and the weather is disgusting. I'm getting reports of amazing weather everywhere except here.

Despite the gross weather and grayness, today is a good day. I feel good. I'm learning to enjoy my job more and not hate passengers so much. haha... I can't believe I just said that. I'm really tired but that probably has something to do with the fact that I got up at 415 this morning. I'm having the old "to nap or not to nap" debate but I think I might not have a choice. I probably won't be able to fall asleep tonight anyway. I was planning on running today but I just don't have any energy.

I was going to watch Grey's Anatomy online so I could know what's going on before I watch it tonight but evidently ABC discriminates against people outside of the US. Jerks!! It's kind of scary that they know where I am. Maybe they're watching me right now...

I've decided that my mp3s need some serious purging. I can't even leave my music on shuffle because all these stupid songs that I've never heard before start playing.

My mission these days is to become less bitter. It's not a pleasant undertaking. Requires a lot of letting go and forgiving but I believe it's necessary. Now that I've begun the process I'm finding out a lot of other unpleasant things about myself. Yay Grace!! Go team :-D. It's all good though. I've been so busy thinking about other areas of my life that I hadn't even noticed this and am only now realizing what a bad thing it is. I googled bitterness and was reminded that I can't expect God to forgive me of the wrongs I do Him if I'm not forgiving other people the wrongs they've done me.

That's my soul baring for the month. Hope you enjoyed it.

I'm off to rest or something. I woke up with a sore throat this morning and was reminded of how important it is that I rest and take care of myself these days. Last November I got all kinds of sick and I can't afford for and don't want that to happen again. I've taken two airborne today and am trying to drink a lot of water. Any other suggestions for not getting sick?

This is getting long but I have to tell this: This morning when we were coming through security they let us in front of the old couple. The FO walked through first. I was behind him and I heard the old guy say "he looks like a terrorist". He was obviously joking but everyone around turned and looked at him. His wife nearly knocked him out and was fussing at him. The security lady got so mad. She's all you aren't allowed to say stuff like that in the airport. And I walked away laughing. I don't know why it seems so funny to me but it makes me smile every time I think about it. I'm going to put it in my brain file of funny things that are guaranteed to make me happy when I think of them.

Will you hose me down with holy water, if I get too hot?

I just ran 2.15 miles in 25 minutes and I feel like I'm going to die. This should be motivation to keep running regularly, cause if I only run every once in a while every time feels like the first time, and it sucks. My legs will probably hurt again tomorrow as well. Hopefully they have a gym in Toronto cause I'm going to spending the whole day there.

Tonight I'm in Rochester for a really short night, then Toronto, and Allentown on Friday night. I don't like the schedule of this trip very much because as the trip goes on the work load increases each day. I have one leg today and 5 on Saturday. I'd rather work hard in the beginning and get it over with. Oh well. I have two long layovers and I'm hoping to be productive on this trip. I should bring my knitting needles with me but I think I've got enough to occupy me for the time being. It's back into birthday and Christmas season for me.

As lazy and "chill at home" as yesterday was, today has to be the opposite. I have a bunch of stuff to do before I leave. Have to go get food for the trip and return some stuff. I need to tidy up some so I don't leave a mess for my roommates. And I have to pack...

I had to pay my $60 AFA fees today and it pissed me off. Ever since I got off probation in January or February they've been taking $39 out of my paycheck every month, but until I pay the $60 membership fee I can't make use of the union. It's ridiculous. So when I got a letter from them saying I was in bad standing I figured I'd better suck it up and pay it. So frustrating. At least if anything happens to me now supposedly the union will back me up... Hopefully I won't need to find out.

It's shower then store then work time. Woo hoo.

And If I had a million dollars I'd buy your love

Yesterday's blog title would have been more appropriate today. It's raining, it's pouring. If it wasn't so grey I might enjoy it. I keep seeing leaves fall as well which is kind of sad. There's still one tree right outside my window that is mostly green and partially yellow. It's really pretty. Almost like a picture framed by my window.

Today is get stuff done day. I had a fabulous night's sleep last night. I know there was a question about whether I liked the pillow top thing I bought for my bed, but let me just say, I love love love it now. My bed is so comfortable. I love sleeping in it, though I'm not sure how much of that is due to the rarity of me sleeping in it. Before I woke up I was dreaming (as always), and for once it wasn't something awful. I don't know what it is but the last few nights I've been dreaming about really disturbing things. Yesterday's dream had to do with someone who was like the child catcher on Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, except he just like catching little boys. Anyway, this morning I dreamed I was in Atlanta. I had been at some event in a skyscraper and was leaving to go to my car. It turns out the skyscraper had these showerhead-like sprinklers coming off the roof. By the time they got to the ground they were massive and were flooding the park area at the bottom where my car was parked. We walked through part of it but I couldn't get to my car. My purse was in there as well. Finally someone was giving me a ride home and they were just like, don't worry about it. You can just get a new purse. There were lots more dreams but I think all the rain and swimming across reminded me of that part.

I managed to swap and get the day off next week so I can do the charter flight if it works out. This means I have to work the two days after Thanksgiving. At least I'll be home in the evenings. I've also managed to swap my hours up to 93 for this month. That may not seem like much but that's only actual flight hours.

I can't remember what the point of this was going to be. I put my flannel sheets on my bed so it's all nice and pretty and ready to be slept in tonight and then again Saturday night :-P. Now it's time to tackle the piles of clothes all over the floor. Mara on Davefm is keeping me entertained. I was going to say that when I'm rich I'll pay someone to sit and talk to me while I clean my room, but if I'm rich why would I be cleaning my room??

I swam across, I jumped across for you

It's funny how one day can feel so different from the next when nothing serious changes. I didn't even get that much sleep last night and I still feel sooo much better today. Maybe cause it's Monday. Oh wait, I don't really have Mondays.

I got up 39 minutes before I was supposed to duty in this morning. I was having a genuine, all out, freak out. I usually try to get to the employee parking lot 45 minutes before my duty in time. I can't be late or anything for a good long while or I'll get in a lot of trouble. I was praying really hard that somehow God would help me get there on time. I was out the door in about 8 minutes. Long story short, I lied to scheduling and they dutied me in. I feel really bad about it actually. I still made it to the airport on time. The traffic was easy and the bus was practically waiting for me when I parked. I should have trusted God to get me there.

I did a nice dayline. Went to Greensboro, NC and Oklahoma City. When I was in the airport between flights I saw a lady that I had played in a quartet with my freshman year in college. It's so crazy. Even with the amount of time that I spend in the airport it still blows my mind when I see someone I know. Especially someone I haven't seen in so long. Maybe because Atlanta is one of the busiest airports in the world and it just takes a few seconds difference to meet or miss someone. She was on her way to get on my favorite plane and go to Korea. I don't think that anything happens just by chance, but I'm not sure what greater purpose there would be to me running into her today.

I'm getting distracted now. Tanya, Amie and I are going to do absolutely nothing tonight except sit on the couch and watch tv. It rocks my face off. Tomorrow I have to clean my room. See what treasures I can unearth.

Oh yeah, I also got offered a very lucrative free-lance flight attendant job. Just one day. It's not definite yet but I'm praying it works out. Then maybe I can buy Christmas presents :-D.

G to the R to the A, C, E

The thoughts in my head are like a broken record. I'm getting so tired of them but don't know how, or necessarily want to move on to the next thoughts. I haven't run all week which frustrates me. I was doing so well for a whole week or so there :-P. I wish there was somewhere convenient to here that I could run outdoors. Instead I have to go to the smelly little "gym". Oh well. Complain much, Grace? I know what I sound like. I can hear myself and I'm tired of it as well.I'm going to try to run some of this craziness out of my head.

huh???

What's the deal with 32 views in the past 30 minutes and 1 comment?? Guess I'll have to write something more comment-worthy next time.

the time has come to say fair's fair, to pay the rent, to pay our share

I have nothing significant to post about. My last one was so long it should make up for not writing for a few days.

I've decided I don't like daylight savings. We aren't all farmers anymore. We don't need the daylight at 6am to milk our cows. Why can't we have it back at 6pm so we can feel a little more alive? I don't like when I get to work at 545am and the sun is coming up. I don't like getting to work at 545pm and it's already getting dark. Makes me tired. Seasonal depression, here we come!

I finished my 4 day yesterday. The next 3 days went sooo much better than the first one. I had a good time actually. I was dead tired and very grouchy by the last round trip yesterday but that's to be expected after 4 days. I didn't run the whole time I was away and I feel pretty bad about it. Obviously not bad enough. Tuesday was the only day that I had a whole lot of time to run but it was in the upper 80s and I was tired and preferred to lay by the pool.

My schedule is swapping out nicely for this month. I was supposed to work Wed-Sat every week which would have me working the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Now I work Mon-Thurs and get off around 3 on Thanksgiving day. Woo hoo!! Having a line is so great. I might not be able to hold a good one but I can swap my way to a good one. I also have 14 days off this month which is just ridiculous. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. I have lots of people I need to visit and will probably pick up something since my hours are pretty low... Anyway, enough about work.

I've had this odd feeling lately that I'm about to get in trouble for something. I can't think of anything I've done that I would get in trouble for though. I guess it's just the way they train you at work - to always be on your toes cause someone is waiting to bust you for something stupid - like following someone through an open door instead of swiping your badge, not wearing your scarf, not marking a new revision down, leaving your manual somewhere.... aaahhhh... So if I did anything to anyone or anyone is mad at me for something I did or didn't do, let me know so I can get rid of this feeling. I also had really weird dreams last night so that might have something to do with the odd feeling.

Now I need to go exercise or shower or do SOMETHING productive. I have to do a nap tonight but otherwise am off until next week.