don't cry for me montgomery

I'm watching Will & Grace and Karen just kills me. She's like voicemail... how can someone mail a voice!!!???

I've had so many things I wanted to blog about lately but now I'm just blah. So this will be random thoughts I've had over the last few days.
You know your morning's going back when you have coffee in your shoes.
I haven't seen French billboards in a long time. I think I'm becoming too American in my discomfort with foreign things, and in seeing foreign things as odd and weird, instead of different and interesting.
I mostly walked, but partly ran 4 miles yesterday. Now my legs and butt hurt, but it feels great. I'm tired of being out of shape.
Oh yeah. I was in Montreal Monday night. That's where I saw French billboards.
I have a lot of stuff to do tomorrow before I leave to go visit Adri. I can't remember what most of it is though. I have to start another 4 day on Sunday morning at 6am. I've been really bad about getting up in the morning lately and it's really bothering me. After that 4 day I'm supposed to have one day off and then start another one.
My passengers were great today. Not all of them, but just enough, at just the right times so I made it through a very long day. I got to work in Montgomery at 630 this morning. Since then I've been to Cincinnati, Colombia, SC, Atlanta, St. Louis, and now I'm home. Throw in 2 mechanical delays where you have to go back to the gate for an hour and you've got a super fun day.

I think that's about all for now. There's much more but I'm very tired. I miss my family and friends. On days like this I just don't have the energy to call anyone. Glad they all love me anyway.

PS. I'm watching Will & Grace still. That's where the subject, sort of, came from.

home sweet home

I just got home from work and it is beautiful. The weather is beautiful. I got my Victoria's Secret order in the mail and it was beautiful. I can relax now, which is beautiful. Do you see a theme here?

I think online shopping is fantastic. You get the shopping gratification, but then you also have something to look forward to for several days, which gives your days more excitement. It's all round a lovely thing.

I'm really tired because I got up at 510 this morning. My alarm started going off at 440 but since I didn't fall asleep til after midnight it was really hard to get up. It was also really cold up in Binghamton. Though I'm happy that it's not quite so hot, I'm not ready for the cold yet. I don't feel like I got to do all the summer things I love. It just seems like the summer was here, I worked, and now it's gone. I guess that's how things work in Grown Up Land. I'm not looking forward to how much more clothing I'll have to pack since it'll be cold a lot of places I fly.

I can't think of anything noteworthy about the trip right now. I nearly got Joe's line again next month but after putting them out for 5 minutes they changed it. Now I have the complete opposite schedule of everyone I want to spend time with. The only good thing is I have overnights near Adri and Amy. Woo hoo. I'm probably going to swap some stuff still though so I don't have to work every weekend. As Jamie reminded me yesterday though, at least I have a line. For that I am truly thankful.

I have a lot to be thankful for. The attitude adjustment about my job is going alright. Today was the only day that I started feeling really pissy toward passengers. No I don't have milk. No I don't have grapefruit juice or Fresca. It's a freaking 45 minute flight. Have a bottle of water or a Diet Coke and shut up........ Had to get that out of my system.

Yesterday I finished a book by Corrie Ten Boom called The Hiding Place. Her family lived in Holland and hid Jews from Hitler. The story is some about their lives, some about their time with the Jews, and some about the time they spent in prison. It's an amazing book. She really lived her faith. It really gives you a perspective on what a bad day is like. I recommend it to anyone to read.

I'm off to forage for some food now. Let the weekend begin!!!

Can I have a branket prease?

I'm in the oh so exciting town of Dothan, AL am about to crash. Today was a decent day. I've decided that I need to figure out how to like my job more. I have no intention of finding another job but don't want to spend every day wishing it was over already. I'm in the process of analyzing what is bothering me and how to make it better. Today I just tried to pray a lot whenever I was feeling really tired or grouchy. It helped a lot. Every flight I had today I had at least one person that I had a pleasant conversation with. Some of them were just old guys flirting with me but it's just nice to have a human connection in an otherwise robotic job. We flew back from Shreveport this afternoon, did a Detroit roundtrip, and in spite of all three of those flights being really late, somehow got to Dothan 20 min early. It was excellent. All my passengers had all their body parts (visible ones anyway). There were a few smelly ones and a few with funny accents. I had one guy ask me for a bRanket. It was all I could not to crack a smile when what I really wanted to do was laugh really really loud. I'm such a jerk.

It's pretty ridiculous what I would give for a foot massage right now. Probably my forever and undying love. Too bad there isn't anyone around here who's willing to trade. Tomorrow is just a leg back to Atlanta and then up to Bingamton, NY. Not sure if that's how you spell it, or Shreveport either. All I have to know is their airport codes. So there. I had a guy tonight offer me his ipod in exchange for my wings. Then when he saw that I'd be more than willing to make the trade he changed his mind. I can always report them stolen. I need to go to sleep so I can get up and eat the breakfast here. I've been eating so poorly lately. I need to do better.

Thanks to the beauty of the internet I just saw Israel sitting at his desk in China, eating nuts and drinking some "milk like product". Need to figure out a way so I can talk to him instead of just typing. That's for another day. This one is over and I'm out.

ears are good

I'm at my parent's house waiting for them to get home so we can have lunch and spend some time together. I feel like I haven't seen them in a long time and that's no bueno. My family is the best. I overslept this morning so I went to Amie's church instead since it starts later. It was really nice.

The trip I did Thursday and Friday was really good for me. I had to get up too early and work too long which wasn't good, but some of the people I came across were what was good about it. I think God was trying to remind me how good my life is. Trying to make me stop focusing on my puny little life and what it doesn't hold and see what my life could be like.

The first flight of our trip was up to Buffalo, NY. They preboarded an old lady and whispered to me that they thought she had alzheimer's. She was also nearly deaf. She started telling me how her daughter had put her on a plane two days ago in a city that she couldn't remember. Colorado? No, what's that place where they gamble? Las Vegas. Yeah I think it was there. She said the plane broke and somehow she ended up in Atlanta. She said they lost her cause she was supposed to be going north but was in Atlanta. She said that her son must've had the biggest fright when they told him where he was supposed to pick her up. It's got to suck to not know what's going on or be able to remember where you were last week or five years ago.

The next person I came across was a lady flying back from Albany. She was a very beautiful lady probably in her 50s or 60s. She had to be pre-boarded and needed a wheelchair in Atlanta. After we landed and were waiting for the wheelchair she asked the pilot if a spinal cord stimulator affected the airplane cause she couldn't turn it off. She had some kind of spinal degeneration and after 4 surgeries it was the last resort. She had a battery implanted in her back and a wire that ran up her spine to control the pain. And for some reason when she had the 3 hour surgery they couldn't put her to sleep so she felt the whole thing. But she was so cheerful about everything and when the pilot offered to carry her bags down the stairs she said no, that she wanted to do everything she could while she could. She had such a great attitude about life and instead of whining and complaining she was happy to be able to do the simple things.

I was riding the escalator in Atlanta and was behind a soldier. I noticed that he had a little bandaid on his head behind his ear. He also had a scar the size of a quarter. This close inspection of the back of his head made me notice that what seemed to be his ear, was actually a fake ear. I'm so thankful not to be missing any of my body parts.

The person I saw that had the most impact on me was on my last flight to Asheville. I didn't see him until he was right there in front of me and I was completely shocked. He looked like someone off of a movie. It looked like his entire body had been burned. Both of his hands were gone. His ears, nose, lips and hair were also gone. He smiled and said hello to me, then took his bags that were looped around his arms and went to sit down. I was concerned about who would sit by him in case they would be rude or mean to him. A businessman sat there and they smiled and talked for most of the flight. As I sat and looked at him I couldn't help but think how that could be any one of us. I would have liked to know what happened to him. I wondered what he looked like before and what his family or loved ones thought of him. Watching him interract with the man next to him made me realize that I needed to make sure I didn't let his outside make me treat him any differently. He stil had the same personality underneath, still felt the same, thought the same, as someone with normal skin. He had friendly brown eyes and as he got off the plane he commented on how gorgeous it was up in Asheville and how much he loved it. It made me so thankful for what God has NOT allowed to happen to me and reminded me that regardless of appearance we all deserve the same love and kindness.

I finished this at home. My family got home so I stopped writing. Today was a good day. My life is good. My family is wonderful. My friends are as well. I'm very blessed to have 10 fingers, 10 toes, eyes, ears, a functioning brain and body. My belly is full so now I'm going to chill on the couch and watch tv with my friends until I feel like going to sleep.

she said it's cold outside and she hands me my raincoat

It's raining outside and I love the way it sounds. It's so peaceful and relaxing. I'm tired even though I've only just now been awake for more than 12 hours.

Today was a cheerful day. I did things that made me happy. I forgot to mention yesterday how happy it makes me to see gas in the low $2.30s. It's a beautiful thing. Today I took lunch to Amie over at her work, which used to be my work. I saw a lot of people that I never see anymore but that I really enjoy seeing. It was good times. After that I went to Walmart and picked up my contacts. It's about freaking time. I'm so tired of wearing my glasses.

Then I went to Ross and returned some shoes I bought the other day with the intention of them being my alternate/comfortable work shoes, but after carrying them around in my bag for 4 days I didnt' really feel like wearing them. So I returned them and bought a bra. I wish I had money to spend $40something every time I need a new bra. I just don't like the other, cheaper ones as much. I tried on about 10 and found one that was passable. After that I wandered around Target and found the skirt that I bought for super cheap but needed altering actually in my size, so now I can just return the too big one and not worry about fixing them. I love skirts and they have these great knit skirts at Target half off now - $6.48. I got 3 of them the other day but one was way too big.

After the shopping mission I went over to Jamie's for a minute until I met my mom and brother back over at Target. I was giving him a ride up into Atlanta to meet Joy so they could go to the Shakira concert. It was nice to see my mother dearest for a minute. Then Peter and I drove up into Atl, all the while discussing the fantastic music of our day and other riveting topics. We met up with a friend at the Village, found Joy and journeyed over to Moe's where we ate supper. Somewhere along the way it started pouring down rain and hasn't really stopped. It's always fun hanging out with my siblings. It helps to get my mind off me and my silly little life. They're so much fun. After that I came home and watched tv with my lovely Amie. Life is good.

I think I'm getting out of my funk. I've talked to more people in the last 24 hours than in the last week it seems. Now that I finally have a line I need to start setting up habits for the other areas of my life. Work has dominated my life for so long now and so many times I feel like that's all I do. I work, then I come home and recover from work, until it's time to get ready to go back to work. I don't want that to be all that my life involves. And it feels like it is right now. I feel like I'm living the average life. I've always felt sorry for people whose lives are simply work and go home and now I realize that right now that's all my life is as well. And for me, work isn't exactly the most mentally challenging, stimulating thing. Sometimes I feel like my brain is rotting out of my ears. Now that I feel a little less funky I hope to get my focus back where it should be.

As for now, sleep calls. I must answer.

PS. I just realized that my last blog was my 100th blog. Not much of a mile mark blog in my opinion, but hey, that's life isn't it. It always seems that things you intend to be momentous rarely are. Instead momentous things usually happen when you least expect them. I think it's been nearly a year since I started blogging as well. Good times.

the farmer and the cowman should be friends

Don't ask me where that came from. I do not know.

It's been a while since I blogged. I've been away on a 4-day and due to weight restrictions (ie. my laziness) I didn't haul my laptop along. I seem to go in phases where sometimes I'm on the internet every chance I get and then sometimes I can't be bothered. All the while I was working though I kept thinking of things that I didn't want to forget, and therefore wanted to blog about.

Work-wise my trip was fairly uneventful. They've closed a runway in ATL which is going to make leaving nearly as much of a nightmare as coming in. Maybe even worse. I was finally getting used to sitting on the ramp for forever to get parked, but now, it seems that no matter what time of day it is, you have at least a 20 min taxi before taking off. Good times. Just about the only things that made any of my passengers noteworthy were two severe cases of body odor and one Xanax popping crazy lady who evidently thought all the rules of the airline, such as not wandering about the cabin immediately upon landing, while the plane is still going full speed, didn't apply to her. It was a cake trip though. Though it was a 4 day trip, I only worked 3 days. But on those 3 days I worked a lot of hours. Fewer, but much longer flights. I overnighted two nights in Albany, NY which allowed me to spend time with my bestest buddy Adri. It was a lot of fun, though looking back on it, we should have just stayed in ALB and layed around the hotel all day instead of driving back and forth. She's the best though. Not many people would drive all over tarnation to spend about 24 hours with me.

I can't think of any other work things to comment on at the moment. After getting up at 445 to be down at the van at 450 my major accomplishment of the day was shaving my legs when I got home. Quite a Monday check list: 1. fly from Manchester, NH to ATL at 6am 2. Do an OklaCity round trip 3. shave legs. I set my standards high. I also had a lovely dinner with Amie and David tonight. My quilt finally arrived and I'm not sure if I like it. I wanted the dominant colors to be green and lavender and they seem to be the most subtle colors. Yellow and dark pink being the dominant ones. I'll let it sit around in my room for a minute and we'll see.

I have more things to write about but I think they require a clearer mind. I feel like my mind has gone into veg mode lately and I need to wake it up somehow. But first I'm off to enjoy a long night's sleep in my very own bed.

PS. My back still hurts after sleeping in 3 different beds in the last 3 nights so I'm not ditching the pillow top just yet.

today is supposed to be

productive day. Instead, it's nearly 12:30, I'm still in my pjs and just now put a load of laundry in. The last few days have been recooperation time from work, but now that I have to go back to work tomorrow it's time to get stuff done. And I still don't feel like it. My schedule is really confusing my bed changing habits. I usually try to change my sheets every other week but I've only slept on them a few times so they aren't dirty yet. Feels weird though. It's one of those things like sleeping late in the middle of the week - I have to remind myself that I have a really weird job so it's ok to sleep really late sometimes and go several weeks without changing my sheets since I only spend half my nights on them.

I'm really excited about my trip tomorrow. I'll be gone for 4 days but only have to work on 3 of them. I will also be doing 8 flights, instead of 13, and getting paid more. Life is good when you have a line and can swap stuff. I'm kind of sad cause I won't be flying with Joe, but I'll get to spend the day with Adri which pretty much rocks my face off. The way it works is, tomorrow night I end up in Albany, NY around 9pm where Adri will pick me up and take me to her house (she's the best). I'll spend the night and Saturday there, then she'll bring me back the next night in time for work on Sunday morning. I think I dreamed about all this cause it's sounds kind of familiar now that I'm telling it.

Another bed related thing - can your bed be too soft?? I slept on an air mattress for a while a few years ago and my lower back used to hurt a lot cause it was too soft. Now that I got this pillow top thing for my bed my lower back hurts, but since I sleep on my bed so rarely it's hard to say if its my bed or just my back. I'd hate to have to get rid of the lovely pillow top softness. What a dilemma... :-P I finally ordered my new quilt. Now I've got delivery impatience. Don't they know I really want this?? Shouldn't it be their priority?

Probably one of the reasons I'm not feeling particularly motivated today is because I still haven't gotten to veg for an entire day since being off. On Tuesday I had to go to the dentist. I got yelled at cause I don't floss and have to go back next month cause I have cavities. Thankfully they're small. After that I went to the music store in Fayetteville and helped my mother decide between two violins for my little sister. That was fun. I'm really glad she has a nice violin to play now. No more student violin squeakiness. After that I went to Publix, bought asparagus and steak and went home and shared it with Amie. I still need to go proper grocery shopping, but it just takes too much energy.

Yesterday morning I had to get up around 7 to take a puppy up to Harrisburg, PA for my old music teacher. It's actually for her daughter but it was going to cost them a fortune to ship it up there, and since I can fly for free I was glad I could help. Thankfully I made the flight straight back so I was home around 2, but it was still really tiring. Then I came home and slept for a few hours. Maybe that's why I couldn't fall asleep when I got back in bed at 930 last night? Mr. L made what he calls frito plates for me last night. It's basically like taco salad but with fritos. It was yummy.

I guess I should get on with my day. I feel like I haven't seen anyone in a long time. I miss my friends and family. I've kind of been in a funk though so when I'm home I don't feel like doing anything. Just feel like lying around and sleeping. Hopefully I'll snap out of it soon. I hate feeling this way cause I feel like I need to just keep to myself otherwise I'll be nasty to those I'm around. Just ask my family, and my roommates. Good times. I'm so great.

your skin so wet, black lace on sweat

It feels good to be home. It's about freaking time. These last 6 days have been sooo long. Now I'm in my own bed, in my own room, and it's great. I still feel like I'm on an airplane though, which is not great. The last 2 flights of the 22 that have made up my last 6 days were a Midway Chicago round trip. For some reason "Poison" was really stuck in my head (I almost said was really running through my veins but it was just too bad :-P). So when I got in my car to drive home the first thing I did was find it on my Turn It Up cd that was already in there. Then I listened to it over and over on the way home. Really loud. And sang along. Really loud (well as loud as my pathetic vocal chord will allow). It rocked my face off. So then I got home, showered, got ready to chill out and sleep and for some reason looked at my first blog I wrote on here. It was nearly a year ago, 9/19/05, and I was talking about this song that was my new favorite song. It doesn't take a genius to figure out where I'm going with this. Yeah, it was Poison. What can I say though? It's freaking fabulous.

Like I said, today was a ridiculously long day. I'm glad it's over. I'm glad I don't have to work for another 3 days. I fully intend to sleep until I can't sleep any more tomorrow. Then I get to go to the dentist. So not cool. Toodaloo...

cincincinatti

I'm writing this blog as a tribute to the efficiency of my company. This morning I woke up at 5am in Baton Rouge so I could go to the airport, fly to Cincinatti with 12 passengers, dead head (ride) a nearly empty flight to Colombia, SC, fly 6 people back to Cinci, sit for 3hr15m and fly 40 or so minutes to Knoxville, TN. It's good to know that they value our time and don't want us sitting around doing nothing... If I sound bitter it's only because I've worked 5 days in a row now and won't be finished until late tomorrow night. For those of you who may say "I work 5 days in a row every week" let me just say, this is different. If I came in and worked 8 hours and went home that would be freaking fantastic. I'm not really complaining. Just stating the difference.

This trip has been good so far. I've hardly had any passengers which seems surprising since it's a holiday weekend. The first 3 day trip I did was ridiculous. If it wasn't for my crew being really fun I would have killed myself (or seriously considered it.) I don't think we had a single flight leave on time the entire trip. Way to go [Insert my company's name here]. I probably sound grouchy but I'm really just tired and want to go home for more than a few hours at a time. I've been at home 3 complete days since 8/17. Anyhoo... C'est la vie.

I wish I had something more interesting to write about but I don't. I don't think anything particularly grand has happened lately, and if it has I can't remember.
I did have my brother Israel and his girlfriend on my flight from XNA to ATL on Friday. It was funny cause I couldn't stop laughing while I was doing my announcements cause they were making faces at me, and then my dear captain made an announcement that I had been on American Idol and everyone started clapping for me. Kind of livened things up.

I sold my car last Sunday night after posting a blog about it. If you want to sell something craigslist.com seems to be the place to do it. I got more than I asked for it and had the cash in my hand in less than 3 hours after posting the ad. Good times.

Guess that's all for now. Only an hour and a half left sitting here.

busqueda en google

It's kind of scary how google knows where you are. I wonder if google is Santa Claus in disguise. I googled something just now and all the results were in Spanish. I'm in Mexico by the way. I'm supposed to be downstairs in 15 minutes to leave for the airport but thought I was jot this down cause I thought it was so bizarre. We got down here last night and went out for a while, ate, and had a good time. Then we went to lunch a while ago and my stomach has decided it hates the food down here. All I had was a burger. This 3 hour flight coming up could be unpleasant. I'm going to XNA for a short night tonight. I'll blog more later when I'm not supposed to be packing and rushing out the door. Good times.

You make the rockin' world go round

Where do I begin... I have a lot to say but am afraid of sounding cliche or dramatic. I hate the uber emotional, heart-wrenching (or attempted heart-wrenching) blogs that so many people spit out. But since the point of this is documentation, and today seems to be a day worth documenting, I'll blog anyway.

I woke up this morning to the news that there had been a plane crash. Kind of bizarre in light of a conversation I had had last night (more on that later). The plane was the type of plane I work on, but flown by our sister Delta Connection, Comair. As we all know, all but one of the people on the plane was killed. From what it sounded like, they didn't even have a chance to get out of the plane. And once again, I was struck by the brevity of life. I've heard of lots of things that I knew were tragedies, but since I'd never been close to that situation, or anyone in the situation, I could only feel a certain amount of sorrow for the people involved. This hits a lot closer to home than almost anything that has happened in a long time. This could have been me. It could have been my friend. It could have been the guy that worked the flight I took coming back from Israel's the other day. I can't tell you the number of times I've flown out of the Lexington airport. I go up there a lot to visit friends, and bad things aren't supposed to happen in Lexington. It's bluegrass country. Nothing is supposed to happen on the flights I work. The CRJs are safe planes, and we only fly to puny cities. Something bad did happen though and I can only hurt for the people who lost their family members and friends. Life is short. Things like this are a good reminder to stop and make sure our lives are the way they should be. I'm trying not to get all typical and cliche, but I think there's a reason people get this way when bad things happen. This morning I got to go to church. It was good to be there. Good to be surrounded by people who love me and who love God. Then I had a lovely lunch with my family. I helped my mom pick cherry tomatoes and flowers out of their garden, and as we walked back to the house I couldn't help thinking how good it was to be alive.

I think that's all of that for now. I was going to fly up and see Chasity tonight but am really tired and just couldn't bring myself to. I'll go in the morning. I posted an ad on craigslist to sell my old Civic and have had a ton of people email. Supposedly some guy is coming to look at it now and I've got another guy that keeps calling as well. One sounds French and the other Russian and I can hardly understand either of them. Hopefully it sells. It'd be perfect timing since I seem to be broke (again).

Back to last night's conversation and associated thoughts of late - I think for a long time I've prided myself in not letting things bother me. I'm not very squeamish. I'm not scared of many things. I don't mind things that are unpleasant when I know there is a reason for them. But it seems like lately a lot of these things are starting to bother me. I don't like it. I find myself getting a little weirded out by odd things planes do (I hesitate to even mention that because I know a lot of you only fly because of your faith in crewmembers - but I'm human!!) I almost puked the other day when I was cleaning out a chicken and had to cut the neck out. I went to the doctor the other day and really didn't like it. Next thing you know waxing is going to be intolerable and I'm going to think feet are disgusting. I don't really know where this is going. I just don't like the current trend of thoughts that are going through my mind. I don't want my life to be governed by fear or limited by weakness.

I need to go track this guy down. It's past my bedtime.

V for vegetable

It's Saturday night and I'm watching V for Vendetta with the roomies, Joe and Jamie. I don't know what's wrong with me but I just don't care much for movies these days. It's interesting though. Kind of gruesome and harsh.

I got back from work today. I thought we were going to get our last round trip canceled but no such luck. Instead we waited almost 2 hours for our plane to get fixed to take 40 people to Cleveland and bring 16 back. Oh well. The pilots are fun which makes it more tolerable. I think 2 days is the perfect length for a trip. Then, the first day of work is just the first day, and the second day is the day I go home. It's amazing how much a difference it makes in my day when one or two people have a normal conversation with me during my work day.

This movie is getting weird so I have to go follow it. I don't know what the point of this blog was. Maybe next time. I'm off to Iowa tomorrow to see Chas. Be back Tuesday so I can go work on Wednesday for 6 days. Good times had by all. Toodles.

yum yum jordan almonds

I'm glad that though I have days where I absolutely cannot motivate myself to do anything productive, there are other days when I get so much done. Since I got home from Arkansas yesterday I think I've done 5 loads of laundry, including my clothes, linens, and towels. It feels good to have everything folded, hung and put away. Feels good to go to my closet and know that all of my clothes are in there and are clean.

Yesterday when I came back from Arkansas I had the most frustrating time in the airport. I think I'm spoiled because I've gotten used to being treated like a crew member and not being hassled about every little thing. Yesterday it was completely opposite. I got crap about the shirt I was wearing, and after I changed someone didn't like that one either (we have to go by a certain dress code when we fly on our own). Because of the shirt hassle I missed the direct flight to Atlanta and had to go through Cincinnati. I except this crap from Delta agents cause sometimes they look down their noses at us and give us a hard time, but these were my very own coworkers. The same people I've seen many times over the last few months when I fly in and out of XNA for work... All I can say is that those people better never ever get on one of my flights.

Do you ever notice how sometimes you put so much energy into looking for something in what someone is saying that you actually miss what they're saying? It's hard when you're used to a certain feeling being behind all of someone's words, and when it starts to go away it distracts from everything they say. I think it takes a long time to be able to stop looking for that something and just hear and enjoy what they're saying.

I have a question: How do you go about getting closer to someone, whether it be a family member, friend, coworker? There are people in my life that I would like to be closer to. People I would like to know better than I do now, but I know it will be at one sided effort, at least at first. I don't know where to begin or what to do.

Another question I have is how come I have 94 views on my blog this week and only 6 comments??? Is there one person out there who just views my blog over and over? It's quite puzzling.

I need to go iron my uniform and get ready for work. Thankfully I'll only be gone until tomorrow afternoon. I got a call today from the Spalding County DA's office. They want to know the monetary value of the things that were stolen out of my car in January. I don't want to get excited about it, but it sure would be nice if I got some money for the things I had to replace.

gettin jiggy with the arKansans

Greetings from the great state of arKansas. I got here yesterday afternoon and have been helping my brother fix up his house. He's trying to sell it before he moves to China. It was random - on the way out here I rode next to a guy who mentioned flying into Hong Kong. I asked him if he had been to China very often and if so, where. I hadn't told him why I was coming here or anything. He said that he had been over quite a few times for business and whenever he went he usually went to a city near Shanghai called Ningbo. This happens to be the city Israel is moving to. It was really bizarre that out of all the people I could have sat next to and all the places they could've gone, it was the same place he'll be going. Life's crazy like that.

So yesterday and today I've been painting, power washing (it should be a hobbie, it's so much fun. you feel so powerful), stripping (paint off the floor you dirty minded folk), sanding, pulling nails out... I think it's so amazing how God made our bodies to be so cleanable. Right now I have paint, bug spray, dirt, sweat, and who knows what else on me. It's kind of freeing to not care if your clothes dirty and to know that whatever you get on you, will be gone right after you shower (and you all know what a big fan of showers I am). I don't know why that impresses me today, but it does, and since this is my blog, I'm going to write about it.

Our September schedules came out yesterday and turns out I'm going to be flying with my good buddy Joe all month. Fun times :-). And in case that wasn't enough to make me happy, I have three weekends off next month. Life is definitely getting better. I have nothing profound to say. Today I'm happy. Can't ask for much more than that, can I? For those of you who care, I should be home tomorrow afternoon or evening. Friday I have to go to the doctor and then to work til Saturday. Then I'm off to Iowa on Sunday night to see a very pregnant Chasity.

Good times.

If it isn't one thing...

I finally got my tag for my car. It was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be which is fantastic. I give Joy a whole lot of crap cause she always loses stuff, but sometimes I feel like if my head weren't attached to my body I would lose it. Somewhere between the tag office and the Credit Union, I lost my driver's license. So stupid. It could be in the parking lot where I stopped to put my tag on. It could be in my car somewhere. It could be in the thriftstore where I dropped some clothes off. Or by our mailbox when I stopped here to get the mail... Crap. I was so scared driving to the tag office. I had to find somewhere to get my emissions done before I could my tag and was scared the whole time that I'd get pulled over again. There are about a million cops in Fairburn. Anyway, it's done and I'm so happy.

Tanya gave me the cutest shirt the other day. It has Tinkerbell on it and says-
Pixie: in English folklore spirit or fairy. The pixie is commonly represented as a feisty imp who delights in making mischief.
It's so cute. I think in another life I was Tinkerbell .

It's nice not having to go to work for another few days. I'm going to Arkansas tomorrow morning to help my brother get his house ready to sell. Before then, I have all kinds of important things to do, like re-do my toenails. Evidently my toes are too long and my shoes rub my polish off. I'm also planning to order my new quilt today. I hate how whenever I have a lot of time off I can never remember what I need to do. I did get a lot done already today though. My watch has decided to work sporadically. When I woke up this morning it said it was 4, even though it was 10:30. Then a few hours ago it started going again. Hmmm.

I had some interesting passengers on my last flight. I need to write about them as I come across them or I'll forget. On the way back from Mexico I saw a little girl with the longest eyelashes I've ever seen. I thought they were fake. I wanted to take a picture for proof but figured her mom might thing I was a little weird. I also had a guy get on my flight going from Atlanta to Little Rock. He was obviously upset when he got on the plane. He was sweating so bad there were dry spots on his shirt. He said he was claustrophobic and couldn't handle the little planes. I tried shutting the curtain while we were sitting there and he looked like he was going to lose it. Then he asked me how far a drive it was to Little Rock. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me... Then he asked for alcohol. Asked where the nearest airport to was LR was that he could fly into on a bigger plane. Said he was on medicine that intensified everything around him (I guess making our small plane seem smaller). Finally after about 15 minutes of this, me trying to distract him by talking about his job interview etc... he decided he had to get off the plane. I was pretty relieved. He was a big guy and if he had decided at a later point in the flight that he needed to get off, I don't know what I would've done. Good times had by all.

I guess I should go do my laundry or something productive. I had Taco Bell today and though it was super good, my stomach now hates me. I'm not sure if it was the quesadilla, the taco, or the huge Code Red Mountain Dew...

I've been reading these books lately by Marion Keyes. They're all girlie kind of books. Not romance or anything, just funny stories about 20 or 30 something girls. The thing is, though they're funny books, each one I've read so far deals with some fairly serious issues that people have. One of the girls was in rehab and it followed her through figuring out why she did drugs, why she was drawn to people who were bad for her, and other such issues. It's been really interesting and makes me think a lot about myself and other people I know. Maybe I've been thinking too much now... That can be almost as bad as not thinking enough.

Living in a powder keg and giving off sparks...

She's wearing synthetic plaids. It's a four day drive and a boat ride to the place called hope.

Oh how I love Karen from Will & Grace. Can you believe I had a guy the other on my plane ask me, mid-chuckle, "How's Will?" I couldn't even make myself fake laugh. Some people are so stupid.

It's Sunday night and I'm off work. It's nice. I went to church today. I spent the afternoon with my family which was very lovely. My mom cooks such yummy food. I don't really have anything to say. Well I probably do but can't be bothered to think that much right now. So I'll go rot my brain some more and see what other lovely things Karen will come up with.

much better, thankyou

I appreciate those of you who expressed concern about how crappy I felt this morning. I took some medicine and put ice on my face and finally fell back asleep. I felt a lot better when I woke up except that I realized the title still wasn't here. The drama continues. Supposedly it's supposed to be here TOMORROW morning, which means I still have no car. Once again, my dear kind friend/roommate Tanya lent me her car so I could run errands but it's sooo frustrating. This is what you get for being nice and trusting people.

Yesterday when all this frustration starting coming to a head and I was venting Adri was like "well Grace, it sounds like life really bitch slapped you today." It seems that life is on a roll. She called me back this morning and said that she had just gotted bitch slapped by life. She's supposed to move out of her apartment at the end of the month. When she went to work this morning she got a call from her landlord that said her lease had expired yesterday and she had to move out today!! They're being completely ridiculous. Adri, I'm sending my good moving vibes to you. Hope it's going alright. Then, a few hours later Tanya gets a call from Joe saying that their apartment had just gotten broken into. Nothing was stolen, but the front door was kicked in. This guy had come knocking on the door asking for someone. Joe said he didn't live there so the guy went upstairs. Joe left to go over to the gym and the guy saw him leave. When he came back the door was open. Good times. I love our complex. I'm so glad we live on the top floor. So I guess my carlessness (not carelessness) isn't the worst thing happening. When I say that it makes me feel silly cause my life really isn't bad at all, but I still whine a lot. My life is not only not bad, it's freaking awesome compared to 99% of the rest of the world.

I should probably be packing for my trip instead of sitting here watching tv... Oh well. I'm going to be in Monterrey, Mexico tomorrow night and Fayetteville, AR Friday night. I'm quite pleased about being off on Sunday. It's been a while since I got to go to church and I really miss it. I just submitted my bid for next month - not that I'm going to get what I want. We'll see what craziness I end up with.

And that's all I've got to say about that.

2006 Vintage Whine

There's nothing quite like starting a new day with throbbing pain in half of your face. I'm not sure but I may be sick. The only other reason I would be awake since 7am would be work, but I'm off today. I've been lying here in bed for the last nearly three hours putting an ice pack on my face and reading. My sinuses on the left side of my face hurt so bad and my mom said cold helps. Good times. Nothing like having a frozen eyeball. I was going to blog yesterday but was a bit frustrated so I decided to wait since today couldn't help but be a better day (or so I thought).

I still haven't received the title for my car, therefore my car is illegal to drive. The frustration is unreal. Supposedly it's going to be delivered before 10am, so they've got 11 minutes to show up. This is such a pain though. I've had to borrow Tanya's car to get anywhere (good thing I have such nice friends). It makes me so mad when people don't do what they're supposed to do. And at this point, really all I can do is be mad. I don't think these people are trying to screw me over. I just think they're serious slackers.

I'm going to try to go back to sleep. My face won't stop hurting and now it's making the rest of my head hurt. It's so weird because I went to sleep last night and felt perfectly fine and woke up this morning feeling like I had concrete in my sinuses - and only on one side. Weird stuff. I'll write more later when I stop feeling like my head is going to explode.

the glamour never ends

It's amazing how last week's trip and this one feel so different. They're nearly identical. 5 legs Friday, 2 Saturday, 2 Sunday, and 3 on Monday. The two main differences that I'm aware of are 1. I was off 3 days before starting this one, instead of already having worked 4 days and 2. I haven't have to get up early since Tuesday. I'm not sure which has more of an impact. Whatever it is though, I feel so much better this trip. At the beginning of my trip I didn't feel like working. I had enjoyed being off for 3 days. Enjoyed going to sleep every night for a few nights and knowing that I really didn't have to do anything the next day if I didn't want to. I was wondering if I even liked my job anymore. Now, after 3 days of work, I still do like it. I have a lot of things to say but don't feel like writing a book so maybe I'll just jot them down so I can remember them. That is the whole point of this thing, isn't it?

- I got pulled over the other day for the second time for not having my tag. Had to be a jerk to finally track down my title. I hate when people make me do that.
- I had two people tell me within 5 minutes of each other that I looked like Princess Diana.
- I got to see someone I knew on my last two overnights. First was in Tulsa. Had lunch with my friend Kim. Second was in Montgomery last night and today where I saw a lot of my mom's side of the family, including my fabulous cousin Susan, who turned 25 yesterday.
- I really like the Hilton Garden Inn. If it wasn't wrong to steal and a king size bed would fit in my luggage I'd steal this one. And the pillows.
- On the way to Tulsa the other night I had an old guy offer to take me horse back riding the next day. Bummer I had to leave...
- Everyone knows I'm in over my head.
- I swapped my three day with early duty-ins this Fri-Sun for one with late duty-ins Thurs-Sat so I have 5 days off next week. I'll also spend Thursday night in Monterrey and Friday night in Arkansas.
- I got a bunch of books from my cousin which makes me really happy.
- I need to start exercising so I can stop feeling so disgusted with myself.
- Four days is a long time to be at work.
- It took us 28 minutes to fly from Montgomery to Atlanta. It took us 47 minutes to get from touchdown on the runway into a parking spot. Gotta love the ol' ATL...

I'm not really tired cause I slept really late today, but I guess I should try to sleep since it's midnight back home. I'm in McAllen, TX. I wish I was in my bed but hopefully I will be there this time tomorrow, or at least at home hanging out with my friends. I wish I at least had someone to entertain me. Oh well... Maybe next time.

move like a jellyfish, rhythm is nothing

You know, if you really think about life sometimes, it'll scare you to death. I don't think I'm hiding my head in the sand, but I think you have to realize that there are certain things that just aren't healthy to dwell on. I've just finished reading the most recent article on CNN.com about the terror threats that were discovered this morning. Good times... I can't wait to go to work tomorrow. Good thing I'm only flying to places like Roanoke, Tulsa, Montgomery, etc...

This whole going back to work thing doesn't make me happy. It was so nice for the last two days to know that there wasn't anything I had to do the next day. Now I'm having to do laundry and get ready for work again. Ugh. The good thing is, I get to spend Saturday night and a huge part of Sunday in Montgomery where my mom's side of the family lives.

My head is all in a kerfuffle right now. I'm not sure why. I just have a lot of things on my mind. Things I have to do. People I need to call. Stuff I have to take care of before I go to work. Plus a load of other stuff that just lives inside my head and harasses me. Sometimes I don't like myself very much. My priorities are really out of whack these days. I need to sort myself out. Let go of that which needs to be let go of (easier said than done). Embrace the things that are important... I'm stressing about money again. I know I said a while back that things were better, but I haven't seen my first check from my raise and my new schedule yet. So I'm just hanging on until then. Trying not to focus on it too much.

More cheerful subjects - J and I painted one wall in my room the other day and it looks great. When you walk in my room the opposite wall has a big window on it looking out at the trees behind our apartment. The wall is kind of an olive green and it kind of blends in with the outdoors. It's exactly what I wanted it to do but was worried that it would just look like pea soup instead. So when I get paid again I'm going to get that quilt and some other stuff and before you know it, my room will be beautiful! That makes me really happy.

Other things that make me happy: I've done some serious work on my tan this week (if I'm not going to do anything about my fat I need to at least keep it tan!). I got some white linen capris which are said to look hot on me. We finally have a functioning dryer (doing laundry as I type). I don't have any early duty-ins on this trip. I'm going to see my family today.

I guess that's all for now. I love Jack Johnson. I love Davefm and Mara. Check out radio free lunch every day from 12-1. I'm a dork that I'm plugging a radio station in my blog but I like Mara that much. Every day they have a topic and play songs that have to do with it. It's fun.

Georgia on my mind

(that song is playing in the hotel lobby right now)

What a week... I've worked every day since Monday and don't finish until tomorrow afternoon. These last four days, especially, have been a constant personal pep talk. I tell myself, I don't know how I'm going to do this. I can't do 5 more flights. I can't do that many more announcements... Then I tell myself, Grace, you don't have a choice. You have to do this. Then I feel like crying, but people worry when their flight attendant cries so I don't. And I've learned it doesn't really help at all.

This morning I woke up late. It was 0521. I've been worn down physically and emotionaly for days. I think I've slept one night at home in the last week. I've seen one person I know in the last 3 days. Have hardly talked to anyone, but honestly don't have the energy to talk to anyone. It's weeks like this that make me wonder how long I can do this job. I have to remind myself I'm just tired. This isn't how it always is. It's the beginning of the month so I got integrated which means I work 8 days in a row instead of the usual 3 or 4.

We flew back from Kalamazoo at 630 this morning and when we landed in Atlanta I was having the same back and forth conversation with myself. Somewhere along the way I remembered I don't have to handle these things on my own. I know there are places in Psalms where it says that David encouraged himself. It's kind of a funny thing, but sometimes there isn't anyone else to do it. The Lord reminded me of several verses - I can do all things through Christ... if I wait on the Lord He renews my strength, I'll mount on wings like eagles, run and not faint... I finally told God, I need something or someone to help me get through this. I only had 2 flights today which is great but it seemed like 2 too many. We had to switch planes when we got to Atlanta and the plane we got didn't have the air working on the ground. They were working on fixing it so the captain told me to go inside and wait. So I did and took a little catnap. I woke up to see my good buddy Tom standing next to me. He gave me big hugs. It was so nice to see a familiar face and get a hug. Then I went out to the plane and the passengers came on. There was an old couple sitting in the front row. The man could hardly walk, but the lady was by him the whole time. They were pretty old but she always had her arm through his and her hand on his hand, stroking it and smiling and talking to him. They looked so happy together. I asked them if they were married and how long they had been married. She said 49 years!! I said well it looks like you guys still like each other. They both said they really did and that they laughed a lot together. It really cheered me up in a lot of ways. They were so happy, even after all these years.

This is a whole lot of nothing really. Just rambling. I'm still tired but I'm in Naples, FL and am trying to kick myself hard enough to find my way to the beach. I was going to go earlier but it started pouring down rain. I think it's a few miles away, but I could use the exercise.

I hope everyone is having a blessed Sunday. It's so easy to get bogged down by life and forget how good we/I really have it.

PS. If anyone knows of a place on the gulf that I could go chill with my sister for a day or two before she goes back to college let me know.

combos give you the worst breath ever

I feel very happy at the moment and to be honest I don't know exactly why. I know that seems weird to say. I have every reason to be happy. I have a great life. But sometimes you feel happier than other times when the circumstances haven't changed at all. I'm actually really tired which usually subtracts from my happiness. There are several things that I know are contributing factors to this good feeling though. 1. I just finished my last nap of the month. It's a new month and I start a new schedule tomorrow. 2. I came home to a reasonably neat room. Not finished but definitely reduced mess/clutter. Many steps in the right direction. 3. I saw a bunch of my favorite people at work this morning. 4. My little sisters are coming home today and I've talked to my family more lately than usual and they still love me. 5. I don't have to work tonight. I think those are enough reasons for now.

I've seen so many of my friends lately. It's made me realize all over again how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life that care about me. Even silly things like the comments people leave on my blogs remind me of that. We were counting up on Saturday and I realized that nearly all of my close girl friends have been my roommates at one point or another. I have fabulous guy friends as well. People that I know I can call at any time, even if it's just to hear someone say they love me.

I know life can be an emotional roller coaster and tomorrow I might be the most depressed person around. I think that's why I like to document the ups and downs of life, so I can go back tomorrow or next week and remind myself why my life is so good and of the million reasons I have to be happy. 6. I just got my one year raise, and that combined with having a regular line means that there is light at the end of the financial tunnel I've been in for the last few years. I think this is a huge part of the general good feeling. I'm sure everyone understands how much financial problems can affect the rest of your life, so to be able to breathe a little easier and have a little more control over my income is truly a wonderful thing.

And now I will sleep. Hasta la boxers.

Organizational frustration

That's exactly what I'm dealing with right now. One of my goals for the month of August is to make my room a place that I enjoy being. Right now it feels too cluttery. It's hard to keep it clean. The walls are boring and white. My main wall decoration is a Porsche poster. One of my problems is that things don't have places. So I bought some underbed boxes to store seasonal clothing and things like that. I refuse to box junk under my bed but I figure since I don't have a dresser, if they're organized it's okay to have clothes under there. I've gone through a bunch of stuff in here. Emptied boxes. Sorted piles. Gone through my closet. But I don't really feel like I'm getting anywhere.

I'm also trying to decide between these two quilts.
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?order_num=-1&SKU=107430&RN=42
http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2101535&cp=1331605.1331629&view=all&parentPage=family
Tell me what you think. Then after I get that I can get curtains and other things that will make my room nice.

I don't really know what the moral of this story is. I'm just tired of sorting and I need a break. Sometimes I just feel like throwing away everything in my room. Maybe I need to take advantage of that feeling and throw stuff away. Guess I should get back to it.

It's my Friday also!!

My airline buddies will realize that just because it's Friday for the rest of society doesn't mean it is for us. Usually it's the opposite. But today actually is my Friday and I'm so happy. I think if I had to go to work tonight I would cry. I miss my roommates. I miss my family. I miss my friends. I miss sleeping in my own bed at night. I don't have to work again til Monday night and I'm so pleased.

Last night was uneventful except that we actually got to Cleveland early, which is an event in itself, since it hasn't happened in the last week and a half. That meant that I got around 6 hours of sleep last night. Not bad for a nap. I had a lovely conversation with my favorite little brother yesterday before work, which also made me happy. I've been having very disturbing dreams about my family lately and I don't know why. It makes me want to be in touch with them more. I seem to have a recurring theme in that someone, often my mother, is rearranging my living situation, usually in a way that takes away my independence and privacy. It doesn't make sense to me cause my mother has never been that way. She still isn't. She's always encouraged me to step out and be on my own. If not encouraging she has at least been supportive. Dreams can be silly things sometimes.

Speaking of silly things, my fellow FA was coming up the escalator yesterday before work. He was riding next to some girl and he said she looked him dead in the face and said "Is this Atlanta?" He said, "yes honey, this is Atlanta." That really, really concerns me that a person can be in an airport and be so confused they have to ask what city they're in. How did she get here and not be sure where she was going? Like, oops... the Atlanta and Seattle flights were right next to each other and somehow I ended up in the wrong city. Ooopsies. The stupidity of people will never cease to amaze (and humor) me.

I have a lot of stuff to do today so I need to get to it. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend.

24 in 7 clarification

Here's the deal. Pilots and flight attendants both have to have 24 hours off in 7 days. The difference is, pilots have to have an entire day midnight to midnight. Ours is a moving 24 hr window. Example: next week I finish at 9am on Tuesday morning and don't have to work until 2pm in Wednesday. I will be working M, T, W, Th, F, Sa, Su, M. Which, in case you can't count is 8 days. The only break I have is that 29hr break. A pilot would have to have from Tuesday at midnight to Wednesday at midnight. If this doesn't make sense to you now then you're just dumb. I can't explain it any further.

grouchy tired blah

I'm so tired and grouchy right now. The first half of the month of naps was nice. It was nice being home. Nice only doing one flight at night and one in the morning. But now I'm sick of it. I don't know if it's cause I picked up stuff on my off days and haven't given myself time to rest or what, but I am. I'm tired of only getting a normal night's sleep 3 nights a week (if that). I'm tired of getting up at the buttcrack of dawn and having to be pleasant and professional. Tired of stupid, demanding passengers. Can you believe someone asked us at 6:30 this morning if we had liquor on the flight??? What is wrong with people? I'm tired of their grouchiness and them thinking they're the only ones that are inconvenienced when we're late. When we get there really late at night I just want to yell at them and be like, hey, at least you get to go home and sleep. I have to be back here in 3-5 hours. I'm tired of them treating me like I'm their slave. I'm tired of being gone every night and the nights I'm home I'm too tired to do anything. It sucks too cause this month is ending soon but they have been kind enough to roll me right into 6 more days of work when I get back from my nap on Tuesday morning. It sucks cause pilots have to have an entire day off after 6 days of work but we only have to have 24 hours. So from this Monday until next Tuesday I will be working every day. Anyway... I'm finished complaining. I'm going to go into the simulated night in my room and try to pretend I don't have to get up in a few hours and go back to work. I'll be much more cheerful at this time tomorrow.

Hi, I'm Grace J*** H**** and I'm a bad friend

Please egg my apartment and my car. That's what Kathryn says anyway. I'm writing it so she doesn't have to. But I have the most fabulous shoes ever so it doesn't really matter. And Amie's sister wants an engagement ring made out of a tree. I would give you my license plate numbers so you can find my car and egg it, but I don't have a license plate. So good luck with that. Plus it's raining so the egg would just wash off. I got these shoes yesterday at Ross. They pretty much make me want me. They're pointy black, slingback, Nine West stilettos. I used to hate pointy shoes cause they made my feet look longer and skinnier than they already are, but these actually look really nice and hot. So I bought them as a reward to myself for making it through a month of naps. Regardless of what went on this month, I would have come up with a reason to buy them. I wore them to the wedding I played in today. I'm so sick of going to weddings. It was really nice, which is one reason why I'm sick of going. You all already know how I hate happy people. hehe...

Charity is really weird. My friends and I have reached a new level of old. We've spent hours discussing the prices of homes, insurance rates, interest rates, the cost of health insurance, loans... I think you get the idea. And just when I think we're all old and grown up, Charity starts using a golf club like a light saber. She makes me laugh though, and those who know me well know how high the ability to make me laugh puts you on my list.

I had dinner tonight with some of my old Patricia Drive roommates. Adri is in town this week and she cooked for 5 of us. It was fabulous. She made poppyseed chicken and I ate too much. It was good to see everyone. We should have a reunion sometime. It's crazy thinking about how many people that would involve. I have had a lot of roommates in my life. Some I would rather forget about, but some have become my best friends.

And that's all I've got to say about that. And put the eggs away. I'm a fabulous friend.

ramblings of a half asleep woman

I'm sitting here at the table next to Amie. She is making chicken fingers and I'm trying to decide what I'm going to eat. I managed to sleep a little over 4 hours just now and it felt good. Despite all the good things I've come to realize about naps, I just feel like they drain me so much. I'm worthless during the day. I guess the fact that I keep working on my off days doesn't help. My line next month is totally different so we'll see how that works out.

It's really sad when one of the highlights of my week is getting ALL my laundry done. As many of you know the girls here at 8302 have been experiencing difficulties with our dryer. This makes doing laundry a huge mission. You have to make sure it's a dry day and then hang all your clothes all over the house so they dry. It's such a pain. They don't smell like anything when you're done and they're usually wrinkled which drives me crazy. I'm not a wrinkle freak but I really like just taking my clothes out of the dryer when they're hot and folding or hanging them up. Then they're all smooth and beautiful. I went over to the guys' apartment yesterday and spent the entire afternoon washing, folding and drying all my clothes. Now they smell so good and are so nice and pretty.

I got pulled over the other night which was pretty scary cause I left my planner with the bill of sale and proof of insurance in it, so I was driving with nothing. It didnt help that it was 1am, I had my hair in a mohawk and the cop was 7 feet tall. Long story short, he let me go, but not before much fear and trembling in my legs.

I had a conversation with my fellow flight attendant last night and I need some input. Once upon a time I was told that because I had been a teacher and was now a flight attendant I would check off two boxes on a man's "fantasy woman to get with" list. So my gay male friend and I were coming up with men's fantasy women. This is what we came up with so far:

1. Teacher
2. Flight Attendant
3. Cheerleader
4. Nurse
5. Lifeguard
6. Maid
This is the input I've gotten so far - so I don't necessarily endorse all of these (but I'm a woman so what do I know??).
7. Hooters Girl (our captain said that one)
8. Librarian
9. School girl (legal age of course)
10. Asian girl

Tell me what you think kids.

I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel....

Ahh... Saturday night. Sitting in front of the tv watching "You've Got Mail". Too tired to do absolutely anything at all. Livin the dream I tell you.

I would feel pathetic for sitting here by myself on Saturday night, but it's honestly all I can be bothered to do. I came home from work this morning and for some reason couldn't go to sleep. I lay in bed, listening to the neighbors downstairs, listening to the noises of daytime, thinking about all the things I needed to get done, and combatting those thoughts will all the usual sleep inducing thoughts. I even tried earplugs. Oh well. Ended up having lunch with Jamie. Then headed over to my parents' house to pick the veggies in their garden because they're all out of town.

It's funny how smells are so strongly attached to memories. As I stood in their garden picking cherry tomatoes, green beans, okra, and squash, it took me back to my growing up years. Off and on throughout my childhood, we had a garden. Cherry tomatoes are some of my favorite foods. I love the way tomato plants smell. I love picking them off the plants and putting them straight in my mouth. Sometimes we would have tomato fights. Gardens also represent a great thing about my parents. We sometimes grew gardens out of necessity but it showed me that they were willing to work hard. They taught us about them and we learned the joy of growing things and then being able to eat them. We learned about taking care of things. We learned how you have to commit to something for it to pay off. You can't just plant a garden and leave it and expect it to turn out well. You have to pull the weeds, kill the bugs, get dirt under your nails...

Anyway... I love Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

I should be finished with work for three days but I picked up a dayline tomorrow. I need the money. That's what I have to keep telling myself cause right now, I really don't feel like working tomorrow. Work this week was pretty good. The overnight was decent. Last night I saw so many people at work that I haven't seen in a long time. It was fun. I was reminded how ridiculous pilots can be. I don't think any pilots read this so I can say all the bad things I want. Hahaha... But I still love them. My other flight attendant I work with got mad again last night cause I was getting more attention from the rampers than he was. I'm like hello!!! You work in an industry dominated by straight male pilots and rampers. You are a gay male. Do the math honey!! It's good times though. I could've done without the child that screamed the entire way from Cleveland to Atlanta yesterday but I guess it's all in a day's work.

I think it's time for this day to wind down. Hasta la pjs.

PS. I didn't really hurt myself today to see if I still feel. I just had to use that subject before someone else I know does :-P. Cause I'm evil like that. Mwahahaha

Holbys scattered hither and yon

I'm nearly through my month of the dreaded naps, and the funny thing is, I wish I had gotten them next month. My line came out yesterday for next month and it's pretty decent. I have a lot of time off and will be able to play with my schedule a good deal, I think.

Last night none of my Holbys were in GA. My mom and Peter went to NC, my dad, Joy, and Michal are in LA, and I was in Cleveland. They're still all over the place. It's pretty cool. I just got off the phone with my dad, trying to get him back to ATL in the morning and then on up to NC shortly thereafter. I hope he makes the flights.

I'm really tired and grouchy today and I don't like it. I went straight to the auto shop this morning after I got off work for what I thought would just be an oil change. Turns out my breaks needed changing and the rotars were completely worn out. $360 later I'm never going to make any headway on my finances. It was necessary though, and I'm at least thankful I take my car to people who will work with me. They're really great. I had to run a couple of other errands and by the time I got home it was noon and I needed sleep so bad. Thanks to some other schedule things changing I got to sleep all afternoon so I feel some better, but it's just not the same.

I got a compliment last night that I have to share. I would criticize it for it's cheesiness, but I hate girls that criticize compliments. If someone has something nice to say about me, I'm going to appreciate it. Last night we were forever late getting out of ATL. First we had to wait on a plane. Then we had no rampers to load the bags. Finally two guys come up and load the carry-ons. After they finish one of the guys, a short little, old, white guy comes up the stairs where I'm standing with the other flight attendant (trying to avoid the prying eyes of the passengers who wonder why the heck we haven't left yet). I'm assuming he is there on business. When he gets up with us he says, have you heard that nasty rumor that SkyWest is spreading? (Rumors are as common on the ramp as airplanes are.) No, we haven't. What is it? Well evidently SkyWest is telling everyone that they have the best looking flight attendants in the industry, and I just proved them right. Hehehe. Ya, it was funny. I think the funniest part though, was how pissed off the other flight attendant gets cause people compliment me and not him. He's like, I hate flying with cute girls. I don't appreciate comments like that. Blah blah... I laughed at them both. But it was a nice thing to say anyway.

I must go shower and get ready for work. Hasta..

Friends helping friends

I don't know how many of you have heard of love languages. Basically, each person has a different way, or several ways, of expressing their love to those around them. It is often the cause of a lot of confusion in relationships because one person's way of expressing love may not be understood by the other because they express love differently. They are 1. words of affirmation 2. receiving gifts 3. quality time 4. acts of service 5. physical touch. This will explain them more if you're interested - www.thefivelovelanguages.com. I haven't put enough time into figuring out what my love languages are. I can make some guesses. But whichever ones have to do with helping other people out, especially helping people save money, makes me happy. Several times lately I've been able to connect one friend to another to help someone out and it makes me feel really good to do that. Peter accidently went swimming with his cell phone in his pocket and was out a phone but thankfully Angela had her old phone and she was nice enough to give it to him. Jonathan's phone got smashed the other day when he was flying and instead of him putting down $130 for a new phone he didn't really like, I remembered that Adri had an old Verizon phone that she had offered to me. So he just has to activate it. My older brother, Israel, was going to a job interview in Boston and instead of him having to get a hotel room I was able to put him in contact with a girl who lives near Boston that I'm friends with through Adri. I don't really take credit for any of these things. I can only take credit for having wonderful friends that are always happy to help someone out. I guess I can't even really take credit for that. Every good gift, including good friends, comes from God and I thank Him for them.

I've got a bunch of stuff I'm supposed to be doing today, but my mind is all in a kerfuffle (great word, huh Tanya?). I already paid a lot of bills, and unfortunately have more to pay. I have to get my car registered but need to print something off before I can do that and don't have access to a printer right now. I need to do laundry but want to wait until this dryer gets here. I'm getting my hair cut this afternoon which makes me quite happy. I need to finish cleaning my room and change my bed, but am obviously procrastinating. I haven't even showered yet. Gross, Grace!! I want to get my car all washed and waxed and pretty but have to get all my cleaning stuff from my parent's house. I need to do something with my old Civic but don't know what to do yet. Any ideas?

I guess that's about it for now. My dad and Joy are in CA visiting Christine and Scott. Michal is flying out to LA tomorrow to be with Joy at an evangelism camp. I'm so glad my family gets to go and do so much more now. I thought I was going to have to force my parents to take advantage of their flight benefits but I've been pleasantly surprised. Speaking of surprises... It'll be interesting to see what our power bill is this month since my dear roommates insist on keeping our apartment at glacial temperatures. Oh well.

nevermind

It pisses me off how when I'm sitting in class, trying to sleep, taking a shower, driving in my car, I have so many things to say. Then when I have time and I sit down to write I have nothing so say. None of the good things I had to say before anyway.

The roommates and I have just decided we are running to Ross so this will have to wait. My stomach hates me today and I kind of hate it back.

the long and winding road

As tired as I am, I only managed to sleep 4 hours this afternoon. I should have turned my phone completely off cause it kept buzzing at me and disturbing me. It's taken me nearly 2 hours to feel somewhat normal though I'm still really, really tired.

Sometimes when I am falling asleep I have these weird dreams. I don't even know if they're dreams cause I still feel like I'm partially awake. But it's just people having conversations. I don't think it's normally people I know, but the thing that is so bizarre to me is that in these dreams the people will be having conversations about things that I know nothing about. They'll be using words and my observing subconscious is just like, where did that come from? You don't know anything about that and have never even heard that word before. Because it's in such a weird stage of sleep it's hard for me to remember anything specific but I've had this thought on several occasions. How can our dreams involve things that our real life minds don't know anything about?

Back to yesterday... I woke up yesterday morning and called the bank first thing, as I've done every day this week, trying to see what remains to be done before I can get the check, go to Miami and get my car. Lo and behold all is complete so it's time to go. After much running around gathering insurance info, etc... (thanks to my dear friend Joe who has been kind enough to entrust me with his car), Tanya and I went to the airport. This guy I've been dealing with said that he would pick us up when we got to Miami which was great. I was worried about taxis and stuff. He still seemed to be a little surprised that we were really flying down to get his car. He picked us up and we hit it off right away. He told us about his wife, daughter, and son, about Miami, the car and then informed us that we couldn't leave Miami without going to South Beach. He was still turning other buyers away, all the while laughing that we would go to such lengths to get a car. I told him it's not that big of a deal. Which only tells me that I've already been working for the airline too long.

We got to the house and there my car was, sitting in the driveway in all its little Honda cuteness. I'll try to get some pictures up before too long. It's a black 99 4 dr Civic EX. It's got a leather interior which is in great condition, sunroof, manual transmission (yay!!), cd player, etc... It even has keyless entry which will be fantastic for someone who hasn't even had power locks for over a year, but they have to find the remote. His family was really nice and they have two adorable little dogs. The smaller one was a dog I could possibly see myself owning. I bought the car, then Tanya and I followed him and his wife over to South Beach where they insisted on treating us to dinner. We walked down Ocean Dr (I believe that was it) in front of all the restaurants and shops. I don't know about the rest of Miami but just that one street felt so alive. It reminded me of Madrid how everyone was always out at night, eating, drinking, playing music, spending time with family. We ate at a really great seafood place. They ordered shrimp and mussels for appetizers. I've had oysters and thought mussels would be like them (don't really care for oysters) but they were pretty good. Then we all had different kinds of fish. I had grouper with pear chutney over spinach. It seemed like it was lightly breaded, but whatever they did to it, it was very good. Then we had two different desserts that were really amazing as well. Not the best way to start a road trip but it was sooo good. They were a great couple to talk to. They had married really young but were still together after 26 years. Had a lot of cool stories to tell as well.

Because we got out of there so late we didn't get to stop in Ft. Lauderdale and see Simon, who I owe getting this car to. That just means I'll have to go back down there again soon. From what I saw it seems like a cool city, and now we have new friends down there.

The drive back was long. I was thinking about it today as I was lying in bed trying to sleep and I can only say that it was Jesus that made all this happen. When I was driving I didn't feel tired for hours and hours. I didn't feel anything. Just drove and drove. I don't even know what I thought about half the time. I made this cd last month and the whole point of it was songs that you like playing really loud, so I listened to that at least 3 times while Tanya somehow managed to sleep. I even had the air band going to Alice Cooper's Poison. You just can't help it when that song comes on.

We got home around 9 this morning. Tanya drove the last hour or so which involved coming up Hwy 16 through Griffin. She got pretty frustrated at some of the lights, and I'm sure gave some construction workers a good morning laugh at her stalling out, but I'm determined (and I believe she is too) that she'll learn how to drive a stick. Everyone should know how. They're so much fun also.

Well now it's time to get ready for work. Good times. Off to Ft. Walton Beach. Wonder if we'll get a fun captain tonight? J is off to Zurich and I'm gonna miss him. Or maybe I'm just jealous cause I can't go :-P. Who wants to go to Zurich when they can spend 6 hours at Ft. Walton Beach anyway?

It's about time

This is my sad way of letting all concerned parties know that Tanya and I made it safely home from Miami, and I am now the very happy owner of a lovely car. I will tell more about my car and our trip later but I am so tired right now. I have slept about 45 minutes in the last 25 hours. My body is feeling surprisingly well but my mind is starting to go crazy places. Lack of sleep is one of my worst enemies emotionally. (I'm so tired I have to check online to see if emotionally had one or two ls.) I know I have phone calls to return and people to tell that it finally worked out, but I wanted to get it out there in case between getting some sleep today and working tonight I don't get back to people for a while.

The moral of the story is: I got the car. I'm very happy about it. It's a long drive back from Miami.

Nap time.

New car time

The other day, I wrote a whole long blog, and then before I saved it all the windows on my computer closed. It made me mad so I gave up.

Monday morning I had a humorous dream. I often have bizarre dreams (who remembers Lynn Flyn?), but in this dream, my friend Jamie was a movie actor. Sounds cool doesn't it? Well the funny part was that he was playing the part of a woman, and part of his role was to very passionately make out with Ewan McGregor. This may not seem terribly strange to those of you who don't know Jamie, but last time I checked, the only people Jamie is passionate about making out with are women. Having never witnessed this first-hand, I suppose it could all be a facade - but I won't insult Jamie like that. He's straight. But in my dream, he sure was loving making out with Ewan. And who wouldn't? Obi-Wan is hot! There were a lot of other bizarre facets to my dream that I can hardly remember, much less describe, but seeing Jamie, dressed as a woman and making out with a man, sort of stuck in my head I guess.

The other thing I wrote about was spending 2 hours Monday afternoon sitting in one of the hotels on the north side of the airport, watching planes land and take off. I have admitted in previous blogs that I am becoming quite the plane nerd, but this really proves it. My kind friend Joe had lent me his car while he was on a trip, since mine can't be bothered to start. He was getting back from work late in the afternoon and Jamie and I were discussing what we should do in the meantime. We had just had lunch with Amie and David in Ptc so we considered the Starbucks option - go drink coffee and make fun of the locals. Neither of us wanted coffee which kind of rules that out. So Jamie suggested watching planes, and that's what we did. Those of you who know me well and know the pleasure I gain from seeing miniature versions of real things, or just really tiny things will understand why seeing a Cessna driving around at the airport pretty much made my day. It looked like a little wind up toy. It started out on the far north side of the airport and evidently had to make its way to the south runways. I think the journey across the airport must've added at least 45 minutes to their trip time. It'd get across one runway and have to wait forever for the next huge plane to land. I was surprised it didn't get blown over by the exhaust from the engines. It made me feel better about our airplanes, cause normally ours look funny in comparison to the big planes, but this one made ours look big. All in all, it was a very fun time. I am learning, very slowly, to identify the different planes. I think I get it down and then Jamie's like "no, that's a QR-19445.6". Not really but that's what it feels like sometimes. They should just put what they are on the side of the freaking airplane. So for all you guys who care, I'm an easy date. Pay to park at the Renaissance Hotel and we can watch planes for hours. It's fun.

Finally, a bit of good news about my car. I have been playing phone tag with this man in Miami for days and days now. By the way he talked on Friday and Saturday, you'd think the guy was anxious to sell this car. But when it came down to me actually purchasing it, he wasn't ready. Long story short, I was prepared to go down on Monday and get it, and now, Wednesday morning, I finally get word from the bank that they have all the paperwork from him and I can go get the check and fly to Miami. So I need to go get my lazy body off the couch and get ready to go. And because he dragged his feet, I can't even take my time coming back like I was hoping. I have to work tomorrow night. Thanks man...

the sun came out

Seven hours ago I was sitting at my parents' house crying to my dad about how overwhelmed and frustrated I was. My car decided to stop starting Friday night before work. Since then I've gotten rides and borrowed cars to get to and from but was concerned about how long this could go on. I can't afford to call in for work and can't have people hauling me around. On Friday I found a car that was exactly what I wanted but was in Miami. I have a friend who is a mechanic down there who I was hoping would check it out for me but when I called the seller he had three people looking at it that night. Long story short, the guy got offered a lot less than he wanted, I told him that if he waited until tonight when Simon could look at it, and he gave his approval, then I'd pay him more for it. So he waited, Simon saw it, he liked it, I like it, I'm happy, I'm getting a car. Hopefully I can get all the paperwork done tomorrow morning, fly down there with Tanya tomorrow afternoon and drive it home. Oh yeah, and I was supposed to work tonight/tomorrow morning and Tuesday all day and wasn't sure how I was going to do all that work and get the car as well. I put in to swap Tuesday's trip for something next week (the beauty of having a line) but up until late this afternoon it hadn't even been looked at yet. After being sick this week and doing two naps already I was exhausted today and tonight's nap was going to be really rough. As I was driving home from church tonight scheduling called me to say my trip tonight was canceled! That in itself made me really happy. Then I got home and checked online and they had approved my swap. Shortly after that I found out about the car and everything has just fallen into place within about an hour. I think this story is kind of jumbled but I'm really happy about it and tired all at the same time so my writing skills aren't my priority.

I'm going to bed so I can get a whole night's sleep in my very own bed. Yummy. You'll never know how much you like your own bed until you only get to sleep in it half the time. My life isn't perfect, but I know God is in control of things. Yesterday when I was worrying and wondering if I should really pursue this car in Miami my dad prayed with me on the phone and I had to remember that none of this is in my hands anyway. If the Lord wanted me to have that car He would work out the details that were too big for me. And if it wasn't the right one for me then it wouldn't happen and there would be a better one. I don't know why He is so good to me. I definitely don't deserve it. In other areas, I'm learning to do something I've never had to do before. It's not easy at all, but I believe it will be worth it.

I smell onions

This is the good life. It's 9am on Saturday morning and I'm sitting on the back deck, listening to the birds (and the traffic), just chillin. I've got the whole day ahead of me to do as I please until I go to work again tonight. I'm really starting to appreciate naps. I'm lucky because for the most part I got naps with decent overnights this month. Sunday night when I get 3 hrs of sleep in San Antonio I might be singing a different song.

For the past few weeks the air around where I live has had the most bizarre smell. It smells like onions, but more like sauteed onions than onion grass. It makes me hungry and wish someone would fix me some good food. I don't know where it's coming from. Maybe Purina is making a new sauteed onion flavored dog food. If anyone knows where this strange smell is coming from it would be fabulous if you could let me know.

In our society today we've gotten where fewer and fewer things shock us. We've seen so many things, real and fake, on tv that it takes a whole lot to even make us blink. Last night as I was falling asleep I was flipping through channels and saw something about "what women go through to wear sexy shoes." I stopped to see what they were saying cause I really like sexy shoes. I found out that along with all the other outrageous plastic surgeries they have you can now get fat injected into the balls of your feet so you can wear stilettos longer, and this is the one that totally blew me away cause it hits kind of close to home - Women are getting parts of the bones taken out of their toes because THEIR TOES ARE TOO LONG!!! They showed this woman's feet who came to the doctor because she couldn't wear her Manolos because her toes were too long, and they looked just like mine. Her second toe, especially on the right foot, was significantly longer than the others. So the doctor goes in and takes part of the bone out and the toe will eventually shorten itself. I've always joked about getting my toes shortened, but now that I know it can actually be done it is the last thing I would ever have done to my body. I have taken a lot of flak for my finger-esque toes, but really, they're my toes and I like them. I'm not going to stop wearing sexy shoes cause my toes are long. This surgery starts at $3500 as well. I'm still blown away by this. I guess there really isn't any part of your body that isn't subject to change. Whatever happened to people just being happy with what God gave them?

I'm trying to decide if I should stay awake or go to sleep. It's such a beautiful, albiet smelly day. It'd be a shame to waste it sleeping. But I don't really have anything to do or the energy to do anything. My roommates are gone so my apartment is really quiet. My car isn't running well so I should probably look for another one. I found one that I loved and was great but it was in Miami and I'm pretty sure the guy sold it last night. Guess it wasn't the one for me.

blog blog bo bog banana fana fo fog

I'm off today, beginning to end, and I love it. Yesterday was a crazy long day but for the first time in the year since I started this job (Yes, today is my 1 year anniversary with ASA) I could take consolation in the fact that I was making extra money for the extra work I was doing. And boy did I make some extra money yesterday. It felt great. I flew with a lady who was a lot of fun as well. We went to St. Croix which is one of the longest flights ASA does. It's part of our new extended overwater deal. I think the story before was that we weren't allowed to fly anywhere where we had to be more than 50 miles away from the coast. But now we can. Long story short, on the way back we left late (surprise, surprise) then when we finally landed in Atlanta we had to sit on the runway for 45 minutes because there wasn't anywhere to park. And not only were we stuck for almost 4.5 hrs on the plane with passengers, we were stuck with some of the most demanding passengers I've ever flown with. That stupid flight attendant call button rang more times on that one flight yesterday that it has in my entire career as a flight attendant. And it usually went like this - I get up and walk to the seat where the light is on and the same little girl that rang it two minutes ago hands me her empty cup. Then two minutes later hands me her napkin, then her soda can, then the scrap of napkin she found on the floor... you get it. I wanted to slap her silly. But at least I was making money. Such a nice change from the slavery that is ASA's reserve program. (I wonder if I'm allowed to type such slanderous things on here.)

I still have whatever was making me feel rotten the other day. This whole sneezing thing is getting really old. My apartment is so quiet. Amie is gone for a few days and Tanya is at work. It's raining outside which sounds quite lovely and has brought the hideous July temperatures down.

Because of the rain (and my sickness and laziness) I slept til noon. I had some of the weirdest dreams ever. I think Ashton Kutcher was in one of them. I won't even begin to tell them. There were three major ones that I remember (they happened in between the three times the phone woke me up) and the further I go into wakefulness the more they run together. I seem to have dreams a lot that I still live at my parents house. It's so strange since I've only lived there for about 6 months in the last 7 years.

I'm trying to figure out what I'm supposed to do with this lovely day off. Right now my mind and body are in veg mode but I suppose at some point I need to put all the clean clothes away in my room, look for a car, and other fun stuff like that. I feel like my blogs lately have been really boring, but my life hasn't been that interesting either so what can I expect?

Pre-nap wind down

Once again, it's unwind time. Right now I'm so tired I'm not sure what I'm thinking. Or at least not what order to put everything in. I love being in my bed. It feels so nice. I think I want to get one of those down things that you put over your mattress to make it softer. The bed I spent 2 hours and 30 minutes in this morning felt like it had one and it was sooo nice. It was almost torturous to sleep in it, knowing I had to get up so soon. I slept with all my clothes on except my dress and shoes. Ridiculous. What's even more ridiculous though is that my captain didn't sleep at all. She said she started watching some movie and next thing she knew the phone was ringing with the wake up call. She's crazy though. The other FA thinks she might be on Adderall, since she is very skinny and extremely energetic. We were supposed to leave for Detroit last night at 9:39 and didn't end up leaving until 11:30 which put us there after 1 and at our hotel around 2. We had gotten almost all the passengers on board and the other FA commented "at least we're getting out of here on time since our overnight is so short (it's was at 6.5 hrs then). Not more than a minute later a mechanic came up and told us that the right engine was leaking fuel and we had to deplane... Good times. I was hoping they would cancel but my flights never get canceled. This all happens after I've given myself the "naps aren't so bad" pep talk yesterday afternoon. The only way I got up this morning was to keep telling myself that at least I got to go home and sleep. I get to sleep in my own bed tonight but picked up a trip tomorrow so I won't get to sleep late. As long as it's past 4:40 though I can deal with it. Thursday morning I'm sleeping as late as I want though.

In Detroit they have a lot of moving sidewalks and each one has a yellow line down the middle of it. On the right side it says STAND and on the left it says WALK. I want to know how stupid a person has to be to stand on the left side and not even notice when people are having to weave their way around them every two seconds??? Naps seem to reinforce people's stupidity in my mind. The fact that I'm usually exhausted only amplifies every stupid thing they do and makes me imagine doing evil things to them :-P. Another thing that passengers do that pisses me off is to 1. ask me if I can call and get them to hold the flight or 2. complain to me about whatever it is on the other end of the flight that their late for or will miss. I'm just like I have no control over the departure and arrival of flights. I'm not a mechanic. I'm not a gate agent. I don't have any way of calling anyone from the airplane. I don't have anything to do with hotels or connections. And on top of all that, when we get there tonight and you go home and go to sleep I'm going to have to be back here in 3 hours to fly back. So there. Last night when we were deplaning everyone this lady came by and was like we have a bus that is supposed to drive us to Grand Rapids that we rented for $1000. What's going to happen with that? So I said "how am I supposed to know, you big idiot?", slapped her, and threw her down the airplane stairs. haha... Oh wait, that's what happened in my head. Am I being a jerk to think this way. Is it not common sense that flight attendants don't know about stuff like that?

When I get home in the morning from these things I feel like I've been gone forever. But then I realize that depending on when my roommates may have gone to sleep I could have gone to work and come back before they even realized I was gone. I'm tired and my nose is stopped up. I can't tell if I'm getting a cold or if there's something in the air I'm allergic to. I've been sneezing my brains out for three days.

Happy 4th of July everyone. Hope you have a great day and stop at some point to appreciate what a great country we live in.

work, cars, and planes... super exciting

This is my post-work unwind. I just got home from my second nap of my line. Some guy is downstairs doing whatever adjusters do to cars when they've been wrecked. They don't adjust them do they? So I'm waiting for him and my laundry to be finished so I can go to sleep. It seems like I haven't written in forever. I don't know what's wrong with me. Just haven't had much to say I guess (shocking, I know).

Back to my line. Saturday night was the first nap of the month. The other flight attendant wasn't the one I was going to be flying with for the whole month and neither was the captain, so when I got there last night I was a little scared to see who I was going to be spending the rest of the month with. Our captain is a lady and I was hearing like she was the devil in pilot form. The flight attendant I flew with the first night nearly drove me insane. It's too much to type but she just did all this really petty stuff, complained about everything, talked bad about everyone - all in a very heavy Boston accent. She had the personality that just grated on people's nerves, including the passengers. Thankfully my real crew is cool. The flight attendant and I seem to be a great match. He loves doing announcements, hates doing the demo, and likes sitting in the back jumpseat. I'm pretty much the opposite. I don't love doing the demo but if it means I don't have to do any announcements for the next month it suits me fine. He also has almost the exact same hairstyle as me :-P. It looks way better on me though (obviously ). Anyway... I woke up at 4:15 yesterday morning, and even after getting almost 6 hrs of sleep, thought to myself - there is no way I can do this all month. I looked at my schedule and I can swap trips out but I'll end up being gone so much and working all the time, for nearly the same money. I'm not going to try to explain it. Just trust me. So I figured I need to find a way to enjoy them. Well maybe not enjoy them but at least not hate life every morning when I'm getting up at some ridiculous hour. I've come up with some reasons why naps are good things and I should be glad I'm doing them.
1. I'm home every day during the day.
2. I will work 14 nights this month and be off the rest of the time.
3. I won't be working during the heat of the day. It's hard to stay professional looking when you are sweating to death and I get sick a lot when the planes are too hot. Won't have to drive in the heat either.
4. Get to avoid summer mid-afternoon thunderstorms that can ruin your entire day's schedule.
5. Passengers are usually asleep or more relaxed late at night and early in the morning so they don't give you as much grief.
6. I only have to cross seatbelts once.
7. People that get you in trouble, compliance check people, FAA inspectors, other flight attendants, can't be bothered to stay up that late or get up that early. (Not that I do anything to get in trouble for, but I still try to stay under the radar.)
Just to name a few reasons. So I just need to keep reminding myself of that when it's 4 something in the morning, I've only been asleep 3 hours and I have to get up again. Last night we overnighted in Detroit. The walk from the gate to the hotel van is supposedly 1.25 miles. It's ridiculous. I feel like it's the biggest, or most spread out, airport I've ever been in. Thankfully we only have to do it one more time (tonight) and then we're finished with Detroit for the month.

Enough boring work stuff. On a not so great note, I have to buy a new car. I'm happy to get another car but not looking forward to having car payments again. I took my car in to the shop the other day cause it's been running bad for a while, and they told me it will cost me more than I paid for it to get it fixed. They offered a temporary fix for around $800 but said I'd probably only get another year out of it. I don't like that car enough to put any more money in it. I want a car where I can use the air conditioner. One that doesn't leak or burn oil. One that has a functioning speedometer. One with two side mirrors. Four windows that roll down (power windows). I don't think these things are too much to ask. I'll be looking for another newer Civic. I'm not looking forward to the searching process, but I will be happy to have a nicer, more reliable car.

One more thing before I hang my clothes up to dry and go to sleep. I saw one of the biggest airplanes in the world yesterday. I was out at our pool yesterday with one of my friends and we were trying to identify the planes flying over. It was late afternoon so all the big ones were heading to Europe and other such places. This one plane flew over that neither of us recognized. It was enormous. He guessed it was Russian but we couldn't even see the tail markings. When I got to work last night it was sitting over by the cargo planes and was in fact a Russian cargo plane. I'm going to see if I can find a picture of it to show how big it was. It dwarfed all the other cargo planes around it. And that's about enough of being a nerd. Those of you who care about planes will appreciate how I feel.

It's nap time.

PS. That guy appraises, not adjusts, cars. It's good to be informed.