a sunny Manchester day

I have nothing fantastic to blog about. I'm bored, tired, and grouchy. My reasons for being so aren't really that good either. I just am. I'm lonely but too grouchy to really be around or talk to anyone either, yet being by myself makes me grouchier.. It's a vicious cycle :-P.

It was nice to have a break from watching Flica all the time and hoping for trades and swaps... This was the first month in a year that I haven't swapped everything around. It's been a nice month of work. I'm going to miss my crew. They've been great. Next month I don't like my schedule as much, plus I have vacation so I'm trying to swap everything around. I wish I didn't have any bills. Otherwise, I'd take my potentially 14 days off and go somewhere exotic. I might still do it anyway. It's been way too long since I went far far away. I've gotten so comfortable in where I am that I can hardly remember the person who got dropped off on the side of the highway in Hungary. I think one reason I'm remembering that person again is because it seems that so many of the things I've been comfortable with have changed.

I spent my last night in our apartment on Friday night. It was uneventful. I made about 15 trips up and down 3 floors of stairs with half my stuff. If you thought moving was awful, try moving by yourself. It rocks my face off. I still have to move some stuff when I get home on Tuesday but hopefully it won't take long. I was looking at the pile that I'm making in Matt and Molly's garage and wondering what the heck all that stuff is. I'm pretty sure all I moved was my bathroom stuff, clothes, and bedding and it seems like so much. I'm moving into a smaller room with a much smaller closet so this should be interesting. I'm ready to have my stuff settled in again.

I'm going to go wander around and see if some vitamin D will improve my mood.

the thing to do

Everyone seems to be blogging about change these days, so I'll join the club. Partially because I'm thinking about it and partially because I'm using it as a delay technique.

I'm sitting on the floor in my room. It's the only room in our apartment that seems remotely normal. The only one that has furniture left in it. My Porsche poster is still on the wall but my shelves have been taken down. I was reminded yesterday as I unscrewed them from the wall of what a pain they were to hang. It was a "I don't need any stupid men" project. I did pretty good building them. Didn't need any stupid men to help me with that part. But then I found out that it's kind of hard to hang a shelf on your own. Managed the bottom one using my shoulder as a third hand, but ended up having to get Tanya to hold the other end while I screwed them in.

I think I'm not so much in a sentimental mood as in a I hate moving mood. I have to leave for work in a little over 12 hours and when I get back on Tuesday I'll have another 8 to move my stuff. I should get a move on (no pun intended - though that is a good one :-P).

I'm moving into the Jones household for the time being. I don't know how long that will be. I have other stuff to figure out before then. But for now it's cheap, convenient, and my landlords are pretty awesome. Some of the others living there... not so much awesome, but it'll do for now.

I wish that I had made time to blog about my last trip cause it was awesome and now I'm starting another one and it's getting further in the past. I'm still catching up on my sleep. I visited two beaches in two days. I found out that a good way to feel good about your body, pretty much regardless of the shape it's in, is to go to the beach in New Hampshire. That was the first time I've been to a New England beach and the water was cold, but it was amusing, and we had lobster afterwards. I had no idea Manchester was so close to the beach. The next day we were in Key West which was awesome as well. It was much, much hotter so I spent most of the day in the pool and my entire face and part of my shoulders have now peeled as a result. It was good fun and we met some crazy passengers from Boston who were fun to hang out with.

I have too much to do so I'm ending this now. Hope everyone has a good weekend.

I am le tired

I don't have my contacts on and can't be bothered to get my glasses out so this may contain typos. I'm in Baton Rouge. I am very tired. I've been reading "Tuesdays with Morrie" which makes me think, and I've also just been thinking a lot. Remembering mostly. Today I brought green beans to work as a snack. It reminded me of my Madrid exodus with Elizabeth. I basically took everything out of the frig that wouldn't last until Marikay got back. Then when we got to Barcelona early in the morning and were lost and hungry we ate tomatoes like apples and green beans like... twizzlers?? I quite like them that way. I like crunchy foods a lot, hence my love for chips and cheetos. The crunchiness of the beans helps satisfy my desire for crunchy junk. But in a much healthier way. I also talked to Leslie the other day. She was another important part of my time in Madrid. It's funny cause this is about the time I was spending time with them. Crazy how memories seem to pop up from nowhere and then you realize it's the anniversary of the memory making. (Would that be the memory's birthday?)

This was a busy week. I thought I had blogged but evidently not. I'm back at work and had a long day. It didn't help that it was preceded by a short night. We're back down to Key West on Monday. We had a great time last week and I'm really looking forward to going back. And then again next Monday. Woo hoo. Thankfully I'm not working every Sunday next month. So far it looks like Wed-Sat.

I went to the doctor this week about my back. It's been hurting for over 3 weeks now. Making life in general a pain in the baaack. He said to take 3 ibuprofin 3 times a day for 5 days. I took them yesterday and this morning and felt like I was going to throw up all day so I stopped. I also got xrays done. Hopefully they don't find out anything weird like I have a hair growing in my spine...(Weird story I heard recently. Can't remember where.) Also got a prescription for Ambien, under whose influence I'm writing this. I'm expecting my eyelids to zip closed any moment and I pass out. This may seem early, but I have to be up at 425am and for the sake of my crew I need to get some sleep.

I'll try to write something less random tomorrow in NH. Don't count on it though...


Currently reading: Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, a Young Man, and Life's Greatest Lesson By Mitch Albom

stories dont mean anything when youve got noone to tell them to

I finished work today before noon. It was nice, except that I started at 530 this morning. The bulk of our work was done yesterday, and amazingly enough, all on time, all without swapping planes. We were supposed to go to Baton Rouge last night but right when we came in from our previous trip they switched us to Knoxville. Was a nice change since it's only a 26 minute flight and I was able to be in bed at 8pm. Our flight back to Atlanta this morning left at 615 so we were back in the lounge by 7am. Whenever I finish a flight I always turn on my phone and check for messages and to see if anyone loves me. I was a little disappointed this morning until I realized that most normal people were still sleeping.

Now I'm in Manchester, NH and not sure what I'm going to do with the day. I need to go check out the gym facilities here. I want to take a nap but am afraid if I do I won't be able to sleep tonight. I love Hampton Inns. The Hilton we stayed in last night was also very nice. This one even has a microwave and frig. Good times. I'll eat my leftover rice, chicken, and squash from Friday. Oh yeah, you know you're up north when your hotel room ac is automatically set on 66. It's in the upper 70s here and they're all roasting.

Kathryn came over on Friday and helped me eliminate a whole lot of junk from my life. I had no idea it would feel so good to take a 3 drawer plastic storage container and throw the whole thing (full) into the dumpster. I think she should work on one of those tv shows that helps people restore order to their houses. She's awesome :). Every few days now I go through my closet and get rid of more clothes as well. I'm becoming less emotionally attached to my stuff, which is good for me. I have an especially hard time with things people gave me, but I figure if they love me and want me to happy they won't care if I don't keep their gift my whole life. Clutter seems to affect me a lot emotionally so it's good to be able to eliminate some. The fact that I still don't know where I'm moving is also a good incentive for keeping less things. I thought I had it all worked out, but evidently the offer had been made (repeatedly) without actually thinking about it.... Good times. So back to the drawing board. I don't know how much disappointment I can handle in one month.

I think I'm going to get off the bed. Maybe that will help me stay awake - especially since these beds are so comfortable.

Oh yeah, the highlight of my day yesterday was transporting the Argentinian National Rugby Team from Pensacola to Atlanta :). I felt really bad for them because they didn't fit very well on our plane but they sure were fun to look at. Seriously, what part of spending time with 18 muscular Argentinian IN SUITS wouldn't make a girl happy?

PS. This is my 200th post.


Currently reading: The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus By Lee Strobel

Last day of freedom

I woke up a little while ago and realized I have to be back at work in less than 24 hours. This kind of sucks because I feel like I haven't gotten anything done on my off days.

I had weird dreams this morning. I dreamed I was supposed to go to Germany for vacation but couldn't remember when the trip I was doing ended so I wasn't sure if I could make the flight. Then it started snowing (during summer I'm assuming). There was some big group of people and I think they were trying to sing "My Country Tis of Thee" but they couldn't stay in one key, so the director guy asked if anyone could stay in one key. I said I could and he made me sing it by myself in front of everyone. Reminded me of one of my classes in college. But then I couldn't remember the right words so I just made ones up... This whole time I'm going around trying to find a computer to find out when I have to fly.

So now I'm awake and realize I have a ton of laundry to do and need to get a lot more stuff packed. I just looked at my schedule and somehow I only have 4 days off between now and the end of the month, which means I have to get all my packing to prepare for storage finished by then. My packing guru and friend, Kathryn, has deemed my case worthy of her assistance and will be coming over in a while. I need to get some laundry going in the meantime.

Yesterday was a lovely day. I did some random stuff around the house and then my Mama and Michal came over. We ate lunch and went swimming. It was good fun and nice to be around them.

Last night I went to the gym with Molly but did the bike instead of running cause my back still hurts. It makes me really frustrated at myself when I think of how much money I've wasted not going. I wish I was one of those people who just loves it. Though I have failed and been a slacker I'm still not giving up. My mom brought me squash from their garden, grapes, bananas, and cherries, which really helps when I'm trying to eat healthier. I had two yummy meals yesterday.

Guess I should go do laundry. Woo hoo!

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

I'm very pleased to be writing this from my very own apartment. I only have 20 more days to call it that, but the huge cockroach that I killed in here last night helped me be less sad about that.

I think I need about a month off from work. The trip this weekend was a little, actually a lot disappointing. My 33 hours at Ft. Walton Beach didn't even come close to happening. I think that God is trying to teach me something through disappointment. I'm not sure what though. I don't deal with it very well. It's hard for me to know what to do because the guy I was flying with kept being all optimistic about things working out, but I can't do that because the more I looked forward to something working out, the more upset I was when it didn't. I don't want to become cynical or a pessimist, but I can't handle disappointment.

We did finally make it to Key West for a short night there. It was really nice to walk on the beach and eat shrimp. I look forward to going back there every Monday this month, but at the same time, I don't want to look forward to it too much cause then if it doesn't happen I'll be really disappointed.

I did get to see my family on Sunday cause we got stuck in Atlanta for 5 hours. That was a definite plus.

I just ate some food that was in the frig. I'm not sure where i came from, and now I'm not sure if eating it was such a good idea.

I have so many things going on in my head right now. So many decisions to make. So many things that I don't know what to do with. I look forward to when things settle down again.

It's starting to storm outside which makes me kind of happy. I like the sound of rain.

It's Friday and I didn't even know it

This whole week of not doing anything has really confused me schedule-wise. I just talked to Angela. She's driving over here to go to dinner and was saying she should be on time, but she isn't sure. I was like well the traffic shouldnt' be too bad. It was fine on I-85. She said 85 isn't usually the problem. That it's usually around 285 and I-20. I said, well since it's Saturday there really shouldn't be that much.... It still makes me laugh.

My mother got home from China today. FINALLY. It's been a ridiculous mission but it sounds like she still made the most of her extra time there. It was really good to see her. It's nice to be able to go back to the terminals and meet people. I'm proud of all the adventuring she's done. Especially considering that she's never been off the North American continent until now. China is not an easy place for beginner travelers but she did just fine.

I'm about to go meet some of the girls at Mt. Fuji. I love that place. I've eaten out way too much this week and my stomach is hating me for it. But I'm not going to stop. Last night we had Thai food and it was sooo yummy.

I feel better in some ways than I did at the beginning of the week, but some things haven't changed. I'm still not sure where I'm going to live at the end of the month. I have options, it's just the uncertainty and lack of truly pleasant options that is getting to me. I've been the biggest, grouchiest complainer all week. I can't remember the last time I was this unpleasant :-P. Good thing I have patient friends.

It's back to work tomorrow and I think it will be good for me. I need to get my mind on something else and get out of my house. My cousin Susan came up on Wednesday and we've had a really nice visit. She's a good distraction ;). Tomorrow night I'll be in Ft. Walton Beach and don't leave until Monday morning. Then Monday afternoon I end up in Key West. A flight attendant called me yesterday and asked if I'd switch my trip with hers because her husband is the captain on mine. It sucks cause ordinarly I wouldn't mind since I know her and she's really nice, but this trip is the whole reason I picked this stupid working every weekend schedule, so there's no way I'm giving it up.

My back is still killing me. Maybe some time lying in the sand will help. Now it's moving up to my neck. I am definitely getting old. The scary thing is, all the men that seem to want to talk to me lately are getting even older... That's a whole other story. I'm off to enjoy my Saturday/Friday night :-P.

we're all getting old

It's the fourth of july. Happy birthday America. I'm not feeling very patriotic today. I'll have to work on it. I am wearing blue pj pants and a white shirt. Just need something red and I'll be about as patriotic as you can get :-P.

I think I'm getting old. My vision is failing. My back hurts and I can't seem to figure out why or what to do about it. It hurts to tie my shoes, to laugh, to step into clothes, to pick anything off the floor, to sit up... And poor Tanya has to listen to me whine about it.

I don't have anything interesting to write about. I need to go make my room walkable since I'm having company. Then I'm going to go work on my tan and be lazy all day.

grumblings

I'm not a happy camper right now. My mom is stuck in China. I want her back. We all want her back. I feel like it's my fault but there isn't any way I could've known this would happen. It's such a frustrating, stupid, ridiculous, unreasonable situation. Also, my heart is broken. Only for the millionth time. I want it fixed and never to break again. But then again, who ever really wants their heart to break in the first place? Why am I so stupid as to put myself in a situation where I know I'm going to end up like this? I am not at work, which actually makes me happier than if I were, but I'm very unhappy with my company right now. If I were an impulsive person I might have quit my job tonight. I just felt that irritated with it all. I think this is all pay back for the last several depression-free months. I find myself more upset over things than I would normally be. Or that's how I feel anyway. I also found out that the new charger was supposedly delivered on 6.28. Hopefully it was delivered to the office here and they just didn't bother letting me know. Would've been nice to have a few days ago.

I need to find the off switch for my brain. I want to sleep and not have the bad dreams I've had the last two nights. It's amazing how much dreams can affect your waking self. Today I found myself nearly overwhelmed by fear that these dreams brought on me. I don't like it and had to keep reminding myself that fear is not from the Lord. It helps me understand people I know who are sometime debilitated by what, at the time, seem like silly fears to me.

I've been told several times lately that I need to find a new job. I didn't get the one I was wanting. Found that out on Monday via email. I haven't given up on it though. Just need to try a different avenue. I don't think I want to be a flight attendant for the rest of my life but I'm not ready to give up flight benefits. I think I just need to work for a different company. Tonight, instead of finding someone to cover the overnight they assigned me (mine got canceled) and let me come back in the morning after I felt better my company chose to mark me sick for the rest of my trip. There is no helping anyone out. It's a much longer story than that but makes me mad to think about it. Now I'm off til Saturday. I'm glad cause I need a break from all the madness. I'd like to work for a company that actually cares about me, if that even exists. I need to start writing or doing something else.

I found out yesterday that I have been seeing 20/40 out of my left eye. I must be getting old. At least it's corrected now.

I also signed up for my 401k yesterday. It makes me feel like I'm getting old but in a good way. I should've done it a long time ago, but at least I'm enrolled now.

I had one of the San Antonio Spurs in my front seat the other day coming back from Nassau. He was traveling with his wife. Didn't know he played for them til after he got off and my captain recognized him. Don't even know his name. They were really nice though and we talked for a while. I also rode next to an NFL player last week coming back from Adri's. Didn't know who he was either til I asked him about his ankle (was swollen from surgery which led to conversations about injuries, football, etc...). He used to play for the Giants. I wonder how it makes them feel that I have no idea who they are. Ha

Things are shaping up on the home front. I have one roommate and now we are looking for a third person, since that will be the cheapest option. Now I just need to throw away everything I own so I can start from scratch when I move at the end of the month. I will definitely have plenty to keep me busy this week.

I think I'll try sleep again. Hopefully tomorrow I won't be running on battery power anymore and can keep up with the online world a little better. I feel so out of the loop :-P. This is a lot of disclosure for a myspace blog, but I know that people who love me read it and I need to share.

Why I haven't been blogging

My laptop charger has ceased to charge so I have very limited access to the internet. I'm supposed to be getting a replacement (evidently my laptop is still under warranty - good to know) but it has yet to arrive.

I have been traveling hither and yon and want to be home for a minute. Well more than a minute actually.

More to come soon when I get my charger.

Randomness from Alexandria

That's Louisiana for any of you who thought I might be in a cool town...

I misbid next month. I am supposed to work every Sat-Tues. The upside of it is I'm scheduled to spend a great deal of time at the beach. hmmm...

I arrived into my hotel room at 207 local time. A mere 4 hours late. Welcome to summer time in Atlanta. The plane we were supposed to take to Moline at 350 got diverted to Savannah while coming in from Baton Rouge and didn't even land until after 7.

I witnessed the Braves beating the Red Sox last night. It was a quite enjoyable experience. I did that after spending pretty much the entire day at the pool. Also an enjoyable experience. Yay for Molly's birthday and for J having a whole day off from flying and his other job.

I think there is a rule that if I have a good looking passenger he must have a baby and/or attractive wife in tow.

My nose itches really bad.

I have had lots of offers for places to live and a potential roommate situation come up. Still no clue what I'm actually going to do.

Peter is the best little brother ever. Who, when they offer to bring you lunch to "use up lunch meat in the frig" brings mac'n'cheese, sandwiches (toasted bread, lettuce, tomato, mayo, mustard, meat, and cheese), the only sweet tea in the world that I like in a big jar, yogurt, and cookie dough (not for cooking. just eating.)? It was very yummy and also great because I haven't had a chance to have a meal since then.

I got my hair cut today which always makes me happy. Nothing like a fresh, short cut and a visit with Faith.

I have sufficiently unwound and must sleep now.

expired food

The yogurt I just ate is a month past it's expiration date and the chocolate milk I'm drinking is 12 days past. Mmmm... They both taste fine though.

I'm finally home from the trip I thought would never end. And I came home to an empty apartment. I hate it. Amie moved out while I was gone and Tanya is in Texas. It makes me ridiculously sad to have Amie gone. Jonathan gave me a ride home last night and I think he thought I was going off the deep end... I don't like that Amie won't be coming in my room in the morning anymore or noticing the little things about me that noone else does. (Who else will tell you they like waking up and just knowing you're in the next room?) I don't like that the only person who got really, really excited when I was going to be home is gone. I don't like that our apartment will no longer be the fun place to hang out. It'll be the empty place. I had dreams last night about moving. Still not sure where though. Dreamed that the complex here was trying to make us stay. Ha! I know I'm probably being a little dramatic cause she isn't moving to the moon or anything, but things are changing and it's happening a lot faster than I'm prepared for and it makes me really sad.

I'm going to the gym. I don't feel like it but I need to. I don't see how I couldn't have lost weight this week. All I've been eating is dried fruit, real fruit and other healthy things. I did have chicken nachos one night and Taco Bell last night... We'll see.

Yesterday I fell in love

With Burlington, VT. I had the pleasure of spending a night and most of a day there and discovered that it was a beautiful, charming little town. The weather was perfect (though I was told it's only that way about 4 months out of the year). It began on the way up when it seemed that my two front seat passengers worked for the BTV chamber of commerce. They seemed to think that it's the best city anyway. They told me lots of places I had to see and things to do. It's nice to meet people who love their home so much.

Wednesday night Adri drove from MA to Burlington to see me. I personally think she was crazy to do it, but I appreciated it so much. It made me feel special. It was awesome to see her. The next day she had to go back to work so I walked back down to the town. The weather was perfect and beautiful. There's a street that's blocked off to traffic and just has shops and restaurants on it. I just wandered around there. Ate Chinese dumplings from a stand, walked to the water front, went shopping, ate icecream. It was generally a very lovely day. When I grow up and am rich I might by a summer house up on Lake Champlain and spend my days wandering through the little towns :).

Today is the last day of my trip. I don't know if it's because I did a dayline before I started this trip, but it seems like it's lasting forever. I have 3 legs today and am supposed to finished at 830 tonight. I have little confidence in that though considering that 4 out of my last 4 days of work have ended anywhere from an hour to 2.5 hours late. Wish me luck, or good weather, or whatever.

Right now I'm in Northwest Arkansas. We're supposed to leave here in about an hour and I've officlally done nothing with my morning. We got in really late last night and it took me a while to wind down so I had to sleep til almost 11 to get close to 8 hours of sleep.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous Friday.

mass confusion

Seems to be the Atlanta airport lately. Last night, once again, it took us a ridiculous amount of time to go from the gate to the air. An hour and a half to be exact. It also makes me a little confused about the way God blesses us. On Monday when I made up the time I would've lost by swapping while we were sitting on the ground I thought it must be God. One of my friends argued though that if God made it rain so I would get paid more was He also making it rain to mess up other people's plans. I'm confused. Now I'm wondering if this is simply a matter of the sun shining on all and the rain raining on all. It's weird when you are benefiting from someone else's misfortune. (Let me insert here that the only time I really benefit from people's misfortune at work is when we are sitting on the plane for ridiculous amounts of time. That's the only time I'm actually getting paid.) But then I thought about how many other people/profession make their business from other's misfortune. Do construction people consider it a blessing from God when a disaster takes place and they have more work to do? I have no answers and now I'm even more confused.

Last night we got to White Plains, NY at 1:20am. Made it to bed around 2:20. Our driver to the hotel seemed like he was asleep. I was a little concerned. Now I have managed to sleep most of the morning away. I don't think there's much else to do around here. Our second flight once we get to Atlanta is already delayed 2 hours. No idea why. This is not a good sign.

Things are changing. Evidently Amie moved out yesterday. Makes me really sad. I feel like another chapter is ending. In my head I know this means another one will begin but right now I'm just a little sad about it.

I found a flaw with my phone. It holds very few text messages. I had gotten used to my old phone that never filled up. And at the rate that I text this could get annoying. We'll see. I like it otherwise but I'm all about my texting so we'll see. I'm going to see if there's anything to do around this hotel. All I see is trees but maybe there's something hidden away.

bad/good

My mother has just set sail back across the wild blue yonder but without me this time. It kind of makes me nervous. I think this must be how parents feel when they send their children off into the great unknown without them.

I'm starting another 4 day trip today. On paper it looks good. We'll see how it goes. It looks like I'll have a hodgepodge of pilots. Sometimes that's good cause if one of them sucks he'll be gone in a day or so, but it can also work the opposite way.

As I mentioned the other day, I switched my Sunday dayline for one on Monday. I was talking to my FO on Friday and he was saying how glad he was to finally have Sundays off so he could go to church. It made me feel bad and realize that I had voluntarily decided to work on Sunday, even though I'm trying to go to church more regularly. It's also the main day I get to spend with my family and I hate to miss that. It's just an all round good for my heart day. When I decided to swap though, I realized I'd lose almost 1.5hrs of time. I figured though, if I do what I know God would want me to do, then He'll take care of the rest.

So yesterday I went to work. I got up really late and had a hard time waking up so I was grouchy (again). We went to Talahassee and back, then headed off to Wichita. On the way back we were doing pretty good except they slowed us down a little. We landed about 7 and then just sat on the runway. Evidently there had been some weather drama that had clogged the airport up. At one point I went up in the cockpit and counted 26 planes sitting on the taxiways around and in front of us. So we ended up getting to the gate at 8:15. Since it took us all that time I ended up making the same as I would've made on Sunday, plus 6 minutes :-P. Contrary to what some may say, I don't think God made the weather and clogged up the airport so I'd get more money. I just know that I'm really glad I made the decision to trust God and swap. I would've rather gone home on time yesterday, but that's life in the airlines right?

Oh yeah... I think I have the worst phone luck. Yesterday when we were flying to Wichita I pulled the ice bucket out from its space. Right over the counter is a cubby where I put things during flight. I had a magazine and some random stuff in there. There's also a drain to the side which you can put things in when you don't want them to slide off the counter during take off. I moved my phone from the drain to the cubby because I had to drain all the water out of the ice bucket. Almost immediately after I placed it there it slid off into the bucket of water........ I gave it to the pilots to put on their dashboard to dry. It still worked when I turned it on later. Then when we got to Atlanta I bent down to unhook the handrails so they could bring the ramp up and it fell out of my pocket, onto the side of the door and onto the ground... I don't know what my problem is. All I kept thinking when this was happening was, I'm so glad my new phone didn't get here when I wanted it, otherwise that would've been it. I don't know how I'm going to do it but I HAVE to figure out a way to take better care of this phone. I love my new phone. It makes me happy. My perfume and the books came today as well which also makes me happy.

I think that's all I have for now. I should go pack for work.

bi polar weekend

That's what I had. Some of it rocked my face off. Some of it made me want to lie on the floor and throw a fit. I've learned that being aware of your grouchiness does not in any way lessen said grouchiness. I don't know why I'm so grouchy. I was probably a big jerk to all my friends and family. I tried not to be too bad.

Yesterday I didn't get back into Atlanta until 440 pm. I guess there are worse places to be stuck for 10 hours, but after getting all of my other flights for the day taken and still getting back later than scheduled I lost my sense of humor. Maybe it's still in Asheville.

I got home yesterday hoping to have my new cell phone waiting for me, only to find that it was locked in the apartment office for the weekend. We bought perfume off ebay. It hadn't arrived. I was also hoping to get some books I had ordered. Also not here. I had visions as I was driving home of the mailbox being too full and what would the mailman do if all my packages filled up the extra boxes. Not a single thing was here... Talk about disappointing.

This was actually a really nice weekend but I'm just a grouch right now. The fact that I have to work tomrorow doesn't help either. I am thankful that I didn't have to work today. I went up to Angela and Shaun's place, ate, swam, and got beaten in volleyball. I got about a million mosquito bites and probably got poison ivy as well, but it was really fun. Also went to church this morning and had lunch with the family. Always a good time. We're trying to get my mother shipped off to China this week. I think it's finally all figured out.

So for having spent as much good, fun time with friends and family you'd think I'd be more pleasant. Guess not :-P. I still am happy, but witha grouchy slant. Not that that makes sense. Just go with it okay?

Last night I saw Peter and Michal dance. It was really beautiful. One of these days I'll learn how to dance properly. I'm going to sleep so I can get up and go to Talahassee and Wichita. Home tomorrow night. Then I start a 4 day on Tuesday. Should be a pretty decent one. Then I'm home for the weekend. Woo hoo.

Last day syndrome

No, I'm not speaking of the end of the world. I speaking of the way that our planes break on the last day of every trip. We're finally on the home stretch. We're missing our homes and loved ones. We're so close I can almost taste the old food in my refrigerator. And our planes breaks. I just wish that there were some way to find this out before I got up at 430 and came to the airport.

I was going to blog last night about not being able to go to sleep, because I couldn't until about 1130, but my browser crashed and I took it as a sign to keep trying (to sleep). I'm all revved up on caffiene and have nothing to do now. So frustrating. It doesn't seem that we'll have to do our TYS turn, but I seriously doubt we'll get back late enough not to go to DTW. Good times. At least I don't have to stand up for 5 flights. My shoes still hurt so bad.

I've had a pretty good trip overall. I'm sad that I've swapped all the rest of my trips out because my crew is really nice. My captain is usually the last one downstairs in the morning, which makes me happy cause then it isn't me.

We're in Asheville right now and last night I was once again reminded of one of the perks of my job. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and my grandpa picked me up and took me to their house for dinner. It's so nice to think "I'm working right now" but to be able to spend time with friends or family. We had a really nice dinner (my grandma makes fabulous salmon) and a great visit. I haven't seen them very much in the last year so it's great to come up and visit. The weather up here is really nice and they also got a lot of rain yesterday. Hopefully some of it hit GA. When we were driving back to the hotel last night we saw part of a rainbow and a really beautiful sunset. It seriously is the little things in life that keep you happy.

Wireless internet in small airports also makes me happy. It's funny how nearly all the small airports have free wireless, but the big ones can't handle it. Not so much funny actually as ridiculous. And it even reaches out to our plane. Evidently the fluid we need is arriving at 9am on the flight from Atlanta. We'll see how that goes. It's also a fun thing getting local maintenance out bright and early on a Saturday morning. I'm supposed to work tomorrow. I think I was on drugs and I picked up a dayline from someone. It's a lot of time, but I still wish I hadn't. I really hate how much church I've missed lately and picking up trips definitely isn't going to change that. I called scheduling to see if they would swap it for one on Monday, but I'm supposed to call back later... I really hope they approve it. I don't want to have to be back to work at 740am tomorrow.

The caffiene is taking over my entire body so I'll stop now.

It's all about perspective

If you think Georgia is bad in the summer, just got to Louisiana. It's absolutely disgusting here. I just went for a little jaunt here in Lafayette. I wanted to go get sushi for lunch so I looked up the directions I saw that it was 2.5 miles away. Not entirely out of the question since I have time and need to exercise. Then I walked out the door and the humidity hit me. There's basically no point in sweating here because the air is already so wet. Needless to say I did not walk the 5 mile round trip. I went to the post office, stopped at some little stores, and got Subway for lunch.

I'm very pleased with myself. Probably for the first time in my life I mailed a birthday card and gift on time. Of course, I did get the gift when I was in China in February with the intention of giving it to my sister then. So it's in time for her birthday Monday but actually about 4 months late.

I need to get ready for work. My new shoes are killing me. Evidently my feet are just too bony. And my new flip flops rubbed a bare spot on my foot just now. Good thing I only have to fly two legs today. We end up in SCE, wherever that is. Somewhere in PA I think. I should be getting ready right now.

Persistence

I just woke up from a lovely night's sleep. It's my last night in my bed for 3 so I figured I'd enjoy it as long as possible. I have to be at work at 1423 so I should probably get a move on if I want to accomplish anything beforehand.

This morning I had all kinds of dreams. I did yesterday as well. I dreamed that the captain from our cruise ship called Charity and wanted to take her out. I wish I could remember more details of it. Just now I dreamed that we were swimming around in somewhere with clear water and tropical fish - and our living room. I dunno. Earlier I dreamed that we brought a flight in from somewhere. I think most of the people were going crazy cause they were singing "It's a small world" and wouldn't stop. We also had to get in line and turn in our report cards (odd) and if you did well you got some prize. But since I was at the back of the line by the time I got up there they were handing out crappy, navy blue afghans.

I also dreamed about Flica, my interenet scheduling site. I was not pleased with the schedule I got this month. My trips had too many legs each day and were all short ones. Those are the trips that tire me out. And they were all Wed-Sat. I'd prefer to be off on Saturdays since most of my friends have real jobs. So I've been trying to swap but keep getting denied for low coverage on the Saturdays. It's ridiculous to me because if you have a reserve who can work the Tues-Fri one let me do it and let them work the Wed-Sat one... But whatev. So I've swapped the last two trips of the month out for much better ones, but have been denied 7 times for low coverage on the 16th. 3 of the denials were for the same trip. So I kept putting it in. Last night I dreamed that instead of it saying Denied it said Wired to some email address. I was thinking I was getting in trouble for resubmitting so many times. Then I woke up this morning and it had been approved. HA! I beat scheduling at their nonsense. If at first you don't succeed, bug them til they give up and give you what you want :-D. That's my motto.

My legs are a lovely shade of sore this morning. I went to the gym yesterday with the lovely Molly and ran/walked for 40 minutes - over 3 miles. I did a lot better than I expected considering I haven't run in over a month. After the gym I cooked stir fry with the veggies I had in the frig. It was yummy. Then we ruined it by eating cheesecake. Go us. I blame Tanya and Molly for getting it out. They did, of course, force feed it to me.

This is what I do

When I can't decide what to do. I had a big day of lying (is that the right word) by the pool planned, but there seems to be thunder going on. I've spent the morning messing around online, going through my bills, catching up on emails, sorting things... but somehow feel like I haven't gotten much done. I need to go to the gym. I went yesterday for the first time in a long time. It was pretty pathetic. I guess it was better than not going at all...

Last night I enjoyed some amazing sushi. I had a hot date with a married person. Woo hoo! I love reconnecting with old friends. I love having people that I can be completely honest with.

I can't believe it's June already. Our lease is up at the end of July and I don't know where I'm going to live after that. I might just live in my car. Everyone is getting married. Moving on with their lives. I'd say I don't like it but there isn't any point in not liking it. It's life. It happens. I don't always accept the changes as quickly as I should, but I'm getting better at it. I think I have pretty much accepted that all of my friends are getting married and that when people get married things change. I'm not making any blanket statements because each of my friends has reacted differently to being married. Some have stayed the same. Some have gotten closer to me after they were married. Some have drifted away. Everyone is different. What can you do? You can't make someone be close to you. I'll probably do really obnoxious things if I ever get married too. Oh well. Growing up definitely teaches you not to hold on to anything too tight. It's ok. There is always something or someone wonderful just around the corner.

I had a lovely weekend with friends and family. They're fantastic. Poor Michal is sick. We celebrated Peter's birthday on Sunday. He's already blown all his money on lottery tickets and cigarettes since he's old enough now.

Today I need to get ready for my trip tomorrow. Go to the grocery store. Go to the gym. Get organized. Clean my room (it never ends). Call about this stupid bill I just got. I don't know what order to do everything in though. Fun times...

Oh yeah, I added some pictures.

tomorrow

I'm going to be tired. At least it's only one leg home though. I've been lying here in bed for about 2 hours. Watched tv for part of it but have mostly just been lying here, rolling around, texting, trying to relax and go to sleep. It isn't happening.

So then I started thinking and remembering things.

3 years ago tomorrow I got my nose pierced. I had been wanting to get it done since I was at least a senior in college but knew that certain people whose opinions mattered to me weren't fans. So I decided to wait til I went to Europe. That way, if I didn't like it I could take it out and no one would ever have to see it. If I did like it, at least I would know it was something I was serious about and not just a random idea.

So I got to Madrid. I started keeping an eye out for somewhere to get my nose pierced that wasn't really expensive. I had decided to take a Spanish class at night, and went to sign up when classes started on the first. After I registered I had a little while to kill so I was looking in the shops near the school. There were a lot of tattoo shops and I finally found that would do it for 18 euros - the cheapest place by far. They said it would take about 5 minutes. I had 15 minutes until class so I decided to go for it. It's amazing what you can accomplish with minimal verbal communication and a lot of pointing. 10 minutes later I was in my first Spanish class with a pierced nose and no one noticed because no one had ever seen me before.

That night I went to sleep, and since it was summer in Madrid I had the window and door to my room open. We were on the 5th floor and they don't know what AC is. Fine with me. That is until I wake up to feel something crawling on my hand. I don't think much of it in my semi conscious state. Just flick it off... Could've been air. There are very few bugs in Madrid and we leave our windows open all the time... The only thing is, air doesn't make a loud noise when it hits the wall on the other side of the room.

Then I was completely awake. Whatever it was, I didn't want it roaming free in my room while I slept. Last time that happened I woke up with a bug in a place it didn't belong. So I immediately start searching around in my room for whatever this creature was. I see the paper bag that it must've landed against and before too long locate a ginourmous cockroach scampering about. I hate cockroaches more than almost any other creature in the world. They're fast. They fly. They run. They crunch when you step on them. They're dark so they can blend in with things. And they're just plain disgusting. Unfortunately I was barefoot and ill prepared to be fighting a cockroach. The best I could do was trap it under the trashcan.

With the cockroach under control I take the only preventive measure I can think of. Close the window and the door. And thus I spent the rest of the night tossing and turning, suffocating from heat, feeling like I was running out of air in my room, imagining that my nose was throbbing and every little sound was an army of cockroaches.

Such lovely memories... I won't even get into the first time I tried to change my nose stud. That was a miserable night but it makes me smile to think back on it.

This is probably why I only ever drink coffee in the morning. Or eat teriyaki chicken right before bedtime. Today I was so sleepy I could've fallen asleep on the floor. I knew that once I got to where I could actually sleep I'd be wide awake. I was really grouchy today, but I worked hard to overcome it. I had a poor lady get on one flight wearing a lavender mock turtle neck with shoulder pads. I kind of wanted to tell her that she should never wear it again. Sometimes I feel like it's almost my responsibility as a fellow human being to tell people things like this. Good thing I don't, huh? I'm going to try sleep again.

It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you

Man, oh man... I'm having a crazy fun afternoon here in Alexandria, LA. It's a little easier to go to work knowing you only have one short flight and then you can do nothing for the rest of the day, but at the same time, now I'm going to be in Alexandria doing nothing all day. I just finished a fabulous lunch of herb & garlic tuna on pita bread. I know... Everyone wants to kiss me now. In case I wasn't desirable enough, let's throw in some tuna, and then some garlic to top it off. Yeah baby!

There are probably a lot of productive things I should be doing. I need to complain to my company because they like to short me on my paychecks, but I can't seem to access the complaint line from here. I also should go running. I haven't in many, many moons, but I really need to. For some reason my body isn't taking the icecream, hotdogs, hamburgers, and chocolate I've eaten in the last few days and turning it into pure muscle. Crazy, I know.

I found out yesterday that there is officially nothing going on with any future job prospects. They aren't hiring anyone at the moment, which makes me happy cause at least I know I'm not getting skipped.

I don't have anything interesting to say. I seem to have about a 3 second attention span these days. I think of things I'm supposed to do, then I forget as I move to do them. I wrote down things to blog about, but now they all seem silly and ridiculous. C'est la vie. (If that isn't spelled right, I blame wikipedia).

This morning I told my FO how our CA had lived in Africa and liked to tell lots and lots and lots of stories about it. He started singing Toto's Africa, and now 4.5 hours later it's still stuck in my head. I hope the same thing happens to some of you :-D. I'm mean like that.

Oh what a beautiful morning...

This morning I woke up in my bed for the third morning in a row and it has been glorious. I had really bizarre dreams, but that seems to be a trend lately. I dreamed that Angela and Shaun were having another wedding. The dresses were the same color as last time but a different style. We were walking out and no one knew where to stand and we kept shifting around to make room. I'm sure the dream has something to do with all the talk of weddings that surrounds 8302 and beyond lately.

It's kind of old news now but I had two "important" people on my flights lately. The first was the notorious Terrell Owens. Thing is, I didn't know who he was til after he got off the plane (the 50 something year old gay guy I was flying with wasn't up on all his NFL players either). Wouldn't have made any difference really. He's hard to miss and I already felt bad for him being crammed into the window seat on one of our little bitty CRJs. We were coming back to Atlanta from Cleveland.

The other person was the Vice President of Liberia, who according to the CIA library is Joseph Boakai. He was traveling with his wife and 6 others up to Des Moines for some convention. According to the articles I've read there are about 24,000 Liberians in the US and about 600 of them live in Des Moines. There were a bunch of people at the airport to greet them with flowers and cameras. It was funny because the gate agents had told me who they were but I didn't know if they wanted people to know who they were. I asked the VP's wife if they had traveled far that day and she said yes, they had come from Liberia and he was the Vice President. So evidently they aren't shy about his position. Once again I felt bad for them having to fly all that way and end up on an RJ for the last 2 hours. Oh well.

Des Moines seems to be the place to go these days. I had 2 German couples coming to visit their children who had moved there. Another non English speaking couple. And the Liberians. One of the German couples sat directly in front of me and the man smelled so bad I thought that I would be physically ill. Every time he moved I got a wiff of him. Eventually he settled down, thankfully, otherwise I don't know how I would've dealt with it.

I also met a man who was missing part of his finger. I asked him what happened and said it was a lawn mower accident when he was about 12. It happened at a neighbor's house so the neighbor called his father and said they would take the son to the hospital cause he had had an accident. The father tells the mother that he's going to the hospital cause the son had had an accident, but she doesn't realize what he said and just said she had something in the oven so she'd see him later. He goes in the garage and starts to leave and then she realizes what's going on. As she is running out of the house he runs into her with the car so he ended up taking her to the hospital to be treated as well. Nothing serious, thankfully. But I thought it was the funniest story that ever came from asking someone what happened to them. It honestly made my day I was laughing so hard (before you think I'm a jerk, the man was laughing as well).

That's all for now. I have stuff to do on my last day off.

all kinds of stuff

I am finally home and loving it. I had high hopes for an exciting Saturday night, but my body seems to think otherwise. I am very full after eating my overcooked steak (which they ended up comping and giving me a $20 certificate) and extremely tired.

I've had interesting days at work. Some long and miserable, but some noteworthy events took place. Well not so much events, but I guess I heard and saw interesting things and people. I'll write about them soon.

Happy Saturday night to all.

Ray of sunshine

Today upon arriving home from work I checked the mail. In it was a friendly, card-like, envelope addressed to me. I was confused as I did not recognize the return name and address. It was written by hand though so I knew it couldn't be junk mail. I opened it and it said "Something for you, with special thanks"... and had a $25 Starbucks gift card in it. The note inside thanked me for returned their wallet and apologized for it taking them a year to get back to me. I vaguely remembered finding a small wallet on one of my flights. I knew if I turned it in to the gate it would probably just get thrown in lost and found, and since I've had so many things lost or stolen over the last few years I know how frustrating it is to have to replace everything. I decided to mail it back to the girl. I can't say I wasn't wanting any thanks - I did put my return address on it - but really wasn't expecting to hear anything. It wasn't a big deal to return it and I would hope someone would do it for me one day. It was just such a nice surprise though. I'm really excited to have a Starbucks gift card cause it's one of those luxuries that I can't exactly justify to myself on a regular basis. Anyway... It brought a ray of sunshine into my dark view of passengerkind.

I also had a fabulous visit with the family. Peter cooked a scrumptious meal of chicken wings (from scratch), mac'n'cheese, and carrots and celery. It was really nice and as always wonderful to see my family - and my lovely mother who I don't think I've seen on mother's day for the last 5 years. And she still loves me - one of the many reasons she's so wonderful. I bought my Grandma a card on Tuesday in an effort to be proactive and kind and it's sitting in my purse with a stamp on it but lacking a zip code. Unfortunately when Monday comes around and I can mail it the stamp won't be worth enough money... Arg.

I'm leaving tomorrow morning to fly to Orlando, then drive to Port Canaveral to go on a cruise. I don't know uch about it except we are going to the Bahamas. We'll be back on Thursday morning. So if I'm scarce between now and then that's why. I'm really nervous that I'm going to get seasick, since I can't even sit on a swing without feeling sick sometimes... We'll see how it goes. It's nice to be in my bed tonight.

Just my luck

There's something about going on vacation that makes everything go wrong. We are now in the Canton/Akron airport with a broken plane and no hope of leaving until later this afternoon. I was happy cause our Midway turn got cancelled but it looks like we won't get back til later than we would've if we had gone to Midway. We didn't even get here until almost midnight last night and then didn't get to our rooms until almost 1. I am le tired. At least I'm stuck here with nice people.

I had a really lovely break in LAX. We drove up the coast and had lunch at this beach restaurant. It was so beautiful out there. We ate lunch with the sun on our heads and our feet in the sand. The food was amazing as well. After that we drove further up the coast and gawked at the houses perched up in the hills along Hwy 1. I did manage to get about 10 hours of sleep that night, mostly because I couldn't stay awake. My schedule has been so odd lately that I've been having a hard time going to sleep when I actually get there. Now I just have to make it home today.

I think I've sneezed about 57,000 times in the last few days. I've been in so many different places that I can't seem to pinpoint an allergy. My best guess is that I'm allergic to myself.

If you need me, you know where I'll be for at least the next 5 hours probably.

hotel room gripes

I don't understand what they're thinking when they put the towel rack over the toilet. Don't they know if you pick one up the rest are going to fall? Or in the shower? I also don't understand what they're thinking putting two freaking outlets in the whole hotel room. I don't know where they except you to plug in your cell phone, laptop, and whatever other random electronic devices you may have. That's all the hotel room gripes I can think of. I feel kind of bad cause I spilled food on my duvet cover. Oops. It's only avocado.

I'm in Kansas City right now. It's super exciting. I had to be at work at 6am this morning so I slept about 4 hours and I am le tired. I intend to go to sleep shortly.

Today I was standing in line at the ABC in the airport and I saw one of our pilots who looked familiar. He was like, can I ask you and odd favor. Scary... He said we both got our badges renewed on the same day and he had gone home and told his wife about my haircut. His wife had told him he should've taken a picture, so standing there in the ABC some random pilot took a picture of me with his cell phone. Fun times... Good thing my hair was in tip top shape from my haircut yesterday :).

I failed to mention yesterday that I got to see my lovely sister Joy. And Peter made me an omlet. And it made me happy. My family is the best.

denial

I'm in denial that I have to be at work in less than 10 hours. I don't feel like packing (or unpacking from my last 2 trips). I don't feel like doing laundry either. I just feel like doing nothing. I'm pretty excited about this trip. I get to spend nearly 24 hours in the great city of Los Angeles as well as see J, who has been out there since the beginning of the month. Our company is so organized that they realized they don't have enough pilots out there so they sent 10 guys out there, put them in a hotel for a month, and are paying them $1.50/hr for the entire month. What a smart airline! I'm craving Diet Coke but I know if I drink it I'll be up all night. At the rate I'm going I'm going to be up all night anyway... So though I may be in denial of the fact that I have to work at 6am, I'm in acceptance of the fact that I will be very tired tomorrow.

Good news on the phone front. My text messages now involve punctuation and the letters d, e, and f. I can also now use the other buttons without fear of accidently hanging up on someone or turning my phone off. The replacement came today and I'm very happy. The foot rollers I ordered off Amazon also came today. I got a big one for home and a small one for my suitcase. Got the two rollers and had them shipped all for about $10. So much easier than driving around to a million stores like I did before.

Amie and our new child are home so now I'm going to do something else.

suffering

I'm sitting in an amazing beach house in Florida. I'm drinking Diet Coke, lasagna is cooking, and Faith is making brownies. I spent the day rotating between the beach and the pool. We did get rained out of both but only for a brief time. The water was turquoise (pronounced like Shirley Q - ter-kwozz), the sky was blue, the dolphins were jumping and it was fantastic.

I spent Friday afternoon wandering around Ottawa. It's a beautiful city and I would like to spend more time there. We saw the parliament buildings, complete with their very own stray cats on the hill. Not really impressed with the random little cat houses. I think it was more the randomosity of it that I enjoyed. I love cities with rivers in them and Ottawa has a river and canals. It seems very well taken care of as well. I just wish I was there a few weeks later when all the tulips were blooming. The buds were there but that was about it. After wandering around looking at the shops, then having lunch, I went back ot the hotel, read for a little while, and was asleep by 7pm. I needed it.

Yesterday morning I began the 3000 mile journey to Floriday. Okay, maybe it wasn't 3k miles to Florida, but that's how many miles I went before I got there. I took 2 people to Lewisburg, WVa, brought 13 back, went home, grabbed a few things and Kathryn and now here we are. Such a hard life. My main problems today have been what color to paint my toenails, which lotion to rub on my burn/tan, whether to lay by the pool or on the beach, which couch to watch tv from... I've been suffering.

we heart baton rouge

I have just returned from an oh so fabulous tour of the LSU campus and some random parts of BTR. Work is definitely much less like work when you get to see friendly people and spend mornings doing real stuff, instead of sitting in a hotel.

Last night one of my passengers had glasses with one square frame and one round frame. She was kind of odd. She kept wiping her cheeks and mouth with her handkerchief, even though she wasn't eating anything. The glasses kept me entertained though.

I need to find a way to make notes on my flights. I come across some of the oddest people but forget about them when it comes time to tell anyone about them.

My pilots this trip seem to be fun again. They're mean and I'm mean back to them. Woo hoo. They were dinging the call button while I was doing my announcements yesterday. I sure hope their mental capacity is greater than their maturity. I've had some really fun crews lately. The ones I flew with last week liked to make random announcements about me that weren't true. First they told everyone they might recognize me from the Olympics where I was a silver medalist in archery... Then they told everyone it was my birthday and to wish me a happy birthday. (No, I didn't get any money this time.) I was telling everyone that it wasn't my birthday until I got to one of the front rows and this little girl had drawn me a picture of an airplane and written happy birthday Grace on it. She also wrote "roses are red, violets are blue, candy is sweet, and so are you." So I couldn't bear to tell her it wasn't really my birthday. Sometimes my passengers are really dull, but sometimes they make it really interesting. I had a guy give me 4 or 5 of these little magnetic pins that you twist and they light up. One was shaped like Texas, one like a cowboy boot, a hot pepper, a star... All the things that are sooo my style. Another guy gave me a pin that was evidently the pin for NASA's next mission. I'll have to look it up and see if it's real. Whether I like the stuff or not, at least it breaks up the monotony of the day.

I think it's time to start getting ready. That or I'm really late. I get confused with all the different time zones on my clocks. My phone still hasn't fixed itself. It's definitely limiting my communication. I wanted to text someone yesterday and say we were about to take off but it involved too many f's so I had to say about to go, which doesn't really deliver the same message. Oh well. There should be another phone waiting for me when I get home. I called my Verizon connection and he's sorting me out. :-P

Life is good.


6:48 AM

ppl ont git how important som ltters ar

I'm killing time until I go to work. I swapped my ridiculous trip for a ridiculously lazy trip. I won't be making as much money as I would've, but at this point my sanity is more important. I think I worked too much in April. It was a good month. I had good crews, but the last 2 day trip I did put me over the edge. It wasn't a bad trip. I think it was just the fact that I spent 14 hours the day before working for a caterer at the most insane wedding I've ever been to/worked at. That would require a whole other blog, but the moral of the story is, my feet hurt sooo bad and I was sick of work. I was off yesterday and practically all of today. Instead of going in at 9am and doing 5 flights, I'm going in at 9pm and doing one. Yay!

My cell phone is not well. I think it might have something to do with me dropping it into the toilet (pre use) a few weeks ago. It was working fine the next day but seems to be deteriorating. I can no longer text using any punctuation or words that have d, e, or f within the first 2 letters or so. It's definitely making for some creative texting.

The last 2 days have been very productive. I've spent a lot of money but it's pretty much all been necessary. I haven't gone grocery/necessity shopping in months. I did laundry. Cleaned my room a lot. Got my oil changed. And did various other chores. I also managed to squeeze in some pool time. Got to do the important stuff. Now I'm just lying on my bed. Trying to memorize what it feels like since it'll be another 5 nights before I'm in it again. When I get back from my trip on Saturday I'm going to Florida with lots of girls. Should be nice.

I guess that's about all for now.

All-binny

Why is it that when I am finally in a bed and can relax and go to sleep, I'm very awake? Maybe it's because I'm in the oh so glorious Albany, GA. Today was a long day but not too bad really. Had some airport appreciation time and ran into a lot of people I really like and haven't seen in a while. The last few days were really lovely.. The last while actually. Got to see lots of friends and my family. Had a nice trip last week. Just lots of good times. Good food. Good people. It's warm in GA and I got sunburned yesterday. I love it. Unfortunately I have to be up at 430 so I should probably go to sleep. I know you're all jealous you aren't in Albany.

letting it all hang out

I can't sleep. I need to be asleep because my morning is not too far off. I have too much on my mind and probably just haven't been awake long enough to be going back to sleep. As much as I hate getting up early, I think these trips with the late duty ins every day are bad for me. I feel like I've been gone for about 5 days. All I did today was sit around in the room and eat too much lunch. It wasn't even that good. I got dressed to go run but found out there was no gym or fitness room at the hotel. It was a nice day out but I'm not brave enough to go running around outside in cities I've never been to before. That is part of my frustration. I basically wasted my day. All I did was 2 flights today. I did try to file my taxes (yes, it's getting late) but seem to be having issues. I seem to be having lots of issues these days.

I don't know if it's because change is in the air but I'm feeling very out of sorts and discombobulated. I'm worrying about money. There is never enough as it is without taking a break from getting paid. I was reminded yesterday that we are commanded to cast our cares on the Lord. It scares me how foreign that thought is to me these days. How I forget over and over to do that and haven't gotten into the mindset of handling everything on my own and by my own means. Can't say I'm even doing a good job of it either. I did have a wonderful conversation today that made me realize that part of my blahness these days is my lack of contact with those who I love and those who love me. It's a catch 22. I don't talk to people because I'm feeling blah, but talking to people is what is going to help me stop feeling blah. I had a really nice conversation with a lady on the way to Wichita the other day. We talked almost the entire flight (I only had a few passengers and they were sleeping). It was nice because I had some stuff I needed to unload and so did she. I can't help but wonder where she is and how things will turn out for her.

Tomorrow is going home day. I'm glad. I wish I was going home to a clean room, but I've made progress in that direction. I cleared a bunch of stuff off my shelves and stuff, now I just have to take it where it goes. Hopefully that can happen this weekend.

I feel some better now. My eyes are tired and hopefully my mind will take the hint. I have to be leaving here at 635 and they have breakfast so I need to get down there in time to eat some. I need to make sure I go to the gym when I get home tomorrow so I don't have the weight of wasting money on me as well. Tomorrow will be a good day just like every other day of my life because I am blessed and loved by the God of the universe and by many amazing people.

pointless

Last night when I got to Columbia, SC I had so much to say but was too tired to say it. Now I can't remember any of it. I've been reading a book that is a compilation of women's travel stories. It seems that when I read stuff like this I find myself writing stories in my head. It gets kind of annoying listening to myself all the time. I think it may be a sign that I've spent too much time on an airplane with no one to talk to. Yesterday we started in Wichita, went to Atlanta, to Columbia, LaGuardia, then back to Columbia. It was kind of exciting flying into NYC. I couldn't help but thinking that maybe I'll be flying into that city regularly. For those of you who have been asking, I haven't heard anything about any future job prospects. I haven't really expected to yet.

I need to stop being lazy and do something productive. I don't have to work until 4 something. Then I just got to Cinci and on to Montgomery. Home tomorrow afternoon. Woo hoo!!


Currently reading : A Woman's World: True Life Stories of World Travel By Marybeth Bond

Happy Jesus is Alive Day!

This week I've had the pleasure of reading two really good books. This one I just finished was Lovely Bones. The other one was The Secret Life of Bees. My grandma lent that one to me. I never wanted it to end. They were both very soul stirring books. Maybe that's a kind of dramatic way to put it, but they were both stories that got into your head, your sleep, your heart.. like you knew the people. Maybe even that it was you... Anyhoo...

We had an enormous and fabulous lunch today at the folks' house. Miss Erickson, Jamie, and Jonathan joined us. Now I'm still too full to do much besides lie around the house. I'd like to de-junk my room but I don't know if I have the energy. Yesterday was completely unproductive so I need to get something done before it's back to work on Tuesday.

Tanya just got home so I'm going to make her entertain me.

Currently reading : The Lovely Bones: A Novel By Alice Sebold

bitter, party of one

Now I wish I hadn't even come down here at all cause it's making me mad again that I didn't get to spend the day down here. The hotel is so nice... King sized bed, marble counters and shower, king size bed, Starbucks coffee for the coffee maker, flat screen tv, hammock in the yard out my window. The weather is lovely... My crew is a lot of fun... Oh well. I'm definitely going to be finding a way to get down here again.

Oh yeah - the pain isn't so much fun anymore. I seem to walk like I'm about 80 years old and my crew laughs at me every time I stand up.

C'est la vie

It's noon on Thursday, and instead of being in sunny Key West I'm in frigid Portland, ME. It snowed about a foot last night. They canceled our flight this morning because the incoming flight last night was canceled. Now we are scheduled to leave here for Atlanta at 3:30 this afternoon, then deadhead to EYW for reduced rest. Oh well... At least I have good company here. Shane is playing poker online, I'm playing Open Time online, and we're watching the West Wing. Definitely better than sitting in a hotel room by myself. Once I forget about the beach trip that isn't happening the snow is quite pretty.

I took a kickboxing class the other night at the gym. I enjoyed it but it was really hard and now I'm feeling it. Feels good though.


5:08 PM

A dearth of bloggery

That's what's been going on... A dearth I tell you. We need to put an end to it.

I have all kinds of lovely things to blog about. Today I will submit my resume to another airline. I won't name any names but it's the one I've always wanted to work for. The thing is, they're currently only hiring in NY. Scary. Exciting. I hope I get it. It has caused me to lie awake a few extra minutes some nights lately thinking of what living in NY would be like. Hopefully it would only be for a short time. I've been told it would be a lot of fun. There are so many things to think about though. I'd probably get a crash pad up there since I have no intention of completely relocating. That could also affect where I move when our lease is up in July... Hopefully it doesn't affect the cruise I'm planning on going on in May. It's really sad that one of the things I am most excited about the possible new job is the new uniforms. You actually have the possibility of looking nice in theirs... Go figure.

Other fun things - after a month of frustrating denials by open time I got one of the first swaps I put in for this month, which has me overnighting in Key West this week. I love being able to swap so I work the same amount of days, but get paid more and have better overnights. I'll also be in PWM one night (Holla Amy and Shane).

I can't remember the last time I blogged but work has actually been fun-ish lately. I've had good crews which helps a lot. The weather has been nice everywhere we've been which is a wonderful change.

I did something the other day I haven't ever done before. I went to the tanning bed. I'd been thinking about it for a while. I have previously refused and had no interest, but since I'm going on a cruise next month and I don't want to get burned I was thinking about it. Then Amie asked me to go on her celebrate her birthday day, and I can't ever say no to her so I went ;-). I felt like I was getting into an alien spaceship.. Now I'm perfectly bronzed and all my fat has melted away and my muscles toned up. Just from 11 minutes in a tanning bed. Hard to believe I know... It's not something I intend to make a habit of cause I'm kind of a cancer avoider, but it was free so why not..

I need to go run. I haven't much lately. Only about once a week, which isn't going to do me any good. I also drank coffee earlier which is making me very jittery and active. If someone was here with me I would probably talk their ear off since that's what I seem to do when I drink coffee these days.

Happy April Fool's Day!

tweedle dum

I have a lot I should be doing but since my foot is in a bowl of tea (ask me. maybe I'll explain) and I can't move blogging seems like a good option. We just got back from having breakfast with our dear father at the local WH. Just making sure my digestive system doesn't get bored and my arteries don't get lazy. We also stopped by Fedex last night after I picked them up from the airport and talked to Daddy through the fence. Reminded us of the good ol' days when he was a convict ;). Israel is now showering, Toni is reading and we're getting ready to make the drive up to the grandparents' house in Asheville. I'm looking forward to it since I haven't seen this since Christmas of '05 (yes, I'm a terrible granddaughter). It's a beautiful day for driving as well. Most of the days lately have been beautiful - in GA anyway.

I got back from a 4-day last night and it was actually quite nice. Saturday I ended up in Portland, ME, home of the oh so fabulous Amy and Shane. Amy picked me up at the airport and we got to see Portland celebrate St. Patrick's Day. That city is so much different from what I'm used to, and other than the bitter cold and deep snow, I could probably get used to it. Sunday we came back through Atlanta and went to Wichita, which I have now learned is an aviation mecca. Never have I seen so many pilots and aviation types in one place. I had a very enjoyable 30+ hours there. It rained the whole time but there wasn't much to do outside of the hotel anyway. I met some interesting people. Had two Germans buy me dinner, one of whom was there to pick up the Leer jet he had just purchased. He also showed me a picture of his latest "toy" - a cute little car... I think it was a Ferrari or something Italian like that ;). It was fun times. Yesterday we came back to Atlanta and took a quick round trip to Cozumel. I think it's a new form of torture my company has thought of - sending you to beautiful tropical places, letting you feel the warm air, smell the beach, and then not even letting you get off the plane before they send you back to Atlanta. Looks like I'll be down in that part of the world in May though when we go on Tanya's graduation celebration cruise. Woo hoo.

Well tea time is over. Off to Asheville.

oh, to be me

I know that everyone is jealous of my exciting life. You should be cause it's crazy. It's off the chain. I watched CSI, then Sex & the City, now Friends. Pheobe is lying on her back to increase the odds of becoming pregnant. I ate the other half of my Subway sandwich, ate some chocolate truffles and a bowl of Death by Chocolate icecream. For some reason I want to eat a lot more, even though I'm full. I will resist the urge. I am strong. I stayed up til 5am this morning reading a book, slept til 11, walked to the Subway in Rochester, had the first half of my sandwich, flew to Atlanta, and came home. I was on jury duty standby but group 22 had to report and I'm in group 23. I tried to pick the rest of my trip back up since I'm losing about 10 hours but some idiot picked it up yesterday. Funny how I can't pick anything up when I need to. So now I'm home until Saturday. Not that I'm complaining. I didn't sleep very well in the hotels the last 2 nights, even though they were comfy beds. I had gotten spoiled actually sleeping in a real people bed the last two weeks. I don't have anything else to report, except that my life is crazy fun. Okay, maybe not crazy fun, but it is crazy good. I'm glad I at least tried to pick up the rest of the trip so I don't have to feel guilty about sitting at home, AND I don't have jury duty. Plus the weather is freaking fabulous. I intend to be outside tomorrow. Be jealous :-D. Unless you're outside too, then be happy.

leftover land... mmm

This is what I call living the dream... I'm at my fabulous overnight in Des Moines (properly pronounced dess moi-ness). Another king sized bed which rocks my face off. The weather here is really pleasant. There's still snow on the ground in places but I'd be surprised if it was even the low 50s here. I wore my sweater and scarf over my short sleeved shirt and was warm. I just finished off some lovely cold leftovers which will probably cause me to dream really ridiculous things.

Last night I had one of the loveliest meals someone (besides my family) has prepared for me, and this evening I had it again. Only cold and out of tupperware. It was still good. Yesterday J invited me to come eat with him. He has been buying kitchen stuff and I think he was just eager to put it all to use. He wouldn't tell me what we were eating and when I got there he was scurrying around like mad. I was extremely impressed with the multi-tasking taking place. There was beef on the grill, bruschetta on bread with parmesan toasting on it in the oven, a salad (no iceberg) already prepared in the fridge, shrimp for the salad being browned, pasta boiling, sauce simmering, brie and bread as well as 3 kinds of olives on the table, asparagus ready to be steamed, mushrooms to be sauteed, and strawberries cut up and soaked in a lemon liquer to go on icecream later... It was so nice and tasted so good. I felt like I was in a fancy restaurant (or.... the queen of the world :-D). I even enjoyed mushrooms. I don't really know why I don't like them since they kind of remind me of olives and I love olives. I'm working on it though. But they were good with the sauce, beef, asparagus, and pasta. Combine the good food with wonderful company and it was a perfect way to end a truly restful, happy week.

And then it was back to the real world today. I wasn't feeling going to work today but once I got the passengers on the plane it reminded me why I do like my job. The first place we went today was Monroe, Louisiana and I have to say there's something about southerners. I'm not just saying this because I am one either. There are certain places I fly in the south where I know there will be at least a few really friendly people on my flight. They might have ridiculous accents, but at least they're friendly :). And that's what makes my job enjoyable. I hate when I have a whole day and no one talks to me. It can get lonely out there.

Speaking of lovely meals, I had a completely different type of one again today, which also made going to work difficult cause I was so full and sleepy. At my parent's house we had split pea soup, deviled eggs, potato salad, tuna and crackers, carrots and jello with pineapple. It's funny cause they're all pretty simple things, but made in a way that was so good, and something I wouldn't make for myself. My mom adds all the extra stuff that makes it really yummy. I don't know how to describe it but it's so good to go to my mother's house and eat real food, not the kind you find in every other restaurant (or my refrigerator).

It is now past my bedtime. After writing this blog I'll probably dream about food, food, and more food. Last night as I was admiring and enjoying the wonderful meal I realized how good God is/was to us when He made eating such an enjoyable thing. Not just the being full part, but all the varieties of flavors, textures, and colors. It's funny because He could've made necessary things, like sleeping and eating, unpleasant or just boring, but instead He chose to make them both things we could really love and enjoy. As you may be able to tell, I really love food and I really love sleep. Thank you God :). And thank you, God, for giving me people in my life who like to cook yummy and pretty things for me.

frustrated is the word of the day

I think I could really get used to not working more than I work. Now that I'm feeling some better I've been able to enjoy being at home more. Because of a court appearance that never happened and me being sick, I've only worked 3 of the last 12 days... I didn't realize how much it was until I just counted it up. I haven't been able to enjoy it as fully as I would prefer since I've been sick but at least I'm getting better now. The weather has been amazing lately. There have even been reports of people getting a little bit of color from the sun! I sat next to the lake in Peachtree City yesterday and watched the planes fly over and the old men jog by in shorts so short they should be illegal. Such fun :). It has been nice to have time off to do nothing but get well.

I've been a little frustrated with my life lately (before this hiatus) due to the lack of productivity. I feel like all I do is go to work and sit at home. My job isn't very challenging or fulfilling, which is fine, but it means that I have to challenge myself in other ways. There are things that I want to do, books to read, things to write, things to make, music to play, people to keep up with, and I haven't been doing them. I guess I just need to make goals for myself and then meet them. I'll figure it out. Just a bit frustrated right now.

I'm also frustrated with my job. I feel like I work for a company where I have no voice. Scheduling has been a huge frustration lately. I submit swaps and then get denied for reasons that don't make sense. The logical response is, well call them and talk to them, but then I can't get anyone on the phone. I feel like my hands are tied. Or like in my dreams where I'm trying to yell at someone and make myself heard but since I can't yell no one listens to me. Once again, very frustrating. I also haven't gotten paid for work I did over 3 months ago. It's sad to me that people can't just do their jobs without you constantly chasing after and keeping up with them. I spent half the afternoon yesterday on the phone trying to figure out why they haven't paid me yet. I also got a jury duty summons which meant that they took a day off my trip next week. Sounds good except that I'm losing about 10 flight hours (pay). The thing is, I'm on jury duty standby. I may not even have to go but wont' find out until after 5pm the night before, which is too late to stay on my trip.

I think that's about it. I'm frustrated and just need to make it motivate me to do all that I can to change things. Today is going to be a good day though. It's too beautiful not to be.

what a waste

It really bugs me to spend all this time off feeling lousy. The weather has been beautiful, I have people I need to catch up with, things I need to do, places to go, and I've felt like crap the whole time. I did get some things accomplished. Got my oil changed. You can now walk in my room. Got my hair cut. But it's still frustrating cause I wanted to do a lot more. I went to the doctor today cause I can't call out without getting paperwork from a doctor. Blah. More money spent. I feel like I go to the doctor too much. But then I remembered that two of my friends don't have health insurance which keeps them from going as much, and a lot of the rest of them are men, which keeps them from going at all... And I felt a little better.

Last night I went to bed at 8:30 and woke up at 11 this morning. I've been having dreams lately that I can't play my violin anymore. Partially cause my fingernails are too long (which they are), and partially cause it's been too long (which it has). I should do something about that. About both.

Now I'm going to do what I've been doing most of the rest of the day - lie on the couch, drink Emergen-C loaded water, and do nothing. Good times.

Someone needs to entertain me.

these are the days...

The days that make it all worthwhile. Being at home during the week rocks my face off. The sky is my favorite shade of blue. Not that gross winter blah white. It's spring and fall blue. I'm sitting on my balcony (unfortunately in the shade) listening to the sounds of the wind in the trees, the trucks on the road, planes overhead... All the beautiful sounds of nature :). I still feel funky but after being woken up by the sun burning me up I decided to go to the gym. Didn't do a lot cause I have no energy but by tomorrow my legs and shoulders should be joining my triceps in pain. I love it.

After the gym went with J to Moe's and sat outside and enjoyed the warm sunshine. I love weather like this when you can be comfortable outside. When you can drive with the windows down, top open, music loud. It makes me happy.

I also journeyed over to Newnan and got my hair cut and colored. I was looking a bit shaggy and since my hair grows so fast most of the color had been cut off. It's nothing ridiculous. Just like before where you can't really tell it's colored, which is how I like it. It just brightens up my not brown not blond hair.

My room is still a wreck. It seems like it always is lately. I wish Mary Poppins existed and would come magically clean it for me. Ha.. I should work on it now but it's too nice out here. Jamie and I are going to see Spamalot tonight, which should be lots of fun. Woo hoo :).

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

It is quite a frabjous day, but I don't feel like calloohing or callaying. Either I'm getting a cold or pollen has come to visit a bit early this year. Either way my face hurts. I'm eating wonderful homemade oatmeal cookies though which helps anything get better (right?). I've decided that God needs to make the sun rise in the west and set in the east so we'll have sun on our balcony all day, instead of until 10am. Sounds like a plan huh?

I like the way I ask questions on here like someone is actually going to answer them. At least I keep myself entertained.

Last year around this time some of my stuff got stolen out of my car when I was down in Griffin. They caught the guy because evidently he had stolen a lot of stuff. Now he's on trial so I got called to go to court this morning. Good times. Instead of going to court I actually sat around for almost 2 hours. Turns out the actual trial is next week so I have to go back and testify. Cool thing is, I was supposed to do a 2-day on Monday and Tuesday and since I have to be in court I can't do it. They're trying to get restitution but she thinks he'll actually go to prison, in which case he wouldn't be able to pay. It would be nice to get money for all the stuff he stole, but I also think he deserves to serve time. Not sure which I prefer. Good thing it isn't up to me.

After that I called the foot doctor. Every time I go to them the problem seems to get worse, which is pretty irritating considering the time and money invested. I want good results already!! I finally saw a different doctor who was much more informative and seems a little more proactive about sorting it out. It's just really frustrating. I hate spending $25 just so a doctor can be like "you have a problem."

Next I went to get my oil changed. My life is so exciting. I hate having to spend all this money, but I guess it's the beauty of being a responsible adult. So there goes half of a beautiful Monday. I like the way this man committed a crime against me and a lot of other people and we are the ones who, a year down the road, are having to take time out of our lives to make sure he gets punished. At least he's getting punished though. The sun is still out though so I should find a way to enjoy it.

This blog isn't turning out like I thought it would. I guess today was just an errand day so I can't expect much more. I think I'll go have some more cookies :).

I still need to write about China. It's on my to do list (along with cleaning my room and dumping out my fish tank). One of these days...

Oh yeah... I knew I had something good to say. Yesterday I actually ran 3 miles in just over 30 minutes. I thought I was going to die but thankfully I didn't :). I've been pretty consistent about running which makes me feel good, even though some days I can barely go a mile. Hopefully I can make it a habit. I did see a fellow flight attendant on Saturday (married male) who asked was it just him or was I gaining weight... ha... thanks buddy. I will keep in mind that this is the same guy that said "you look much better with long hair. I'm not saying you look ugly now, you just look better with long".... We celebrated my daddy's birthday yesterday too which was really nice. My mom made a fabulous lunch followed by carrot cake and icecream. Mmmm...

That's all for now.

profile music

I'm normally a hater of music on people's pages cause you usually only the beginning of the song over and over, but this song is too fabulous. It makes me happy. It reminds me of Queen which also makes me happy.

I'm going to sleep so I can be at the gym at o'dark early to ride a bike. I figure I need to take advantage of the new gym member enthusiasm I have, and having a gym buddy, and make it work for me.

I like being off work long enough to completely forget about work. And I still have a whole day and another night at home before I have to work again. Yay!

Today is my daddy's birthday and my mother is coming home from China. Good times all round.

Currently listening : Grace Kelly By Mika

there's no place like home

I just got back from a long, long trip. So glad to be home. And I am not just home, I'm home for the next 3 and a half days. Nearly 4 since I don't have to work until 1355 next Wednesday. This is the first time in over a month I've been home for more than 2 days in a row. It makes me le happy.

Things that don't make me le happy:
- We left for Atlanta 6.5 hours late this morning. Gotta love loading everyone up, getting out on the runway, and then having some maintenance issue. I guess the silver lining was that I didn't have to go to Witchita after that.
- Getting up at 4am. Especially not when it's -100 (at least) outside.
- Getting a jury duty notice. Last time I had jury duty I got a speeding ticket on the way there for going 42 in a 40, except it was during school hours.

Things that do make me le happy:
- I'm learning to enjoy running. It actually feels good. I spent about 50 minutes on the treadmill yesterday and ran for at least 30. I'm able to run longer and faster than before and it hasn't even taken much time. Still have a long way to go but for a running hater, I'm pretty pleased.
- I've lost weight. I think between walking miles and miles each day in China, eating lots of veggies and little else, and going to the gym a little it's beginning to happen. My uniform is fitting better as well.
- BEING HOME

I need to write about my China trip before I forget it all. It almost feels surreal to think of my mom and Israel still over there and what they're doing and how different it is from everything here.

I'm so happy to be home.

arg...

just wrote a blog and it got lost. pisses me off.

the moral of the story was, i'm going home tomorrow. leaving here around 930am to go to tokyo. then to atlanta around 430p. should arrive there around 240p (contrary to what my email said tanya and amie. hopefully i can get a ride.)

I'll write more when i get home and don't hate the internet so much.

you're so far away from me...

This is my last full day in Fenghua and it feels weird. It's been nice to be in one place for more than 24 hours. We've spent most of the time walking around, looking in shops, and eating. Everything is so cheap here. The other night the three of us went to eat with one of Israel's coworkers. We ordered 4 dishes and each had rice. The total was 70 RMB which is less than $10. I'm having trouble finding souvenirs because it seems all you can buy here are sweaters, coats, shoes, and food. And most of you back home wouldn't enjoy the food I could bring back for you.

We went to a market yesterday with fresh food and meat in open stalls. They even had live octopi. It's very interesting. I can't even begin to list all the different unusual foods. They even have dogs for sale out back (yes, for eating). Last night we ate at the home of one of Israel's coworkers. We had a really nice time and ate some really unusual foods. I haven't even seen a fork since I got off the airplane on Monday. I'm doing pretty good with the chopsticks but I always mess up when someone is watching me and manage to drop my food, or just not pick it up. When you eat you order several different dishes and everyone gets bowls of rice. The dishes go in the middle and you just use your chopsticks to put the food onto your rice and eat it from there. They do have spoons sometimes, which is nice, but the Chinese people usually keep the spoon in the left hand and and chopsticks in the right.

After we finish up online we're going to go back to this place we ate the other day where the ladies taught us to make dumplings. There is so much to write about but it would take me forever.

I think if I lived here for a while I would develop body issues. I am bigger than every woman i have met here. I can't find shoes big enough for my feet (and my feet really aren't that big!) I can't even imagine what it would be like if i tried to buy jeans here. Last night I was told that my legs are longer and bigger than the Chinese (which I already knew.) No one here has much of a butt either so they must think mine is enormous. Oh well. That's why I love America... haha Oh yeah, and my nose "is very high (long)".

More to come later. We go back to Shanghai tomorrow and then if all goes to plan I'll leave for Tokyo early Monday. I should leave Tokyo around 4:30pm and get to Atlanta around 2pm. Same day. How cool is that?

Peace from China.

it's Wednesday over here

Greetings from China. Last year at this time I never thought I'd be saying that. My mother and I left Atlanta Sunday morning and flew to Tokyo (BUSINESS ELITE - Woo hoo!!). From there we flew to Shanghai where Israel met us at the airport. We spent the night in Shanghai and after having a good wander around the city embarked on the remainder of our journey to his house. We took the train to Ningbo, which is about 4 hours south of Shanghai, and then took a taxi the rest of the way to Fenghua where he lives. I think it took us 48 hours to get there (granted we did take our time in Shanghai). Since Saturday morning I've been in 5 countries.

China is a really interesting place. I've only seen one or two other non black haired people and one black person. People often stare and even when I smile at them they continue to stare. I am once again reminded of how spoiled we are in the US. Endless supplies of hot water. Cushy beds. Central heat and air. Emissions control. People who follow traffic laws.

There's so much more to write but I'll probably wait til I get back and do a big ol' write up on it. My cell phone is roaming down here so I've received a few texts messages, though I can't reply to them. I even answered a phone call but I have no idea how much that cost me. I'll find out. It's nice to have some contact with the other side of the world. I still have my watch on home time so I can kind of keep up with what everyone is doing (assuming I can remember what day of the week it is). I slept for about 11 hours last night so I think I might be getting adjusted to the time over here. I'm sure I will just in time to head home :).

I haven't seen an of the typical Chinese take out boxes. Have eaten a lot of Chinese food but none of it is anything like the kind we have back home. And it isn't bad manners to spit things on the table here.. kinda gross if you ask me. but really, who is?

I'm off to pay bills and see if I can email Verizon about making my phone work.

Here we go a-traveling

I think I'm packed and ready. This is the first time in a long time that I've packed for mor than 4 days and it didn't involve any navy blue polyester. Scary but fun.

My mother and I are leaving for China in the morning. I'm surprisingly nervous. Surprisingly, because this isn't the most daring adventure I've ever embarked on. I'll even have my mom with me! I guess my main concerns revolve around getting stuck either in Shanghai or in Tokyo and not having enough money to get back to work in time. I believe this is the first time I've gone on a vacation without a credit card in years and years.

Other than that, I have my warm clothes packed. According to Peter's wise council, I've packed enough beads, hatchets, and mirrors to hopefully buy something equivalent to Manhattan. If Peter Stuyvesant can do it, why can't I?

I would love to write more but this week has been ridiculous and I'm exhausted. Today was the latest I slept all week and it was 6am eastern time (though it was 5am in Monterrey where I was).

For those who are concerned, we will be leaving tomorrow morning at 10am flying from Atlanta to Tokyo. We should arrive there around 2:25pm on MONDAY afternoon. Then we'll get a flight from Tokyo to Shanghai where Israel will meet us and we'll stay for the night. Then we'll spend the week around Ningbo where he lives. I'll probably fly back to Tokyo Monday morning and leave around 4pm for Atlanta. Crazily enough, I'll get back on Monday around 2.... Go figure. I'm supposed to work on the 14th but am trying to swap just to give myself some more time to miss flights and such.

That's all for now. I plan to be checking email and myspace and such. I'll try to update on how the trip is going but I'll have to see how that goes.

Currently reading : The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity By Lee Strobel

oh yeah

I'm proud of myself. The other day I ran 2.5 miles in 30 minutes which is not fast but my personal best. I haven't been able to run much because of my schedule but I ran for 25 min solid and went faster than I have before. And this is only my third time in a week. Hopefully I'll do enough walking in China to make up for not going to the gym. Hate to take a break so soon after I've just started back. As long as I keep trying, right?