Above us only sky

It's Saturday morning. I'm still in bed and it feels fabulous. Today is the first day since Monday that I haven't gotten up around 4am. If any of you are mad at me cause you called and I didn't call back, it's because the majority of my day happened before noon every day. It was ridiculous. By the time I would get to the hotel I was too tired to think, and had to go to sleep around 8 every night to get a decent amount of sleep.

In spite of the ridiculously early mornings I had a really good trip. My crew was really fun, which made work much more pleasant, and it was really nice to have someone you could talk to over supper (even if supper was at 4pm :-P).

My love for cities with rivers in them was confirmed twice this week. Our first overnight was in Fayetteville, NC and all I saw of that place was the inside of my room. The next day we were in Charleston, WV. Our hotel is right along the river. It was one of those really beautiful spring days where you can't imagine not getting outside. I ran along the river, up by the street so I could see the town on the way out, and down by the river on the way back. There was a nice breeze blowing, daffodils and other wildflowers growing on the riverbank, trees blooming everywhere, and that perfect spring time blue sky. It's so much easier to run when you have something interesting and beautiful to look at. After that we went and had some of the best Mexican I've had in a long time.

The next night we were in Wilmington, NC. If you've never been there, I definitely recommend it. They have some of the most beautiful old historic homes I've ever seen. Evidently they're having an airshow this weekend, so when I went out to run I got to watch the river and the town PLUS fighter planes flying around practicing. Talk about combining things I love :-D. Later we went to Fat Tony's and had their scrumptious pizza and hung out for a long time enjoying the weather and people watching.

I finally got home from work yesterday about two. I was able to squeeze in a nap (so I didn't lose it or kill anyone) and then go cater til 10pm last night. The nice thing about that job was that we catered a dinner at the school at the end of my street. They had kids who helped us with all the serving which made it so much easier, and once it was over I was home in about 90 seconds.
Now it's Saturday and I'm a free woman. I'm going to go make the most of it.

the weekend recap

I saw a smart car on Highway 74 tonight. I actually started laughing out loud. It made me really happy. It just looked so itty bitty on the big road with all the big trees and big cars. I've seen them a million times before, but it was always in the context of a city with small streets and crowded spaces so they never looked quite so small.

I played one of J's new friend's wii the other day for the first time ever. I'd never even seen one before. My shoulder still hurts. I think I may have damaged it. We were playing tennis and I was determined to win. Evidently, even if that meant breaking my shoulder.

I did my taxes today. I usually don't wait this long, but I had gotten an expense report from work and the thought of trying to figure out how to use it was overwhelming me to procrastination. But it was worth it because I'm going to get over twice as much back by using the expense report. It makes me le happy.

I just realized that all my paragraphs so far have started with I. I don't really care. It is my blog after all.

I started week 2 of the couch to 5k (www.c25k.com) training program. It's nice to do something that isn't overwhelming, but has a definite end and good result in sight.

Saturday was my first day catering for the Sun Dried. We did a pretty big wedding up in Buckhead. It was pretty good. There was a buffet so there wasn't any serving involved. Pretty much just bused tables for 4 hours. It's mindless, easy work and pays alright. I work again Friday night.

I've been realizing lately that the second bane to my existence is body hair removal. For all of us who like instant gratification, it works. You shave and it feels nice (assuming you get a good shave). But for all the trouble you go to, the goodness of it is very short lived. Stupid overproductive hair follicles. I hate how much time it takes. I hate that you have to do it so often. I hate how much razors and stuff costs. I just hate it. But I also hate body hair. And unfortunately I can't afford permanant hair removal. I just can't win.

I have to get up for work tomorrow morning at 4:45, and I'm at home. I'm not a fan, but I'll be finished by 1:15 on Friday so I guess that's good. I'm headed to Fayetteville, NC, Charleston, WV, and Wilmington, NC.

I got to see the parents and Mook twice this weekend (and eat my mama's fabulous food twice). It was lovely. Everything she cooks tastes so good and healthy. Lots of veggies and flavor. Yesterday we had Italian chicken and pasta with Chinese veggies and we ate it with chopsticks :-D. Today was something that she said translated literally to pasta and beans, but it reminded me of minestrone soup. Such a nice change from the processed, heavy crap I eat on the road (or at my own house). Israel just arrived in the US today. He's been gadding about Australia, China, and now Spain for the last month or so. Poor thing... He should be here about a month for work.

I also got to spend time with Amie and some new friends I've made through her yesterday. I suppose that's enough for now. I do tend to blather on endlessly. I've gotten some really nice messages lately about my writing. They are much appreciated. Very, very much. It encourages me to write more, even when I don't feel like it, or should be sleeping since I have to go to work :-D.

My exciting job

I’m in Springfield, MO and just ate some of the best bbq ever. Unfortunately I think I got my second wind as well. In a little while I’m going to try the method I use on babies when they won’t sleep - dark room, lights out, no distractions... See how that works.

Just as I expected last night, I hated myself this morning at 4:10. I think my ambien was still in effect through my first flight and the coffee did nothing for me. I honestly don’t remember anything about this morning. When I got back to Atlanta around 7:20 I was so tired I went to the lounge and sat down. I talked to a friend for a while, and then closed my eyes. The next thing I knew scheduling was calling me wondering why I wasn’t on my plane. Oh crap. Then of course my flight is all the way at the end of D Concourse, and I’m in the lounge under C. Thankfully we only had 22 passengers and my pilots were nice and had put all my stuff away so we closed up close to time, but I was really stressed out for a while there.

The next to flights to Jacksonville, NC were tough. I’ve noticed that I tend to munch when I’m bored or tired. Since I realized this I’ve been trying to stop, but since I was really tired and always feeling like I needed energy it was hard not to. Plus none of my passengers were very exciting or talkative. After that flight I had about an hour and half until my next one and my mood was failing fast. I should’ve called someone to cheer me up but was too tired. I finally prayed that I would have an interesting passenger to make the flight up here bearable. I definitely got what I asked for.

The first passengers of interest were a couple with a very cute, white, fluffy "service dog." I was trying to figure out if they’d just taken their dog and put a vest on it so they could take it everywhere for free. I finally asked what sort of service the dog did. She said she has brain seizures and the dog can detect them. I was surprised to learn that they didn’t get the dog for that purpose. When it was about 8 months old it would start behaving strangely and over time they realized that it was acting like that because it could tell she was going to have a seizure. Since then it has been trained to hone this sense/skill. I thought that was either really fascinating or an amazing lie.

The next interesting person was the lady who came up the ramp looking at everything like she’d never seen it before and didn’t know what to do. Then she got on the plane and found out she’d never been on one before (and evidently didn’t watch tv or anything) and was scared to death. She was fortunately seated near two really funny couples who kept her entertained the whole flight with pictures from their vacation and stories and explanations about all the shakes and sounds of the plane. Having dealt with a lot of scared passengers I tried to help her and make her less scared and by the end of the flight she was taking pictures out the window and had sworn off Greyhound. It was so funny though cause the whole middle and front of the plane was in on it and people would ask how she was. When she cried during take off they passed it on to me. When she put her jacket over her head someone let me know. She refused to eat cause her family said she would puke, and she refused to drink anything cause her family said she’d have to pee and didn’t want to use the lav. She rides Harleys all the time, but thinks planes are dangerous... It was amusing.

The people sitting around her were a whole other story. One used to play for the Cardinals, Mets, and Phillies. His wife was trying to set me up with their 41 year old, "loaded" son. When I said he was too old the other said she had a son. Between them they were determined to take me home.

Then there were two ladies and a man sitting in front of them. I squatted down in front of the cart so I could hear one of the ladies talk and the other, probably around my mother’s age, started petting my arm. She asked if I shaved my arms and said that all the young kids she works with do. I told her I didn’t (because it’s her business) and said that sometimes I did to exfoliate them cause I have bumps on my arms. She starts sharing about someone she knows’ arms - all the while petting my arm. The other lady laughed and explained that she was a very tactile person (I see that). If she wasn’t so nice I might’ve cared, but it just cracked me up. She said she has a habit of touching before thinking or asking whenever she sees something interesting. She also hugged me when she got off the plane and patted our captain’s cheek.
Between all of these people, and some other people who got in the conversation just to see what was going on, it was a very busy flight. I think about half the plane was nervous flyers so I’d make announcements to let everyone know how many more minutes of torture they had. It made a day that started out pretty lousy end up being pretty fun. Even if they hadn’t been humorous and amusing in their different ways, just the fact that these people talked to me constantly made me really happy and made me pleased to serve them.

PS. I also finished the USA Today crossword today. All by myself. Woo hoo!

past my bedtime

I hate when I wear glasses and drink hot stuff my glasses get all fogged up.

I hate that I can’t go to bed when I need to. Actually, not can’t - won’t. I have to be in the shower in less than 8 hours getting ready for work. I hate that too.

I like that two separate people told me today I look like Princess Di. The second person was a lady and her old husband following her said no, he thought I was prettier. It’s not the comparison to Di that I like, it’s just being told I’m pretty. Especially when I don’t feel like it.

I hate that my ipod is frozen up. I still did my walk/run anyway, but it was much harder having to time it all myself. Plus it worries me what’s wrong with it.

I hate feeling melancholy for no reason, or no good reason.

I love this hotel in Ft. Wayne. It’s another renovated Hilton. They have the idividual brew (big) coffee mugs which I really like.

I hate that sometimes this ambien knocks me out and other times it doesn’t seem to do anything.

I love that I’ve finished the first week of the www.c25k.com training plan. I tried to figure out what percentage of it that was, but the answer didn’t look right.

I hate that the good looking guy that talked to me for a second downstairs is married. They all are married or unavailable it seems.

I don’t like that I still don’t have any clarity about my blog topics from last night (or nigit).

I’m going to hate tomorrow more if I don’t stop this nonsense.

Today was a nice day, by the way. I like people in the midwest. They’re very friendly, appreciative, complimentary, and polite... I could handle that more often.

I’d love watching a very happily married couple on my last flight. They’d been married long enough to have children in their 40s and were still laughing and talking like they were young and in love. He would tease her and make up names for things we were flying over. She would believe him, realize it was a joke, and say how he was sooo bad. There was physical affection as well as obvious mutual respect and enjoyment in each other. It gives me hope for the future.

the packing avoider

I’m going to be honest - I don’t feel like getting up at 6:30am and going on a trip. It’s true. I can’t deny it. And since I don’t want to go to work, I don’t really want to pack for work. Packing blows. I could get up early and do it, but since I’m going to stay up late, be tired, and hit the snooze button a million times anyway, I might as well pack now.

Or maybe I’ll just write a blog.

Another weekend has come and gone. This one was particularly nice since it was 4 days long. Still not long enough, in my opinion, but more than normal jobbers get.

The Pollard’s grandfather died on Saturday morning so I went to the funeral today. It was sad cause I’ve grown up with him and Granny Pollard being as much in my life as my grandparents and I know how close they were to their family. He had a good life though, and was suffering a lot at the end, so I know he was happy to go be with Granny and the Lord. Still, I’m not a fan of funerals.

Tonight was community group from church. It was nice to go, but I also feel weird cause I haven’t been in such a long time and don’t really know anyone. They’ve been meeting for at least two months now so seem to know each other pretty well. It’s discouraging cause I feel like I have to choose between working to pay off debt (a good thing) and going to this group (a good thing). I guess I’ll figure it out one of these days (along with the rest of life).

I’ve had interesting discussions with my landpeople this weekend. They were encouraging me to start playing again (instead of catering or some other somewhat menial job). They think we should go back to our original name - the String Lovelies - which I previously despised, but for years now have not been able to replace. I kind of feel like it’s our destiny (though I don’t really believe in that word) to be called that. Everything else we come up with seems really stale and bland. I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I think the fact that it has personality, and indicates that we are something other than a group of middle aged, ugly musicians, could be a good selling point. Any thoughts?

I must go pack.

If you try real hard you just might find you get what you need

It’s so nice to be off work for the weekend. I’m lounging in my room listening to radio free lunch about bad girls. I love this show.

I got to work Wednesday, and lo and behold my planner was in my mailbox. I don’t know why God is so good to me sometimes. It made me really happy. It was a good thing because nothing else that happened for the next 2 days went my way at all. I changed my trip at the last minute so I could fly with one of my friends. This meant I had to duty in about 5 hours earlier. Then at an even later minute, their schedule got changed. Oh well. Then I got to work and did my first round trip. We were delayed cause of fog in FL so when I got back I found out that they had switched me to a completely different trip. I ended up going to Montreal for the night, and then because of them changing me and then our plane being sick (that’s for you Adri), I got off 5 hours later yesterday. And contrary to what my passengers thought, I only get paid $1.50/hr for being that late. The redeeming factor was that we only had two passengers on our flight back from Nassau yesterday cause they had all switched over to a different flight that was leaving on time. And I had to get up at 3:45 yesterday morning to get to the airport and through customs in time for our 6am flight. Did I mention how glad I am to be off work?

I got called by the Sundried Tomato lady and she’s already given me 3 or 4 dates that I’ll be working. I’m really happy about that. First one is on the 12th.

I’m pleased that the 5th Holby child ventured out of the United States yesterday :-D. Peter walked across the border to Mexico (don’t worry, he came back). It made me happy to hear that.

I can’t remember anything interesting that happened on my last trip. I was so tired it was taking all my energy to stay awake. When I got switched to my other trip I flew with a crazy flight attendant. She was really nice but possibly a little ADD. She would make "beep beep honk honk" noises while going down the aisle with the cart. I was embarrassed. There’s a fine line between being an amusing and an annoying flight attendant.

(trying to be) leaving on a jetplane

I feel lost and confused without my planner. I’m hoping that when I get back to the airport today someone will have put it in my box, but I’m trying to accept that it’s probably gone.

Today has been a monumentaly unproductive day so far. Last night, because of one decision by our company which seemed to become a comedy of errors, our flight left Atlanta at 1:20am instead of 9:40pm. We got to the hotel around 3am and I decided I was going to sleep as long as my body would allow me. I woke up around 11 because someone was hammering in the room next to me, but managed to forge on through for nearly two more hours of sleep. Now I have another 3 hours here in the hotel, know I should be doing something besides surfing, but can’t be bothered to do anything else.

Yesterday we flew to Belize and back. It may sound exciting, but it’s really just a long way. Then we rushed through customs, rushed through a microwave meal, and rushed back over to the plane we brought in from Belize, only to find out they had switched us to a different plane. After a few minutes of musical planes we discovered that our new plane was broken. Fantastic, I know. This at least gave us all time to take a nap in our dark, broken plane. My captain even started snoring. It amused me a little. When I woke up and saw that every other plane around us had left, I wasn’t amused anymore. When it was finally fixed we were able to start the plane up and board passengers. This is when my captain discovered that the plane had been fueled to go to Oklahoma City, instead of Dayton. We had way too much gas and all the fuel trucks had already been topped off for the night. They finally heard on the radio some other plane begging for fuel, so they sent the fuel truck over to give them fuel, thereby making space for our extra 3000lb we had. Once the fuel truck came back they couldn’t get the truck to take the fuel off. Skip ahead 45 minutes (it’s nearly 1am now) and the fuel supervisor comes out and probably flips the "defuel" switch and we were very shortly on our way. The joys of travel are neverending.

sweeet

I would first like to thank God for quickly answering my prayers about my trips for next month. Last month I joined a community group at the church I’ve been attending. It meets every Monday night. I went at the beginning of February, but because of my schedule I haven’t been able to go again. I was feeling really bad this morning because I hate that I’m missing out on this (they’re about to start working on a book) and I also feel like I’m letting down the other members of my group (even though I really have no control over it. The schedules have been terrible lately and because we’re short on flight attendants they have been denying all my swaps.)

This morning I wrote an email to my group members and explained this and asked them to pray that I would be able to swap. After that I offered my trip to someone on the tradeboard, even though it wasn’t the dates she was asking for, and posted the rest of mine up there. When I got home just now and checked the flight attendant had accepted my trip and someone had offered me a great trade for another trip that also gives me 5 more hours of time. All in all it’s amazing. I’m really thankful and happy right now.

I was going to write a whole other blog when I got online, but this has pleased me too much. Today was a great day. Life is good.

PS. There seemed to be some confusion about the catering job. The lady said I did have the job. I was just saying it was tentative cause I don’t really want to be too excited about it until I’m actually working (things have a way of falling through). So that’s very good.

Tentative success

I feel good right now. It’s the beginning of a new week. I worked a dayline yesterday and made a nice chunk of extra cash that can go toward my debt. I also had an interview on Friday at the Sun Dried Tomato. I didn’t even want to go there in the first place because I don’t want to wait tables and it doesn’t seem very busy anyway, but J convinced me to. The lady called me back and I considered not going. Just thinking about having to tell another person I’m only availabe to work two days a week was filling me with dread. I’ve been rejected for that a lot lately (understandably). I was really frustrated because I’ve finally, two and a half years later, been able to get Sundays off (sometimes), and I didn’t want to have to give them up. I went anyway and the lady told me no, she doesn’t hire people for just two days a week. BUT, they have a catering company out of their restaurant that only works Friday and Saturday. Seems perfect so far. It’s more money than I would’ve been making at the spa (more work too, but that’s ok). They’re also going to be catering all the concerts at the little amphitheater here in PTC this summer, so that could be fun. She’s supposed to call me this week and give me some dates they already have down. It’s also nice because it isn’t every Friday and Saturday, which will still allow me to travel and have a life (some).

Yesterday I did two fairly easy round trips. The weather turned nasty about halfway through the day which slowed things down some, but we survived. On the way back from Norfolk we had about 15 men and a lady from Mali - which now I see is a really large country in Africa. They all spoke French and had that dark black skin and bright white smiles African look that I love. Some spoke English, but it was mostly a lot of hand motions and smiles trying to serve them. They had a translator who told me how to ask if they wanted a drink and if they wanted ice in their drinks. They also taught me how to say "you’re welcome", or "it is nothing" according to them, in French. I left my planner on one of the planes yesterday which is really terrible, but I’m praying someone will find it and return it to me.

This weekend has been really pleasant. After seeing Matt and the Sirotas on Wednesday, I had dinner with some of the Charles on Thursday. After that I went over to Mr. Fuji with J and watched Amie and Jay and some friends eat to celebrate her birthday. Friday I went shopping with J and helped him find great deals on new bed stuff, then went thrift-storing with Mama and Michal. I had to cut that short for my interview at the Tomato. Then I met Kathryn, Charity, Tanya, and J at Thai Spice for a scrumptious dinner and some good times catching up. Kathryn is visibly pregnant now and looks wonderful. I’m very fortunate to have so many fun and fabulous people in my life :-D.

I went to Canadia and what did I see

I saw some Canadians. I didn’t really have a witty answer. I just wanted a way to use Canadia in my subject. That’s all.

I’ve decided that sometimes being an adult sucks. I had to buy new glasses the other day. Of course if I had been a responsible adult and not lost my last pair then I wouldn’t have to buy new ones. Bye bye $194. And since I was irresponsible, and since I haven’t found a second job yet, I decided to take advantage of the premium pay their offering this weekend and picked up a dayline. I pray that I don’t end up hating myself for it. I stil have 3 days off. I’ll still have time to rest AND have fun. Plus I’ll be making a lot of money. Sounds like a plan to me.

Today I spent a lot of time waiting in airports. I made the journey from Tri-Cities, Tennesse (still not completely sure where that is. I was shocked to hear it was near VA), then sat in ATL for 2.5 hours, flew to Toronto, sat there for almost 2 more hours - which meant we had to clear Canadian customs, then come back through US customs - then fly back to ATL. It only took about 11 hours. Throw in a self professed, high maintenance passenger with peanut allergies and you have yourself a jolly good day.

After I came home I drove for longer than I flew to Tri-Cities, and only made it to Stone Mountain. My life-risking, rapelling, rock-blowing-up friend Matt is working on Stonewall Jackson’s beard and someone else’s lapel. Evidently they’re in a state of disrepair so Stone Mountain called in the rock doctors to fix them. His family got to watch him rapel down the face of Stone Mountain today. Wish I could’ve. For someone who isn’t from, or hasn’t lived in Georgia, this may not seem like a big deal, but for the rest of you - that’s pretty cool, isn’t it? I did get to see the Sirota parents as well as Erin and Chris and their small, blond herd :-D.
And now I’m in my very own bed, hoping I’m not getting a cold, ready to go to sleep. Life is good.

blogging to remember

I realized that one of the things I like about blogging is that it helps me remember the tiny, but interesting, or significant things that happen on a daily basis in my life. I’ve had some busy days lately, some interesting passengers, good times with friends and family, but for whatever reason - too tired, no internet (yes, I’ve heard of paper), too tired, too busy - I haven’t been blogging about it. Now, looking back over the past week, I’ve either forgotten a lot of things, or they just don’t seem as noteworthy anymore. Maybe they weren’t to begin with? Maybe some, but not all.

I’m in a La Quinta somewhere in Tennessee. Unlike almost every other trip I do, this one has flown by. I want to figure out what has made it happen that way so I can make it happen again.

I’m going to try to sleep now, but I have a lot of catching up to do. Hopefully I can do some on my four days off this weekend. Woo hoo.

I could work like this every day

Work today has literally been a day at the beach. We flew into Ft. Walton Beach last night and for the first time ever I am enjoying the long overnight down here. We don’t leave until early tomorrow morning and my toughest decision today is trying to decide if I want to go to the pool or the beach. It’s a hard life. There are a few drawbacks - it’s spring break so it’s really crowded down here and it’s very windy today so sometimes it feels like you’re being sandblasted on the beach. I’d still rather be here than on a plane. The rest of the trip won’t be nearly this fun. We do four flights tomorrow and five on Thursday.

I went to Puerto Vallarta last week. It was a really last minute trip, but I had an awesome time. I’m going to blog about that separately since there’s a lot to tell.

I just got back from walking about 30 minutes down the road and then back up the beach. The wind was kind of rough at times, but I mostly love it. People were flying kites which always makes me happy for some reason. There were blue jellyfish washed up on the beach. I couldn’t tell what it was at first. It just looked like a blue plastic bag blown up. I also didn’t know jellyfish came in blue. I’ve only ever seen clear ones. It was fun to walk on the beach with the salty wind blowing in my face and watch the people.

headed for the border

I feel like a big jerk. I got the opportunity to go to Puerto Vallarta tomorrow and I’m taking it. But in doing so I’m ditching a lot of people. Lots of people are telling me I should go, it’s a great opportunity, free place to stay, free ride, friends down there, won’t come along just any day. I still feel bad though. I wish I could be more excited. Instead I feel nervous. I don’t know if it’s age or what but I’m finding it much harder to be adventurous these days. It’s not like I need to worry about getting back in time for work. I don’t work until Monday and am coming back Saturday. I guess part of it is disappointing people. I also feel like since my work days are so chaotic and subject to change, maybe I hang on to the stability of my off days a bit more. Who knows? I was really looking forward to being home for 4 days in a row, but when Matt called from the coast of Mexico, how can I say no to that? Gotta do it while I can, right? I’m even taking a bag pack. That right there is enough to make me a little bit excited. No suitcases. No uniforms. I might not even take my makeup... Okay, maybe mascara. I should go to sleep so I can get up in the morning.

I like cities with rivers

Tonight was the first time (that I can remember) that I complained and had the hotel give me a different room. There were hairs in my beds. Both of them so I couldn't just sleep in the other one. And when I pulled back the sheets, they were all pressed into the mattress pad like they would be if someone had slept on them. Not the way they would be if the sheets had only been on the bed for a few hours. Gross. Gross. Gross. And for those who knows me, you know I'm not really fussy about germs or anything. But this was too much.

I'm in Rochester. It's thrilling. I can see a river outside my window. There's about a foot of snow on the ground and it's really pretty. Tomorrow is day 4. It's going to be a long day. We work from 7am until 6:30pm and do 5 legs. At least I'll be off until Monday after that. (Kathryn, I'll be in town.)

Today when we were leaving Newburgh there was another ASA flight that was leaving a few minutes later. A lady with a little boy accidently got on our flight instead of the other and was sitting in someone's seat. When we figured out why there were two people in one seat and I told her she was on the wrong plane she said "son of a bitch", and as only a 2 year old little boy can do he repeated her exactly. It was really sad cause she's teaching her child to swear, but it was hilarious how he copied her. I was laughing inside. Maybe I'm a jerk. It still makes me smile to think about it.

I got a call from the lady at the spa tonight and I didn't get the job. She said it's cause I'm only available certain days a week. Doesn't really surprise me. I have a feeling I'm going to come across that a lot when I'm looking for another job. I'm disappointed, but what are you going to do? At least she told me why I didn't get it so I don't have to feel personally rejected (even if I was and she lied to make me think I wasn't :-P). I guess I have four days coming up to find another job.

My sleep schedule has gradually shifted to the back of the clock. I haven't been able to go to sleep before 2 or 3 am lately. It's ridiculous. And because of that I don't get up before 11 or so. Tomorrow I have to get up early though so I need to get started on sleep.

peanuts, crackers, or cookies?

I hate when I write a bunch of stuff and then hit the wrong button and it all disappears. So frustrating.

After 3 short but lovely days off I'm back at work again. The breaks in between trips are never long enough. I'm in Virginia tonight. I'm lying in a king size bed on pillows the size of chicklets. You'd think they could splurge and get some big kid pillows.

Tonight, for the first time in my career as a flight attendant, I had a passenger with enough nerve to put his hand on me. Not once, but twice. When he first got on the plane he said to me that if I was nice I'd give him some crackers cause he was starving. I told him since, not if, I was nice I would. He was probably in his sixties, white haired and wedding ringed. A few minutes later I was standing at the row behind him talking to the passengers and I felt a hand grab my calf. I was shocked, but thought maybe he was grabbing for something else. I turned around and just said "excuse me?" in the tone of voice you use when someone has just inappropriately grabbed your leg. He was sitting near the front and during my announcements was mouthing things at me. Again, people try to mess me up when I'm talking a lot so I just tried to ignore him and assume he was innocent. Then later when I was doing the beverage service I was stopped at the row behind him. I had thought about the first incident and what I should have said to him (you always run those things over and over through your head), but didn't know cause it could've been an accident or he might deny it. I was tense cause he kept saying things to me, so when I felt him grab my calf again it made me so mad. I turned around and put my finger in his face and said not to do that again. (At the same time I had another guy taking peanuts out of my drawer - my biggest pet peeve.) I was sooo mad. Then when I got to his row he had the nerve to ask if I was mad at him. I said yes. I still can't believe it. I've heard of flight attendants being touched much more inappropriately and always figured I gave off enough of a "back off" vibe, but maybe he was too dense to be catching any vibes. I'm glad today is over.

Oh yeah, I was supposed to mention that I have an acquaintance who does not see the problem with playing an instrumental version of Timbaland's "Apologize" while her bridesmaids are walking down the aisle. Am I the only person who things this is wrong on many levels?

I interviewed to be a receptionist at a spa in PTC. I'm supposed to get called tomorrow or Tuesday to find out whether I start work on Thurs. Please pray that I do. I've been saying I was going to get a second job for a long time and finally applied for a couple. I really want this one and hope I get it.

working in a winter wonderland

Tonight, as we rode from the airport to the hotel, I tried to pretend I was in a sleigh. You know - sort of "dashing through the snow in a one horse open sleigh." The roads were all white. The snow was falling heavily. I could almost hear the sleigh bells. Still wasn't enough to convince me to give up the heated, enclosed van. I think anyone around me can tell that I'm from a place where snow does not often fall. The roads were either not plowed or not thoroughly plowed and sometimes we had to drive through a big pile of snow. I had to keep from acting all amazed and enthralled with it (even though I was). I'd hate to live in the stuff, but riding around in it one or two nights a week can be interesting. A semi got stuck in the snow and was having to be towed out. That never happens in Georgia.

I was reminded again today that it's much easier to be an amazingly nice flight attendant when you only do two flights a day. Lots of my passengers said nice things about me. I didn't want to point out to them that I had only been awake for about 4 hours when we did our first flight at 3 something. When we left Toronto there was another flight to Atlanta next to us that had gotten canceled (due to a dent in the wing - sissies.) Because of this the gate was in a tizzy and was having a hard time getting anything done. After they got all our passengers on there were 5 open seats and they were trying to shift people from the canceled flight. We waited and waited and waited. My captain explained what was going on but there really wasn't anything we could do about it. A man stopped me and asked if we realized that by helping these people we were causing others to miss their connections in ATL. I said that I did. We were sorry. We wanted to leave but they wouldn't let us. All true. What can I do? Then he says "Well I know this isn't entirely your fault......." Whatever he said after that I just missed. I'm wondering how this is even partially my fault? Then I slapped him and that's how I lost my job as a flight attendant...

After two of our notoriously cold overnights (Syracuse and Toronto) ended up being warm I was a little confused about the time of the year. Had spring come already? Then we flew to Fort Wayne where it's snowing like the north pole. I think it's pretty, but it better not interfere with me going home tomorrow. That's all I have to say about that.

Pretend like it’s the weekend now, and we could pretend it all the time

I'm listening to davefm in Toronto and delaying the inevitable preparation for departure. I'm back at work after barely 48 hours off this weekend. I did cram quite a bit into those hours. Got to see my family, ran errands with my mama, had a date with Amie and Jay and Jamie, applied for jobs at two places, cooked supper for Jamie and Jonathan, and went to church. It was a good few hours off.

Work has been fairly quiet. The passengers have been behaving themselves. I am noticing more and more who says please and thank you. It's ridiculous how many grown people don't. Then there are the friendly and amusing passengers. Last night my front seat guy were from Ireland, Cyprus, and Scotland. They were funny and talked to me every chance they got. Makes me want to travel more. Oh wait, everything makes me want to travel more. Israel is in western China right now and wrote a really cool blog from a monastery on the back mountain somewhere. The other day I was made aware of something I never would've thought of before. A lady got on the plane in freezing weather wearing flip flops. I learned that it isn't a good idea to get a tattoo on your foot in the winter.

My addictions

They're getting worse. First it was flica. Now it's... banana chips. Yes, you read that right. The worst thing possible. And I just. Can't. Stop.

You should all be pleased that I had a terrible internet connection yesterday. I was going to write this huge rant about how stupid people are. I still think people are stupid, but am a little less steamed up about it. The headache I've had for almost 2 days now has kind of put a damper on any strong feelings I could have.

In keeping with the last two month's trend, our flight this morning was canceled. There's nothing quite like being woken up at 4:20am by a calling telling you to go back to bed. I'm not sure why it was canceled, but it meant we only did 2 flights today instead of 4. Not bad.

I'll tell you a few of the most outstandingly annoying things that happened yesterday. One lady told me that she wanted some cranapple - no ice and just a little (held up fingers to show about an inch). I poured her about that much and handed it to her. She looks at it, says it's too much, and hands it back. Are you kidding me??? I'm thinking, can you not just drink what you want of it and leave the rest?! So I pour about a quarter of an inch off and hand it back. Seriously... A few rows later I get to a couple. The man tells me what he wants, but the lady is sleeping. I ask if he knows if she wants anything. Tomato juice. And the lady, without moving her head (she's facing away from me sleeping) or opening her eyes says "tomato juice. No ice. No cup. Just the can." Call me crazy, but I think that's extremely rude. I can't stand when people can't bother to look at me while I'm serving them. It's not a whole lot to ask. I was trying to be understanding and thought that maybe she was sick or something. Then toward the end of the flight she wakes up and starts laughing and talking loudly. Not sick. Just rude. I'm also sick of people who don't ask if they can have something or say please. I give them a cookie and they say "one more". Excuse me? No please. No thankyou. And these are grown adults. There are so many more things that people do to drive me crazy. People are just thoughtless. They think they're the only ones on the plane and I have nothing better to do than wait on them hand and foot. And I'm the one who's concerned about getting people bent out of shape...

Today's people were much nicer and more polite. It would've been a great day minus the headache. Now I'm in the Hampton Inn in New Burn, NC. I've never been here and never heard of this place.

I'm finished complaining now.

The good word from A-town

Asheville, of course.

Lying in this bed in the front room of my grandparents house takes me way back. I remember when I came to camp up here in NC and I was so miserable and homesick I cried the whole time. I missed my parents so much. Not that I don't still miss them when I'm gone, but I can at least be away from home for more than two weeks without crying the whole time. In retrospect I know that a lot of what I thought was homesickness was just one of the side affects of intense sleep deprivation from being in the "big girl dorm" where no one ever slept - but how was I supposed to know that then?

This week was a long week. I'm so happy to have four days off this weekend. I ended up getting a lot of extra flying in, which is great financially, but it wears you out. Yesterday we flew to Mexico and back. It was just over 7 hours of actual flight time. I enjoy going down there for the most part though. The people are usually nice and not demanding. Those flights also seem to be more interesting for one reason or another. On the way down we had to deport two men. I think it was a paperwork thing in customs and they weren't dangerous or anything. One of them got airsick twice, becoming the first grown man to puke on my flight. I don't think people really believe me when I tell them I feel their pain. We also had a 94 year old deaf lady who didn't speak English. I don't know who lets people like that fly alone. It would scare me so bad to send my mother/grandmother/aunt out on her own like that. She couldn't read or write, which we come across a lot on there, so we filled out her forms, for her. Then we found out she couldn't even write her name so we tried to put her fingerprint on there by writing on her finger and stamping it. Evidently this is a very common way of signing your name if you can't write. I scribbled on my fingers trying to find a pen that would work, but it was a lousy print. Hopefully she didn't have any problems getting through customs. It always surprises me when I'm handing out forms and have someone tell me they can't write. I don't know if it's just Mexico or that generation (most of them are older). I'm sure if we had to fill out forms on US flights I'd find out that a lot more people can't read. One man was really embarrassed about it and was explaining that he had moved back and forth between the US and Mexico a lot as a child and never got a chance. I felt bad for him and fortunate that it's such a given here that we read and write.

After a delicious salmon dinner this evening, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy, we had finally got the wireless connection set up and had a crash course on computers here at the grandparents house. It's fun to open people up to what computers have to offer. I'm proud of my grandparents cause they're willing to learn and try all these crazy new technological things.

Another day, another dollar fifty.

I'm once again being paid $1.50 to enjoy the airport. And this time without the fabulous conversation of my favorite older sister Christine :-D. She's instructing me on how to make hummus since I love it and it's not the cheapest thing to buy. I have to find a food processor first though.

My life seems uneventful these days. I started my trip on Monday and in keeping with the trend that's been going for the last month and a half I had something canceled. Unfortunately it was my 18 hour Key West overnight - the entire reason I got this trip. So they sent us home and added a Cozumel round trip the next morning. At least I made money off that one. Flying down to Cozumel made me want to take a week off, take my backpack, and just go wander around down there on the beach. Last night we were in Baton Rouge for a short night and had dinner with my friend Cooper. We had red beans and rice and boudin balls. I'd never had boudin balls before and they were so good. It seems like the cajun version of hushpuppies, but with rice, bits of meat, and more seasoning. Tonight (after a combined 5.5 hours of airport appr. time) we end up in the oh-so-exotic Maconga. And for those of you with a brain, that's Macon, GA.

I had a passenger this morning ask me about my job. How long I had been here, how much I made, etc... I told him this wasn't a job you do for the money. He said he only worked for the money. So he started telling me about his job. He makes $12/hr and is gone 6-8 weeks at a time so his wife can stay at home and he can buy a Harley... I wasn't impressed. I think if I was doing a job "for the money" I would expect a little more than that. Then on the flip side, another lady told me she doesn't believe in car payments. After a few questions I found out that what she does believe in is being with a man who makes enough money to pay cash for cars. It's funny how people have such different ideas and perspectives on money.

A man got on the plane the other day with Samantha tattooed on his neck - with a line through it. I couldn't help but laugh and ask him about it. He said he'd made it really obvious that he was with her when he put her name on his neck so now he wanted to make it really obvious that he wasn't with her anymore. It amused me.

I'm going to eat my wasabi peas and wait some more.

PS. The $12/hr guy also says that you can go to a bar and get sloshed and get on your motorcycle and be fine in an hour because of the air in your face. It gets the air in your system which sobers you up evidently... Someone needs to tell the cops that so they can stop worrying about drunk cyclist. Jamie pointed out that with that logic you could get drunk, then drive with your head out the window and be fine in an hour. I didn't want to burst that guy's bubble by pointing out that even if this were true, you have to survive that first hour of driving before you sober up.

Coming up with a subject is the hardest part of writing for me.

I'm sitting here at Amie's house watching her talk about cleaning - I mean watching Amie clean. I think I live out of my car these days. It's okay though.

I finished my trip right on schedule last night. It was a decent trip. My captain was kind of "special". I'll leave it at that. I can give you details later but this is public so I'll be nice. After I went to Newport News it was on to San Antonio. I was disappointed cause no one wanted to go out that night but the other flight attendant and I went out the next morning. We walked down to the riverwalk, which wasn't anything like I expected it to be. The part that we walked along is more like a canal than a river. The river is lined with restaurants and shops and feels very European. The weather was windy and warm and the sun was out. It was really a beautiful day to be walking around. A lot of the shops were opening as we walked through and people would be shouting across the river to each other (in a friendly way). This is another one of those cities where it's easy to feel like you're in a different country. We came across a place where there was kind of an amphitheater and it was set up for a wedding. It was Thursday, but it was also Valentine's Day. Cheesy. (Side note: If I ever get married it won't be on V'day, my birthday, Christmas or New Years.) We decided to have lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Our table was right next to the river and there were a lot of little boats going by. Most were tour boats but one was a wedding party complete with a mariachi (sp?) band - trumpet, violin, guitars and all. It was really festive though and everyone was clapping and waving at them. When we got to the airport there were some people with Ambassador buttons on handing out yellow roses to all the ladies. It made me really happy. Happy Valentine's Day from the state of Texas :-). It was a really nice layover and I'll add it to my list of places I try to go.

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. I had a lot of airport appreciation time thanks to the amazing schedulers at my amazing airline. Yesterday I had a child on my flight who screamed the whole time unless I was squatting next to her and letting her play with my id badges. I don't know about anyone else but I'm getting too old to squat in the aisle of an airplane for long periods of time. She was quiet though which made everyone else happy. I felt like I did my good deed for the day. People thanked me when they got off the plane :-P.I'm only home for two days this weekend so I'm going to try to make the most of it.

Maybe I'll watch Amie clean some more.

Rain comes pourin down, fallin from blue skies...

After spending so much time lately in places where their precipitation of choice is snow, it's a little strange to see it raining outside. I'm here in Newport News. I've never been here before. I just had to look at a guide book to find out where it is. Last week I spent two nights in Burlington, VT watching the snow fall. It was really beautiful and peaceful. After a quick stop in Key West where I chased the sun around the pool I ended up back in the snow.

Saturday morning I flew up to Portland to go snowboarding with Amy, Shane, and Adri. I was really apprehensive about spending one day doing a sport I've never done before with people who have done it a lot, but ended up having an awesome time. Four days later I can still feel the pain in my muscles a little, but it's a wonderful pain. We went for the night session and got to Shawnee Peak around 4:30. After getting bundled up and strapped in to my boots they started trying to teach me. I would have felt a little embarrassed about how much time I spent flat on my back but there were a lot of other people who seemed to be having an equally difficult time remaining upright. The most frustrating thing for me was getting back on my feet. I'm not sure if it's just cause I'm really out of shape, but there were times when I absolutely could not stand up facing down the mountain. It's much easier to roll on your stomach and get up that way but if I start going down the mountain backwards I'm much more likely to fall again. Which means I'm going to have to go through the whole process again soon. I did end up going down the mountain quite a few times and the last two times I was actually on my feet for a long time. The conditions were perfect as well. The glittery snowflakes that were falling the whole time were the cherry on top for the awesome time we had.

Monday I made a trip to Chattanooga for yet another hair color. They didn't cover up the platinum but added a lot of lowlights. I think I like it. I also think I need to get back to a more normal color for a while. Not sure though.

Yesterday I woke up pretty late and I was preparing to start rushing around so I could get ready for my trip. I didn't have to leave home til one but had a lot to do. Then I noticed there was a voicemail from scheduling. Turns out my first round trip to Cleveland had been canceled and I didn't have to be at work until 7:26 that night. I love it when that happens. Not that I don't love working... And not that I want anyone's flight to be canceled... The weather up there was terrible so we couldn't have made it anyway.

Now I have another 3 hours here in NN. Not sure what I'm going to do since it's raining. I'm sure I'll manage. I feel so content lately it's almost scary. Joy met a lady who is looking for writers so I wrote and sent her a couple of things. I haven't heard anything yet but it's been great for me to be writing more and thinking in that mode.

un-lazy Saturday morning

It's so nice to be home on the weekends this month. Because of holidays and vacation the last several months have been crazy with my schedule and I'm really happy to have it settle down - at least for this month. It seems that my Flica addiction has paid off and I'm almost perfectly content with my schedule. I have two Key West overnights that I'm really looking forward to. I'll also be in Burlinton, VT for a day and a half this week. I hope that I love it as much in the winter as I did in the summer. I need to do some research so I can do something besides sit in my hotel room.

My trip Thursday and Friday was really frustrating. The fact that it was my fifth and sixth days of work and that I was exhausted didn't help. I did a Providence round trip and remembered why I try to avoid that part of the country. I wish I could just yank these people's headphones out of their ears and say "It's rude to talk to someone with earphones in." Is it so difficult to give me your full attention for 30 seconds so I can SERVE you?

It's all better now. I'm home. I cleaned my room a whole lot this week. It looks pretty decent. Now I'm cleaning out the half bath that is mine. I seem to have a lot of toiletries and it needs to be gone through and organized. I don't know how I accumulate so much. Actually I do - I have a hard time getting rid of something that is perfectly good. I need to realize that my sanity is more important than hanging onto some body wash or something just cause I paid money for it at some point. Whenever I get frustrated enough though I just start trashing it all, which is kind of where I am right now. I guess I should get back to it.

a little too early. a little too cold. good time to break a plane.

I have spent over two years now traveling to northern parts of this country and I am still amazed and confused at why people choose to live here. This morning when we made our way to the airport it was 2 degrees. Thanks to our lovely little windy weather system that came through the windchill was -17. That is officially the coldest I've ever been. Even colder than that day my hair froze in Minneapolis (or Minnianapolis depending on who you ask).

Speaking of hair, I'm trying to decide if when it's time to get my roots covered I want to go back to a more normal color or stay blonde for a while longer. I think because I still have some remaining red from last fall on the ends it makes my hair look yellower than I like. Maybe once that grows out (probably my next hair cut) I'll like it better?

Oh yeah - we got to the airport for our 6am flight, got all the passengers on, got the plane warmed up, and found out something didn't work. So I'm still here in Peoria. At least I'm inside where it's warm. Otherwise I might cry. I even considered wearing my pj pants under my work pants this morning. Unfortunately they're fleecey and a little thick, otherwise I definitely would've.

This just reaffirms my last day of the trip theory...

addictions and millions of little decisions

I'll start off by admitting that my addiction to flica has returned. I thought I was cured of it, but now I seem to spend every minute online searching for better trips, more hours, better overnights, etc...I haven't even turned on the tv tonight (partially because that's addictive as well and I can only handle one addiction at a time.) Part of the returned addiction to flica is that my schedule next month had me wasting too much time in terrible places. Have to change that.

Now I'm in Peoria, IL. I was in Moline earlier today and between these two places I can't remember the last time I was this cold. The worst part is the wind. It's blowing so hard none of the snow that's falling can even land on the ground. I've never heard of a blizzard where the ground didn't get covered with snow, but that's what they're saying is going to happen tonight. Weird midwesterners... All four of my flights today had terrible turbulence as well (thanks to the wind). I had to stop serving once and nearly spilled coffee all over everything another time.

This trip has been far less eventful than last week's. Everything has gone mostly according to plan. I've actually flown all my flights for a change. Since the first night in Newburgh, NY we've been hanging out here in the midwest. My crew is really nice and interesting to talk to. My captain has lost 40lb in the last 4 months. I've really enjoyed picking his brain and hearing what he's learned in the process. I asked him what happened to make him finally lose weight and how he did it. His brother had lost a lot of weight and learned about nutrition and exercise. This made him realize it was possible and gave him the information to do it for himself.

The main thing, though, that has really stuck with me for the last few days was him saying "It isn't one big decision. It's a million little decisions every day." I've really thought about that a lot. I seem to think about it every time I put something in my mouth now. I also realized how that is true of every part of our lives. When it comes to practicing your faith, many people have a point where they made a "decision" but it's really the million little decisions you make every day that determine whether it's going to last. The same with love. I can tell someone I love them one time, but all the little decisions that I make every day show whether I really love them. It's been inspiring to me in a lot of ways. I still ate way too much pasta with alfredo sauce tonight, but I skipped the donuts at breakfast yesterday so hopefully it evens out :-P. I think the million little decisions idea is a good way for me to deal with things as well because I tend to get discouraged if I've made a big decision (eat healthy) and I eat junk. If I view each decision, each choice, as separate from the last one then if I make a bad one it doesn't affect the next one. I don't know if that makes sense, but it does in my head.

I think that's all for now. I'll be home tomorrow if all goes to plan. Then I work again Thursday and Friday. I'm enjoying work more this week. Not sure what's different. It definitely isn't the weather (though Atlanta did feel wonderful for the 45 minutes I was there today.) Whatever it is, I like it. I hope it stays for a minute.

Currently reading : For Whom the Bell Tolls By Ernest Hemingway

It’s easy to be happy when life is this good

It truly is - easy and good. In the last few days I've been reminded what amazing family and friends I have. I got to see most of my family and spoke to the rest of them and have heard from so many different friends of mine. We're into day three of cake day. There are about 25 muffins (4 different flavors, 4 different icings) upstairs along with a "suicide cake" which is all the leftover batter cooked together iced in stripes with the remaining icing. Matt and Molly are really into cake. I love it. And birthdays. Yesterday morning they woke me up with breakfast in bed. I was taken shopping yesterday and got a beautiful dress that made me feel beautiful. I've had all sorts of lovely gifts given to me and been reminded again and again how blessed I am to have such amazing people in my life. I could go on and on but I need to go get ready to have lunch with my parents and Michal before her game. I have to say, my sisters are the prettiest girls ever :-D. I know this isn't particularly interesting or profound or funny but I like to document the mountain tops so when I'm in a valley I can go back and be reminded of how good my life is.

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

I may have used this subject title before, but today truly is a frabjous day so I'm going to use it again.

Today is my birthday and for once my company was nice (not on purpose of course) and I'm home nearly 10 hours early. I'm quite pleased if you can't tell. Yesterday we ended up staying in Tulsa the whole day. The plane we were supposed to fly to Atlanta and then on to Oklahoma City broke in Memphis. They were going to bus us over to OKC but decided to just have us work the flight back this morning instead. I couldn't believe it. Actually I refused to believe it until I was actually on the bus going to my car. But now I'm home and am so happy.

My birthday began last night when we went for Mexican and the captain bought dinner for us. The waitress gave me a scrumptious brownie (with a cherry on top, of course) and a margarita. I don't understand how people don't like celebrating their birthdays. It's so much fun :-D. Now I have a whole extra day at home and don't even know what to do with it. It's fabulous.

Ode to the Tulsa Crowne Plaza

I think I would come to Tulsa all the time just for this hotel. Some things I like about it: very attractively decorated (pale and dark green walls, dark wood trim and furniture); king size, very comfortable bed with white linens and lots of pillows so I can sleep diagonal if I so desire; nice bathroom with thick towels, good bath products, lighted close up mirror; beautiful view of the city; lots of little extras like a kit with earplugs, eye mask, linen spray, cd player with sleep cd and a plethora of outlets convenient for laptops and cell phones. Oh yeah, and unlike other cold weather overnights, they're nice enough to leave the heat on for you.

Today was a most bizarre day work-wise. Since we got stuck in NY last night our scheduling geniusi decided we had to bring the plane back today around noon. This decision was made regardless of the fact that we would then be sitting in Atlanta for 7 hours before continuing on to our overnight here in Tulsa. Being of a sane mind I decided to go home during this break. It was quite convenient since I'd forgotten to do my emissions yesterday and would've had to pay for my tag being late. I got all that done and made it home with enough time left to get relaxed enough to really not want to go back to work. Then I noticed that our flight was late, stretching our break into over 8 hours. We finally brought all 27 of our passengers out here. I managed to get a lot of reading done since they slept the whole way and I had nothing else to do. It's amazing how not working can sometimes make you more tired than actually being busy all day.

Tonight when I was reading they mentioned falafel. It reminded me of Barcelona. I introduced Israel to the kebab/pita stands that are thicker there than McDees or Starbucks are over here. I had also been introduced to them when I was in Barcelona and love them. I think he ended up eating it at least twice a day :-P. I would've done the same if I hadn't lost all interest in food after my third day there. The night I got sick we were out looking for food. We crossed La Rambla and went down some new streets. Just by crossing a street we were immediately surrounded by middle eastern stores, restaurants and people. It was crazy. We went into a little shop to look for something and saw postcards from Pakistan - in Barcelona. (Do people who live in Barcelona sent postcards of Pakistan back to Pakistan or somewhere else? I don't get it.) It's funny how in every major city people of each country and culture find each other and make their own area. The restaurants change. The names change. The faces change. I think that was also the part where the guy got kicked out of the restaurant and started picking a fight so we moseyed on the other way back to white people world :-P. - Random memory that I don't want to forget.

I seem to have left my glasses on the plane going to Barcelona. This means no watching tv once I'm in bed and holding my laptop near and dear to my face. It's pretty annoying. Guess I'll be getting some new ones soon. For now I'm just going to give my eyes a break and let them check out my eyelids.

Currently reading : Blame It on Paris By Laura Florand

Ludicrosity

Don't tell me it isn't a word. I just made it one. It's the word that best describes the things my company does. I'm in Newburgh, NY. Don't ask me where it is. I don't know. I heard it's west of NYC a good ways. I'll google it and find out shortly. It's about 20 here. Pretty warm compared to Omaha, which is where I was supposed to be tonight. Originally I was supposed to go to Newburgh and back, then to Omaha for the night. Then early this morning they discovered the plane we were supposed to take was broken in Texas. So instead of finding a new one they just delayed this flight 3 hours and canceled our overnight. Woo hoo! I get to go home. Or I can just get stuck in Newburgh because they're scared of ice in Atlanta... I give up. The main object of the game right now is to just not expect anything to go any certain way. Then whatever way it turns out is fine. They have us flying back tomorrow before noon and then sitting at the airport for 7.5 hours before we go to Tulsa for the night... We'll see about that. More ludicrosity if you ask me.

Atlanta has been tormented by the cold lately. And before those of you who live in sub-zero, snow covered lands 9 months of the year start to mock us, we live in Atlanta so we don't have to deal with that. Don't hate us just cause you're frozen solid :-P. Thanks to the cold in Atlanta I got to spend an extra 7 hours in Key West Friday night where the coldest it got was about 70. Yes, it was amazing and beautiful. I'm actually a little envious of myself for getting to go there. Then it was back on the plane, close the door for an hour and a half, and open it to snow.

All this talk of work and weather is boring even me to sleep. I'm sorry.

I think I mentioned the dating dealbreaker the other day. Tonight I realized I have another one. There was a fairly decent looking man on my flight tonight. He was sitting by the window and didn't really say much to me but smiled at me a lot and spent a lot of time looking at me. When he got off the plane he (awkwardly) went to shake my hand and gave me a paper with his name, number, and email address on it. It looked like it was written by a third grader... He had started writing out his email address, seen that it wouldn't fit as one line and scribbled it out and wrote it again smaller. He even had to correct his phone number. Is it so much to ask that a man be able to write like an adult? And I know I'm asking for the world, but how about he write like a male adult while he's at it. I'm sure I'm not the only one that gets incredible put off by silly things like accents and handwriting (and spelling, grammar, bad teeth, bad fingernails... )

The blue skies are deceiving. It’s 21 here.

I'm still in Kansas City. What was meant to be a nice, relaxing day in my hotel room has become an internet connection nightmare. Last night I couldn't get online. They offered to send someone up to fix it but it was late and I just wanted to sleep. Then this morning when I still couldn't get online I called downstairs and was informed that they have wireless in the public areas but don't have internet in the rooms. I thought this was strange since there was an ethernet cord in the room and the little booklet said there was internet. So later I went downstairs to ask what the deal was. The guy behind the desk says - we don't have internet in the rooms, just ethernet.... Last time I checked they were the same?? Then the internet help guy shows up and informs me that the internet for the hotel is working and proceeds to show me on the monitor. I let him know I think that's beautiful and all but that doesn't mean it works in my room. He basically tells me that's too bad. I can use the business center downstairs. That also is lovely and all but what's the point in having internet in my room if it doesn't work (yes, I know you have to take the cord and plug it in. I've done this a million times in a million hotels.) By this time I was so angry. I don't know if he was treating me like I was stupid cause he's Indian and I'm a woman, or because I'm blond, or because I had the worse bed-head ever. I was so mad that I turned around and walked away in the middle of what he said. I took my laptop down to the business center to prove that it wasn't the settings on my laptop. Mission accomplished they send a new ethernet cord up to my room. Unfortunately it still didn't work and was only two feet long anyway. I know this is dreadful but I'm still pretty mad about it. I finally had to take all my stuff and move to another room. So here I am. I lost my balcony and sleep number bed in the move, but there's snow all over the balcony and those sleep number beds are weird so it's ok.

I'm enjoying being blonde finally. I usually forget I'm blonde until I get some kind of reaction. Hopefully being treated like an idiot this morning had nothing to do with me or my hair color. We'll see if blondes really do have more fun. I have to bid and try to remember all the other things on my to-do list since I have a whole day here at the hotel. Tonight I'm supposed to hang out with my buddy Joshua. Should be fun times :).

snow, snow go away

I'm here in oh so fabulous Kansas City. I would be thrilled to be here cause I actually have friends who live here, but I'm too tired to do anything except lie on my bed. Today was a long day. It wasn't necessarily bad, just long. I signed in at 8:45am after waking up around 6 and we didn't get off the plane here until 11pm. We did have a long sit which meant it wasn't all work, but the sitting around sometimes makes it harder to keep your work momentum going. So after two weeks off I'm back at work and I survived. Part of the crazy length of the day was due to the massive blizzard we experienced this afternoon in Atlanta. Okay, massive blizzard might be a slight exaggeration, but there was a lot more snow than we're used to seeing in the ATL. There is actually a decent amount of snow on the ground here in MCI. It's nice to look at and doesn't bother me now that I've holed up in my hotel room for the next day or so.

I forgot to mention that I was on the radio the other day. I was listening to Star94 in the afternoon. This was unusual in the first place, and the fact that I decided to call in was even more unusual. Then on top of that they actually answered and considered what I had to say good enough to be on live radio. I was very nervous as I waited to talk to the djs. They were asking what your dating deal breakers were. One of mine is a redneck accent. I told them how I'm a flight attendant and i have a lot of really attractive men get on my flights, but once they start talking they lose all their appeal. Maybe I'm shallow. I don't care. We all have silly things that we can't deal with. That just happens to be one of mine.

I was lying in a very particular spot on the bed so I could get wireless here but now it kicked me off so I'll have to post this in the morning when I have the energy to fight with it.

The bane of my existence

I'm not going to make you guess. It's my room. If you've ever seen it you'll understand why. It is such a mess right now. I'm trying to rearrange it but I don't have very many options. It's making me insane.

As you may have noticed, I made it back from Germany. After having a crazy fun time at the club in Binsfeld (pop. 1000-8000 depending on who you ask) we drove to Frankfurt Saturday morning so I could get business elite going home. Sweeeet. I was really surprised to walk down the street of this quaint little German town and be in a dance club. I'm not talking about a pub with a dance floor either. This was a dance club (somehow fit into the historic old buildings) that had a downstairs for techno and upstairs for hip hop. It was a cool place with good music, but I honestly would've been content just to sit and watch people all night. It's fascinating to go to a different part of the world and see people my age-ish and how they dress and act. I knew there would be a lot of Americans there because of the military base, but then I started to see more and more people that made me feel like I was in Atlanta. I can't even remember how many different team jersies I saw as well as do-rags, baseball caps, and bling. I initially assumed everyone dressed like this was American until some of them walked past speaking German to each other. I also saw a guy who had a Jordan jersey on BACKWARDS. I'm assuming he wasn't American cause if he was he'd know that's a good way to look like an idiot. If he's German he can get away with it. They seem to get away with anything fashion-wise in Europe. It was pretty liberating to know that I could wear my black coat and my brown shoes and look just like everyone else there. It was a lot of fun to see the Euro-mullet again. I wore my hair in a mohawk when we went out and actually got a few thumbs up and other such signs of approval from other crazy haired people. The weather was so nice that evening that we walked to the club in short sleeves and were only mildly cold. I would've never expected such weather in Germany in January.

Now it's back to Georgia in January. I'm loving it. I think I'm still a little jet-lagged. I get tired about 6pm every day. It's kind of annoying cause I had to drink some caffiene to stay awake through the evening and now I'm awake. Looking at my room is wearing me out though. Especially now that I have a belly full of my mama's good cooking.

Today I took a journey to Chattanooga where I took part in a hair class. I had my hair bleached a week or so ago but we had trouble with the remaining red from my last hair class I was in. After about 4 steps they got the remaining odd colors out of my hair and it is a true platinum blonde. I will post pictures tomorrow. I really like it. They also sent me home with a ton of salon grade hair products which is always fun.

I guess it's time to take my extremely platinum blonde head and put it on my pillow on my awkwardly placed bed in my ridiculously messy room.

Currently reading : Hide By Lisa Gardner

whatever happened to aging gracefully? it got old.

Well I made it to Germany. It was quite the voyage. Took a walk, a bus, a plane, and a car, but I'm here. My time in German has not been very extensive, I've bussed across it then ridden a train back across it stopping in Berlin for a day and a night, but I've always really enjoyed it. I was already enjoying it as we flew in. All I could see was green grass, fields, hills, and trees. In January that's always a sight that pleases me. It wasn't nearly as cold as I expected. Kind of feels like January in Georgia. It's a little rainy as well. By the time we got back here I'd been up and traveling for 9 hours so I was content to run around with Mandy for a little while. My appetite has finally come back with force. So much for losing weight by not eating. Guess I'll have to actually exercise. Blah. Anyway - back to Germany. Today we had to drive to Frankfurt to pick up one of her friends so I got to see a lot of the countryside. We saw a few castles and a few dozen adorable little towns. It also seems to be wine country here. There are vineyards growing at ninety degree angles on the hills here. There are also two huge sundials built into the side of the hill. Guess they want to make sure no one can dispute work times in the vineyards. There's also a river running through the area here, and there's nothing like a river to make me love an area even more. It's so beautiful here. I discovered yesterday that my company does not have the ugliest flight attendant uniforms. It was quite reassuring. Still not sure if they're pretty enough to keep me there, but I'm on vacation so I'm not worrying about that. And since I'm on vacation I'm enjoying sitting on the couch, watching episode after episode of shows I love, laughing with Mandy and her friends, and just relaxing.Tomorrow we're going to pick out the castle that I'll be moving into when I come back here. There are enough airplanes, military guys, and pretty little villages to keep me amused. At least for a while :-P.

shaking off my moss

It seems that it´s time to move on. I´ve just cleared out our room in the hostel and am waiting for Israel to get back from work. You´d think that after another day or so in Barcelona I´d have many more grand and exciting adventures to recount, but alas, I don´t. Unfortunately for me I´ve spent the majority of that time in bed or in the bathroom. Lovely, I know. It seems that I either got food poisoning or caught a virus that also seems to be wandering around Europe. I ditched Israel for supper Sunday night cause every time I smelled food I thought I was going to puke. Then I came back to the hostel and shivered in bed. Then it became my body´s mission to rid me of all food and anything else inside of me. It was the strangest thing - I´d finally fall asleep only to begin dreaming of food. Once I started dreaming about food I would get nauseated again. Gross. I finally got out of bed around 4 yesterday afternoon and managed to walk around a little bit. It has really killed my adventurous spirit at the moment. I have a whole other day here before I go to Germany, but I´m assuming a great deal of that time will be taken up with getting to the airport (it´s an hour away from here), figuring out where I´m staying, and other such lovely necessities. Israel leaves for Hong Kong tonight via London.

A few interesting things I remembered - around all the big tourist sites there are lots and lots of beggars. There was a very persistent one the other day by the Sagrada Familia. She kept talking about her 3 children, but the whole time she talked to us she held a scarf across her mouth. I didn´t think much of it until I saw her talking to some kids later - maybe hers - and she had dropped the scarf. That´s when I noticed the FOUR gold teeth in the front of her mouth!! This is why I don´t give money to beggars. The beggars here are the cleanest, most well-nourished bunch of poor people I´ve ever seen. The scam artists also abound. Israel and I have enjoyed watching them play their games to see if any innocent people fall for it.

During my night of sleeping and sickness I dreamed that I was requesting that all my dreams involve space camp...??? I also dreamed that I was being a flight attendant on a school bus. Yes, it was going to fly. And I was totally making up the announcement as I went. I had to say things like the emergency exits are on the side, there in the back and up front here. And instead of saying the door at the end of the aisle is the flight deck door I just said the area up at the front is for the pilots... hahah. When we were reading the Christmas story the other day I noticed how many things God told them in dreams, but if God is trying to tell me something through my dreams I think He needs to make them a little less ridiculous.

Next time I write I will probably be in Germany. Hasta luego!

lots and lots to say - be warned

Today is basically my third day in Barcelona. It feels like all we did today was eat. I understand even more why the Spanish people do the siestas. I´ll get back to today in a minute.

Yesterday Israel and I woke up really late. I slept about 14 hours. I think my job helps me adapt to different places better because some days I have to get up at 4am and some days I don´t go to sleep til 4am. Yesterday we walked all over the city. It seems that the main architectural style is modernism or modernista. I´m sure someone reading this knows much more about the technical names but I mainly read my guide books so I don´t get lost. We saw Gaudi´s Sagrada Familia which seems to be the symbol of Barcelona. I´m not sure if I´m a fan, but I guess I can appreciate the creativity required in something like that. We didn´t do the tour because the dollar is 1.5 to the euro and unless I really love something I´m not going to spend that much money to tour it. We also saw a new building that makes me wonder what they were thinking when they built it. It´s blue and phallic shaped and looks like all it´s lacking is batteries - if you know what I mean. It is such a harsh contrast to the beautiful city that Barcelona is.

We zigzagged back toward the coast and went to the aquarium. It´s built in the port and is really pretty. It has tunnels so you can walk under the fish. We were able to see 6ft long sharks gliding over our heads and right past us. I had to avoid dwelling on what it would feel like to have one of their many rows of teeth sink into me. It was interesting and educational. Friday we also watched surfers battle the waves. They were enormous and I can´t imagine why anyone in their right mind would voluntarily submit themselves to that. Of course, I´ve never surfed so I don´t know what I´m missing out on.

After the aquarium we wandered around a long time looking for somewhere there would be people speaking English. We ended up going to two different Irish pubs. In the first we talked to a guy who brought people here from Ireland for the Formula One races, but who also happened to know everything about everything. After a while of that I started to appreciate not being able to understand some of the nonsense that was probably being spoken around me. The next place we went to there was a very British sounding Swedish girl who was nice to talk to.

This morning we met up with one of Israel´s coworkers, Alicia, for churros and chocolate. I´ve had this in Madrid but usually late at night after dancing for a long time. Never first thing in the morning. It is very traditional and that is what she wanted to show us. We then met up with one of her friends, Marina, who drove us up to the mountain on the north side of the city. There was a really nice view but we only stayed for a few minutes. These girls are the classic thin, stylish Spanish girls who make me feel frumpy and American. We had a very good time practicing their English and our Spanish together. They showed us some more of Gaudi´s work around the city before we parked near the port. We walked through the Born area and had tapas at a little hole in the wall place. The only thing is, the way the streets and building are built, most places - shops and restaurants - are holes in the wall. I love all the tiny little streets with the balconies with plants and laundry climbing high above. It amazes me that people really live here.
After tapas we walked around more until we met up with Marina´s boyfriend and went to a really nice restaurant on the port. For appetizers we had the most un-rubbery calamari I´ve ever had as well as something very light and fried that had fish in it. After that we had more seafood paella than most of us could handle. I don´t even know what everything was that I ate. It was very good though, and also very traditional. To me, tapas and paella are what stand out in my mind as Spanish food.

Now I´m back at the hostel. Israel has gone for a run and I´m trying to let my food digest. Tomorrow is the beginning of their huge shopping sales - probably the equivalent of the day after Thanksgiving. I guess that´s what I´ll be doing. They celebrate Christmas a little differently here in Catalunya (northern Spain). Yesterday was Three Kings Day which as far as I can tell celebrates when the wise men came to see baby Jesus. It seems they celebrate that more than actual Christmas day. We´ve also learned a lot about their traditions and how they feel they should be separate from the rest of Spain. That´s one of the beautiful things about spending time in a foreign place with the locals.

This is really long now. Hopefully you survived it. I have to go wrap back up cause the sun has gone down and it´s pretty chilly at night. Hopefully Israel didn´t get lost and end up in France... :-P

Barcelona

Greetings from across the pond. I´m currently sitting in our hostel trying to stay awake. We got first class on the way over, which was great, but I only slept about 3 of the 8 hours. And then we arrived at 2am Georgia time. We got a bus into Barcelona and dropped our stuff off at our hostel, then went walking around the city. My feet hurt. I think I´d give a lot of something valuable (money?) for a pair of shoes that don´t hurt my feet after a day of walking. Barcelona is as lovely as I remember it. The weather is nice - pretty chilly now that it´s dark- but mostly sunny during the day. We walked down La Ramblas and saw the living statues, lots of animals for sale (not for human consumption - nice change from my last trip :-P), artists, jewelry stands, con artists, magicians... You name it. I love the fashion here. Boots are everywhere in all shapes and colors. I´ve looked at some but can´t find any that are $150 worth of comfort. I´ve seen a lot of really cool architecture and art. The city seems to be the doodle pad for a lot of famous people. I´m going to go to my room and see if I can stay awake at least until 8. I don´t know what I´m going to do for the next 4 days. One of Israel´s coworkers is going to take us around on Sunday and he has to work on Monday. I´m supposed to fly to Frankfurt on Wednesday. I might see about going earlier if I run out of things to do around here. That´s about all for now. I´m tired and am going to go read about tango in Buenos Aires.

PS. I´m extremely blond now :-P. I´ll try to get some pictures up but I need to take a shower and sleep first so I don´t look scary.

Currently reading : Kiss and Tango: Diary of a Dancehall Seductress By Marina Palmer

vacation

I'm going to Spain and Germany today. I haven't even unpacked my suitcase from last night's trip. I seem to be quite the last minute packer. I don't even know what to pack. The high in Barcelona is in the 50s and the high in Frankfurt is in the 30s. As if Atlanta isn't cold enough right now. Don't they know we live in Atlanta so we don't have to deal with single digit temperatures, or wind chills for that matter??

I guess I don't really have time to write the long, thoughtful blog I've been meaning to write for days now, but at least you'll know why I won't be answering my phone (unless I get one that works over there). Israel and I are leaving for Barcelona today. The company he works for in China is based there so he's going to meet some of the owners and employees. I'm tagging along cause I can :). Then on Wednesday I'm flying into Frankfurt to visit Mandy. Should be there until Saturday. I got a ticket on Ryanair for 13euros. It makes me a little nervous how cheap it is, but I'm trying to remain adventurous - or regain some of my adventurousness.

Now I have to gather all the warm clothes I own and see what I can take that will keep me from being cold and miserable.

I can’t come up with a subject. I’m spent

My family is ridiculous. I really love that. Today was our annual Holby family shindig. To get an idea of how wonderful it was just think of how funny, interesting, talented, and good looking my immediate family is and multiply it by a few times. I just got home a little while ago at about 2:20am. The day consisted of lunch, watching football, going to my cousin's basketball game, eating supper, beating to death a pinata, and opening presents. Plus lots of fun talking and story telling in between. Everyone was there except one cousin, William, and my dear brother-in-law, Scott. It was great to talk to my cousins who are at similar places in their lives. I feel challenged to do something more with my life. I found out that my cousin has me beat in the wedding department. She's been in 10 weddings compared to my 8. We shared bride and bridesmaidzilla stories. There were also a few wedding coordinatorzilla stories. It's really fun because the majority of my cousins are moving into the twenties bracket so it's easier to connect and the spaces between us don't seem as far apart anymore. Among other wonderful gifts, I got a really cute apron that looks like a little dress. I'm excited to cook something while wearing it. It makes me want to be more domestic (something I want to do anyway). There were a lot of great books exchanged and discussed which makes me want to read and write more. Though I use this blog for memory and amusement purposes it's also good for me just to be writing. I see it as exercise, and we all know how important daily exercise is in any area of our lives. As I approach my 27th birthday I feel like I need to start acting on some of the things that I know I could/should be doing with my life. I'm definitely not getting any younger and don't want to look back and feel like I've wasted my energy and talents. This is a big run-on thought, but like I said, being around my family always challenges and stimulates me. I've been getting a steady diet of it for over a week now and hopefully it won't just be a passing feeling.

It looks like Barcelona is back on. I'm getting the travel itch again (another thing that my cousins feed) and am trying to figure out how much travel I can get out of my upcoming vacation time without overspending or wearing myself out. I need to sleep some first though before I try to figure anything out.

Last night was another family reunion of sorts. All 5 of my siblings are in town so we had random people come by my parents house last night to visit. It has been crazy seeing people and trying to fit a lot of catching up into a little time, but it's also been amazing to reconnect and be reminded of how many amazing people I have in my life. I am such a fortunate girl and I hope I never forget that or take it for granted.

I thank God for my wonderful family and friends.

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house...

... the sound of Indiana Jones was playing... I don't know why but Joy, Peter, and Michal were dying to watch it tonight. Nothing like a little tomb raiding to put you in the Christmas spirit.

We now have almost the entire Frank and Mary Holby clan gathered here. We're still waiting for Christine to finish out the first (and best) set. It's fun times. My mother continues to produce more fabulous food than anyone deserves to eat. My siblings continue to amaze me with their wit and humor. Our second family joke (the first being the "our brother in China" joke) is to try to use inappropriate words as often and as appropriately as possible. It makes us all happy. Peter was telling a story about a shop-lifting incident he witnessed. He said that the person ran out of the store. I said the police should have shot his ass so he couldn't get on it and ride away. I kill myself sometimes.

I swear this music sounds just like Star Wars...

Today was the least painful Christmas Eve shopping day I've ever had. It helped that I already knew what I was shopping for and Jamie and Adri went with to help keep me motivated and entertained. It's so great to have everyone in town. I'm excited to see everyone open their presents tomorrow. I guess that means I'm a big kid now.

I read this book last week. Not all that I had hoped and dreamed it would be. I knitted my first scarf of the winter so I probably won't be reading much for a while. Not until I learn how to knit without looking at it.

It took Israel and I about 11 hours to get back from arKansas yesterday. It was a good drive. He drove the first half and I drove the second half without stopping. I had a car that followed me from Mississippi until I got off of I-20 onto I-285. It may seem silly but it really made the drive go by faster. We had a little chain of cars going and I think it just helped keep my mind off of all the miles that were passing.

Evidently our cat is supposed to start talking at midnight so I'm going to finish this and go see what she has to say. I hope that everyone has a merry Christmas. I wish all my loved ones could have the opportunity to be with those they love at Christmas like I am. It really is such a blessing.

Currently reading : Love in the Time of Cholera (Oprah’s Book Club) By Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Worst Christmas song ever

I found it. It combines a choir knocking of Handel's Messiah by singing "Hallelujah, hallelujah, America", an "I'm proud to be an American/God Bless the USA"-esque male singer, a rhyming, in-song prayer, and ends with us all hoping that Christmas is the sweetest day of the year. It's the closest any song has ever come to inflicting actual physical pain on me.

I'm still in arKansas with Israel. I tried to rush him out of here last night but I'm glad we didn't go. There ended up being some sort of frozen precipitation and I would've missed out on eating pad thai, fabulous icecream/custard, and watching Super Troopers. We'll commence our journey shortly. Some people might not get Christmas gifts on Tuesday cause I haven't had time to shop, but if you complain about late gifts, you don't deserve gifts at all :-P.

It’s beginning to sound a lot like Christmas

It doesn't really look or feel like it (not a "typical" Christmas anyway), but it's close enough where I can enjoy listening to all the Christmas music on the radio. It makes me happy now instead of irritating me to death.I'm in arKansas with Israel. I flew out yesterday and have been helping him go through some stuff he is storing out here. We'll be driving some of it back tomorrow. Woo hoo. The past weeks have flown by and much has happened, but whenever I get to the end of the day I've been too tired to tell about it. I've seen a lot of people in the past week that i haven't seen in a very long time, which has been wonderful. I spent last Friday in San Diego with Peter and Roya. Ended up having to ride to LA to get a flight home, but it was really nice to see both of them. My trip this week overnighted in Key West on Monday and it was so beautful down there that it was a bit surreal. My crew was awesome so we had a fun time going out, then Tuesday morning I went and walked on the beach. It was so warm there were people laying out and swimming. On Wednesday I had a long overnight in Cinci which coincided with Matt's trip to Dayton from Atlanta. He picked me up on his way and I got to see the Chris and Erin and their lovely children. It amazes me to see my friends not just with babies but with children who are starting to grow up. Good times were had by all. Now I'm with Israel who I haven't seen since March or so. I'm not looking forward to the drive back, but it will be so nice to have nearly everyone at home. Over the last few weeks I've also come to a peace about the rejection I received last month and am becoming more open to other job options. More to come.

The world will never ever be the same, and you’re to blame

I think there's something wrong when it seems strange to be sleeping in my own bed. I really have only been gone two nights lately but it still feels odd. My bed sometimes makes me feel like I'm in a taco. I think it sags in the middle. It also makes some sort of noise every time I barely move. Sometimes breathing even makes it creak. But it's nice to be here.

It's been a very busy 4 days. I've done more flying since Monday than I normally do in 4 days. About 28 flight hours actually. It's nice to be able to get that much work crammed in but they really make you pay for it. Monday night I was in Leon, Mexico and I had all sorts of things to write about but alas, there isn't any internet connection in my room there. Then last night I had internet but was too tired to write about anything. Now I've forgotten most of it.

My car hit 90k on the way home from work Tuesday night. Despite the fact that I only wash it once a year and I can't go blazing past people like I'd like to, I do like my car. I got a lecture from some guy the other night because it doesn't have a name. I'm not even sure if it'd be a girl or a guy... What a quandry.

I'm getting deep into my crossword puzzles these days. The excitement of the week so far was that I finished the one on Tuesday. Laugh all you want both they're really hard so I'm going to be proud of myself.

I finished this really great book the other day - "The Lighting Thief". Someone my dad works with lent it to him and he liked it, then Michal liked it, so I figured I'd read it. It looks like a kid's book. I think it might be actually, but it was really good. And like my dad said, it's a great way to learn about Greek mythology. I got one of the answers on the crossword yesterday from something I learned in this book. Go me :).

I'm going to San Diego in the morning and am going to be le tired if I don't go to sleep pronto. It's been nice seeing you Georgia. I'll be back soon.