k-mart

The need for a hat took me to the K-Mart at Astor Place where I purchased a beanie. While finishing up my transaction with the cashier and bagger, two packs of panties where placed on the belt. "Can I return one later?" ask the lady behind me. The cashier and I exchange looks and she responses, "I don't think you can return underwear ma'am:. "Well one is a five and the other is a six." I turn to look at the 60 year old lady who is maybe 5'2 and a size for under her fur, and tell her, "oh honey, you're a five." ...."but I want the thong!" I laughed and got the hell out of there.

beat the clock

Saturday was spent picking up my final holiday presents and centered around watching the Ducks play basketball against Nebraska. I decided to head to a place in the Village called Off the Wagon to watch the game. I walked in to a relatively empty bar and pulled up a stool. I placed an order for the game and a Bud Lite. You can get a pitcher for $4.50, "what the hell am I going to with a pitcher?" "drink it". So I got my pitcher, ordered up some nachos, and watched the game. During the second half the place was invaded by fourty or so Santas all ordering pitchers. As of noon in this place on a Saturday pitchers start at four dollars and go up fifty cents per hour. This will tell you how early I started drinking. After the santas, came a pub crawl, and then another (these people had their own mugs). And the comedy rolled on sort of like my own commerical break. The game went into overtime which allowed me to finish my pitcher, and the bartender daring asked if I wanted another? Good, god no! I instead tagged along with one of the pub crawls for another bar before heading back to my neighborhood. With the knowledge that John is no longer working at my favorite bar, it has been released back to me to freely go into wtihout feeling strange. So I ordered my favorite comfort meal and some water. The place was slow and i looked at my watch to discover it was only six. Around seven, because the bartender was cute, I got back on the wagon with a couple of beers and then called it quits around eight, when the cute bartender got off work.

good clothes

They say that good clothes can open all doors. Myself, being a fashion conaseaur, firmly believe that statement, plus is always feels good when you have the perfect outfit. Friday evening had approached and my previous plans to spend the weekend with Janene had fallen through (ie she decided not to come visit) so it left me to fin for myself in the entertainment department. I got dolled up and went in search of a second job as a cocktail waitress. The area I would adore to work in The Village so I trouted my fabulous self down there and started pounding the pavement. After dropping off a few resumes, I decided to treat myself to dinner. The restuarant I desired to go to was closed for a holiday party so off I went. And as I was walking down Sullivan Street two men were out smoking and as I walked passed criticed my outfit with this commentary. "She looks good." "She has her shit together." "She is totally New York." I floated the rest of the way to the next place. Balazathar is a hoydie-toydie place here where stars dine and it is always packed. I have walked by prior but always have been a bit intimidated to go in. Well, tonight, I walked through the door and asked for a table for one. The host asked me to wait a moment, which I did, and while I was standing there at least five couples came in and asked for tables without reservations. It was a two hour wait. After a five minutes of me standing near the front, I was seated at a prime table for two for one. The people watching, the food, and the company was exquiste! During the course of my meal at least ten people came by to see how I was and thank me for being with them and then to top it off, a glass of champange was brought to my table. "Compliments of the house as we like to encourage ladies to dine alone." I walked to the subway thinking the evening could only go down hill if I stayed out and got another compliment that I looked sharp. You gotta love New York sometimes!

two hundred

Celebrating my two hundreth post, a year and a half of stories, travels and emotion. And here is my topic: keys.

I have been doing this dog walking job for a couple of months now and would say it is the best therapy there is. I can talk away to these pooches and they don't judge me, they don't care that I pour my affection out on them (in fact, I think they love it). Walking in the city with a dog is so great that I have often looked at George to see if she would take part in this walking business. Part of the job, of course, is going to pick up the dogs from their apartment and take them out and about. Well considering that every apartment building has a key and every door has at least two locks, I walk around with a gaggle of keys. The extra weight and feeling like a janitor is not what the issue is, my issue is getting the damn door open. I have never seen locks like these before, some you have to push and turn others you have to hold the key a certain way then turn the knob the other way. Sometimes the damn knob has nothing to do with the door opening. It seems that the keys also can sense my frustration because between me feeling like an idiot and the dog crying for me to come in, I experience mini breakdowns. I myself carry three keys to get into my apartment and find ir funny to even lock the door because a burgler would have to be a genius to know how all the different, damn doors in New York worked.

contentment

There is a lot to be said about being content, whether it is in life, an event, or even for a fleeting moment. The bigger thing is taking the time to notice this contentment and appreciating the moment in which it presents itself. I had many such moments during my stay in Portland last week. They came in the following forms, sitting a my favorite lunch at the Manzone, ordering a beer at Kells, having coffee and discussing life, sitting at a friends kitchen table, getting a foot massage, eating my Thanksgiving dinner (better late than never), watching the Ducks play football in person, and having dinner with dear friends. The friends are what highlighted these perfect, wouldn't want to be anywhere else moments But I even had them alone, whiile standing in my beautiful loft or walking through the neighborhood. I appreciate that I was able to take it all in and save it for a rainy day such as today. Back in NY where everything is shallow and lonely, I am grateful that I can close my eyes and be back in those moments.

ice cream is less asinine at 0300

If you were on the receiving end of one of my drunk dials last evening, my formal apologies. I had planned to go and drop off the perfect travel gift to John as he is now managing my bar and then head to the movies, in and out, no drama. Even for a brief appearance with the person you are madly in love with, the proper outfit, make-up, and hair need to be taken into consideration. Luckily I got my hair cut yesterday and the outfit looked as cute on as it did in my head, I felt fantastic. So off I went in the rain, under my Chanel umbrella towards my bar. I said hello to my favorite bartender, Heather and asked for John, he wasn’t working. Damn it! I choose Starbucks next and then went to see Before the Devil Knows Your Dead at the local, independent theatre. The movie was fantastic and let out around 2130. The rain had stopped and been replaced by a warm fog so I set off towards home with ice cream in mind. I got to the door of Baskin and Robins (which does not have 31 flavors out here- rip off) and decided that a glass of wine had fewer calories and my cuteness needed to be appreciated by more than the ice cream guy. I headed off to this place recommended by Lynne. As I walked in, I felt like I was transformed back in time to an old movie. The guy was in the corner playing the piano, Christmas decorations were lit up, the bartender was an older gentleman in a bow tie, and the crowd was very “Rat Pack” era. I ordered a glass of Chianti and sat alone with my thoughts feeling very rejected. I wasn’t there to make friends as I normally do; I just wanted to wallow in my loneliness. As my glass was being emptied, Eddie told the bartender to fill it up and began chatting with me. It must have been the loneliness because I engaged him in conversation and even agreed to grab a bite to eat with him. He took me to this place he claimed famous people go and ironically when we got in the car, the dj was also talking about this place. We walked into another nostalgic bar and had a glass of wine and then he decided he wanted to smoke a cigar so off to another club we went. Another glass of wine and apps and then we headed to the oh so -dead MPD where they were filming a movie at Buddhakon so we went to Buddha Bar. I convinced him to take me to Cafeteria for a real meal and then home. Around three am the loneliness came back and I cried myself to sleep. Should have had the ice cream.

fco minus turkey

The night before was spent partying with beautiful people at a table at Marquee. When the phone rang at 1000 announcing my airport alert assignment, it didn’t surprise me, as it was the holiday week. I was wondering where I would be spending the Thanksgiving holiday as it is my second favorite and I wanted to get myself in the mindset of being away or at home. I took my computer, which I never do, to play on the internet and perhaps watch a movie during my four-hour duty. For two and a half hours I sat there, ate subway, shopped and bought a bed online, and started on a resume for a bartending job I saw. The phone rang and I walked up when I heard my name called. “Okay this is just a maybe that you will go since the person is late coming in. So head to the gate and it won’t be official until the door closes.” “May I ask where I may be going?” “Sure, it a 5 day trip to Rome.” Holy Shit! Please don’t let this lady show up is what I was thinking as I made my way to the gate along side my former roommate, Missy. I get onboard this super senior flight and do what I am supposed to do. The door closed, I called scheduling, and now I am sitting in Roma on Thanksgiving Day. The ironic thing is that the movie I choose to bring with me was Roman Holiday; I think this was meant to be.

Day one
Since I was off the clock when it came to sightseeing, a. because I had been here previous on holiday and b. I had three, count them, three days to explore, I spent the afternoon catching up on my rest. The remaining crew met at 1830 to join for dinner and celebrate Thanksgiving with our make shift family. There are no turkeys over here so we settled for an amazing restaurant a cab ride away. Our captain was Italian and ordered tons of appetizers and kept the wine flowing. We ate mussels, calamari (fried and steamed), fried stuffed fish, prosuttio and mozzarella, bread and olives. An hour of eating and then we ordered dinner. I spilt the veal with a coworker and then came the tiramisu and cappuccino. We laughed and chatted away for hours as the Europeans do over dinner. Then we caught a lift back and ended our night with pistachio gelato. In true Turkey Day form, I was stuffed to the gills as I headed to bed. Tomorrow we set off for the south to explore. My favorite person thus far on this trip is Ramona, a senior flight attendant whose seniority is 280 and mine, well mine is 8700. She is fantastic!!

Day two

The plan was to go to Pompeii via train with Jan and see the ruins. Instead we were able to talk two more people into going with us and managed to hitch a ride. We met in the lobby at 0630, however I had been up since 0230. A two and half hour car ride with way too much information in the form of conversation lead us to a train station where we made our way to the base of Mt. Vesuvius. We were guided through the ancient ruins with stories and mostly awe for the way they lived and how advanced their society was. The city existed from 800 BC until 79 AD when the volcano erupted and buried the city. It took two hundred years to excavate. It was absolutely amazing to walk through history. After we jumped on a train and headed north to Naples, as we exited the train a black lab was in the station so of course I petted the dog and it then proceeded to follow us up the escalator and through the city. We ate lunch at the city credited for inventing pizza while my faithful dog, named Metro Napoleon, sat beside me (I insisted on outdoor dinning). Metro shared my pizza and then kept with us as we walked through the city that was actually really dirty. Sadly we lost her in the protest but it was probably better that way since she wouldn’t have fit in the cab on the way back to the train. My long day ended with a small picnic in my room. In true Italian style I ate bread, salami and cheese with some wine.

Day three

I woke up early and grabbed a cappuccino then made my way to the Vatican were the line stretched for easily a half mile. I was just taking photos since I have gratefully already visited. From there I headed to an area suggested by a local flight attendant but after two hours of being next to it but not able to figure out how to get the area, I gave up. During my wrong way, however I did manage to get to the tallest point in Rome and see the city as a whole. I ran into another lost American and we talked for a bit then I decided to turn left and kept seeing all of these priest and bishops. I unsure what was going on but perfectly safe walking down that street. I came upon a crowd and what I first thought was St. Peter’s Basilica but I wasn’t sure. Thousands of people were standing around and more and more church heads were exiting. I went into a shop for water and asked what was going on but the guy said he didn’t know. I stood to watch and the thunder and lighting started. It was kind of a “Godly experience” for lack of a better description. Thankfully I packed my umbrella because the heavens opened and dumped rain. The twenty-minute walk back to the hotel was done in ten and a nap soon followed. Feeling guilty about not seeing the cliché Rome, I took the Metro to the other side of the river and walked around. It was over running with people so I grabbed a slice of pizza and headed back. Watching the news I found out that the crowd was there to watch the Pope create 23 new bishops.

I have packed up and can actually say that I am ready to go home. It has been a great little holiday, a Roman Holiday.

prg

With a four day weekend on my hands and, may I dare to say, getting tired of exploring NYC, I set off for a city that has nothing but rave reviews. It is Sunday morning here in Prague and the only people wandering the streets are a few old people, the Japanese, and myself. I wandered into a previous internet cafe to find people still drinking beer at 0900. I heard the party doesn't even get going here until 0200. I am offically an old lady on this trip as I was in bed by then. Because time is so precious and there is so much to see in this outstanding city, I refrained from the temptation to go and party.
I arrived yesterday via FRA and wandered the cobblestone streets looking for accomadation. I ended up at this adorable boutique hotel next to the Old Town Sqaure. It is so amazing here, that words don't even begin to describe the beauty of the architecture, the amazment of the history, and the peace that comes from being here. They have an old Czech saying that where beer is brewed, life is good. That couldn't be more true here.
My obstacle of trying to convert the currency according the sign at the airport made for a bit of hillarity at the souviner shop as I was mentally a decimal point off. Well, at least people are getting nice gifts! I have also found the lack of coffee shops here since I am running on seven hours total sleep, I have been seeking them out only to find bars. And it seems perfectly acceptable to have a beer with your breakfast.
I am now off to a tour of all the must see things, off to explore on my own after, lunch, a nap, maybe a ghost tour, and then meeting up with some new friends and pulling an all nighter. My taxi arrives at 0330 to begin my journey back home.

day two

My short time in Prague was exactly what I needed to clear my head and heart whilst momentarily living among centuries of history. I elected to take a walking tour to ensure I saw the highlights of the city plus it is always great to hear the history and some antidotes. I met the group under the horse statue and we were off, immediately a girl befriended me and we hung out the whole journey. Her name was Linda from Australia. That is what I love about traveling is meeting new people and even though I wanted to be alone, it was so nice to have another half for the day. We learned about the communist area, the protest, the conditions, and the overturning. It was strange to think that it was in my lifetime. We learned about the astronomical clock, the beginning of Protestants, the Jewish quarter, we took a river boat cruise and looked at the city whilst drinking a beer, ate goulash for lunch and then we walked across the St Charles Bridge and up to the Prague castle for the changing of the guard. Our tour guy was fantastic and funny. Six hours of walking around in the freezing cold warranted a nap. After Linda and I met up for the ghost tour, which was free with our journey and certainly not worth paying for. A small dinner and then we chit chatted in my room over beers until the wee hours. After pulling an all nighter, and switching planes in FRA, I made it home. Sadly my peace was distributed with the finding of the roommate, a dirty bathroom, and my missing pita chips. Sometimes I think I should just get a boyfriend to have somewhere else to go, today it wouldn’t have mattered who the hell is was as long as they had quite, warmth, and something to eat.

wandering the city

The beginning of November is a wonderful time to be in NYC. The leaves are changing, there is a chill in the air that calls for a jacket, beautiful new boots make their debut, and the tourist sector dies a bit. I have been up early this week and enjoying the fall by taking a long walk with my coffee either to the park, in my neighborhood, or adventuring to another. I am working on a Christmas present for John of photos of things he loves in New York. This journey took me down to Union Square and over to the Village. From there I wandered around and found a delightful place to have lunch on Bleeker and then proceeded to walk uptown with point of winding up at Tiffany. So I walked, and walked up 60 blocks while people watching and popping into a store here and there. I made my purchase and a guy came up to me asking me if I was buying something for myself. I replied it was a gift and we started chatting. He told me to meet him for drinks and I agreed. I walked the rest of the way home and changed. We met at Scalinatella for dinner. He was very nice and I think I accepted the date as thankfulness that someone was aggressively interested in me. Christina rang up and wanted to know if I wanted to join her in the quest to get into the infamous Rose Bar. My date and I met her there after getting into four wrong cars. A few drinks there and my date had to go, so off he went and on our night continued. We went to Tao’ where the Knicks were having dinner and chatted with a few gentlemen before we headed off to Bruno’s. We arrived without a member and they let us right in. It was there fifth anniversary and I think they needed ladies to balance out the crowd. We danced and hung out with filthy rich men until it was time to throw in the towel for the evening and make it home. A nice guy walked me home and with one stop at a dive bar, I was headed to bed around 0500.

Today, still not working, I met a friend from the Late Show for lunch and then walked all over SoHo and Little Italy. I am all about checking out my beautiful city, but this girl is ready to work and check out the other fab cities of the world!

turtles

“Slow and steady wins the race.” This is what was spoken to me yesterday while on the topic of a relationship with my guy. It seems appropriate considering the NYC marathon is happening right outside my window.
My weekend has been outstanding and I am hoping to keep under the radar for the rest of the day work wise and finish it out. Friday was spent alone in my apartment catching up on Grey’s and me time since my hangover finally wore off from Halloween. Saturday was spent cleaning the house, laundry, and preparing for Ducks football. I got a text from John that he was in my shirt and off the wagon and to meet him. I text him that I couldn’t drink because I was on call and where should I meet him. I figured out that he was at a bar called Off the Wagon and when I walked he was proudly wearing the Oregon football I gave him. A few pictures of beer while the Notre Dame game was on and conversation about us and everything else lead us to another bar to watch the Oregon game. Today I ate breakfast with my boy and then got bundled up to watch the marathon. It was such a powerful thing to walk next to and to see the thousands of people who worked so hard for this day was a bit ah inspiring. I have a friend that was running and I was actually able to see him. Now I am relaxing at home on Sunday afternoon the crisp breeze is coming through the window. The cheers are still present as people make there way to the finish line.

one bar marathon

Halloween is my favorite holiday of the year. I am sure my need to dress up each year steams from the lack of dressing up as a child. I planned the whole month around having the day off and much of it was needed to prepare for our entry into the city. Seeing how we live in nanny, rich, old neighborhood our mid-driffs and long legs were met with some looks from the ladies and head turns from the gentlemen. As we road the subway more and more costumes came on until we exited at Union Square. I swear we posed for fifty pictures as we tried to make our way to the parade. Not sure of a true schedule and letting the night take us were it may, we grabbed a drink at Republic and then decided to stop in and see John (read: get free drinks and let him see me in my hot outfit). We had invitations to Plumm and to the playboy party at the Empire State Building. Our one drink turned into God knows how many while we hung in the corner with the firemen. They were eating wings and thought is was funny to put them in my basket with my dog. I don't remember much after that besides sitting on the sidewalk puking and Christina dragging me out of the cab on the way to our door. We awoke the next morning her sox on my pillow, my clothes everywhere, her shoe on my rollerboard, my basket in the hallway with chicken bones on the floor.

start sending mail here...

Once again I am in London. This trip however, has a friendlier crew and our rooms only took an hour to get. None of this matters as I will have two days off when I return to enjoy and recoup from Halloween. My Dorothy costume is awaiting me at the house and I am so excited to go trick or treating. I am hoping this 45 hour jont over to the UK has been enough time for me to get over my irratation with my roommate constantly being home lately. We are usually good about having our schedules balanced but since she personal dropped days, they are now in sink and after a week of coming home and her being there, I am going a little crazy. I love my alone time in my house, alone time here is just that...alone time. Our downstairs neighbors hooked me up with a deal on a flatscreen (thanks Carol). I was super excited to watch the third game of the WS but sick that the stupid Sox won. Now that baseball season is over, I can give 100% of my attention to the ol' Ducks, who have been playing pretty damn well this season if I might say so. I was able to enjoy the USC game this past weekend in an Oregon Alum bar. It was so great to be around fellow Oregonians!! Made me a little more homesick though.

...the damn winter is coming up though

Once again in London, I feel like I don't ever leave the UK. I am very excited however to have Saturday off so I can watch the USC/Oregon game and the world series...got to love October! I am working my favorite position of first class aisle but my galley gal is not someone to be reckoned with. I have successfully stayed out of her way and I think she has spoken thirty words to me the whole trip. The other aisle gal has never worked first before and keeps asking me questions, so I have been babysitting her all trip. I warned her to stay out of the galley although it would be fun to see her get her ass chewed I was not in the mood to deal with the aftermath. I have kept to myself once more on the trip and layover mostly because there is no one that exciting on my crew. It sucks and I miss the summer when this flight and others were chalked full of reserves that wanted to go out and have fun. I haven't gone out with the crew for a month and I miss it. My pilot is trying to get me to pick up a trip with him in two weeks, which, of course I will if I can...he was fun to go out with and super cute.

I have decided that I am no longer calling John and with help from my favorite author, Greg I remembered that if a guy is ready, he will let you know. So it up to fate now as I have laid the ground work/baited the trap (just kidding). I don't really know what I want. I think of how great it would be to have a boyfriend but then there are many times that I don't want to be bothered. I might just want to get on Didi's program of partner for the winter, single for the summer. Hmmmmm...

stewart

Monday night and we were in the mood to get dressed up and see what Manhattan had to offer for the evening. Christina and I were feeling a bit on the fancy side and made it a point to aim our adventure for hotel bars and more upscale places. We started off with a warm up drink at our local watering hole and got carded because we were so dolled up. On to Barunda then Tao' where we met Stewart. I watched him circle the bar working up the courage to come and talk to us. Finally he sat down and his North Carolina drawl as our names. He was very sweet and wanted to take us where ever we wanted to go. After exchanging looks with Christina, she said yes and off with Stewart and his driver we went. On our way to Columbus Circle we got sidetracked by the Pierre hotel and stopped in for a drink in which we met Marquaret and her friend who then wanted to take us to Bruno's which is a members only club that Christina had been taken to prior on on of her dates. So off we went. A bottle of wine there and we were ready to dance. Our newest memeber of the party wanted to go to some other exclusive club but we wanted to get our groove on in the MPD. The driver liked us so that is the way he headed until the other dude flipped out and wanted to go home. We got out of the car and headed to the nearest bar, Employees Only where I discussed the leaving of A-Rod from the Yankees (my opinion) and Christina flirted with some guy. More walking and then we were finally dancing. Of course we had to end our evening at Cafeteria with grilled cheese and just as we were paying the bill and about to turn into pumpkins this guy, Jimmy came up and started talking to us. It came up that I was from Oregon so he took me over to meet his friend, Rueben a player for the NY Giants and former Duck alum. Rueben and I talked about Duck football while his girlfriend fell asleep on the table. In bed around 0530 laughing about the strange paths our evenings always seen to take.

pooche patrol

A week later and I am back in England, this time in Manchester. We stay at this great hotel with gothic ceilings and mazes for hallways. A part of me wants to wander and get lost but the stories of the haunts and ghosts that live here, make me hesitate. I spent most of the day sleeping after our flight was delayed by an hour. It is getting to be that time of the year once more when the weather decides our departure and arrival time. Flight was easy and I am becoming more and more confident in the first class galley position. I have sat around all week on call with nothing coming my way flight wise. Instead, I interviewed to become a part time dog walker on Wednesday by spending the day walking miles around the East Village with dogs and my new friend Beth. I will be on call with this job as well and may have some overnights with the pooches. A paid night away from the air mattress...sign me up!
With time on our hands the roomie and I decided to hit the town and see what was shaking. We met a guy at Butter the other night who invited us to his table at Marquee. Hoping to run into some Yankees we headed to Olives and then the Underbar...nada going on. Marquee, Pink Elephant, House, Bunglow 8, a visiti to my boy, and homemade grilled cheese ended our evening at 0530. I was feeling homey and made some lasange Thursday, gotta love fall cooking.
So get this. I am in Manchester and want something warm and quick to take back to the hotel. Sadly, I decided on Pizza Hut for familarity. I walked in and everyone was being waited on and eating there pie with knifes and forks. It was bizzare! I got my personal pan and went back to eat it with my hands.

change of weather

The weather has turned, soup is ordered in place of salads, the lattes have switch from iced to hot, sweaters are coming out of the closet, and thoughts of home fill me. There is not one specific place I long to be but the idea of hot apple cider, the smell of turkey cooking, and a warm fire is what my heart desires even longs for at the moment.
I am in London after failing to make it to my check in yesterday due to weather. I have my first mark on my file, a mistrip and am disappointed to have risked being away from base simply for the idea of family. It was not my family, mind you, but Christina's who welcomed me in, feed me, and made the comforts of home avaliable. I spent three great, lazy days in Kansas City and gained five pounds from the incrediable food and lack of activity. Let me tell you, the bbq is everything that they proclaim it to be!

My absence from writing is not due to want or laziness, I just always want to write when my computer is unavaliable. I don't take it on international trips because of the hassle of transport and security. Therefore it sits at home waiting for me to pick up and pour out my thoughts.

The month of September was filled with new trips to new destinations and was all around a great month. I discovered Glascow (much different from its conterpart, Edinburgh) but still lovely. Great shopping! Manchester was also new and I had a great time there looking for Crayton's jersey in white, going to the best Indian food ever, hanging out at the gay bars and with a cool pilot...enough said. Our hotel is gorgeous there and the rooms boost thirty foot high ceilings and the reports of being haunted. I had the pleasure of playing host to my mom in my city of NYC. We walked through Central Park, let her meet the guy, dinner in Little Italy, went to San Germano festival, shopping on Fifth Ave, taught her how to hail a cab, spent time in a old fashioned soda shop, and then took her to Ediburgh on my flight. We returned and watched Wicked, which was the coolest play ever. I highly recommend. And it gave me the final decision to be Dorthy for Halloween.

Things with John are great, moving at a slow pace. It is nice however, to have someone to hang out with once a week. He is oh, so handsome and still gives me butterflies to think about. My Yankees have been eliminated, sadly but I was able to go to game three and witness the end of an era. The game was incrediable and just being there....wow! My Ducks are doing well and I plan now to go back to my room and watch the play-by-play on my phone. Lazy days in London, sometimes I just have to smile at what a great life I have.

ben harper encore

You are always supposed to be exactly where you are when you are there. I was not supposed to be out on a date last night as noted by my date who “forgot”. My ego a little bruised I decided to walk it off and just started headed in the direction of home. A gentleman asked me if I knew where the Triumph hotel was and then asked me how my night was going. “I just got stood up”, I replied. The look on his face was priceless but he quickly recovered and asked me if I wanted to go and see Ben Harper with him and some friends as they had an extra ticket. I said yes immediately and within thirty minutes was sitting eighth row in Radio City Music Hall watching an incredible show with five new friends. Drinks on the rooftop of the Peninsula Hotel proceeded bar hopping and grilled cheese at my favorite late night hangout. All in all an evening that took a turn down made a nice 180.

Here’ what sucks about being a girl. I don’t profess to be a girl in most forms of the word, I don’t take eighty years to get ready, I hang with the boys, I like sports, I don’t let my emotions get in the way, and I certainly don’t take things too seriously. I am currently kicking myself for being a girl when it comes to John. Looking back over the past few weeks, I have been building things up in my head instead of taking it slow as we both established the first night. I had a nice wake up call today, sitting here thinking about conversations, how I have been a little too overly aggressive, and acting like a girl, pure and simple. I have decided to go into our date tonight with the mindset of what happens, happens, I can’t believe I let myself slip into the girl mind frame and set myself up for over thinking It is a sophomoric mistake that hopefully I have caught in time.

p.s. my humsaa necklace broke today...i wonder what the hell that means?

liam

Something more to add to my top five best feelings: watching Ducks football when they are playing amazing. Being in the Bighouse for the big win last week was incrediable!!! The whole weekend in Detriot was a success, hanging out with my best bud, her family, seeing old friends, rooting on our team, attending a Ben Harper concert (8th row), and then having my friend come back with me...Good Stuff!

BFS

I picked up a trip to Belfast to round out my turn of Ireland and to also bring along Janene. The crew was great, the hotel located in the heart of the town filled with so much history, and the company was a unique and welcomed change. We got to the room and napped for a bit before heading out to site see. Our first stop was the Crown Saloon, which is modeled after something on the Titanic or something like that. They poured a mean pint of Guinness, that is all I cared about. After making friends with the barkeep, we wandered around some more and came upon the oldest pub in Belfast. At Kelly's we ordered up a pint and took in the old building. It wasn't long before we were joined by a gentleman named Liam. He proceeded to explain the history of not only the pub but the conflict that still plagues Northern Ireland. According to his story we were sitting in the very seats were the IRA was formed. The declaration was upon the wall and the passion behind his story made the hairs on my arms stand up. This is why I love traveling.

dtw

A major thing I miss about my previous life was attending Duck games. It is the perfect fall thing to do, get the Duck gear on, drive down to Eugene with friends, grab pizza at Tracktown, tailgate, and then cheer our team onto victory. I wasn’t able to attend a single game last year but to day I am heading to the Bighouse. Not jail, rather Michigan to watch my team play ball. I have already made friends with the four Oregon fans on the plane.

Today was also my first day with NY public transportation. With my previous history of it in Jersey you can understand why I allowed myself four hours to make my flight. I must say, however, it was a breeze and I was from my door to security in an hour and a half. I think I lucked out with my past month of driving in the city but the last attempt to drive to work and the two hours I sat in traffic was enough. I am now bound and determined to learn my way around the subway and the city without driving or cabs. I was made fun of on more than one occasion for being a “princess” about my getting around. Well princess here is going to enjoy her weekend in Michigan with good friends, football, and plenty of Bud Lites.

jpk

Let me tell you about this guy...
I have had two dates officially with John. Introduced to him at a bar two weeks ago and my walls have already been brought down. He is handsome, smart, funny, and so sweet. Our last date was spent in Central Park walking around, hand in hand while he narrated the surroundings. I never thought I would be the person that was so giddy to see someone, or thought about them daily. I was not a believer until it happened. The cynical side of me keeps some walls up just in case so my heart doesn't get stomped on again. But I get it now; I understand why Christina squeals at movies, why Nichole was so enamored, and how your heart could flutter about the single thought of someone. What does all of this mean? I have no clue, but at the moment I am acting outside of my normal box and letting life take me where it may.

top five

Christina and I pose questions to each other all the time in order to get to know each other better and to challange the others mind. My question to her the other evening was: "What is your top five best feelings?". Here is my list thus far, in no particular order...
¬getting a 100% on a test
¬how I feel the last five minutes of a yoga class
¬how I felt when John kissed me for the first time
¬singing along to a song you know at an Irish/UK pub
The fourth is concreted tonight as I am in Edinburgh and enjoying this beautiful city. Crew scheduling being in charge of my life has wound me up in EDI, after first being assigned LGW then airport alert and then EDI. This city is absoletely beautiful with its coast line, history, castles, the friendly people, kilts, bag pipe players, and adorable dogs. I spent the day walking around and the evening in a Scottish pub listening to music. I can safely say that this town has moved into my top three favorites thus far.

cafeteria ban lifted

The roomie and I have been home for the past week hanging out. She was feeling a bit blue so we made a date prior to our last trip for dinner and some girl time. We didn't get motivated until 2300 so dinner was scratched and replaced with going out. The east village was our destination as we decided to get out of our ues bubble and see what else NYC had for us. We stopped by a previous visited bar and grabbed a drink before wandering for a bit to the suggested place Solas. We walked in and it was dead but we stayed because they had connect four. We were ordering our second round and had graduated up to jenga when the bar filled up and the karaoke began. Christina has an amazing voice so she was right up there but in order to get a mic in my hands, it takes a lot of booze. Long story short, I sang a couple of duets. The bar closed down and not quite ready to go home, we decided to press our luck at Cafeteria. We were banned previously from my puking and passing out. We walked in casually with some random nerd we found on the street and ordered our usual. The next day was spend in bed, hung-over....urgh...am I getting old!
Wednesday was work out day for me as I finally found someone to play tennis with. I walked two miles, biked three, and play tennis for two hours. I came home to find Christina ready to go out, so I showered up and we hit the town. This time we went to Nolita to check out some bars she found. Nothing was poppin' so I made the decision that I wanted to see my boy at midnight. We walked into his bar and I stopped with hesitation in front; then walked in nervous as can be. We stood there patiently as he made drinks and it was while he stopped to take a sip of water that he noticed me. It was the perfect reaction and he took a second to figure out how to get to me. Single most romantic moment in my life: he scaled the bar, picked me up and kissed me. I could hear C squealing in the background. So we hung out for a while, me talking to firemen and gazing at him, Christina talking to the nerdy guys that had followed us from three bars previous. 0200 rolled around and we decided to call it an evening and get some grilled cheese. Back to our place we went, un-detected...that is damn good grilled cheese!!!

one-dollar beers and two johns

08.20.07

My idea of a quick dinner and a beer resulted in me closing the place down. Mind you it is Monday night but here in NY it doesn’t matter what the day is, especially if there is a Yankee game on. I walked up to the bar and sat between two gentlemen clearly grabbing a beer after work. The bubbly bartender came up to me and took my order. I inquired about dollar beers for flight attendants and from that moment on, my glass was never empty. I began chatting with the guy on the left, then the gaggle of drunken Chinese men, then to the man on my right. His name was John and he owned a construction company. We had a very pleasant conversation over our bbq sandwiches while watching the game. After his departure around midnight a tall, good-looking man came up to the bar. Heather, the bartender, kissed him hello and then told him to come and sit with me as she thought I was very nice. Score for me because he was hot! John number two and I spent the next hour and half talking about everything you would on a first date. He is an absolute doll and we have made plans for dinner on Friday. I have a new phone; it is still a bit intimidating to me because of all the bells and whistles. John was interested in trying it so I let him text Christina, who had already called to make sure I was still alive. They had a bit of banter going on then he mentioned that he gave me a toy crocodile from the bar. She responded that she didn’t know what exactly that meant but good. After half running, half skipping home, I came into the apartment and placed the crocodile on her chest. She awoke startled with me falling on the ground laughing.

i am going a little crazy...

My usually therapy is what I am returning to after what I describe as a trip on something and Janene describes as a panic attack. There are a few post that need to be put up to fill you in on my life but nothing bad, actually things are going really well right now. Well, I am just procrasting at my strangeness.

I am in London and woke up around 0445 after a wierd dream, went to the bathroom, then came back to bed. I put my eye mask back on and my feet out of the sheets as I was burning up. I was rehashing my dream thinking how strange it was and how vivid when I pulled my feet back in and pulled off my mask because I didn't want to be touched by spirits. We do stay in haunted hotels but I haven't heard anyting about this one. All of a sudden I didn't want to sleep, I turned on the lights in a panic. I didn't know anyone else's room number, "what is wrong with me?", I only had two glasses of wine, I had some Indian take-away in the city was there magic mushrooms in it. Finally I called Janene who told me to get out of the room. I described my dream which is pieced together as follows: my building and the builing next to mine in Portland were flooding and I was evacuating it but this big guy who was a friends dad in the dream (really more like the guy from Orange County Choppers) was pushing furniture around in the water. People were leaving and speaking to me in langauges that I understood but told them to move aside. After that I was in my loft to seek in and see what was going on to find that Russians were moving stuff out of my now warehouse size house and we were scared of getting caught. There was a whole room filled with porn in VHS form and then a group of my friends were hanging out in a circle talking then two identical priest walked in I went to the porn room and got them matching tapes with two matching vibrators. I walk out of the room and now there is a nail salon ran but black queens and Hilary is there with huge coloriful nails in large silver oven mitts with her hands in the air. The head guy, my ISM, told me it was okay to take her mitts off and play cards. Then we were in this room with computers and Yoder's ex was telling me how he paid for college by selling drugs. Meanwhile I am being them pushing white powder into ridges on a board. Then the Russians came in and were friendly saying that when the lease was up that everyone got the remaining contents in their room of export. I had a chain-link fence in my living room and this butch head of the organization hugged me.

I have no idea how long I was dreaming and I actually still feel like I could wake up at any moment. I am in the crew room now, avoiding my room and feeling sillier by the moment. There is a guy on my crew next to me who hasn't even acknowledged me to make me think this may still be a part of my dream. If this is a panic attack I want nothing to do with it, but I will tell you one thing...no more Indian food for me!

koala bear sheets

I have just returned home after a week of absense. First in Oregon followed directly by LGW. I picked up the trip so I could stay one more night in my beautiful home town and in the comfort of Dave May's bed. I created good karma by helping the agents in PDX out with boarding which ensured my ticket to work. I traded a guy for the back galley of the 777, and I will have to admit, I was a bit overwhelmed at first and forgot to warm up all the bread yesterday but today...piece of cake. And it was nice to be away from dealing with passengers. I tried a new route home today and got as far as Canal Street before I wound up in Brooklyn. Finally back to the neighborhood and found a parking spot right off then proceeded to take my roller board, backpack, handbag, purse, and a collapasable bed down the street and up four flights of stairs. The next hour was spent blowing up a twin size air mattress and making myself dizzy. Finally, I had my foundation for a bed. Next came koala bear sheets that I used to have as a child. It made me absolutely giddy to put them on! The five pillows I have take over the bed but add to the comfort that both George and I have enjoyed via an afternoon nap. I go from partying with queens over crew juice to a mellow evening in Manhattan that will include a beer and some bbq.

nomad

I am sitting in my old neighborhood; the sun is out, I look and feel great besides the fact that I am currently a nomad. Starbucks is my place until both my computer and phone charge. Every door I went and knocked on was vacant. I thought about going to my place to see if my renters were home and would let me hang out for a while but I thought better of it. The day that was open for possibilities is slowly slipping away from me. I have run a few errands, had coffee with Anne, lunch with Amy, and awaiting calls back to fill my card for happy hour. I picked up a trip to ol’ LGW just so I can have peace of mind not being on call tomorrow. Manhattan seems a lifetime away right now; I doubt I will return to the apartment until after my trip, as it is such an ordeal to get back and forth.

A day ago I mourned the loss of my father officially at his service followed by the reception. It was an easier process than first thought. I suppose it is due to the two months I have had to let it all sink in. With the support of my ladies, I made it through with a handful of tears. But let me tell you, when they played Taps on the trumpet, I let the tears flow.

return to dad

My gallivanting around the globe has only taken me to a few places thus far. I must have “sucker:” written on my profile because scheduling is constantly changing my trips. I was off to trip to Shannon that I picked up when, while suck on ninth ave, the phone rang and I instinctively picked it up. Would I mind going to Paris instead, was the question that was really direction. Sure, why not. I spent the next few hours in Jersey as to avoid the mass exit from the island of Manhattan and then headed off to work. Our crew was nice and laid back and with only one of the female. I have noticed that there tends to be more straight men on international flights and they all seem to love the hell out of me. A nap upon arrival gave me the energy to enjoy a Thai dinner with some of the other crews and our IRO and the mid flight’s FO ended up shutting down the hotel bar. I was escorted to my room by the FO, who kissed me goodnight. It was sort of out of the blue but won’t have been so bad accept he was a horrible kisser. I don’t know when boys stopped learning how to kiss well, or maybe it is a NE thing but the last two out of three guys have been horrible. The middle guy was from LA, the good kisser. Off to bed I went after my nightly ritual and then next morning came a bit early for me to discover toothpaste not only all over the sink but also my shoulder and hair. I must have had too many beers the night prior but at least I got my teeth brushed. I spent a blissful twenty hours in my fabulous apartment before packing up and trying to get on a flight to Portland. No such luck with the direct so now I find myself in between two, not so friendly guys would need to sit with their legs apart and hitting mine, the guys sit reclined in the front of me and for a while the kid behind me singing something. I can empathize with our passengers as I can say that I am not comfortable in the least bit and the crew isn’t very friendly either. Vegas is my stop over for the night and I am hoping enjoy a quick stay in Sin City. The week ahead of me is a bit grim, as my father’s service will be held. I am uneasy, as I have finally come to terms with his passing only to have to relive his death once more. It will be nice to see everyone and formally celebrate his life but…well it just sucks, emotional wise.

lgw-lgw-move

I sit in my new apartment, wide-awake at 0130. The road to get here to this moment of peace has been filled with bumps and hurdles. We found the place almost a month ago and put our application in, days upon days of sending more things to the man on the other end of the phone with a silly accent. Finally on the second we signed our lease. Our own little place on the Upper East Side! I had to go to LGW that evening so I was only able to move my clothes before I had to go home and get ready for work. A classmate and I worked the first class section and had a great time goofing around. A Temptation was on the flight and ended up giving me his number and inviting me to a show later in the month. After my return to the US, I loaded up my car with belongings and George and set off for the city. Christina had called in sick so she had most of her stuff gone already. She helped me get my stuff upstairs and then we set off to find dinner. I was good for the next day and then had two days off to finish moving. Well my plan was foiled by the phone ringing at 1100, I was off to BRS for the next three days leaving at 1940…okay that left me a whole day to get things done. Sunday brunch at a lovely outdoor café around 1330 and the phone rings again. Now I am supposed to be at airport alert at 1600. Crap! Had to run back and get ready to find my tire was flat. Luckily I now live across the street from a parking garage. I put on my best girl face and went over to see if they had air. Well the guy didn’t speak English so I did my best play charades of blowing up a tire. He ended up changing it for me. I drove through the Lincoln Tunnel after getting lost since the main street was closed due to a street fair. I make it to work two minutes late and call to check in. The phone rings with one hour and fifty-five minutes in to go to LGW. I walked the mile to the gate to find out that I was not needed and it was a mistake. Back to the crew room I went to sit for another hour until I was called once more for the later LGW flight. Nothing too exciting this time in London, I hung around the hotel and met the pilots for happy hour and then joined then for dinner at Ol Six Belles, a British restaurant that has been there since the 1600’s. I returned last night and finished moving everything. The fourth floor walk up provided quite a work out and the ninety-degree heat with ninety percent humidity melted off some of the international food I have been eating. The anal part of me was up at the crack of dawn to organize things and I am a bed away from having my side of the studio complete. I am super happy with the move and living in NYC was everything I expected it to be thus far.

playing catch up

My lack of blogging isn't due to the lack of stories, adventures, or want; it is due to the lack of time that has suddenly taken over my life. Finally at 0200 in Zurich, I am able to catch up without the phone ringing, without roommates asking me questions, without having to work, and without having to deal with anything other than my own thoughts. A Perrier, cup of soup, and peppermint tea beside me, allow me to fill you in on my adventures this month.

LGW

Eight hours strolling around London allowed me to see the tourist places of Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abby, and several other buildings that seemed to be of historic relevance. I asked for directions to the Farris wheel I could see from St. James Park. I was quickly corrected after a giggle from a guard to its name of the London Eye. Even though I had no sleep, I continued on, map in hand to check out this great city. The sure fire way of getting to know a culture is to take a stroll through a supermarket or the post office. My journey to get stamps for the mandatory postcard to my mum provided the entertainment of the afternoon as a man defined the word postal as he screamed at the counter about something. The second entertainment came in the form of a guy at the DOT. I stopped in for directions to a non-touristy place to get some fish and chips. He in turn takes his lunch and not only walks me there, orders for me, places me at a table with another guy, takes off to get cash, returns, and buys my lunch. It was a bizarre situation, but hell, I will take free lunch any day!
This was my first trip to work our first class aisle, and I will promptly claim this as my favorite position to work. Second trip and I am already spoiled.

CDG

I was on call, but only for one day. Dragging my feet a bit on going to look at some places in the city by myself, I got a late start and something told me to stay close to home. Thirty minutes later the phone rang and they told me they were rolling my days off and sending me to Paris. I actually let out a little scream to the scheduler on how happy I was. Her response was she was sorry to use me but not many domestic reserves hold their French visas, to which I told her, I was one of those dorky domestic reserves that did. My crew was fantastic and we had so much fun together on the flights and the layover. I found out my friend, Justin was on the early Paris flight and I was instructed to find his room when I landed. The bus drive to the city was long but gorgeous as we drove by the classic sights of the city of lights. We got out of the bus and I heard my name..."did I hear that right?...I am in Paris with a French name...where is that coming from?" I look up and my friend is frantically waving out the window of the ninth floor. We spent the day walking around, climbing the Eiffel Tower, eating ice cream, and taking it all in. Drinks in the lobby with the pilots proceeded dinner with the crew followed by smoking the hookah pipe at a local bar. Hands down my favorite layover yet.

Pounding the Manhattan pavement once more looking for the perfect place. We found one and started the process of applying. That called for a drink after some dolling up at Bergdorf’s. We made calls to find out which one of our guys we could meet up with. Tom (Christina's sugar daddy) was the first to respond. We met him at the St. Regis for cocktails and then proceeded to Sparks for dinner. This was the day of the steam explosion in the city which sent thoughts of terroism to every ones mind. It was a little scary to see helicopters, streets closed, and people running around without an answer as to what happened. Dinner was amazing and the ratio of guys to girls was around 30:1. This place knew our date very well and we were seated immediately. A view of the Yankee game, tons of men, a nice glass of Pinot, and a fabulous steak...this is what I call living!! We were getting up to leave when our waiter told us that a Yankee pitcher (on the DL) was asking who we were but because of who we were with, the waiter didn’t want to say anything. We will return to Sparks for sure!! Our next stop was to pick up some Duke of something to take him to the strip club we decided to check out. It was a pretty classy joint as far as strip clubs go, but man did those girls smell money. Our evening didn't end until 0530; I went on call at 0500.

CDG

On call once more and I was assigned SNN. An hour later the phone rang again..."I promise I am up", it was the scheduler who was in a bind and wanted to know if she could switch my flight. I told her my mom was coming on the third day of the trip and the soonest she could get me back, the better. I had a choice of GVA, BRU, or CDG. I took the earliest arrival, which ended up being Paris. I proceeded to sleep the whole time, thank goodness, I was just there.

DUB

This was not a working trip; this was holiday with my mum. She arrived in NY as I was over the Atlantic. I had Britney go and pick her up from the airport and unfortunately talk Carol's ear off, as she tends to do. I made it home around 1300 and by 1730; I was back at the airport. Two first class tickets, please...luckily we were able to fly upfront so I drank a bottle of wine and crashed out. Our hotel was simply lovely and Dublin was such a great town. Friendly people, lots of good looking guys, and I am all in favor of a country in which you can drink a Guinness at any time of the day without judgment. A literary pub crawl (my favorite thing), a city bus tour, tour of the Guinness factory, the book of Kells, St. Patrick’s' cathedral, hanging out on O'Connell Street (our ancestor), a ghost bus tour in which I was the prop for how to exhume a body, a tour to Cork to kiss the Blarney Stone, and a cabaret show made up our five day journey. Good stuff.

ZRH

I had Saturday off and wandering around the house alone, packing, completely frustrated about not knowing if I have a place to live in three days. I decided to volunteer to go to work. I called up and offered my services clarifying that I didn't want to go to Texas, overseas please. I had the choice of where I wanted to go and quickly picked Zurich. It is so beautiful here; they actually stamped my passport, no waiting on the hotel van, gummy bears at the front desk, and a welcome drink. The hotel is gorgeous as is the city, which was a 20-minute train ride away. I walked around as much as possible but shops were closed due to it being Sunday and I didn't feel well so I am back after a nap enjoying my room and a spot of tea.

I am really digging this international business and know that this is what I was cut out for.... international first class flight attendant...yep that is me!!

trouser press

I am sitting in an internet cafe in the airport in London awaiting the chance to use my free ticket to the city. I had almost an hour to kill and choose to check out shops, grab a water, and while walking by the cafe, I spotted a gorgeous man using the computers so I am currently sitting three computers away sending out a vibe. He has noticed me yet. The flight over was smooth and I worked a wonderful potition with a great galley person. Before I knew it we were landing and jumping on a bus. I was super excited to add a stamp to my passport and was very upset to find out that we in fact bypass customs and go straight to our hotel. Boo-Hiss!!!! I want a stamp damn it! I am too excited to go sightseeing to sleep and no one else on the crew shares my enthusiasm so my free ticket and I are hitting the train, map in hand, and checking out all this British stuff. Our hotel is pretty nice and within walking distance which means we don't have to tip anyone for handling our luggage. The word on the street is that the crew lounge is the happening place to be, so that is where I will be tonight. There is one strange thing in the room, a trouser press. Carol would be proud of me for throwing my shorts in there and getting the wrinkles out. Okay, the hot guy left...my time is up here. Watch out London, here I come!!

london calling

I just picked up my first international trip! I am going to heading to LGW as the first class aisle gal. It is a great position as all you do is serve the food, take orders, etc. I am super excited to go London as I have never been and having this much heads up allows me to change my sleep schedule so I can check everything out. Yes, darling tomorrow I leave for jolly ol' England!!! (you have to image my best British accent!) Cherrio for now...god, I am dork.

life on call

The new life of an international flight attendant has only consisted of one trip thus far. I have been off work for almost three days as we made it home around 0430 in the morning Sunday. After clearing customs, riding the bus, driving home, and washing my face I was in bed by 0600. I expected a trip that evening but received no call. The past two days have been spent on call in the city with luggage in the car just in case. Christina and I have been apartment searching which is a work out to say the least in the classic summer heat of NYC. We were brave enough to go past 97th and into Harlem to look at a place which was great for the price but the fact that we felt a little sketchy walking during a weekday afternoon told our guts we wouldn’t be safe in the middle of the night. We took a break to grab a drink at Tao’ and who do we see but LL Cool J. Christina offered our table if he needed a place to sit and told me that her hand ricocheted off his gun of an arm. Today we went back in the city and found our ideal place in Chelsea. Now we are waiting to hear back from the company after we ran across the street and faxed our application. We are trying to bribe people with airline passes to make our dream of living in the city a reality. We had lunch in the neighborhood at a seafood restaurant filled with friendly people and came into conversation with a two time Grammy winner, Freddie Jackson. Tonight is all about watching the All-Star game and soaking up the air con.

07.07.07

Four years ago I wanted to be getting married on this day. Alas, I am sitting in Tel Aviv on a layover from my very first international flight. I stopped by Starbucks to get an ice latte (my new addiction) and a pilot asked me where I was off to, I replied off to airport alert and actually excited about it. He told me that I would be on his flight to TLV that night, I laughed at him until the phone rang in the crew room and I was off to the gate. I remember shaking when I was first told and even asking the scheduler if she was sure. "Holy F, I am going to TLV" I shouted on my way out the door. A nine and half hour flight with an hour and half nap. My excitement wore off in the seventh hour as we did our breakfast service and I realized this was just an over-extended PBI trip. We headed to the market on our arrival to check it out as it was closing at sundown for Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath). There is a peace about being here today when everyone rest. They have an elevator in the hotel that stops on every floor as they are not allowed to press buttons or open doors on Shabbat. There is no cooked food available in the hotel either. My new friend, Marie and I took a journey this morning to Jaffah to check out the ruins and history, I probably took fifty photos and soaked it all in as I doubt I will ever have the chance to return.
I am off to the pool to enjoy the sun as the waves crash against the shore from the Mediterrian, take a nap, and then get ready for the 11 hour flight back home.

the fourth

Why is it that although there is great things, days, moments in ones life, we still hang up on the bad? I just smile to think about the past five days of my life. I haven't had to work because of the transition to international, instead I have been partying in the hottest clubs in NY, hanging out with my heart-throb, hanging out with friends, attending a Yankees game (nothing more patriotic on the fourth in my book), attending a roof top party in the middle of Manhattan with a first rate view of the most amazing fireworks I have ever seen, and being given airport alert tonight which increases my chances of my first trip internationally being something amazing. Are these the thoughts I wake up to? Nope, I wake up to a phone call that my new renters are not happy because I don't have cable or a tea kettle. Who, under the age of 50, owns a tea kettle? I think of how I am going to solve this situation without asking my friends to do more than they already do for me. I think about the strange feeling of finality of my last phone call with the ex over the loft. I think about how I don't have anywhere to live next month has Christina and I gave our notice. I think about if I will ever see "my future husband" again and kick myself for having one glass too many of champange. I think of Fourth of Julys in the past, my family at the Elks club, hanging out on the boat, the waterfront, being with someone. Alright I am done mopping....time to locate a tea kettle...I just felt myself age.

class act

So this life of being an international flight already has the perks of extra days off with the transition and I have been filling them up quite fabulously. My LA friend is in town but I have yet to be able to meet up with him as he is producing a music video. I got all dolled up to meet up with him if he was able then I was going to meet Christina after her date. To kill the hours, I hung out in Chelsae at some restaurant then Bungalow 8 and then over to Marquee. It's easy to get into these clubs when alone and in a cute dress. When the call came to meet up with the date couple, I hopped in a cab and made my way to Buddha Bat, we stayed there for a bit and Christina took the liberty of cutting me off as I already showed her date my pink panties. Our next stop was the infamous Tenjune. There was no waiting this time, we cut in front of the whole damn line with this guy and spent the rest of the evening dancing. Cafeteria finished out our night as usual then we got in his car and when we stopped next we were at a hotel. This guy owns a couple in the city so he got me my own room. Needless to say I woke up on Park Avenue. Yah, a girl could get used to that!!
Christina in her chumminess managed to talk to the right person at Tenjune because she ended up getting us invited to....Deter Jeter's birthday party!!! Oh, yes, you read right! Yesterday was spent napping after making it home from the city and then getting prom-perfect ready. I wore my birthday dress, thought the occassion afforded it. We were not sure what to expect but it ended up to be amazing, very intimate around fourty or fifty people. He is so sweet and goooorrrrgeous!!! Red velvet cupcakes, a dj, very nice and low key. I drank champange because I was nervous and can't really remember everything we talked about for the hour I sat with him. I did give him a peck on the cheek when the party was over. Cafeteria was once again graced with our presence but this time I spent more time on the sidewalk outside puking. We ended up staying at the W last night because we were too drunk to make it home safely and on the way back to the path in the cab, my leg was in the window and Christina asked me if had on underwear on. I lifted up my dress to show her and while she shook her head in disbelief, I informed her I was a class act! Since we were still dressed up at one in afternoon on a Monday people asked us if we were movie stars, we said yes. But we did see a star on the way, Mr Big was crossing the street and laughed at the squeal that came from Christina. Yes, we are stars, at least in our minds!!

delay

I suppose I can look at this as training for going international; the fact that I am sitting here in the crew room waiting for my flight to depart at 0200. It was orginally scheduled for 2030 and we were the only flight in the whole airport that wasn't delayed due to weather. Instead it a maintaince delay which turned into our aircraft being taken away. I only have four hours sleep under my belt since our flight last night didn't arrive here until 0400. We sat on the tarmac last night in the humity for two and half hours. We did our best to accommidate everyone since the story of the passangers going irrate on the plane just came out on the news and the first person that asked me about their passanger rights got an earful from me. My day off was rolled so I could be sent to CMH, this is almost day six of working and I will have to admit, that I am tired.

jumpseat therapy

After three beers:
Obviousally I haven't been myself lately, I haven't posted, I haven't returned phone calls, I find myself in moments of sadness through out the day, just wandering off into space. I am on the second trip since my return back to Jersey after being on Oregon for two weeks. My roommate was actually surprised I came home. The only plausable reason I can give for coming back to Jersey is the fact that the one thing I have wanted in the past year has finally came to regonization, as of July second, I am an international flight attendant! I had to come back for the simple fact that I have put so much time in and to leave before knowing what it is like would be crazy.

Next Morning:
I am sad. It is not a feeling that I am used to. It has only been two weeks since I had to say goodbye to my father but it feels like an eternity. My emotions are not in tack, my heart aches to be filled with something other than sadness. I am grasping for things to fill the void, I look to the past, to those who knew and loved him as I did for comfort. I feel like I am wandering aimlessly down a path with no end point or clue where to turn. I drink too much, I cry in the shower, I get upset when I don’t get my way, I have isolated myself from those who love me and talk to strangers instead. My strong front is still there; no one would know how I feel when I am alone. But here I sit, alone in a hotel room staring at the storm clouds.

Seventeen hours in Tulsa is too long to be alone with my thoughts. I am attempting to get back in the swing of my East Coast life by working and going out in the city. Christina’s dad was in town last weekend and I was invited to join them for dinner at Tao`. Because Britney was not invited due to her “wet-blanket” status, I had to be sneaky about how we met up. I headed to the city a few hours after I dropped them off at the Path station and went and got my nails done. During the drive, it surprised me to see all of these cars painted with names and “congrast” honoring the graduation that was taking place the next day. Apparently it is a huge deal to graduate high school in Jersey. Good grief! I spent a few hours walking around the city before meeting them at the W. Dinner and drinks were fabulous and with our willing group we headed down to our favorite spots, the Penthouse at the Gansevoort (where we meet several Irish boys), One, Buddha Bar, PM, Cafeteria, and finally the Whiskey Bar. All and all a good night in the city. A whole day to myself at the old apartment preceded a four-day trip in which time seems to be standing still. My crew is great minus the sexist, asshole captain with way too much hair on his arms. My salvation has been the first class gal, with whom I have opened my heart up to and blabbed about the empty feeling in my heart and my need to fill it with comfort and familiarity. She listens with no judgment and offers sound advice. She is exactly what I need right now. Back on the “road” I go, sit time in IAH, then a late flight home. I am hoping to be released to my day off as my music producer from LA is in town! I do a little dance whenever I think about it!!

excerps

My first day back at work leaves me sitting airport alert. It is the perfect ease in to the flow that I so desperately need to get back into. My journey back was that of chaos as the flight I wanted to take home was full so I had to take another carrier and wound up at a different ariport. It wasn' that big of a deal but the trip that should have taken six hours took twelve and contained no sleep. The only way I could get home was to take a jumpseat and sleeping is not allowed. So, with the help of coffee and conversation I stayed up through a red-eye. I have never been so happy to see my base airport as the bus with rattling windows and lack of proper shocks pulled up after an hour drive. I slept majority of the day with the girl, who was very understanding of my absense and laid beside me.

Fifteen days in Oregon, they all seem like a blur. The day my father passed with full of things to get done, paperwork and thank you wise. We followed our list around town and I existed on coffee. We stopped and got our hair down as we were heading out to dinner with some neighbors and Janene, who graciously dropped everything to come and get me. I was just going to get a blow-out when I asked the stylist what he would do with my hair. After years of the same hairstyle, I let him cut it and it felt great to have the change. We actually found a real restaurnat in ol' Roseburg and headed out knowing we were going to drink our sorrows away. It got off to a slow start as we were not helped right away but in the matter of an hour we had the owner at our table and were on our second bottle of champange. We toasted to the long life of Ray and enjoyed our evening. Three bottles of champange, apps, and dessert made four ladies extremely giggly. We got home and decided it would be a great idea to dye my hair. You can call me red now!

Back to Portland in a haze, we pulled out of the drive way and I told Janene to stop the car. The orange juice that I just jugged didn't agree with me and up came mimosa puke. Thank goodness for the staple of hangover food McDonalds. The rest of the day was spent not being able to complete a sentence or carry a thought for more than a moment. The perfect person to be incoherant with was Didi and we spent happy hour over margaritas just chatting away.

The great thing about having guy friends is how they can wrap you in their arms and make you feel so secure. I am fortunate to have many guy friends and I lingered in each of their arms.

A bbq was thrown in my honor and it was great to have everyone attend and see the overwhelming love and support I have in my life. Plus whenever my friends get together we spend the whole time laughing and telling embarrassing stories.

Saturday, reality started to settle in. I sat on the couch all day beside heading down to Manzana for my favorite soup and four Bud Lites. I watched a movie and ignored every phone call while just stareing at the walls.. A good friend came over and just held me and allowed me to have the break down that I knew was coming but had been put off until I could be in someones arms.

Father's Day...calls were a plenty. I spent the day de-personalizing my loft as I am about to rent it. Each picture frame held a happy memory and every picture on my fridge was taken down with pause on remembering the moment. Graciously Janene offered up her father for the day and I spent my last night having dinner with her family.

I know that I am going to be okay. I am strong. I am the daughter of a strict but fair father. I am the center of a circle of friends who hold me up when I am unable to stand. I am best friends with my mom. I am loved.

blue dots

My mom has these tissues convientiantly placed every where around the house. They have come in hand for the obvious reasons and well as the allergies that are adding tormenant to my life right now. Everytime they get wet, these blue dots brighten up. I am unsure of why but I will admit that I look at my snot to see if it is green or clear and healthy every once in a while. Since the introduction of the blue dot klennex in my life (a week ago) everything into the tissue intrigues me as I am waiting for the dots to turn different colors.
Right now the dots don't mean a thing as my dad has passed.

birds

Every hour a different bird is chirping. It is really quite disturbing because not only is the damn clock annoying in every sense of the word, but it reminds us that another hour has gone by with no progress. Day six of my holdup in Roseburg and my dad is feistier than ever. We have given him enough drugs to tranquilize a horse and he is still fiddling about. I have also drugged my mom and put her to bed due to the lack of sleep she is experiencing so it just me and the caregiver hanging out. I am bummed because I feel like I am missing summer and I know this sounds terrible but I am ready to have my dad and family, for that matter at peace. My mom has me cutting up little cards and drawing things, gluing them to trees and I am at the point of delirium that it makes perfect sense to be doing such a thing. Every night I cook dinner and make something exotic (compared to life in NJ) because she has a clean kitchen and supplies to do it. Last night was the exception because I had dental work and my whole face was numb, all the way up to my eyeballs, so I am not making dinner if I can't enjoy it! The bird is about to chirp again so it my signal to move to a different room in the house and shake life up a bit.

rainy day

We are taught from a young age to desire instant gratification. It is re-inforced through out our daily lives in things like atm machines, drive throughs, etc. We want results and we want them now. It is something even more drilled into those of us who live in the New York area...now, now, now, we don't have the time to wait. Being pulled out of that enviroment and set into that of a slow town where the most exciting event of the whole week was the dentist has thrown me for a loop.
It is day four of my time here with the family and we are all waiting. The caregiver, the nurses who stop by, mom and myself. The pace of activity is set by my father. We he awakes we rush to his side asking him what he wants or needs but it is difficult to understand. So we do what we think may make him comfortable. The cycle of life is real, it is like the body returns to a state of reliabilty and need. The hardest part of all of this for me is watching a once strong man become week before my eyes. My go, go, go life has come to a slow and unsteady pace forcing me to do nothing but wait.

living in the haze we call june

The month of June thus far has felt like a fog. A thick fog around my head as I lay in bed unable to get up without exhausation. It was the first time I have been sick since starting this job and it was miserable to be so far away from home and not feel well. The good news was that I was sleeping so much during the muggy days of the NE while in a loft bed sweating out all the impurities as well as a few pounds to boot. My first sick call made me feel guilty but I got over it quickly as I spent my last day of "being sick" in the city. I met Lynne in the city that she and I share such a love for in time for a cocktail followed by dinner on Christopher Street at a delightful restaurant called Garage. Much to our surprise, a full jazz band played for our entertainment. Pomagrante martinis and the company of new friends, followed by dessert in the village was the recipe for a wonderful evening.

My first trip of the month took me to DCA then back and back to DCA followed the next day by a PBI turn. Alright we can do this...I checked in for my trip and still felt a bit off of my game. We were informed of a three and a half hour ground stop once we reached DCA. I went to turn on my phone to see if anyone sent me some love over the fourty minute flight. There it was, the message I had been preparing myself for for over a year now..."come home". I went into panic mode has I tried to figure out how I was going to get home to Oregon. I made the calls to the supervisors, told the captain, and with some doing made it on the plane the next morning.

I was greeted at my favorite airport by my favorite friend Janene. A stop for gas, snacks, and coffee and we were on our way to Roseburg. She was amazing with my family and exhibited strength and compassion that anyone would be lucky to witness let alone have it touch their lives.

Now it a waiting period. Waiting for the end of a good man's life. I am here for support but have yet to gain the strength I need to handle this situation. I am still in a haze of thoughts and activities. Nothing matters now other than being here.

news

We are trained to look for it everyday, through security, on the way to the gate, during boarding, and through out the flight. My first medical emergency was located in first class when people were up for the bathroom lead me to believe it was a diversionary tactic. It isn't until something big happens that it hits the public eye.
Yesterday I called in sick as I had spent the whole day in bed, the thought of 0430 airport alert made me even more exhausted. I awoke today at 1330 with the news of threats of the attacks. I am so glad that I am not working today seeing how the news is showing all the planes out on the runway with no where to go. I am relived not to be working today but a little bit of me is curious as to what is going on at the airport. But here I am safe at home with all the roomies watching the news intermittently during episodes of Sex in the City.

worth smiling about

The one that makes my heart leap at the very sight of text message, a relationship, if you will, that has gone on almost as long as I have lived here. Our fourth time seeing each other was initiated by him wanting me to join him for Memorial Day weekend in CT, however he didn’t tell me this until I was in LA in the middle of trip. Even if I faked sick, I would still be clear across the country. I instead made the effort to go and see him in the city on my day off. I knew that he had to get up super early and my time with him would be short but sweet non-the less. We talked on the phone all day and finally I was walking down 5th Ave when I called and told him I was in the city. He asked for twenty minutes to clean up his desk so I occupied myself with a glass of champagne at the St Regis. He called and asked to meet him at Tao’. I settled up my bill after listening to the regulars discuss their weekends in the Hamptons and charity benefit, it shouldn’t have shocked at the thirty dollar bill, however I gulped as I signed the receipt. Carefree from the champagne but butterflies from seeing him, I ran the five blocks. He managed to get a table in the lounge and there he was dressed in a pinstriped suit with a pink shirt, oh so handsome. We talked, flirted, held hands, and ate dinner. He told me that I made him nervous. I must really have my act together around him?! An early night ended in a fantastic kiss as his car dropped me off at the Path. Two days later and I am still smiling.

uno, dos, tres...

Five days, four nights, three gals, too many beers, and one goal: Fun in the sun. What I live for in this job is my week vacation I take once a month. This month’s destination was Puerto Vallarta with my gal pals, Nichole and Janene. After barely making the flight to IAH, I had to check my bag, which left me with my uniform on exiting the plane into the Mexican sun. I changed quickly into my swimsuit as soon as we reached our all-inclusive resort and had a beer in my hand in record time. A day of lounging by the pool followed by a siesta set the tone for the rest of the week. We did mix it up a bit in the evening by heading into town. The first evening we pretending it was Janene’s birthday while we dined at Pipi’s, we served as the whole restaurants entertainment. We met up with some LA folks and hit a couple of bars with them until we held up the white flag and passed out in our beds. The key to a good holiday is a swim up bar, we took full advantage of it and the waiter that was around every five minutes. Water aerobics in Spanish set the background for our sunning, “uno-dos-tres” as arms flailed about. The next night was spent at Senor Frogs playing name that tune (three beer winner here), taking jello shots, and dancing in foam. If you have never been to a foam party, I highly recommend it simply for the weird feeling of dancing in bubbles up to your waist. And what is the best way to clean off from a foam party? Why skinny-dipping of course. Our third night was spent watching Dirty Dancing with Spanish subtitles and ordering in pizza. Our final evening included two couples from AZ who joined us back at Pipi’s and then Carlos O’Brien’s. Once again we played name that tune but they would only allow one beer per person so I had to give the answers to someone else. I was chosen, however, to participate in the beer chugging contest, which I won in time, but they counted the teaspoon of foam left against me. Damn it that would have been a title I would have been proud to have!!!

Well back to reality as I am in the middle of a fantastic trip, picked up by Carol, that allows me to spend two nights in LAX. It is a very productive trip that takes me from home-LAX-IAH-LAX-home. The rest of my original crew is enjoying a 42-hour layover while I have to work today. I am standing in position while the safety demo plays, spacing off when I hear, “excuse me”, I turn to answer the woman’s question. “Can I have a pillow?” I look down and see a pillow in the empty seat next to her, “there is a pillow next to you” I reply. “I know, it has been used.” “Here’s a little secret, they have all been used, sista!” Still I went and got her another pillow that she proceeded to sniff for the remainder of the demo. Takes all kinds, I tell ya. Yesterday we had Connie Chung on our flight and she was super nice and has gorgeous handwriting as she spent the flight filling out thank yous. I am waiting to see if there are any more celebs on my flights this weekend. Maybe Jude or George will be going back to NY and realize how much they need me in their lives. Here’s hoping!

stop thinking...and let life take over

Aries
It is possible that the last few weeks have allowed you to become a little bit clearer concerning certain questions you have about your vocation, dear Aries. You may even be a little clearer about your feelings in regard to what you think your destiny is. It would now be better for you to stop thinking about such things and let life take over for you. Ariess are well armed for this kind of thing!

Down here in FLL and I can tell you the past two days of this trip haven't been pleasant. I am blessed with a fun crew who have banded together to get through the headache. The gorgeous storm which darken the skies caused havok at the old airport as hundred of people sat around awaiting their flight. We were among them as our plane was diverted thus making us four hours late getting to our destination. I hid in the back galley, grateful for my position on this trip while people mumbled how the weather was our fault and blah, blah, blah. The load on the flight last night was a total bitch and almost ending up throwing down with our lead who requested that she refrained from reading a magazine in the aisle during boarding. Needless to say we had her back and made the loads life miserable for the trip...don't mess with one of the pack... after three FL flights we are tight!
Not sure what is on tap for the weekend. A part of me hopes I don't get used as I would like to go and play in the city. Got a new boy on the line, he will be dubbed dance partner, as we meet way back in September while Dave May was in town and this guy and I danced all night. I recently found his business card and today gave him a ring. Spring is definatly in the air!!

chuckle

The jingle of the ice cream truck fills my ears and signals the start of a hot, sticky summer in New York. It is still in the spring phase for now and it is the perfect time to meet for date, drive with the top down, and dine outdoors. He was in a new red Mercedes convertiable this time and we made our way through town to the MPD we we sat outside and ate antipasta while watching all the limos, Bentleys, and nice cars drive past. Something good was shaken in the neighborhood. The table behind us was talking about ribs, and I told my date it had been a long time since I had ribs. We quickly paid our bill and headed to Houstons for what I can describe as one of the best plates of ribs I have ever had. A quick call to my madre informed me of a crappy three day to FL with a late check-in, perfect! C and one of her frinds meet us out for a drink and we bar hopped all over. We wrapped up the night at our fav spot, Cafeteria and then headed home. Her car was parked in Hoboken and when we got off the train, a cop pulled up. We thought we were in trouble and looked at each other wondering what we had done. Turns out nothing, he just wanted to make sure we got to our car alright and if that wasn't enough, he then gave each of us his number. This gave us a chuckle the whole way home. Where I come from, cops aren't allowed to hit on people, what a strange place I live in.

sucks

26 people, many of which don't even have their transfer in, is what stood between me and getting into international this month. Needless to say, I am not a happy camper what-so-ever.

twenty-seven hours

Talk about a trip from hell...ironically it involved SLC.
For my last day off of the week, I decided to spend the warm spring day enjoying one of my favorite things in life, baseball. The Yankees were playing an afternoon game so I made my way out to the Bronx, grabbed a dog and beer, and sat sixty feet from first base. Four beers later I headed back to the city and made some phone calls; dinner plans didn't pan out so I decided to go home. It was a wise decision as a trip was dropped into my line. I had to look at it several times to grasp what they expected from me. Check in was 0430, the trip went to IAH, one hour sit, then onto SLC, where we stayed for nine hours before getting up and doing the red-eye home. I was gone for 27 hours from door to door, worked a seventeen hour day with twelve of it directly in the air. I am exhausted to say the least. It would have been a little more manageable if I would have had some one I wanted to talk to but the pilots were not too friendly, the first class girl was brand new and didn't have a mind of her own so she repeated what anyone else said, and the lead...well she was a few cards short of deck. The kicker was when one of our engines won't start and I thought I would be stuck with these people in the land of no caffenine even longer.

village date

It is my goal this week not to have to pay for dinner. I am doing pretty well so far as I was pretty girl extra Sunday, had a date with mobboss Monday (we watched the game at ESPN zone), and last night had dinner with jamguy. I met Jamguy on the way to PDX via LAS and was finally able to meet up with him last night. We arranged to meet at Starbucks on Sixth and then we hopped into a cab and headed over to a quaint cafe in St. Marks square called Cafe Mogador. The food was middle eastern meditarrian and we shared a bunch of appeitizers including cumber yogurt and eggplant purree. Then we headed to a place that was thtow back from the opening scene in the second Indiana Jones movie, very cool Asian place which served killer cocktails. To end our evening we then headed to the otherroom on Perry which, I am proud to say, offer Sierra Nevada on tap. It was a great beer and wine bar and everyone there, besides us, was making out. He rang the company car to come and get us and then take us home, he only gave me a peck on the cheek but it seemed to fit his personality as I the more outgoing one between us. Will I see him again, yes he knows great speakeasy places. Am I in love, not really. But what the hell, a girl's gotta eat!!

pygmalian

A random Sunday evening and the trouble seekers of the house have nothing to do. So we decided to get dolled up and head into the city. No setforth plans, just going to see what the night brings. I made a call to mobboss but he didn't seem interested in going out so we tried C's guy. He was in town and invited us to dinner with his clients at some fancy Chinesse place. Basically we were the pretty faces at dinner but I ended up getting along great with the client and his girlfriend. A random model showed up for a shirley temple and four bites of food and then left. I soaked in the scence and thought about the random stuff we tend to find ourselves apart of. We convienced the group to go out to the MPD and party with us, we ended up being driven in some random Mercedes to Club One. We soaked up the scene but wanted to move on. However, there was nothing else open so after the limo drivers fought over us, we picked one and he took us to la Souk (what we thought was the animal hostipal prior). This club hard to get into by reputation, however since C was out to meet her pygmalian as her horoscope predicted she would, the owner came and escorted us inside telling the bar anything we wanted was ours. It was an interesting club that we just seemed to walk around over and over again without stopping for more than a second to mingle. After C ended up losing her purse and I had to recover it, I drug her to Cafeteria for some soup. The sun was rising as we made our way home on the train that seemed to take years to drop us off.

vegatarian

I arose to 9th Street West in my pink coat looking for my date for the evening. I saw what I thought was him in a black Mercedes convertible, but it was not the white one I remembered from the other night, so I called to see if he picked up the phone while I peeked around the corner. I climbed into the car and soaked up the sun as the wind brushed my cheek and the sun poured down upon as we drove around the village with the top down. I told him he had to pick a place in which my dress would fit in, he choose the BlueWater Grill and we dined outside, at Carrie and Miranda’s table over looking Union Square. It was a very nice evening. This evening however is being spent in Tulsa, Oklahoma watching the storm clouds pass. My crew is kind of strange with the lead that is from somewhere in the south and a little off her rocker, the captain who is the definition of a nerd, who is infatuated with my classmate and myself. The saving grace is my jumpseat time with the classmate.

This day took us to BWI not too exciting of a place but it did take a while to get there. I was up front with my 12 passanger offering lunch options of shrimp salad or a steak sandwich, by the time I reached the back row all the steak sandwiches were already claimed. This is was explained to the couple who seemed disappointed and only the wife placed her order. While handing out drinks and mixed nuts, I asked the husband if he was sure he didn't want a salad or perhaps a sandwich from the back. (Mind you, I don't hear very well) He started pointing at his cheek and saying he would be okay and what I heard was that we wanted a kiss. I gave his wife a puzzled look and then when in for peck on the cheek. It must have startled him because he pulled away and asked what I was doing. Finally I heard correctly, that he had a dip. He asked if I was trying to give him a heart attack. Luckily we all found humor in the situation and they asked for a comment card. "You are not going to tell that I tried to kiss you, are?" They chuckled and say no, just wanted to tell someone how I made their trip.

YYC...we arrived and mapped out our evening. Although I was invited to a comedy show from the comic in first class, it seemed almost impossible to make our way to the other side of town. Instead we got the van driver to give us a ride to the mall and then we asked younger people where the hot stops were. We convinced the driver to take us back to the hotel, wait for us to change, and drop us by the train. After a stop at the 7/11 for road soda, we boarded the train and set out for the city. We had to ask for more directions and ended up a places other than our destination because we couldn't figure out the damn streets. We walked by a place called Tantra which looked intriguing so we flirted with the doorman to bypass the cover and went in. Great scene and we took it in will sipping martinis from the corner booth. We stayed there until a drunk guy kept talking to us and told us about the bar down the road that won't let him in because he wasn't tall, dark, and handsome. Sounds like our kind of place so walked over to Whiskey and sure enough, it was poppin'. We called it an evening around 0200 and got a cab home. Our drinks fueled the conversation of what is it all about and if we would find our way in life soon. The cabbie, obviously listening the whole time, told us he had figured out life because he found out that Jesus was a vegatarian.

beth and lynn together again

Watch out people! The duo with alternative personalities that come out with booze are on a trip together once again. We are missing the catalyst of our lead but we are ready to take these cities by storm. It is the first time I have been able to pick up a trip since March. The next five days will be spent on the road to TUL, BWI, and YYC. Unfortunatly the O's are not in town to pick up a game and I don't have a clue what is shakin' in Oklahoma but in Canada we are assured to have a good time with a 22 hour layover. Stories are sure to follow...

back to work

I will step foot on a plane as an employee for the first time in two weeks tomorrow. I tried to lay low by requesting minimum to fly and picking up airport alert today. However, my plan did not succeed as I was ringed during the movie to work tomorrow. A double turn is my fate visiting both BDA and DCA tomorrow. Reality comes alive again tomorrow, working, going places, and seeing the world. I have grown accustomed to not working and only socializing and partying but my time has come to go back to work. I have placed a call to the guy I met on the way to LAS letting him know I have his Marionberry jam and I have dinner plans with the mobboss (as we have dubbed him) Tuesday evening. In the sole interest of making my blog entertaining, I set forth upon my week.