spades

"When the door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often times we look so long at the
closed door that we don't see the one,
which has been opened for us."

I don't usally pay much mind to my mom's forwards but I read this one during my first time alone since the "exciting news". I was struggling to figure out where I stood in my emotions and kept going back and forth with letting go. I took some advice from long ago when my heart was heavy and decided to just put it out into the universe. I made the call from SAT and emptied my thoughts into the receiver. At the end of twenty minutes I was able to close the door.

This trip was hectic to say the least with ground holds, holding patterns, plane swaps due to a cracked windshield, late arrivals, and weather. Our last leg home was scheduled for four hours block (gate to gate) however it end up to be almost six and a half. The crew got to the gate on time to sit and wait for the plane, I was scoping out the crowd, as I always do, and noticed a cute guy in a Red Sox shirt. He was one of the last to board and I held him up so the goody-goody flight attendant could get back up the aisle and so I could chat with him. He sat in 6C which was perfect for the eye contact and smiling through out the flight. My section was easy without much need of service and I was bored out my mind. I recoginized the one of my passangers was bored as well. I asked him if he wanted to play cards and he almosted shouted yes; so I grabbed my deck of pink cards, an atlas carrier to sit on, and sat down in the aisle. I taught him to play spades and ended up with a chuckle from everyone around; even 6C looked down to see what I was doing. He caught my attention and asked to use my lav up front, I am usually a natzi about it, but for him, I made the exception. He asked what I was playing, I told him spades and asked if he would like me to come and play with him. He was said yes. I quickly rapped up my game with the Brit and took my atlas carrier back to the sixth row. His name was Ryan and the next hour was spent flirting and getting to know each other. I had to cut it short because we were going into initial decent. He beat me only because I taught him about the blind bid. I wrapped up my business upfront and wrote my number on a napkin. In flowing Christina's advice of doing something everyday that scares you, I balls up and headed back towards my jumpseat. I walked passed him and said, "It is presumputious of me to think you may want this, but I would really love to see you again." He said thank you with an adorable smile and I walked as fast as I could to safety. I ran into him after we deplaned and he thanked me for my number and told me he was going to use it. Apparently the guy next to him gave him props for scoring my number.
Look at that, an open door...

mfe

I am rounding out the cities we fly to in Texas by over-nighting in the end of the earth, McAllen. I picked this trip up simply to work, it was not my first or second choice but it allowed me to work first class and not be at the mercy of scheduling. The check was later than I was used to so I took the morning to run errands and pack. This proved for a very long day, as we didn’t get here until midnight. A perk about being a stone throw away from Mexico is the free breakfast buffet. I scheduled my wake up call in order to check it out. The elevator door opened and the noise of Spanish filled my ears, I walked into the dining room and it seemed like they were handing out green cards because of the sheer volume of people eating the free food. There was no lines or order to the situation so I grabbed what I could and made my way out the lobby to eat. Sometimes free is not worth the chaos.
Today will be another long day as we go back to IAH then to MSY and back and then onto SAT. It seems like I am there every couple of weeks or so. I call this trip, the tour of Texas. I do, however have a crew that will not get me in trouble this trip do to the fact that I tower over each of them and one of them is so new, so sheltered that she doesn’t know what the hell is going on. She is so afraid she is going to get in trouble if she is not by the book. It’s funny but I can foresee it getting on my nerves soon. Last night she was bending over looking between the plane and the jet way. I asked her what the hell she was doing and she replied, “I was looking to see if the squiggly line was going around on the propeller”. What?! I explained to her that the engines needed to be off while we were parked at the gate. A part of me wishes we had a great layover because I would take her out, spike her drink, and show her a good time. She has lived her parents until she was 28, twenty-eight can you imagine?

chicago (the band not the city)

They say alcohol is a depressant; certainly not at the time of intake or the hours after when I find it necessary to dance and flash people. No, it is the morning after when you have to get up and go back to work with cabin pressure making your head pound. I believe my reaction would have been the same even if I was not hungover or on my period. I returned the call from the ex to confirm my suspision that he was dating someone, but the news that sunk my heart was the impending engagement. I held back the tears on the phone and asked the polite questions so he won't know my sadness. You know the tough front I always need to have up. He is not the one although I did have him as my comfortable fall back. That is now gone and I feel selfish in the fact that it should be me with the "exciting news" that I have found someone. I have thought about my past relationships and it seems like I am the one who makes my partner a better man for the next girl. I have dubbed it relationship rehab. This is what I explain to my mom through a flood of tears and her reply was perfect, "someone is fixing up your guy right now".

Chicago will be in my cd player for a while...

fl-co-fl

You would think I turned 21 instead of 30 last week the way I have been carrying on. I picked up a trip with a guy I had flown with previously and knew it would be trouble because a. he likes to drink and b. he kissed me in the galley last time. However I still picked it up. My classmate was the addition to the crew that would greatly enjoy the weekend. We started off with a Boston turn and then headed to Tampa. A quick nap preceded our evening at the Blue Martini. The band was great, the cocktail waitress’ gorgeous, and the drinks went down a little too smooth. It was just three of us the first night but the following evening we recruited the classmate for our adventure in Colorado. A twenty-four hour layover in Montrose could be considered boring due the quietness of the town, it actually reminded me of Klamath. The 25-year-old first officer instead rented a car, the cobalt, and took us on up to Telluride. The drive was spectacular with the snow kissing the ground and the mountains carved out of red rocks. Drinks and the jukebox followed dinner. A few bar hops later and I determined it would be a good idea to join in on the boobs up against the steamed glass window fun. I left my mark, literally on Telluride. The car ride home was me passed out and sinking lower and lower by the minute. Thank goodness for the late check in and ride to the airport from Fox, whom everyone in town seemed to know. The flight from MTJ, not Montego Bay Jamaica as our captain pack for, to EWR was a nightmare! All these rich assholes and their brat children. I have a strong belief that children should not be allowed to sit in first class. Only rich, good-looking businessmen please! The next leg landed us in SYR, which is a great place to be right after Florida made it to the NCAA championship game that night. I however, am not rooting for them since they beat my Ducks and I proceeded to tell everyone that. We got to the hotel at 2300 and it took some convincing to get me out but finally I said what the hell. This time we were able to recruit our captain and two other pilots from Express. The security guard gave us a ride downtown to Gators and within moments a cosmo was in my hand. Shots followed along with dancing and singing Sweet Caroline at the top of our lungs when the security guard came and picked us up around 0130. The night manager was nice enough to make us cookies and I am sure got a kick out of the drunken chaos we were. Day four was brutal with three legs, ground delays in DTW, and holding patterns. I didn’t make it home until 2200 and am sad to only have one day off before I do it all again.

thirty is the new twenty only with a tougher hangover

It has been eleven days since I last worked, and I sit here this morning fresh off probaation, at airport alert. It feels like I have been away a month. On the bus ride to the airport, I watched as planes climbed off the tarmac and remembered how much I love being in them as the climb and go off to new destinations. Much has happened in the past week, friends arrived, my birthday, and days of recovery.
I wish we had a camera crew follow the birthday group around all weekend because a mini serious could have been easily compulated. I will prepare to do the weekend justice in my re-account of it. Thursday mornng the early arrivers and I set off for the city. The car was packed with bags and giggling girls as we made our way to the Lincoln Tunnel. The valet welcomed us with humor and the front desk welcomed me with presents and generous hospitality. Up the fourty-seventh floor we went and met our good friend, Dave May. The other girls went off sightseeing while I enjoyed the company of my friend and the beautiful flowers he had sent up. We agreed to meet at the hotel bar for happy hour and then plan our evening. We had a few drinks and then a hankering for sushi, we set off to Tao' but they had a private party so we only had time for one drink. Instead we hailed a towncar on Park, where Richard, the driver, took us down to Union Square to try Japonais. The food and the company were outstanding and put us in prime form to continue our night at the Underbar. The married couple returned from the Knicks game to meet up with us in our private room, and right before we moved on Janene joined us as well. We pilled into a limo and went to the MPD, without much luck of getting a group in. We ended up at One with our own table and me constantly looking for celebs. This was one of our earlier nights as we got in around three with the addition of Hilary.

Friday was the big day. We slept in for a bit and then spilt off to get ready in our own way. I headed off to get my hair done with my girls and stopped for a hot dog in the rain. Back to the hotel just as they were calling to let us know our suite was ready and Christina and I went and enjoyed the serenity of watching the mad city below before the rest of the party arrived. Everyone got ready in their own time and sat around listening to music, eating cheese, and drinking wine. There was a knock at the door and much to my surprise a tray with two bottles of champange, chocolate covered strawberries, and a slice of birthday cake with a candle. It was a gift from Lynne, such a sweetheart!!! I made my wish thinking I had another one coming later on that night. It was almost time to leave so I shewed everyone out of the room so I could make a grand entrance. My outfit was perfect and I felt like celeb. I opened my wonderful presents from everyone and then we were off to dinner. Chris arranged a limo that took us to Lotus, the ride was so much fun and it felt like we were going to prom with everyone dressed up. Dave and Chris had seven girls as their dates. Our table was in the back set up with name cards, and a personalized menu wishing me happy birthday and outliniing our eight course meal. The food came in individual take out boxes served with chopsticks. and let me tell you, that was damn good food!!! Champange and drinks accompanied our good time and everyone asked who we were. One of my favorite moemnts of the evening was when Nene fell out of her chair from laughing too hard and Nichole's response was,"is the chair okay?'. I could not have been happier than I was during those two hours. As previously planned, my birthday cake arrived. I ordered a black and white cake from Ferarras and mailed 30 candels. The cake only had ten, the cake was white, the cake said, "Happy Birthday Gerlane"...I begged people to stop singing as it was not my cake. I was asked to blow out the candels but I thought it would be bad luck to blow out someone else's candels. My cake was not there. Oh, well, we were stuffed anyway!! We headed upstairs to our own table where Chris and Nichole generously ordered a huge bottles of champange and we danced, danced, danced the evening away. It was the perfect night filled with laugher and lots of boobs. The pictures are priceless. The few hardcore partiers, myself included, moved on to other clubs looking for more to do, but everything failed in comparison to our party. We made it home around 0500. The doormen already knew us and came up for yet another black and white cookie in exchange for his W pin.



Day three was sit around and watch movies day, got some grease at the diner, and prepare for another night out. I requested dinner in Little Italy which was arranged courtesy of Dave May. The place we went was soooo good and once again we were treated like celebs, other patrons were even asking who was sitting at our table as we made friends with Tony the greatest waiter, and all of the managers. Everyone beside Christina, Dave May, and I faded. We decided to hit the local scene and see what was up. We headed to the Alphabet zone and ended up at China 1, not the Animal Hospital. We hung out there for a bit and met some guys from Detriot. It was my mission to find the cutest guy in the place and ask him for a kiss. There was two guys hanging out by the dj booth and it was a last minute decision who was cuter. I went with the guy on the left. 'It is my 30th birthday, will you kiss me?" His friend replied enthusiasically, "yay he will!!". The cutie grabbed me and gave me a hollywood kiss. I said thank you and walked back to my friends. Then we headed to the No Malace Palace. Detriot boys were all about buying tequilla shots and even made me do a body shot. After that boy kissed me, the vibe was lost and I told C, it was time to hit the bricks. She found a cutie and we ran out the door as fast as we could. We only had 15 minutes to get another drink. After running outside, I found another hottie and gave him my line. He kissed me as well and then ended up being the friend of the guy C found. Perfect!! The four of us had some more to drink and then headed off to Cafeteria for grilled cheese. The cab was driven by Mohammad whom I made good friends with along the way and who allowed me to doodle on his clipboard. There was a huge line at Cafateria which I just walked up and smoozed the bouncer to get us in. it was soo good!! We didn't get back the hotel until 0700.
My actually birthday day was spent sayng goodbye to friends, getting back to the ol' Kearny house, getting some Boston Market and later pizza, watching the Duck basketball game, figuring out the source of bruised, watching Office Space, and retelling stories about the days prior. For the past two nights I haven't moved when I hit the pillow. I suspect it will be a week before I am fully recoverd. I was welcomed to my thirties with the best weekend of my life.

st. pattys day celebrated early

The luck of the Irish hasn't really been with Amanda and I on this trip. From the mouth of our FO, maybe it was because we were packing around a ginny with us! We arrived in LAX around 0030 local time, me with a hangover from hell and the rest of the crew red eyed from the long day. We found out that our flight home had been pre-emptavely canceled due to weather in the NE and we would then be deadheading home a couple of hours later instead. We made our way to the hotel and got settled in. The morning was spent feeling wonderful (the day after the hangover is always the best day ever) and watching the weather channel. Lunch consisted of woodfire pizza previous to making our way to the airport. There were only three of us as our captian left earlier in the morning and the lead, now nicknamed Mr. Ed had gone to the airport already. We get through security and the airport is strangely quiet, the reason became clear once we looked at the board and saw that our flight was canceled. An hour and a half on hold to talk to ops informed us that we would now be deadheading home on the red eye. Back to the hotel we went and agreed to meet downstairs to find a store and replace the phone which had yet to revive itself. A trolley took us down to Manhattan Beach from which we walked a half a mile to the Verizon store after stopping to buy a sweatshirt. At last, we arrived to find it was a Cingular store, the conceriege had gotten mixed up. We had ol' Mr. Ed checking on the status of our flight as she had her nose up everything else as well, we might as well put her to work for us. Finding out our flight was canceled and our next day St. Pattys plans were quickly falling apart, Amanda decided she wanted to get drunk. A cab ride which stopped in front of an Irish pub started off our night with a Guinness in hand. Sushi came next for dinner and the introduction of the saki-bomb game. Back to the pub for more drinks and then off dancing. We had such a great night and arrived back at the hotel around 0300 to look at our schedules which hadn't updated. We mentally planned to deadhead on the first flight out and set our wake up calls accordingly. Instead the phone rang at 0515 with the information we were working the flight due to leave in one hour to IAH. One hour of sleep is what I received and it was pure adrenale that took me through the day. Once we got to IAH, we were not listed on the flight and they wouldn't let us on the plane. Finally we arrived in EWR, a full day later and on my day off, on St Patty's Day, and me left with only enough energy to drive home. For what it is worth, we had a hell of good time our four day trip that turned into five that felt like a month.

4 day part one

This is one job which the “spring forward” time change doesn’t really affect a person. We, as flight crew are constantly adjusting our internal clock to the local time. The different time zones sometimes allows for confusion in when to meet up for dinner. This was such the case on the pairing. Our first and only flight of the day took us to San Antonio. I was tired because I got caught finishing the second season of Grey’s and didn’t hit the hay until midnight. I was told to come in a 0600 and do my final review for probation, an hour before check in. The crew agreed to meet at 1700 for dinner, I asked local or our time…our time. I set the alarm on my phone and took a much-needed nap. As I was getting up to meet everyone, I realized my phone automatically changed to CST. Damn it, maybe I can catch them at the Mexican restaurant a for mentioned. I walked out and it was sprinkling a bit. The more I walked to more the rain came down until I was soaked, the search for an open place to eat ended in me hitting the hotel bar where low and behold, there were the pilots.
The first officer and I were able to get our timing right last night as we agreed to meet for happy hour. The original plan was to hit Great America but it is not open until April. Morton’s had just opened and was on the first thing to do on our list provided by the chamber lady who just happened to be at the front desk when we came up with the map we stole from the concierge desk asking for advice. The next stop was an Irish pub, which is always a good time….too good of a time as I taught the ol’ Italian New Yorker how to do an Irish car bomb. Two other guys wanted to know what we were drinking so I bought them a round and taught them as well. Then they bought me a round after hanging door signs on me. "Brillant!!" Salsa dancing was next on our agenda and according to my friend; I flashed a cop car on the walk to the Agenda. They were not going to let me in the Salsa club and I told them I wasn't going to drink I was going to Salsa! The night started to get spotty from the there but I remember dancing and salsa-ing around. We made it back to the hotel, which strangely enough I stayed at ten years ago with my boyfriend, around 2300 and I woke up at 0600 to discover my phone didn’t work. I am sure it had something to do with it falling into the sink at the bar and then my dropping it.
Onward to LAX to day via IAH, and we don’t get in until 0100 local time…it will be one hell of long day.

a day with me is never dull

I was unable to pick up a trip on my day off, so instead I picked up airport alert. I brought my computer to dink around and watch a missed episode and was getting ready for a nap when the bat phone rang. My name was called and I mumbled obsenities on my way to answer it. "Your going to TPA on a three day", the scheduler said, "gate 93'. Alrighty, off I went across the airport at a good pace. As I reached the last wing my name was announced over the PA, that resulted in a break out run to the gate where I was met with sacrasim. I boarded the plane in a hurry and quickly met my all guy (woo-hoo) crew. Off to TPA we went, me working my favorite position with a fantastic crew. A cookie awaited us upon check-in indicating a night at the Doubletree and then a meeting was set with the crew. Our captain lived in the area and took us out on his boat across the bay to have lunch and drinks on the water. The day was spent with a beer in one hand, sun warming my body, and goofying around with the guys. The next day we were off to LAS via CLE. I never sat down the whole trip because I was having fun with the passangers and the lead FA and I were playing spades. The crew met again and walked over to the Hard Rock to have dinner and gamble. Luck was not on anyone side as we quicky lost money. The group disbursed but the gay guy stayed with me. It was early so we walked around to kill time and saw the hotest firefighter driving the truck back to the station. I stood across the street and asked him what time he got off. A little dective work (eg asking the security guy on his bike) led to the whereabouts of station 18 and tickets to get into Body English. We waited until 2200 and walked up to get into the club, hey we are running on EST here. Instead they ushered us into a venue where the Steve Miller Band was playing. Talk about a WT crowd! It was good way to kill an hour, and to laugh at the youngen with me how never heard of the band. A few more hours of dancing and drinking free champange and then we headed back to the hotel. Not before we stopped by the fire department to find out, sadly, it was locked up tight. "Can't we just call them?" I asked. It was clearly time to go to bed.

tba

My pairing indicated that my hotel room was tba for my evening in IAH. Usually we stay at the Marriott ajacent to the aiport but since the rodeo was in town. My room would be at the Clarion which was located next to Rick's which appeared to be a stripclub from the looks of it. I walked through many hallways into my room that was straight out of the eighties. The TV, the comforters, the desk, the coffeemaker,the smell. I needed a drink, so I threw on a tee and jeans and walked into the twightlight zone of a bar. I took a look around and saddled up to the bar with another odd smell and black duct tape on the edge. The gathering of idiots with their whiskey and voices straight out the Simpons, you know when they show the white trash, was summed up with the neon blue Bud Light sign in the shape of Texas. I order a Pinot Noir from the misplaced Asian bartender, her reply, "what kind of water?". "Uhm, do you have red wine?", "yes what kind you want?" "Whatever you have". Well she poured it in a champange flute, that was her choice from the multitude of glassware straight out of my mom's china cabinet. I took in the scene for as long as it took to choke down the wine I would need to go to sleep and excused myself to my room. Somethings about the 80's I miss, the music, some of the styles, but as for 80's hotels, well I can do without.

memory

I understand why people move to Florida, if just for the memories which summertime brings. A quick glance behind me at the sunshine, grass, trees and the birds chirping took me back to standing in my front yard. I was ten at the most standing on a railroad tie that separated the ashfalt from the lawn in a hot pink tank top with double singlet straps. I was happy, it was warm, school was out, my parents were home. I can't recall my actions prior or my plans after but right now I can still feel the sun beating upon my shoulders and the giddiness that only comes from being carefree.

food court

Although the options encourage it, it blows my mind how horrible people eat in airports. Struggling just to find a place to sit for one, I look at people’s choices for lunch. Majority of the people have opted for McDonalds but there are other favorites around such as Nathan’s Famous, a Chinese place, Sbarro, Ben and Jerry’s, Treat Street, and Dunkin Donuts. I watch, as I proudly eat my sushi, fries being shoved into faces as they watch the ipods, pasta being consumed in record time, and my absolute favorite, the woman with a already empty Ben and Jerry’s cup in front of her, with what I presume to have been a shake, now holding in her hand a waffle cone and the straw from the previous item, sucking up her remaining ice cream. When I first started this job, eating crap became routine because of the lack of time and planning ahead that had yet to be learned. After this routine became weight gain and lack of self confidence, it has quickly changed into only eating grilled chicken, sushi, salads, or protein shakes, along with the healthy goodies now found in my trusty tote bag.

Off to FLL as a load, which means that I am kickin’ by myself at the hotel for 22 hours. I plan to check out some pre-season baseball and work on my tan. Perks about this job…a tan in the winter that is constantly renewed with visits to the sunshine.

fort

A part of this job, which they don’t disclose during the interview process, is the loneliness. Many of us, including myself, have uprooted their lives and moved for the job. The loneliness I am feeling now is mostly self-made as I found a place to have solitude while everyone else is home. I returned home after four hours of airport appreciation last night to house full of roommates and one out of town guest. I stepped through the maze to go the bathroom, then to feed George, and then to feed myself. Realizing I had yet to put my sheets on from laundry day, I tackled the project of making a loft bead. Up and down the step I went, sheet, sheet, comforter, pillow, and pillow. Then it hit me, my bed with pillows positioned properly could serve as my own fort. I got comfy and climbed up with my computer, headphones, and a disk of Grey’s Anatomy and found much needed solitude. Sadly this is also how I spent my on-call day today as well, watching six episodes. Now it is drawing towards midnight and although I have talked to a couple friends, I still feel alone. Not really homesick, not in the mood to hang out with anyone, just empty.

"on guard!"

“It’s weird this is where we started our night”, I said to the heavy eyed partner in crime next to me as we waited for the next path train. There we were at the 23rd street stop waiting for wait seemed like hours for our ride back to ol’ Jersey. In the name of research we set forth on our journey into the city, the favorite roomie and I. We discussed which stop to enter the city that never sleeps and choose 23rd because we wanted to go somewhere local and have a nice dinner. We walked around Chelsea knowing full well we wouldn’t be getting hit on but we stumbled upon a great restaurant, East of 8th and enjoyed great food and people watching. Our adorable waiter sent us over to another great spot, le Zie, to check out a private room for my birthday and to get another cocktail. From Chelsea we headed to Union Square and popped in on the W Hotel to mingle with the businessmen and grab yet another drink. A meeting with the Bills ended up to be our best bet for conversation especially over the man that came and set next to me. When he walked in, he turned a few heads because he was bearded like Santa Claus but donned a Russian winter hat. He sat next to me and started to talk to me about this that and the other. I found out he was from Israel and then he ask me if I had any questions about his religion. Religion interest me, the different sides and belief so I asked him a few questions which as you may have guessed fueled an heated argument. It was my promotion to move on, and so we did…the clubs that we jointly remember this morning include Japonaise, Underbar, BuddhaBar, Tenjue, and finally Marquee. We rolled around one neighborhood to the next once at the courtesy of a white Escalade. We had pictures with tranies right before the cops were questioning it and told us to go away, we were followed by the Jew but I was safely covered by a kiss from ol’ Bill so he didn’t see me, we bargained our way into clubs, two for the price of one, and had one hell of time dancing and singing George Michael. We were given roses as we were pushed out the door of Marquee around 0400, and deciding that we still had enough energy, we headed over to Cafeteria. Holy cow! that was the best grilled cheese sandwich I ever had! Someone had the brilliant idea to put bacon on it. We sat right next to the table where the SITC gals filmed a scene and accidentally let out horriendce burps much to the dismay of the couple sitting next to us. As we waited for a cab to take us to the neatest path station we fenced with our roses in hand and giggled the whole train ride home.

two thumbs down

Four weeks to go...four more weeks of my twenties. I woke up determined to eat healthy and get exercise everyday until the birthday. I convienced my lazy roommate to go with me and walk down the store to get a salad but we didn't make it to the store because my pocket started vibrating, it was crew scheduling and I was off to FLL. A storm was coming in and our plane left right in time and allowed us to stay the night and come back after the snow had fallen. I stowed my luggage and met the crew, a couple of old ladies and one around my age. The lead popped off and told me that I was pretty new and I would definatly need help in first class. Anyone who knows me could image the look I gave her. Then she has the nerve to ask me if I ever have worked first class. (Bitch, I have workin' it all month!) I said yes and went about my business, no other chit chat was coming from me to her or it would have been nasty. So, miss know-it-all-everyone-else is new and dumb, yah, hum, ah, she is only three months newer than me and ol' dipshit didn't know that we play the comedy channel on the way to Florida, she was looking for what movie to play. Oh, and she had to read her announcements...I have mine memorized. Needless to say we did not get along the entire trip and she recruited the others to hate me as well as they hung out in the back galley, and then watched the Oscars together. What makes it worse is that she is from Oregon. I wanted to tell her not to tell anyone that because I don't want people to think everyone from Oregon acts like that.

shout-out

Boredam on a day off combined with the fact that I don't desire to be home alone with the roomie that drives me bonkers, leads to me getting dolled up and going into the city. The plan was to get a drink and mingle with the afterwork crowd, then catch a cab over to Chelsea to check out this place I want to have dinner on my birthday. Just before five, "I wonder if 19C is in town?" sure enough he was coming back from a meeting in LI. We arranged to meet at The W on Lex. I ended up in the wrong damn place so he had to come and get me and take me over to were he was. Alhtough he is still gorgeous, he is not as heartstopping as I remembered. We talked for an hour and half over wine and then we decided to wander upstairs to the mezziane, after being shewd away from a private event we ducked into a conference room and he kissed me...heartstopping. Not only he is the package, he is a good kisser. Unfortuantly we shewd out of that room as well and he had to get to a work meeting. He walked on the outside of me and got me a cab to my destination.
I got dropped of on 11th and walked up the half block. I tried to open doors to no avail, then a couple came up with reservations and we ponderd together. We tried calling and nothing. Finally we gave up and I followed them to 10th and asked a guy about the club. He said it had been shut down for a bit because some guy died in an elevator shaft. Chris did mention that and I told him that I would steer clear of the ol' elevator then. As I approached a main street, I saw a line for a club called Marquee...in my mind any line is a good line so I jumped into the cue. The guy behind me and I started chit chatting and he end up to know some big shot inside so we didn't have to pay cover and lo and behold, it was free Stoli night. Mind you all I have eaten at the point is Grapenuts and some broccoli. We left after a couple of hours to meet some of his friends in the ironbound. This is a section of Newark, which I drive through every day on my way to work and to be rumored to be controlled by the mob. My hunger must have been given away by the fact I asked his friend, who I just met for a piece of his dessert. Bo, kindly ordered dinner for me and we ate in room with only one other occuppied table. Completely a scene out of the Sopranaos, they were discussing business and my dinner date seemed to know what was shaking. I, on the other hand, kept my eyes down on my plate not wanting to piss anyone off or get involved in a hit of any kind. Anywoo, made it home alright and relived the evening with B, who I woke up while stumbling up the stairs. I listened to my voicemail this morning from Bo, and I can be heard in the background giving myself a shout-out.

colts

The support of the Colts is everywhere you turn, including the capitol building here in Indy. I have spent the early afternoon walking around downtown and taking in the hospitality and enjoying new exploration. I picked this trip up after sitting airport alert in my favorite (they forget you are there) terminal A, and have once again snagged the first class position. Working with me this time is a man that looks like he just came down from the mountain due to his size and the amount of hair on his head and face, he is super nice though. The other is a girl that needed Wednesday off and since I have nada going on and a sure fire way of getting karma is to trade my day off with a girl named Karma. Once again I have late check ins which also mean late arrivals, this evening Austin will welcome us in at midnight but I get another chance to explore a new city tomorrow during the day.

blah

The light in the bathroom of the Holiday Inn in SAT is not doing much to boost my attitude this morning. I am exhausted as we arrived to our hotel at 0130 last night and 1200 the night prior. We are paying for the nice layover by working our butts off for the last three days of the trip. The snow storm in EWR delayed us a bit and found us wandering around for shortcuts around the terminal to avoid the hundreds of upset people waiting for security and non-cancelled flights. A bit of homesickness is creeping in as I received lots of love from my valentines yesterday. I want to be back in the routine of the gym, I want to get a fun pedicure, I want to go to bed when I decide to, I want to be in a routine. Granted I am just tired and ready to make it back home for my one day off tomorrow. My day off that was going to be spent catching up on life is now going to be fabulous, yet unproductive, because my Aussie friend is working a flight to JFK. I am going to meet her in Brooklyn, a place I have yet to go, to have lunch and have some much needed, normal girltime.

The transfer list come out today and the international transfers are to supposed to be rewarded March through May. I am so hoping my name is on the list but I am not trying to get my hopes up too much as I am not really expecting it until April. Still, it would be a pretty great thing to be international next month!!! I am not sure how to find out online so I am going to have to brave the IAH crewroom to look at the sheets and hope not to be writen up for my tights or cute shoes...they are brutual down there.

beantown

Arranging my life around being home at 1600 has paid off once again. I was able to pick up another four-day trip. I had my choice of a long layover in Chicago, Salt Lake City, San Diego, or Boston. Since I have wanted to go to Boston my whole life, I choose the first class position with a 26-hour layover in Beantown. Packed for a day of wandering around in the cold, I left the house this morning bright and early. The sun was just coming up over the Manhattan skyline and it was outstandingly beautiful. I met my crew, jumped on the plane and worked the easiest day ever with a 36-minute flight and only on passenger requesting a beverage. It felt so good to walk past Legal Seafood, where I usually run as fast as I can to grab chowder and make it back to the plane, and walk outside into this historically city. As we drove downtown and I became more giddy by the moment. We arrived at the Park Plaza and I found myself in a quaint room, filled with charm and history. I was planning on working out but I was too excited so I rationalized that I would get my cardio in by walking everywhere. I started off on Newburry Street and checked out consignment stores, boutiques, and shops. I went into a cupcake shop thinking it would be the perfect tide-over until lunch however; there were no cupcakes, just tee shirts and jewelry, very bizarre. Lunch of a lobster roll was recommended by the concierge at SkipJacks. I ordered it unsure of what it was, it turned out to be ½ lb of lobster meat with a light sauce on an open-faced bun. Very delightful along with a champagne cocktail. Shopping continued afterwards, I was able to try on a dress that I had been looking at for my birthday, it is perfect. A small piece of chocolate rounded out the afternoon and now I am relaxing before I meet the crew for happy hour by reading Catcher in the Rye…yes I know it is about time I read it.

I met the crew for a drink and dinner. We ate at Rock Bottom, which I don't believe to be traditional Boston but didn't argue as the captain bought dinner and more drinks. On the way to Cheers, we lost the captain (damn, now we have to pay for our own beer) and the anx-girl who ate her mac and cheese, one noodle at time. So off to Cheers we went, the FO and I. He was cute in a dorky way and after a mug of beer I found out why he was such a dork...he admited to subscribing to Cat Fancy because he wanted to know what his cats, yes pural, were thinking. So for the rest of the trip, he is going to be refered to as "cat fancy boy".

dias quatro

I awoke suddenly and looked at the clock on my cell...damn it, only 13 minutes until my tour bus is here. I grabbed my clothes, threw some toothpaste on my toothbrush and ran out the door. Standing in the reception area, it occurred to me that my clock was an hour fast and I had a heart attack for nothing. I sat in the sunshine for the next hour until my driver arrived. Off I went with a German couple to the canopy. A short, bumpy drive to the top followed by a fifteen minute hike straight up took us to the first platform. I will admit that I had butterflies for a second after I looked at the first cable but the moment I was harnessed in and took off flying through the air like superman, my adrenal was pumping. Nine ziplines in total, it was one of the coolest things I ever did. After I returned, I layed by the pool to work on my tan to at least prove that I have been on holiday. A couple of hours later another bus arrived to take me to San Jose. Five and half hours later thanks to traffic coming into the capitol city, my ears talked off by the three sisters from LA, I arrived at my second hostel. This one is not as nice as the other and I have a bit of hesitation of taking a shower here...yep that kind of eew. I don´t dare leave the hostel either since this is not a nice city to wander out and about in. I have made a new friend from Scotland; she and I just finished dinner at the hostel, I had my first drink this whole trip hoping that it will help me sleep until my 0500 wake up call. I finish my holiday now on the eve of returning back home. It has been wonderful to do everything I wanted to do and prove to myself that I am as adventureous as I pressume to be and to get in touch with me, and of course to meet new friends.
P.O. via Costa Rica!!!

dias tres

A six o´clock wake up, naturally by sunlight, perfect time to catch my bus up to Aernal. A few stops later we are on our way on the gravel road. I dose in and out and listen to the conversations of the couples on the bus. Three hours into the bus ride, we stop for rest, a fourty minute rest where I ate a muy deliciouso taco de pollo. Switching buses and backtracking 20 miles or so, we turn off and start to climb. The volcano is constantly in our site and the lake provides the view for the last part. Five and half hours later I arrive at my 5 star hostel. I am room 2, filled with four bunks and clearly inhabited by three guys thus far, judging from the contents on their beds. I claim a bunk and a locker and lay out by the pool. After a while, I take a walk into town to get some cash and a towel (don´t stay in hostels too often forgot). I walk into the city that seems futurally untouched by Americanism, which is a nice surprise. I find an atm and store to get supplies. On my way back to the room to prepare for my volcano hike, I meet two girls from New Foundland and convince them to take the tour with me.
Do you ever wonder if adults seek out guided tours as a reach for the childhood days of field trips? Our guide was adorable, picture the Costa Rican version of Brian Daly if you will, same mannerisms and him with a tan and an accent. We hiked through the beautiful rainforest with the sounds of rocks tumbling down and monkeys howling. I was able to see a sloth, howler monkey, white faced monkey, and an army of leave carrying ants. After our hike, we watched the sunset and sat face to face with an active volcano awaiting the darkness to fall in order to see the red embers as the cascaded down the mountain. The best part of the evening was when the Canuks and I were lead into a fabulous place to sit in the hot springs, they were every where. The water beat down upon our shoulders and warmed our bodies. I think we sat in every single one in between our time in the pool. A waterslide was our entry into the warmest pool I have ever been in. I swear we went down that slide thirty times before we headed off to the buffet. In one of the eight beds in our hostel room by 2330 but my eyes opened each time the door did. Five boys occuppied the room with us and the one underneath my bunk was the loudest snorer ever. Someone eventually kicked him and he silenced enough for me to get a little shut eye.

c.r. dia dos

After a great nights sleep I finally got up this morning and talked to the receptionist to help me get a game plan for the rest of the holiday. She is muy helpful and booked my transportion and accomadation. I went over to Banana Surf and paid for a lesson in the afternoon and then ate pizza while sitting in view of the gorgeous coast line. Laying by the pool filled up the remainder of my time. I walked over to the shop, put on a tight surf shirt and was off to the beach with my own personal teacher. He taught me the basics about paddling and getting up whilst on the beach and five minutes later we were out in the ocean giving it a shot. I got up on my third try and had many more successful rides than I first anticipated. He would wait for the perfect wave for me then instruct me to go. There were many waves however that were too big and beat the shit out of me while I was laying on the board. After shallowing a gallon of salt water, four perfect rides, and an hour and half of almost perfect rides, I threw in the towel. Just wandered around the rest of the afternoon and took some last minute photos and then back to the villa for a siesta in my hammack. There is something truly wonderful about a hammack. Think I will have some freshly caught fish for dinner at my new fav restaurant.
Tomorrow I catch the bus to Aernal, six hour ride to a beautiful volcano which I will be hiking and then relaxing at a hot springs.
adios for now.

costa rica day one

As I sit in the curve of table designed after a wave, the wave worshipers themselves made their way back from the ocean, boards in hand as the sun began to fade. I chose to eat dinner at a place called Ectera, it came recommended from my adorable hotel here in Talmarindo. Getting up at 0600, making it barely to the plane on time, being repremanded and almost not getting on because I was wearing leggings with a bubble skirt over, napping in out during mimosas, sitting in the sun waiting for the death trap communiter plane, arriving on a runway the size of my old drive way in Klamath, taking a cab with no window roller-uppers, and finally settling in. I walked around this adorable town and down to the beach to feel the warm water hit my feet and the sand between my toes. I met some Americans, one the owner of the restaurant who makes a damn good burger, and a photographer who is pretty damn adorable. I am off to bed to get a good nights rest and then hitting the beach tomorrow for some surfing lessons. It is fabulous to escape the 10 degree weather of NY and great to have enough courage to take this trip on my own...but I sure do miss my drinking buddy!!!

law and order

First a funny story about my flight home from LA. My aisle guy (the one who takes the orders, runs the food, etc.) was a real ass. Straight out of Long Island, ass. That is besides the point. On my flight was the author of a book I think every woman should own a copy of and reference at least monthly, "He is just not that into you". He was headed to NYC to appear on the Today Show. We were talking before I figured out who he was and I was semi-whinning about the disappearance of my favorite winter coat in LAX. He told me it was time to let it go, and my response was that is was hard since it was Banana. Sitting next to him was the boss guy from Law and Order SVU. The back galley flight attendant started gushing at him and wound up with a page from his scripted autographed. With a little more talking, I ended up with one of my own. The best/funniest part of the evening was as I was saying goodbye to my passangers and heading toward my jumpseat in the back, he shook my hand, pulled me close and said, "I think you hooott!".

radisson

"How do you like staying at the Radisson?", was the queston for a man with a rollerboard trailing behind him as I entered the parking lot of the hotel. My kind response was that I was in LA and it was wonderful. He approached me, leaving his bag and told me he stayed in Radissons in Florida. I informed him of my hatred of Florida. He asked why and I told him that people there were assholes. His response was that he was a yankee and he just went there. I told him hee just proved my point as I stepped away from him. He then read my tank top aloud to me and as me about some Roxy club from the 70's, I told him that I was too young to remember and I walked as fast as I could into the lobby of the hotel. What a freak, if he had gotten any closer I was prepared to attack him with the find of the week I held in my hand, fabulous hot pink heels with rhinstones.

Getting up at 0330 EST proves for a very long day when coming the West Coast although sleep was not an option due to the big game. I was on the look out for celebs as we exited the airport and waiting for our van. I made to the hotel and jumped into the shower. Unable to meet up with friend out here, I went downstairs to the bar and watched the game with the crew, well the boys of the crew. Coronas, nachoes, and pizza filled afternoon. By the time the game was through, I could barely keep my eyes open and finally found the sleep I have been looking for days. We head back home this afternoon and the best part about our flight will be the ice cream sundaes and that I get to work first class. Tomorrow I leave bright and early for my holiday to Costa Rica which unfortunatly, I will be traveling solo.

philly cheesesteak

My experiment was sucessful! I was able to pick up a four day trip which allowed me to work first class and to arrive in LA tomorrow in time to watch the Superbowl. It is a great trip and my crew is fantastic. This is the first time I have been so close knit to the fact of having lunch and dinner with them. Sure the other two talk a lot and the pilots are super overly-friendly, but it's great. It did take five hours of flight time to get to SAT yesterday and I had big plans to go and check out The Alamo, however when I got to my room I ended up taking a six hour nap. Today we headed to IAH for some sit time and usual FA chit chat around our Subway sandwiches and then on into PHL. Our layover is only ten hours but I was determined to get an authentic Philly Cheesesteak. Our crew walked the block and a half in 19 degree weather to Jim's place...and omigod, was that a sandwich!!!! If we had more time here, I would get another one it was so good. Surely the wake up call that is looming for 0345 will not make me happy but the fact that I am headed to LAX does. We have to bypass through IAH again, which means we may be dozing in the cockpit on the flight there to ready ourselves for the afternoon of drinking beer and watching the game. This time if I have a celeb on the flight, I will take a pic that includes me in the frame.

new look

I was sent to ATL yesterday on a turn which enabled me to both get out of the house and break my guarantee for the month. Today, I am patiently waiting until 1600 so I can exacute my experiment of picking up a trip. I have choosen the one I wanted by the fact that I will be done early enough on Sunday to watch the SuperBowl. I don't think I have ever missed one and I don't want to start this year. I am going for the Colts because I have always liked Manning and think he deserves a ring after all his hard work. The house is quiet, just the way I like it and I am trying to kill time, which apparent by the new look of the ol' blog. This hopefully will be the last trip I work before I head off to Costa Rica for holiday with my "romantic partner" (j/k). I am so excited to be outdoors and see the beautiful rainforest, oceans, and hot tourist men.

Aries
March 20 - April 18
Travel by air, perhaps in the company of some friends, could well be in the works for you, dear Aries. A group with which you're affiliated might want to take a trip together, perhaps to a place associated with artistic or spiritual traditions. Your romantic partner could accompany you as well, making it as much a romantic getaway as an adventure. Tip: take plenty of money with you! Your friends will want to go to nice places!

bored

So, here is the crappy thing about this job...the wondering. I wonder if they will use me today and if so where will I go. Will it be a turn or do I need to pack my bag? I am unable to pick up trips becasue I am over the 65 hour mark but shy of my guarantee which dropped to 75 due to my extra day in PDX and one in OMA. This means my life is in the schedulers hands. There are no trips in open time, and I am many pages down on the list of people they will call, which almost predicts they will not use me today. It is depressing because I am bored. I have a few activities sketched out that leave me within two hours of getting home and to the airport. If it was up to me, I would be lollie-gaging around in the city. I want to go to work!!!!!

When I arrived home from AA at 0130 the other night, the city was covered in a blanket of snow which I happily watched from the crew room window. The street was dead silent and everything was beautiful, yes even here in Jersey, snow makes things beautiful. My on-call day was comprised of sleeping in until noon, playing on the computer, hanging out with the roomies, and then venturing out for dinner and a movie. My date was C, and dinner was TGIFridays and the movie, The Departed. Great flick!

Alright going to get some socks on and begin my day...this house is cold but I am bound and determined to keep myself warm and busy today. Here's hoping for the phone to ring.

ropes and ziplines

The phone just sang it's song, "Leaving on a jet plane" as I was sitting on the living room floor trying to plan my upcoming vacation to Costa Rica. It is no less than a pain in my ass at this point but I am tredging forward to get it done. I set the alarm for 0555 this morning in order to get up and trade my days off around. I am working on this new theory handed down from a lineholder that if I change my days off that I will not have as many people in competition for picking up trips. We will test it out come Febuary, I think scheduling gives all the new people the break with good trips and so forth thinking that by now, we should have learned the ropes. Hopefully I have found the answer to holding my trip destiny and my life will be more in my hands. Here's hoping! Anyway I am going to airport alert tonight at 2100. there are not many flights departing that late but I will go and serve my time, I will get released as soon as the last flight taked off. I actually like AA because you get paid for 4 hours (if you don't get used) and four hours flight time is a lot of work versus sleeping a chair or reading a book and getting to go home afterwards.

a meeting in the midwest

I sit in Omaha at the crew hotel, however I am not here on business, I am here for family. My Aunt Millie has passed but brought our family together in the middle of the country. I am suffering from the four bottles of wine that I consumed on the way here. The two other pass riders and I sat in the back of the plane, played cards, and drank the whole way. "KLB" We had such a great time but the fact that I was laying on my suitcase on the ground waiting for my parents to arrive from another flight clearly indicates that I drank too much. The steak here is excellent, I would recommend it to anyone and I refused to leave this home town of my fathers without one. We have been blessed to spend time with family which I don't know that well but have had the chance to get close to over the past day and a half. Being an adult has its benifits when it comes to relationships, you tend to cherish them more. I am so grateful to be here with my dad as I have always wanted to see where he grew up. I definately see myself returning to this midwest town with tons of hospitality.

...and one dead roach

This four day trip has drug on forever, I am writing on day three which feels like a month. It was dropped in my line and just by chance I logged on and saw that I would be away for the next four days. The first day took me to SFO for a brief, yet wonderful layover because we stay at the Westin and any evening at a Westin is always nice, the heavenly shower, the heavenly bed, uhm, love it! The next day we went to IAH then onto PBI. Our first leg had a bunch of crazies but one stood out in particular with her cat. First she asked me for a cup of water to put in her salad tray for her cat, whatever, then she has her cat out. I told her she needed to put it back in the carrier, she responsed that she was trying to get it to go to the bathroom and showed me her ziplock bag of litter and pan. What?! That can't go down on the plane ma'am unless you place the pan inside the carrier. Good luck with that. The second flight of the day brought along an unticketed passanger which was crawling up the fuseloge, a cockroach, yes folks we are in IAH. A brave passanger killed it and we were all saved. Before a flight can push from the gate, a customer count needs to be given to the pilots. It is a break down of weight and balance and upon this sheet of paper we write our "specials" for examples wheelchairs needed at the destination, lap children, unaccompanied minors...so forth. I, of course, like to be silly and write things like "no specials beside fabulous FAs" or "crazy bitch in 14D", so this night I wrote...1 whlchr, 1 lap, and one dead roach. The IAH based pilots didn't think we were funny and immediately scratched it out. Today we deadheaded to EWR and then sat around for three hours before we did the God aweful flight back down to PBI, which I have dubbed the worst place on earth. So here I sit in the same exact room as the night before only five floors lower wondering why I packed so much since all I have done on my layovers is workout and sleep. I am working with a somewhat annoying guy that doesn't know when to stop or when to get out of my personal space bubble and with a girl from the past...remember the night in DFW when I missed out on the party and the FO and her...Yep I am working with her again. No hanky panky this time since we keep switching pilots and none of us have been drinking. Tomorrow it is back to EWR and then a BOS turn which menas two things, clam chowder and delays.

ode to my rollerboard

You are my seat while I wait.
You are my footrest while I wait,
You are my cupholder while I wait,
You contain the necessities for a life on the road,
You contain an outfit for most anything along with the tolietries to make me clean,
You remain ready at all times,
You have travelled almost as my as I, although you tend to take turns as your day off,
You fit perfectly in your second home of the overhead bin,
You trail happily beind me in the airports making me feel complete as a flight attendant,
Ol' Rollerboard of mine, I look forward to our upcoming adventures together.

upstate

My roommates are sleeping now, it is 19:30 and they must be tired from keeping me up all night with their giggling and loud music. I was determined to get out of the house and out of the state for that matter today. I was dying to go shopping and found exactly where I wanted to go...New York outlets. An hour drive across the GW bridge, and through upstate NY and I found the meca of outlets. Dior, Kate Spade, Barney's, Burberry, Gucci, Versace, D and G, and on, and on, a girls dream. I considered this my cardio as I walked around for hours going into to every shop. I was so excited to go into Neiman Marcus but I felt as though I walked into a Ross, a place where good clothes went to die, it was all a little much. I found such good deals: a Burberry scarf for fifity dollars, BR shorts, a Ralph Lauren sweater for ten bucks, Kate Spade stationary for $4, a jumper dress, and my two fav items, a blouse from Marc Jacobs and a dress from Diane. The day was topped off so well that a Starbucks (not a Dukin Donuts) was in the complex and...it was snowing!!
On my way back, I saw signs for Sufferin, the town were Aidan had his cabin in SITC. My drive actually reminded me of Oregon with the rocks, trees, and countyside, it made me a little less home sick. Hell, who could think of home with such great new clothes?!

chicken?

A dream of a dog barking sharpley inches away from my ear awoke me suddenly this morning moments before 0900. I grabbed my phone to inspect the time and discovered that I went on call in just a few minutes. 0902, the phone sang 'Leaving on a Jet Plane", I picked it up and asked the scheduler if she had been waiting for the clock to change to call me. She informed me of an MCO turn to check in later that morning. Not a bad flight down but good grief the people were looney on the way back. First of all, we are the only airline that still serves food for free, a two hour flight doesn't warrent a four course meal, we have 142 people and two FAs in the back. Here is the random responses I get to "join us for a little dinner of a turkey sandwich?" WHAT ARE MY CHOICES? yes or no IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE? no CHICKEN? turkey IS IT KOSHER? I don't even know what that means. VEAGATARIAN? no turkey. CHICKEN? no turkey PRETZELS? no turkey MY CONNECTING FLIGHT... do you want a sandwich? I'LL HAVE A COKE does this look a drink cart? People just freakin' kill me!

damn it

I am so tired, I didn't sleep well last night again. Not sure why, I guess I could not get my mind to shut off. I left for work this morning around 0730 and didn't return until 1015. My assignment was two BOS turns (these usually take an hour) my day, however, was 14 hours long. I think it was a tease since this is the city I have been dying to go since I was a kid and I have only had turns there. The first delay resulted in lunch with the crew at Legal Seafood and some damn good clam chowder. The second delay in BOS provided time for dinner at Johnny Rockets diner. The flight back was the fewest number of passangers I have ever seen...three whole people. I took a miniture nap in the back and then went up and hung out with the pilots and looked at the cities below...they have such a cool job.

The tempature has dropped ten degrees an hour and is now freezing cold, it took forever to dial Janene's number because of my gloves only to confirm that there was snow in Portland, snow!! I am so mad that I am missing it. I move to the damn NE in expectance of a great winter with lots of snow and it was the first December in 150 years there was no snow, what bullshit. I want snow, send me somewhere with snow!

So the roommates are home again, I don't know why the hell they are not working at all and always here. Currently they are starting a movie and rapping some song...mind you it is almost 2300. What the hell people, go fly somewhere and give me some damn peace and quite. Jorge and I are hanging out looking at mail and catching up. Get what Carol sent..."Scorpion stings man on the plane".

Alright, I am hittin' the hay as I have discovered my excess cursing and can resolve my inner anger by going to bed. P. out!

jax

So my trip yesterday consisted of deadheading down to IAH to work a flight to JAX. There was an hour mechanical delay on the way down while I sat in a middle seat wondering why I liked my job and then a hour ground delay in IAH while I sat in the back wondering when I was going to make it to bed. I am waiting in the hotel lobby because my room gave me the hibbies and ready to go back home. Some days make me greatful to have a comfortable, clean bed and girl named George waiting for my arrival.

a day in...

A day in the life of me at the place where my mail arrives. I do not profess to call this home...home is the plane and of course the NW.

I slept in until 1200 today because a. I was comfortable and b. I didn't arrive home until 2330 last night.

I awake to the roommates troughting upstairs giggling. The next twenty minutes are spent listening to their weeks spent at home not working, the other roommate acting like an ass, and a Met player that M met on the way home from KC. A little teasing (jealousy) about my hook up in LA, and stories about George.

I get up and brush my teeth and go the bathroom, then return to my room to sort out the laundry. I exhange texts with friends.

Some breakfast for George and then a breakfast of instant oatmeal and green tea for me while I sit staring at the white board which holds the days off of the household, I have Thursdays and Fridays off this month...the pink L tells me so.

Preparation for the bank visit and filling up my ziplock bag with more detergent.

I go and check the computer for trips that avaliable to pick up at 1600 and decided on a four day to the west coast.

A six block walk to the laundrymat, change for a twenty, five machines, and a Vanity Fair. I walk the three extra blocks to the bank (one of the most popular places in town) to deposit some money and get some money if the need arises. Stop at the Eckards for water and some jerky and head back to the laundry.

While awaiting for my clothes to dry, I read the mag, nibble on the jerky while the sounds of children running around and Spanish soaps fill my ears.

I fold my clothes and actually recognize that I like the sound of my nails against the folding counter, pack up the bag and head back home.

I have two pieces of mail, both from mom. I am waiting for it to be 1600 so I fill my time reading Bazzar (a rare find on a plane....but I was in LA so that makes more sense). I think I found a dress for my birthday so I will research were to try it on and how much it is.

I check myspace to find out if anyone has put up some of the one hundred pictures I posed for during my stay. I check my email to see how many forwards Carol has sent. Eharmony to see what losers they think I would be a good match for. Portland news to see what is shaking back home.

Four o'clock comes and I hit the button and wait, it is taking too long...I didn't get the trip. Instead I make my bed and the phone rings...it is 19C who is all of a sudden obessed with talking with me. We chat for a bit and make plans to go out next week. Finally I get to see him.

George is close to the end of her cat food, so I journey out to Target stopping along the way at a Michaels to get supplies for my birthday invites. It is nice to wander around a crafty place and imagine what I can create. Target is not too exciting but it is some time away from home. KFC provided dinner and dessert. B has gotten me hooked on Greys Anatomy, I have spent the last three and half hours watching it.

Just checked my schedule and nothing is assigned to me as of now. That means that I go on call tomorrow from 0900-1700. I will finish watching the last episode of season one, wash my face, and then head to bed.

That ladies and gentleman is a day off in the life of one girl living in Kearny, living her dream of being a flight attendant.

take the zoom off

My 100th post; what better way to bring it in than with a silly story. I am back in Jersey after what seems likes a month. I was fortunate to go home and spend six wonderful days in Oregon, seeing my family and my friends, celebrating, sharing friendship, and enjoying myself. It is refreshing to go home and remember where the roots of ones personality lie, where the heart longs to be is still there, and my friendships are still in tack. I was emersed in love and I soaked up every moment of it.

My day off was spent sleeping in after arriving from the red eye. My room is finally perfectly organized, and at 1600, I attempted to pick up a three day trip, the only one in the computer. I hit the button and crossed my fingers and wa-lah! I picked up the trip that would take me to two new places, Toronto and LA. My crew was fantastic and we had a good time joking around. Toronto is beautiful to fly into but damn cold!! We just missed a snow storm, they seem to be one day behind me every where. Our flight to IAH consisted of 15 passangers, they slept the whole time and I found myself nodding off while reading...not a good thing. So from IAH we headed to LAX. I was working away and then when I was heading to the back galley, I looked at a guy and thought it was Jared Leto. I asked for another opinion but no one knew who I was taking about. I walked off the plane and had the agent look up the name to 27F...it was him!! We walked outside and waited for our van and Fernando pointed him out to me as he waited for his ride. I am such a dork, I took a picture from a far and then got up the courage to go and take to him. I ran up and asked if I could take a picture with him. He said sure so we did the arm reach picture, I told him that I wasn't just some crazy but was his flight attendant to which he smiled and told me that he knew who I was. I ran back to the crew and they were all laughing at me. I finally looked at the picture to realize I didn't take the zoom off. So my first pic with a celeb is only of his eyes and a portion of my head. It is always nice to be on the west coast, there is a feel of home to it. I was able to see a familiar face while I was there, the guy from Halloween. Our trip home was pretty good, a day off to do laundry, and then ready for my next adventure.

30

It doesn't take long to feel comfortable at home. It is day four of my journey to Oregon and I managed to see most of my friends at least once. Unfortunatly my sinus' took the comfort of home a little too far and decided this would be a great place to try and confine me to bed. I have fought it as much as possible but they seem to win at night, when things slow down. Not tonight, though I have already declared victory as this is the night of my girl's fabulous 30th birthday party.

nye

I received my wish, I found a boy to kiss on New Year’s Eve. My flight to MCO was actually a good one, my favorite agent works down there. On the way home we had a couple board early and as I helped them to their seats, I was informed that it was their 70th anniversary. They were so adorable. There was a family that needed to sit together so the agent came on the pa and asked people to move, no one volunteered so he volunteered me to be the in-flight entertainment. I got on the pa and told everyone that there was no way in hell that I was spending my new year’s eve in Orlando so they needed to pull it together. We got back in time to go home, eat a budget gourmet, and change my clothes. B and M were getting ready and invited me to go and sit at the house of the guy she can’t manage to get over…humm No. I had them drop me off at the Euro Lounge. Never being there prior I went on the advice of C that the men there were not too bad and the place was sort of non-Jersey. A cosmo in hand, I stood in the corner and began my search. There were only a couple of tall guys so I choose the best looking one, had another drink, and walked up to him. “Are you claimed for midnight?, What? “Are you claimed for midnight?” What does that mean? “Are you here with someone?” Yah, my friends. “Are you going to kiss your friends? No, oh..that is what you mean! We chit chatted for a bit and then the ball dropped. It was strange to be in the same time zone as the notorious ball. We dance for a little more and drinks kept finding there way into my hand. Around 0200, common sense took hold and I told the guy that I needed to go to the bathroom. I ran outside and miraculously there was a cab waiting for me. I blabbed to the driver about my escape then found myself in bed by two.

absent too long

It proves that I have been away too long; the fact that I recognize how friendly the people here are. They say excuse me, thank you, and have a nice day. It is refreshing to say the least. Obviously I am somewhere other than the NE as I write about the people with manners...I have managed to make it home.
My last flight was okay however the crazy lady that refused to sit in her seat with her baby and starting crying when I told her to sit down or leave the plane, yah, that family was drama central. They believed that they were the only people on the plane. I stopped making eye contact and sent the newbies to go and help them. Yes, I was a senior mama on this flight. The eight turns in a row all seemed worth it when at 0200 after my turn to PBI, those sweet words, "you are released to your days off" were spoken. I spent the night in the crew room, dozing in and out, waiting for the 0645 flight home. I ran upstairs an hour prior and sweet talked the agent. I landed a window seat not too far from the door and was out for the next six hours. An hour or so of decompressing and then back on the road, this time via car to see my parents. Three more hours later, I surprised, let me rephrase that, almost gave my mom a heart attack as she was not expecting me until the next day. No matter how old you are it is nice to come "home" and be taken care of by your mom.

.

The last day of the year, a time for reflection and looking ahead. Where has this year gone? I was getting ready to become a loan officer this time last year. Getting ready for a party and going out with good friends, it seems like a million years ago. It seems like I am living in the twilight zone or a stuck in a holding pattern and if I am patient things will return back to normal, my life will make sense again. I am allowing myself to be sad and upset but just for the day as tomorrow is a new year. It will be the first time I have worked on New Years since my days in retail over a decade ago. I need to return to Portland simply because I need to remember what it is like to be surrounded by people who care about me, beautiful streets, and friendly people. I need a shift in perception, I need to go home.

december days

The scheduling gods are still upset with my previous request for an international flight. My sixth, yes count them sixth turn of the past eight days with one day off. The turn to FLL was alive with crazies, one with a peanut allergy, people who hated their seats, people who wanted us to serve dinner at nine o'clock at night, angry New Yorkers. Thankfully the flight back was nicer and I soon forgot how aweful my job can be. Today...today ranked in my top three worst flights. Excitement was my inital reacation when seeing my new destiny for the day, Belize, only to have it deflate when I saw it was a turn. A twelve hour day with nine and half of which was spent in the air. The first part of my day was good, good crew, good crowd, not a lot of carry ons. We hopped off the plane and hit the duty free for some good deals on liquor. They came on the plane in full force from the front and back doors, bringing their anger, trashiness, and bratty children. Four and half hours of glaring, non mannered, assholes and I was done. I come home to be greeting with the message of yet another turn tomorrow, this time to absolute, favorite place, Orlando. Can taste the senisism?

~~~~~~~~~~

I have done it, the thought that every woman has at one point in time in their lives; what would be like to be with a rich man who would do anything in the world for me? A man who has a penthouse in the city, a driver, a sucessful business, a guy who drops everything when I wanted to go the theatre and walked the streets of the theatre district looking for box seats, a man that takes me to exclusive lounges, cigar clubs, and night clubs, then gets me a town car all the way back home. Yes, this is what I found. But is there the butterflies, the za-za-zu that I long for? Not at all!! Don't get me wrong, he is absolute wonderful guy, generous heart, successful but not, well just not. The play however was fantastic!! My second Broadway show and I was sitting thirty feet away from Nathan Lane in his new play, Butley. He is an amazing actor and it was exciting to be that close to him. I need to go to more shows!

~~~~~~~~

Manhattan two days in a row. The roommates where nice enough to deliver the grease to my bed. I knew that I needed to get up and get ready as our tour was awaiting our arrival. It took a few tries until I made it into the shower, the final attempt was made on my hands and knees; too many cosmos the night before. A shower and my new pink dress was my motivation of pulling it together for the day and looking fabulous, very Carrie-like. We awaited the bus in front of the Plaza and toured around NYC for three and half hours, stopping at the Pleasure Chest (the place of the rabbit purchase), Carrie's stoop, and finally O'Neills (Scout) for a cosmo. We passed by three restaurants that appeared on the show that I had actually been too, Sushi Sambi "dirty martini, dirty bastard", Tao (with the jazz player), and Asia de Cuba (compliments from the Russian). Many more to experience though. Our group was not that enthusiastic but C and I sure had a great time and knew almost all the trivia asked. Dinner, all dressed up was in SoHo at Boom. The food and company was fantastic and greatfully I was in bed by midnight.

~~~~

Tomorrow is the last day of the year. I am supposed to return from my trip by 2130 and I am NOT going to hang out at the house. I am going to get a midnight kiss...somehow...I am still working on the game plan.

theatre part dioux

The movie theater and the nachos called my name once more this holiday weekend. This time I was not alone in my journey as my roommate returned from her trip shortly before my return this afternoon. My turn to PBI this morning was horrible, the people were so rude and nasty that I declared it the worst Christmas ever and it was only 0900. I took a short nap after my return and then we headed off to the movies to watch The Good Shepard. Excellent movie and the addition of whoppers added to the intrigue of the evening. I have received my assignment for tomorrow, a double turn, which equals no prediem, small paycheck, and an early check-in. I need to start picking up trips and trying to control my schedule because this crap sucks! The good news is that if the temp drops even the slightest bit, there will be snow.

movie for one

How did I spend my first Christmas Eve away from home? I arrived in from my charter flight around 0200, slept until awakened with an offer to go to the Giants game which I had to decline because I was on call. I sat around the apartment all day long waiting, knowing that they were going to call me. I watched movies I had seen many times on TV, ate a Lean Cusine, and then finally had enough of waiting around and decided to go to a movie. I pick a romantic comedy and sat very aware of my singleness amongst the couples. I return to an empty house, something I usually enjoy, but not tonight, to find out that I have a 0545 check in for a West Palm turn. Clearly I did not get what I asked for, for Christmas. I was in such a mind set to be away and didn't expect to be here.

football boys

I think it would be easier to stick this out if I didn't have a wonderful, clean loft at home; if I didn't have wonderful friends that I miss so much at home; if I didn't have my family at home. I am sure that it is the winter blahs and still not knowing where my life will be for Christmas that is making me so home sick. That and all the wonderful holiday cards that keep coming in the mail. But here is something that I would not be able to do from my fabulous home...charter a NCAA footbsll team on their way to a bowl game. I have be elected by scheduling to be the lead on a 777 flight taking the Rutgers football team to the Texas Bowl. This is what I get for asking for something international, oh well, it is a change from the norm and it's a plane full of college men for christsakes! I will admit that I pretty unfamilar with this huge plane so I will be whipping out the ol' manual over lunch today. So off to Houston I go, I think I might lie and stay that I haven't been in the cockpit for landing since it is so damn cool to see.

presents

I am awaiting to find out where I will be spending my Christmas holiday. I called scheduling today to ask for an international trip if they had any extra. It didn't sound very promising but it doesn't hurt to ask. The rest of the roommates are on trips and I am home with George cleaning my half of the room and surfing the net. This exciting life I lead! We exchanged presents last night where I received silk pajamas, boxers, a "sex kitten" book, a Duck's key chain, a dating guide, and a ticket to go on the Sex in the City bus tour. You can guess which one I am most excited about. Looks like it is going to snow night judging by the sky. I am hoping to spend my Christmas somewhere cold and white.

new stamp

The Chrystler Building was so close it seemed as though I could reach out my hand and touch it. The three-sixty of the roof continued to bask in the shadow of of impressiveness. The Trump Tower, the Hudson River. The penthouse of the CEO I had met a few weeks ago was very nice. Janene and I paid it and him a visit during our day in the city. We searched Canal Street for the perfect bags even if it meant getting into a van with an Asian woman or following on up three flights of stairs to ajoining rooms filled with purses and a guy in the corner sewing on the designer labels. Our journey continued to the West Village which left a permanent mark with Janene in the form of a tattoo. After the ink came the tour of the penthouse, followed by a slight tour of the city in the back of a Suburban, and then on to dinner at Asia de Cuba. It was a very nice restaurant and we enjoyed the courses with newly made friends. The evening was cut short (ie at 0100) because I had to work the next day. We took the notorious Path station and found ourselves in the middle of a freak show. A guy from Poland offered us one of his dates that he purchased at a 99 cent store and showed us his beautiful gift bag he purchased for a dollar while his friend who was in desperate need of chapstick talked to us about something or another. All of a sudden this black girl jumps up and starts spraying mace yelling that we called her names, we weren't even talking to her. After the thiry minute wait for the train, the police came got her and we made our way home.


I have just arrived home from a long trip, four days felt like an eternity. Here it was...EWR-RSW-layover-RSW-EWR-BOS-EWR-RDU (16 hour day)-layover-RDU-IAH-TPA-layover-TPA-EWR-BDA-home (12 hour day). I am so exhausted but need to stay awake to see where I have to go tomorrow. I have had ten days off this month so far but have to pay my dues with only 2 days off the rest of the month. I am glad to have gone to new places and it was a relief to get the roommates Christmas shopping done in Tampa, and today was pretty neat as well. We flew into Bermuda, yes we dared to enter the triangle, and was able to run off the plane, take photos, go to duty free then customs, get a stamp in my passport, and then hop back on the plane to fly home.

Bienviendos a Miami

Or at least to South Beach. Our trip thus far has consisted of dream like experience, which make us look at each other and start cracking up. The smoothness of getting down here to begin our holiday ended when we were outside waiting for the grey, beach shuttle with blue writing, which never appeared. Once we checked into our adorable hotel, which we dubbed a gay friendly hotel. A walk to the accent building and through dimly lit hallways brought us to a stark white room with color only provided by a red, shag runner and the box of condoms on the mini bar. We set off to find some lunch and check out the town. A walk along Lincoln Blvd provided us with terrific people watching, a nice lunch, and a familiarization with our surroundings. The concierge was to be in at four so we walked along the beach path until then. An hour, yes you heard me correctly, an hour with Gregg (with three g’s) proved to be most informative as he printed off a book of things to do and went as far as making an itinerary of our three days here. We were standing there for so long that my feet became a little bored from lack of movement. He was so funny with his enthusiasm that when he went to grab something, Janene whispered to me, “ I can’t wait to get back to the room so we can talk about him!” Nightlife does not really begin until 2300 so it gave us time to get a nap in, make our massage appointments, and for me to run down and get a wax. The five blocks turned into eight as random streets were thrown into the numeric. I accidentally passed the place only to be face to face with the legendary Miami Ink. I had no time to stop and stare like the other tourist, I was late for a bit of touchier. Feeling a little lighter, I made my way home to get ready. Dinner was Mexican food and a pitcher of margaritas to get the night going. Our next stop was Sushi Samba, which turned from sushi bar during the day to party with girls dancing on the sushi bar itself. A couple cosmos later found me dancing with a bunch of Chilean TV producers.

Day 2
This is the bizarre day, which ended with me kissing an ex-NBA player. The pool was calling our name for relaxation and a little bit of sunshine. Our massage appointments were more than walking distance away so we ordered a cab. It was awaiting us downstairs with a thin woman running around with a walkie-talkie and a bebe shirt. We got into the cab and told her our destination, including address. She proceeded to tell us she didn’t know where that was and we needed to take another cab. She “apologized a hundred times” and took us to the corner and basically shooed us out. We looked at each other with disbelief wondering if we were on some reality show or if Ana the driver was just a little coo-coo. It was the latter and we got out of the cab and searched for a new ride. Our new cab driver thought the story was quite funny and dropped us off at The Standard. We were unsure that we were at the correct place as the sign on the building was not correct and there was a huge bulldozer blocking the entrance. We ran around the obstacle and made our way into the twilight zone. The third floor held the spa and while walking down the hallway, I made the comment of how I felt like I was in a Mission Impossible movie. We changed into our robs and made our way into the steam room, followed by the sauna, and then to a general room with marble, large steps and bathtubs. We sat and relaxed and then began to watch this guy, who had an incredible body walk around, over to what we assumed his boyfriend, then back over to the tub to wet his face, then put oil on, the back over to the guy, then returning to the tub for some sit ups and more oil. I didn’t know what the hell he was doing but sadly it was turning me on. That being our cue to the leave and wait in the meditation room. An hour and a nice massage later, we walked back to our side of town. Stopping for a bite, we chose a pizza place that didn’t know its head from its ass. There was no apparent line, so we waited patiently, to be acknowledged. Once we placed our orders and there were warming in the oven, our helper told us he would be right back and our pizza wouldn’t burn in the mean time. Once again we looked at each other in disbelief. What is going on in the place? The other girl refused to hear our plea for the banded slices so we waited. After the ordeal we ate outside in the company of a nativity scene, a Christmas tree, a menorah, and dradel made out of seashells. The left over pizza was left on the table in hopes someone hungry would benefit. As I walked through an erotic gallery, Janene yelled for me to come look at the man in drag getting free dinner. We made it back to the hotel and took a nap. Our dinner reservations were at Prime 112, a famous hot spot known for its celeb sightings and Kobe burgers. It was the perfect setting for an elegant dinner, we ordered drinks at the bar and then made our way to the back. Next to us was a couple complaining about the prices and irritating the wait staff, on the opposing side was a table of two turned into five (but on the guys was hot, so that was okay). Beyond the first table was a group of younger guys out with possibly their father. Tons of food passed by us on the way to that table which may explain what we saw shortly after. A pink bottle was lifted chugged, and then passed clockwise around the table. The bottle of pepto appeared for the below the chair and made a couple appearances until emptied and placed back under the chair. All humorous to us as we shared the story with the cheap ass next to us. Dinner was amazing and as we were leaving, Janene asked the guy behind us about his gigantic ring. Turns out he is a scout and received the ring after his team won the championship. We talked briefly and then went outside. Undecided on what to do, we went back inside and joined his table talking until 0200. It was while I was retrieving mints that I was met in the hallway and kissed by the guy, nice surprise. It was interrupted by Janene pounding on the door and we ended our evening early.

Day 3

No plans, no appointments left us slumbering until 1100. We made our way down to the end of the continental US during the overcast day to check things out. A call to our friend guided us to the Big Pink Diner on the corner. Our waiter was very friendly and brought me a Big Pink Lemonade, very tasty. We sat outside and continued our people watching disappointed that we hadn’t seen silly things like the day prior. Then it pulled up, a limo obviously rented, with a group of men in velour track suits with the accompaniment of gold chains and greasy hair. Clearly they thought they were on the set of Sopranos. We made our way back walking off our large lunch, looking at tattoo places. Our stark white room welcomed us back and lured us into bed to watch TV and take a nap. Hours of Law and Order later, we made reservations at 9:52 for 9:30, at 10:07 I realized that we didn’t know what time it was when we called and that the hostess was an idiot as well. The downpour of ran which soaked the Nike runners passing by our room let up enough for a short walk to The Shore Club for a delightful dinner at Ago. Our waiter was a bit eccentric with his description of what kind of mood drugs Paris takes each day and how sweaty he was. We threw in the towel on our partying evenings and headed back to the hotel. My clam spaghetti in white sauce not agreeing with me caused me to lay down with stomach agony. I felt guilty for not going out and expressed that the young side of me still wanted to go out. Janene laughed at the pained look on my face and ultimately me.
We now sit at the airport awaiting our flight home and crossing our fingers that we can get on; a night in Manhattan with an old high school buddy of J’s awaits us.

sunshine

I can see why all the old people flock to the state of Arizona for the winter, it is beautiful here. I am speaking about the tempature not the clouds of dust due to the lack of grass. I truly believe that you can go through winter blahs as my attitude has lightened since I have been here. I started my morning with a nice run on the treadmill and then a breakfast of instant oatmeal in the hotel coffee mug near the sink. Feeling energized I walked the two miles to the Scottsdale Fashion Square (ooh-la-la). I wandered around trying to find presents for the roommates without much luck mostly due to my lack of having a fortune to spend. It was great people watching over my shrimp tempura roll as the plastic wives walked around the mall and the boyfriends with lists and bags from Tiffany, Coach, and Burberry walked around the mall dumbfounded at the amount of money they had been suckered into spending. I did get quite a few comments on my "I love Ducks football" tee as I was clearly in Pac 10 territory. The funniest comment came from a gentleman in the lobby of my hotel as he used my shirt to engage me in conversation and ultimately asking me out. He does live in NY and is the president of some recruitment firm according to his business card. So I guess the sunshine is a great up lifter of the mood, that and some cheap flattery!!

phx

I just looked at the weatherchannel.com to find out the not surprisingly warm weather for PHX. I was actually able to keep a nice trip this time and am about to pack my bags for my 20 hour stay in Scotsdale. Just a light sweater, some work out clothes, and a nice skirt for a light dinner. I am the only girl working this trip besides our load out of IAH today. I am sure they are all gay but I would rather work with men any day of the week. Heres hoping for some hotties in AZ.

east side/ west side

A fabulous way to start off my fourth day in a row off work, with a homemade chocalate chip cookie and of course all the thoughts running through my head.

Our girls evening out ended up being only three of us since M proclaimed that she didn't have enough money. I don't think that was the really reason for her absence but who knows. So C, B, and I got all dressed up in excitement for the city. We had decided to drive so we left an hour and half prior to our reservations at the exclusive Tao'. Two hours later through the Lincoln Tunnel and the chaos that makes up traffic in Mahattan we parked and ran to the restaurant. Our table had been given away so we decided to stay for one drink to make a game plan and see if we could spot some celebs. C make friends with the bartender so we able to grab a table and eat in the lounge. The table we grabbed came with two other guys on the opposite couch. We made nice chit chat with them as we nibbled on great sushi. And then our less out going roommate switched personalities and began to be a grouch. She said that she felt stupid all dressed up and she was out of her element. My response was that I just entered mine, so deal. We ordered some more small plates and had some of the best sushi I have ever had along with wine and a lot of silliness. The nice gentleman invited us out and gave us tips on clubs should we want to go, took care of our tab, and the exited nicely. Of course I came away with his card and an invite to his penthouse warming this evening....yes I am debating going. We decided to stick to the plan of a short evening even though C and I could have stayed out all night, and went next door to the Four Seasons for dessert. (The Four Seasons that Big always stays). We met some other gentleman that invited us to sit at their table with them and then bought us dessert and Spanish coffees. The evening was great success and there was much tension in the car as we drove back home, I drove down 5th for B as she wanted to see the tree, it put her in a little better spirits.

A mobile was left at the restaurant and since I had plans to go into the city anyway, it became my mission to rescue the phone. I got off the Path at 34th to be welcomed into Herald's Square and Macys. I started walking because it was a beautiful day and made it up to E 58th in twenty short minutes. I choose to walk up Madison Ave as that is where all the good shops are. I made a pit shop for a hot dog next to Bear Sterns just in case my investment banker husband was needing a hot dog at that exact second in life too. No luck, still single. I made my way to the restaurant and then grabbed a cab to my next agenda. I soaked in the drive as this may be my new neighborhood. I pulled up on Edgar Allan Poe Blvd and rang the buzzer. My new friend came running downstairs and let me in the double doors. His place was so cute as it was about 300 square feet if that. We sat and talked for a while about the neighborhood and other places in the city. I layed it on the table about my indecisiveness and that I didn't want to make a decision right now. He is a nice guy, lonely, but nice and talks a lot most of the time outloud thinking. We drank our water and then made our way back over to the East side for some Bikram yoga. This is a first time for me with the heat and it was awesome. I fell right back into the swing of yoga and loved every drop of sweat that hit the mat. Staring at myself in the mirror for 90 minutes did not make me happy as I remembered the toned body I once had and now desperately longed for. We went back and talked some more over wine and it hit me that I was not ready for this move and I just wanted to house sit next month as he went on vacation. I kept this to myself as he asked my option on a new chair for his place, I actually sat in this one before giving my thoughts on it. We continued to check out the nieighborhood with drinks at a local bar and then dinner at Chinesse restaurant. A visit to his friend on Columbus to see what a $1500/month room looks like and then I returned home to Jersey.

I could see myself living in the city but it would be hard to get to work and forsee myself partying all night but it is a once in a lifetime chance that I honestly say, I still don't know after all that research.

deja vu'

Today felt like deja vu'. I awoke to the sound of John Denver as my phone rang at six a.m. alerting me to yet another turn. I slept for a little while longer and then got up to the same empty house I enjoyed last night. I drove to the airport once again during the wind gust, waiting on morning traffic to move onto the parkway. I parked my car and awaited the bus that takes me to the airport. Same terminal as yesterday, the A terminal because I repeated my trip to Chicago. Granted this is my favorite turn to do because the passangers are usually behaved and there are usually some good looking business men on board. The downside to Chicago is that there is almost always a delay. We left late yesterday and once again today. I didn't mind sitting there waiting in the plane with the 16 degree weather blowing through the open door because today I was entertained by that hot pilot that I flew with a couple of months ago. I left the plane in a hurry once we got home becasue I thought he had already left, the cockpit door was open. But to my dismay, he was still on board and since I didn't want to stand around like an idiot, I made my way home.

On the first of my many Chicago trips in the past week and a half, I talked to the captain as we were making our way home. He mentioned that he lived in the city and my face must have brightened up because he followed me and gave me his email address. He told me he would as around for some rental control places for me. Well, we have been communicating and it looks like he may offer his place to me for next month while I look for places. This is so what I wanted but now, I am starting to think of the little things and get nervous about making the big step. If I do jump to across the Hudson, George will need to move home because is not fair to her that I would be gone for days at a time (sad), I would need to take public transportation to/from work because of parking, the cost would be more, I may miss my roommates, I would need to condence the small amount of stuff I have to even smaller, little things....but here is the big thing....IT IS MANHATTAN, a dream of mine to live in the city that never sleeps. To have a fabulous life like Carrie Bradshaw. The oppurtunity is here, upon me, why I am so scared? I am meeting with the guy Thursday to take a look at it and talk more in deepth. I just received an email from him about the time and he asked if I wanted to do anything "New York" . My response was to get some Motza ball soup as I have heard that it is very New York. He also mentioned that he usually goes to a yoga class on Thursdays and 'if I was interested I could join him". Yoga? That is music to my ears. I was speaking to another FA on the jumpseat this evening about my worries of moving. Her response was very on target, that I will know when I see the place. Sooo, Thursday I hope to know how I really feel about this.

One more day on and then three days off. The girls and I are going to the city for our holiday diiner Wednesday night. We are getting all dressed up and toasting the town. We are all working on Christmas so this is our time together!