osl

I picked up a trip to OSL knowing that another crewmember would mostly likely remove me, so when the phone rang the day of the trip it didn’t surprise me. They called to let me know that I was still on the trip but now I am just in charge of the flight. All right, I will keep my snow pants in my suitcase then and head for the airport.
These flights have the reputation for being difficult due the amount of drinks each person orders. My theory is, I don’t care what you would like as long as you are polite. Well, let me tell you, my flight was a contributor to the reputation. These people, whom I am distantly related to, wanted everything under the sun. The please and thank yous were not as plentiful has I had thought they would be so by the time I got poked for the third time, I about lost it. And not only am I serving drinks, I also have to deal with the video system and questions from passengers and running back to get more o.j. By the time we got done with our first service, I was over it and wondered how I was related to them.
Fast forward to the layover…I slept the whole forty-five minutes on the bus drive in and it was everything I could manage to wash my face and crawl into bed. My new buddy, Seth (domestic reserve) called and we started our trek around the city. We walked for hours looking for a sculpture park we were told to go see and finally we found it as the sun was setting. Let me tell you, it was one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen, it seem to go on for an hour with the full moon becoming more defined by the minute. So this park is huge, Hyde Park huge, and has hundreds of sculptures of men, women, children in the buff. The details were incredible down the fingernails yet there was nothing sexual about it, in fact they were playful and innocent. More wandering took us the wrong way back to the hotel and after asking for directions we hopped on a city bus back to our starting point. From there we took a right and stumbled upon not on the town square but a Hard Rock Café. Minda will be so proud to have another shot glass in her collection. We wandered the streets people watching and looking for somewhere to eat. We settled on a great little café and enjoyed a nice dinner over looking the ice skating rink. After dinner we walked over and tried our hand at skating. As we sat there giving our calves a break from keeping us steady, I looked at Seth, and said, “the whole miserable flight…totally worth it”.

pooches, pooches, pooches all around

I took over the biz for four days and I am still exhausted on day five. Mind you I was also entertaining Janene, who was not helpful in the walking just the getting me drunk at night.
My girl could not have picked a better week to go old of town as it snowed Tuesday, flooded Wednesday, and finally became a healthy temp on Friday.
Some pooches wanted nothing do with the rain, other didn't mind so I had to clean them up before returning them, others I just sat at their house and played with. Friday, the sun was out and I walked 12 dogs, mind you the max we do is 3. From 1000 to 1800 I only sat down for 15 minutes for a slice and 30 minutes for a beer and to write my report. I have torn my mud-covered jeans, have a blister on my toe, and my body feels like I am turn 60 next week. Was it all worth it? Hell yes!
On the flip side, I got tons of exercise, socialized with the dogs, received unconditional love, and had six different, four legged Valentines, and made some good money. I am also officially a dog walker now because I have my own business cards and notepad. That's right, moving up in NYC!
Spent today doing nothing so far and enjoying the serenity of my "new home". Off again tomorrow to the friendly skies!

he wasn't spanish...

Hands down best trip I ever had working. The five day Rome is so close but in terms of making the most of out of 24 hours, done! Speaking of Rome, the same FO was on my flight this time and I knew that I was in for some fun. He is a big teddybear and adventurous. I had no expectations of a first class seat for the deadhead portion of the trip but, what do you know, my own big seat. I watched a movie and then hit the hay. I was ready to hit the ground running once we arrived at the hotel so I got a map and set off. My navigation skills left me as it took an hour versus the fifteen minutes to get where I needed to go. The good news is that I have seen the sides of Barcelona, not just the middle. I head to the water and see all the sailboats and yachts, the old and new buildings, and the many people out because it was a Saturday as well as 22C, perfect weather. I continued my wandering and walked along the beach, asked randoms to take my photos, bought sounvieners, and then went in search of a shot glass from the Hard Rock Cafe. My friend, Minda collects these damn things and it has never taking me less than a hour to find the damn place. This time, it took two hours as everyone I asked gave me different directions and I just ended up circling the damn place. I made it back to the hotel in time to take a shower and meet Jim for dinner. In preparation for this top five on my list city, I brought a dress and red patent heals. We went to a great seafood place and I had the salty cod and yummy dessert. We went in search of a disco-tech since the strip of them was closed for the week and the casino would not let us in without our original passport. We had a choice of three, a spanish, an asian, or a brightly colored one called opium. I choose the later. Mind you it is 2330 and people where still eating dinner so we spent our time drinking until 0100 (our cut off) and chatting. Then these two guys came and joined us at our table One (the German) was kind of a dick at first until Jim came up with this story that I was an heir to the Duke fortune and he was my bodyguard. The guy next to him (Turkish) was very handsome and was asking tons of questions about his job as my protector. I told Jim I wanted to dance and he told the guys, she gets what she wants, who wants to dance with her. The German did of course and after a bit I decided I wanted the other guy instead. So, the other guy and i dance and made out. The jig was up when I had to get dressed for work after two hours of sleep in my flight attendant uniform.

bcn

It's one of those mornings when the bed feels so good, particualarly because I have new sheets and because I didn't make it to bed until 0230. I set the alarm to call in for purser at 0600 and then to see if I had to dog walk at 1000. It was my favorite time 1111 when the phone began to sing along to John Denver. I gladly picked up and found out I am deadheading (ie. not working can sleep the whole night) and then working the flight back from.........BCN! Looks like I can begin looking for that Spanish lover a month early!

pooch patrol

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent gearing up to take over the dog walking biz next week. I walked seven dogs on Tuesday and came home exhausted. I am excited to label myself a full time dog walker for five days, getting sunshine, playing in the dog park, getting exercise. It is good for my soul to be out in the city walking pooches, and they seem to like listening to me talk to them as we are strolling along. My line up includes two old labs that walk at a snails pace and don't seem to mind that we walk in circles around Madison Square Park. I have already made friends with the park ranger. The next in the line up is my absolute favorite, a nine-month-old lab. We spend an hour running to the park and playing in the mud. What a sweetheart. Next is the pits whom I have yet to walk by myself but seems really sweet and I guarantee you that no will mess with me while I have them. On to Zeus, my longhaired wiener dog whom only likes the ladies. Then onto the Yorkies who don't want to have anything to do with the outside and even though they are cute, they are a handful. Onto my other favorite, a mastiff who is a big teddy bear and who has my number because she didn't budge from the entrance to the pet store until I got her a cookie. I will have two puggles thrown into the mix when I take over. Looking forward to life with the pooches.

super tuesday

Big day here in NYC, not only for the eight million and change people who live here but for this New Yorker as well. Today is the first day of my new apartment and the start of peace in my home and in my life. Carol was finally able to go home knowing I would be okay. Huge props for her strength and patience. We went out to dinner last night and ended up getting pretty damn drunk, deservely so.

It is super Tuesday and people lined the sidewalks to vote and it was all a certain sector was talking about. I was asked four times if I had voted. The other big hipe in the city was the welcoming home of our hometown heroes, the GIANTS. It was so amazing to be here for the win. Granted it was an amazing game but the addition of being in NY to watch the game, the energy and pure pride in the underdog. I would have rather been here than in AZ actually. New Yorkers are passionate about their teams and I loved being a part of it.

in charge

I was sitting airport alert last night, when a guy came up asking the crowd if any one had international managing experience and would like to go to Oslo. I raised my hand and told him I would be happy to bullshit it. Sold! Off to a small room to complete the necessary paperwork for the flight and then onto the gate. It was a forty-eight hour layover and the excitement to go somewhere new overshadowed my fear of being in charge. The crew was great and we were almost complete with boarding when the original purser came aboard and told me to get off the plane and go back to the crew room. Piss on him! I sat and watched the Democratic debate instead of planning my sledding trip with the crew.
With the want to be home for the Super Bowl, I called and volunteered to be a purser today. The request was granted on the 777 to LGW. I was throw in the deep in and managed to bull shit my way through the whole flight I even had to argue with a passenger about how is new wife couldn’t just happen to sit with him in first class. I wanted to ask him if he loved her so damn much, then why didn’t he buy her a first class ticket? He snuck her up anyway and I had to go and kick her out. I don’t think that man knew whom he was messing with.
I am now sitting in my nice room waiting for the weariness of the pass week to hit me and force me to lay my head down but I am not tired. Well, my mind is at least wide-awake. Even though the sun is out in jolly ol’ England, I have no plans to leave the hotel/airport as I brought plenty of reading material and I am going to be a complete nerd and write out my announcements for tomorrow’s flight.

stand up

There are times in life when you have to admit that you need a life raft. When you have to admit you are not strong enough to fight the battle alone. Sometime this rescue comes from simply talking to someone new about the situation and getting a different view. It may only be a sentence that you didn’t think about. For example, she has control of me in some odd way. Other times the lifeline is thrown out during an argument. The only thing harder than admitting you need a lifeline is the denial of it; the realization comes when you least expect it. Today is came during a fight with Carol. It just hit me, and I had to verbally say that she has some control over me that scares me shitless. Here I was still fighting for her after all she has done. The metaphorical slap in the face was exactly what I needed to get off my ass and get her shit packed up. The battle is not over yet but I now feel like I am my old self and am ready to stand up for myself.

waiting

To answer my previous question: yes I am foolish to forgive. I am now accompanied by Carol because I finally had to admit I was weak against the presence who has because a poison force that residence in my home.
I begged scheduling to give me a trip and Dublin it was. I ran home to grab my things and had to take a cab to Penn Station just to make it on time. I left behind my laptop and apparently my guard. I received a call after arriving letting me know my laptop as well as hers had been stolen. I spent three hours at the 19th preceint filing a report and of course making friends with all the men in blue. Each time a new piece comes out it is conflicting or something that doesn't make sense. She found a way to hurt me more. She let the guys in to our apartment that took away a part of my life, an irreplaceable part. It still makes me sick to my stomach to think about. What is even worse is the waiting to get her out. NY is a very difficult place for break ups of any kind. I have to be careful or I could be the one in jail. She has agreed to move out but it is 0230 on the 1st and her stuff is still here. Now it is a waiting period, a waiting for peace.

paths

There is a thought that when a goal/want/etc is especially challenging that one should perserver because it will be worth more once achieved. But what if the challenges and obstacles are in place to make you think twice about the decision or perhaps "hind sight" rearing its head in the present? As anyone who knows me well knows that my mind is rarely at rest. Since I have too much time to think during this huge mess that has become of my NY lease, I have been going over what a pain in the ass it was to get this place. It was myself who did the majority of the leg work, acting as the responsible party to make this dream of living in NYC happen.
Did I force fate into giving me what I thought I needed? I look back at the purchase of my first home and reflect on the many hours of work, phone calls, and money that it took just to get into the home. The lender said she had never seen someone work so hard to get the loan closed. Buying that house was a mistake. Along the lines of housing, my thought move naturally towards my loft. Oh, my beautiful, much missed loft. It was the first place I looked at to rent and was approved the same day. When I decided to purchase the whole transaction was smooth as glass and finished in two weeks. Aside from the leaving of boyfriends, it was the best decision of my adult life.
Speaking of old boyfriends, one thing Matt loves about me is that I see what I want and I go after it. My relationship with him is an example, this new job, seeing the world, living in NYC... But now I am at a place that I don't know what I want or what my next step should be. I think about the future and become overwhelmed. I have made the childish decision to live month by month and placing a new holiday in each just to have something to look forward to. My personality, the one I have put aside for this job is the control freak that would love to know exactly what I am supposed to be doing.
So, now do I just look for the easy road, the one with no uphills as the correct path? Do I continue to go after what I think I want even if it is the rockiest path of all? Or do I sit back and wait for fate to deal me into the next game?

good grief

There are not many flights that make me miserable, especially now that I am flying international. But today, well I spent the day in bed recovering instead of enjoying this quaint town of BHX. I picked up the trip and worked in my favorite cabin. Things were going smoothly until the captains family boarded and after throwing their stuff around the cabin preceeded to walk in and out of the cockpit (directly in my way of working) and then started demanding stuff from me. It is an unwritten rule that as a non-rev passanger you are to sit and mind you own business and take what you can get. Majority of the time we treat non-revs like gold, going above and beyond for them because they don't expect it. Well, this bitch expected me to kiss her ass. She didn't let up at all the whole flight and the worse part about it, it that 1. she is haunting me on the layover and 2. I have to deal with her ass on the way home.
So whe finally get the door closed and are ready to taxi when...I hear a hissing sound. I walk to the mid galley to throw away cups and see the emergency slide laying in the jetway. My reaction: get the hell out of there before it blows and to look at the flight attendant that caused this and say "you're fucked". Long story short: three hour delay on the ground. I am exhausted and can't wait for tomorrow to end. And yes, I have already touched her food with dirty hands.

bfs

My third time in Belfast finds me walking around the city alone. I turn the corner and a huge, brightly lit ferris wheel consumes my line of vision. So the child in my took a ride, and saw the city in a whole new light.

All I brought with me on my walk around the city is a zip lock bag of previously separated pounds. The kind man at the bodega volunteered to change in into bills, 15 to be precious. I am loaded! The clear night allowed me to walk around the city that has never been seen through sober eyes. It is a perfect European city filled with warmth from memories of my first visit with Janene. I am now back in the room and about to curl up on the coach in the shadow of a BBC satellite and read a book. Let me also state that it is a first for me to spend a day in Ireland without a beer in my hand. It must be the absence of the red hair.

a year long week

The trembling has finally stopped and you would think that it was due to the fact that I have had only seven combined hours of sleep in the last 52 hours plus a couple of lattes to make it through the day. No...I just found out information, clues if you will that left me kneeling on the floor with my head on my hands and my tears pooling on the lacered floors of my studio. The studio I share with her. The old phone was left out, plug in as if I was supposed to go up to it and look. I don't know what I was looking for, something in my gut told me to look at her text messages. Mind you I had forced myself to stay up until midnight so I could send him a happy birthday text. I was multi-tasking and brushing my teeth as I reached for the phone and I what I found was a familiar number. A name was not attached to it as with all the other messages, just a number. I number I subconsciencly memorized even though I had deleted it from my phone through advice from a friend a month ago.

A perfectly wrapped birthday for him present sits on the floor making a mochery of me. I went out and pulled together a nice box of goodies that were Oregon related. I even gave a call to my ex to get advice on what I should add.

I haven't told anyone that I was back to seeing him again for fear that things might fall apart and he would drift away again. I didn't want everyone to ask me why I wanted to be with someone who I had to do the chasing with. When we started talking again, it was slow and pleasant, and the night we met up it was like nothing changed. He was my perfect kiss on New Years and it seemed as though we started fresh. He even started texts with me. We are so great together and he was almost everything I want in a future husband (those of you who know me, know I want perfection, even a 110%). I want to be loved, I am tired of being lonely. We made plans for his birthday, it now after midnight on his birthday. I did not send the text because moments before the calander day changed, toothbrush in motion, roommates phone in my hand, my heart stopped beating.

So many questions fill my mind as to when it started, who initiated it, why, and how, how could she do this to me? The questions which fill my head now are how to deal with it. He will be confronted and left behind without my dignity (no sir, that is coming with me.) He is a lot easier to walk away from than her. What happens to living together? I bet she thinks I will just move home with my tail between my legs, well I am not leaving. This my apartment and I am going to be the survivor. Stronger than ever, is my silent reminder. My heart will not be the same for a long time, if ever. Those walls, yah, there are five feet thick filled in my mind with the souls of those who just knocked me out of my mind.

I tried to sleep but it is no use. I have returned to the phone, the one that sits there are taunts me with my stupidy to be in situation that a 17 year old would be in. I walk to it with my calander to find out what I was doing during those texts. Mostly I was away but one weekend, I was here all alone. Things are now being pieced together in my head and I wonder if she wanted me to find out. We had a conversation of a simliar story regarding our old roommate who left behind her old phone on purpose.

I feel ashamed but yet I have done nothing wrong.

There is a line between wanting to know everything and not wanting to know anything that could hurt me more. I have decided that I will only as two questions: who initiated it and is it still going on? I am sitting here, looking amazing still looking at his present waiting to meet up with him this evening. I want the face to face to see if he will lie or if he will tell me so I won’t have to admit I looked at the phone. Unfortunately I have had to use the lure of sex to guarantee a meeting but I’ll be damned if he getting any. I spent the day drinking coffee and doing beautifying things to help mask the pain on the exterior. I want the next 24 hours to be over. I want her to leave peacefully but I fear it will mirror a break up when things get nasty. I don’t know her anymore, and it looks as though I never really did. My anger lays majority with her, my hurt lies with both, and the pain that is all mine.

Two friends have posed the question to me: would I stay with him if he told me the story and begged for me to stay with him as he had chosen me. We had in fact not been seeing each other and I have no idea when all of this started. I didn’t consider the possibility of staying with him while planning out my speeches. But now it is haunting me as I stand looking out the window wishing that none of this would have happened and I could have the man, the friend, and roommate. I am glad that I found out now though.

I don’t even feel like fighting the fight right now, last night yes, today yes. Right now I am tired and I hope when I see him the mind will take charge and not the girl inside. The idea of being in his arms makes me want to pretend that nothing has happened and he wants to be with me. I won a battle I wasn’t even aware I had been fighting.

The fight in me is still depleting. Session one of the conversations was calm and collected and with a little womanly nudging, he told me the truth. Not the whole truth but I couldn’t push it without revealing my source.

My mind was in battle with my body. I wanted to be held, and told that I was beautiful. But my mind was screaming get out. I finally left while he was sleeping. Now I came home to find that she beat me here. I think about how much hassle it will be to deal with the living situation, to end my friendship, to drag out the hurt and physically examine it.
What if I don’t say anything? What if I stay with him? I only have another six months here, would it be so bad to play dumb but cautious? What if I have someone to be with in the city with? I am lonely. How foolish would I be?

She went somewhere and left the new phone behind as almost a daring for me to look at it. I didn’t, I don’t want to know any more. I am pretty sure she knows I know. There is a mild tension but I am just being me without the overnice until the time is right. It wasn’t right yesterday. I realized that I couldn’t be in such close quarters with her for a minute more so I went out to watch the game and have a beer. Well, Jack Daniels and I decided to have a fling, a fling that has left with nothing but a headache and more empty. Luckily I was able to sleep away the time she spent here today and woke up as she was leaving for work.

I sought out advice from a New Yorker about the rules of leases and etc. I found that I need to get a lawyer to have her removed and if I don’t proceed with caution, I could wind up in jail over this. Here is some advice, never have to break up of any kind in New York State; it will cost you.

My good friend, Butch was my shoulder this evening and the strength I needed. He reminded me that I was a good person and the person in my house is poison and I needed to get her out. Hopefully I can take care of all this soon as everyday I have to look at her or her stuff, it just kills me.


I want a reprieve, an hour at least where this is not the only thing on my mind. I awake each day and then it hits me like a ton of bricks. I haven’t been able to read, the words just sit on the page. I tried to wash it away with booze and it came back even stronger. I leave tomorrow for work and I am hoping I am able to leave the hurt in NY where it belongs. Today however I am here and at least she is not.

Aries
March 20 - April 19
Think of today as a time of restoration for yourself, dear Aries, in which you can come to a point of great ease and comfort. Trust yourself and the people around you. Open your eyes to the reality of the situation at hand. If you are currently working through some major changes in your life, make sure you have faith that whatever happens will work out to your benefit.

My friend visited today and without knowing it, spoke directly to my heart. I have also just written the legal form that I pray she signs without hassle that will allow me to have the apartment. Please let this be over soon.


I just found out something that has made the incident at hand disappear. It is a secret that I will not share but has changed my point of view on him forever. I almost wish now that she knows and we can agree to walk away from him jointly and salvage a friendship. A friendship that would consist of the fun we used to have. And no, I would never introduce her to anyone I was seeing, still need to be cautious. Actually to tell you the truth, I am done dating here because you ever know with someone here. There are no morals, no boundaries, and no concern for a partner. This town has kicked my ass and I very much look forward to returning home.


I awoke this morning to miss texts from him wondering if I was okay. A new day and it took a bit for it to come to mind but as I brushed my teeth, there it was. Each day the anger desinigrates. I knew that I needed to print out my letters and get my ducks in a row before she came home just in case the time was right so I walked until she was due to arrive. What is strange is how at ease we were with each other as we talked about everything but. She talked to me as she held both her old and new phone in her hands explaining that she was transferring numbers. That explains why the old phone may have been plugged in. I replied that I would rather pay the ten dollars than have the hassle. She called her mom briefly and I could assume what the other side of the conversation was. “No, I hadn’t brought it up yet” would have been my answer if I were speaking with her mom. There were a couple more lead-ins, which I led the other way. Then she pulled her beanie over her eyes and put her head in her hands and said, “there are so many text messages and missed calls from men in my new and old phone which I just get involved with and then don’t want. I don’t know why I do it because it doesn’t even make sense at the time it starts, but I think maybe I will see how it goes. I feel stupid.” I just looked at her as she continued along this line, I know that she wanted me to address it but I didn’t want to start the conversation and then leave for work. I told her that telling the men the truth is the best thing and honesty always works for me. We also ended up talking about prom and I told her mine was horrible because my date had taken another girl to hers and I knew that he was sleeping with her as well. She turns to me and says, “Some guys are just like that.” She also asked me how my 2008 was going and I told her it was dragging on. Seriously, it feels like a month has been lived in the past five days. She told me that she woke up on NYD and felt enlightened. I don’t know if that was her way of indirectly apologizing but I took it as a sign to leave for the airport. So here I am, wondering if I forgive and let her stay what does that say about me? That I am a good person or that I am looking for more pain?

I awoke today with a peace in my heart. I have decided to forgive. I am on my way home on the train and sent a silent prayer for the talk to go peacefully. I got a piece of advice today via email which simply says, “when God takes something from your grasp, He is not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better.” This week has been a test of my strength, a re-evaluation of what I want in my life, and a realization that I really do have a good heart.

bhx

My commute home usually runs very smoothly as I am not ruled by the clock, the trains seem to be right there and I get home pretty quickly. This was not the case yesterday after I returned from a lovely trip to BHX. I got pulled to go through agriculture in customs, and then the escalator to the air train was broke. I just missed the train to NY but it was such a nice day outside, I didn’t mind. Once I was at Penn Station, I waited forever for the E train. We made one stop before some announcement about changing of the lines due to an investigation in Queens. So I had to get off the train, carry my bags up the stairs, through Port Authority, under the street up another broken escalator then down the stairs to catch the 7. I was among the confused masses that packed the train and I prayed silently for patience. Two stops left me in Grand Central as I began the long watch to the 5 train. Luckily this was an express train and I was home in two stops. Next was the half a mile walk home with my wheels making as much noise as possible to remind me of their presence. My street at last! Now I just had to get up the narrow four stories worth of stairs to the apartment.



Did you know that magnificent was a word, among many, invented by Shakespeare? It was a fact I learned prior to my trip to Birmingham, England. We stay 25 miles away in Strafford-upon-Avon where Shakespeare was born and is buried. My crew was absolutely fantastic and included this gay couple from Staton Island. These boys should have had their own stage show, they were so funny. I was able to catch the evening show as we drank sangria in the rooms after my minuture exploration.
This town is so quaint and so beautiful with the cobblestones, the river passing gently underneath the bridge into town. They seem to be big fans of Christmas as hordes of lights still graced the town. The little shops were welcoming and everyone it seemed was out for a spot of tea during my walk. I truly understand where he received his inspiration, this place is absolutely magnificent!

nothing but cold going on here

Currently at a Tasti D-Lite using the internet to pick up a trip to BHX since my lunch date ran long. I have fourteen minutes left on my time so I thought an update of non interesting details would make me feel like I made the most of working internet.
The weather here has been bitterly cold, I mean longjohns, hat, scarf, gloves still freezing but here I am out and about because I feel guilty if I spend my time in my apartment versus soaking up the city. The new year is treating me well with alone time, happiness, and the keeping up with my resolutions to eat well everyday and not to over indulge in the spirits. Seriously I have nothing to write about...

cab-cab

Luck was on my side this NYE as I walked towards the liquor store to pick up a bottle of champange, a lady was getting out of a cab. Perfect. The rooftop/penthouse party at my friend, Lances was the perfect way to spend the evening. Everyone was dolled up in suits, gowns, and tuxes and yours truly opted for a tiara. We watched the ball drop on tv, toasted, and kissed. Then I spent the rest of the evening dancing to early 80's disco. As I was leaving the building, a cab was dropping off people. This may not seem like a big deal but you have to understand how many people came into NYC for the new year. It was estimated 2 million total with a million of these pain-in-the-ass tourist crowding into Times Square. So that leaves all the locals and the other million tourist vying for one of the 50,000 cabs that inhabit Manhattan. The city was packed but there was such a great energy. And yes, I will share with you that I had a perfect New Year's kiss, I just happened to still be on west coast time.

christmas

It was two years ago that I was spending my holiday in NYC, a planned getaway with my friend; it was then I rode the subway for the first time then. That is what triggered my memory, last night as I rode the 6-line home from my movie. My second trip of the month took me back to jolly ol’ London on a short adventure with a great crew. The plane has spots of eye candy to make the journey go by faster, and we all gathered in the crew room to drink, eat, and be merry. I got a little too merry as I woke up face down, fully clothed (even my shoes) in my hotel room. Let me tell you, working at 36,000 feet with a hangover is not pleasant. Never the less, I decided to spend my Christmas, not at home with my sick roommate who was watching some Russian movie but instead eating Chinese food on Bleeker and catching my favorite Christmas movie at a nearby theatre. It was the second time in five days I had watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” and it was every bit as good as the first time I saw it, ages ago. All in all my holiday was great, not the least bit home sick as I received tons of pressies and cards from friends.
I had a feeling when I journeyed to the big apple for the first time that I would return, in some capacity. It still blows my mind sometimes to think that I live here, New York City…wow. I was standing on Lance’s rooftop the other evening and thinking how comfortable it was being in the middle of the universe. Did you know that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the ball drop in Times Square? Granted you couldn’t pay me to be in the middle of all the tourist, but I will be somewhere. Hopefully somewhere getting the perfect New Years kiss.
A part of the reason I returned to NY permanently was to pick up my heart, where I thought I had let it prior during my visit. That and all the Sex in the City I had been watching.

k-mart

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

beat the clock

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

good clothes

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