I have a post that has been in the making for a while... it's about my dog. I don't know when I'll finish it. In the mean time, I'm posting something that I've kept close to my heart for years.
When my cat passed away, I came across the following post:
http://turbulence.org/Works/saddest/index.php?id=43
It takes you to a page called The Saddest Thing I Own: Cat Ashes. There are plenty of other "saddest thing I own" posts, but I first saw this one and it helped. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one who loved my cat so much that it hurt. I know it sounds morbid, but if you're ever suffering the loss of a pet, I'd suggest giving it (and the comments) a read. For me, it was calming, sobering, sad, and heartfelt. For me, it helped.
It was also the first place I wrote about the story of my cat to the world. My comment can be found posted on Friday July 13, 1007.
I miss you, Butterscotch.
You too, Abbey.
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label memories. Show all posts
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
I could get lost in those eyes...
I have never been one to go fanatical, drooly, teenage girl over guys with blue eyes. Sure, they can be pretty, gorgeous even, but nothing that made me swoon. I have usually prefered, dark, mysterous, brown eyes. Brown eyes make me feel warm and comfortable, like being wrapped up in a thick quilt on a rainy day.
... but his eyes...
Well, let's just say that I now understand what it means to get lost in the sea of a pair of blue eyes. I know what it's like to feel like you're drowning when you look into someone's eyes, like you're far out to sea where no one can hear you... but in a good way.
And I will not see those eyes again. Most likely, ever.
I can only hope that I get the chance to feel that again someday.
... but his eyes...
Well, let's just say that I now understand what it means to get lost in the sea of a pair of blue eyes. I know what it's like to feel like you're drowning when you look into someone's eyes, like you're far out to sea where no one can hear you... but in a good way.
And I will not see those eyes again. Most likely, ever.
I can only hope that I get the chance to feel that again someday.
Monday, February 15, 2010
That time when I unintentionally, intentionally hurt nature...
A little while ago, I left a comment over at Hyperbole and a Half (who by the way, is incredibly hilarious) in regards to her goose encounter. If you've never read her blog, then you must go NOW to that post and read that in the least. It is... I don't even know how to... it's just... Allie is funny and awesome and all of her greatness is visible in that post. Go now and read it... then come back here, please. Thanks!
Okay, so her post got me thinking about how I should just post my goose attack story here, unfortunately it's not nearly as funny as Allie's, so I hope you all read hers and maybe some residual hilarity will rub off on mine... so here it goes:
Unfortunately I don't remember the year, but it was over 10 years ago. (somewhere in either Junior High or High School) Stephanie was babysitting for her dad's co-worker, who also happened to live across the street from my house. She decided to take the little girl for a walk around the lake to feed the ducks with some bread and I tagged along. If I remember correctly, the little girl's name was Katie (... or something with a K sound... I'm not really sure now, but I'm going to call her Katie anyway), and she was probably 3ish? These are all useless details to you, but I want to remember this story forever, so I'm trying to be detailed for me here. Anyway, we packed Katie up into her stroller and headed to the lake.
It really is a gorgeous lake, isn't it? You can't tell from that picture, but it has a ton of ducks, geese, egrets, and other various fowl hanging out there. This photo is actually not terribly far from where the incident took place. Just around the bend, behind where this photo was taken, we stopped our walk and decided to feed a group of ducks and geese. A gaggle of geese? Is that what they're called? By the way, who the hell came up with gaggle? That is a terrible sounding word! Seriously. Say it out loud. Gaggle. It's an ugly word isn't it? Moving on... So we stopped to feed the birds. We threw the rest of our pieces of bread to them and realized we were out of bread. I think we may have even apologized to them. I frequently talk to animals, (in a completely sane, normal, non-Dr. Dolittle sort of way, of course) so it wouldn't surprise me if I said "That's it guys. No more for you today. Sorry! All gone" and waved my empty hands at them to show them that there was no more food. Oh, except I was carrying Katie, so I couldn't have waved my hands at them, could I? Hmm... Regardless, we were out of bread and were turning to walk away. I had picked up Katie and was walking away and Steph was pushing the stroller ahead of us on the path.
Now, let me explain something here real quick. I had lived near The Lake my whole life at that point. So I knew that the birds would follow you when you stopped feeding them. I knew it technically wasn't good to feed them, but I would do it on occasion anyway. I knew, from experience, that when you walk away the best method to get the geese to not follow you is to begin to walk away, then quickly turn and rush them aggressively. This confuses them, causes them to momentarily panic, and scatter. Then you can leave the area not being stalked/harassed by large, waddling, sometimes hissing, birds who are just trying to get their last bread-fix. You see, I knew all this. It is and has always been ingrained in my mind. I should have been more careful, but I was young and reckless, and holding a small child.
So, there I was, holding Katie, walking away from the gaggle (ugh) of geese completely unaware that there was a goose with a bread hunger that had gone unfulfilled. I was about to take a step, when the goose bit me. Let me say that again. I had been walking and was about to take another step, when the little bugger bit me! Do you know, what position your legs are in when you've been walking a couple steps and you're about to take another? Your legs are apart. In this case, my right foot/leg was forward, my leg foot/leg was back. Leaving my soft, fleshy, barely sees the light of day, inner thigh exposed! (I was wearing jeans, so it wasn't really "exposed" in that way, but you get my drift) The goose bit my inner thigh! I didn't even know his name and he was already trying to get to 3rd base!
I'm not sure what went through my head in the split second between being bit and the action my body took. It was pure instinct. I didn't think. I didn't even pause. I just acted. I actually didn't even know that there was a goose behind me. I just knew that something had pinched my thigh really hard and it hurt. A lot. So I did what came naturally.
I turned around swinging.
You know when a fly is buzzing around your head and you swat it at, sort've haphazardly with the back of your hand? Well, imaging doing that, but instead of a fly imagine a goose... and instead of your hand imagine using your whole arm. That's sort've what it was like. I unknowingly, back-handed the goose. I turned around rapidly, while yelling (It could have been "ouch." It could have been "hey." Whatever sound you make when you're caught by surprise in a painful way) with my arm stretched out and I hit something with it. Turns out... I had hit the goose. Okay, to be completely honest, I didn't just hit the goose. My arm caught the neck of the goose. I don't know how I happened to hit it in the exact location to send it flying back. I guess it bit me and then lifted it's head, which was unfortunate on its part. I just caught it perfectly to send it wings spread, reeling backwards toward the ground.
Actually... it sort've looked like this when I turned around (minus the pole sticking out of it's hoo-hah)...
Okay, so her post got me thinking about how I should just post my goose attack story here, unfortunately it's not nearly as funny as Allie's, so I hope you all read hers and maybe some residual hilarity will rub off on mine... so here it goes:
Unfortunately I don't remember the year, but it was over 10 years ago. (somewhere in either Junior High or High School) Stephanie was babysitting for her dad's co-worker, who also happened to live across the street from my house. She decided to take the little girl for a walk around the lake to feed the ducks with some bread and I tagged along. If I remember correctly, the little girl's name was Katie (... or something with a K sound... I'm not really sure now, but I'm going to call her Katie anyway), and she was probably 3ish? These are all useless details to you, but I want to remember this story forever, so I'm trying to be detailed for me here. Anyway, we packed Katie up into her stroller and headed to the lake.
It really is a gorgeous lake, isn't it? You can't tell from that picture, but it has a ton of ducks, geese, egrets, and other various fowl hanging out there. This photo is actually not terribly far from where the incident took place. Just around the bend, behind where this photo was taken, we stopped our walk and decided to feed a group of ducks and geese. A gaggle of geese? Is that what they're called? By the way, who the hell came up with gaggle? That is a terrible sounding word! Seriously. Say it out loud. Gaggle. It's an ugly word isn't it? Moving on... So we stopped to feed the birds. We threw the rest of our pieces of bread to them and realized we were out of bread. I think we may have even apologized to them. I frequently talk to animals, (in a completely sane, normal, non-Dr. Dolittle sort of way, of course) so it wouldn't surprise me if I said "That's it guys. No more for you today. Sorry! All gone" and waved my empty hands at them to show them that there was no more food. Oh, except I was carrying Katie, so I couldn't have waved my hands at them, could I? Hmm... Regardless, we were out of bread and were turning to walk away. I had picked up Katie and was walking away and Steph was pushing the stroller ahead of us on the path.
Now, let me explain something here real quick. I had lived near The Lake my whole life at that point. So I knew that the birds would follow you when you stopped feeding them. I knew it technically wasn't good to feed them, but I would do it on occasion anyway. I knew, from experience, that when you walk away the best method to get the geese to not follow you is to begin to walk away, then quickly turn and rush them aggressively. This confuses them, causes them to momentarily panic, and scatter. Then you can leave the area not being stalked/harassed by large, waddling, sometimes hissing, birds who are just trying to get their last bread-fix. You see, I knew all this. It is and has always been ingrained in my mind. I should have been more careful, but I was young and reckless, and holding a small child.
So, there I was, holding Katie, walking away from the gaggle (ugh) of geese completely unaware that there was a goose with a bread hunger that had gone unfulfilled. I was about to take a step, when the goose bit me. Let me say that again. I had been walking and was about to take another step, when the little bugger bit me! Do you know, what position your legs are in when you've been walking a couple steps and you're about to take another? Your legs are apart. In this case, my right foot/leg was forward, my leg foot/leg was back. Leaving my soft, fleshy, barely sees the light of day, inner thigh exposed! (I was wearing jeans, so it wasn't really "exposed" in that way, but you get my drift) The goose bit my inner thigh! I didn't even know his name and he was already trying to get to 3rd base!
I'm not sure what went through my head in the split second between being bit and the action my body took. It was pure instinct. I didn't think. I didn't even pause. I just acted. I actually didn't even know that there was a goose behind me. I just knew that something had pinched my thigh really hard and it hurt. A lot. So I did what came naturally.
I turned around swinging.
You know when a fly is buzzing around your head and you swat it at, sort've haphazardly with the back of your hand? Well, imaging doing that, but instead of a fly imagine a goose... and instead of your hand imagine using your whole arm. That's sort've what it was like. I unknowingly, back-handed the goose. I turned around rapidly, while yelling (It could have been "ouch." It could have been "hey." Whatever sound you make when you're caught by surprise in a painful way) with my arm stretched out and I hit something with it. Turns out... I had hit the goose. Okay, to be completely honest, I didn't just hit the goose. My arm caught the neck of the goose. I don't know how I happened to hit it in the exact location to send it flying back. I guess it bit me and then lifted it's head, which was unfortunate on its part. I just caught it perfectly to send it wings spread, reeling backwards toward the ground.
Actually... it sort've looked like this when I turned around (minus the pole sticking out of it's hoo-hah)...
Like I said, it had its wings spread and it was moving in a backwards motion because of the impact of my arm... not because it decided to back away slowly. In fact, its neck was sort've curved like that too. When I looked and saw what it was I had hit, I was shocked. Not so much shocked at the fact that a goose had just bit me, although I was a little surprised it happened to ME, but more so shocked that I had just unintentionally, intentionally hit something... and that something was a freaking goose!
At this point, Stephanie whipped around and was instantly concerned about what happened... to Katie. Now, I understand this. It's completely valid and responsible for her to be concerned about the small child that was entrusted into her care... except that at the time I was the one that was bit! She asked if Katie was okay and I think I may have said, "Yes! But I'm not!" She took Katie from me and I looked down to see if I was bleeding. Thankfully, there was no blood on my jeans, but my leg was still really hurting. I put pressure on it, to ease some of the pain, but I just wanted to go home and inspect my thigh in the privacy of my own bathroom.
That was the end of our walk around The Lake. We headed home, well I headed home and Stephanie headed across the street to Katie's home.
For reference, the goose wasn't a Canadian Goose. It was white with a black beak. I've never seen one like that around The Lake since. In fact, I have been searching the Internet for a picture of a similar goose, or at least a description of the specific breed of goose it might be, but I'm coming up with nothing.
In the end, all was okay. The goose didn't break any skin, but it did leave a bruise. :( That was the last day that I fed the birds at The Lake. But I think the geese fear me a little more now. They know I don't take any sh*t from them.
Now when I see geese around the lake, I get a little less this:
and a little more this:
Monday, November 30, 2009
The Atlanta Layover
Holy crap, how could I not finish telling you about the lady who talked my ear off in Atlanta on my way to Valdosta?!?!
She was really sweet, but boy could she talk. At first, she was chatting it up with me and the girl sitting on her other side, but somehow that girl got out of the conversation... very clever. Hmm...
So, we started off talking about the weather. She said she had flown in from North Carolina where there had been a huge storm just a few days before. So huge that she had worn a plastic bag over her head when running from her hair salon to the car... a plastic bag... she was afraid her umbrella would stop the rain, but not the wind... so she chose a method that might possibly suffocate her, but would keep her locks looking great! Priorities! Anyway, we go to talking about how it was so hot in Atlanta that day. You know... we talked about so much I can't even remember the order. I'm just going to list them.
Things I discussed with the sweet old lady, whose name I forget, in Atlanta, Georgia:
1. The weather in North Carolina, Georgia, and California.
2. She loves to do yard work and is the only person on her block that does not have a gardener.
3. She sometimes does yard work in her neighbors yards.
4. She is a widower.
5. She walks a mile every morning.
6. Her son works as a school counselor for a second chance school and how the kids love him and he really helps them turn their lives around and he somehow finds a way to connect with them and seems to know how to get down to the core of their problems so he can help them and how he is always getting stopped while out from a kid who thanks him for helping them.
7. Her 55th high school reunion is a couple of days away and over 300 people have RSVP'ed already.
8. How the balloon boy and his family are crazy and she doesn't understand why anyone would have thought it was real because clearly a boy couldn't have survived in that contraption, it was "too small and had no air" (her words, not mine)
9. She likes Starbucks.
10. For some reason it was cheaper for her to fly through Valdosta to get to Texas, but we can't figure out why.
11. How clean the Atlanta airport is.
12. San Diego's gorgeous scenery and perfect weather (most of the time).
13. Military bases in general and loud jets.
14. How annoying it is when there are last minute gate changes.
15. Technology changing how children are raised these days (including cell phones and texting and their relation to spelling and curfews)
16. The proper way to raise a child
... and more stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment.
She even offered me a piece of candy. She was really very sweet, but made it so I couldn't read my book like I planned. That's alright though, I finished the book later.
The actual flight from Atlanta to Valdosta was fine. There was a woman and her 1 year old son sitting next to me. He was cute but teething so he was a wee bit fussy until she gave him a bottle. When he started to cry once or twice I made funny faces at him and he stopped. It was an okay flight, with the exception of the dog food smell. I have no idea where that smell came from, but it completely smelled like dog food to me. Oh well.
That's pretty much it for my travel stories. I have more from actually being in Valdosta that I'll have to post later.
She was really sweet, but boy could she talk. At first, she was chatting it up with me and the girl sitting on her other side, but somehow that girl got out of the conversation... very clever. Hmm...
So, we started off talking about the weather. She said she had flown in from North Carolina where there had been a huge storm just a few days before. So huge that she had worn a plastic bag over her head when running from her hair salon to the car... a plastic bag... she was afraid her umbrella would stop the rain, but not the wind... so she chose a method that might possibly suffocate her, but would keep her locks looking great! Priorities! Anyway, we go to talking about how it was so hot in Atlanta that day. You know... we talked about so much I can't even remember the order. I'm just going to list them.
Things I discussed with the sweet old lady, whose name I forget, in Atlanta, Georgia:
1. The weather in North Carolina, Georgia, and California.
2. She loves to do yard work and is the only person on her block that does not have a gardener.
3. She sometimes does yard work in her neighbors yards.
4. She is a widower.
5. She walks a mile every morning.
6. Her son works as a school counselor for a second chance school and how the kids love him and he really helps them turn their lives around and he somehow finds a way to connect with them and seems to know how to get down to the core of their problems so he can help them and how he is always getting stopped while out from a kid who thanks him for helping them.
7. Her 55th high school reunion is a couple of days away and over 300 people have RSVP'ed already.
8. How the balloon boy and his family are crazy and she doesn't understand why anyone would have thought it was real because clearly a boy couldn't have survived in that contraption, it was "too small and had no air" (her words, not mine)
9. She likes Starbucks.
10. For some reason it was cheaper for her to fly through Valdosta to get to Texas, but we can't figure out why.
11. How clean the Atlanta airport is.
12. San Diego's gorgeous scenery and perfect weather (most of the time).
13. Military bases in general and loud jets.
14. How annoying it is when there are last minute gate changes.
15. Technology changing how children are raised these days (including cell phones and texting and their relation to spelling and curfews)
16. The proper way to raise a child
... and more stuff that I'm forgetting at the moment.
She even offered me a piece of candy. She was really very sweet, but made it so I couldn't read my book like I planned. That's alright though, I finished the book later.
The actual flight from Atlanta to Valdosta was fine. There was a woman and her 1 year old son sitting next to me. He was cute but teething so he was a wee bit fussy until she gave him a bottle. When he started to cry once or twice I made funny faces at him and he stopped. It was an okay flight, with the exception of the dog food smell. I have no idea where that smell came from, but it completely smelled like dog food to me. Oh well.
That's pretty much it for my travel stories. I have more from actually being in Valdosta that I'll have to post later.
The Return Home
I wrote this on my flight back from Georgia (on the Atlanta to SF leg). I've added a little bit to it while typing it out (in the form of **edit:**s). It's a little overdue, but whatever.
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Delta may very well be the biggest suck fest ever. Okay, so I have to wait to see if my bag makes it or not first for the ultimate verdict, but...
So, Matt and I leave for the airport at 4. It seriously rakes like no time to get there. I go inside to check my bag and no one is at the counter, so I use... the electric kiosk. I am genuinely nervous at this given my previous experiences with said kiosk, but I get up the courage and go to it. I'm trying to take my time in finding my confirmation # in hopes that someone will go to the desk and I can just go to them. No one comes, so I use the kiosk. Things go smoothly. I get my boarding pass, and a guy comes up to the counter and calls my name. I look up and say, "yes" and I bring my bag over to him. Do you know what he said to me? (Of course you don't... I've only told my parents this story so far... **edit: I have told a couple more people since then** well... wait. I guess you would know if you're reading this for a second or more time. In which case Thanks for your continued patronage! =) ) He says that my bag might NOT make it on the flight because I need to have "checked in earlier than 20 minutes before the flight." **edit: I'll have you know, I checked in online the night before, and I checked my bag at the kiosk 24 minutes before the original scheduled flight... it was 54 minutes before the now delayed schedule!** He says something about TSA needing time to check the bag and they are... busy or something? He points to a corner where presumably there was a TSA agent a second ago, but there is no one now. Weird. Anyways... I looked dumbfounded and I was like WHAT?!? and he says, "did you know the flight was delayed?" I respond, "I just found out" but I'm really thinking... why would it matter if I knew before or just now? Like would I get preferential treatment one way or another??! At least the guy did put the sticker on my bag, but anyways. He says the bag might go out first thing tomorrow morning. Freaking Valdosta has only 2 flights out a say (once in the morning and once for my flight now) I'm not a happy camper.
So... like I mentioned my flight is delayed until 5:15. My connection in Atlanta is at 6:55. My layover should have been about an hour, but now it's looking like a 30 minute layover... which means I need to book it once the flight lands. Atlanta airport as I said before has different concourses. I land at the very end of C and am taking off at A. So, I need to run from gate 55 to the tram, then from the tram to gate 25. I'm optimistic I'll make it, but not thrilled about it all. So, the flight boards, we sit there for a while for the stewardess to give some passenger god knows what and we finally take off. It's a fine flight. Pretty with the sun setting over the clouds. It's nice, makes me wish I could paint. Anyway, I listen to my iPod and before I know it we're preparing for landing. The pilot says Atlanta local time is 6:05. Nice! I have 50 minutes, that's more than enough time! I was wrong. It took FOREVER to taxi to the gate. I swear you'd think we'd landed 50 miles away. **edit: There were LOTS of people complaining about the delay, the long taxi time,and missing connections :( ** We get to the gate at 6:20!!! It took us 15 minutes to taxi to the gate and then guess what happened.... go on.... guess... fine, I'll tell you. The jet way was broken!! 10 minutes later, at 6:30, they unload us from the plane via a stairway (like I boarded and deboarded on my way to Georgia). Suddenly my adrenaline starts pumping and I'm off. Okay, so I didn't run to the tram, because well... have you seen me run with a full backpack on? Not pretty. But I make it all the way to the tram, to Concourse A, and to the gate with a couple minutes to spare. Seriously. I'm one of the last few on the flight. I make my way to my seat and there is... a normal sized lady in the spot next to me! Yay! But the armrest is up... I'm not dealing with this again. So, I put it down.
I settle in and then do you know what I hear? A child... directly behind me. that's well and fine and all, I like kids, usually, but this one has taken a liking to pulling on my chair making me flop around. His mom is telling him to stop, which is nice, but we just took off, so I'm a little nervous about how the rest of the flight will go. There are no personal TV sets on each chair this time, so I might just have to stick with reading, writing, and listening to the iPod. Gosh, I hope my bag is there when I land...
----
So, there you have it, my post from the sky.
I have a little to add. My bag did in fact get there, thank God! I know it seems like I'm hard on Delta, especially since my bag made it to its destination both times, but the problem I have is that I've traveled a fair amount without these issues. Growing up, my family and I didn't go camping or take road trips (except for the ones to visit my grandparents), we flew around the US and took in the sites. I used to love to fly. I would always be at the counter with my dad when he checked in our bags and I never once saw a hassle. The only time my luggage didn't get to its destination was when my girlfriends and I went to Hawaii after graduation, but the airline got our luggage to us that night with little hassle. Yes, we were upset, but we were assured our luggage would get to us right aware. We were not blamed for the issue in the slightest by the company. I recall later being chastised by our parents for not checking the tag to make sure it had the right destination first, but the airline was gracious. (That experience taught me to always have a change of clothes in your carry on if you check a bag... which by the way, I did have when I went to Georgia) My point is, I felt like Delta mislead me. The signs were wrong, the people that work at the airports were not friendly (except for Roy), and they made me freak out for nothing. Yes, I should have arrived at the airport sooner, but on my way to Georgia I got to the airport an hour ahead of time, which is plenty of time. In fact, it is the recommended time on the Delta website. When I flew out of Georgia I got to the airport 30 minutes early for its first scheduled departure and an hour early for its actual, delayed, departure. It's a small airport, I honestly thought that would be enough time and the Delta website didn't have a recommended time.
In short, I will do everything in my power to not have to fly on Delta ever again. Lizzy, if you're reading this... if you ever want me to visit again, you'll have to pick me up in Jacksonville. :-p
Oh, and the kid sitting behind me on the flight to SF continued to kick the chair through the flight. I could hear his mom yelling at him to stop, but he only listened for about 15 minutes then he got back to it. At one point, he stood up in his seat and grabbed the back of my seat, grabbing my head in the process. It was a saving grace to see my parents standing at the bottom of the elevator when I landed. It was like a breath of fresh air to know that I was done with the kid, done with the delays, and wouldn't have to deal with the loss of luggage (if that had been the case) alone.
As mentioned, the flight did not have the in-seat monitors, but it did have monitors in the aisles. They showed the movie 500 Days of Summer. I enjoyed it, but it's not a movie I would choose to watch again. I'm glad I was able to see it though, it was on my list of movies I wanted to check out.
----
Delta may very well be the biggest suck fest ever. Okay, so I have to wait to see if my bag makes it or not first for the ultimate verdict, but...
So, Matt and I leave for the airport at 4. It seriously rakes like no time to get there. I go inside to check my bag and no one is at the counter, so I use... the electric kiosk. I am genuinely nervous at this given my previous experiences with said kiosk, but I get up the courage and go to it. I'm trying to take my time in finding my confirmation # in hopes that someone will go to the desk and I can just go to them. No one comes, so I use the kiosk. Things go smoothly. I get my boarding pass, and a guy comes up to the counter and calls my name. I look up and say, "yes" and I bring my bag over to him. Do you know what he said to me? (Of course you don't... I've only told my parents this story so far... **edit: I have told a couple more people since then** well... wait. I guess you would know if you're reading this for a second or more time. In which case Thanks for your continued patronage! =) ) He says that my bag might NOT make it on the flight because I need to have "checked in earlier than 20 minutes before the flight." **edit: I'll have you know, I checked in online the night before, and I checked my bag at the kiosk 24 minutes before the original scheduled flight... it was 54 minutes before the now delayed schedule!** He says something about TSA needing time to check the bag and they are... busy or something? He points to a corner where presumably there was a TSA agent a second ago, but there is no one now. Weird. Anyways... I looked dumbfounded and I was like WHAT?!? and he says, "did you know the flight was delayed?" I respond, "I just found out" but I'm really thinking... why would it matter if I knew before or just now? Like would I get preferential treatment one way or another??! At least the guy did put the sticker on my bag, but anyways. He says the bag might go out first thing tomorrow morning. Freaking Valdosta has only 2 flights out a say (once in the morning and once for my flight now) I'm not a happy camper.
So... like I mentioned my flight is delayed until 5:15. My connection in Atlanta is at 6:55. My layover should have been about an hour, but now it's looking like a 30 minute layover... which means I need to book it once the flight lands. Atlanta airport as I said before has different concourses. I land at the very end of C and am taking off at A. So, I need to run from gate 55 to the tram, then from the tram to gate 25. I'm optimistic I'll make it, but not thrilled about it all. So, the flight boards, we sit there for a while for the stewardess to give some passenger god knows what and we finally take off. It's a fine flight. Pretty with the sun setting over the clouds. It's nice, makes me wish I could paint. Anyway, I listen to my iPod and before I know it we're preparing for landing. The pilot says Atlanta local time is 6:05. Nice! I have 50 minutes, that's more than enough time! I was wrong. It took FOREVER to taxi to the gate. I swear you'd think we'd landed 50 miles away. **edit: There were LOTS of people complaining about the delay, the long taxi time,and missing connections :( ** We get to the gate at 6:20!!! It took us 15 minutes to taxi to the gate and then guess what happened.... go on.... guess... fine, I'll tell you. The jet way was broken!! 10 minutes later, at 6:30, they unload us from the plane via a stairway (like I boarded and deboarded on my way to Georgia). Suddenly my adrenaline starts pumping and I'm off. Okay, so I didn't run to the tram, because well... have you seen me run with a full backpack on? Not pretty. But I make it all the way to the tram, to Concourse A, and to the gate with a couple minutes to spare. Seriously. I'm one of the last few on the flight. I make my way to my seat and there is... a normal sized lady in the spot next to me! Yay! But the armrest is up... I'm not dealing with this again. So, I put it down.
I settle in and then do you know what I hear? A child... directly behind me. that's well and fine and all, I like kids, usually, but this one has taken a liking to pulling on my chair making me flop around. His mom is telling him to stop, which is nice, but we just took off, so I'm a little nervous about how the rest of the flight will go. There are no personal TV sets on each chair this time, so I might just have to stick with reading, writing, and listening to the iPod. Gosh, I hope my bag is there when I land...
----
So, there you have it, my post from the sky.
I have a little to add. My bag did in fact get there, thank God! I know it seems like I'm hard on Delta, especially since my bag made it to its destination both times, but the problem I have is that I've traveled a fair amount without these issues. Growing up, my family and I didn't go camping or take road trips (except for the ones to visit my grandparents), we flew around the US and took in the sites. I used to love to fly. I would always be at the counter with my dad when he checked in our bags and I never once saw a hassle. The only time my luggage didn't get to its destination was when my girlfriends and I went to Hawaii after graduation, but the airline got our luggage to us that night with little hassle. Yes, we were upset, but we were assured our luggage would get to us right aware. We were not blamed for the issue in the slightest by the company. I recall later being chastised by our parents for not checking the tag to make sure it had the right destination first, but the airline was gracious. (That experience taught me to always have a change of clothes in your carry on if you check a bag... which by the way, I did have when I went to Georgia) My point is, I felt like Delta mislead me. The signs were wrong, the people that work at the airports were not friendly (except for Roy), and they made me freak out for nothing. Yes, I should have arrived at the airport sooner, but on my way to Georgia I got to the airport an hour ahead of time, which is plenty of time. In fact, it is the recommended time on the Delta website. When I flew out of Georgia I got to the airport 30 minutes early for its first scheduled departure and an hour early for its actual, delayed, departure. It's a small airport, I honestly thought that would be enough time and the Delta website didn't have a recommended time.
In short, I will do everything in my power to not have to fly on Delta ever again. Lizzy, if you're reading this... if you ever want me to visit again, you'll have to pick me up in Jacksonville. :-p
Oh, and the kid sitting behind me on the flight to SF continued to kick the chair through the flight. I could hear his mom yelling at him to stop, but he only listened for about 15 minutes then he got back to it. At one point, he stood up in his seat and grabbed the back of my seat, grabbing my head in the process. It was a saving grace to see my parents standing at the bottom of the elevator when I landed. It was like a breath of fresh air to know that I was done with the kid, done with the delays, and wouldn't have to deal with the loss of luggage (if that had been the case) alone.
As mentioned, the flight did not have the in-seat monitors, but it did have monitors in the aisles. They showed the movie 500 Days of Summer. I enjoyed it, but it's not a movie I would choose to watch again. I'm glad I was able to see it though, it was on my list of movies I wanted to check out.
Friday, November 13, 2009
I ALMOST hate Delta, but they didn't completely fail me... yet...
I'm in Georgia!! It's like... way late here and I thought I would be tired since I woke up at 4:15am (after going to bed at midnight) pacific time, but no... still not tired. Boo!
I got to SFO at 5am. My flight was scheduled to take off at 6am. No problem, right? WRONG! I got out of the car and as I was walking towards the Delta signs there was a sign outside that said for all Delta flights if you're flying to or THRU one of the following cities, you check in here (meaning the outside kiosk). Atlanta was listed as one of the cities, and the line looked shorter than the one I saw inside, so I was like "score!" and I stood in line. 5-10 minutes later I'm at the kiosk and the man tells me "Oh, it's not letting me check you in here, you have to go inside." I reply back, "but your sign says that if you're flying through Atlanta then I need to check in here." The man then tells me "yeah, but the machine says I cannot do it. You need to go inside." So I am a little peeved, because it was cold and I thought I was getting a good deal by standing outside and following Delta's signs, but turns out I just wasted time and now have to go inside. I tell the man, "then you should really change your sign because it says to check in here and now you're telling me I can't!" (I was also tired... hello... 4 hours of sleep!)
So, I go inside and I walk the line to find the end and I finally get to what I think is the end of the line... it is! Someone keeps calling more people forward to check in and people are looking happy as they leave. :) Good! Success! .. or so I thought... I get to the front and turns out it's those self-check-in things. No problem. Southwest has these (BTW: I LOVE SOUTHWEST), I've used them, no problem.... again... I was wrong. The machine won't let me check my bag, it tells me something is wrong and I have to see an attendant. WTF? I JUST SAW AN ATTENDANT AND HE TOLD ME TO COME TO YOU STUPID MACHINE! *breathe* calm down... so I call for a guy behind the counter (who presumably are there to help). A girl behind the counter starts talking to me and calling me Jackie and I'm trying to interrupt her and tell her that I'm not Jackie and that I need help nonetheless and she is just rambling on and finally I have to speak over her and say "I'm NOT Jackie. I'm not whoever you think I am." The lady replies, "well, where is Jackie?" to which I say, "I don't know. I don't know who that is, but my machine won't let me check in, can you help me?" ... she has no response and she just walks away. B*tch. Another guy walks by and I just say "what does it mean when it says" and the man stops, looks at the screen and says, oh, you can't check in here, you have to go to that line (and he points to a line behind me... which is clearly labeled International Flights) and I'm like "that line?!" and he goes "no, go stand behind the man in brown"... and that's when I notice there is a smaller line right next to the International Line... I saw this line when I first came after the kiosk guy told me to. I thought it was part of International... I was wrong.
It was the line to go to the Domestics counter... the line that I THOUGHT I went in and instead got to the electronics counter... the only problem is... I have wasted 15 minutes standing in line and trying to deal with this stupid ELECTRONIC thingy and the man in the brown suit HASN'T MOVED since I've been inside!!! It is now like... 5:25. I am still comfortable knowing that I will not miss my flight, but I am FREAKING OUT that they will not take my bag because online it said you had to have your bag checked in 30 minutes before departure for Delta to guarantee it will make it on your flight. So, I go and stand behind the man in brown and start praying. Well... not "praying" per say, more like that "OH GOD PLEASE HELP ME" plead that people get in dire situations... which I guess is like prayer, but with less "thank yous" and more "I promise to never do this and such if you just help me!"
I am standing there for MAYBE 1 minute when an attendant who reminds me of Martin Shorts character in Father of the Bride (where he's like kind've "foreign" but also kind've metro or gay or something) comes up and is asking people when their flight is. I say mine is 6am and he looks at me and goes, "Do you have a boarding pass?" and I said "Yes, but I need to check my bag." He says "Oh no, you can use the electronic check in, it'll be faster, the counter is too long" to which I reply, "I just tried that, it didn't work and the guy back there said to stand in this line." The man (who I will now call Roy because I later find out that is his name) says "Give me your boarding pass. Electronic will work." (I stay in line behind the brown coat man just in case because if Roy is wrong, I don't want to lose my place) I keep a close eye on Roy with my boarding pass and he is trying to work the electronic thing but keeps getting interrupted by people around him (for example the electronic machine next to him didn't print out a boarding pass for the guy using it... see... their technology sucks). I'm watching Roy and it messes up just as it did for me. He turns to me and says "That's NOT a special bag!" and I say "I know! I told the machine it wasn't!"
**okay, please note here... a special bag is something that is heavier, larger, funny shaped, etc than your typical checked bag. I had checked in online the day before and told the computer that I had to check 1 bag and had 0 special bags. I KNOW I said "NO" to the special bag area... but when I looked at the confirmation online it said: 1 checked special bag. I could not go back and edit this online even though I tried.**
Roy finally LIES to the machine. He tells the machine that I'm checking in with 0 bags total. 0 checked and 0 special. The machine is happy and continues on. Then Roy re-checks me in and says I have 1 non-special bag and the machine is like "Oh Roy. You are so nice. I am going to do whatever you want because I believe you. I don't believe that brunette over there with the angry eyes." As I'm watching Roy do his thing, I start to walk over to him because I see the machine asking for a credit card to pay the bag fee. Roy starts yelling, "Ma'am! Ma'am! Where are you, I got it to..." and I'm like "I'm right here. I see that. Thank you SOOOO MUCH!!" and I smile real big and I think about hugging him because THANK THE GOOD LOVING LORD FOR MAKING ROY! He walks off to help someone else and I take my credit card out and put it in the slot and a receipt prints out and I wait for someone behind the counter to come by with one of those long white sticker things that they put on your bag, because that's what I've been watching them do for some time now whenever someone is done paying. So I wait, at this point it's like 5:28. I have "checked" my bag and I have a receipt for payment BEFORE the 5:30 cut off and I am no longer freaking out, although I am still plenty mad that they made me freak out. I think that I am home free... but... oh... what is this you say? Hammy is not lucky enough to be "home free" and Hammy should have handcuffed herself to Roy because the machine CLEARLY like him more than me??? ARGH!!!
The machine tells me again "please insert credit card for payment" and I'm like ?????? but I refuse. I think "NO machine! I will NOT insert my credit card, I have already put it away because you gave me a receipt."... but then I think, what if even though it charged me, it just didn't get all the verification it needed or something... I start to rationalize why the machine might want to see my card again, so I swipe it again. No receipt and the machine mocks me "please insert credit card for payment." Umm... at this point I just want my damn bag GONE, so I put in another credit card and STILL nothing!! So I flag ANOTHER man down and say, umm... I have a receipt but no one has taken my bag, my flight is at 6! and the man says, "oh, hmm.. nothing printed out. Umm... let's call Roy over. ROY! HEY ROY!" Roy doesn't hear him because he's helping other people, (what a busy man Roy is) so the man behind the counter tells me "ask that attendant for him" and he wanders off to help someone else with their bags. So I yell "excuse me sir!" and Roy looks up and says "I'll be right with you ma'am." He finishes whatever he's doing (helping some lady in a wheelchair get in line or something) and walks over and I tell him that the man behind the counter said nothing printed out for the bag, but I paid and have a receipt. The man behind the counter walks up and verifies that nothing printed out. Roy takes my boarding pass AGAIN, scans it and the electronic machine tells Roy IT IS TOO LATE TO CHECK BAGS FOR THIS FLIGHT! Roy says "oh, you're late. you can't check your bag now." and I pretty much verbally STOMP that idea to the ground. I FIRMLY and AGITATEDLY state "NO! I was NOT late! I have been trying to check this bag for 30 minutes. I've been told to stand in 3 different lines. I even have a RECEIPT from the machine saying I paid to check the bag already, but the machine didn't print anything out to put on my bag!" I mean come on Roy... you've already helped me... you KNOW that I'm not late. Are you so busy that you can't remember the brunette who sassed you earlier when she didn't believe that the electronic machine would work for you because it didn't work for her? Anyway... Roy either pitied me or feared me, but either way, he jumped behind the counter and said "I'll take care of this."
Then, this next part, took seriously like 1 minute... 1 minute.... that was ALL it took for him to put some yellow tag on my bag, ask me where I was going ("Valdosta, Georgia"), staple some yellow strip of paper to my boarding pass and tell me "You flight has already boarded. Go to the lady at the security check point. Don't stand in line, just go to the lady" I thought "SWEET! I can jump the line" for a moment, but quickly realized that I'd been fooled before by Delta, not just 10 minutes ago, so I said "thank you" and high tailed it around the corner to security. There was a lady standing at the beginning of the security line, so I stopped at her, waved my boarding pass and yellow stripe at her. She asked me "what time is your flight at?" "6" I reply. She tells me to go to the line all the way to the left. There are maybe 4 people in that line where there at at least 10 in all the others, so I'm feeling a little more at ease... that's when I realize that I didn't actually see what Roy put on my bag... omg!? I told him I was going to Valdosta, he saw my boarding passes, did he mark my bag for Valdosta?? Or just for Atlanta?? OMG! I am NOT paying another $20 in Atlanta to have them take my bags to Valdosta! I don't want to have to go through security AGAIN after I get my bag in Atlanta. I am NOT going down to baggage claim in Atlanta! If my bag is not there in Valdosta, then I will just file a missing bag claim and yell at Delta and curse them to high heaven for this crappy morning! The man checks my ID and boarding pass at the end of the line and I bee line for the shortest security scanner line. I breeze through it (however easily you can breeze through those when you need to remove your shoes, jacket, and take your laptop out and your liquids!) and luckily my departure gate is 2 gates away from security. So I make it with PLENTY of time to board.
I am feeling anxious about my bag, but happy to be on the plane. I walk back to my seat and see who my seatmate is and ... omg... she's big! I mean she wasn't like 400 lbs huge as a house, but she was big. Way bigger than me!
... okay, this will have to continue another day... it's way late and I really should sleep... until next time, where you hear about my seatmate and the nice, old, chatty lady in Atlanta who is going to her 55th high school reunion.
Oh, and the time stamp below is Pacific Time... so it's really 3:06 Eastern time.
I got to SFO at 5am. My flight was scheduled to take off at 6am. No problem, right? WRONG! I got out of the car and as I was walking towards the Delta signs there was a sign outside that said for all Delta flights if you're flying to or THRU one of the following cities, you check in here (meaning the outside kiosk). Atlanta was listed as one of the cities, and the line looked shorter than the one I saw inside, so I was like "score!" and I stood in line. 5-10 minutes later I'm at the kiosk and the man tells me "Oh, it's not letting me check you in here, you have to go inside." I reply back, "but your sign says that if you're flying through Atlanta then I need to check in here." The man then tells me "yeah, but the machine says I cannot do it. You need to go inside." So I am a little peeved, because it was cold and I thought I was getting a good deal by standing outside and following Delta's signs, but turns out I just wasted time and now have to go inside. I tell the man, "then you should really change your sign because it says to check in here and now you're telling me I can't!" (I was also tired... hello... 4 hours of sleep!)
So, I go inside and I walk the line to find the end and I finally get to what I think is the end of the line... it is! Someone keeps calling more people forward to check in and people are looking happy as they leave. :) Good! Success! .. or so I thought... I get to the front and turns out it's those self-check-in things. No problem. Southwest has these (BTW: I LOVE SOUTHWEST), I've used them, no problem.... again... I was wrong. The machine won't let me check my bag, it tells me something is wrong and I have to see an attendant. WTF? I JUST SAW AN ATTENDANT AND HE TOLD ME TO COME TO YOU STUPID MACHINE! *breathe* calm down... so I call for a guy behind the counter (who presumably are there to help). A girl behind the counter starts talking to me and calling me Jackie and I'm trying to interrupt her and tell her that I'm not Jackie and that I need help nonetheless and she is just rambling on and finally I have to speak over her and say "I'm NOT Jackie. I'm not whoever you think I am." The lady replies, "well, where is Jackie?" to which I say, "I don't know. I don't know who that is, but my machine won't let me check in, can you help me?" ... she has no response and she just walks away. B*tch. Another guy walks by and I just say "what does it mean when it says
It was the line to go to the Domestics counter... the line that I THOUGHT I went in and instead got to the electronics counter... the only problem is... I have wasted 15 minutes standing in line and trying to deal with this stupid ELECTRONIC thingy and the man in the brown suit HASN'T MOVED since I've been inside!!! It is now like... 5:25. I am still comfortable knowing that I will not miss my flight, but I am FREAKING OUT that they will not take my bag because online it said you had to have your bag checked in 30 minutes before departure for Delta to guarantee it will make it on your flight. So, I go and stand behind the man in brown and start praying. Well... not "praying" per say, more like that "OH GOD PLEASE HELP ME" plead that people get in dire situations... which I guess is like prayer, but with less "thank yous" and more "I promise to never do this and such if you just help me!"
I am standing there for MAYBE 1 minute when an attendant who reminds me of Martin Shorts character in Father of the Bride (where he's like kind've "foreign" but also kind've metro or gay or something) comes up and is asking people when their flight is. I say mine is 6am and he looks at me and goes, "Do you have a boarding pass?" and I said "Yes, but I need to check my bag." He says "Oh no, you can use the electronic check in, it'll be faster, the counter is too long" to which I reply, "I just tried that, it didn't work and the guy back there said to stand in this line." The man (who I will now call Roy because I later find out that is his name) says "Give me your boarding pass. Electronic will work." (I stay in line behind the brown coat man just in case because if Roy is wrong, I don't want to lose my place) I keep a close eye on Roy with my boarding pass and he is trying to work the electronic thing but keeps getting interrupted by people around him (for example the electronic machine next to him didn't print out a boarding pass for the guy using it... see... their technology sucks). I'm watching Roy and it messes up just as it did for me. He turns to me and says "That's NOT a special bag!" and I say "I know! I told the machine it wasn't!"
**okay, please note here... a special bag is something that is heavier, larger, funny shaped, etc than your typical checked bag. I had checked in online the day before and told the computer that I had to check 1 bag and had 0 special bags. I KNOW I said "NO" to the special bag area... but when I looked at the confirmation online it said: 1 checked special bag. I could not go back and edit this online even though I tried.**
Roy finally LIES to the machine. He tells the machine that I'm checking in with 0 bags total. 0 checked and 0 special. The machine is happy and continues on. Then Roy re-checks me in and says I have 1 non-special bag and the machine is like "Oh Roy. You are so nice. I am going to do whatever you want because I believe you. I don't believe that brunette over there with the angry eyes." As I'm watching Roy do his thing, I start to walk over to him because I see the machine asking for a credit card to pay the bag fee. Roy starts yelling, "Ma'am! Ma'am! Where are you, I got it to..." and I'm like "I'm right here. I see that. Thank you SOOOO MUCH!!" and I smile real big and I think about hugging him because THANK THE GOOD LOVING LORD FOR MAKING ROY! He walks off to help someone else and I take my credit card out and put it in the slot and a receipt prints out and I wait for someone behind the counter to come by with one of those long white sticker things that they put on your bag, because that's what I've been watching them do for some time now whenever someone is done paying. So I wait, at this point it's like 5:28. I have "checked" my bag and I have a receipt for payment BEFORE the 5:30 cut off and I am no longer freaking out, although I am still plenty mad that they made me freak out. I think that I am home free... but... oh... what is this you say? Hammy is not lucky enough to be "home free" and Hammy should have handcuffed herself to Roy because the machine CLEARLY like him more than me??? ARGH!!!
The machine tells me again "please insert credit card for payment" and I'm like ?????? but I refuse. I think "NO machine! I will NOT insert my credit card, I have already put it away because you gave me a receipt."... but then I think, what if even though it charged me, it just didn't get all the verification it needed or something... I start to rationalize why the machine might want to see my card again, so I swipe it again. No receipt and the machine mocks me "please insert credit card for payment." Umm... at this point I just want my damn bag GONE, so I put in another credit card and STILL nothing!! So I flag ANOTHER man down and say, umm... I have a receipt but no one has taken my bag, my flight is at 6! and the man says, "oh, hmm.. nothing printed out. Umm... let's call Roy over. ROY! HEY ROY!" Roy doesn't hear him because he's helping other people, (what a busy man Roy is) so the man behind the counter tells me "ask that attendant for him" and he wanders off to help someone else with their bags. So I yell "excuse me sir!" and Roy looks up and says "I'll be right with you ma'am." He finishes whatever he's doing (helping some lady in a wheelchair get in line or something) and walks over and I tell him that the man behind the counter said nothing printed out for the bag, but I paid and have a receipt. The man behind the counter walks up and verifies that nothing printed out. Roy takes my boarding pass AGAIN, scans it and the electronic machine tells Roy IT IS TOO LATE TO CHECK BAGS FOR THIS FLIGHT! Roy says "oh, you're late. you can't check your bag now." and I pretty much verbally STOMP that idea to the ground. I FIRMLY and AGITATEDLY state "NO! I was NOT late! I have been trying to check this bag for 30 minutes. I've been told to stand in 3 different lines. I even have a RECEIPT from the machine saying I paid to check the bag already, but the machine didn't print anything out to put on my bag!" I mean come on Roy... you've already helped me... you KNOW that I'm not late. Are you so busy that you can't remember the brunette who sassed you earlier when she didn't believe that the electronic machine would work for you because it didn't work for her? Anyway... Roy either pitied me or feared me, but either way, he jumped behind the counter and said "I'll take care of this."
Then, this next part, took seriously like 1 minute... 1 minute.... that was ALL it took for him to put some yellow tag on my bag, ask me where I was going ("Valdosta, Georgia"), staple some yellow strip of paper to my boarding pass and tell me "You flight has already boarded. Go to the lady at the security check point. Don't stand in line, just go to the lady" I thought "SWEET! I can jump the line" for a moment, but quickly realized that I'd been fooled before by Delta, not just 10 minutes ago, so I said "thank you" and high tailed it around the corner to security. There was a lady standing at the beginning of the security line, so I stopped at her, waved my boarding pass and yellow stripe at her. She asked me "what time is your flight at?" "6" I reply. She tells me to go to the line all the way to the left. There are maybe 4 people in that line where there at at least 10 in all the others, so I'm feeling a little more at ease... that's when I realize that I didn't actually see what Roy put on my bag... omg!? I told him I was going to Valdosta, he saw my boarding passes, did he mark my bag for Valdosta?? Or just for Atlanta?? OMG! I am NOT paying another $20 in Atlanta to have them take my bags to Valdosta! I don't want to have to go through security AGAIN after I get my bag in Atlanta. I am NOT going down to baggage claim in Atlanta! If my bag is not there in Valdosta, then I will just file a missing bag claim and yell at Delta and curse them to high heaven for this crappy morning! The man checks my ID and boarding pass at the end of the line and I bee line for the shortest security scanner line. I breeze through it (however easily you can breeze through those when you need to remove your shoes, jacket, and take your laptop out and your liquids!) and luckily my departure gate is 2 gates away from security. So I make it with PLENTY of time to board.
I am feeling anxious about my bag, but happy to be on the plane. I walk back to my seat and see who my seatmate is and ... omg... she's big! I mean she wasn't like 400 lbs huge as a house, but she was big. Way bigger than me!
... okay, this will have to continue another day... it's way late and I really should sleep... until next time, where you hear about my seatmate and the nice, old, chatty lady in Atlanta who is going to her 55th high school reunion.
Oh, and the time stamp below is Pacific Time... so it's really 3:06 Eastern time.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Halloween Week
The Thursday before Halloween, I went with Jennifer to the Pirates of Emerson, The Haunting Fields in Fremont. We had a blast. It was really fun to go with just the 2 of us because we didn't get to "hide" as often from the people trying to scare us. It made it more scary and more fun. What I learned is that if I can find something scary humorous, it becomes way less scary. Case in point: We decided on the next attraction based on the length of the line... meaning there was absolutely no one in line so we decided to go to the main Pirates of Emerson attraction. There was this spooky guy crouching down like Quasimodo or something at the end of a long hallway when we first entered and Jennifer says, "How long have you been there for? There was no one in line. You've been waiting a while haven't you?" (or something to that affect) I couldn't help but laugh and so he became more funny than scary when he scurried off. We caught up to him again later and I still laughed. Also in the Gordello (the haunted Brothel attraction) I told one of the dead hookers that Jennifer called her a slut and she laughed and said that she knows my voice and knew it was me and not her. Then later Jennifer yelled "SLUTS!" at a couple girls and one of them was like "WHORES, honey! We're whores." It was so hilarious!!
Now this is not to say that I wasn't still scared sh*tless in these haunted mazes/houses. I was scared twice by one witchy monster thing in one attraction. I yelled back at her that it wasn't fair for her to scare me once I left the room she was in. Also at the end of the Pirates of Emerson attraction this guy came out of no where and roared or something. I was walking behind Jen and I jumped and may have pushed her a little or something I don't remember, but she turned around, saw the guy and took off running. I TRIED to run away but couldn't!! There was some sort've wavy/moving wooden bridge like thing that I kept tripping on. I screamed from the guy scaring me at first and then I was yelling because Jennifer left me!! and I couldn't escape. I ended up running out of the house like a freak. I swear I probably looked like I was doing one of those tires-on-the-ground exercise thingies with my legs and feet flailing all over the place and not running in a straight line. That darned bridge thing was almost the death of me.
So, as you can see... I had a blast.
Then the next night, Friday, I went with Dawn and Veronica and 5 of their other friends to the Sharks game and then to a bar in San Jose to celebrate Dawn's birthday. The Sharks won (YAY!) and I again... had a blast. Since it was the day before Halloween at this point, there were lots of people in costume at the game. At one point they put someone in a Waldo costume up on the Jumbo-tron and it became like a mission for a couple of us to try to find Waldo in the crowd. Eventually we found him and all had a good laugh. There was this little boy sitting with his family in front of us. I swear his mom was regretting bringing him tot he game after they left. He kept wanting to interact with us and basically was only half paying attention to the game. He gave each one of use high fives and fist bumps and kept asking him mom if he was allowed to have the candy that some of the people were having. He tried to play a form of patty cake with Veronica and at one point we think he might have looked up the skirt of one of Veronica's friends. The kid was like 8 or something.
After the game we went to the Britannia Arms, which is only about 2 or so blocks away from the HP Pavilion. (By the way, I hadn't heard of this place before and when Dawn first mentioned it I was like "who is that?" HAHAHA!) There was this one guy who dressed up as JT's "dick in a box" and I asked him to take a picture with Dawn since he was you know... holding a present... and we were out for Dawn's birthday after all! Anyway, it turns out he had some sort've giant blow up penis in his box and he started to inflate it for the picture. The giant pink blow up thing had huge eyes and a grin at the end of it. We all had a good laugh at that. Once I upload the photo onto my laptop I'll edit the post and add it in.
And finally on Halloween, Jennifer had a Birth-o-ween Party. I made her a Dragon Birthday cake because it was Halloween. Nick had the bright idea to put "Jenzilla" on the side of the cake, so I did that. Her party was a costume party, so I dressed up as.... Victoria from Twilight! I think it turned out pretty good. My hair wasn't quite up to par with her hair, but I did the best I could with what I've got (meaning my thin dark hair). My sister sprayed the color in for me and her and my mom pinned in leaves, which I thought gave it a nice touch. :) As with the Dick in a Box photo, I'll post my Halloween costume photo later.
I was surprised to see Jefferey Sam at the party. I haven't seen him since high school I think. I didn't get to chat with him as much as I would have liked. I was all hyped up on energy from my busy end-of-week and then we played beer pong in the garage so I was getting tipsy. I ended up leaving Jen's around 3 am... which really was more like 4 because we turned the clocks back. I got home, removed my make up, put my orange hair in a high pony tail and went to bed. I was so tired that there was no way I could spend the time to wash all the spray out of my hair at 4am! I decided that my pillowcase was going to take one for the team and I'd just wash it later. :)
I ended up waking up the next day at 4pm! Apparently my body needed rest after all that stuff!
Now this is not to say that I wasn't still scared sh*tless in these haunted mazes/houses. I was scared twice by one witchy monster thing in one attraction. I yelled back at her that it wasn't fair for her to scare me once I left the room she was in. Also at the end of the Pirates of Emerson attraction this guy came out of no where and roared or something. I was walking behind Jen and I jumped and may have pushed her a little or something I don't remember, but she turned around, saw the guy and took off running. I TRIED to run away but couldn't!! There was some sort've wavy/moving wooden bridge like thing that I kept tripping on. I screamed from the guy scaring me at first and then I was yelling because Jennifer left me!! and I couldn't escape. I ended up running out of the house like a freak. I swear I probably looked like I was doing one of those tires-on-the-ground exercise thingies with my legs and feet flailing all over the place and not running in a straight line. That darned bridge thing was almost the death of me.
So, as you can see... I had a blast.
Then the next night, Friday, I went with Dawn and Veronica and 5 of their other friends to the Sharks game and then to a bar in San Jose to celebrate Dawn's birthday. The Sharks won (YAY!) and I again... had a blast. Since it was the day before Halloween at this point, there were lots of people in costume at the game. At one point they put someone in a Waldo costume up on the Jumbo-tron and it became like a mission for a couple of us to try to find Waldo in the crowd. Eventually we found him and all had a good laugh. There was this little boy sitting with his family in front of us. I swear his mom was regretting bringing him tot he game after they left. He kept wanting to interact with us and basically was only half paying attention to the game. He gave each one of use high fives and fist bumps and kept asking him mom if he was allowed to have the candy that some of the people were having. He tried to play a form of patty cake with Veronica and at one point we think he might have looked up the skirt of one of Veronica's friends. The kid was like 8 or something.
After the game we went to the Britannia Arms, which is only about 2 or so blocks away from the HP Pavilion. (By the way, I hadn't heard of this place before and when Dawn first mentioned it I was like "who is that?" HAHAHA!) There was this one guy who dressed up as JT's "dick in a box" and I asked him to take a picture with Dawn since he was you know... holding a present... and we were out for Dawn's birthday after all! Anyway, it turns out he had some sort've giant blow up penis in his box and he started to inflate it for the picture. The giant pink blow up thing had huge eyes and a grin at the end of it. We all had a good laugh at that. Once I upload the photo onto my laptop I'll edit the post and add it in.
And finally on Halloween, Jennifer had a Birth-o-ween Party. I made her a Dragon Birthday cake because it was Halloween. Nick had the bright idea to put "Jenzilla" on the side of the cake, so I did that. Her party was a costume party, so I dressed up as.... Victoria from Twilight! I think it turned out pretty good. My hair wasn't quite up to par with her hair, but I did the best I could with what I've got (meaning my thin dark hair). My sister sprayed the color in for me and her and my mom pinned in leaves, which I thought gave it a nice touch. :) As with the Dick in a Box photo, I'll post my Halloween costume photo later.
I was surprised to see Jefferey Sam at the party. I haven't seen him since high school I think. I didn't get to chat with him as much as I would have liked. I was all hyped up on energy from my busy end-of-week and then we played beer pong in the garage so I was getting tipsy. I ended up leaving Jen's around 3 am... which really was more like 4 because we turned the clocks back. I got home, removed my make up, put my orange hair in a high pony tail and went to bed. I was so tired that there was no way I could spend the time to wash all the spray out of my hair at 4am! I decided that my pillowcase was going to take one for the team and I'd just wash it later. :)
I ended up waking up the next day at 4pm! Apparently my body needed rest after all that stuff!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Eggplant, Costumes, and T-Scores... Oh My!
On Sunday night I made Eggplant Parmesan. It was delicious! Everyone enjoyed it (and by everyone I mean my family and Nick). I didn't end up using Jennifer's recipe, mainly because I didn't want to make the sauce myself, so I used a Martha Stewart recipe. So yummy!!
Well, I just found out another friend of mine is pregnant! (and I'm totally going to talk about it here even though not everyone knows yet, because really... only like 4 people read this blog, and none of them are related) I swear, there is something in the water! haha... I'm happy for the families of these 2 precious fetuses.
I'm going to a Halloween/Birthday Party and am very excited about my new costume. If you recall I went to a Halloween Costume Party/Dinner a few weeks ago at the Fratellanza club and my parents won 2nd place with their Popeye and Olive Oyl costumes!... wait, did I post about that? Let me go check... Oh, hmm... I totally didn't talk about that... well... now you know. I went to a Costume Party/Dinner/Dance thing at an Italian, Members Only Club, with my family a couple weeks ago. I helped plan my parents costumes (re: I told them they were going to be Popeye and Olive Oyl) and I helped plan my sister's costume (re: I told her she was going to be Cruella De Vil). That left little time for the planning of my costume, so I ended up going as Beth Chapman... again. I was Beth last year in SD. I figured since no one from SD will see me, it's cool if I wear the costume again. Well... I didn't really want to do that again. I could have recycled my boxer costume from 2 years ago, but I wanted to do something new, so I decided on a fairly decent and easy costume. I went to JoAnn fabric and craft store today for some material and Party City for some hair color and lastly WalMart for 33¢ knee high panty hose!! (Those were a great find, I'm just going to wear them on my arms, so I didn't want to ruin something expensive... but 33¢ is amazing!) I'll probably post a picture later. I hope it works out. That's the most hint I'll give you. I won't spoil the surprise. :)
Oh, this morning I got my T-Score breakdown in the mail. Remember the POST test I took that I passed. (I know I wrote about that, so just scroll down some if you don't remember... go ahead... I'll wait.... .... ... okay, ready? good.) I got the breakdown of my score, which basically means that instead of just "Pass/No Pass" I got a score. My score is 68.3. (The different categories had scores too, but I"m just posting the overall T-score) I have no idea what that means. I went to the site it told me to go to for more information on interpreting the scores, but it wasn't super helpful. It was helpful in boosting my confidence though because it told me that I am "above average" of other test takers. :) What I think it means is that, of the questions I answered, I only got a few wrong. The test added points for correct answers, deducted points for incorrect answers, and did nothing for no answers.
I haven't heard back yet from the Oral Board Interview, but it was less than a week ago, so that's not surprising. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended).
Well, I just found out another friend of mine is pregnant! (and I'm totally going to talk about it here even though not everyone knows yet, because really... only like 4 people read this blog, and none of them are related) I swear, there is something in the water! haha... I'm happy for the families of these 2 precious fetuses.
I'm going to a Halloween/Birthday Party and am very excited about my new costume. If you recall I went to a Halloween Costume Party/Dinner a few weeks ago at the Fratellanza club and my parents won 2nd place with their Popeye and Olive Oyl costumes!... wait, did I post about that? Let me go check... Oh, hmm... I totally didn't talk about that... well... now you know. I went to a Costume Party/Dinner/Dance thing at an Italian, Members Only Club, with my family a couple weeks ago. I helped plan my parents costumes (re: I told them they were going to be Popeye and Olive Oyl) and I helped plan my sister's costume (re: I told her she was going to be Cruella De Vil). That left little time for the planning of my costume, so I ended up going as Beth Chapman... again. I was Beth last year in SD. I figured since no one from SD will see me, it's cool if I wear the costume again. Well... I didn't really want to do that again. I could have recycled my boxer costume from 2 years ago, but I wanted to do something new, so I decided on a fairly decent and easy costume. I went to JoAnn fabric and craft store today for some material and Party City for some hair color and lastly WalMart for 33¢ knee high panty hose!! (Those were a great find, I'm just going to wear them on my arms, so I didn't want to ruin something expensive... but 33¢ is amazing!) I'll probably post a picture later. I hope it works out. That's the most hint I'll give you. I won't spoil the surprise. :)
Oh, this morning I got my T-Score breakdown in the mail. Remember the POST test I took that I passed. (I know I wrote about that, so just scroll down some if you don't remember... go ahead... I'll wait.... .... ... okay, ready? good.) I got the breakdown of my score, which basically means that instead of just "Pass/No Pass" I got a score. My score is 68.3. (The different categories had scores too, but I"m just posting the overall T-score) I have no idea what that means. I went to the site it told me to go to for more information on interpreting the scores, but it wasn't super helpful. It was helpful in boosting my confidence though because it told me that I am "above average" of other test takers. :) What I think it means is that, of the questions I answered, I only got a few wrong. The test added points for correct answers, deducted points for incorrect answers, and did nothing for no answers.
I haven't heard back yet from the Oral Board Interview, but it was less than a week ago, so that's not surprising. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended).
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Commercial Slogans
I would really love to write down random memories that I have. Every now and then stories from my past just pop into my head and I laugh even though no one is around. Like the following:
In the 80's there was a truck commercial (which I assume was for Toyota... you'll see why) where the "driver" would be standing outside the truck (which was usually up on a rocky mountain) and would jump in the air, kick their legs tot he side, and throw their arms up into the air. The camera would then freeze in that position, so you'd see them jumping for joy. Growing up my friend and I would run down her hallway and jump off the steps into her living room and yell "I love what you do for me, Toyota" and strike that pose mid-aid. We would do that over and over and over again and laugh hysterically. It still makes me smile and laugh when I think about it.
On a related note, when I was a kid my crib was in my sister's room. I remember standing up in my crib and reaching out my hand towards my sister in her bed. She would lean as far out of her bed as she could and would stretch out her hand and we'd say "Reach out and touch someone." Again, just like in a commercial. I think that slogan was for AT&T. It's a really great memory that my sister and I both share. :)
In the 80's there was a truck commercial (which I assume was for Toyota... you'll see why) where the "driver" would be standing outside the truck (which was usually up on a rocky mountain) and would jump in the air, kick their legs tot he side, and throw their arms up into the air. The camera would then freeze in that position, so you'd see them jumping for joy. Growing up my friend and I would run down her hallway and jump off the steps into her living room and yell "I love what you do for me, Toyota" and strike that pose mid-aid. We would do that over and over and over again and laugh hysterically. It still makes me smile and laugh when I think about it.
On a related note, when I was a kid my crib was in my sister's room. I remember standing up in my crib and reaching out my hand towards my sister in her bed. She would lean as far out of her bed as she could and would stretch out her hand and we'd say "Reach out and touch someone." Again, just like in a commercial. I think that slogan was for AT&T. It's a really great memory that my sister and I both share. :)
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