I'm a Wuss

I went to the doctor yesterday, and as it was my first appointment at my new doctor's office, she asked me all sorts of basic questions - including when I last had a tetnis shot. It was when I was 14, so I know that I'm two years overdue, but I have a phobia about needles (when I had my wisdom teeth removed and they put the needle in my arm for the anesthesia, I fainted; I don't even like seeing needles go into someone else in the movies). Well, my new doctor wasn't having it - she didn't ask me if I wanted to take care of that today or if I wanted to schedule an appointment - she just says that after my check up she's going to send the nurse in to give it to me.

OK.... I don't like needles. I know this. I'm a little anxious at this point, but the nurse hasn't come in yet, so I'm trying to read my book as I sit in the room waiting for this nurse, but I can't focus. She comes in with the needle, and I have to admit I panicked. I was flush and shaking and suddenly needed some water really bad. I thought I might pass out again.. When she finally did it, it didn't even hurt (this nurse was skilled) - felt like a little pinch. I felt so silly for freaking out as much as I did. I'm a wuss.

I will not be a lazy homebody!

I can choose to spend my free time doing anything - I can watch TV, read a book, play on my computer... or I can go outside. Remember outside? Where we played as kids.

Well, I have made a decision... I will not become this lazy person that just sits at home on her computer. It's June! and it's beautiful outside! So I've made some decisions for the summer::
I will limit the free time I spend on my computer
If I want to read I will go outside to do it
I will spend at least one day each weekend outdoors doing something active

Lovely weekend

We decided we werent going to spend entire weekends indoors anymore. Especially on weekends we have Emma. We spend so much of our lives indoors, sitting at our computers and almost no time outdoors. And its Summer! Our goal is to spend at least one day each weekend outside, being active going to the beach, the park, swimming, socializing whatever.

We intended to go to the beach on Saturday, especially since our beach jaunt two weeks ago had been so lovely. We were delayed some, but we finally made it. Had a lovely time read, moved sand around as if we were building a sandcastle, buried Emma in the sand

Saturday night we spent at Bobbys parents house, mostly listening to his great-grandfather talk about his life. The man is 95 years old, so he had some great stories. Some things that stood out to me: He said, There will be a woman president, there will be a black president, (which for someone in his age bracket seems a remarkable sentence) hes been a democrat his entire life and is ready to vote for Hillary; His proudest moment was the day he married his wife, and he wishes he still had her; He quit smoking in 1942 because someone told him he couldnt do it, he quit drinking because someone told him he couldnt do it, and during prohibition he sure knocked it back (someone told him he couldnt do it).

I escaped for a bit in the morning to visit my parents and wish my big bro a happy Fathers Day., but the rest of Sunday we spent at the park, playing softball (well, as much as you can when you only have between 5 and 14 people all day), having a water fight, barbequing It was a good time. I wasnt as diligent with the sunscreen Sunday, and I have a mild burn (and bad tan lines) to show for it, and unfortunately Im a bit out of shape so Im sore now from the softball. When we were just fielding some balls, waiting for folks to show up, it was really heating up and all I could think was how nice some water balloons would be right now so I ran off to get some. Wouldnt you know no water balloons at Stater Bros. or Target. How does this happen? Its June!

Overall, it was a lovely weekend, and Im glad we spent it outside, rather than in our box.

Disillusioned

It was supposed to be fun. It was supposed to be more than fun.
I'm a lover of comedy stand-up comedy in particular, and I got a message from one of my favorite comedians, Dane Cook, a couple weeks ago (Im signed up for email updates from his website). They were going to be filming the finale for his HBO series, Tourgasm, near LA, and if you could be within 30 miles of Hollywood on June 13th and wanted to go, fill out this form online. Well, the premise of Tourgasm is that Dane and these three other comedians travel around the country doing 20 shows in 30 days. So I think to myself this is awesome! I get to see Danes stand-up for free. So I sign up.

Last week I get an email saying I've been selected. Please reply with the names of me and my guest, and check my email the morning of the 13th for the location. YES!!! I immediately forward to my boss and tell him Im taking a half day (the thing is at 3:30, somewhere near LA).

I check my email in the morning its going to be at the Santa Anita Racetrack. I take my half day. I'm so excited. I rush home, change, and head over to the train station. Bobby's working in LA, so I'm going to meet him there and were going to carpool over. We arrive at 3:30. I'm so excited and there is one of the longest lines Ive ever seen - and I go to Disneyland all the time.

I think to myself OK, they just have to check everyone's ID and release form and they probably just started. At around 5:30 we FINALLY get through the gate. For those of you that don't know Tuesday was warm. I was expecting some sort of wait time, but this is ridiculous. OK, now were in, and there werent too many people behind us, so it shouldn't be too much longer, right? Nope. Once inside, we were portioned up by wristbands, and told to stand in a particular place. They essentially lined us up along a pathway so Dane and the others could walk through while they videotaped it. People are getting really irritated. I'm hearing things like "This better be a damn good show" and "I thought Dane was all about the fans, but I guess he's all about the bullshit." At 6:30, some guy tells us Dane and the others will be landing in about 10 minutes and the whole thing will get started. At 7:00 thats right folks, 3 and a half hours after we arrived the helicopter shows up. About 15 minutes after that, Dane et. al finally start making their way through the crowd. I dont even want to clap at this point I want the show to start. They get to the end and do a short Thanks for the memories thing with each other, awarding silly awards to one another, promote their websites, etc. Then some guy gets up there and says, OK, people with red and white wristband go over [somewhere], everyone else, thanks for making it out, head out the way you came and we have Tourgasm posters for you on your way out.

Excuse me!?!? Are you fucking kidding? Its 7:35. The red and white wristbands are people working there. I think they had something set up for the green wristbands, who were at the front of the line (god knows when they got there), but basically they sent everyone home.

My heart sank. I was pissed. Let me explain the many thoughts I had at that moment.

• What, no comedy?
• Fuck this, if I wanted to take a half day to hang out in the sun all day for nothing, I'd go to the beach.
• Its a damn good thing the only alcohol anyone had was what they brought, else there would be a riot. (And then, because I often think of little Dane-isms, I thought of him saying, no, youre a riot, and then I was sad, because I knew that now every time I think of a Dane-ism I will remember this day and be angry and sad).
• I took a half day and wasted whole afternoon, so now I will feel bad if I take a half day to hang out with family on Thursday like I normally would. And all for nothing.
• I am not this girl. I am not the crazed fan that just wants to touch by celebrity of choice, which is what we were all recruited to be. I don't even care if I meet him I just want to be entertained.
• What can I do about this? Stop watching the show? I'm not even watching TV as of late I wouldn't be watching anyway. Not buy Dane CDs or go to his stand up when he's in town? This hurts me too - I enjoy his comedy (although now it will be tainted by this day). Write an angry letter or email? I could, but will he even see it, and what can he really do now?
  

This morning I checked my email and there is another email from Tourgasm. It is a note from Dane to all those that came on Tuesday, apologizing. He says it was his production company surprising him, and that he didnt know what was planned (which was consistent with the previous emails), and that he would like to set up something special as a thank you/sorry. This is all I wanted, an apology, but I still feel saddened by the whole thing.

The Tides They are A-Changing

I think there are moments in your life when change occurs. Sure, some things change slowly over time, and there are things that are always changing, but it seems like major life changes happen over a relatively short period of time, and often close together.

I feel like I've grown up a lot over the last year or so. I know I was technically an adult nearly 9 years ago, but I still always felt like I really wasn't there yet. What is it that changed so suddenly?

Is it because I'm crazy in love right now? Because I'm with the person I'm sure I want to marry? Is it because I'm almost a step-mom? Is it because I'm no longer dependent on a parent or guardian figure to support me financially? Is it because I'm done with school and working a full time job? Is it because all of these things are the case?

The strange part is that it all happened within a relatively short time. I feel like I wasn't a real grown up a year ago, or even 9 months ago. It seems this sense of being an adult, a real adult, has really only developed over the last 6 months.

While I still enjoy spending time with my friends, I would rather go out to dinner with them than a club. I enjoy a BBQ with my family as much as staying out all night with friends. I don't mind when I call my friends and they spend as much time talking to their toddler as they do talking to me.

I am an adult.

Life is Good

Hmmm.... Life is GOOD. There are great bits and sucky bits I suppose, but overall, I'm very happy right now. Family is good, work is good, traffic sucks, I need a vacation.

Been with my boyfriend 6 months now. And strangely enough, I have MySpace to thank for it. I'd been looking for old high school friends on here and his was one of the names I'd looked up. We'd been friends back in the day but I hadn't seen him in like 7 years.

I seem to be hearing similar stories often enough though. Old friends reconnecting through this online community.

Not so good: My grandmas are sick. The one I was living with until recently was just diagnosed with cancer. I feel kinda bad. I just moved out, and now she's dealing with this. Luckily she had a friend move in with her, so she isn't alone. We had a scare with the other grandma recently when she had to go into the hospital for 10 days. She's still recovering, but she's to fiesty to be down for long. Stuff like this reminds you of how important people are to you.

My oldest nephew, who was born deaf, got a cochlear implant and is now adjusting to hearing. He went on his first trip to Disneyland.

My brother bought a house two-doors down from my parents. My dad keeps saying that one of us needs to buy the house in-between now so we can have a little half-block. And put gates between all the yards.... That would be a little strange, like I was living in a sitcom.

Seems to have been a changing of the guards at work. People come and people go, but few that were here when I started are still here. And I miss having a few of them around. Of 20 full time employees, only 6 have been here longer than me. And 4 of them are the owners. And I haven't really even been here this long.

A friend of mine just got married. Beautiful ceremony. I'm really happy for her. Feel like I've been to more baby and bridal showers this year than I ever have... and we're only in March. I have another to go to on Saturday.

I'm trying to plan another trip back to Europe. I really want to go again this year, but I know I won't be financially prepared to go back until late in 07. Probably try to go in September again... hit up Oktoberfest... again. This time I'm paying the extra and staing in hotels. And using a suitcase rather than a backpack.

I want a vacation. Just to take a week off with no obligations. Seems like I've been very busy of late. Even on the weekends we are scheduled for most of the day. And if there is some spare time... there's laundry, or the apartment needs to be cleaned, or something will suddenly come up. And during the week I wake up, go to work, come home, make/get something for dinner, and go to bed. I probably have 3 hours between the time I normally get home and the time I should go to bed. I could stay up later I suppose, but I get cranky (and unproductive if I don't get enough sleep). I want to lie in bed and watch movies for a day.

Home Sweet Home

It took us over 26 hours, but we finally made it home today.

Woke up in London at 5:30am Monday morning (that would have been 9:30pm Sunday here in the PST), grabbed our stuff, and went right down to the shuttle bound for Heathrow. Our flight was at 8:20 and after the fiasco on Sunday morning, we didn't want to take the chance we would be late. Turns out our flight was late though. They expected to take off my 9:20 instead. So we waited around the airport for a couple of hours.

At that point we thought we would still be ok. We had a three hour window at our connection in Toronto, so we should still be able to make it in time. Unfortunately our flight arrived in Toronto 2 hours behind schedule, leaving us only one hour to hop on the shuttle to the other terminal, clear Canadian customs, clear US customs, and re-check our bags. Yeah, we didn't make it.

I got stopped at customs. Apparently the flower bulbs I bought for my grandma in Amsterdam didn't have some certificate saying they weren't infected with some bacteria, so they took them away. But that was the extent of it. Jessica wound up being the random check, so they searched her carry on bags as well. All clear, no way we are making the flight.

So instead of the 2pm flight from Toronto to LA, we were booked on the 6pm flight. So we waited around the airport for a few hours. Called my dad to tell him the change of plans - we should land at 8:10 and make the 9pm shuttle to the Disneyland Hotel, should arrive there at 10pm and can he pick us up then.

But they didn't even start boarding for our flight until 5:50, so the plane started moving at around 6:30. But we didn't take off. Apparently there was a problem with one of the runways, so they only had one for that terminal, so all the planes were queued up, waiting for their turn to take off or land. Didn't actually take off until 7:45.

So instead of arriving in LA at our original 4:10, or our updated 8:10, we landed at 9:30pm. A full 24 hours after waking up to leave. But the fun still wasn't over. We were hoping to get our bags in time to meet the 10pm shuttle, but we were standing at the baggage claim, waiting for our bags, as we saw the Disneyland shuttle drive off at 10pm. We were ready 15 minutes later.

I called my dad. He was there waiting at the shuttle drop off at the Hotel. But he made the trek out to the airport to pick us up. I finally arrived at my house at 11:30. Poor Jessica still had a drive back to Norco.

But we are home. The trip was great, but it is good to be back. Now all I need is a shower, clean laundry, and some sleep....

In Limbo Here in London

I thought I would sleep the rest of the day yesterday and try to get over this cold, but our roomate at the hostel was determined to keep me up. She was making so much noise that I'm surprised Jessica or I got any sleep at all.

We woke up at 6:30am, packed up our stuff, and headed down to breakfast. Jessica got yelled at again (yesterday she took too much cereal, today she used the wrong kind of cup for her orange juice), and today she figured we were about to leave, so she yelled back. Really, how important is it that she used two coffee mugs instead of a coffee mug and a juice glass.

We were running a bit behind, but we made it to the airport 15 minutes before they closed the check in for our flight. Took off at 9:30am, landed at 9:15am. Nope, that's not a typo. England is an hour behind the rest of Europe, so we are getting a head start on adjusting to the time change. I know it's just an hour, but whatever.

Arrived at London Luton at 9:15am, but didn't make it to the hotel until 1pm. We had to take a shuttle, to a train, to the Underground (subway/metro/whatever-you-want-to-call-it), to Heathrow where we got on another shuttle that finally left us at the hotel.

Had quite a scare when we the shuttle from Heathrow to the hotel took off. Jessica apparently left her purse on the cart we were using to transport our bags (yep, her purse, with her passport, debit card, drivers license, AND birth certificate - she can be pretty stupid sometimes). She jumped off at the next terminal and ran back to where she left it. The gods must have been feeling sorry for her today (they have not been on her side quite a few times the last month) because when she got there, there was a little old lady keeping an eye on it for her.

Our hotel is around the corner from the airport, and quite a ways from central London, so we decided to get something to eat here and just rest the remainder of the day. Partly because we are both sick and partly because we are just tired. Unfortunately the only thing we could find to eat around here was McDonald's.

We finally caved, and ate at McDonald's. Jessica was disturbed by the fact that they didn't offer mustard. But then she got her hamburger and it had two tiny dots of mustard on it, so she knew they had it and went to ask for more. They said no, so instead of just accepting, she begged and they caved.

Jessica. She was so interested in food when we left for this trip, but she has been disappointed in the fact that a) there is no plain, yellow mustard to be found in Europe (they have the good, high quality mustard she has no interest in), b) when you order a salad, you could be getting any kind of mixed vegetables, likely not including lettuce, and if it does include lettuce, it probably doesn't have any kind of dressing on it, and c) they don't serve bread and butter before meals (sometimes you get bread, but almost never with butter). She's been experiencing some culture shock. She thought that by eating at Mickey D's, she would have something that reminded her of home, but again, she realized she was far from. Don't worry Jess, you can have a mayo and mustard sandwich at home in about 36 hours.

We've decided to just hang out here at the hotel the rest of the day, and enjoy our first decent shower in a week.

Lost in the Louvre

Jessica gave me her darn cold, and now I'm in Paris and I'm sick.

The train ride from Prague to Paris was decent. We had to switch trains at 6:30am, but that gave us a chance to pick up something to eat as well. After about 15 hours on the trains, we made it to the hostel in Paris around 2:30pm.

We wanted to keep it simple, so last night we walked along the Champs-Elysees from the Arc de Triomphe to the Place de la Concorde. It was a nice night walk, and we had a good view of the Eiffel Tower when it was all lit up.

We are in this room at the hostel with 3 beds, so we have a roomate, which is fine, but last night our roomate snored all night long. Luckily it wasn't as loud as Keith's snoring in Munich so I was able to get some sleep.

Woke up around 8 this morning, had breakfast, and headed out for the day. Today's itinerary: Notre Dame and the Louvre. I liked Notre Dame, but after the cathedral at Prague Castle, it wasn't as impressive. Still beautiful though, and I have to say I prefer the gothic churches (Notre Dame, all the ones in Prague, St. Stephen's in Vienna) to all the renaissance style churches in Italy.

Next we wandered over towards the Louvre, but on our way found what we had wanted since we arrived in Paris... crepes. Jessica had hers with butter, but I opted for the Grand Marnier. Now I need a bottle when we get home so I can make them for myself because it was sooooo good!

We finally made it to the Louvre, which by the way, is MASSIVE. We walked around there for about 4 hours and still didn't see everything. No cameras allowed, so no pictures, but we saw the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa, and some other really great sculptures and paintings. Unfortunately, although this collection was impressive, it had already been outdone by the Vatican Museum.

We were tired and hungry and decided it was time to go find something to eat. But at that point we were deep in the Louvre, and though we followed the exit signs (the ones we could find), we still found ourselves wandering through the museum for good hour just trying to get out. Good thing I'm not diabetic or something.

We finally made our way out and after wandering around Paris for another 45 minutes, we found a place to eat and had a nice lunch. Even though I can't really taste anything right now. I think I'm going to sleep the rest of the day.

We wake up early tomorrow to fly back to London...

Ahh, Praha

We arrived in Praha (Prague) at 5:30 am yesterday morning. I tell you, that is not the time of day you want to be outside here. It was so cold, I had on 3 shirts, a scarf, a jacket, gloves and two pairs of socks (one pair was actually my slipper socks, so they were thick as hell too) and I was still cold. But I could see my breath, and that is always cool, I don't care how old you are. Ok, It's cool if you are from So Cal and it only happens occasionally - I'm sure the people in Minnesota don't get nearly as excited as I do when they can see their breath.

Anyway, there is also NOTHING to do at that time of morning. Nowhere to eat, couldn't check in to the hostel, too cold to walk around.... So we sat in the train station for awhile, until we could buy a map and figure out where we needed to go. And to our delight, the hostel was really close to he metro station. Couldn't check in until two, but they let us lock our stuff up there while we walked around.

Praha is beautiful. It is definitely one of my favorites. It has a very old world feel. And the churches are so different from the ones we'd seen in Italy, because these are all a Gothic style. Inside the churches you feel like they should make vampire movies here. (I know, they make all kinds of movies here, but a vampire movie would be perfect.) We walked from the National Museum to the Old Town Square where the Astronomical Clock is (unfortunately the clock was down for rennovations), then over towards the Charles Bridge.

The view from the bridge was beautiful, but the we climed the tower at one end and the view from the top was amazing. It was totally worth the ridiculous number of steps we walked up to get there. (I'm so glad I bought this camera before my trip, I think I'll have close to 2,000 pictures by the time I get back). When we got back downstairs, we wandered across the bridge but decided to wait to make our wish on the statue (apparently you only get one wish from the statue for life) and went on to the Torture Museum.

We actually went in to kill some time before lunch, but I'm amazed I was able to eat after that. They had displays and illustrations of common torture devices from the middle ages, and I have to say they all define cruel and unusual punishment. I'm not even going to describe them here, because it was just disturbing. Then we ate lunch.

And lunch was fantastic. I like Czech food.

After lunch we went back to the hostel to check in (and take a shower, because we felt pretty gross at that point), but when we got there, Jessica was really not feeling good (she'd been coming down with something for a couple days now) and needed a nap.

She started her nap at 2pm. I met some people at the hostel while she was napping and was invited to go out with them to dinner and a club. I woke Jessica up to see what she wanted to do, but whe was still feeling really sick, so she went right back to sleep and I went out.

It was basically me, two Canadian girls I met waiting for the computer, and the group of guys they met the night before (four Italians, a Romanian and a Hungarian). When we got to dinner, the guys took off their coats... they all had on matching T-shirts that read "I Love Party Girls."
Lacee, Alaina, Stephanie, I met your counterparts. These guys walked in to the club, took a shot, and immediately walked up to the stage and started dancing. They were on the stage all night. At one point they lost the stage to these two girls, and when the girls wouldn't relinquish it, they physically picked them up and carried them off the stage so they could get back on it. There could have been no one at the club, and they would still have had a great time. They were the party.

We made it back to the hostel at around 2am. (Yes, we left before they closed, but the other girls and I were tired.) Jessica had just awakened. Yep, she slept 12 hours. Then she got something to eat, took the medication we had picked up for her at the pharmacy here, and went right back to sleep. We both woke up at around 9:30am. Yes, Jessica slept around 18 hours.
We packed up our stuff and headed to the train station to reserve our tickets for tonight and lock up our stuff, then we headed off to the Castle Quarter.


The Castle Quarter is beautiful. We stopped at the Toy and Barbie Museum there (crazy collection of Barbies, way more than I ever had), then wandered around, and checked out the church. The church by itself was beautiful, but then we erad in the guidebook that the best view of the city was just up the 287 steps of the spire.

That sounded like a manageable number of steps, but I tell you we were winded by the time we made it to the top. I don't know how people to those stair climber machines at the gym, because I just about collapsed when we go to the top. Actually, I found the bench and did just that. We sat for a few minutes to recooperate, then checked out the view.

It was worth every one of those 287 steps. And the 287 steps back down.



Afterwords, we basically wandered aimlessly around the city. Didn't even look at the map. Just wandered. It was great. We bought some souvineers for the peeps back home, and then I stopped at Bata.

Lacee, it was a shoe store six stories tall. And each was the size of a normal shoe store. I had decided that while my docs have served me well during my decade long ownership of them, they are starting to fall apart and give me blisters. So I bought some sneakers. (Not that I needed a reason to buy some shoes).

I immediately changed my shoes, and thank goodness I did. My feet were hurting so bad from walking around all day today and yesterday, but the cushioning in these shoes somehow made it more bearable. Enough to continue walking around for another 3 hours.

We went back to the Old Town Square and had a great meal. And I again purposely made sure I had a Czech meal (Jessica had an Italian-style pasta, but I felt I should eat the traditional food of the country I was visiting).

Now we are at the train station, preparing for our 16 hour train ride to Paris...