had a flickr account for ages, haven't uploaded much. until now!
LaXy
isn't this purty? :) :) :) :) :) :)
my ambitious 2009 list:
- learn an instrument (inspired by an askreddit post, sheesh). guitar or violin? dunno yet. i went for piano lessons when i was seven til i was 11, didn't enjoy it much.
- ride a bike. looking at the cute vespas, but should really consider a hog, or a honda or yamaha, considering the length of my commute.
- dance more. preferably at the Phoenix every saturday night.
Now that sufficient time has passed, i can now recount the horror that was the airport:
- Left LAX ok. Luggage was 5 lbs. over, but of course, Filipino mafia to the rescue ;) (else i would have paid $90)
- selected for random search. the stupid jeans had buttons on the bum flaps and i beeped.
- Got to CVG fine. they changed gates on us a couple of times, but whatever.
- emailed work was going to be late, ok to work from home? got OK'd, so that was cool.
- boarding announcement for our flight was aired over the PA. we board first, as usual.
- was turned back at the plane doors, literally. flight was cancelled.
- ran to the help desk to rebook. was told to go on the phones, bcz you get a live person easier that way.
- listened to Muzak for 15 minutes then gave up.
- the counter person finally rebooked us for standby for the 3:10 pm flight.
- made interesting conversation with ppl at the charging station. got flak about how expensive BB and BES licences are :)
- learned about lenses on high-end zeiss cameras.
- found out that the girl i met at the phones by the help desk fell asleep on the floor waiting for a live person to answer her call.
- tried to call car rental companies - no cars for one way travel :(
- 3:10 flight was cancelled at 3:00. got vouchers for hotel.
- updated vox after a two-month absence, drank beer off of plastic cups, transformed into sleeping log.
- left hotel for CVG at 730 am the next day for the 840 am flight - we got confirmed for this one!
- selected for random search again! henry was searched 3x.
- cue for henry's crazy rant. security supervisor comes. i was ordered to go ahead and head for the gate.
- missed the flight to BUF by 6 minutes, arghhhh
- went to help desk again - the lady could not put us on a flight until the next day!!!!!!!!!!!
- was given standby boarding passes for 3:10 and 7:30 flights.
- bb was keeping me sane :)
- counter girl comes up to us and says there's an 11:30 flight to rochester, did we want that one?
- told her we were going to YYZ, and she puts us on the next flight over at 11:00. hurrayyyyy!
things didn't turn out so well for jack. he drove to buffalo to pick us up at 10 am fri morning.
ended up staying over at a hotel in niagara falls because "i want to live". the snowstorm was that bad.
he heads over to buffalo airport the next morning, expecting to pick us up.
he gets a text just as soon as he gets to the airport, telling him to meet us in toronto instead :(
sorry jack, thank you jack :))))))
now hacking up a lung because of all the airport germs. green lungjelly, anyone?
our bags are still in buffalo btw.
just glad to leave airport limbo. notice i didn't say just glad to be home?
bcz its fcking freeeeezing outside. whytf did we come back??????
don't answer that question, never mind.
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i am taking up winter sports. if you can't win them, join them!!!
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drugs good, viruses bad.
i dunno how airport employees are able to do their jobs, day in, day out.
Random chatter in no particular order:
- Plants in LA look familiar. bougainvillas, rose bushes, jade plants, coconut trees. like the philippines but not dusty. cdn plantlife is just bewildering. the fact that people replant their gardens in the spring/summer is still a concept i have to get used to.
- i know it's cliched, but everyone in LA really wants to be in the movies, be it as an actor, a screenwriter, an extra. the movie industry is just too sexy to not be in.
- In-N-Out rocks!!! all other fastfood pale in comparison. all other fastfood is scary, Jack in the Box in particular. So is IHOP, so is Chili's. the coffee is way too expensive and tastes like crap. Timmie's FTW!
- LA is beautiful in a merkin, obvious, flashy kind of way. like some hot blonde in a too-tight blouse. but very pretty nonetheless.
- SF is charming and interesting, like a brunette debutante with a really great personality. She puts out, but you wouldn't know at first glance. Then you venture out to the Castro and you learn she's into the kinky!
- Napa is for old drunk people. is that facetious? solly.
- Mexican grocery stores are all about pork. mmmmm baboy. pork ribs, chicharon, lenggua, fatty stews, fried pork chops. nom nom nom
- i want a dog!!!! i promise to not let it get fat or dead.
- most tourists have this vacuous look in their eyes. like they're going through the motions of seeing all the sights. i bet i looked like that too heheh.
- i crack up and go bonkers in hopeless situations. was laughing my head off on every tiny little thing because of the absurdity of the flight situation. i guess the 13-hour road trip yesterday prepared me for the worst.
- would i live in LA? maybe, if it was near the beach and work was two seconds away. a 250 sq/ft box will do. minimalist living has always been one of my strengths. :) SF? i'd move there in a heartbeat. like TO but with funner streets.
- i want to learn how to ride a bike :) inspired by driving in LA traffic
- i am more convinced, more than ever, of my decision. stay tuned.
So what does one do when stuck in transit because of the great '08 snowstorm? Why, write a blog post, of course!
So I'm stuck in CVG because of the weather, after spending two weeks in LA and SF (my tweets). Right now, i want to drill a hole in my head for not staying a couple more days, but that's another story.
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Things I learned about cars:
The PT Cruiser is stupid. GM deserves to be bankrupt for producing crap like this. Drove it for two weeks, still could not get used to the location of the power window controls. OK so BMW does the same shit, but people in the backseat get to control their windows. Not this one!
Pick up on this auto is terrible. Driving on long-winding, hilly, hairpin turn roads (hwy 58 maddafakkah) was painful.
The rental we got had no cruise control. Nuff said. I take too many things for granted, seems like. And the seatbelt alarms were just too loud and annoying. This car makes me miss my carito very much.
So maybe all of this is aggravated by the fact that i got not just a parking ticket, but a speeding ticket as well driving this junk :) 95 on a 65 hehehe. Two speeding tickets this year. hmm. not good. will be good in 09, promise.
last one: Getting a brake job done for an ML450 costs about 1500 buckaroos. Apparently, MB insists on changing the rotors and pads at the same time - it's a performance issue hahaha. man that sucks majorly.
last last one: v. envious of the bluetooth on the newer TLs!
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New TV crap
-watched It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for the first time. now that was a barrel of laughs :)))))))
-realized i miss Six Feet Under after seeing Michael C. Hall in Dexter.
-i miss HBO and hacked Direct TV!!!!!!!!!!
-must recommend Puccini for Beginners and Buck and Chuck to my gay-hatin frens
-this has been the most TV watching i've done in a looooong time!!!
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GPS crap
-used Garmin, BB Maps, Google Maps throughout the trip. BB maps works better when plotting detour routes. Garmin is outstanding when looking for fuel, attractions, food. Used up a lot of power though. Didn't turn on the geo-locate for Google Maps, so it was most useless. couldn't for the life of me find how to turn it on, maybe I have to re-install?
-valuable lesson: always have a true-to-life, physical map in the damn car, just in case you end up in places with no network connection, like here:
See those hills in the distance? we drove through the middle of those! no network connection, in the middle of the night. no streetlights, verrry ziggzaggy roads.
not complaining tho, it makes for very interesting travel converstation :)
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now must open a corona with my teeth. Melly's habits die hard.
