Korea Trip Report Part One
Our latest adventure started on Sunday morning around four thirty. We woke up, showered and did all the last minute packing before getting in our car and driving over to my in laws house. Once there, we piled into my father in laws van while it was still dark, and he drove us out to Marina where we were going to be picked up my the Monterey Airbus.
At around seven thirty the bus picked us up. It was our first time using them and I have to say I will definitely be using them again. They greeted us and the other passengers with water bottles and got us loaded onto the bus. I will say however that the bus wasn’t exactly built for my fat ass. That of course is not the van’s fault, but for the ride up to San Jose, Rob and I got very up close and personal while the seat belt dug very hard into my right hip. After we unloaded some people at the San Jose Airport, I was able to move one more seat over and it was much more comfortable.
We arrived at SFO without incident and had a small wait as Korean Air didn’t open until ten thirty. We did some crossword puzzles and played on our phones until it was time to check our bags. Being the seasoned travelers that we are, we didn’t realize we hadn’t signed our new passports until we got up to the counter and the agent asked us to. Whoops!
With our bags headed towards the plane we waited a few minutes to drain some water bottles we had brought with us, and then headed through security. The line was long but it went fairly quickly and we were through no problem.
Then we hurried to the gate and waited. I got Rob some coffee and a couple of rag mags for the plane and settled in for the flight announcements.
Now when you are traveling to a foreign land you have never visited before and you don’t know that many people in California to begin with, you sure don’t expect to hear someone calling your name in the airport terminal while waiting for your flight. However, that is exactly what happened. As we were sitting there, a Korean woman approached us and said: “Rob?”
Rob looked up a bit perplexed and then recognized the woman as the wife of a friend of his. The place where he goes to jam sessions about once a month. Turns out, she was on the same flight and heading home for a couple of weeks. We sat and chatted with her for quite a while. It made the time more pleasant and go much faster so that was awesome.
Finally time came to board and we got settled in. We were two rows from the restroom, in the middles section of the plane where there were four seats in a row. It was roomy enough (again, my fat ass, my problem) and the seats reclined further than domestic seats that I have seen. There was a TV console in the headrest of the seat in front of you that had a very large selection of movies and music, as well as a limited selection of TV shows and games. I was excited when I saw the TV choices as they were Big Bang, Mike and Molly, How I Met Your Mother and Friends, but it turned out there were only two episodes of each. 🙁
The flight was smooth and the flight attendants were right there if you needed anything. The food came in regular intervals. Snack followed by a meal followed by another snack, another meal and then a final snack before landing. The one thing I wish they had done more was come around with more water or other beverages. I was plenty parched by the time we landed. I know I could have rung the bell and asked for some, but I didn’t want to bother them.
I would list the length of the flight as a complaint, but obviously that can’t be helped. Still, a 12 hour flight in cramped spaces is not going to be on my list of favorite things any time soon. The big complaint I had was that the temperature in the plane was not regulated in any way shape or form. It would be hot and then start to cool off and then go back to hot. Overall however, it stayed on the hot side. And there was no air vent above your like on domestic flights. I could have handled it much better if I had an air vent that would blow down on me. No such luck.
Having said that, I am glad we chose Korean Air. I can’t imagine flying any other airline that I have in the past for that amount of time without going crazy. While I wasn’t able to get a single wink of sleep, I was able to pass the time watching all the TV shows of Mike and Molly and Big Bang. I also got to watch Sisters and most of Joy (the plane landed before I could finish the last half an hour, I hope to catch the rest on the way back) and play some games. Wifi would have made the experience better, but I’ll take what I can get.
Once the plane was at the gate and the seat belt sign came off I saw people literally sprinting down the aisles to be first in line to get off the plane. Rob and I were laughing and joking at what could be that important. There were 300 plus people on the plane that had to get off, you leave when you leave. So we took our time and when we were finally ready to get out of our row, no one would let us out. In the US as far as I have experienced, there is an unwritten rule that if you are approaching an aisle where a person is waiting to exit you let them go first and then just go after them. That is apparently not so in Korea. People just zoomed past us, we had to wait for a small break in the traffic and jam our way in.
Once we got to the immigration line we realized why everyone was in such a hurry. Holy waiting line Batman! I don’t think it is always that long, but for some reason they only had like three clerks open out of at least ten. It took us about an hour to get through that mess.
Once that was done, I hit the bathroom to change out of my traveling clothes (I thought I would have time on the plane but they started the decent without much warning so I was stuck going through immigration in an oversized tank top showing off my sports bra and a pair of yoga pants. I’m pretty sure I represented America nicely) while Rob grabbed out luggage.
Rob’s brother Jim met us outside the gates and led us through the subway system until we got to his car, which we drove onto the US Army base where he lives. We got our 24 hour passes to the post and headed to his house.
For those of you that don’t know, a big part of this trip had to do with the fact that Jim and his wife Liz just had twin boys. Carson and Joshua. And if you didn’t know that, you obviously don’t read my facebook page. 😉
Carson
Joshua
It was around eight thirty or nine Korean time by the time we got to the house. Jim said the babies should be asleep but Carson was awake and smiling there to greet us, having just thrown up all over his mother. He was very smiley and flirty and I fell in love with him instantly. After a few minutes, he was whisked away to bed and Rob and I ate some snacks out of our backpack before heading to bed shortly after. Sleep was such a blessing.
Dear Neighbor, Lets Talk.
Dear Neighbor,
I am really sorry that the house you were living in while you were NOT fixing up your house next door, burned down. I can’t even fathom being able to afford to live in one place for so many years, while you say you are rebuilding your house. The truth is, your house got built up into a skeleton of a house. The structure was there, but there was no outside or inside construction for many years.
It sucks that the place you were staying burned down and now you have to come back here and try to finish what was started. You don’t really seem prepared for it. Living in a driveway to an empty shell of a house in an RV with three kids and a wife has got to bite big time. I get that. You would think that alone, would be enough reason to speed up the work on your house.
I’m sure that you are aware that my house is at the very end of a one way, dead end street. You would have to be, because on several nights we have had to get your attention from your RV, so that you could move the minivan that you parked smack dab in the middle of the road right before we could get to our house.
We were always very polite and laughed with you. I never once complained when I had to get out of my car and move one of your childs Big Wheels into your driveway after it was left in the middle of the road, so I could get home and park in my own driveway. Those are easy to move.
Lately, however it seems like you just plan on living in your RV, on your property and not really doing much to get yourself inside the sizable house that you own. That in and of itself doesn’t bother me.
What bothers me is that despite the fact that you have two driveways, you still manage to invade our space with one or more of your cars.
Remember when our seasonal neighbors across the street had to put up a chain across there driveway? Yeah, that was because you kept parking your POS van in their driveway while they were gone and it leaked oil all over their property.
I get that having an RV, a van and a car might be a tight fit for two driveways. Perhaps you should have thought of that before you came back? A few of our other neighbors have the same problem. They park at the top of the hill and walk down to their property like responsible human beings.
For the last couple of weeks you have been parking in the space above our gate, in front of another seasonal neighbors gate because you know that he is rarely here. What you don’t know, is when you do that, you make it impossible for my husband to leave for work in the morning without having to do a 3 point turn in our yard. Tearing up our lawn and causing much frustration.
He is too nice to say anything about it and since I have a zippy little Honda Fit that can zip in and out of most tight spaces without trouble, I never knew this was an issue until recently.
Tonight however, you finally took the cake when I got home to find your crappy van parked halfway into our drive space. I could barely get my Fit into our driveway without hitting you. If your car is still there in the morning, Rob will NOT be able to leave for work without bothering you. There is no way our Odyssey will be able to maneuver around your car. That will make him late for work because you are more than likely still sleeping at that point.
You can understand the fragility of being nice neighbors and not wanting to rock the boat. Especially in this day and age, when things can turn violent very fast. But dude! You park under a no parking sign every single night in front a property that isn’t yours! Have some common courtesy! It’s getting fucking ridiculous!
I will never send this letter, of course. I’m only a bitch to you if I know you fairly well, but I’m sick of people being stupid! And you are.
Love and Kisses,
Kelly
It's Done…But I Didn't Get Out Unscathed.
So today I auditioned for The Western Stage at Hartnell College.
Last weekend, Rob and I went to see The Producers there with another couple that we hang out with and we loved it. It was an amazing show and in the program they put a little flier about what was upcoming as far as the shows for next year. What caught my eye was “Carrie: The Musical”. I thought that would be an amazing show to watch. As I flipped further into the program I noticed that they were having auditions the following weekend. It gave a number and email address to call for an appointment. I sort of filed this in the back of my mind and went on to enjoy the show.
Days later I had gone over it and over it again in my mind. Other than a very bad audition for RENT at MPC six or seven years ago, I have never auditioned at any other theater company other than Paper Wing. Paper Wing is and always will be my theater home. I am comfortable there. I am familiar with most everyone there and I love them. Stepping outside of my comfort zone is not my favorite thing to do. I don’t like change. On a good day, I already have a pretty high level of anxiety, so I don’t see a need to raise it any higher by changing anything up in my daily life or routine.
But that is how I felt about it when I got involved in Paper Wing and I can easily say that it was one of the best things I have ever done. I have not only made life long friends there, but I have evolved so much as a person. I went into Paper Wing a painfully shy woman that was petrified of standing out in a crowd to… Well, to this obnoxious, outgoing person you know today.
Having said all that, I dropped an email to The Western Stage and asked for an appointment. I was given 2:00 PM today. All week long I have stressed over it. I have gone back and forth on my song selection so many times that in the end, I didn’t feel confident in ANY of my choices so I just went with the one I was the most familiar with even thought it wasn’t my strongest vocally.
This morning I wanted to bail so bad. I had thrown my neck out the day before, and Mother Nature was nice enough to bless me with my monthly gift, and I had accidentally left the only printed copy I had of my resume at work, and I had just about every other excuse in the book ready to go to justify it. And I honestly think that is the reason I had posted about the auditions on Facebook. It was a way to hold myself accountable. Now, everyone will know if I back out. I could try and put whatever spin I wanted on it, but everyone would know that I did not face up to the challenge I put on myself.
So I put on my big girl panties and went for it. I sent a copy of my resume to Fed Ex/Kinko’s in Salinas and picked up the printed copy on the way to the audition. I got to Hartnell, filled out the paperwork and was so glad to see a friendly face I knew from Paper Wing so I had a buddy to see me through.
We were pulled in to dance first and there was another friendly face. Devin has done some work with Paper Wing and is an AMAZING dancer, turns out he was leading the choreography part of the audition. I was so glad, because he is super awesome and patient.
It is no secret that I am not a great dancer. If given enough time and practice, I can fake it enough to make it look OKAY, but I will never be mistaken for any sort of dancer ever. But I did the best that I could and smiled my way through it.
After Devin taught us the combination we split into two groups and ran through it for the panel. I was in the first group. Once we were done, the two youngsters in front of me ran over to the right side of the stage and headed into the audience. I followed suit, but when I got to the edge of the stage I noticed there were no stairs. I had three choices. I could look like an asshole and backtrack around behind the 2nd group, distracting from their dancing, to get the the left side of the stage that DID have steps. I could look like an idiot and just stand there staring at the three foot drop and wait until they were done dancing. Or I could just pretend I was a spring chicken and make the jump like the two girls before me did. I chose number three.
Yeah, take a guess how that worked out for me.
I landed on my left leg in a very awkward position. Sort of sideways from the knee, you know the part that DOESN’T bend? There was no immediate pain, just a sense of: “OH MY GOD! WHAT DID I JUST DO??? THAT IS GOING TO HURT SO FUCKING BAD!!” but I hobbled up the steps and got to where I had set my purse down in the audience seats. I sat and rubbed my knee while the second group finished and then we were all called back up on the stage to run the combination all together, one more time.
That is when I started to feel the pain. I could not run the combination the way it was supposed to be done. I could barely move my left leg at all. I faked it and hoped for the best.
After that we were called in to where the rest of the groups were waiting to read and sing. I saw some more friendly faces in the groups that had gone before us so that was cool, but I was really freaking out about my leg. My first thought was I had fractured something in my shin. It felt that bad. However, I discovered that I could walk it off some, so I knew it must be just a muscle strain, albeit a very bad one.
The only good thing about that was that it was able to distract me from being nervous. Considering whether or not you need to go to the ER after your audition really sort of makes being nervous for singing in front of people seem kinda silly.
We waited around and I walked every so often to keep my leg from stiffening up. I was given a couple pages to read and a partner to read them with, so we practiced a little. More waiting and then I sang. I faltered when I started and faltered a bit at the end but I did stronger than I thought I was going to do so I guess I have no complaints. I could have done a lot better had I been better prepared with a song. That is on me.
Shortly after I sang, they called us in for the reading and that was it.
I am now at home icing my knee and leg. I am not confident that I will get a call back, but I don’t really care. I did it. I put myself outside of my comfort zone and I did it. The fact that I auditioned at all is a success in my book. I was seriously so close to backing out this morning that I’m shocked I followed through. That is something that I can feel good about.
My only regret is the knee thing, but I guess I’ve got a good story out of it right?
That Time I Took A Facebook Break
So right after Thanksgiving, I made the decision to take a break from Facebook. There were far to many unsavory posts popping up on my newsfeed. Every time there is a violent episode in the world that is broadcasted all over the news, my news feed reads like a who’s who of racist, conservative or liberal opinions. The latter I am usually okay with, but lately there were so many “memes” and articles being posted on my feed that I would check with Snopes.com only to find it was false. That meant, whether I agreed or not, people were just posting random things they read before checking to see if they were fact. That is they way most of these horrible political wars between friends get started.
I decided to take a break from it all. As a result:
- I have had more time to focus on my diet and exercise plans. Of course it took me a week to even plan that, but baby steps people!
- I have gone to bed earlier and woken up feeling more refreshed.
- I have NOT caught up on my shows, simply because a lot of them deal with violence and I’m kind of over that at the moment, but as a result of THAT I go to bed even sooner.
- I am not feeling disgust for not so close family and friends after reading their uneducated posts about all things “Obama-hates-M’urica-and-I-Want-To-Show-You-How-I-Am-Right-With-This-Meme/Article-That-I-Didn’t-Fact-Check”. That shit was starting to give me an ulcer.
In addition, I haven’t missed the vague-booking. You know the kind. Where your dramatic friend posts something like: “Oh my god! I can’t believe that happened!” Or: “I am sorry to everyone I disappointed.” Or: “I hate everyone and everything.” Or: “I will never love again.” Or: “My life ended today.”
Even just the soft vague-bookers, that say things like: “I’m so silly.” “I can’t believe I did that!” “OH MY!” “Oh no!” STOP BEGGING FOR PEOPLE TO ASK WHAT IS GOING ON!! If you were indeed that interesting, they would have already asked.
Anyhoo, when I talked to my husband about being disgusted with Facebook, he let me in on a secret. Did you know you can unfollow people and they are still on your friends list? They will still be your friends on facebook, but their posts will no longer appear in your newsfeed! And they will have no idea that you did this! You can still check in on them and see how they are doing by clicking on them. Many of you probably already know this, but this was huge news for me! And yes, I know I could just delete them, but then it gets weird in social settings and I’m all about keeping the peace.
So tonight I did a little pruning. Some deleting, some unfollowing. Overall I think I am going to be much happier with Facebook. And I do want to come back despite the positives I mentioned above. Quite frankly, I miss seeing what my friends are up to and interacting with them.
It might take me a little while to put the app back on my phone however. I kind of like not being distracted by all the notices, and just taking my FB in one lump some at the end of the day.
Also, if this entry offends you, please feel free to unfriend or unfollow me. 😀
I can't make this shit up.
So on Monday night, Rob said to me that we might drive together to work.
A little back story on this. Rob and I work in the same business park about a half an hour away. Recently, my office switched hours from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM with an hour lunch break to 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM with a half an hour lunch break. It was something we all agreed on as employees to get an extra half an hour of our non work lives back. This has been going on for about a month now I think and I love it because I get to sleep an extra half hour in the mornings. So before the hours changed, Rob and I would frequently carpool. However, since he usually wakes up with the sun and I tend to sleep in, we haven’t been carpooling a lot.
So on Monday night, when Rob said that, he also added that he might not even set his alarm, in hopes that he could sleep in with me. With that in mind, I set my alarm an extra half an hour early just in case. He was sleeping when I went to bed so I didn’t clear it with him, just did it. How I usually work my alarm is to set it for a half an hour before I need to wake up and then snooze it until I can’t milk it any longer.
Tuesday morning rolled around and Rob was once again, up with the sun. My alarm went off twice and I snoozed it both times before Rob came in and said he changed his mind, he was going to head in to work and we would take separate cars. In my sleepy haze I had forgotten about setting the alarm a half an hour earlier and thought it odd that he couldn’t just wait another ten minutes for me to get in the shower and get dressed but didn’t question it. I kissed him goodbye and fell into a light doze until my alarm went off again.
When it did, I grabbed my phone and checked my email for a few minutes. This is my normal morning routine. Snooze, sleep. Snooze, sleep. Snooze, play on phone until alarm goes off again and then get up and shower.
I did this as I normally do. Got in the shower, got dressed and headed out the door to work.
I noted that the traffic was a bit different that morning, but didn’t think much about it. Got into the work parking lot, and tried to open the front door but it was locked.
My supervisor Julie came running up looking at me like I had three heads and unlocked the door. She said: “Yeah, I don’t normally unlock it until 20 minutes to 9. I looked back at her like she had five heads and said: “Am I early?” In my head I only had five minutes to clock in. She said that I was indeed quite early and pointed to the clock on the wall behind my head that read 8:25 AM.
My mind did a quick spin around and I recapped the events of the morning. I got up and played on my phone -that CLEARLY displayed the time. I got in the shower, where we have a CD player that has a clock. I checked that clock several times to see if I had time to shave my legs and NEVER NOTICED I was a half an hour earlier than I should be. We have a talking clock that goes off every hour in the kitchen that we never reset after the time change. While I was getting dressed, I heard it go off saying: “It’s nine o’clock AM” and I laughed to myself, saying out loud: “No it’s not you liar, it’s only eight.”
SO MANY instances that I should have noticed that the time was off, and yet I didn’t notice a single one.
As I relayed this to Julie, she had a good chuckle but I was truly disturbed. How in the world did I never notice?
Thankfully, she let me start early and leave at five, but I was seriously mystified at my own lack of attention to the time that morning. Is this how dementia starts? I know I am mentally disturbed, but is it going to be certifiable now?
I got home and relayed the story to Rob. He laughed for a while and then made me feel better by pointing out that I have had the same schedule for ten years before it recently changed. I was simply on auto pilot, having not remembered that I changed my alarm the night before. I guess it makes sense, but damn. I felt like a bit of a buffoon on Tuesday.
Anyhoo, have a great Holiday weekend everyone.
Vegas Trip Report
So for the first time ever Rob headed to Vegas without me.
What happened was that I couldn’t get as much time off of work as Rob did for out trip this year so we reached a compromise. So he drove out to Vegas on Wednesday morning and I flew out of San Jose Friday night after work.
Friday morning I dropped the babies off at the vets and headed to work. My friend Trisha was set to drive me to the airport after work and I was already feeling apprehensive about flying.
It’s no secret that I am petrified of flying. If I did it more, it probably wouldn’t bother me as much. But as it stands I usually only fly every two years or so and it’s kinda terrifying for me. I wasn’t always that way, but much like my fear of freeways it started after I had a serious bout of anxiety back in Arizona. The worst of the everyday anxiety went away but those two phobias stuck around for some reason.
So around three thirty Friday afternoon, we heard about the things starting up in Paris.
First and foremost, the sheer horror of what happened just cut me to the bone. I am not trying to belittle what happened in any way. I don’t understand how anyone could do the things that were done. I don’t understand. I just don’t. I can’t even express.
So I’m not going to. But I’m not going to lie and say that the thought of my own safety wasn’t questioned knowing I was going to fly to a very popular city that night. So on top of my already almost crippling fear of planes going down in a fiery fury while I’m aboard for no good reason, now there is a very present threat that something could possibly happen. I know the chances were slim, but hello? Anxiety girl here!!
At any rate, Work got out and Trisha drove us like a bat out of hell to the airport. Even with a stop to In & Out Burgers we made it record time. She dropped me off and away I went. They say you really have to love someone to drop them off or pick them up at the airport. That girl is a saint.
My flight was delayed, so after what felt like an eternity I was finally on board. It was a full flight but I found a row with an open middle and aisle seat way in the back. In a lucky break, that middle seat was the only seat not filled on that plane. Proving mine and Robs theory that no one wants to sit next to a fat person on a plane. Duh! You could literally see the fear in the eyes of the passengers I made eye contact with as I made my way down the plane. “Oh shit, don’t let the fat lady pick this seat.” I almost wanted to fuck with some of them but I was too tired.
As the plane continued to fill up, a group of loud frat boys managed to baord the last two remaining rows behind mine. Of course they did. This was a Friday night flight to Vegas after all. While they were pretty obnoxious, they did nothing to make me believe they were overly drunk or wasted.
The flight started and I put on my headphones with white noise, and opened up my kindle. It was a very smooth flight and I was very happy about that. Before I knew it, the announcement came on to power down our devices as we were descending. I unplugged my headphones and put everything away.
Now I’m not sure if those frat boys had been pounding drinks right before they got on the plane and it hit them hard, or if they really consumed that much on the flight, but in the one hour I had my headphones on, those boys went from obnoxious to belligerent and slurring their words. In the ten minutes it took to land the plane, these guys wouldn’t shut up. And there was that one guy. You know the one. The guy that has taken it so far even the other drunks are embarrassed by him.
Ahh to be young and on your way to the city of sin.
Thankfully, my time around them was short and I made my way to the taxi line. The taxi line that was about a mile long. They had it roped up like a popular ride at Disneyland. Where you just keep walking and turning and walking. My initial thought was “fuuuuuck” because I was already so tired , but they had it organized pretty well and it only took about seven minutes to get to a cab.
My cab driver was super nice and chatty so that made the expensive ride seem faster. I should note that in case you were wondering why Rob didn’t pick me up, it’s because I told him not to. It was already midnight at that point and I didn’t want him to have to drive in Friday night traffic.
When I got up to the room rob had food and drink waiting for me but the first thing I did was get in my pj’s. It had been a loooooong day.
I ate my sandwich and watched Fresh Prince on nick at night before falling into a blissful sleep.
Saturday morning I woke up with cramps around nine. Oh yes, Mother Nature blessed me with my gift the day before I flew out just to make sure my vacation was as enjoyable as possible. 😉 This was the day we were supposed to do our check in for the race. Rob and I had signed up for the 10k they had to go along with the marathon this year. I normally do the half marathon but we decided to do something shorter together this year.
I pretty much knew at this point that I was going to back out. I have done zero training and with the addition of my period? Yeah, not going to happen. But Rob said he still wanted to do his so he headed off to the expo to check in while I laid around in bed and watched crap TV. In case you didn’t know by now, that is my absolute favorite thing to do on vacation.
He got back about two hours later and we laid around a bit more. Eventually, I got up and showered and we headed downtown to check things out. First stop was The Fremont to get some Dunkin.I got a large mocha coolatta to split and the we headed to Binion’s to get our annual pics taken with the million dollars. After that we hit the plaza but weren’t that impressed. We discovered that the Las Vegas Club appears to be closed and all the advertising on its windows were for the Golden Gate. That makes me wonder if they bought them to expand.
With not much else to do we headed back up to the room, after a quick stop at the market for dinner.
Sunday we woke up leisurely. This was the day we were changing hotels, but check out wasn’t until noon and check in at The Flamingo wasn’t until four. I had an email from Flamingo asking me to check in online and they would text me when the too was ready, so I did that around nine. Rob and I then showered and packed and we were out of the El Cortez by eleven. While we were stopped at a local store to get water and snacks I got a text that our room was ready at the Flamingo and to pick up my keys at the platinum members area.
When I knew we were going to be staying at the Flamingo again this trip, I signed up for their rewards credit card. You earn a certain amount of points for every dollar spent. So I started using that card like I would my debit card and then paid it off every month with my debit card. I figured we might earn some perks and I was spending that money anyway so why not? As long as it is paid on time there are no fees so it’s a win win.
We found the Flamingo parking structure with no problem and schlept our luggage to the elevator. In the lobby I got to skip the long check in line and go behind the golden door of the platinum cardholders to check in. Got my room keys in a snap and was directed to the spa tower to get our room.
As we got up to the 21st floor we found we were the first room after the elevators. No long walk to the room from the casino. Score! When we opened the door, I saw that we were notably upgraded. I had booked a regular room but this was a fancier room, with a fridge, automatic window curtains, a big soaking tub and a view of the High Roller. Nice!
As Rob got geared up for the race I decided to go downstairs and get a sandwich to split since we hadn’t had anything substantial on our tummy’s in awhile. Rob suggested I also go get my replacement casino card since I couldn’t find mine at home.
So I boogied down to the total rewards booth and asked the lady if I could get a dup card. I gave her my ID and waited. When she handed me my card she said. “Oh, Ms Machado, you have almost three hundred dollars in comps to spend on dining, shopping or rooms.” I thanked her and headed off to the food court sort of dizzy. I knew I would have some comps from using the credit card on daily purchases, but this basically made the room free.
I got a sandwich at LA Subs and went back up to the room. We snacked a bit and then I walked him down to the monorail so he could head off to the race.
After that I headed back up to the room, changed into my pj’s and laid on the amazing king sized bed while watching crap TV for a couple of hours. Eventually I got up and headed to the food court again. Rob had requested a burger from Johnny Rockets so I went out and got him one for when he was finished with the race.
By the time I got back up to the room, Rob texted me and said he had one more mile to go. I grabbed my jacket and headed downstairs to find it was raining outside and that because the marathon was in full swing, I couldn’t cross the street to see him cross the finish line. I was bummed.
We texted back and forth and we eventually met up outside the Flamingo and headed back up to the room where he grabbed a shower and a quick nap.
Once he was rejuvenated we headed downstairs and played a little bit of gamble. We found a block of machines of my mom’s favorite game and ended up fifteen dollars ahead.
We decided not to press our luck any further, so Rob headed back up to the room while I dropped by the food court to pick up two slices of pizza and two Stromboli’s for dinner/breakfast and we ate and went to bed.
The next morning was Monday and Rob had promised it to be my day. Meaning that, since I had to cut my vacation short, he was willing to do whatever I wanted that day even if it meant just laying in bed and watching crap TV. We’ve already established, that is my favorite thing.
I wanted to explore a little bit though so we woke, showered and headed over on the foot bridge to see what Caesar’s Palace had to offer us. Turns out it wasn’t a lot. We walked the forum shops only to find we couldn’t afford anything they had and at the end of it all, the Atlantis show wasn’t running. Bummer.
So we headed back down the foot bridge to check out the new Cromwell Casino. It used to be known as Barbary Coast and also Bill’s Gambling Hall. We stayed there with my mom a long time ago when it was Barbary, and we quite liked it, but it was a tiny little casino trying to keep up with the big boys. We knew it wouldn’t last. What we discovered is that it had been expanded nicely but there was still nothing really notable about it.
We ventured further to check out The Linq. Which used to be the Imperial Palace. I had never been to the IP, so I had nothing to compare it to, but I wasn’t altogether un-thrilled with it. Since it is a Total Rewards casino, we might consider staying there next time. They had a restaurant that looked pretty amazing called Hash House A Go Go, but we weren’t in the mood for a meal at that time.
After that we decided we wanted to relax some more so we headed back to the Flamingo. We made a pit stop at the Habitat to look at some Flamingo’s.
After that we grabbed a quick slice of pizza and headed back to our room where we got back into our pj’s. Rob took a nap while I started this trip report on my Ipad and relaxed.
When Rob woke up, we got dressed and headed downstairs. He had a bet to make for his work pal in the high roller video poker area. That happened a little too fast without a win so we ventured out to the penny slots as that is more our speed. We didn’t win, but we didn’t lose too bad either.
Dinner was on our minds at that point and we both thought back to the Hash House A Go Go at The Linq and knew we had to go there. We made the short trek across the street and placed our order with a really awesome waitress. She sold me on a drink, that while okay…wasn’t worth the price. She was forgiven once we got our food and got it back up to the room to discover the most delicious burgers ever!!!
Seriously! I got a burger stuffed with bacon mashed potatoes. The thing was so giant that I could only eat half and even then I was stuffed. Also, the fries! OMG!! It’s a good thing they don’t have these locally or I would be 350 pounds again!!! So nummy!
So that brings us to Tuesday morning. Time to leave. I wanted to sleep in a bit but for whatever reason, I was up at around eight. So we showered, packed up and made a trip down to the car with our luggage.
This was the first time I had ever had “comps” at a hotel/casino and I wasn’t quite sure how to use them. So after we were all packed up, I headed over to the comp desk to see what to do. They said all I had to do was go beyond those Golden Doors that I checked in at and show them my card and check out. It would be comped.
We walked into the Platinum card members check in area and just like that our room was comped, AND we were told we still had over a hundred dollars still to spend on food, drink or shopping. Rob and I looked at each other and decided we had some shopping to do!
We hit the gift shop and dropped 75 in tee shirts, cups and trinkets for ourselves. We rarely buy souvenirs in Vegas anymore so it was kind of nice to shop around. Having said that, even with free money I couldn’t justify spending it on some of the higher priced items in the store.
After that we stopped for an overpriced coffee drink and a danish (also comped) and headed out to go home.
When we got on the road I turned to Rob and said: “Remember when we were high rollers for like a half an hour??” Damn, I would have comped more stuff on the trip had I known!
The drive home was uneventful and we made pretty good time.
Today Rob had the day off so he picked up the pooches while I was at work and I just reconnected with them about an hour ago. I’ve never been so happy to have dog slobber all over my face.
Overall, it was a quick trip, but I quite enjoyed it.
Pappy Has Cancer
There you go. I was going to say that the title of this blog says everything, but it hardly says anything at all.
One year ago we discovered a bump on Pappy’s side. We brought him into the vet where they took some blood from it and had that biopsied. The lab work came back that it was a mast cell tumor and we should have it removed. That was all the info we were given and we took it at face value. I was sad and scared but we scheduled the surgery and had it removed. At the time, the vet took me in and showed me the x-rays they took and he told me that it looked good, that they had gotten it all. We were never asked if we wanted to biopsy the tumor and we wouldn’t have known to ask, because at the time we didn’t even know that could be done.
Fast forward to a few weeks before we leave for Maine. We discover another bump on Pappy’s side. This time it is under the skin and not on the surface like the last time and it is growing pretty fast.
I took him into the vets and she did what was called a punch surgery to see if she could remove the whole thing in a simple procedure for the biopsy. She wasn’t able to get it all but she sent what she had to the lab to be biopsied.
The news came back a week before we left for Maine that it was another Mast Cell Tumor and needed to be removed. We scheduled the surgery to take place the day after we arrived in Maine. We had no choice that was the soonest they could get him in.
While we were in Maine they sent us a text and a video showing us how well he was recovering and all was right with the world.
While we were on vacation we had boarded the dogs at the same vet’s that did the surgery – we always do. So when I went to get the babies after arriving home they asked if I wanted to have the tumor they removed biopsied. I asked what was the point? We already knew it was a Mast Cell Tumor and they removed it. I was told that the biopsy would tell us the severity of the tumor and if they got it all.
I kind of blew it off at the time thinking that they didn’t do any of this last time. And though he got another tumor, I didn’t think that it could possibly be serious. Pappy was fine. He didn’t act sick at all.
In the next week or so I mentioned it in passing to my husband and he said, well, if it will give us peace of mind that they got everything we should go ahead and do it. So we did.
I got home from work one day about a week later to a message on our answering machine that they had misjudged. The lab work came back as a grade 3 tumor and we needed to contact them right away.
I immediately burst into tears. I had no idea what any of that meant but it sounded serious and it was. We googled grade 3 Mast Cell Tumors and the news was not good. I cried a lot that night.
Rob called the vet the next morning and was basically told this was beyond their area of expertise and we were referred to a specialist.
We met with the specialist who told us there was not much research out there on Grade 3 Mast Cell Tumor treatment. However, what they DID know is that that particular type of tumor is rare and really aggressive. And what they biopsy showed was that Pappy’s “lines were dirty”. What that means is that although they took a VERY large margin of skin with his tumor, it wasn’t enough. The skin that is left over still has the disease in it.
We were told all of our options. Chemo, radiation…a lot of terms and words we didn’t understand came at us at a rapid pace. We were told that they couldn’t tell for sure if it had metastasized unless they did some pretty invasive procedures on Pappy, but given the history on this type of tumor they were 90 % sure it had. We were sent home with a prescription for Prednisone and told to also give him Benadryl and Pepcid. We were to do this until we reached a decision and got back to them. They also sent us a follow up email detailing all of the treatment plans.
I cried a LOT that week.
The good news was that the specialists were VERY encouraged by the fact that Pappy showed no signs of being sick. That he seemed in very good health and had no behavioral changes.
Rob and I finally sat down and talked about treatment. We both knew that we were not interested in anything that would make Pappy sick and ruin the quality of the life he has left. We don’t know for sure how old Pappy is because he was a stray when we got him from the SPCA, but we guess he is either 12 or 13 years old. It would be very selfish of me to put him through a treatment that would make him ill and miserable, just to keep him around so I won’t be sad and miss him. And hell, for all we know, it may not have even metastasized! I know the odds are that it has, but I’m not willing to put him through another major surgery to find out.
Rob also talked to a co worker of his that was a dog trainer. He had some friends/clients that had experience with these types of tumors. He said the reason there is no research out there on the treatments is because they mostly happen in older dogs and the owners typically opt out of treatment.
So Rob and I have opted to keep him on the steroid/pepcid/benadryl treatment plan until he goes. That is supposed to suppress any of the ill effects of the cancer in him.
So far he is doing well, still has a huge appetite, but he drinks and pees a lot more from the steroid. Just this week he has been having a hard time getting up on the bed and into the cars. I’m guessing that is more age related than cancer. Because he is such a long dog we have anticipated having some back problems with him eventually.
We may change our minds on the treatment if he starts to show a decline in health, but for right now, I feel we have made the best decision.
I love this dog with all my heart. You can’t even imagine. He is always by my side. He waits up for me when I come home from rehearsal, no matter how late. He stays up with me until I’m ready to go to bed. If I am ever sad or sick he is right there in my face, licking away my tears. Ironically he licked away my tears when I was crying for him.
He’s just a good boy and I’m so sad this had to happen to him.
I want to keep him forever, but I know that isn’t going to happen. Part of being a dog owner is accepting the fact that they live a shorter life span than we do. It is heartbreaking when they pass, but I wouldn’t give up the daily unconditional love that they provide for one second.
Maine Trip Report
This was the most nervous I have been anticipating travel in a long time. The main reason was because my little baby boy Pappy was having to undergo surgery for the second time to remove a mast cell tumor and it would be happening while we were three thousand miles away in Maine. We had no choice, time was of the essence and we didn’t discover the tumor until a week before we were to leave.
We found out that he was okay towards the end of our first day in Maine so all was right with the world but I’ll tell you I was a wreck all day Wednesday at work just knowing he was going under the knife and having to recover without me there.
Any-who, We flew out on a full Jetblue flight on Wednesday night around nine pacific time. It was a fairly smooth flight and I managed to doze in and out of sleep. It didn’t feel like I had slept that much but I must have because the five and a half hour flight managed to feel like just a couple of hours to me.
We landed in Boston and schlept to our gate to wait out the three and a half hour layover. With the help of a little Dunkin of course.
The layover was probably harder than the flight, and I am NOT a good flier.
Finally we were allowed to board this tiny little nine seater plane and make our way to Augusta, Maine.
So far that was the easiest part of the traveling. Rarely are those flights smooth, but this one was. I managed to snooze most of the one hour flight.
We touched down painlessly at the tiny Augusta airport and called a cab. In less than ten minutes we were deposited at my mom’s assisted living apartments.
We relaxed there for a little bit but we didn’t want to get too comfy. We had to make a couple of stops before we could settle in.
The first stop was to the music shop next to Damon’s sandwich place to get Rob a guitar for the trip. While he shopped I got us some lunch next door and from there we hit Hannaford’s to get some supplies for the week. My mom’s fridge was pretty bare.
Once we were finally done we settled in at mom’s, showered and waited to go to bed.
That last bit sounds funny but after being awake the better part of 34 hours we just had to stay up a couple more hours to be able to turn a potential nap into a full nights sleep.
We made big salads for dinner. As a side note, there was an interesting conversation with Rob about the differences between Dinner and Supper in Maine as apposed to Lunch and Dinner on the West Coast. It took a little bit for Rob to understand that Lunch is Dinner and Dinner is Supper here but I think he finally got it.
When it was finally time, we blew up the air mattress and hit the sack.
Friday was shopping day. We woke up and puttered around a bit before heading out to Mom’s credit union so she could get some money. Then it was a quick visit to a very run down and crappy looking Kmart, to get a chest of drawers that mom wanted that was on sale. After that we hit up Walmart to do our usual shopping for the stuff we didn’t bring with us. I had anticipated it being more like last year time where I was able to pick up some shorts and tank tops to get me through the rest of this trip in this horrid heat, but I didn’t find much of a plus section. Which for Maine is really odd.
I did find a HUGE selection of plus sized sports bras which is about right for Maine. I bought a crap load because I can’t find them in California, and got a few night clothes.
Side note: Once I got the night clothes home and tried them on, I am under the impression that the plus sized clothes in Walmart might be hiding in the regular sections under the disguise of XL. Normally XL does not mean 2X or 3X which is what I now sport. After getting finally trying on a pair of 3 X sleep shorts I bought there I discovered that I was swimming in them. They are more a 4 or 5X easy. This knowledge came in handy on our second round of Walmart shopping later in the trip.
Once the shopping was done we headed over to our absolute favorite food place in Maine: The Red Barn.
I got a Haddock basket with onion rings and a dinner roll and Rob got the 1/4 pound Lobster Roll and we split a chocolate shake. It was heaven!!!! It’s a good thing I don’t have an equivalent of Red Barn where I live or I WILL be sporting those 5X shorts.
With full bellies we headed back to Mom’s and got ready for our date night.
Showered and still sweating(Damn this humidity!) we headed out to Hallowell to see a play.
We discovered the Gaslight theater two years ago on our last trip. In all the years I lived in Maine, I had no idea it even existed. It is also the only theater I could find locally that was actually putting up a play in the time frame that we were going to be in town.
We saw “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” written by Steve Martin. It was cute and funny. The acting was solid right up until the title character Picasso came on. His acting was wooden at best. His lines were rushed and he was void of any emotion in his performance. It was REALLY distracting from the rest of the otherwise great performances.
After the show we headed back up to Mom’s and ate leftovers before going to sleep.
Saturday we slept in a bit, packed up our stuff and checked into the Hampton Inn in Augusta for our first of two nights. Learning from our experience last trip, we planned out our sleeping arrangements a bit better this year. We planned our first two nights with mom, the next two nights at a hotel, the next two at mom’s, the next two at a hotel and the last two at moms. So that we had six nights with mom and four nights to ourselves, nicely spaced out. It ended up working perfectly.
A few months ago I had stayed at a Hampton Inn in Salinas for a weekend getaway and I loved it so much I signed up for their rewards program. In turn, I also signed up for their credit card to earn more rewards. They had a promo that if you signed up for their card and spent a thousand dollars in four months, you earned 40,000 points. So I just started using the card for buying all the stuff I normally would with my debit card. Groceries and gas and so on and so forth. I had those points in no time and it only cost 22,000 points for one night stay in Augusta. Boom, two free nights.
After checking in I did a little shopping at TJ Maxx and Target and then headed back to the hotel to settle in for the night.
We spent the night relaxing. We ordered delicious sandwiches to be delivered from College Carryout and I spent some time at the pool. It was wonderful. A vacation in the middle of our vacation was just what the doctor ordered.
The next day was Sunday and if you can believe it, it was even more lazy. We ate leftovers and never got out of our PJ’s. For dinner we ordered Chinese to be delivered for dinner and I learned again about the HUGE difference between Maine Chinese food and Chinese food everywhere else.. Heh.
This is what you get in Maine when you ask for Chicken Chow Mien. No joke.
Monday morning we had to wake early and go pick up mom as she had a follow up appt with her eye doctor from her cataract surgery. The appointment took about an hour just to be told everything looked good and they would see her soon for the surgery on her other eye.
We had been planning to go to the Windsor Fair that afternoon but we decided we needed to tend to Mom’s needs instead. And what Mom needed was a new computer. She had accidentally burnt out the fan on her laptop and since it was a six year old laptop, it was more cost effective to buy her a cheap new one than to fix the old one. Especially since she only used the computer to use Facebook and play simple games.
We stopped at Best Buy (there is still one in Augusta) and found a laptop that would work under 300.00. While there we decided it might be time to replace mom’s ancient TV that is barely functioning. The last thing we threw in was a stand up fan to replace mom’s death trap of one that had no protective front cover.
With our good deed done we schlept everything back up to mom’s apartment and Rob set about putting everything together. Mom was over the moon appreciative and that made it all worthwhile. 🙂
We dined on leftover Chinese food and hit the sack fairly early.
Tuesday morning we woke up and all got ready for the road trip to Bangor so mom could go visit the Hollywood Casino. When I used to live in Maine, it took about an hour and a half to drive from Augusta to Bangor. Now, thanks to some interstate improvements and a raise in the speed limit, it only took us an hour. We arrived, parked and headed into the building. The only snag we hit was when the security guard told Rob he had to check his man purse, no men were allowed to bring bags into the casino. Rob contested this as he did when the same thing happened last trip at the Oxford Casino, because my mother and I were allowed to bring our purses in. Rob finally relented when the security guard told him what he wanted to hear: “We treat the ladies a little differently.” He just wanted to be justified that it was, in fact, discrimination.
Hollywood Casinos on that Tuesday morning had incredibly tight slots. We played for a while, but eventually stopped because this trip was about Mom getting to play and not about us losing our shirts in the span of a couple hours. When even Mom said: “I still have some money, but I can’t see wasting it.” we decided to pack it up and head home. She got her fill of bells and whistles, but realized she can play the same games at home on facebook for free.
Since we didn’t as long as we expected to at the casino, after we got home Rob and I decided it was a perfect time to hit up the Windsor Fair. I put out a call on facebook to see if anyone wanted to join us but as it was a last minute invitation, no one could. No matter, we headed out anyway.
We had a good time but it was so freaking hot and humid that day that I was glad to get back into the air conditioned car and head home.
On the way home we hit Whipper’s for some a sandwich and some salads and headed back to Mom’s where we ate and headed to bed, completely exhausted.
Wednesday morning we got up and headed over to Waterville to pick up my very favorite cousin Dot. Dot had more than her fair share of raising me when I was a kid and my parents were divorcing, so it feels weird to call her a cousin. An Aunt or Grandmother figure would be a much more accurate description of what she is to me. She is 90 years old, looks about 60 and acts around 40. She is sharp as a tack and still funny as all get out. I love her so very much. We picked her up and headed out to one of my favorite restaurants in Maine called Governor’s.
The food there is amazing! I got a meatloaf that was put on top of a slice of homemade bread and topped with a giant scooped of red skinned mashed potatoes and drowned in homemade gravy. Rob got Lobster Stew and Poutine and we both shared. So freaking good!!!
After we dropped Dot back off at home as well as Mom at her apartment. Rob and I grabbed our suitcases and headed out to the second and last hotel of the trip.
This hotel was a Best Western in Waterville. We chose it specifically because we had signed up for a Paint Nite painting class that night that was being held at the bar that was attached to the hotel.
This was probably the hottest day of the entire trip. It was well into the 90’s with a very high humidity rate. After carting everything in from the car to the hotel room I was just spent. I literally stripped off all my clothes, blasted the AC and laid on the bed for a good fifteen minutes. It was almost unbearable.
After I recovered we got dressed and headed out to the painting class. We had done a very similar class on our last trip to Vegas and we very much enjoyed it so we were quite happy when we found a groupon for one in Maine that lined up with our trip.
I turned out to not be in the actual bar itself but in a little event area offshoot of the bar that had it’s own little full bar and a bunch of tables. We got our canvas’ and picked our spots before getting our drinks and waiting for the class to start.
I would say there were about fifty people there and Rob was the only guy. Heh. I told him I bet he wished he was still single! 🙂
Our paintings
What it was supposed to look like
The class was a lot of fun, and while our paintings didn’t look exactly like they should have, we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves immensely.
Once we were back up in the room we realized that we didn’t have anything lined up for dinner, so Rob headed down to the bar and got us a club sandwich and fries that we devoured and headed to bed.
Thursday morning we went shopping across the street from our hotel at Walmart. Now that I knew more about the way the items fit I was determined to get some cooler clothes for this hot climate. I picked up a few things and then we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready. That night we were supposed to have a get together at my friend Joleen’s house with some other people but everyone kind of bailed on us. Not to be deterred, we rallied up with Joleen and decided to have lunch at Big G’s instead. Big G’s is an amazing deli that serves sandwiches bigger than my head, and I have a pretty big noggin’. I always get the same thing every time we go. It’s called the Miles sandwich and it is turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and mayo on their homemade white bread. It is probably one of the best things I have ever eaten.
We had a good chat with Joleen and had a fantastic lunch. We told her of our plans to have dinner at my favorite pizza place Sonny’s, and I’m glad we did. She informed us that it had recently changed hands and that we would be sorely disappointed. I was really upset about it until she told us that there was another new place in Waterville that used the same dough as Sonny’s used to and was very comparable taste wise. She gave us the name of Cappza’s Pizza and we laughed because there was a flier for that very pizzeria in our hotel room for delivery.
After lunch we headed back to the hotel for our last night of relaxation. We ordered pizza from Cappza’s, watched TV and generally did a lot of nothing. The pizza, by the way, tasted exactly like I remembered Sonny’s tasting so it was a huge win!
The next day was set to be a jam packed Friday of eating. We had a breakfast Scheduled at the Purple Cow with my friend Kimmy in Fairfield, a lunch at Bolley’s Hot Dog’s in Augusta with my friend Mariah and dinner at Canton Village in Gardiner with my friend Naomi. I wasn’t sure how we were going to fit all that food into our belly’s. Just kidding! Our stomachs were so stretched out at that point it wasn’t an issue. 😉
As we were getting ready for breakfast on Friday morning, I checked my Facebook to find a message from Kimmy saying she wasn’t feeling well and she was going to bail on breakfast. No longer in any real hurry, we packed up leisurely and decided we would head back Mom’s house to unpack before our lunch at Bolley’s.
I don’t think we did a whole lot else before heading out to meet with Mariah and her family. I “met” Mariah online many many years ago. I’d say probably about 13 years or so, maybe more. It was back when Livejournal was all the rage for online blogging. I followed her blog for awhile and once that craze went by the wayside we ended up friends on Myspace and after THAT craze was over we had been friends on Facebook ever since. I think I originally started following her because it was an active and interesting blog and she was from Maine. Anyhoo, up until this trip we had never actually met in person.
We had a very pleasant visit. We met her husband and her two children Ava and baby Emmett. I got my baby fix for a little while and it was fun to finally connect in person with the person on the screen.
After lunch we headed back to mom’s but as we parked the car we decided we wanted to walk downtown and see about the piercing place that was down there. Rob wanted to match the gauge of his left ear piercing with his right ear and I had pretty much decided I was going to finally get the Monroe piercing I had wanted forever.
Even though it was around one in the afternoon on a Friday the shop was closed so we walked around a little more. There was one more piercing shop around there but their sign said they had moved. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
We walked home and enjoyed the view of the bridge next to my mom’s apartment building.
We putted around mom’s apartment for a bit before it was time to head out with mom to go meet Naomi for a Chinese food dinner. I’ve known Nae since I was 17 so that makes it…24 years? Holy crap! How we met is a really long story, but she was the sister of a friend and I kind of adopted her as my little sister all those years ago. I got to meet her husband this trip which was nice. We chose Canton Village because that is where I used to take her and her sister for lunches on my paydays when I was in my very early 20’s. It is also the first place that Rob met Naomi 14 years ago with her then baby girl Brianna. We were hoping Bri would join us that night so we could try and recreate the picture we took back then. It would have involved her getting into a high chair and throwing food on the ground, but if she is anything like Nae was at 15 years old, she would totally be down for it. Unfortunately, it was just us grown ups.
We all had the buffet and talked for a very long time. I hadn’t been able to see Nae last trip so it had been four years since I saw her and it was good to reconnect. I also really liked her husband Dan. He had a wicked sense of humor and they got along really well.
After dinner we were just exhausted from all the socializing and food so we headed to bed too long after we got home.
Saturday Kimmy was feeling much better so we met up in the morning at AHOP for breakfast. I got to see her daughter Emily who I had only met very briefly once before about four years ago at my mom’s yard sale. It was a good visit and as always the food at AHOP was amazing.
There is always a happiness and a sadness when I get to go home and meet up with old friends. I’m so happy that I get to see them again and share another moment in time, but at the same time that I am so glad to reconnect and remember all the good times it makes me sad I can’t see them more often. I admit, I am the worst person ever to get on the phone. I talk on the phone for a living so the last thing I want to do is talk on it when I’m in my down time. I know, it’s horrible, but I really do stay connected mainly through Facebook. Sometimes though, it’s not the same. When it comes to people I have known forever (Kimmy can you believe it’s been 27 years since we met??) and been really close to in my past, seeing them again just makes me miss them like crazy. 🙁
Anyways, back home after breakfast, Rob and I started to pack up all of our stuff. We were due to fly out the next afternoon and we still had a lot of stuff we had bought and or had shipped to my mom’s house so we wouldn’t have to have extra luggage, and it all had to go back to California.
Once we had most of our stuff boxed up to ship back, I got a call from my cousin Tammy asking if she could come visit. I was pleased she reached out and invited her over to mom’s.
I love my cousins, and I have a lot of them, but while most of them live in the state of Maine, it is rare to be able to meet up with many of them while I am visiting due to work/events/so on and so forth. The last time that happened was my cousin’s wedding many years ago and the stars have not aligned since.
So the only cousin I got to see this trip was Tammy when she came over that afternoon. She stayed a lot longer than I expected and we had a really nice chat.
The rest of Saturday was spent packing up our boxes and shipping them back to California. I honestly don’t remember what else we did that day because I’m a slacker and it has taken me far too long to write this trip report and now everything is fuzzy.
Sunday we woke up and headed out to breakfast at Friendly’s with mom. After we were done we headed up to visit my Auntie Donna for a little bit.
Then it was off to finish packing and catch a cab to the airport where it was absolutely deserted and deliciously freezing. It was the best air conditioning we had experienced the entire trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it.
After getting on our puddle jumper and a small layover in Boston, I was delighted to find the plane back to San Jose had wifi! And there was a Buffy marathon on the TV! It was honestly one of the best flights I have ever taken and since I hate to fly, that says a lot.
Once home and rested we decided that this was just the right amount of time for the trip. It was enough time to do what we wanted to do but also have some downtime on our own to actually “vacation”. The spacing between staying at my mom’s and hotels was also done perfectly. Next trip will be planned out accordingly.
It was good to see everyone and catch up, but I was so happy to get home to my babies and sleep in my own bed.
Next time I’ll try to do a trip report as it happens instead of two months later. I might remember more.
Everything Happens For A Reason.
Everything happens for a reason. It’s an old saying and it’s a bit cliche, but I have found it to be very true.
I have recently had someone remove themself from my life quite suddenly, and in the most passive aggressive way possible…defriending me from Facebook. It sounds silly, this happens all the time. However, this person was like family to me. Perhaps closer. I wasn’t the only one she defriended, and my friends told me that should make me feel better, but it didn’t. It made me feel worse, in fact.
For a very long time I couldn’t talk about it. I went through all the stages of grief that you tend to go through, though not in the usual order. Disbelief was first, but anger was a very close second. It was a white hot anger and it hit me hard and fast. I immediately blocked her from my Facebook account. This was not the first time she had tried to end our friendship but it was damn sure going to be the last.
I couldn’t talk about it for weeks without tearing up. My friends that had also been defriended tried to engage me in conversation and I just smiled and shrugged and said: “I’m not ready to talk about that.” or “It is what it is.”
The kicker is that I knew why she did it. That is not my story to share, but I know why she did. We all knew. And when it was pointed out to me by a friend who was trying to be helpful I snapped: “I know that. I’m aware, but Fuck Her for thinking that our friendship meant so little that she could throw it away over something so stupid.” Like I haven’t ALWAYS been there for her and NOT judged her.
The truth is that every time I tried to engage her in the weeks prior either backed out at the last minute or flat our said no to my invitation with a flimsy excuse.
So that happened.
Anyhoo, as it turns out that old cliche is pretty accurate.
As time has worn on, I have been seeing a lot of things with clearer eyes. Enlightened eyes, if you will. I found out a lot of things that I had suspected in the back of my mind. Times she had thrown me under the bus at work. Smack that she talked about me behind my back. Not to mention the flat out lies that she has told.
All of these things made me take a deeper look at the friendship I thought we had. And even looking back out our Facebook interactions I see the negativity. The little digs she would take at me in the “joking banter” that we had. Her little comments when she didn’t like my hair or my outfit. Her general negativity for most things that I used to enjoy.
Don’t get me wrong, I know that she really did think of me as a friend. However, with the abruptness that she defriended me I’m not sure if it was the closeness that I thought it had been, but she did enjoy our friendship…that I feel confident of.
My enlightened eyes have, however, afforded me a clarity that seems to keep evolving. You should never be suspicious about what your friends are saying about you and I always was with her — I later found out for good reason. I have also, with her absence, begun to embrace things that I used to love before she poisoned my outlook on them.
Recently, a mutual friend of ours called me out on a Facebook post about how I was a horrible friend. I believe she said something to the effect of the fact that if she could fathom the worst friend in the world, it would be me. I was really upset. Not because I really valued this mutual friend but because it showed that lies were being told about me. And maybe the person telling them even believes them, but as I have been told repeatedly from more that one of my actual friends, no matter what is said, my REAL friends know me and who I am and that is all that really matters in the end.
No one is out to get me. None of my friends/co-workers/family are actively seeking to destroy me like I was led to believe. In fact, they very much want me to succeed and shine. Once I figured this out, my whole outlook changed.
Things in my life are so very different right now. I am happy. I am not looking over my shoulder or waiting for the other shoe to drop. Good things are happening and I am embracing them. It sounds so very hippie dippie but it’s true.
I’ve been moved to a new position at work that I love! Rob and I are the most connected we’ve been in a long time and I know for certain in my heart that my friends only want what is best for me and have nothing but happiness for me when I succeed. I can’t even put into words what a good feeling that is.
Everything DOES happen for a reason.
Toe No!!!
So when I ran the half marathon in November, I thought I would be proactive about my blisters on my feet. The two last toes on my right foot tend to fold under my other toes and make really bad blisters when I walk at any distance. Both those toes were already recovering from blisters from my training when I got to Vegas for the half.
I didn’t do a whole lot of training once I got there and by that I mean none at all, so I didn’t think much about my feet the first few days.
When the race finally came up I decided to nip the blisters that I always get in the bud and wrap my two little toes in blister band aids. You know, the kind that are made of some sort of cushy plastic, but have no pad in the middle, it’s just a huge thing of sticky cushy plastic. I put one on each of my little toes on my right foot.
Honestly, I felt I had done a great job. The last time I ran this race, I felt a blister pop on both those toes by mile 8 and every step was agony after that.
This time, I felt like something happened around mile twelve and it hurt after that but I was almost at the finish at that point. I sooooo didn’t care.
Rob met me at that finish line and led me back up to our hotel room at the Flamingo. As we got to the room he realized he had forgotten his hotel room key and would have to go back downstairs to get a replacement. I didn’t care, but I told him I was sitting down in the hallway and taking off my shoes. He said no problem and disappeared to go get his new key.
As I took of my shoes and socks, the first thing I noticed was that the two blister band aids I had put on my two little toes on my right foot had FUSED TOGETHER. I had to pull the plastic apart and it was painful. As I pulled most of the band aid off my pinky toe I noticed there was a huge blood blister there and the two nail seemed “squishy”. It freaked me out so I stopped playing with it because I had never had anything like that happen before.
Eventually Rob got back up and we went into the room.
I soaked in a tub but tried not to submerge that foot, just in case, and we went to bed.
The rest of the trip I wore flip flops and was very careful about that toe. Eventually, the swelling went down and it appeared to be okay but something told me that the toenail wasn’t quite right.
It’s been a month now since the marathon and just recently the skin started to peal around that nail. I have worn flip flops constantly since the race but the last two days I had social obligations. A Christmas party and a Christmas play, so I wore socks and very loose fitting boots.
This morning, I noticed as I was waking that my pinkie toe was hurting when I flexed my toe. I finally took a good look and…yup, I’m going to lose this nail. Most of it is already broken off but it is hanging on by a very small thread and I am not willing to break that off.
The whole thing FREAKS ME OUT! I’ve never had this happen before and it’s a very skeevy kinda thing.
So I have put it back on with a band aid to keep it where it should be.
All of my friends who run marathons have told me this is very normal and it will grow back and blah blah blah, but damn!! Freaky!!!!
About Me
I am a 50 something married woman living in California.
I enjoy music and traveling, watching crap movies, snuggling with my two adorable dogs and trying to be a good person.
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