So I have been very bad about posting. Sorry. I got The Sims 3 and ave become totally addicted, so I haven't been spending as much time on LJ as before. Not that I was spending tons of time on here pre-Sims.

Anyway, I am about to leave for my birthday trip to NC to be with the fam. The trip has been marred slightly by the passing of my great uncle Bobby, who we all love very much and will miss dearly. His funeral will be on Monday--my birthday. T_T As such, we're observing the day tomorrow and doing all of the birthday stuff then. Anyway, I'm not a selfish person. Well, not overly so. They needed to have the funeral when it was convenient for everybody. Besides, it's not like I'm having a milestone birthday. (I'll be 34, btw.)

I will probably post about the trip. I am much more likely to post when I'm doing things aside from normal day-to-day life than when I am just working and stuff. More exciting that way. I have to leave right now to go downstairs and meet my shuttle. Laters!

Here is an icon meme from hadashi_no_eden.

* reply to this post with the word CHANGMIN and I will pick six of your icons.
* make a post (including this info) and talk about the icons I chose.
* other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
* this will create a neverending cycle of icon glee.





1. Um... Euw? This icon was made from a photo of NSync's Chris Kirkpatrick at a Challenge for the Children basketball game eleventy-million years ago. I thought the look on his face was priceless, and no, I have no idea what he's reacting to. I cropped him out of the original photo and made that brick background in Photoshop. I have quite a few Chis K. icons even now that my NSync mania has faded. He just makes the most hilarious faces.

2. Heh. This is a screencap from the anime "Detective Academy Q." It's not even one of my favorite anime, but this particular screencap amused me to no end. I believe the character was teasing her son about a crush he had on some girl.

3. OMGWTF?! I have a book called How Are You Peeling? that is full of photos like this, with vegetables cut up to look like they're making faces and doing human things. I love it. A lot. As such, I have more than one vegetable icon.

4. Excited Tamaki. I made this animated gif from screencaps of an episode of "Ouran High School Host Club." I love that anime, and the character of Tamaki is so... incredibly.. dumb. But he's lovable! You want to root for him even as he's being so... incredibly... dumb.

5. Nakatsu and Kayashima. This is a screencap fom the j-drama version of Hana Kimi. Nakatsu and Kayashima were my two fave characters, and I felt the need to make an icon of them. The dialog in this icon is just me being silly.

6. Changmin adorable. Ahhhh, my Minnie! He's so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!

I slept late. Sarah woke up up early to say goodbye, as she had an 8-hour drive home and wanted an early start. I hugged her, wished her a safe trip, and promptly fell back into bed and slept like the dead.

I woke up again at around 9:30 and dragged myself up. Tess said her sister-in-law was making pancakes and asked if I wanted any. I said sure. My shower woke me up a bit, so I got myself dressed and ready and headed upstairs for breakfast. The pancakes were yummy and the company, once again, was very pleasant. After breakfast, Tess and I watched a couple of episodes of Bridezillas (omg, so funny) and then decided to head out for lunch and to drop me at the airport.

We had lunch at a little Chinese food place very close to her brother's house. I had steamed dumplings and an egg roll. It was very yummy. I got a text message from the airline saying my flight was on time, so we headed for the airport. I said goodbye to Tess, gave her a goodbye hug, and headed inside. But! A snag! As I checked in, I was told that my flight had been delayed until 9:50 pm. I texted Tess to tell her and she called and said she was turning around and coming to pick me up. I checked to make sure I could leave the airport after checking my bag, and that if my flight did get cancelled, I would be able to get my bag back. The answer to both questions was yes, so I left and Tess took me back to her brother's house.

We hung out in the little guest bedroom in the basement (where I had slept) for a while, watching videos on our laptops. Tess showed me an internet show called "The Guild" that was very fun, and one episode of "The Middle Man," which I must Netflix soon. Then it was time to go back to the airport. We said goodbye to her family again and out we went. We made a quick stop at Quiznos so I could grab dinner, and then after another hug, she dropped me at the airport. For real this time.

My flight had been delayed again, until 10:50, but I went ahead through security and settled down at my gate to wait. They had free wi-fi, so I was able to amuse myself on Facebook and Twitter. Then once the gate crew arrived, they told us we were all getting a voucher for a free round trip flight, good for one year. Score! Then they had us play games to win free upgrades to business class. I got one! I was excited. I've always flown coach before.

Business class passengers get to board first, so I was the first one on the plane. I was in seat 1A, which is right at the very front by one of the windows. There was a ton of leg space and the seats were wider. I took pix on my cellphone before turning it off for the flight. Before we even took off, they came around asking if we wanted drinks. Whoa, nice service. I got an orange juice. The one bad thing was that I didn't have a seat in front of me under which to put my laptop, so I had to stow it in an overhead bin. The flight attendant said she'd give it back once we were in the air.

The flight itself went smoothly. I did get my laptop back, so I spent the flight playing on that. I got my luggage without incident after we landed and had a bit of a long wait for the shuttle, so I played with the laptop some more. I dozed on the shuttle and was the second passenger to be dropped off.

When I got to my door, I could hear the cat crying loudly from inside. I went in and she promptly glued herself to me. I put down my luggage, topped off her food and water, called Mom to let her know I was home, turned on the computer to e-mail the girls and let them know I was home, emptied the cat's litter, and fell into bed.

It was a great vacation. I'm glad it's over only because I am tired as heck, but man, I'm going to miss the girls until next year! We don't know yet where we're going, but we'll have fun anywhere! Thanks, Elaine, for letting us take over your house! Thanks, Tess, for driving us everywhere! Thanks, Sarah, for making us freaking quilts! See you next year!

Having stayed up until the insane hour of sometime after 4 am, none of us woke up until 10:30. I woke up at around 11 and it took me 15 minutes or so after that to actually get up. Once again we took our time getting ready and headed out to the diner for brunch. The frog was out this time, so I got a picture of him. I had bacon and eggs for lunch, and it came with toast. Guess what? The toast was pre-buttered! I was very surprised but none of the others were. Apparently, in the midwest and in Canada, if you don't want buttered toast you have to ask for it dry. Who knew?

After brunch we walked around town again and revisited a couple of shops. I finally got my last souvenir (for Mom) and spent the last of my Canadian money on a bath pouf and a lemon bar. Done shopping, we walked back to Elaine's, finished packing, loaded up the car, and got ready to leave. Elaine showed us her backyard right before we left. It was lovely but I got kind of bit up by bugs. Then she gave us directions to get back to the highway since Tess's GPS always tries to take us in weird ways, and after hugs all around, we were on our way.

There's not much to say about the drive. It was long. I played DJ again. We got to Tess's brother's at around 11:45 pm, sat up on our computers for a very short time exchanging files with one another, and then crashed.

I woke up feeling fine, thank goodness. I didn't bother to get out of bed until around 9:30 and we all took our time getting ready. Tess came up from the basement fairly early but ended up falling back asleep on the floor of Elaine's computer room. We checked the weather and there were supposed to be AM showers and mild weather, so we decided to go to Canada's Wonderland, finally.

It was a pretty long drive to get there--close to two hours. I played DJ again with three iPods: mine, Tess's, and Elaine's. We stopped at Tim Horton's on the way, too, for snacks. Tim Horton's is apparently a Canadian institution, so I was glad we got to visit it. We drove through some rain on the way but at the park itself, the weather was perfect. It was a great temperature, sunny, and a little bit breezy.

We had fun at the park. I was hungry when we got there, so we stopped at the pizza place just at the entrance. That was a mistake. I think we were in that line for 45 minutes; longer than we ended up waiting for any of the rides! After lunch, we rode several roller coasters in a row. In line for one of the rides, there were two kids (they looked no older than 12 or 13 years old) in front of us who kept kissing each other in entirely too adult ways. It was very, very gross. The girl's outfit was way too provocative, too. I was traumatized. Later, as we walked between attractions we passed a game where the largest prizes were giant stuffed frogs. I really wanted one until Sarah reminded me that I would have to get it home on the plane somehow.

The first few coasters we rode were pretty hard on the old noggin. There was a lot of shaking and rattling around. I felt like my brain was bruised after one of them. Elaine and I spent most of one ride yelling, "Oww, oww, owww" instead of screaming. We took a "break" from the rides to share a funnel cake. I don't think we always intended to split it four ways, but they cost $10, so a four-way split seemed prudent. Tess and I never came back from the break, though. Sarah and Elaine rode two more coasters, but Tess and I sat them out. Then we all were pretty done, so we went to the sweets shop and then the souvenir store on our way out. I bought two more souvenirs for other people and then we headed for the car. The GPS said we would get back to Elaine's at around 9:30 pm. I knew I wouldn't last that long without dinner, so we stopped at a Wendy's to eat. I had a burger and fries. It was okay. I was kind of in the mood for Chinese food, but oh well.

We got back to Elaine's at around 10:30 and watched Clue while playing on our laptops. Then I broke out my Chat Pack and we spent a few hours answering questions from that. As I write this, it's 3:45 am and we're still taking turns. It's been really fun. Tomorrow, Tess, Sarah, and I leave Elaine's to drive back to Tess's brother's house. We're going to have brunch at the diner before we go. Hopefully the frog won't be hiding and I can take a picture.

I woke up not feeling well. Not a great start to the day. I was a bit headachey and my stomach wasn't entirely happy. I took my meds and dozed for a bit before getting up. Even then I still didn't feel 100%. I told the girls if I didn't improve, I couldn't make it to Canada's Wonderland.

We all lay about for a few hours; them reading, me dozing and trying to get comfortable. I started to feel a bit better and Tess wanted to go to the store for soda or something, so I asked her to buy me some cold cuts. I was feeling hungry but wanted to stick to pretty bland food. Cold cut turkey sandwiches are pretty safe. I dozed some more while she was out, and when she got back we watched a movie while Tess and I had sandwiches for lunch.

After the movie, I was feeling a lot better so we decided to walk into town to go to one of the shops that had been closed on Tuesday and to the fudge shop for me and Sarah, since we hadn't bought any fudge the last time we went. As we left the house, Sarah closed the door behind her, but Elaine's keys were still in the door on the inside, so we got locked out. Elaine called her parents and it was decided that after our walk in town we'd drive up to her parents' for the spare key. Sarah apologized profusely and we proceeded to tease her mercilessly the whole time.

Town was nice. I got Dad's souvenir--a little artificial plant--at the tea shop, and I got six boxes of assorted flavors of fudge for various people at the fudge shop. That was funny because I tried to order "orange chocolate swirl" but it came out "orange chocolate squirrel." After that, everybody was calling it squirrel instead of swirl, even the clerk. We told him if they decide to use that as the official name, we want a cut of the profits. We stopped at the ice cream place on the way back. the girls got ice cream and I went next door to the diner for a lemonade. I wanted to take a picture of the frog while I was there, but he was hiding.

Then we walked back to Elaine's, got in the car, and drove to her parents'. We didn't stay long, but we looked around the back of the house where the little pond is. There were lots of little frogs in there, which was cool. It was more wilderness than this city girl has seen in a long time. It's lovely house and a lovely "yard." After we spent a little bit of time hanging out with Elaine's mom (Dad was on the riding mower), we headed back home.

Then it was time for more reading, TV, and computer time before dinner. We watched the rest of Better Off Ted while we fixed our frozen dinners (I had lasagne, Sarah had pizza, and Tess had chicken fingers), and eventually we sort of wandered into bed.

Once again, hoping to make it to Canada's Wonderland tomorrow!

Okay, so no Canada's Wonderland. They forecasted rain in that area for today. Actually, they forecasted it for our whole trip, but for tomorrow they said "PM thunderstorms" so we're hoping that's late PM.

Instead of Canada's Wonderland, Elaine called her parents to ask if today could be the day we went to their place for dinner. They said yes, so we had a plan for later. In the meantime, we went instead into town to walk around all the shops. We drove there because of the rain and then did a little looping circle on foot. We started with the bank so Sarah could get some Canadian money (I had exchanged at AAA before leaving home, Tess is just using a card, and Elaine is native) and then started hitting the shops one by one. First was a fudge shop. I didn't get anything there yet, but I will! I need to decide what flavors to get; they had a ton. I won't describe every store; that would bore you and I don't remember anyway. Some of the highlights: yet another chocolate store where I bought chocolate-covered ginger for Dad; some random knick-knack stores at which I bought a total of three frog figurines (Yes, I spent most of my vacation money on frog figurines); and a yarn/book/spice store where I bought a book of religious cartoons and Sarah bought $200 worth of yarn.

We had lunch at a pub that had really good lunch prices, but our waitress was horrible. When she told us the specials, she listed two specials and said it costed $6.25. I ordered one of them, and it was really good. Then I got my bill and the special was $10.99. I had specifically wanted something cheap for lunch, so this did not make me happy. I asked why, and she said the other special was $6.25. The one I ordered is $10.99. I was so mad. She never said anything about $10.99 and all three of my girls will back me up on this. That waitress got no tip from me. So there.

After that we went into the bigger town nearby, Peterborough. We went to Future Shop, which is sort of like Best Buy. I was looking for a DVD of a Canadian TV series I love. You can get it in the U.S. but I figured it would be easier to find and probably cheaper in good old Canadia. Future Shop didn't have it, but they did have these adorable little Super Mario mushroom candies. The container is a little metal mushroom from the game and inside are cherry-flavored sours. (Or if you get the mushroom with the green cap, lime sours.) I thought it was adorable, so I had to have it.

After that we went to a book store just because we all love books. While there, I started browsing through the DVD bin just in case. And guess what? I found my TV show! Yay! Next was a beer and wine store so Tess could look for a souvenir for her brother (she didn't find anything) and then the mall to visit HMV to look for more DVDs. No one bought anything there, but they did have more of those mushroom candies, plus ones in boxes that look like those coin bricks Mario can jump up and hit.

Then we popped in at the grocery store so Elaine could buy potatoes for her parents and headed back to her house to rest for a hot minute before heading back out for dinner.

Dinner at her parents' house was really fun. They're great people and we enjoyed seeing baby and childhood pictures of Elaine on the mantels and things. We had BBQ. It was yummy. The conversation was good and we all enjoyed meeting them. We stayed for a few hours before heading back to Elaine's.

Back there, we all got on computers or curled up with e-readers. We watched an episode of a Korean drama I had brought and laughed uproariously. Then I showed them a music video. After that, more computer and e-reader time until we all went to bed. I changed my band-aid and the rest of the cotton came off. Yay!

Tomorrow, once again: Canada's Wonderland??

Tess and I woke up bright and early because we wanted to get an early start for the drive into Canada. It would be an eight-hour trip and we wanted to get to Elaine sooner rather than later. We let Sarah sleep since she had gotten in so late. I got myself ready and waited until 6:45 to wake her. (Tess wanted to leave at around 7:00, and Sarah had said she only needed 15 minutes to get ready.)

After I changed my band-aid and tried to remove the cotton that was stuck on the wound (no dice, and OW) I went upstairs for a banana and once again used the family's computer to do Facebook. Why yes, I am addicted. Thanks for asking. Sarah made it upstairs, ate breakfast, and we piled into Tess's car for the long drive at around 7:45.

The drive was fun. Tess drove, I sat in the passenger seat and played DJ with our three iPods and Tess's cassette tape headphone-jack thingie. You know those things with the fake cassette tape hooked up to the headphone jack so you can play CDs or iPods in car tape players? Yeah, that. I enjoyed playing DJ. I hope I get to do it whenever we have a long drive.

We stopped just twice for food and/or gas, and made good time. Our trip across the border was fairly amusing. The border guard lady did not like us. Our story sounds weird, I guess.

Guard: How do you know one another?
Tess: Umm... we;re internet friends, but we've known each other for 10 years.
Guard: Where are you staying?
Tess: *gives address*
guard: is that a hotel or a home?
Tess: It's a home, we're staying with our friend.
Guard: And how do you know her?
Tess: Ummm... internet also, but we vacation like this every year.
Guard: And where are you from?
Tess: Well, I'm from Oklahoma by way of Michigan....
Me: Maryland.
Sarah: Indiana.
Guard: And what are your occupations?
Tess: I'm a teacher.
Me: Graphic designer.
Sarah: I work in a framing store.
Guard: I heard inspector of something?
Sarah: No, I work in a framing store.
Guard: Oh.

Boy, did we laugh once she let us through. Tess said, "If we had the wrong occupations, would they not let us in? I'm a nuclear physicist!!"

Anyway, we got to Elaine's after only a few crazy instructions from the GPS and got the tour of her adorable house. We sat in the living room for a long while just talking and exchanging gifts. Tess brought cookies and cute little notebooks for all of us, I made them mix CDs, and Elaine didn't get us anything but we're staying at her house so I think she's off the hook. Sarah takes the cake, though. She is making us all quilts. Yes. Making. Us. Quilts. Mine has frogs on it. It is so adorable! I took a picture of the unfinished one. I look forward to it being finished so I can have it!

At around 6:30 we dragged ourselves up and went on a walking tour of Elaine's cute little town. Well, first we went to a diner for dinner, and that was yummy. There were maybe two other customers in there when we went in, and they left shortly after we sat down. Then waitress jokingly asked us if we always clear a room like that, and I said, "Yes, it's our superpower!" She said she needed our phone numbers so at closing time she could make use of us.

The food was good and the company was even better. Plus they have a frog. I will also take a picture of him at some point. (Edit: Got him!)

After dinner we went next door to the ice cream place but only Tess wanted any. Then she decided not to be the only one so we started to leave. The guy at the counter said, "Was it something I said?" And we had to convince him it was not and that we would come some other time.

The town itself is very small and pretty much everything had closed, so Elaine just walked us around showing us what was there. We made plans to visit several shops at a later date. Then we went to the 24-hour grocery to get food and came back home.

We watched several episodes of "Better Off Ted" (which is all kinds of hilarious and I must Netflix more of it when I get home) and then figured out our sleeping arrangements. Elaine has a guest room with a bed, a pull-out couch in her living room, and had bought a blow-up bed. I got the guest room, Sarah took the couch in the living room, and Tess took the blow-up in the basement. Right before bed I changed my band-aid again, and guess what? The cotton came off! Well, most of it. There were still a couple of little threads stuck on there, but the wound was healing well and was not as painful.

Tomorrow: Canada's Wonderland!

Sunday, June 20, and my vacation finally began! I was looking forward to a long, relaxing week off after a few long and crazy days at work. I was exhausted but I still got up at 5:00 am so I could make sure I had packed everything I need and had taken care of everything at home. I managed to gouge my finger on a cat food can an hour before I was due to leave, so that was fun. It wouldn't stop bleeding so I stuck cotton to it and then a band-aid on top of that. (Which was a mistake I'll explain later.) I left the apartment on time at 7:20 or so after saying goodbye to Amber and the frogs, and went downstairs to meet my shuttle.

The shuttle was on time as well, so it was waiting at the curb when I got down there. The driver had a bit of trouble unlocking the back door so he could stow my luggage. He tried three times and then finally just had to manually use his key instead of the little... beeper... thing. Oh, you know the thing I mean. Your car has one too.

I ended up being the only passenger and I dozed throughout the drive to BWI. When we got there, the driver asked, "Did you have a good nap?" We pulled up to the check-in area for AirTran Airways and there was a huge line. "That doesn't look good," I said. "Good luck," said my driver.

I waited in line to check in for an hour, I think. It was kind of annoying because they had that outdoor check-in but there were three separate lines. At first there were just two: one for those who had paid online for their checked baggage (and I really wish I'd known you could do that) and one for those who hadn't yet. I was in that second line. Then, they kept walking up and down the line asking if anyone's flight was in one hour. If so, they got to go in a separate, third line, that moved a lot faster so they wouldn't miss their flights. What was irritating about it was that those of us who got there, you know, at the recommended two hours or more before our flights, were made to wait in a line that didn't move AT ALL while people who had gotten there after us got to check in.

Anyway, I eventually got inside, miraculously still 1.75 hours before my flight, and went through a very fast-moving security line. Once inside, I stopped and bought a breakfast sandwich and a decaf tea for $8.00 (stupid airport prices) and sat down to wait for boarding. I was sitting for maybe 15 minutes when boarding started. Yay for flights being on time.

The flight itself was fairly uneventful. I had an aisle seat, which I don't care for, but my seat mate was an older guy and he was really nice. We talked about books the whole time before the flight took off, and then ignored each other once we were in the air in favor of--you guessed it--our books.

We arrived in Grand Rapids a little bit early and Tess was waiting for me right outside the secure area. We went to get my checked bag and it came off the carousel very quickly. Then Tess drove us to her brother's house. Her brother and his family are very nice. He and his wife have 13-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and they were very sweet and well-behaved. I liked them.

We hung out with the family, talking and watching TV. At one point, Tess and I left to top off the gas in her car and go to Meijer (sort of like Target; we don't have them in the MD/DC area) for last minute travel supplies for Tess. We ended up doing some browsing there, and I bought a DVD of Pippi Longstocking that I think-slash-hope is the version I used to watch and love as a kid, and a really cute t-shirt that says "The Breakfast Club" on it and has pictures of the major breakfast cereal mascots from the 80's. I also bought a tube of pain-relieving Neosporin after Tess told me it existed. Considering my finger was stinging me ALL DAY, I was very excited about this.

Later, we ate dinner with the family, played Scrabble (I won!!!), watched a bit of The Tick (live action and the cartoon--they preferred the live action version), and then Tess and I retired to the basement for bed. Before we actually went to bed, we watched an episode of Dad Camp on TV. That show is ridiculous and addictive and I NEED to watch more, but they don't have it on Netflix. It is, however, viewable on vh1.com, so I will definitely be following up on that! Also, I had to borrow the family's computer to do my Facebook games, because they didn't have wi-fi.

Right before bed, I tried to change the band-aid on my finger. I say tried because (here is where I explain that mistake) the cotton was totally stuck to the wound. I couldn't get it off, and trying hurt. A lot. Tess suggested running water on it. That didn't help. She ended up having to go get a scissor and cut the cotton and band-aid off. After that I had a little piece of cotton just stuck on there. I had to put the Neosporin and a band-aid over top of it. The pain relief really worked, though. My finger got all warm and numb.

Sarah arrived after I had gone to sleep. I think I heard a bit of moving around and talking when she arrived but I was pretty gone. I found out the next day that she had come in at around 1:30 am.

Coming up next: Vacation officially begins! The drive into Canada.

Okay, so the sale yesterday went pretty well. We got rid of a lot of stuff but we also have a lot of stuff still left over. I am going to rescue some books today and a couple of our helpers are going to try to move some of the big pieces of furniture using one more craigslist ad.

Today is supposed to be a rest day but of course we started the day with a fire drill of sorts. My brother-in-law (BiL) had come up this weekend by train and rented a moving van so we could get Dad's stuff down to NC. He left this morning. At around 8:30 or so, maybe 9:00, he called me asking about the forms I was supposed to have Dad sign to finalize his spot at the facility. Of course, with all of the craziness Friday night and yesterday, I had forgotten to have him to that. And of course, BiL can't move Dad's stuff into the new apartment without them.

Dad had already left for church, so Mom and I had to go out to DC to the church and get him to sign the forms so we could then fax them to the facility. We just had Dad come out to the car and sign the forms while sitting int he back seat. It was funny because while we were waiting for him to come out of the church (this was between services btw, we didn't pull him out of the service) a guy going into the church gave us a dirty look as he walked by the car. Mom almost jumped out of the car to give him a piece of her mind. The only thing that stopped her was that the seatbelt caught on her glasses. I teased her about that; she thinks she's a bad-ass now, or something. She said, "How is he going into church, giving me a look like that?!"

Anyway we got the forms signed and went to Kinko's where it took us forever to fax them and cost us around $25. Then I called the facility and the woman had the nerve to say we had faxed it to a machine "upstairs," and could we please re-fax it to the number in her office. I said, "No, we're in a Kinko's, this is costing us money." So she backed off. Besides, we faxed it to the number they have on their forms. So dumb. Anyway we should be all set.

Now I believe Mom and I can relax for real. I have washed my hair and am about to play on the computer for a bit and maybe take a short nap. After that we will head to Dad's so he can tell us all about his goodbye celebration at church and I can say goodbye to him before he moves away. And I will also rescue the books. Then Mom and I will go to dinner for Mother's Day. Yes, I am aware of how late we are celebrating that.

So, I didn't post last week. I have a good excuse, though! My sister and her family were here, along with Mom, and we were doing a lot of stuff with Dad in his situation.

You'll remember from my last post (or maybe you won't since it was so long ago) that Dad had finally agreed to go into assisted living. Well, we were researching facilities in MD where he and I live now, in NC where my sister lives, and in FL where his extended family lives. It turned out NC was way cheaper, plus my sister found a place where, if he got in there by the 31st of May, he would get a discount of around $500 off his rent every single month. So that was a no-brainer. Of course, that meant we had to get things moving FAST.

And we have. The house was sold to an investor early this week. Closing is n the 19th and Dad is going down to NC on the train with Mom on the 20th. We are having a giant indoor yard sale today to empty it of all of the stuff in it. And there is a lot of stuff. Mom has had help all week from various people, every helper has carted a ton of stuff out of the house, and we still have eleventy billion tons of stuff left for the sale. I went over there after work yesterday and stayed until midnight helping to organize. I went a bit crazy. I started singing the ugly duckling song at one point (There once was an ugly duckling/with feathers all stubby and brown/and all the other birds in so many words said QUACK! get out of town) and then I couldn't stop quacking. I'd be wandering around the house just going, "QUACK!" Anyway...

The sale starts at 8 am. Mom is already over there, probably driving herself crazy. I have a friend coming by at 9 am to pick me up and take me there. And then I'll be there all day, so wish me luck.

Other news? Dad needs a pacemaker. He'll have the operation pretty much immediately after he gets down to NC. That should help him feel better and probably stop him from passing out so much. I learned how to use Craig's List. The guy who bought the house responded to a Craig's List ad my brother-in-law and I had posted within an hour or two of it going online. And then I advertised the sale today on Craig's List too, so I think/hope we will have a lot of visitors. Some people from my job are coming, too. My car has been paid off, so little Shuichi is officially MINE. I have papers to prove it. And I bought level 1 Japanese from Rosetta Stone. Umm, that's it for now, I guess. QUACK.

Hi! So, I had another eventful week. I was in a mood all week at work. I didn't feel like being there and doing any of the word. I did it anyway, and did it well, because I am awesome like that, but I didn't WANT to.

My mood got a lot better on Thursday, though. My sister called me, all excited. "Have you checked your e-mail?!" I hadn't, because I normally don't, at work. At least not that account. Luckily I had turned off my e-mail program at home that morning because I was expecting a time-sensitive e-mail, so I was able to check it on webmail. The big news: my Dad has agreed to start the process to move into assisted living. In Florida. *cue Hallelujah chorus here*

( More details for anyone who cares )

Another good thing that happened today is that we asked Dad if he would sign power of attorney over to me. He said sure, my sister went online and found a place to download the necessary forms, I bought them, they were e-mailed within about 45 mins, and I have since forwarded them to my cousin to have Dad fill out. They just need to be notarized and we should be all set with that. That will make it much easier for me to conduct business on Dad's behalf.

As far as the house, I am meeting a contractor there later this afternoon to look at the broken lock and all of the doors and windows to give me an estimate on how much it would cost to make the house secure. Before I go, I am going to a hardware store to buy light timers at my cousin's suggestion. That way we can time the lights to go on and off in the house and it will look like somoen is home. I'll bring them with me when I go today and maybe the contractor of the family friend who is coming for moral support can help me install them.

Next week, I am meeting with a guy from that company that buys ugly houses. Just to hear what he has to say about how much he thinks we could get for it. It's all preliminary, though. I ain't signing nothing!

Today, I will run some errands. I was supposed to meet with my counselor as usual, but she just called and canceled. I guess I'll have a ton to say to her next week.

I think that's it for now. Yay for updating within a decent amount of time.

So, I haven't posted in a while, and unfortunately that's not because things have been boring. Things with Dad have been as eventful as ever, actually. I just haven't said anything. I keep saying I'm going to be more active on here and I never am. I need to make a Spring resolution. Anyway, I'll try to catch you up on what's happened since the last time I posted (in late February, whoa!).

( Dad )

( Work )

I think that's it. I will try to post more often so I don't have to write dissertations.

I'm not pissed off anymore. It took a long time to cool down, and going to my counselor helped, but what helped even more as talking to my Mom. My sister had hold me not to tell Mom she'd told me what Mom had said, so I couldn't bring thing up directly. Instead I brought up how difficult it is for me to get to see Dad in the hospital with work being so crazy and the commute being so tough. I also managed to work in there that Dad has told me he doesn't need me to visit and he "knows he's supported." I think Mom understands, now.

She and my sister are coming up here on Tuesday to stay for a few days. That way Dad can have visitors oe often and I won't have to rush out of work without finishing things up. I do hope I can make it home on time at least one day this week though so Mom and I can have dinner together. She's coming back for a normal visit at the end of the month though, so if not, at least we'll have that time together.

The other good news is that the family in Florida are willing and "eager" to take Dad in once he agrees to go. We didn't even bring it up, one of my aunts did. She had even expressed her worry that my sister and I would think they were "trying to take over." Ha! Honestly, he would get much better care from them than he ever would here. There's a ton of them so they can kind of split duties and it wouldn't be a big burden on any one person, they way it has been with me. Very pleased with that development. Like I said, we just have to convince Dad to do it.

I have a half-day at work tomorrow due to an appointment with my gastro in the morning. I won't need the full half day; the appointment is at 8:45 so I should be home way before the time I need to leave for work. To get to work by 1:00, I should leave here by 11:45. No problem. The timing is awkward for lunch though. I'll have to think about how to handle that. I don't want to get sick from not eating!

Okay, so Dad is still in the hospital. Work has been insane. I worked two 11-hour days this week and still managed to get to the hospital on Tuesday or Wednesday night to get Dad to sign some forms for right to live and power of attorney. I am stressed out and overtired. And yet my sister tells me this morning that Mom is "freaking out" that I haven't been going to visit Dad in the hospital more often.

Whatever. You try dealing with my workload and all of the other crap I have going on and still making it to that hospital. If I leave work exactly on time (impossible) I still won't even make it to the hospital until 7:45 pm. And that doesn't give me any time to actually, you know, eat. Then I get home at 9-ish and am exhausted. Yes, I'll do that while my work suffers and piles up and other designers have to pick up the slack. Or hey, I'll work until 9:30 pm every day and then go to the hospital right after. Who needs sleep? And who cares that Dad doesn't actually really care whether I visit or not so long as we check in by phone every day? I'll wear myself out to give you more peace of mind.

And also, I owe taxes to both state and federal this year. YAY.

Farking hell, I am so pissed.

...


It's a good thing I have an appointment with my counselor in an hour.

There is a saying well known to many Christians: "Let go and let God." Well, I obviously need to do that with Dad. He passed out yet again. It actually happened on Sunday morning, and he didn't tell me until this afternoon, when we spoke on the phone. That would be why I've been in a depressed mood all week. I have ESP, but it never actually tells me what's going on, it just makes me feel like crap until I get the bad news.

I don't know what else I can do. I've told him he needs to take care of himself, told him he needs to stay in touch with his doctor, and he doesn't do it. He didn't call the doctor like he was supposed to after he passed on at Christmas time, and in fact hasn't called since then at all. Including after Sunday's incident.

I will be going over his head tomorrow and calling his doctor FOR him. I will also accelerate the process of trying to get papers giving me the power to make decisions for him should he become incapable. In my opinion, he's incapable now. He shouldn't be living alone in that house; he needs to be with family or in assisted living. And as soon as I get those papers I'm going to make sure that happens.

As far as expecting him to take care of himself, I'm done. I give up. That's where "let go and let God" comes in. I can't do a thing until we get those papers, other than call the doctor and let him know what happened. I can't force Dad to actually go see him. So I need to just give the situation to God, pray about it, and ask for patience and wisdom to deal.

Right now, though, all I am doing is going to bed.

1. BAD: Woke up with a tight tummy.
GOOD: I woke up.

2. BAD: I accidentally got off the subway one stop too early and then had to wait 40 minutes before I could get on another train.
BAD: There were three loud teenagers on the platform right next to me.
BAD: The train I finally got on was very, very crowded. I accidentally and involuntarily molested the stranger in front of me.
GOOD: At least I got on that train.

3. BAD: I got to work 30 minutes late.
BAD: I had a ton of work when I got there.
BAD: I felt overwhelmed by said workload.
BAD: I got no assistance all day and only got 3 of my requested 6 hours of work into the queue to be done overnight in India.
GOOD: I got 3 hours accepted to be done in India.
GOOD: None of my clients are complaining yet. At least not to me.

4. GOOD: A girl in my department brought German chocolate cake for everyone.

5. BAD: At lunchtime, the credit card system in the cafe was down.
GOOD: I had only gotten fries anyway and had enough cash to pay for them.

6. BAD: Dad isn't feeling well and that makes me nervous.
GOOD: He's being sensible and stayed home today to rest rather than going on his usual midday walk.

7. GOOD: I left work on time.
BAD: I just spilled a fork-full of dinner all over my keyboard and the carpet.

I can has tomorrow nao?

I am still "snowed in," though I'm not afraid to walk across the street to Safeway should I need something. :) I was shocked to find out today that my office will be closed tomorrow. My office never closes! Like, ever! They are insane with the not-closing. So yes. Shocked. Anyway, here is the question of the week:

If you had the time and money and could go on any month-long summer adventure of your choice, what would you choose to do?

I would go to Japan for a full-immersion language course. I'd live in a Japanese person's house, eat lots of Japanese food, and absorb as much language and culture as I could. One month isn't long enough to achieve fluency, but it would certainly give me a boost!

What thought or sentiment would you like to have copied and put into one million fortune cookies?

It took me a moment to get what this question was asking. Basically, if you could write a fortune cookie message, what would it say? They chose a weird way to ask that. Anyway, this is a hard one! I guess mine would just say, "All you need is LOVE." Not very original, but very true. I'll edit this entry if I think of anything else.

I had a nice, lazy weekend. It snowed a little bit, so I didn't go out at all yesterday. Today I walked 1/2 mile to the Wachovia ATM, only to find it out of order. Oh well, at least I got some exercise. I also cooked baked ziti for my dinners this week. I got the recipe from my SuperMom sister. It smells good, so I look forward to eating it tomorrow!

I am happy to be able to use my "Whut??" icon for the first time. I am using it in honor of my Metro operator, who gave me a "whut??" moment on my evening commute. As we arrived at my stop, which was the final stop for my train, he said, and I quote, "All customers must exit this consess."


At least it sounded like consess. I tried to look it up with various spelling. Consess? Concess? Konsess? None of them are words. I have no idea what he was saying. Do any of you know what he was saying?

PS- If you don't get my "Whut??" icon, you are not alone. That is a screencap from Tohoshinki's Tri-Angle PV. And the only possible reaction to that PV is, "Whut??"

Happy (late) new year! I know I have been very absent. Sorry. I haven't had much big news, and all of my little news gets posted on Facebook instead of here. I have decided to revitalize this LJ by asking a question of the week. I hope you guys will find it interesting! This week's question is:

If you could go back in time and ask any famous person in history on question, whom would you question and what would you ask? (Assume that you would be given a completely honest answer.)

My answer is (drum roll, please) Jesus the Christ. I would speak to Jesus and ask him to please explain the Old Testament to me, and how the God in that portion of the Bible is the same as the one in the New Testament, because the Old Testament is so full of wrath and smiting that I just can't make the connection. In addition to assuming I'd get a completely honest answer, I'm assuming we have a lot of time to talk.

Your turn! Please comment with your answer.

In other news, yesterday, as I ate McDonald’s chicken nuggets in the car, I spilled a bit of hot mustard on my scarf. This morning I did laundry and without thinking, I put this very pink scarf in the wash with everything else. When I got everything out of the dryer, the first thing I was was a formerly white undershirt, now tinted pink. “Uh-oh,” I thought to myself.

HOWEVER! Of all of the white or light articles of clothing that were in there, I only ended up with a few pink undershirts and two mildly tinted pairs of white socks. And the socks were so mildly tinted that you probably wouldn’t even notice unless I pointed it out. Oh, and a white turtleneck that is even more mildly tinted than the socks. LUCKY!!

Needless to say, I did not put the pink scarf in the dryer. It is air-drying on my coat hanger. :)

So, I haven't been posting much lately, which is actually a good thing. That means nothing interesting (i.e., crazy and bad) has been happening. I did get a new dining room table and winter coat while Mom visited. Well, I physically got the coat but the table was just delivered yesterday. I love it. Anyway, the reason I am posting today is because life got interesting yesterday.

I am currently in North Carolina for the holiday, visiting with Mom, Sis, Bro-in-law, and the nephews. Older nephew is three now, and is so handsome! And energetic. VERY energetic. Baby nephew is four months old and is sooo adorable and laid back. I heart both of them.

Anyway, that's not the interesting part. Dad and I flew down here together. You may remember that Dad has a bit of a problem with passing out at odd times. Yup, you guessed it. He did it again. In the line at airport security.

Last time I wasn't annoyed with him, because he had actually had three small strokes. This time, like the last time this happened with me, he just hadn't eaten or drunk anything. This is a long-ish story (but a very interesting one) so I'll put the rest under a cut. You won't regret it if you click on it, though. ( I'm a good storyteller. ;) )

That's basically the end of the story. We made it to Raleigh safely, Sis and the family picked us up, and I was dropped off at Mom's while Dad continued on to their house. I told Mom the whole story while collapsed on her couch in sheer exhaustion, and she laughed until she cried. "It really isn't funny," she said, "But it is!"

And it really kind of is.

Hi, all. I can give away 10 coupons to get a paid account for a year at a discounted price. Comment if you want one! Comments screened, first come first serve.

I was tagged by byuldeureul

1. Post about something that made you happy today even if it's just a small thing.
2. Do this everyday for a week without fail.
3. Tag 8 of your friends to do the same.

I don't know if I'll manage to do this every day this week. Mom's in town, so I'm not on the computer as much this week. And that is actually what made me happy today, spending time with Mom! We spent most of the day together, shopping and just having fun. She bought me a new winter coat and a dining room table set, but even if we had made no purchases, the time with her would have been my "happy-making" thing of the day. :)

Oh, and I am also declining to tag others. Do this meme if you want! I think it's a good one.

This time I dreamed I was at the doctor's office and she recommended I get immediate gallbladder surgery. She was going to do it right there in the office. She warned me very seriously that I couldn't giggle or laugh because it would tear the stitches. I could see this being a problem so I asked, "For how long?" I don't remember the answer or much of anything else, really. I do know my Dad was there with me.

I had another one. No DBSK this time, though. It was in two part that I can remember.

Part 1: I went to the bank to withdraw some money. I needed $260. However, when they called up my account, I only had $75. I was shocked and very concerned. "I should have gotten paid yesterday." (Nevermind the fact that my account hasn't been down to $75 since... well, in years.) They checked again, to see if I had been paid but it hadn't gone through yet. Nope. I had $75. They were very sypathetic and were going to let me withdraw anyway, but I told them no way. I had finished with overdraft fees and the like years ago, I told them, and I was never going to pay another.

Part 2: I was a teacher of small kids my nephew's age (toddlers) and I was in the school while the books were delivered. The kids were very excite and were "helping" us take the books out of the shrinkwrap. My nephew, who was suddenly present, wanted to take his books home right away and we had to tell him no. School hadn't started yet.

Then suddenly I was at my old house, where my Dad still lives, and rather than being a teacher, I was just babysitting two kids--my nephew and some girl. I was trying to get them to take their nap, but they were resisting. They were lying on the floor of the living room and my Dad was there too, sitting on the couch and just reading. Mom was around somewhere too (that's important later). I ended up bribing the kids into being still, though now I can't remember what I said. If they lay down, with their legs on the floor (they both had them folded up with their knees int he air) and took their naps, I'd do something for them or let them do something later. They finally conceded and closed their eyes to sleep. I escaped upstairs to set my cellphone wake-up alarm for a half hour.

Just as I was doing so, I heard music blasting from downstairs. I rushed down to find Dad fiddling with his record player. He looked sheepish. "The last time I turned it on, it wasn't this loud." I told him, "Turn it too, they're trying to nap!" He seemed confused but we turned off the music. I berated him that the kids had just lay down for a nap. "To sleep?" He said. I couldn't find the kids, they had been frightened by the noise and had bolted. I finally located them in the upstairs bathroom, at the sink. Even in the dream I didn't get exactly what they were doing there. The girl had a small pickle and was sort of chewing on it in a way that seemed to infer she was having gum pain. Plus they were way too tall for toddlers, both tall enough to reach the sink, but in the dream they were still toddlers. Anyway, I got them to try again and tucked them into bed in my old room. For some reason, there were now two beds in there.

I sat on the other bed and once again started setting my cellphone alarm. Then Dad was there, and at first I thought he was going to try to nap with us. He sort of leaned down and put his face on my comforter. Then I noticed he looked sweaty and shaky. He leaned over and dry-heaved between the two beds, then said something like "Ah! It hurts so much!" I got up and got behind him, rubbing his back and asking if he could make it to the bathroom. He shook his head no. I said I'd be right back and hurried out. As I left I noticed it smelled bad and looked around--he had thrown up outside my bedroom. I hurried downstairs and Mom was on the couch. I clapped my hands softly and whispered, "Hey! HEY!" Trying to get her attention without being loud (because of the sleeping kids upstairs). She looked up, seeming bored or disinterested, and I said, "Call 911 NOW. Dad." And rushed back upstairs.

Then I woke up.

I hardly ever have fandom dreams, so when I do, I get all excited. The other night I had this one:

I was Jaejoong and was asleep in bed when suddenly a weight landed on me and jerked me awake. I was scared at first until I realized the weight was Yunho, lying on me and burying his face in my neck. I was confused and then he told me he loved me. Then I was Yunho lying on Jaejoong, and I had my face in his neck because he smelled so good. Seriously. I don't know what cologne he was wearing (while asleep in bed, apparently) but wow, so yummy.

Then I was Jaejoong again and Yunho had gone but some girl landed on me in the same way Yunho had. In the dream I knew who she was--she was famous too, but rather young. This time I was annoyed but tried to be nice to her. I told her my boyfriend wouldn't like it if he knew she was there, and I shoved her out of bed. (Which wasn't nice, now that I think of it.) Then I helped her up and she sat on the bed and I told her something like "If I wasn't gay, I'd probably like you. You're really cute." And she was all, "*sniffle* Really?"

I don't know if anything else happened, that's all I remember.

So, I just totally made a fool of myself at the car repair lace by my apartment. When I got in the car this morning and turned on the headlights, the dashboard lights didn't come on. Not too concerning since it's gray outside but not dark enough that I need dashboard lights. However, I will be driving my Dad to a nighttime doctor's appointment on Wednesday, so I knew I'd need them working then. There is a car repair place right next to the Safeway right by my apartment, so when I finished my shopping I walked over there and described the problem to the guy.

Me: You know how when you turn on the lights, the dashboard lights come on, too?
Him: Yes...?
Me: Mine aren't working. Is that something you can fix here?
Him: Well, dashboard lights don't really go out like that... did you turn the dimmer switch?
Me: ...???
Him: Where is your car?
Me: In the Safeway lot, I just walked over to ask.
Him: Go ahead and bring it over, I'll take a look.

*five minutes later*

Him: *in the car, turns the dimmer switch by the door* There, see? This can turn your dashboard lights up and down in brightness.
Me: ... Oh. I had no idea that existed.

You know he is SO laughing about me to his friends.

So, I have not posted in forever. Blame illness, work, and Facebook for that. I am much better than I was, health-wise, though I still tire fairly easily. I lost a lot of weight, too. About seven pounds. I've gained back two or three now, though. I am on a bland diet for at least three more weeks to let myself heal. (Bad gastritis, though not quite an ulcer, thank goodness.) My doctor has told me to see a dietician, so I will be attempting to make an appointment soon.

Work is crazy-busy. We are down to the bare minimum number of staff members, so those of us who are left have a LOT of work. I'll be even busier for the next two weeks because I'm taking on three more client groups. That's temporary, thank goodness. I get to give them back to another designer in November.

Mom is coming to visit for Thanksgiving. She'll be here from the 16th through the 30th. I am really looking forward to that. And then I'll go to NC for a week over Christmas. I always have a nice long break at Christmas time, and this year is no exception. I'll have two weeks off from work. Heaven. I'm already planning what to do with my time. It mostly involves sleeping, eating, and sleeping some more.

And also, look, new mood theme! It's true, my love for Changmin and DBSK has officially surpassed my love for Taguchi and KAT-TUN. But my puppy will always be my puppy.

So, I did go to the dr on Monday and they took some blood. All tests came back normal. I'm waiting on some other tests but I probably have an ulcer. Fun! I'm on a bland diet right now. Which is very, um... bland. I've been taking Prilosec on the dr's recommendation, and beginning Friday I finally started feeling better. I'm not 100%; I still have uncomfortable moments pretty much every day, but I'm not as miserable as I was in the beginning of the week. My follow-up appointment is on the 28th. I just hope and pray I'll feel as well this week at work as I have these past couple of days. Or even better! Better would be awesome.

Now it is time to shower and get ready for bed.

My stomach is trying to kill me. I left work early on Thursday, felt "eh" on Friday, bad all weekend with improvement last night, and now I'm back to being uncomfortable. I just made an 11:00 appointment with my doctor. Here's hoping they can help. So annoying.

Hi. Dad isn't out of the hospital yet. He looks well and is in good spirits, but they're still running tests. He told me yesterday that they said he may have had a small stroke. I'm going to call at 10:00 today to try to speak to one of his doctors. Dad is hopeful that he'll be released today. I am, too!

I had a horrible dream last night that woke me up at 3:20 am, and I never fully got back to sleep. It wasn't a scary dream, it was one of those real-life dreams where it takes you a few moments after you wake up to fully come back to the real world. This was a doozy. I won't go into detail about it right now, but it was pretty much about how I have always felt like I don't fit in and people don't understand me. I've mentioned on here before that I have a mild case of Asperger Syndrome, and it has at times caused me difficulty. That was all over the place in this dream. It was in a school setting. I got into a verbal altercation with three girls/women, and a teacher was there, holding them back from attacking me. As I walked away, I heard the teacher say, "She's just diferent, she didn't mean anything by it. It had no meaning."

She's just different. Story of my life.

So, this was not a good weekend for me. On Friday I took a new medication for my anxiety issues, and reacted very badly to it. I was able to make my full 8 hours at work, having taken it late in the day, but I had to take a $30 cab ride home. Then my stomach was upset all weekend. Today I went to Dad's as usual. He wasn't home yet, having attended a party at a friend's house. When he came home he looked shaky, so I asked him how he was. He said he was in pain. Why, I asked innocently.

It turns out, the man passed out three times this morning. Once in the driveway, again in the kitchen (where he also threw up) and again in the dining room. Then he had the nerve to still go to this party in the afternoon! WTF?

He wasn't going to do anything about it but I said no way was I letting it pass. I called 911. Ironically, once I started worrying about him, my own stomach problems went away entirely. The paramedics came and between all of us, we convinced him to go to the hospital for tests. They took him to Holy Cross. I drove separately, after stopping back here at my apartment for reading material and to make a quick Facebook post. Because yes, I am that obsessed.

I got home from the hospital about an hour ago. Dad is still there, he's staying overnight. His EKG was abnormal so they thought he was having a heart attack, but they did a test and his arteries are clear. I think they're waiting for more blood work or something. They think he'll be discharged tomorrow.

I'm taking the day off work to hang with him in the hospital, and then I'm his ride home, assuming they cut him loose. I am so sleepy but I needed to wind down before bed, so I've just been tending my farm on Facebook. Now it is bedtime. Please keep him in your prayers, if you go for that sort of thing!

So, today was my birthday! I had a great day. Mom and I hung out and relaxed in the morning. We watched a sermon on TV and then listened to one on CD that I had brought. We had a very nice discussion afterward about prayer and relationship with God. Also, we made iced tea. Then Mom went to church and I hung out playing on Facebook and checking LJ. When Mom got back, she changed clothes and we left for Red Lobster for an early dinner. We ate at around 3:00 pm. It was soooooooooooooooo yummy. We each got the Maine lobster and crab bake meal, and then we shared an apple crumble dessert. Then shortly after we got back home, my sister and her family (including the new nephew) came over and we celebrated with cake. The cake was decorated with a frog! I was so happy! After they left, Mom and I played cards and then watched disk 3 of season 1 of The Big Bang Theory. Mom had never seen the show before, and she liked it. She's added it to her Netflix queue.

I got some nice presents. Mom gave me a crystal necklace and earring set, hadashi_no_eden gave me a gift certificate to Yes Asia, my friend A gave me a Japanese iTunes gift card, Dad gave me $25, and sis and fam gave me a George Foreman grill. Score.

Now, as you can tell, I am back on the internets. Yay, internets.

I enjoyed my 33rd birthday. I am so glad I came down here to NC. I feel so much more relaxed! I hope it keeps once I go back home.

I can't believe I forgot to post about it here, but um... my nephew was born last Thursday.

In my defense, I did post on Facebook. Anyway, I'm about to leave now to get the airport shuttle to fly down to NC to visit Mom, sis, nephew, and nephew #2. And also for my birthday. I'll be 33. Wow.

Anyway, I'll be around, even in small town NC they have internets. :)

Tags: family, vacation

This anxiety issue is annoying the heck out of me. I've felt icky most of the morning. I had planned to go to church today but I woke up feeling kind of bad so I didn't go. I had two sermons on CD that I'm supposed to transcribe, so I compromised and listened to both of those in place of attending the service. I napped a bit in the morning, then got up and attempted to be somewhat productive, but mostly failed. Finally, I decided to just start reading the Bible. I read Matthew. Yes, the whole thing. After that I felt a lot better.

My friends Patrick and Emlyn are coming over in a little while. I have to treat them to lunch because they helped me dispose of my old couch. That was a loooong time ago and they're finally redeeming the debt. I'm taking them to a Greek place near here. I think I'll actually be able to eat, which is good.

So for now I feel ok. Here's hoping it lasts.

I thought of something else I can tell you guys.

As I mentioned, my company is struggling a bit and held a volunary separation program last month (July.) One of the people who took that option was my ex-ex-manager.

I don't talk much about this person. This is the person who was managing me during the last few months I was a manager. This is two years ago, so I'm sure you don't remember it as well as I do. To refresh your memory, I struggled as a manager and ended up being somewhat demoted from that position. The way it happened was very sudden and this is the manager who did it. I felt abandoned and betrayed by this person. I had been open with her about my struggles and was working with her to try to improve. Yet she decided to take steps while I was on vacation to escalate things, and told me the day I returned about her ultimatum. This is a very long-story-short version of things, but you get the idea. Anyway, the end result was that within a week of all this, I was back to being a designer.

For a long time after this incident, I was very angry and bitter. I could not look this person in the eye without major bitterness welling up. I like to say I am not a person who hates, but I think that for a while there, I may have hated this person.

Here is the good part. I realized yesterday when this person sent out their goodbye e-mail that I do not hate her anymore. I still think she handled things horribly, and we'll never be bosom buddies, but I was able to go to this person's office yesterday morning, look her in the eye, and tell her I forgave her. I told her about my bitterness and they way I had been very angry for a long time, and I said those words, "I forgive you." She was a bit teary-eyed and said she was very glad to hear that. She knew she'd made mistakes but we had both learned from the experience. Which was very true. I gave her a hug and wished her the best of luck moving on.

Forgiveness is a major theme in Christianity. If God can forgive us for all of our sins, why can't we forgive the little things we do to each other? That's easier said than done, of course. It took me a good two years to be able to say those words to that woman, but I am so glad I did. Not because I'm a Chritsian, but because it was the right thing to do. It freed not only her, but me from years of captivity in bitterness. Rock on.

And no I have to go get ready for the high school reunion. I had lots of bitterness left over from high school, too, that I've pretty much let go of. It should be a good night.

A senior citizen drove his brand new Corvette convertible out of the dealership.

Taking off down the road, he floored it to 80 m.p.h., enjoying the wind blowing through what little hair he had left. "Amazing," he thought as he flew down I-95, pushing the pedal even more.

Looking in his rear view mirror, he saw a state trooper behind him, lights flashing and siren blaring. He floored it to 100 mph, then 110, then 120. Suddenly he thought, "What am I doing? I'm too old for this," and pulled over to await the trooper's arrival.

Pulling in behind him, the trooper walked up to the Corvette, looked at his watch, and said, "Sir, my shift ends in 30 minutes. Today is Friday. If you can give me a reason for speeding that I've never heard before, I'll let you go."

The old gentleman paused. Then said, "Years ago, my wife ran off with a state trooper. I thought you were bringing her back."

"Have a good day, sir," replied the trooper.

I have been very absent lately, huh? I can't say my life is boring right now, but it's all the same stuff. Work sucks but I have a job, so I can't complain. I've been switched to a normal day short as of this past week, though. My second shift job was eliminated. So sad. Also this week, I was working with another designer's clients while he was on vacation. These clients are HORRIBLE. They made me cry yesterday. I'm technically working for them all next week, but I think-slash-hope we finished everything yesterday so I won't need to deal with them. I really, really hope I won't have to deal with them.

Tonight is my high school reunion. I hope it's fun. Tomorrow I am getting together with hadashi_no_eden. She is coming to see my not-so-new-anymore apartment (I actually cleaned this morning--with a vacuum and Windex wipes) and then we are going to our favorite Japanese restaurant for lunch. That should be nice.

I believe that is all. Happy belated birthday to all I missed this week!

So I've been rather caught up in devouring all of the DBSK fanfic and appearances I can while also trying to keep up with my way-too-many Facebook apps, and have neglected LJ (except when it comes to the DBSK comms). This means I have missed a couple of birthdays. Whoops!

rositamia and honey__vanity, I hope you had a great one! Did you eat a lot of cake and get a lot of presents? Happy belated birthday!

Also today is a birthday for two of my friends. denimlace_dream and amykck, best wishes for a wonderful day!

Okay, so I am still around. I had a stomach bug for a while, and also nothing's really happened to merit posting. Except maybe my new obsession, Dong Bang Shin Ki (DBSK), which has taken over almost every waking-but-not-working hour of my life. And sometimes some of the working ones too. That guy in my icon isn't even my fave, but that moment (from a music video) was too cool not to cap and icon. The key words are "Jaejoong in your face." Appropriate, ne? They have kind of overtaken my love for JE at the moment. Not sure if that's permanent or just the flush of new discovery. I still adore my puppy. No worries there. There's a guy in DBSK who looks a little like him. LOVE.

Anyway, ummm... while I can't say my life is boring (my company is doing a voluntary separation program and we'll have more involuntary layoffs if they don't lose enough people) I don't have any big events to post about. I have had some recent strange dreams, so I'll give you those.

( Dream #1: DBSK Dream (Kind of) )

( Dream #2: Half Family, Half Work, Half School (Which Makes it 100%!) )

I hope this is enough to keep you occupied for a while. I'm hoping my life will remain boring enough to continue not posting. Losing my job would be bad.

hradzka and juniperphoenix, happy birthday! I hope you both have an enjoyable day filled with things you like to do, stuff you like to eat, and presents. Lots of presents.

Another one for my records.

I was just a random "God-like" observer for the first part, like watching a movie. Arashi were doing Shukudai-kun and the part they were doing involved riding around the studio on unicycles with their guest. I think there was some sort of obstacle course and race. The guest and Nino were ahead and the guest's wheel hit some sort of obstruction and he went flying. Then Nino got really cool. Instead of unicycles, they were using something like a skateboard. Nino did something that ended up with him flying through the air. He kicked his board at the guest and said, "Take it!!!" Then everything started moving in slo-mo, as though the show's directors had decided to do that for effect. Nino was slowly flying with no board and nothing to stop his fall. This is where it gets weird. He kind of turned in midair and came to rest against some sort of... gosh, I don't even know how to describe this. Imagine yourself lying in bed and someone is standing next to your bed, but their head only comes to just above the mattress. As though your bed is elevated somehow. So Nino is upright somehow against the side of this whatever-it-is (like an observational booth, maybe? Only there are no seats--it's flat like a roof, but soft like a bed, but I don't want to call it a bed because it was still above the studio). I'm no longer the not-really-there observer, I'm an audience member or something (but not me-as-in-Kittie--I have no sense of self), and I'm right there by Nino. I tell him, "I've got you!" And I'm holding onto him, but more as a spotter than holding him up. His weight at this point isn't a problem.

In front of us there is an industrial lighting fixture of some sort. Nino puts bubble gum on the end of a long strong or rope that has a hook on the end of it (I couldn't possibly make this up) and starts trying to cast the hook like a fishing line to catch on the lighting fixture. Presumably so he can then safely climb down the rope to solid ground. He keeps doing this and getting more and more nervoous as he keeps missing. Then he starts to slip.

So now I really am holding onto him to keep him from falling. He keeps slipping down, inch by inch, and I'm barely holding onto him. He's scared as heck but keeps determinedly casting that rope. Then the rest of Arashi come up behind me, yelling that they'll help. I'm so relieved. For a while I'm still anonymous and Arashi are helping me hold him up. Then suddenly I'm Matsujun--so now Matsujun is the one holding most of Nino's weight. Suddenly the rest of Arashi aren't helping anymore and Nino and I both start to slip. I (Matsujun) yell, "Guys, I'm slipping! Guys, help!" But no one holds onto me. Nino and I both fall over the edge. Nino lands hard and sort of bounces, and I land half on top of him. Now I'm sobbing and crying, "Nino! Ninoooo!" and someow I know that the rest of Arashi, for whatever reason, did not believe that this was the real Nino, so they let him (us) fall. But I know it is the real Nino and I'm terrified and distraught. Don't ask me why I (Matsujun) never thought to wonder why they let me fall as well.

I think it ended there, with me (Matsujun) crying and Nino unresponsive.

Posting this mainly for my own records.

I was in Dad’s house calling for him and couldn’t find him, and then I walked into the kitchen and he was lying on the floor. Only then he wasn’t on the floor (dream weirdness) but was kind of... on his knees against the counter with this horrible frozen, wide-eyed, half-blank-half-terrified expression on his face. His mouth was hanging open. I thought he was dead and got really weak in the knees. I said, “Dad? And his eyes sort of rolled toward me like “help me!” And then I snapped awake.

Day 5, Friday, June 19: Last day. Otherwise known as airport and airplane day. We woke up at 6 am and this time I didn't take the first shower. I couldn't get out of bed. I barely managed it for my turn in the shower. I felt so awful. I was light-headed, tired, and my stomach wasn't happy. It was partially from the heat still, but also because the heat had caused my stomach to go into lockdown mode (as I mentioned), so I was weak from hunger too. And I was still in lockdown mode and couldn't eat. A classic Catch-22.

I managed to get dressed and ready, and rested on the couch while the others did their thing and went downstairs for breakfast. I went down to get some canned fruit or something, but was ignored at the little store so I gave up and got an icky yogurt at the free breakfast bar. It was Yoplait, which it turns out I am not fond of. I only managed to eat about half of that. I also took a dose of Immodium and then a dose of my anti-nausea meds. I wasn't nauseous, but I figured what the heck?

We had on VH1 while we finished cleaning up. Have you seen Pink's "Please don't leave me" video? I'm told it's disturbing. The girls forbade me to watch it, and after hearing their reactions, I'm thinking that was a good call.

We went downstairs to check out and wait for the shuttle at around 8:30 and that went smoothly. I told the guy at the desk that they needed to fix the phone in our room (as a reminder, every time you picked up the receiver, the cord popped out) and he thanked me for the info. I sat for a bit, still feeling like crap, and then went into the little store and bought Pepto Bismol pills, which I took immediately. I figured between that, the Immodium, and my anti-nausea stuff, something would have to work.

The shuttle arrived pretty much on time. We piled in and were on our way. Something funny there: you know those radios cab and shuttle drivers use, to get info form headquarters, or whatever? At one point a guy came on and said something, and then said, "FYI. For your information." And we all broke up laughing. Because maybe someone didn't know what FYI means.

Anyway, at some point during the ride, something kicked in. From the timing, I'm thinking it was the Pepto. So I felt a lot better stomach-wise, though I was still sluggish and light-headed.

At the airport we split up at first to check in but planned to meet back up and only go through security as each of us needed to. The more time together, the better. As it turned out, Elaine and I couldn't check our bags yet because we were too early. We had to wait until four hours before our flights. Of course I found this out after the girls came back my way and warned me, and after I went all the way through the line and asked a Southwest rep about it when I got to the front. Oh well.

Sarah's plane was first, but we still had about two hours before she'd need to leave us. We sat on benches and chatted, and at one point I attempted to eat a cracker because I knew I was hungry, but no dice. I choked down half of it and Gertrude (my stomach) said, "What in the world do you think you're doing?" At which point I apologized profusely and gave up.

We hugged Sarah goodbye at the appropriate time and I asked Tess and Elaine where they thought I might find a banana. I know Gertie and a banana would definitely be a safe food option. And I was desperate for one because by now I could really tell hunger was my main problem, and that if I didn't eat something soon I might actually faint. Tess said she thought the coffee shop by C Concourse might have them and Hallelujah, they did! I bought a banana and took it with me as we headed back over for Elaine to check in.

She did so and we sat on benches again for a while as I ate my banana. That was definitely a good call. Gertie liked the banana and started to loosen up a bit. After some time (I have no idea how much, but Tess slept or a bit and I dozed sitting up and nearly got a crick in my neck) if was finally 11:50 and I was allowed to check my giant bag. Once I did that, we headed back to that coffee shop. I got another banana and tried to get decaf black tea but they didn't have any. So I got hot water and used my own tea bag.

We sat there for quite a while until time to escort Elaine to her gate. Another bittersweet parting. Her plane was delayed, which was worrying as she had a connecting flight, but we wished her well and then it was just Tess and me. We once again sat on some benches killing time until time to go to security. My flight was scheduled for 3:50 and Tess's for 3:55, so we could pretty much go through at the same time. So, at about 2:00, we hugged and went our separate ways, her to Concourse C and me to Concourse B.

Security was fine, no problems. The wait for the plane was fine, no problems. The two bananas had loosened Gertie up enough that I was actually able to eat a Subway sandwich. Of course they put on way too much mustard and mayo, so I couldn't finish it, but I was glad to be able to eat.

Nothing much to say about the first plane ride. It was delayed by about 25 minutes, but it wouldn't affect my being able to catch my connecting plane in Birmingham so I wasn't worried. As it turned out, the plane in Birmingham was an hour late. So that worked out. Ha.

I saw a woman I thought might be Japanese while waiting for the plane, and screwed up the courage to ask her, but she wasn't so I felt like an idiot. So much for not being socially awkward.

The second plane ride wasn't as uneventful, but not in the bad way, don't worry! First of all, I was in an early boarding group so I got to pick a good seat. Unfortunately I chose one very near the front, a few rows before that big... wide open... engine thing. Okay, so I don't know planes. Anyway, that thing I think birds sometimes fly into? That. And it turns out I don't like sitting there because I can hear the plane noises so much more clearly, like the engine revving up and dying down, and when you're descending, the engine is doing lots of things and it kept sounding like it had cut off or something and that was scary. So yes, over-wing or rear of plane from now on, kthx.

The other eventful thing was that we flew through a storm. Most of you probably know that I HATE storms. Lightning is my nemesis. I scream and run if I'm caught outside in it. But if I'm indoors, or in a car or something, I'm fine. Planes are the same way. Once I could see that we weren't actually IN the storm, but sort of next to it, I started rummaging for my camera. It was so beautiful, watching the lighting in the clouds. I managed to film four minutes of video which I will share with all of you soon.

So I landed safely, got my baggage, got a shuttle home, and walked into my apartment at around midnight. I got on the computer only to email the girls that I had made it home, but I was hungry again so I stayed on the computer and played on Facebook while I ate a yogurt. Then I went to bed.

Once note about the shuttle ride: a Korean teenager and his mother were sitting behind me. (I know they were Korean because I recognized the cadence of their language from the Korean movie we'd watched in New Orleans.) He was hilarious. He kept fluidly switching between Korean and English. I'd hear "Korean Korean Korean, like, I mean, Korean Korean. I couldn't believe it! Korean Korean Korean bicycle rack Korean Korean. Are you serious?!" So that was fun.

And that is all for my New Orleans trip. I hope you enjoyed reading this. It is Saturday afternoon now and I am about to eat my lunch. I hope Gertie will let me do so. And then I am taking a nap. And when I wake up I just might eat and take another nap, because wow, am I wiped out. But happy and looking forward to Canada next year, courtesy of Elaine. Let the planning begin.

Day 4, Thursday June 18: Today was an interesting day, as I spent a good chunk of it feeling like warmed-over crap. Yesterday we were out and about for several hours and it was quite tiring. Today, I apparently hadn't quite recovered. We woke up at 7 am as usual and I took the first shower. I didn't realize I wasn't feeling well until a bit after the shower, as the others were getting ready. Nothing hurt, including my usually temperamental stomach. However, I was a bit sluggish and tired. While my tummy didn't hurt, it was in lockdown mode, which basically means I have to fight to get anything but liquids down. I managed a little bit of yogurt downstairs in the lobby (free food) but that was about it. I supplemented that with some decaf tea.

We left the hotel and went to Cafe du Monde as usual. I wasn't able to eat the beignets because I suddenly had a terrible case of dry mouth. I tried drinking water, but that only made me have to pee. Really badly. I left the girls at the table and went to the public restroom. This became a theme for the whole time we were out. After Cafe du Monde we continued walking down the same street because I wanted to buy a book for my nephew. Immediately afterward, I actually had to go to the restroom YET AGAIN. It was seriously like 15 minutes later. I was really feeling icky by now, so I said I wanted to sit on the bench outside the book store while Sarah and Elaine went to the two mask stores they still needed to visit. Tess stayed with me. I had to go back to the restroom twice while we sat there! I obviously wasn't dehydrated or I'm sure I'd have kept some of that water.

Anyway, after we'd been sitting there for a while I told Tess I didn't think I'd make it and I was going to try to get a cab back to the hotel. She went in and asked the lovely lady at the book store the best way for me to get a cab. The lady was so sweet and so concerned. She came out and spoke to me personally, saying I could get one over by Cafe du Monde, and asking if I wanted her to call one for me to come pick me up there. I said no, I could make it to Cafe du Monde. As it turned out, I was able to walk all the way back to the hotel. Somehow, when up and walking, I felt fine, if a bit tired. It was when I was standing still or sitting that I felt worse. Weird, huh? Tess called to check on me when I was about a block from the hotel, to ask if I'd made it back safely. I explained about the walking thing and told her I was okay and almost there.

Once back at the hotel, I bought a bottle of vitamin water (still paranoid about dehydration despite everything) and went upstairs, where I promptly had to pee YET AGAIN. Once done, I collapsed on the bed and just rested. Sarah called from the praline store I had wanted to visit and asked if they could buy me anything. I gratefully gave her an order for my Mom and Dad, then hung up. Then I remembered I had wanted to buy for my coworkers too, so I called her back. but she didn't pick up. I tried Elaine and Tess too but no one answered. I gave up and figured I'd probably be able to grab something at the airport. But then Sarah called back, so I got to put in that extra order after all.

When they got back, I was feeling a bit better. They hung out in the bedroom with me for a while, and then we all went into the living room for laptop and TV time. Throughout the afternoon we watched several things. I am now a big fan of the TV shows "Castle" and "Chuck." I'll have to Netflix the rest of them. I had them watch the first episode of the Japanese drama, "Love Shuffle," and they all liked it so I burned copies for all. I have ordered them to email me as they are watching and give me reactions.

Sarah had picked up a pretty cool ornament at the praline store, so I kind of wanted to go there. Since I was feeling better, we headed back out at around 6:30. We had to hurry because the store closed at 7:00. We made it with 20 minutes to spare. I didn't get one of the ornaments, but I did buy some things I can't say because one is a souvenir for someone who reads this journal. Heehee.

We stopped at Subway on the way back to the hotel, and Tess and I went right back downstairs upon arrival because I had forgotten to buy more vitamin water and she wanted to check out the free supper. I also needed to print out my Southwest boarding passes, which I had gotten and downloaded to my jump drive.

It turns out the printer in the "business computer room" wasn't working, but a really nice front desk guy took my jump drive and invited me to his office, where he opened the file and printed my passes to their printer. Mission accomplished. Vitamin water and boarding passes in hand, Tess and I went back upstairs for more laptop and TV time.

We watched "Antique," which is a Korean movie based on a Japanese manga and anime called "Antique Bakery." We all enjoyed it, expect Sarah who was only half-watching and therefore was majorly confused. Tess and Elaine were trying to explain it to her but I kept telling them there was no point. She just had to watch it for real. Sarah eventually agreed and I burned a copy of the movie for her. Elaine also wanted it, but Tess didn't, since she didn't think she'd actually watch it again. But then I accidentally labeled a blank DVD so I told her rather than wasting the disk, I'd just burn it for her as well. She said, "Okay, whatever." After that we watched more "Chuck" and now it is laptop/reading time.

And I have to pee AGAIN. Oh well.

We're getting up at 6 am tomorrow because Sarah's plane is at 12:10 and we need to be downstairs for the shuttle at 8:40 am. Yes, today was our last full day. So sad! Next year it's Elaine's turn to plan, which means we'll go to Canada. I love Canada.

I hope we go to bed soon! I'd love to feel rested and not like crap tomorrow....

Day 3, Wednesday June 17: The alarm went off at 7:00 as planned. I dragged myself up and took the first shower, and then wrote yesterday's trip report while the others got ready. Tess and Sarah slept pretty much right up until their turns in the shower. Like I said, they went to bed really late last night. We managed to finally get ourselves together and head downstairs for a quick breakfast before heading out to Cafe du Monde for beignets.

It was very hot outside right away, with the sun beating down on us mercilessly. We were pretty hot by the time we got to Cafe du Monde. We enjoyed our beignets and then started walking. We had planned to take the ferry across the river, but decided to walk down a few blocks into the Quarter first, to see whatever we could see. The highlight of that was when we stopped into the animal adoption store and got to pet two adorable kittens. Sarah and Elaine had a long talk with the clerk about the plight of domestic animals who are abused or otherwise mistreated. I just petted the kitties.

Anther highlight was the store we stopped in where Elaine wanted t buy some spices but didn't know which were good, so she asked the sales clerk, who was an older black lady. That lady proceeded to tell us about every single spice and food product in the store, in great detail and with personal food anecdotes. We liked that lady.

By the time we got to the ferry, we were all very hot. The ferry did not have air conditioning and there wasn't much of a breeze, so the ride wasn't as fun as it could have been. On the other side of the river, we thought there would be sightseeing or shopping to do, but all we really saw was a residential area with cute, quaint little houses. Which was nice and all, but it was really danged hot and we just wanted air conditioning. We went back on the next ferry (after about a 15-20 minute wait, ugh) and I was seriously wilting at this point. We found a mall pretty close to the ferry exit and luxuriated in the AC. I didn't feel at all hungry due to the heat, but I knew I needed to eat. We went to the food court and I had the best food court pad thai I have ever had. In fact, I would even venture to say it wasn't just good pad thai "for a food court," it was good in general, for any restaurant! I still have lots of leftovers, though. I might see if the girls will be ok with not going to a restaurant tomorrow.

Sarah and Elaine left Tess and me there so they could do a tiny bit more shopping in the mall. Tess got some Chinese food to go, stopped in one more store, and then we went back to the hotel, where I promptly collapsed in the bed for an indeterminate amount of time.

When I woke up and stumbled into the living room, the three of them were all on separate laptops (or, in Elaine's case, on Sarah's e-book reader), having quiet time. I plugged in Hazue and tried to play on the Internet, but the wireless signal wouldn't work. Tess downloaded some stuff and then handed the ethernet cord my way.

I felt pretty much like crap for quite a while, but I drank some water, thinking I might be dehydrated. Sure enough, after a while I started to feel much better. We went downstairs for the free hotel dinner (burgers and hot dogs this time, with baked beans) and then came back upstairs for more laptop time. Then we watched two episodes of "The Big bang Theory," which also gets two huge thumbs up from me. SO FUNNY.

After that, we watched two episodes of "Arashi no Shukudai-kun," which is a Japanese variety show hosted by the boyband Arashi. It's funny. Then we had more laptop time. I have tried to prompt the girls to watch another show or interact in some way, but no dice. And now I am bored as heck because the wireless still isn't working and Tess has the ethernet cord. I called the front desk and they said they have had several calls, mainly from our floor, about the internet being slow and otherwise bad. She said they would call their service provider and hopefully he problem will be better by tomorrow. It had better be. I have Facebook pets to feed, dangit. I want a discount on our stay--we've had no electricity yesterday and little to no internet today. This is not what I signed up for. Oh, and the phone is broken, too. When we pick up the receiver, the cord pops out. You have to hold to cord in while you're talking. Riiiight.

We'll see if I manage to get the girls to interact some more or if we'll end the night like this. I'm thinking everyone is too absorbed in their technology. So sad. What happened to good old conversation...?

Day 2, Tuesday, June 16: We had set the alarm for 7:00 am because we wanted an early start. It was due to be 94 degrees, so we didn't think it'd be a good idea to be out at peak times. It took us a while for all of us to be ready, so we didn't leave the hotel until around 9:30 or so. Tess and I wanted breakfast before we headed out, because of that long, hot walk. Our hotel has free breakfast, so we both got a nice hot meal while Sarah and Elaine were getting ready. I think I'll do that every day!

Upon leaving, we headed straight for Cafe du Monde, where we had yummy, yummy beignets. We then walked around the French Quarter and Jackson Square for several hours. Elaine wants another New Orleans-style mask, and I need souvenirs for myself and several friends. We're all planning to make note of the best stores and do all of our shopping on Thursday, which will be our final full day here.

For lunch, we found a restaurant we had gone to last year, which I remembered as having the best gumbo I'd ever tasted. Unfortunately, they've changed their recipe. It wasn't that great at all. I ended up just eating Elaine's french fries. Their bread pudding was good, though. The good news is that Mother's gumbo is yummy enough to satisfy me. I also managed to find a nighttime mouthguard at Walgreens. (How mundane.) I believe I've mentioned that I clench my teeth on a regular basis and it has caused me ear pain and soreness. I hoped this mouthguard would help. I mention this for a reason, to be explained in a few paragraphs.

We finally headed back to the hotel at around 4:00 pm, only to find that the electricity was off. They'd had a surge or something, on the main line. They were working on getting it fixed, but in the meantime....

Sarah had about three hours of charge on her laptop, so she put the Star Trek DVD in and she, Elaine, and Tess watched that. I cannot watch that movie, so I decided to use the hour or so of charge left on Hazue (my laptop) to type up my trip log. That brings us up to now. To preserve Hazue's battery, I'm stopping now. I'll pick up again later.

It is now later. It is actually Wednesday morning, so Tuesday is officially over. At any rate, after I stopped yesterday, the girls finished the Star Trek movie while I read random stories on Sarah's e-book reader. Then they decided to watch Dr. Horrible episode 3, which I also did not want to watch because I knew the ending. I got suddenly sleepy anyway, so I went into the bedroom to rest. I didn't want to sleep because once I go down for a nap, I'm gone for at least 1.5-2 hours. I called Mom and Dad and then joined them in the living room for the Dr. Horrible commentary. Which is HILARIOUS. And the ending wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, so I may actually watch ep 3 at some point.

After that, it was time for free "light fare" in the lobby, Apparently the emergency generators that powered the elevators and the lobby lights also powered their kitchen. they had chili and chips, it was good. While we were in the lobby eating, the electricity came back on! Yay! Back upstairs we went, to charge laptops and continue our addiction to technology.

We watched Bolt in the evening. I adore this movie. It is FULLY AWESOME!!!! (Sorry, had a Rhino moment. If you've seen Bolt, you probably giggled at that.) All of the girls loved it too, and it made Sarah cry. Ha. After Bolt it was time for out usual "everyone plays on their own laptop or reads a book" time. I spoke to the room at one point and NO ONE WAS LISTENING TO ME. Ah well.

We stayed up reading for entirely too long before I decided I was giving up and going to bed. That was probably around 1 am, and we had already decided we would get up at 7:00 again and leave the hotel before it got too hot outside. I had to get my new mouthguard ready at this point. the box said I had to boil it first to soften it up, so I put a pot on to boil. And I waited. And waited. And turned the heat up on the stove from 5 to 8. And waited. And waited. And went to wait in bed instead of on the chair. And waited. And then Tess turned the heat up to high and we waited. And finally it boiled. Good grief. So I got it boiled and fitted it to my mouth according to the instructions and went to bed happily. The girls bravely stayed up after me, which caused some minor problems getting up in the morning. More on that in tomorrow's report.

Day 1, Monday June 15: I had set the alarm for 5:00 am because my shuttle was due to pick me up at 6:55. I didn't sleep well the night before, so I ended up getting up at around 4:45 am. I was dressed and ready to go, with everything packed, by 6:00. This made me nervous. At any rate, I killed time on the internet until it was time to go downstairs for the shuttle.

The shuttle was waiting outside when I got down there, and it turned out I was the only passenger. My ride to the airport was uneventful and fairly quick, and once there I got through check-in and security easily, as well. I sat down for a long wait before my flight. We boarded on time and the flight took off just a little bit later than the scheduled time. We had a tiny bit of turbulence, but nothing to write home about. I arrived in New Orleans safely, if a bit tired and hungry.

Tess and Sarah were waiting on a bench as I headed for baggage claim and we did our greetings. I left my carry-on with them as I got my suitcase from baggage claim. A little while later we rounded up Elaine and the four of us went to find a shuttle to our hotel.

Reserving the shuttle was fun, if only because the lady at the counter called all of us "baby" repeatedly. Sarah got one "honey" as well. She recommended to restaurants to us Mother's and another I've forgotten. She wrote both on the back of my return ticket for the shuttle, so we may look for that place later. Her first recommendation ended up being really good. More on that soon.

The shuttle ride itself was also uneventful, as was check-in into our hotel. We have a nice room--a one bedroom suite with a full kitchen and separate living room. There's a DVD player too, which is a plus.

We sat in the hotel for a little while after checking in, just relaxing and catching up. Then we headed out for supper, as it was only around 2:00 or 3:00 pm. Mother's, which as I mentioned shuttle lady had recommended, is right across the street from our hotel. We decided to go there.

It is a down home restaurant, with a very casual vibe. It actually reminded me of the In Living Color sketch about the soul food restaurant, only without the rampant uncleanliness. You had to order up at the counter and then go find a table. They were calling numbers but also bringing plates to tables sometimes, so it was hard to tell how everything worked. We sat down at a table that wasn't quite clean, and when a lady came to clean it, she glared at Sarah's coke until she noticed and lifted it up. We couldn't figure out what we had done to make this lady so mad at us.

I got seafood gumbo and it was really good. I definitely want to go back for more! After Mother's, we decided to head down to the French Quarter so we would know where it was for future reference. We're about five blocks from the very edge of the quarter, so it's a big of a walk. And it's HOT here. It's not a walk for the faint of heart. We walked down far enough to see Cafe du Monde (where we plan to have beignets every day!) and did a tiny bit of sightseeing before coming back to the hotel for the night.

The night consisted of playing on our laptops and then watching a Canadian movie called "Big Eden," which is the most adorable movie EVAR. It's about a gay dude, so if you're not into that, don't bother to see it. But if you don't mind that, OMG, so CUTE!

After the movie we chatted a bit more before all going to bed, totally exhausted.

Okay, okay. I have packed everything I need, right? The cat is all set? Dad has the keys to the apartment? It's almost time to leave, yay! New Orleans, here I come. I hate traveling, it makes me nervous as heck. At least the end result is fun.

Anyway, as usual, I'll be posting trip logs every day, so look forward to that!