Friday, November 24, 2006

Raven Simeone

Do I know her? no Have I met her? no. Do I generally care about her? no. I just want to say that from what little I know of her I think she is a good person and not a pain in the ass star. Being from Southern California, I generally do not care about famous people and was fairly accustomed to seeing them. Well she was on my flight from LAX to Atlanta. I had heard whisperings but then again I really didn't care. Well, I am sure you are wondering where I am going with this. Well I went to get my bags off the carousel with 50 billion other people and there she was standing in front of me. No biggee, she is short I could still see the carousel. Well she had the cutest little dog and was very sweet about people walking up to her. The coolest part was that she got her own bags. It was getting REALLY crowded so her friend was getting the bags and she moved back, so I moved forward. This is what struck me most about her. She was moving her bags back but I was in the way. She very politely said "excuse me" so I stepped aside so yeah. On the decent famous people meter she gets 2 big thumbs up.

Ramblings from the airport

I really should start doing a blog on all the airports I have flown into, out of and through. Seriously there seem to be millions and I do have favorites.

So here I am at LA International Airport on the busiest travel day of the year. Well all the news reports of LAX showed these hideous and horrendous lines and traffic, well not at Delta at 10:30 this morning. I left the Antelope Valley on a shuttle this morning at 9am. We hit my terminal somewhere around 10:30. There were no lines and no pressure, I walked straight up to the check-in kiosk. Then I couldnt figure the darn thing out, it had instructions flashing on the screen to fast to read except the passport instructions and it didnt read my passport. Then I dropped off my bags. I think my boarding pass had a code on it that tagged me for full search. So yup I got the full blown pat down and inspection. Sorry boys there was no serious girl on girl gropage like they show on the news. She didn't even graze my breasts, which I am not sure if I am glad about that or upset. I mean I don't have a thing for women but are my breasts not good enough for the gropage we see on TV? I did get to see a guy in a cast get the inspection and they inspected his cast, which was interesting to me. All in all the worst day of the year to travel has so far been easy, by 11:15 AM I had done to walks of the Concourse, one to find my gate and another to peruse food options and shopping. Now I am sitting at a power outlet to conserve the precious battery power of my laptop. I also have 3 wi-fi links but none of them are letting me in, even though one says it is for public use. Those bastards!

I now ave 2 good hours until my plane leaves and a little less until it boards. But you can bet your tuckus I am not leaving this golden power outlet until my hunger is so ravenous, I want to jump the guy across from me and eat his McD's I would rather eat human flesh than McD's mmmmmmm flesshhhhhhhhh

Hmm maybe I should hop on that flight to Paris, I missed the one earlier to Buenos Aires, the person announcing that couldn't pronounce it and finally just said Peru. Buenos Aires is in Peru right?

Ok so my thesis on airports will start like this. LAX is not my fave by far. The bathrooms have not been updated to accomodate roll-on size carry-ons and the hooks and stands have not been reinforced so you can keep your laptop or purse off the floor. They did have auto-flush toilets which was nice. This concourse (Delta) has very few choices for food and shopping. There is a McD's, a sandwich shop, a CPK and like 3 bars that claim they serve food, but calling the selection bar food would be an exageration. I looked at one "menu" and there were 3 things on it. There are 2 shops. your typical newstand shop and a kitschy krap southwest shop, being from the Southwest and considering it crap I did not give it more than a walking glance. The newshop was typical, I heart LA stuff, some See's Candy(I might go back for that) and newstand stuff but the only bottled drinks are water. That is common in alot of airports lately, but not a big deal because they have vending machines and soda only vendors. Well not at LAX. It sucks. The check in was pretty smooth even though the attendants were inattentive, brusk and your typical CA rude which I am just not accustomed to anymore. Even though I got the full random search the security screening was smooth but I wouldnt want to do it when they are busy. The organization is poor and the area needs to be redsigned for the new standards.

Security CheckPoints:
Now ATL their security point is huge and kick ass, if I do sayso. It is like the entrance to disneyland or the line at Fry's. There are so many lanes that they should never get to long and there is someone directing and telling you where to go. Of course I saw many people not listen when the lady was clear in instructions and there were times where I could see she was speaking clearly IF we had been familiar to the airport areas.

San Diego well I don't like it, again the area needs to be redesigned But mostly I dont like it because they were rude to me and are lacking signage that says things like "Take Laptop out of bag" So since I didnt know they were pissed and angry and just very rude to me.

I have no recollection of Birmingham, Chicago-Midway or Pensacola so it coulndt be that bad.

Other Notes:

Atlanta kicks ass, lots of food and things to amuse me when I am waiting. They also have the train so you don't have to run to another terminal.

Dallas-Fort Worth had great food, that is all I remember is this restraunt with the best Albondigas I have ever had.

Phoenix was boring but did have free internet, as does ATL I think. LAX has no internet unless my wifi is hosed up again. I think Birminham had free too.


hmmmmmm ok that is all for now until I get bored and right more. I should be working on that term paper but I just don't care about it.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

SO I am about to go home. I fly out tomorrow, I am packing and running errands in hopes that my mom will be ok for awhile. Stepdad is doing well but his lack of vision is very upsetting to him. He can see but he is seeing double so yeah no fun. The IV will be done tomorrow and mom will be home through the holiday so hopefully they will work out a schedule, or grandma will come up now that there is no fear of him eing contagious, little did I know but grandpa has never had the Pox even though he has gone through 4 kids who have. So yay! for LAX on the busiest day of the year to ATL the busiest airport in the country that has lost my luggage more than once. No one even loves me enough to drive me down there. ok for real I dont want anyone to go through that hell for me. I will take the bus.

As we were cleaning the garage we found alot of my old stuff. One was a very nicely packed box that I know has a lot of momentos in it but I did not go through it. We found the grail we were searching for which was another tub of antique banks and glassware that was not wrapped it has now been repacked and moved to a safe yet undisclosed location. :)

What got me writing today was a smaller box, plastic and slightly larger than a shoebox. It is full of paper and going home with me. It is full of card and letters from about 1996-1999. Just 3 years but full of memories. It reminds me of the friends I had, the best friend I have taken for granted and a friend who may have been a love but neither of us ever said so. It was a wonderful thing to find. Just full of memories. People I havent heard from in 10 years and I admit that is mostly my fault. People who were dear friends who suddenly weren't and I still don't know why. A letter from my sister saying we would be married and have kids by now, well she isnt and neither of us do. Then my best friend who I had forgatten cared so much for me and did really nice things for me. It's weird how things change and I just forgot. To those I still talk to, thank you, to those I forgot, I am sorry and to Roo, I love you, you are a real friend.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Bat out of Hell Meets Bat Out of Burbank

Well I am in California for a week and then some. My stepfather is ill and mom needs help, so duh dudda duh! here comes super-daughter. Ok well I had no choice, I dont care what anyone says. I fI hadn't come I would be the asshole child that I despise when I have to deal with others in similar situations. So here I am. Week one is complete, the old man is getting better but we have another week of IVs. So Mom gave me a break to get out of Hell, as I lovingly refer to the Antelope Valley. There are 2 ways out one leads to my Hometown and the other to LA. Well the pass is closed to go back to Dodge, the place I got the hell out of. So I started bugging my LA\College buddies to see who still loved me and would tolerate me for an evening.

I was greeted with open arms by the dynamic super duo FOXSWAN. They said yeah come on down we'll have dinner and then try to steal you from you husband as a swoon over us and our awesome singing. Who can turn down that kind of invitation.

So I drove down the hill and my adventure began. Mom, being paranoid and not wanting to realize I am closer to 30 than 16, insisted I leave earlier because she didn't want me driving the 1980s throwback of a car in the dark. So needing a wedding present for some friends I agreed. I looked up malls online and decided on The Grove. Dumb me didn't look closely at the surrounding streets so as I am driving I realize I am in the heart of Hollywood, and there was a Premiere being setup. Now tourists would think COOL! me being from there and having seen it all before said "oh shit! I am surrounded by stupid tourists." But I got the The Grove safely. It was like shopping at Crate and Barrel on Main Street in Disneyland, it was definetly weird. The Farmers Market was pretty dang cool though.

So I left, almost got back on the 101, or hit the divide pylon (shhhh don't tell mom). I thought I was lost and called Swan. While talking to him I realized that if I had stayed at the Holiday Inn Express that I was looking at last night, I would have realized I was also looking at a sign for the street I was looking for. So my dumbass went off to find the abode of Swan.

Here is where the fun begins.....

So I get there a Swan almost doesn't recognize me but better than that was Fox who was obviously smitten with me. He wouldnt stop staring at me. He is lucky that the power of the ring compels me because who could deny that look.

After Dinner and more oggling from Fox it was off to go see the World Famous FOXSWAN Well Ladies I have to say it was worth the trip from Georgia. I was amazed, enthralled and even a little confused by sheer manliness that FOXSWAN emanate while acting incredibly gay.

There was also bowling but that was just sad and pathetic. I got to see a few other friends from school which was totally awesome. It almost made me miss Cali, but no it just made me miss my friends and antics, I still don't really miss LA.

I had a great time it was well worth the drive. I feel bad for having to wake up Swan for directions but he was so confused I had to chuckle. He also has the greatest roommate ever, I wish I had had rommates like that.

Another week and a half here in hell. Then home before I come back to San Diego. Somewhere between here and there, I need to procure us a car and find a way to meet up with FOXSWAN again so hubbs can meet them.

Oh yeah and Ladies they are single. And while I am not sure about Fox,
I am pretty sure Swan likes the ladies.All in All Good times were had by all.