I dreamed I got tickets to see Led Zeppelin for Christmas. I wish I didn't wake up in the middle of trying to catch a flight to London.
Oh, for all of you Star Trek Nerds, if you haven't heard of Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (directed by former Vulcan Tim Russ), click here for info. The first part has been posted!! Even though they've only released part 1 of 3 I can easily say it's the best Star Trek film I've seen in over 10 years. Woot!!! It's really excellent, it's got an amazing cast and really great production value for being fan produced. Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, Alan Ruck, Tim Russ and Gary Graham all have parts. :-) Oh yeah, the dude who played Nelix is in it too. So is Charlie X and the dude the Vulcan lady wanted to marry in Amok Time. I apologize for terrible spelling errors, I'm too lazy to look up names this morning.
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It was really fun staying at Sister Sal's duplex. Mama is already in Florida in the winter (although she's far too young and vivacious to be considered a snow bird) and I typically stay with her when I'm home. As much as I love staying with Mum, it sort of felt like I'd crossed some sort of line as a grown up by staying with Sal. I had graduated and moved out of town by the time I was 17, and with Sal being two years younger, we really haven't had a lot of time together as adults. We're really close though, and I think if we lived nearer to each other, she'd be living with Mr. Val and I; or at least doing her laundry here like Aunt Jackie.
Anyway. We had lots of fun. The boys she lives with are fun to play with. There's Sister's BF, a really great guy who I love to call Brother.
Brother's best friend also lives with them. He was really funny and a lot of fun to hang out with (and watch Arrested Development).
And then there is Brother's brother who hangs out at the place from time to time. He and I made it our goal to get Sister to watch The Princess Bride. We were about halfway through when I fell asleep (it was midnight in a different time zone on the day I flew in, so at least I had a good excuse for being the buzz kill), but I gave her the DVD so I expect her to finish it.
Then there is Sister Salena. A girl with so much class, I just don't know what to do with her.
Don't worry, it's just a Christmas Margarita. Sheesh! Sure our family is totally gross (in a fun dick and fart joke sort of way), but not that kind of gross.
Oh yeah, I was there too and had the privilege of using my favorite childhood blanket (why yes that is a 25 year old Strawberry Shortcake blanket).
Nothing exciting to report, just swamped at work as per usual. I told Sweet Misery I'd put up some Pearl Jam for her, but I suppose y'all can have a listen if you'd like.
At home I've just finished listening to the Buffalo Springfield box set and am nearly finished with the CSN box. Expect samples and bits of reviews soon. Happy Friday bitchez.
Hey peeps, hope you have a wonderful day with your friends, your family or just yourself. Merry Christmas!
My flight into Moline was much better than my flight home. I only arrived slightly behind schedule. Sister and her BF, plus dad plus grandma were all waiting for me at the airport. It's always nice to have a group of people who love you anxiously awaiting your arrival. :-)
Grandpa's visitation was the same evening (Wednesday). It was a slow but steady stream of people for a couple of hours. Cousin Jolena (from the other side, my mom's side, of the family) arrived with her two little ones. Her two and a half year old, Dylan, was running around. There weren't many people there at that point and I think my grandfather would have gotten a kick of a little one causing some trouble. :-) He looked up toward the front of the room where the casket was displayed and took off at full speed. Everyone turned to watch and held their breath not knowing what would happen next. He stopped short at the peace lily next to the casket, inhaled deeply and smiled. That was close!
Early Thursday afternoon we had the funeral. Knowing that the minister had never met my grandfather and my family generally suffers from stage fright I prepared and gave the eulogy. I was glad I did otherwise the service would have been impersonal and he deserved better than that. I was holding myself together pretty well, but right before they started the funeral a bunch of guys came in from the VFW, walked up to the casket and, one by one, saluted my grandfather. That was incredibly hard to watch without shedding a tear. At the graveside service they shot off the guns and played taps, that was especially difficult as well.
Sister and I went out for Thai with dad after the services. After, Sal and I weren't in the mood to do much but decided to go up to one of the "regular" bars and try to meet up with some friends. One of the stories I had told in the eulogy was about the time Sal and I were in the truck with Grandpa and Michael Jackson's In the Closet was on the radio. Grandpa's hearing was never all that good but he'd never admit to it. He was also crotchety in a joking (sometimes!) way. So of course he was complaining about the Michael Jackson song and how you can never understand what these kids today are saying. "I can't even understand him, what was that, chicken in the closet??" "Chicken in the closet" has since become a phrase Sister and I use to make each other laugh. So when we were at the bar, we found they actually had that song on the jukebox and got all of our friends to sing "chicken in the closet".
Friday Sal and I met Grandma for lunch. Can I just say that she is the best? I can't even begin to describe what an amazing woman she is. I just love her like crazy and think she's everything I want to be when I grow up (except that mother to seven part!).
Friday night cousin Jolena and her two bebeh's came over for Christmas tree decorating. Really, it was for the grown ups, but the kids helped a little too.
...at least, not in the middle of a snowstorm. I have lots of stories, for you guys, but let's start with the scary one first.
Last Sunday I was scheduled to fly out of Moline, Illinois, connect in Detroit and land safely in Albany at 3:18 in the afternoon. I do not sleep well before a flight and Saturday night was no exception. I probably had 3 hours of fairly restful sleep before awaking at 4:30. Fine. I forced down a banana and some yerba mate before heading to the airport around 8:30.
My first flight was delayed because Detroit was closing due to snow. About an hour later than our scheduled departure we boarded the plane and took off in the hopes that DTW would reopen by the time we got there. It didn't. We diverted to Grand Rapids and sat on the tarmac for a couple of hours while the pilot (who was awesome) served us snacks and beverages. Snacks were limited since they only have those paid ones now and they were out by the time they got to my row. My seat mate offered me a couple of bites of his trail mix so that helped. By the time we made it to Detroit and taxied (for what felt like forever) it was nearly 5PM. I was bumped to the 9:30 flight. I found my way down to my gate, had them print me a new boarding pass, got some food vouchers (always ask for those!) and found a pay phone to call Mr. Val (still no cell phone - woot!). When I realized I still wouldn't be home for another six hours I started to lose it. I hung up with Mr. Val, went into the bathroom and had a good cry. After that I finally ate some dinner, a Greek salad, and wandered all around the airport, rode the monorail and did some writing.
Our 9:30 flight was delayed an hour because the jet bridge was broken. Of course, when we finally boarded the plane I founded I was sandwiched between two other passengers. Fine. I tried to doze for most of the flight. I was feeling pretty nauseous from exhaustion anyway. When the nausea kept me from dozing I attempted to locate my bag (*the* bag) just to make sure it was within reach. I didn't have one. I did see my neighbor's peeking out from the seat-back, so I felt better again.
Twenty minutes outside of Albany we began our descent. I've been on a lot of rocky flights before, but our turbulence was really bad. Scary bad. After our first really big dip (you know, the one where everyone gasps because they don't expect it?) I asked my neighbor for her air sick bag. And why wouldn't it be sealed closed with someone's gum? So there I was picking apart some jerk's gum and I glanced out the window, we were close to landing, maybe I wouldn't get sick after all.
About 100 yards out from the runway our landing was aborted and we were suddenly shooting straight back up into the sky at full speed. I don't know if you've ever experienced that but I had only seen it in movies. That's when people started crying and praying. The turbulence was worse than ever. There was no news from the cockpit, we had no idea what was happening. That's when I started throwing up. Then my neighbor needed the bag, so I passed it over but got sick again too. Luckily, I had shed my hooded sweatshirt when we aborted the landing due to profuse sweating. Hooded sweatshirts are good for all kinds of things. Finally the captain came on and said that it wasn't until they saw the runway that they realized there was too much snow and the crosswinds were too strong (gusts were over 40mph) to land safely. The airport was sending out more trucks to sand so we had to wait.
So we circled for 40 minutes. That bouncing plane was dead silent except for sobbing for those 40 minutes. I didn't know what was going to happen, but there were many of us who didn't think we'd make it to the ground (in one piece at least). I always wondered what wold go through my head in a time like that and now I know. My life didn't flash before my eyes, I didn't have any regrets, I didn't cave and start praying. Instead, I felt incredibly content. And maybe that was due to the relief provided by the vomiting, but seriously, I felt at peace. Sure, I wanted nothing more than to touch the ground again (and not as a charred corpse), but in thinking that any one of those moments could be my last I knew there was nothing I could do about any of it and that I didn't need to worry. I was happy with my life thus far.
The captain told us we were going to make a second attempt and if we had to abort again they didn't know yet what we would do. Everyone closed their window shades. We all were hanging on to arm rests and the seats in front of us. The turbulence was rough and we couldn't tell how close we were, not that any of us really wanted to know. When we touched down on the runway people started cheering, I was crying, so was my seat mate. One of the flight attendants got on the speaker and said, "that's what you call a good captain!"
After deplaning I went straight into Mr. Val's arms and just sobbed. But the night was not over yet. It took over an hour to get our luggage. In that time I was sick again but thankfully had a restroom and some privacy. The streets were a mess trying to get home, but I didn't care. They were streets!! Streets!!! I didn't care that they were covered with snow and ice, it was the middle of the night and I have brand spankin' new Nokian tyres so I had fun and drove fast. We didn't get home until 2:30 A.M.
I've heard far worse travel stories, but this is the worst that's happened to me thus far. My last horrific travel day was around Christmas 2001 and was also courtesy of Northwest Airlines (although that time the weather wasn't the problem, it was the airline). Obviously my troubles this time around were due to weather. I've got to say, the staff and crews of Northwest did their absolute best every step of the way and I have no complaints whatsoever as to how they handled the various situations.
So, I'm alive. Woohoo.
I'm alive!! I didn't think I would be, but I am. I have stories of family and friends, love, hope and sadness and one near-death experience (for reals). Maybe one of these days when I have ten minutes to myself I'll stop back to tell these tales. Hopefully one of those days will be this weekend. Until then - see ya soon!
Just a quick message before I leave. I'm totally swamped at work and hope I can get out of here on time so I can finish packing and get some rest before my 6AM flight tomorrow. Wee fun!
Before I go I'm going to give a quick shout out to an Etsy retailer just because she went out of her way for me and is just starting out in her buiness. Check it out, OMG Kitties!
I picked the stripy one up for my girlfriend's little 3 year old. It just arrived yesterday and it's so freaking adorable it made my head asplode. Get your own (from bebeh to grown up sizes) from Magnolia Mama. :-)
Other quick notes: I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond to all of my neighbors' posts and messages, hopefully I'll catch up in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone for your kind words about my Grandfather with a special thank you to Dancing Bear, your comment meant the world to me, you have no idea (by the way, Let it Be was the playing in my car when I got in it yesterday morning). :-)
I guess that's it. I hope to have good pictures from my trip (no, I won't be snapping any coffin shots, I'm talking about after the funeral fun). Hope you guys have a great week. Love to you all!
Thursday was a new day after my little mental shutdown on Wednesday. I got a lot of work done, was focused and feeling good. Five minutes before I left the office my sister called. My sister never calls me at work unless it's bad news. My grandfather finally passed away. They said he felt no pain, his lungs simply filled with fluid. That's my sixth grandparent in less than two years. I'm pretty damn lucky to have had them for this long, but I think it makes the losses that much more difficult. I'd really like to write something to read at his funeral but I'm just not up for it yet.
I'm flying back to Illinois on Wednesday. Usually when I go home I stay with my mom but she and my step dad left for Florida already. This will be the first time I get to stay with my sister. I'm really looking forward to it. It sort of makes me feel all growed up to be alone with Sister at her own place. Whenever she and I see each other we're usually visiting dad in Arizona or I'm staying with mom in IL. We've decided to make the best of it. We haven't celebrated Christmas together since 2001 so we're going to do it up at her place. We'll make good eats, open presents and enjoy some holiday cheer. I'm sure our Carpenters Christmas cd will be on repeat in the player. Sister is one of the few people who could get me to really enjoy the holidays...maybe because it's something we shared in a time when it still actually meant something.
In the meantime, I've sort of put my brain on autopilot. Work has been especially overwhelming lately and that takes a lot of out me. So today, after sleeping in (oh and I needed that SO badly), I engaged in some crayola therapy. I can't tell you how long it's been since I've colored, but I found it relaxing and fun. Of course, I still get bored with the same things. For example, I just could not be bothered to color in all of Rob Halford's rhinestones. And by then, I was too tired to finish the hat.
Of course, there were easier things to color.
Then, just for kicks, Mr. Val and I played Metal Libs. Click to embiggin.
This one will be fun to color later:
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