Well, yeah...

Either I'm the world's worst procrastinator at restarting this thing or I have the biggest case of writer's block EVER!

I've wrestled with the thought of scrapping this for something new but that feels like I'd be that guy dumping his wife who he had all those great memories with for a hot new piece of ass. Ok, the metaphor is there because I just saw "It's Complicated" earlier this week.

I'm back...I promise this time.

I SUUUUCCCKKKK!!!

Much like a moth to a flame, Twitter has taken all my attention but I cannot deny my love for this blog!

I'm back people - watch out! I'll still update the rest of my trip but for the most part, I'm typing from this point forward.

This resurgence has been inspired by Karen Seeta.

The Arrival of the Girl from California

It felt like a whole day had passed when I finally arrived in Germany. Because of the time difference, I arrived at 5pm which made me feel like I had travelled for a whole day since I had left at 530pm the day before. I have to say that for as much as I hadn't slept - I was feeling pretty good. I could guess that most of it was the excitement of actually arriving in one piece and that I was seeing Kostas again for the first time in about 3 months. Let me state for the record that exiting the airport at Stuttgart felt like I was a mouse in a maze experiment. We went down these tunnels that were covered and it made it really easy to find baggage claim. I thought it was hysterical.

We leave the airport and we arrive at Kostas's sister's house for some dinner and chit chat.

I've arrived!!!

I wasnt sure how chit chatty I was going to be because I felt like I was going to crash at any minute because of the jet lag. I figured if I stayed up until 9pm or so - I should be able to adjust in one day...SHOULD. We hung out and talked until 9pm and then I decided to hit the sack. Might have been a great plan in theory but it didnt work in reality. I woke up around 1130pm and couldnt go back to sleep until 2am...then I woke up at 6am and waited for everyone else to get up. Let me say that its really weird when the sun doesnt come out until 8:00am or so because it feels like its night FOREVER. And on top of that, I didnt have a watch so I had to always go in search of a clock.

The next morning, Kostas was going to take me to meet his parents. They run a stand at one of the local farmer's market and I was excited to see some of the city since I had only seen it at night on the way in.

Here are his parents at the market:

And this is me...freezing my ass off and enjoying a nice cup of soup to warm myself up.

We hung out at the market with them for a bit and then headed back to Stella's to relax, eat, play with the baby, and get ready for our departure to Venice the next day.

On the way back to her place, I saw this clearing and insisted that we stop for some pictures.

Ok, I'll admit that it was more of a "I want to have a Sound of Music moment" but still!

Amsterdam Airport

After my flight lands, we off load and I take off to my connecting flight. Since I dont know the airport, I make a note of my new gate and head over there.

During the last 30 minutes of the flight, the airline showed a little video about the airport and the different things you can do there. I was kind of excited to check the place out since I had 3 hours to kill and decided to take a look around while I made my way to my gate.

If you recall the last post, I was wearing my comfy pants on the flight. This part of the story requires a bit of background.

I've had my velour pants for a while and occassionally use them to run quick errands to the market or to get gas in addition the their laying around the apartment responsibilities. One time, I wore them to go to the market with Kostas and he gave me such shit about "wearing my pajamas" out in public. And when talking about the trip, I told him that I was planning to put them on for the flight - I could hear the eye roll over the phone. Back to our regularly scheduled program...

So I'm walking through the airport, in my velour pants, and no kidding - I got some looks. And I'll be damned if I'm going to admit this to him - he'll have to read it on my blog like everyone else!

Because of the lack of sleep, my body was all wonky and all I wanted to was to sit down somewhere to relax. I also had to stop and get some souveniers. Let me state that the dollar is worth effing nothing! Its not that I didn't know this but its different when you are signing those charge slips.

After my purchases, I headed to the immigration checkpoint to get to my gate and because of my lack of sleep, it really didnt occur to me that once I pass I probably wouldn't be able to see the rest of the airport. So I pass the immigration point and get my little stamp - my first stamp in my passport!!!!!


I put my things on the belt for the xray machine and as my stuff is passing, I see the video lady giving my bag to the security guy. He asks me if the bag is mine and asks for permission to look inside. I was thinking if there was anything in there that might be an issue but couldn't think of anything. Until he pulled out my water bottle that I had bought at LAX. He proceeded to give me a lecture on liquids and the appropriate sizes and all I could do was apologize. I jokingly said that it was probably because of the lack of sleep from the flight - to which he looked me up and down and well...lets just say that sarcasm doesn't translate very well over in The Netherlands.

After my mini-security incident, I get on the moving walkway to head to my gate - this airport is very nice but effing huge. Because I was so tired, I was tempted to just stop where I was to take a short nap (which work out since I had my pillow and was already wearing my jammies). I took a few pictures as I made my way to the gate and figure that some pictures were better than none.

After finding a phone to call my mom and Kostas to let them know I had arrived, I went to sit at the gate until my departure time. I was so tempted to fall asleep but decided to fight it because I just couldn't do it. I could hear my mom's voice in my head "Don't fall asleep!! Those Europeans will steal your things!" and whats worse was that everyone around me was asleep. I changed into my jeans and washed my face and teeth to try to wake up.

A couple of hours later, my connecting flight is called and we get on a bus to get shuttled to the plane. When I sit down at my seat, I notice that I am, in fact, in the emergency exit row. Sweet lord - I HAVE LEG ROOM!!! I was so excited that I fell asleep for 45 minutes.

Flying The Friendly Skies

The flight leaves on time and I get settled in for the long trip. I have to say that when the flight was booked, I was told that KLM had the best in flight entertainment. That everyone has their own little screen and you can pick and choose what type of entertainment to keep you occupied until you arrive at your destination.

This was not applicable on my flight.

I accepted defeat and figured that I loved myself for having a plan B - my sudoku game, iPod, laptop, a book, and my crochet. My flight left at 530pm and since it was a 10 hour flight, I figured that I had to get at least 5 hours of sleep to fend off the jet lag. So really, only 5 hours of that needed to be filled with a distraction. Whats worse is that I got stuck in the middle of three seats. I didn't have much room to maneuver and was slowly getting more and more frustrated with the arrangement.

Here is a picture of my legs and my seat.

I was even prepared to be comfy by wearing my comfy pants and that shall be revisited in another post.

I ended up watching more of the in-flight entertainment than I expected to because I couldn't get comfortable. And its not like I didn't try, I had two beers and had two benadryls to help the sleepy-time to come. But nooooo....I think I ended up sleeping a total of 2 hours. The times I managed to fall asleep, the girl who was sitting next to me had friends on the flight who would come visit and they would chat - loudly. And its not that I mind people having a good time on the flight but this was teenage girl chit chatty and my lack of sleep and room to move around was not taking kindly to it.

The food was pretty good and I watched an episode of The Simpsons, an episode of Big Bang Theory, the movies "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day" (which I had seen before and loved) and "Hancock" (which I hadn't seen and managed to cross that off my list).

We finally arrive at our destination, which is Amsterdam, and I have about 3 hours to kill until my next flight.

European Vacation - Taking Off

This whole holiday season has passed like a blur with me. If I wasnt distracted by wrapping up work, I was distracted by getting ready for Christmas - if I wasnt getting ready for Christmas, I was getting ready for my trip. Everyone would ask me how I was feeling about my trip and to be quite honest, I didn't really allow myself to think about it. Not that I wasn't invited but there was so much stuff to do!

Jake was none too happy about my departure and I was nervous about flying. I had never really been a nervous flyer but for some reason this trip was freaking me out a bit. I voiced my concerns to a few people and the comfort I received was not comforting - at all.

"Oh, I wouldnt worry about crashing into the ocean - I heard that if you are going to crash, the air pressure is lost so quickly that you actually lose conciousness, so you wouldnt feel anything anyways" is an example of what one person said to me. Yes, warm and fuzzy feelings all around.

Anyways, Christmas came and everything went off without a hitch. Jake cracked me up because he was tracking Santa via NORAD and as the time got closer, it occured to him that we didn't make cookies for Santa. So he did the next best thing...

Gotta love his creativeness. So Christmas Eve, I'm packed and ready to go. Surprisingly enough, it didn't take me that long to pack and I feel confident that the next day will go well. Santa arrives and we do our holiday thing and head to bed.

The next day...

I wake up and feel that since I did so much the day before that I can afford to relax in the morning. I had to be at the airport around 2:30pm - 3pm so I had plenty of time. Around 11am, I start getting ready...then Jake gets picked up...then my aunt shows up...then I have to pack my carry on.

Packing my carry-on was an adventure all on its own. Lets just say that my persistance to take my pillow and laptop was a blog post on its own that I'll spare my loyal readers. Because of all that and some last minute running around, we left my apartment around 215pm. Luckily, no traffic and a fast check-in allowed me to get back on track.

Finally, I was in the airport and just waiting for my plane to leave. It was a good sign that my flight was listed as early and I was ready to start my adventure.

Europe here I come!

The Holiday Haze

The first thing I had to do this morning was to get gas for my car. So off I went to the gas station.

I put my debit card in.
I put the gas pump in tank.
I pushed the button.
I went to sit in my car because it was effing cold.

After a couple of minutes, I heard a click and went to remove the pump from the tank and headed to work. A few songs into my drive into work, I look down and notice that my gas gauge hadn't moved since I put the gas in earlier. I had two thoughts 1) I have a hole in my tank and I should be seriously concerned and 2) my gauge is broken.

I figured it was #2 because the gauge wasnt going down quickly enough to be dripping gas on the freeway. Then my little gas warning light came on. Then...then I had a thought.

Could I have not put any gas in the car at the station earlier? I kept going through the motions at the pump and apparently, I never put the gas in!

I finally make it to Hollywood and find a station to fill up my tank - this time making sure that the pump actually works and puts the gas in. I even got a receipt for proof!

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not...

I have something to admit...over the weekend I watched "High School Musical" and whats more is that I LIKED IT! I have to get HSM2 to see if Gabriella and Troy actually get to kiss this time around! I know - the SHAME of it all!!

Now I'm reading Twilight and I cannot believe I got sucked into it so quickly! I'm at the part where Bella meets Jacob and hears "the story". When I'm reading this book, I have this thing in the pit of my stomach of wanting to know what happens. This anticipation to see what happens with Edward and Bella. I can piece stuff together from seeing the film trailer but its just not the same as reading it and letting your imagination go wild. And let me state for the record that in my mind, Edward looks like this:


Sigh...ok back to the point.

My friend remarked about how Twilight reminded her about being in love for the first time and its totally true! Both of these things have reminded me of how it was being a teenager and when even catching a glimpse of that guy you were enamoured with was a great thrill. And then if he talked to you, it was just the greatest feeling. Even getting a hello with your name gave your heart a flutter. I remember being head over heels for this guy in high school and I would time it so I would see him going to one class as I was heading to another. And of course you couldn't do it every day because then it was just needy and stalkerish - but you did it to see him and just put you there with him at the same place and time. Those were the days.

These stories and movies put forth the optimism that the popular guy will pick the new girl or the quiet girl (also seen in Grease and Sixteen Candles) or the hope that some good girl can change the bad boy (Breakfast Club and Dirty Dancing). Its a great expectation to have but its makes you a hopeless romantic that sometimes backfires because no one or nothing will be good enough. I'll admit that I'm one that I wanted my crush to show up somewhere I was "just because he heard I was there" (sigh - Jake Ryan) but I know that I shouldn't have that expectation because I'll always be looking for someone that will never show up.

Missing Some Game

You know - I know I'm not ALL that, but I do have a little somethin'. But as the old saying goes, when it rains it pours.

Today, my coworker and I went to Starbucks for a little afternoon pick me up. As we were standing in line, this guy asks us if he could buy us our coffees. We decline and he insists because he just got a gift card from work and wanted to share. So we said sure and ordered our drinks. I usually order a tall and because its going to be a free drink, I upgrade to a grande. Then my coworker orders her drink and he's telling the cashier to "make hers a venti and give this one an extra shot with extra whipped cream!!". So we are standing there, thanking him for our coffees - he hands his gift card to the cashier and then leans over to ask us where we are from when the cashier says "I'm sorry sir, there is no money on this card"

"What?" - replies the guy.
"I'm sorry sir, there is no money on this card" the cashier repeats.
"But...there is supposed to be $80 on that card!"

At this time, my coworker and I are taking our own money out to pay for the drinks. The guy is standing there saying "Check again! Check again!" and the cashier checks one more time but its the same answer "No money on the card, sorry!" So the cashier takes our money to pay for the drinks and the guy is trying to get a receipt to show there is no money and then...he runs out of the store! No kidding! It was like seeing a little kid realize that he had peed his pants and he was running to go cry to his mommy.

Honestly, this is what it reminded me of...


RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!

The Problem With Being Irresistible

On Saturday night, I went to a bar to celebrate a friend's birthday. While I was there, I was partying it up by have a few beers and singing along to the live band karaoke. So this guy kept walking past us and because we were drinking the same type of beer in this huge cans that we opted to take a picture (yes I'm all kinds of fun being out in public). We were taking a group picture and he jumped in - we had a good laugh and he left. About 4 minutes later, he shows up with a friend and asks for another "matching beers" picture. So I stand in the middle with one guy on each side, then I feel it...a hand slowly moving down my back and this guy's friend grabbing my ass.

It was one of those classic slow motion moments where you kind of stop and wonder "Is this really happening? I can feel it happening but I can't believe this guy is actually grabbing my ass!". So I reach up and grab his hand, like I was going to hold it, and bring it behind it...and twist it like those nice Navy boys taught me to do if I was ever being assaulted. I could hear this kid - oh yes, a kid...he looked no older than 23 yrs old - say "Ow, ow, ow" and I lean over and tell him "Don't ever...EVER...grab a lady's ass unless you have her permission - understand?" So he leaves and I turn to tell my friends what happened.

Let me state that I am not at all upset that it happened, I was actually proud of myself because there have been times when you just stand and freeze and then you say "I shoulda, coulda, woulda" but now I can say that I did - and I freaking loved it.

OK - I Can't Hold It In Anymore!

Christmas Day my ass is on a plane to Germany to see Kostas and meet his family!!!

And if that wasn't enough excitement - I was just asked to pick a city to go visit while I'm there:

PARIS, FRANCE or VENICE, ITALY

Maybe I've lived in Southern California for way too long because its hard for me to conceive that I can travel to another country in less than 2 hours. But now I have to pick between two beautiful cities! I've always wanted to go back to Paris but Venice is Venice!

Ok - I think I know - Venice. But wait...Paris!! No Venice...

DAMN!!! Help?

I Want Some Nutmeg!

I just finished watching Stephen Colbert's "A Cobert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All" and I could not stop laughing! Willie Nelson as a Wise Man, Toby Keith as a hunter looking for deer with his AK-47, and Feist as an angel - all provide great back up to Stephen Colbert looking to get to his studio for his holiday special. I have to admit that John Legend as the park ranger was a great highlight. Below is his explaination, in song, as why Nutmeg is important.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, this holiday rolls around to remind us to stop and take note of the things we are thankful for and if we are able - to say Thanks. I think something that many people (including myself) are guilty of is taking things for granted; family, friends, or health.

I'm very thankful for all I have, my friends and family have shaped me to be who I am today by cheering with me for the good and supporting me through the bad - even if it means that they smack me on the head if I'm heading down the same road of repeating a mistake.

Take a moment and realize who or what you need to say thanks to. I, for one, am thankful for many, many things - especially my family and friends and I hope they know how much they mean to me.

Happy Turkey Day!

LOOK AT THE PRETTY COLORS!!

Yup, I changed the style and colors of the blog. Don't get too excited for me, Blogger makes this very easy and its only a little cutting and pasting but I will take some credit in being able to manuever through this thing faster than I would have 4 years ago.

I have to admit this does make me feel like I've gotten a haircut that I really like and haven't gotten to see the reactions of my friends so for as much as I may like it, I dont know if it actually looks good on me.

Comment below and let me know what you think. I see a couple things I might want to change but I need to sleep on it. This is too much excitement for one evening for me.

One of the Many Reasons Why I Don't Go Out Much

Last night I picked up Jake for a little dinner and some quality bonding time. Before dinner, we were going to go by this townhouse to check out as a possible new domicile. We arrive and its completely dark but I decide to go up to it to see if we can see inside a bit. Jake, the scaredy cat, is against it of course and tells me that I shouldn't go because "he doesn't want me to get into trouble" but you know me, I go anyways and he tags along. I try to look inside but there is some tint on the window that restricts my view. I notice there isn't any tint on the top of the window so I pick Jake up to look into the townhouse to see how it looks inside. He peers in and says "Wow it looks really nice! Its a good size and has a pretty rug." "Rug? Don't you mean carpet?" I ask. "No, the rug next to the sofa." Jake replies. Holy shit- its not the empty apartment! So I put him down and tell him to do that only thing I can think of - run back to the car. We get inside and have a good laugh about it and head to dinner.

Now Jake has become a fan of places where you cook your own food, specifically Shabu Shabu. I really don't know what the thrill is for him but he likes it and its a blast. So we end up going to Korean BBQ and check how out how that is. With Shabu Shabu, you basically get a pot of water that you boil and cook your food in and with Korean BBQ, you sit at a table with a grill and cook your food that way. Let me say that Jake about lost his shit when he saw that it was a grill he was going to be doing the cooking on. After getting our food, we sit down and I really pay attention to the other patrons in the restaurant. In the booth behind Jake there are two women eating. The one who is facing me is wearing and eye patch over her eyebrow. Yes, you read that correctly. It was like she moved it to read something and never put it back. I found it terribly distracting and really wished that I had my camera to "take a fake picture of Jake but really take a picture of the weird person behind him" so I could share it but it was not to be. Now, behind me was a couple watching some basketball game and well, I dont know how to put this...they looked and acted like they were having some affair because everytime I looked over at them they were making out. And not even "a little kissy face" making out, I'm talking "tongue down each other's throat" making out - which prompted me to believe that the show Cheaters was going to walk through the front door at any time.

After going to Toys R Us, so Jake could redeem a gift card he received for his birthday, I dropped him off at his dad's for the night and headed home. If you look at the handy map below, purple is the route I usually take and red is the route I had to take due to some freeway construction.

I can roll with the punches of detours and pride myself on having a great sense of direction but for some reason all that failed on this trip home.

I was following some cars and a lot of cars started to turn left and so I assumed that they were going that way to get on the 710, which is where I needed to go. I made a mental note and followed the signs for the detour. I get to a major street and decided that I had had enough of the street driving and opted to get on the freeway. So I make a left and I drive...and drive...and I'm wondering 1) Where is the freeway and 2) Where the hell am I.

I look up in one of the intersections to get the street name and have two thoughts rather simutaneously 1) Holy Shit-I'm in Compton! and 2) My, Compton is not at all what I thought it would look like, because I was near a strip mall and I guess City Hall. When I got the Metro Blue Line, I figured that the best thing for me was to turn my ass around and get back on the street I was on and follow the signs to the 105. And thats exactly what I did.

As I was driving, I kind of laughed at myself for the 2nd reaction to being in Compton and thought how upsetting it must be to always get categorized as this haven for gang bangers and crime. Driving up Long Beach Blvd, I see a helicopter with a spotlight flying around. I notice that its coming towards me and getting lower. I finally get up to the area where its searching and see not one or two police cars but five cars blocking five different streets as a perimeter for the search. Always speaking too soon I guess.

Mars vs Venus

Situation:
Plug a Wii into a monitor mounted to the wall on a wall mount.

Problem:
How to plug in the AV cables when the there isn't even enough room to see where the cables go.

Man's Solution:
Go online to find the specifications of the monitor, print them out and use them as a guide to find the plugs with his fingers and plug in the cables. Time invested: 45 minutes

Woman's Solution:
Borrow a compact from a co-worker to place behind the monitor and plug in the cables. Time invested: 3 minutes

They're The Dancers!

I don't even know how to start this post because it can be told from so many angles! Chronological always works, so here goes.

Earlier this week, my coworker told me about this SNL skit that Justin Timberlake did with Beyonce about her video for her song "Single Ladies" and how she couldn't get the song out of her head. Sometime over the past year, I have completely fallen off the radar when it comes to popular music. It took me 4 months to get around to actually listening to Katy Perry's "I Kissed A Girl". So when she was saying that she couldn't get the tune out of her head, I really couldn't sympathize.

Last night, I went on a website and found a link to this video that has some guy thats famous on the net for doing something and some how ended up on the Bonnie Hunt show. I found it to be hilarious. I decided to search the net for the JT skit and only found this little mashup and nothing else. Sure it was kind of a teaser but I wanted to see the whole thing! I kind of gave up on the search and hoped that NBC would eventually post it on their site.

Tonight I get home and find a link to another video that parodies Beyonce's song. This link is to "Single Ladies (Big Girl Remix)" Its even more fabulous than what you think it might be. I didnt think my night could get better until...

I feel like I found the Holy Grail!!!



Update: Yes, apparently someone took the video down. DAMN!

Harry vs Chandler

I was channel surfing and came across a Friend's episode where Phoebe has her brother's triplets and then Joey ends up trying to pass some kidney stones.

Even though I had seen this episode before, something about it was rather familiar and then I remembered! There was an episode of Night Court where Mac's wife goes into labor and he ends up in the hospital with appendicitis at the same time.

This little flashback wouldn't have been possible without last week's episode of 30 Rock. Thank you Tina Fey!

Learning the Rules of the Street

Last week, close to the end of my workday, my co-worker calls me that she has a flat tire down the street and if I could go help her. She was within walking distance and I started to head over there. As soon as I turn the corner, I find myself looking at this:

First, it was something I had no expectation of seeing - at all. She asked me to come help her with the tire so I had assumed she would be waiting for me and well, we are in Hollywood. People help one another in Hollywood? So I go up to her and ask if she's ok and she gives me this look that she is fine but that I wasn't allowed to leave her. So I stayed.

This guy starts talking to us and I offer to help him get the car up with the jack because he is having trouble turning it. He waves me off and starts huffing and puffing yet again. I had noticed that he had a big duffle bag next to him in the street and figured that he was homeless. Immediately wondered if I had any cash to give him in case Denise didn't. I had $2.

After a while, the man asks if I could help him get the jack going because he was getting tired. Now this jack is one of those annoying jacks that the bar has a pivot in the middle because you can only go from one side to the other and then switch the bar back to do it again. What was worse was that we weren't level with the car or the jack, we were sitting on the curb. So bent over and trying to turn that bar was not the most comfortable thing to be doing.

As we are tag teaming the jack, people keep coming up to us and asking us if we need help. The guy (and yes I will continue to refer to him as The Guy because we never got his name) kept waving them off with thanks. We finally get the tire off and are having trouble getting the spare on when I smell the distinct odor of the mary jane. Its was like a cloud just arrived over our heads. We turn and there is this guy hovering over us asking if we need help. The Guy (our guy) turns and basically lashes out at Mr. Mary Jane. Saying "I know you, dont think I dont remember what happened yesterday, I saw you following her!" Mr. Mary Jane looks at him and says, "Dude I'm just trying to help" and The Guy yells back "We dont want you here! Go away!" Um, yeah it was freaky weird.

At that moment, Denise and I probably had the exact same thought. "Were we this homeless man's property?" And then I wondered how fast I could bring this car down after we tightened the lugnuts on the spare that we still had to get on. He told us that the day before he had seen Mr. Mary Jane following some woman and he followed them to make sure that she got to wherever she was going safely. At that point, Denise got down on the curb and in one shot got the spare on. No lie.

After The Guy tightens the lugnuts, he asked if I could get the car down. Yes, I realize that I'm doing half the work that this guy is going to claim the win on. So I'm bringing the car down and he asks Denise if she's my mom. Now, Denise is 3 years older than I am and earlier that day we got confused for sisters (its the curly hair and glasses). We had joked that we should create some elaborate story that we were long lost relatives or something - so this came with an extra shock. We had a good chuckle as I double timed the bringing down of the car, of course he flies in at the last minute to "wrap it up". He gets up and we thank him for the help. He says that he was happy to do so since God had asked him to help. Denise hands him $5 and apologizes for not having any more. He thanks us once again and turns to leave. I turn to Denise and ask her for a ride back to the office and we couldnt stop laughing all the way back to the office.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKEMAN!!!

Not only has election day come and gone but that also means that my little pumpkin's birthday has arrived. Today - the Jakeman turns 7. Watching your child's birthday arrive is a very bittersweet moment at times. On the one hand, you are watching child grow into the person they are meant to be and you are there nurturing, guiding, and beaming with pride. On the other, they are turning into the person they are and the sarcasm comes out when you sing happy birthday to them and they say "Thanks mom, but you know you are never going to be on American Idol right?"

Thanks kid - you done make me proud!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAKEY!!!