8.30.2007

airplane rides...

As previously mentioned, I vacationed in San Francisco and San Diego. If there’s anything I like about my family it is that we all have this understanding that we can’t stand being around each other for more than a couple of hours. Therefore, driving from San Francisco to San Diego was no an option. So we took a $49 flight out of Oakland Airport (Southwest didn’t start flying out of SFO until last Friday) to San Diego. But we flew to San Francisco on American Airlines bright and early at 7 a.m.

I’d have to say it was pretty good flight, except for the kids onboard. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not a fan of kids at all – especially kids who scream, run and are just overall rude. Luckily on this flight there were no kids sitting really close to me. But there were some sitting about 5 rows up (we’re on an M80) that managed to even disturb me. I remember seeing the two kids when they boarded the flight. They looked well mannered, which has never really fooled me. The little boy, who was probably about 8, was dressed in khakis and a polo shirt. I remember the little girl, who was probably about 6, vividly. What drew me to her was the fact that she was had on a red and white polk-a-dot dress with a matching bowtie in her head. She looked like Minnie Mouse. I felt bad for the little girl because I was sure it was the mother (in a blue sheath dress) who picked out her clothes.

Nevertheless I knew something was wrong when the parents sat 4 rows ahead of the kids. When a parent doesn’t want to even sit with his/her kids during a plane ride, you just know these kids have to be bad – and they were! They made so much noise and kept pressing the button for the flight attendant to come. It was ridiculous. And I tell you I wasn’t so mad at the children as I was with the parents. Don’t have kids if you don’t want to take care of them properly. If they couldn’t get four seats together, one parent should have sat with one child while the other parent sat with the other. They were a family of four.

Then there was the plane ride on Southwest Airlines to San Diego. I am a huge fan of Southwest Airlines. I’ve traveled the airline for years as well as American. But I have to say, there is a vast difference between to two. Despite all of American’s perks, if I had to pick out of two I’d pick Southwest Airlines hands down. But getting anywhere non-stop out Dallas is almost impossible on Southwest, which limits us Dallas-sites.

I’ve gotten used to all the noises Southwest Airlines planes make, from the lift off to the flaps expanding. I’ve gotten so comfortable, that I find myself freaking out when I don’t hear anything during lift off. Then I remember I’m flying American Airlines.

Anyways, the flight to San Diego on Southwest was an adventure. As soon as we finished climbing to altitude, there was all of this turbulence. It was odd because it was such a beautiful day. No clouds in sight. This wasn’t a little turbulence. It was pretty bad. I’m a good flyer. I don’t get spooked easily, but for a second I didn’t think we would make it. Mother was freaking out. She’s not that great of a flyer. Well, 20 minutes later the pilot announces that the turbulence was from another plane. Apparently we were 10 miles right behind another plane (in the air). All I could think about was that story on Dateline, run about three months ago, about the air traffic controller’s messing up and planes barely missing each other in the air – and that was at D/FW International Airport. Way to go. I give the pilot credit for telling us that. I’m not so sure I would’ve done the same.

Then there was flight on American back home. Kids – again! There was a little girl about 6 years old who was constantly stood in her seat, screaming and banging on the seat. All her dad kept doing was apologizing to the guy behind him. (I was across the aisle.) How about he pins that little girl down in her seat and put her seat belt on. I would think at that age, you should start training you child to shut up and sit in the seat during a flight.

Overall, I’d say the flying was pretty good. It could have been worse – delays. Out of the three flights I caught only one was delayed and it was only by an hour.

8.27.2007

i'm back...

Vacation was absolutely wonderful! I could’ve stayed for another week, but I didn’t want to use anymore vacation days (I have to keep some for Italy and Vegas!) It was so great. I cut myself off from everything – work, school. I didn’t think I would be able to do it but I only checked my work e-mail twice and my personal e-mail once. Before vacation, I swear I was truly about to go crazy. The minute I landed back in Dallas, the hundreds of things I have to do came back to me. I felt like it was dream being in California.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I kept thinking, “Hmm…what kind of job could I do here?” Levi’s is headquartered in San Francisco. I believe Gap is also headquartered in Cali. I’m so close to Seattle, what about Nordstroms? I’d love to work there.

Anyways, as I daydreamed about quitting my current job and moving to California I absolutely enjoyed every bit of my trip. I never needed a vacation like I needed this one. Everything was converging on me and it was just too much to handle. So I nice getaway was purely a necessity.

San Francisco was beautiful. I could live there except it was a tad too cold for me. I think my favorite part was the shopping at Union Square. Oh and then there was the fortune cookie factory. It was so cool how they made them. I was going to take a picture until the owner lady said “No pictures.” I’m still upset about that. But I was a bit soothed over after she made me two personalized fortune cookies. Also, I bought an entire bag of fortune cookies back. (Never mind the fact that I’ve already ate half of them) Maybe it’ll give me good luck. Then, there was Alcatraz. It was pretty cool until night fell upon us and it was freezing on the island.

Now San Diego is definitely livable. The highs are 82. The night time is just gorgeous. You can open the window pretty much all day. I had lunch at Coronado Beach. Even though San Diego is beautiful, I got bored really quick since I’ve been there so many times. So one of my friends came to save me and take me back to Los Angeles with her. I had so much fun! She took me out to some bars and I drank my little heart out. It was long overdue. Unfortunately, I had to come back to catch my flight to Dallas. And for the first time I rode a motorcycle. It was crazy. I just figured if I’m going to do it I should do it on the back of my uncle’s motorcycle and it was so cool. Although, I admit I was a bit scared – totally not in my nature. But it was something new and what I needed.

So that’s the summary of my trip. Over the next few days I’ll give you more bits and details of the entire adventure. From the crazy airplane ride to my “guitar lessons,” which I plan to continue here. I'm trying to catch up on all of my stuff at work. But I do feel much better.

8.16.2007

Hola bloggers...

I'm off to Cali for some rest, relaxation and sunshine. Therefore I will be on break on Aug. 27. It's vacation time!

8.14.2007

vixens, singledom, the hills...oh my

Even though I no longer have class, I have found many ways to keep myself busy. Since I have little time to update this thing and have many things to talk about, I’ve decided to do this entry differently

- Sweetness grandmother has been in the hospital for two weeks. So he and his sister went back to Michigan to see her. Of course I had to give him my goodbye speech:

“Have a good trip,” I said.

“Ok.”

“So are you going to see any of your friends,” I asked.

“Probably Anthony,” he replied.

“That sounds cool. I’m just going to come out and say it, you can’t see any of your exes.”

I say exes because another one has surfaced. The problem is Sweetness can be way too nice sometimes. This is the ex that cheated on him and wanted to be his first. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. She told Sweetness to tell me "not to get too comfortable." He told her I was already comfortable (see, way too nice to the ex). I told him he should have told her I’m real comfortable…comfortable in his bed. She needs to go find some other guy to be her baby’s daddy, because it’s not going to be my Sweetness.

I tell you if those two vixens lived in Texas, there is no way I would put up with this. But since they are thousands of miles away, they really pose no threat.

- Since Sweetness had to unexpectedly go out of town, I had a single moment Saturday night. I had to go solo to a friend’s graduation party. It’s kind of funny how some people give you that look when you are just about the only single person in the room.

Sometimes it sucks, but for the most part I actually don’t mind. It gives me a chance to people watch. I can notice a lot more things around. I also am more apt to meet new people. Not to mention I can leave when I want to and don’t have to worry about anybody else. I’m really good at being selfish.

-OMG! Did you see The Hills last night? Was that not the best episode or what? I feel so bad for Lauren. It’s not like that's jus any rumor. They are not in high school. They’ve grown up. She’s a celebrity. That could seriously ruin her reputation and make it very hard for her to get a job in the fashion industry. I would have told Heidi off too. I just found it hard to believe Heidi has been sitting under a rock and has no idea what’s going on. It’s only all up in the tabloids. Lauren’s mother even knew.

By the way, what’s up with Audrina’s eyes? Is that her contacts? If so, I want those. I want to look captivating to guys. Speaking of Audrina, how many of these girls are going to forgive guys who’ve screwed with them before? While I do believe some people can change, I wouldn’t want to be the test dummy for that.

On another note, maybe I should try to get on a reality tv show too. Lauren might have to deal with cameras, but when you really think about it, it might be a good trade off. The girl has probably gotten so many perks from this whole thing including a clothing line, which was one of her dreams.

8.08.2007

i think i can, i think i can...

Last weekend was very enjoyable. It was the first time in a long time I got to enjoy myself, well at least for a couple of hours. I finished up my last class of the summer. Then that afternoon I enjoyed a swim in the pool with my cousins who were in town. (Yes, I did say swim.)

For those of you who don’t know, I can’t swim. There have been those who have tried to teach me. In fact, I took lessons when I was 5, 7 and 9. No luck. Well, thanks to one of my youngest cousins who is 8 years old, I can swim. She brought this amazing thing to my house – a noddle. It’s the Styrofoam thing you can put under your arms and it helps you float. For the first time I was swimming away. I admit I’m still a novice. After all, the 8-year-old insisted she race me in the pool and offered the noodle to me, while she swam without one. But I think I’ll have this swimming thing all down in less than two weeks before I head to California. That way I can go to the beach and be one of those California girls. I can go out in the ocean with my foam board so I’ll look cool like everybody else. Besides I kind of like swimming I feel like Nemo. I can't help but do a fish face as I float in the water.

Not to mention all of this swimming is giving me a work out. My back and abs have been sore ever since. On another note, aren’t you all enjoying this weather? After rain most of the summer, it’s finally almost 100 degrees. Normally, I would gripe about it, but I’ll take 100 degree weather over raining all summer any day.

8.06.2007

Good news; bad news

I’m tired. It’s that kind of tired you get when you sleep a good 8 hours but you are still tired. Exhaustion. I need several days off. So I have good news and bad news. The bad news: just when I thought things would be wrapping up (I'm done with school for the summer), I still have so much more to do.

My family is falling apart and there’s not much I can do. I can’t get into the details due to the legal E’s. But mom barely eats or sleep. In addition to dad not having much energy, his blood pressure has shot up. Now my brother is sick too. So that’s left me to do all of the leg work – the calling, errands, and whatever else is needed. So if I’m not posting that much in the next couple of weeks that’s because I’m crazy busy.

The good news: I go on vacation in two weeks! Yay! Almost an entire week in California. We are flying to San Francisco. We’ll stay there for a couple of days and fly down to San Diego for another three days. San Francisco will be a bit busy. But since we’ve been to San Diego a countless amount of times, I’ll get a chance to relax there. I’m thoroughly looking forward to it.

More good news: I’m going to Italy in March! It’s not just for fun. I get class credit for it. I needed it as an elective to graduate (wink, wink). I’ve never been out of the country, so it’ll be interesting. Luckily I’m going with an entire group of people including one of my friends. Now I just need to find out where exactly Italy is on the map.

Despite my lack of postings lately, I do have some stories to tell. So stay tuned.