Pattern

It seems to be a pattern that when I go away, something unexpected goes wrong at work, and my brother winds up in the hospital again. I am now 2 for 2 on this trip. My brother went back into the hospital today and they think he has Lupus.

Quick update

We saw Casino Royale yesterday, very good movie. My only complaint is that Daniel Craig mumbles a little bit so sometimes I wasn't able to catch what he was saying. What really surprised me was the couple in front of us who brought their two children, age range of 3-5, to see the movie. At first we thought they had come into the wrong theatre, and perhaps meant to see Happy Feet. But no, they brought their kids to see Casino Royale. Responsible parenting at its best. From the utterances of other children in the theatre, they may not have been the only ones to do so.

We had a good lunch at Macaroni Grill with Chris & Cynthia before the movie. It was nice to see them again, and I'm glad I could provide them with some real Maritime maple syrup. I brought some for John too, as well as the obligatory vanilla 1/2 Moons.

Last night we took a quick trip to Target to pick up a couple of things, and then stayed in. I almost passed out around 8pm, but I managed to keep myself awake until 10 in an effort to adjust to the time. True to form though, my cell phone went off at 5am. Listen to my voicemail message people, I'm on vacation!!

I'm on my own today since John has to work, so I'll be hitting the stores across the street. Hopefully I will see some good xmas presents for people I have left to buy for.

Sunday morning in SoCal

I arrived without incident yesterday at LAX, actually landed a little bit early. John was there waiting for me, and asked if my trip was uneventful, which it was because I don't have his travel bad luck.

We drove back to OC and stopped at Subway to grab some lunch to take home and eat before heading to Costco. I can't explain the discord that comes from hearing Christmas carols being played in Subway and then stepping out into 27°C sunny weather. It seems like an alternate universe. John says it's not right to be hearing carols this early, because they should be waiting until after Thanksgiving.

Caly is not thrilled with my presence, as usual. She's been a fairly good cat lately, especially since John has been locking her up in the bedroom when he leaves the apartment. There have been some times recently when he's forgotten to close the door, but she hasn't gone out and peed in the living room. However, when John left for the airport yesterday, he forgot the door, and she left a nice, wet paper towel in her usual spot. She knew I was coming and expressed her displeasure, I think.

We headed to Costco to get some steak for supper, and discounted movie tickets. I quickly got distracted by the allure of Costco, and we managed to leave without the movie tickets, so we had to go back again and buy them. Teasing me with the Costco trips! I need to go back and spend longer in there so I can look things over.

Last night we headed to church and grilled some steak for supper. I managed to stay up only until 9pm, which actually isn't too bad considering I had been traveling all day. I tried to sleep in this morning until about 6am, but didn't make it past that. Not bad though for my first day here.

Today we are headed to Yorba Linda to meet up with friends and see Casino Royale. I'm looking forward to the movie, I think it will be good.

One leg through

Well, I'm sitting in the airport at Montreal. The first leg of my trip is done, and now comes the 6h flight to LAX. I'm going to try and sleep through most of it.

The first flight was uneventful, I actually had the seat beside me empty so I stretched out and slept. Customs agent asked me when I was getting married and if it was on this trip. The baggage guys were again very friendly.

This trip kind of crept up on me, if that's possible. Work has been steadily busy, and the days have been droning on in the same pattern of work, sleep, work, sleep. I'm glad it's vacation time so it will break up the grind.

I've been busy getting ready for winter so I don't get caught doing things at the last minute. The driveway markers are in the ground before it starts to freeze. The winter clothing is now in my closet and the bucket of hats & mittens is upstairs. I took my boots and shoes in to be repaired and re-heeled. I sprayed them all with weather protectant as I do this time every year. When your footwear is expensive, you need to take good care of them.

November is always the month in which I do the bulk of my Christmas shopping. I am finished shopping for my nephew and mother, and my Dad because he asked us to make a donation instead of getting him a gift. I have one thing bought for each of my brothers, so I just need something to put with it. I have a few things for John, some of which I shipped to SoCal and will bring back with me on this trip. I have a couple of things bought for my grandfather, but still need more for him. The only people I have nothing for yet are my cousin/goddaughter and uncle - I am still waiting on a list from each of them. I will hopefully get a good chunk of remaining shopping done while I'm away - I took 2 suitcases this time. :)

Well, almost time to board. Better hit the bathroom!

A tree made for me!

Look! It's like they made a tree just for me! On sale at Wal-Mart.

Influences on a young mind

I had a memory float back into my consciousness the other day.

It was one day in Grade 1, and I was trying to get people’s attention for some reason. I don’t remember for what reason, but I think it was important to me and not some kind of attention-grab. It may have even been an attempt to help the teacher get the class’ attention, but I can’t be sure. The memory is somewhat fuzzy, but I do recall the feeling of what it was like to be up on my desk, with everyone below. I don’t remember the specifics of my getting in trouble, which of course I did, for standing up on my desk and likely yelling or speaking in some fashion to get everyone’s attention.

From that time on, I can only recall a couple of instances when I had gotten into trouble at school, for very minor things. I remember myself as being quiet and reserved, pretty shy, always chastised for being “smart.” My motto was (and still is, to an extent), be quiet, follow the rules, and you won’t get in trouble. I have to wonder how much that incident with the desk influenced me to form that rule and become who I am. What would have happened if the teacher hadn’t been there, and others started listening to me and followed what I had to say? Would it have affected my personality in some way? Would I be a more outgoing person? Would I be more of a leader and less of a follower? Would I take more risks?

I have always had a huge issue with acceptance from other people. Being “smart” meant that I was different from the rest, and to compensate for that, I tried to fit in as best I could in other ways. I always tried to follow whatever was the latest fashion trend, usually with poor results – no matter what I did, I could never get my hair to do anything like anyone else (some of you may recall my mentioning that I never got invited to the Hair Convention, where all my peers were taught the current “in” style). I always ended up separated from the pack, a fact that my mother pointed out to me one day when she said “no wonder you have no friends.” I know that statement had a huge impact on me, but I don’t know if my mother even recalls having said it. Since that day, I have tried to do anything to make myself acceptable to others. You can’t make people like you, but I have always tried to make myself as agreeable to others as I can… but I still blame myself when someone doesn’t like me. In my mind, it’s never their loss, it’s mine. I know that my view is backward, but I have never been able to fully correct it. I think I am slowly but surely working on it and getting better at it.

I worry about someday having children, how impressionable they are, and how many ways you can influence them negatively. We are not perfect, therefore our children are not. But it makes you wonder how the simplest of comments or actions may somehow have a huge impact on the person that child becomes. What would happen if I made a comment to my child, a comment that I might consider innocent, unimportant, or forgettable, but the child absorbs and reacts to it in a different way? I may have just changed that child for life without even knowing it. This thought alone is enough for me to steer away from the idea of having children. Add to that my perfectionist and OCD tendencies, and I think I’d go insane. For now, I will stick to my plan of not having children until I’m ready to handle the responsibility. I’m just not there yet (and possibly may never be, who knows).

In the meantime, I wonder about the events in my childhood that shaped who I am. Or maybe I was just that crazy girl in Grade 1 who stood on her desk on day.

I knew this would happen

Once the TSA announced their new air travel requirements, I knew something like this would happen.

Yes, it's a website for travel size items. Yes, they are offering free TSA-approved bags with your order. Unfortunate that they can't spell Ziploc correctly, considering there is a picture right there beside the text.