Decompressing

[sarea]

I'm back in Seattle. And working. /cry Though at least I have a job, I suppose. There have been rumors of layoffs at my company and I always get super paranoid that it's going to happen to me, which it totally could, no one is immune!

Anyway, it was a very meh return experience. Bad, even. Here's why:

1) I had totally forgotten about the liquid/gel limitation for carry ons, and totally had my toiletries bag in my backpack, which I was carrying on. I had already checked in my big suitcase. They ended up confiscating my new Rimmel eye makeup remover (the bottle was totally full), $5, and a partly new Shiseido facial cleanser, $30. Grrrrrrr. The bitch of it was that since the cleanser was partly used, there probably WASN'T 3.4oz of liquid even in it. But I was already so irritated (with myself for forgetting and the stupid system that, by the way, doesn't even make me feel any safer) that I was just like, fine, throw them away. The woman who was doing the checking and what not was super nice and apologetic and thanked me for being so cool about it ("I've seen girls cry over a $1 item and I know this stuff is expensive, I'm sorry."), but it didn't make me feel any better. If I'd remembered I totally could have put them both in my suitcase, which was a lot lighter since I mailed stuff home. Arrrrghhh.

2) We were late boarding by about 45 minutes, because there was an "incident" on the previous flight and the police had to come. I don't know what happened, but I guess I should be grateful that it was only 45 minutes.

3) It's no longer bitingly cold in Seattle, but there were gusty winds last night (and today too). The flight itself was fairly uneventful, I even managed to read, which I rarely am able to do, but when it came time to land... hooboy. The plane was tossed and turned in the wind like a little rag doll. Seriously, I almost puked. I'm surprised and proud of myself that I didn't. It was a close thing at times, though.

4) As we were taxiing (sp?) in, the guy sitting by the window (I was aisle, and the space between us was empty) asked me if I had a connecting flight. I said no, did he? He said yes, and it was boarding right that minute. I was like, wow I hope they hold the plane for you. The guy in front of us overheard the conversation, and they talked for a bit, then when we reached the gate, the guy in front of us stood up and yelled, "Guys, there are people trying to catch a connecting flight to Alaska, let's wait for them to get off the plane, okay?" And people actually LISTENED. Everyone stayed seated. I was amazed. This is the sort of thing I like about Seattle, actually. Anyway, since I was feeling extremely nauseated I totally got up and left with my row companion. What? No one else knows that I wasn't going to Alaska.

The rest was fairly uneventful. Getting my suitcase/Talis, getting to Shuttle Express, I got assigned a shuttle fairly quickly (unlike in the past when I've waited 30 min or more), and I was the only passenger once again. But I still wasn't feeling great from the flight and then the van ride. Plus I hate the way my house smells after I've been gone for awhile. It's like, musty or something, just generally unpleasant. And no one has miraculously come in to clean the place while I've been gone! Boo. I changed the sheets to my warm winter sheets, and for the first time in 3 weeks had an extremely pleasant sleep. I just love my bed so much, it's soooooooooo comfortable. I had the heater on, and a couple of times in the night I woke up and thought to myself, "Wow, I am so happy and comfortable right now."

Seeing how trashy my place looks after not seeing it in awhile though makes me determined to clean up -- probably this weekend. Possibly before if I can work up the energy. It's also really neat to see everything in my bathroom and wherever and be like, hey, that's mine! And that's mine! Everything's mine! LOL. I know, so random.

So, the last Princess Diaries book is out (#10, if you've lost track, which I wouldn't blame you for). Jade helpfully reminded me that yesterday was its release date and that Borders conveniently had a 40% off coupon that expired that day, so I should get it for reading on the plane, which I did. I'm about halfway through.

It's already made me cry twice! It could be that I'm hormonal, but I just found it very touching. Not in a grab you by the face, dramatic way, but just in a, wow, I've loved these characters for so long way. I wasn't quite as done with Mia in the last couple of books as Jade was, so she didn't have far to go to redeem herself (mostly because I KNEW something had to happen between her/Michael to make her grow up), but the Mia of this book is the Mia of old, imho. In the first few books, she was crazy and immature, but she was 14 and it was expected. Plus, those were the 3 books that got Mia and Michael together. Then books 4-9 happened, and while they were enjoyable, they felt mostly like 'filler' and the story kind of globbed together. None of them really stand out. PD10 reinvents itself, I think, possibly because Meg has 'cheated' and skipped two years so that now Mia is on the verge of being 18. (I always wondered how she planned to take Mia all through high school when all the previous books were like, 2 weeks out of Mia's life as a freshman then sophomore.) It's a little jarring, but at least some thin reasoning is given for it. Essentially nothing is all that different from the end of book 9 except that 2 years have gone by. I am really, really looking forward to the conclusion in a way that I haven't for the PD books in a long time.

I have an appointment today to see a doctor about my ankle. My parents were insistent about it and since it should be covered by my insurance, why not. It's actually been paining me more the last few days than it had before that, but maybe it's because I bowled on it. Yeah, not the brightest idea, but we didn't have anything else to do the last day! It's not my usual doctor, her next earliest appointment is next Thursday, and that's probably too late. I just want to make sure that I haven't done something so terrible to my ankle without realizing it, that later on down the road I'll regret that I didn't have it checked out.

I'm also looking forward to losing my holiday weight. I'm not afraid of not being able to do that; getting back into my old groove with my eating habits should take care of that fairly quickly. It's that my old eating habits weren't that great in the first place and I want to lose that weight as well. Maybe in the next couple of days I'll actually post some lofty new year's resolutions and actually try to accomplish them.

Comments

[corianderstem.livejournal.com]

Oy at the bumpy landing. That shit makes me so ungodly terrified. And that's awesome about the connecting flight business - the flight attendants usually make some half-assed comments about letting those people out first, but the passengers ignore it.

I'm glad to hear that PD #10 is the last one - and that it's good! Princess Mia just came out in paperback, so I guess I'll have to wait to read the final one until next year. You know me - I can't buy a hardcover now and break up my set. Although since they changed the size of the paperbacks, that's already out the window. Maybe I'll make an exception for the last one, just to get it done.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I totally know what you mean re: the set. Even though I have all hardcovers, they've already sort of ruined it because they changed the covers for the last few. So really I guess I should just be glad they're all approximately the same size. So annoying, I don't know why they have to keep changing it like that. I guess it happens with longer series, since more time passes in between and they have to 'update' them to make them more appealing to readers or whatever.

[corianderstem.livejournal.com]

Which reminds me, we must discuss some of the other Meg Cabot young adult books at lunch on Saturday. I think I've finally reached my Meg limit.

[sarea-okelani.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure I am as well. When I start to lose track of the books, that's the first sign. Plus I love her style, but she's just too prolific so I see too much of it. So many of them are the same story over and over. I'd rather she put out fewer novels and really make the ones she does publish quality.

[ropo.livejournal.com]

Oh noes that your ankle's not better!! Meanwhile, my left calf is KILLING me. First it was the right one, on your last day, but now the left one is giving me such pain I can barely walk! Did bowling do it to me too?? WTF BOWLING? IT WAS ONLY ONE GAME!