Archive for 'Travel' Category
Life (After Ohio)
7 August 2006Sorry to have left everyone hanging on Day 7… It was pretty uneventful–packed up, hit the airport, flew home. Caught a few cool pics on the flight back:
…but nothing spectacular.
Got back and it’s starting to be business as usual. Only worked one day this week… I went ahead and took Wednesday off because I just wasn’t ready to go back to work, no clothes, not enough sleep, etc. And Friday I had an EGD scope performed–that is, an esophagogastroduodinoscopy–a mouthful, in more ways than one. Actually I don’t even remember the procedure, so I can’t complain. Apparently though I have inflammation of the stomach and esophagus. Oh well… I don’t want to talk about my digestive tract. How about the social life?
Got together with Naomi Wednesday evening, saw Clerks 2 again and hung out. Got together again last night, played Mario Party at her friends’ house, and again hung out. I think that makes five dates with her now, which considering that’s more dates than I’d been on cumulatively for the past 3-4 years, should tell you that I’m enjoying it quite a bit… Can’t get enough of her, frankly. It’s fun. :) I really could gush–I think several of you already know that–but hey, I don’t wanna jinx anything. I’ll keep you posted.
Saw Genelle this week too, although under completely different circumstances. I’ll spare the details, but suffice to say there was a family emergency urgent enough to bring her back from New Zealand prematurely. (She’s going back again soon.) Anyhow, got talking Friday night and it just seemed like she needed company, so I asked if she’d like some and then booked it to Avondale going about 80 mph at 1:30 AM. Seems there are fewer and fewer opportunities to drop everything and act reckless or semi-crazy for the sake of a friend, so I must say I didn’t at all mind making the trek. It was good to see her again, and y’know, she made the point and I must agree that we have finally hit a point of normalcy. Whether it’s just having known each other for so long or that I’m no longer as anxious with in-person situations, I dunno, but we managed to sit down in the same room without that awkwardness, that second-guessing on my part that I was either saying or doing too little or too much. I finally see our friendship moving into that long-time, at-the-drop-of-the-hat comfort that I have with Kaleena and very few others… A good thing, for sure.
And I must reiterate, no second-guessing. I suppose it’s the nature of our friendship, and the fact that she’s hardly ever in town, that we go months or years without seeing each other, so it’s always curious just how I’ll feel. In the past, just as soon as I decided I had no lingering feelings for her, we’d get together and whaddya know, I’d find some more. Sooner or later I had to shake it, and with me, Thom, being on the verge of an honest-to-god relationship, it was a great relief to know that I finally have.
Well sheesh, it’s too late here. I have to work in the morning. Hmm… Anything else? Oh, I’ve got some more ideas regarding Codename: Sheba, but everything’s still hush-hush, so all you need to know is the gears are turning. I’m starting up a new category for Codename: Future, which I’ll explain in brief in my next post. Yeah, I’m done. Goodnight, everyone.
Day 6
4 August 2006Our last full day in Ohio, we went to what’s probably the biggest attraction in the area: Cedar Point. Unfortunately I was feeling terrible, and Kaleena was quickly affected by the heat, so we weren’t it great condition to ride the fun stuff. We spent most of the day skipping between the Class 2 rides (”mild thrills”, as they were described on the signs) and air-conditioned attractions throughout the part. The shining moment of the trip was the Snoopy on Ice show… mostly because of the brisk, cool air and the pretty girls. :P Oh, and Kaleena’s crush-of-the-moment, one of the male skaters.
Days 4 & 5
1 August 2006Yeah, so I’m terribly behind on this, aren’t I? Actually, I’m writing this from about 35,000 feet, on the trip back. Anyhow… Back to the trip.
Over the weekend, I rented a car and drove down to Lexington, KY, to visit my old friend, Elisabeth, a.k.a. Liz. Rented a Kia Optima (picture), which despite being a mid-sized sedan, was not as nice as my Elantra. Elbow room’s spacious–too much, as I couldn’t comfortably rest my arm on the window sill–but it seemed like there was a good deal less leg room. Anyhow, I degress… I’ve just been watching Kia, thinking they’ll soon make the jump to a respectable import brand like Hyundai has, but I’d say they’re still a few years off.
Day 3
30 July 2006Sorry for the delay. Day 3 was full of excitement! Read the rest of this entry »
Day 2
28 July 2006Not much to report on Day 2… Sorry for the delay, by the way. Went shopping, looked at movie times, went shopping some more, caught Dead Man’s Chest (ehh…), which makes my second time (double-ehh…). Came home and watched some more movies. Rented movies, actually, and they weren’t much to speak of. Kaleena picked out some weird movie that wound up being shot–badly–on a camcorder. My pick, “This Girl’s Life”, turned out to be 70% random drama, 30% soft-core porn. To my credit, the porn/drama was the better movie.
Oh, things I bought today:
- Blue classic-fitted Indians cap
- Blue/white classic Red Sox cap
- USB WiFi adapter
- Some tasty caramel stuff
Day 1
26 July 2006Alright, so I’m here in Ohio, the land of… nutty musicians and stand-up comedians.
Not much to report on. Flight got delayed an hour, but we were flyin’ smooth once we got in the air. Walked about twenty paces to get to the exit of the Cleveland airport… Well, not really, but it’s so tiny compared to Sky Harbor. Kaleena’s friend Kristen seems pretty cool, although I suspect she has yet to get a great read on me yet… No big surprise there, considering how I am around new people.
Her dog is great, too… Probably the friendliest dog I’ve ever known. Which reminds me, here are a few pictures:
All my bags are packed…
26 July 2006Im ready to go
Im standin’ here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin’
Its early morn
The taxis waitin’
Hes blowin’ his horn
Already Im so lonesome
I could dieSo kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you’ll wait for me
Hold me like you’ll never let me go
cause I’m leavin’ on a jet plane
Don’t know when I’ll be back again…
Actually I’ll be back next Tuesday. And I expect to be online and blogging regularly, from the glorious… Buckeye State, a.k.a. Ohio. On the agenda: catch an Indians game; visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame; scope out the Cleveland nightlife; take a mini-trip to Lexington, KY. For all you in-person friends and special someones, I’ll be thinking about you.
And Richie, if those servers come in while I’m gone, don’t have too much fun!
Chiricahua Trip - Summer 2006
5 July 2006So, yeah. Went on my camping trip this weekend. Went with Dante to the Chiricahua Mountains in southeast Arizona. Unfortunately, not my best trip ever.
The site was great… As with most places in Arizona, it’s still just a bit too hot down there in the summertime for comfort, and along with the heat came some nasty bugs. (I think I saw a tarantula hawk–a.k.a. a big fuggin’ wasp.) But I’d very much like to check the place out again this fall. Remote in terms of privacy, but still pretty accessible–even in my Elantra.
But, the heat was ever-present, made us lethargic. I’d gone all out and bought a stove and a cast-iron skillet and all that to cook with, but just cooked on the fire or ate cold meals. Didn’t hike any. Not that I’m complaining about having a lazy trip… That’s part of the point of camping, to get to lean back and stare at the woods or the sky for hours and not do anything or say anything. Unfortunately, Dante’s idea of a relaxing camping trip was somewhat different than my own. iPod playing all the time, someone talking all the time, and if I didn’t talk for a few minutes, I was almost consistently asked, “What’s wrong, Thom?”
What’s wrong, I guess, is that few people really understand how I feel about camping. It’s not only a getaway, a retreat–it’s almost meditative. No wait, it is meditative. I think Genelle gets it. I think Kaleena and Erin got it to some degree, or else they were just very kind not to tell me they were bored out of their minds. :P But I don’t think Dante gets it. (And really, I’d say odds are against an average person “getting” it in this day and age.) He seemed to need a constant stimulus of some form.
Someone suggested that he kept trying to draw me into convo because he wants to be challenged on some level… I don’t think that’s it. Monday, as we were packing up to go, I finally hit him with a fairly heavy topic of conversation, and it didn’t seem his cup of tea. We’d listened to a comedian named Carlos Mencia the night before, who was talking about there being “two types of Mexicans”: Americans who are legal Mexican immigrants or descendants and speak English and interact with the broader American community; and “the guy standing outside of Home Depot”. Well, talking about Carlos the next day, I made the point that though even Carlos, a Mexican himself, can make the distinction, a whole lot of people, both Mexican and otherwise pro-amnesty or pro-whatever, don’t seem to distinguish between the two types.
Well, Dante said he’s not against illegal immigration because he’s sure that, at some point in his lineage, someone immigrated illegally. So… Because it happened before, it’s right to let it keep happening? Then I guess since some of my ancestors surely forced relocation of Native Americans, I should try to keep the tradition going, go up to some reservation and try to kick them all off. Make sense? Nooo… He also tried to say that “most of them” (illegals) use a fake social security card, so they’re still paying taxes. So I asked, assuming their employment is on-the-record, they’d have to get paid minimum wage, so what’s the advantage in hiring them? “They get paid as contracted workers, not employees.” Right, so if they operate as independent contractors, who do they show the social security card to?
…Silence. For the first time in three days. Same thing happened once we were on the road. He accused me of stressing out over too much. “Look out for number one, that’s all you can do.” I told him I do look out for number one, but that doesn’t keep me from seeing the bigger picture, and that there are actions and systems and behaviors in the world that are just plain wrong. I finally got him to admit that he just ignores the “big picture” stuff because, quite simply, it’s easier. Increasingly, I got the feeling that he had his head in his sand, like so many others. I guess that works. But I’d rather do more thinking and less talking than the other way around. Even on vacation. If that’s not his bag, well then, we just aren’t very well-matched travel buddies.
Not to mention he way, way, way surpassed his quota of gay jokes. You know how there’s a certain amount of dick jokes among guy friends, especially among immature guys, about on par with your-mom jokes. That’s been the case with Dante & me, especially back when we were hanging out a lot with people who obviously knew better. But I’ve grown out of that phase to large degree, and Dante’s kept at it. He kept at it when he was hanging out with my friends (Kaleena, Amber, and co.) a few weeks back, and he kept at it this weekend when–who exactly are these jokes playing to? I’ve told him he’s far exceeded his quota, and I think he takes that as more kidding, but it’s actually become quite bothersome. I can’t help but start wondering if he’s got some Banky-like deep-seated issues a la Chasing Amy.
Oh well. Just getting it off my chest. If Dante reads this, I hope he doesn’t misconstrue this as me having had a terrible trip… It was fun, albeit not the most fun I’ve ever had. I just didn’t get what I like to get out of camping trips. I do think I’ll try and go to the Chiricahuas again this fall… perhaps with Phil or Kaleena or, if she’s already back, Genelle. As for Dante, we probably oughtta just stick to coffee, Halo, and pool.