Dream Journal: 6/15/2021

There was this tiny poor foreign country [eastern block?], I don't know where or what it was called, but it and its people were oppressed by its dictator. The only good jobs in this country are working for the dictator. 

There is an attorney that works for the dictator that secretly is in love with the one lady [ main character] who is the housekeeper/cook for the dictator that always wants to talk to him about getting papers from him and her leaving the country so her family can have a better life, but this attorney really doesn't do anything to help her to leave because he doesn't want her to go away because he secretly loves her. He's considered bumbling and inept in her eyes continually leading her on about getting all the papers together she needs, but he knows exactly what he's doing.

The dictator suddenly dies and the country becomes free. (Audible group "Yeah!") All the workers rush out of the front of the dictator's home? (fan out between huge shortish white columns) once the news is announced that he died and their country is now free. 

The one lady who now used to work for the dictator as a housekeeper/cook is out of a job and now looking for work, but it's still her dream to be able to live a better life and move away... more than ever now that she doesn't have the good job with the dictator anymore. I don't understand my role ( tourist/journalist?), but I have the ability to hire this woman but I refuse to because she is appointed to be a diplomat to the US for the brand new country ( the country never needed one before because everyone had to go through the dictator, right?) which means she can now leave and travel on the country's payroll... to have her better life like she always dreamed.

The country is happy for her because her friends and family all know about her dream/passion to leave all her life. The attorney is desperate to have her stay because now he's under scrutiny for whatever (a number of different charges) he was doing wrong while working for the dictator and he thinks that by telling her he needs her to be a witness in his ( long drawn out legal) case will keep her in the country. 

Her mother is happy for her, too, but fakes all these different illnesses so she doesn't want to leave. Her best friend is happy for her, but keeps planning stuff for them to do together, so she is constantly postponing and rescheduling her exit trip.

Pitch: Beloved former maid turned diplomat gets her wish for a better life, but her plans to leave are always thwarted by something or someone.

... and then I woke up.

Dear Diary 03/06/2015

Dear Diary,

I don't think anyone really reads this blog unless they *really* know me or trip over it while scanning for something to read in general on Blogger being nosy and peaking into others lives or even living vicariously through them, so here it goes.

Yesterday was the last day of my physical therapy. It was twelve sessions of a routine structured by my physical therapist in order to gain back the flexibility and strength in my left wrist. My left hand is still weaker than the right one, always has been, but I've got full flexibility and can move with no pain which were the main goals.

So along with doing this routine, I have unexpectedly been getting to know my physical therapist.

On the first day, he seemed excited that he met me... a woman who was around the same general age he was and he started to talk about moving to Irvine and how bad-bad-bad the traffic is driving around LA. And then, whether he realized it or not, he insulted me and my decisions about morality. "What in the hell...", and "Where does he get off...", was the running through my mind as I was hooked up to the electric muscle stimulator/ice pack wrap for the next 20 minutes. I couldn't just walk out, I didn't want to create a scene in the therapy room by ripping off the pack and electrodes as I already did that online by writing a bitchy review on Yelp.com about deceitful practices, wait times and patient privacy in the clinic. In my mind, I knew I had a finite time for therapy and then I wouldn't have to deal with Mr. Insensitive ever again.

Most of the time when there were other patients in the PT room, I'd just sign in and do this routine: stretch on the tabletop both ways, twist the red rubber rod both ways, exercise my fingers to gain strength with devices that look like clothes pins, wrist rolls with 1 and then 2 lbs weights (100 reps each way, front, back, and vertical), wall push-ups, picking up and putting down a weighted wooden box, then 10 minutes on full body cycle. After other patients left, he'd talk to me more and more.

And like I stated before, yesterday, was the last day of therapy. He talked about his HAMP refinance, his interest rate, his sister, his parents, his friends marriage and how his wife doesn't cook or clean, snow in Utah, San Francisco, Texas, the bonus money he got by working in Texas, taxes and deductions, eventually moving to Seattle, his parents and the fact that he's working on Torrance per diem this weekend. I'm not a psychologist, I'm a human. If people feel the need to talk to me, I'm a good listener. I'm not sure if it sunk in that I'm not going to be coming to therapy anymore with this guy. I asked for a printout reflecting that I went to all of my therapy session so show my employer. And we said our goodbyes and he said he would see me on the 17th when I have my appointment with the Ortho doctor, which confused me. I asked if he'll be at the appointment, and he said he's be here.

With all of these discussions, I feel like I'm getting sized up for a bigger role in his life as though he he's interested in me and wants more than just the therapist/patient relationship, but hasn't directly expressed this to me. Why do guys send out signals like this?

States I've been to as of 2014:

Create Your Own Visited States Map

Vacation Countdown

Vacation Countdown

Use it or lose it

One of the perks of being a 4 year survivor... err someone with tenure at work is that I accumulate vacation time quickly. Which leads to the next question, "Where am I going to go for vacation this year?"

Last year, I traveled to Virginia to visit with my aunt and uncle. It seemed as though I came too soon because:

1) I don't call 40 degree weather a suitable temp during any vacation for me. I was sequestered to the house until it hit at least 50 degrees. I am no snow bunny.

2) Then come to find out that the major annual event for Winchester, "The Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival" is near the end of the month and not at the beginning when I was there.

But no matter. I had fun anyway.

So now I have about a two week period to figure out where to go.

Sadness

The last time I blogged here, little did I know that my Aunt Jane's fight for life was over due to the ravages of diabetes. This is the message I received on Facebook from my cousin Cate...

               "Judi... hopefully this will reach you...Your Aunt Jane has died. She had a stroke a 

                   week and a-half ago and slipped into a coma on the 26th. She was brain dead last

                   Friday (May 3rd), and they removed her feeding tube at that  time. She died 2AM 

                   Wednesday(May 8th)."

This is very much how my father died. And it bothers me that such a little thing as elevated blood sugar can do so much damage to the body. It bothered me so much that I talked to my new doctor when I had my initial consultation after I changed over to Kaiser health insurance. You know what he said after I discussed my family's history diabetes?

                                          "Don't get fat, don't get fat, don't get fat!" 

If it's as simple as that for most American's, why aren't we more vigilant about what we eat and staying active after 40?

When I got back to work after hearing the news, I told my manager who then said that I've got to go back to New York for the funeral and out of my mouth came, "It's my family, I've got to." After all, Aunt Jane made the effort to come to my mom's memorial, so I had to attend hers.

I flew into Newark Airport (EWR) on Sunday. It took two hours driving in the dark to get to Poughkeepsie. On Monday, I drove up to Red Hook to visit my mom's/grandparent's grave site and pulled the vines off of the headstones. I thought about collecting more photos of headstones, but I really wasn't into it on that day, so I left my camera in the car and headed back to the hotel, but not before going to the grocery store for provisions.

Tuesday was the funeral. I stayed downtown, so the funeral home wasn't too far from the hotel.  It was very Catholic and with the splashing of the holy water onto the corpse, her priest said a few poignant things plus verses from the Bible and then read what my cousin Tina wrote. After that, whomever wanted to follow the casket in the procession line to the cemetery did so, minding the traffic signals, but still driving behind the hurst with our emergency blinkers on. Aunt Jane is buried with Uncle Frank who passed in 2002 in section 24 in the back rows of St. Peter's Cemetery in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Wayne and Tina arrange for a meal at a local private boating club on the banks of the Hudson River. We stayed and talked a bit, but really I was kind of in a daze from the jet lag and time change

My 2013 Vacation in Virginia

If you asked me ten years ago where I wanted to go on vacation, Virginia probably would not have been on my mind. My aunt and uncle live here though in the Shenandoah River Valley and they were always telling to me come and visit them so here I am. I flew in on Saturday and coming from California, that took the better part of the first day. I woke up at 4AM to get to the airport by 5AM to get a the plane by 6:30AM for a flight at 7AM. I didn't want to drive to the airport, so a friend from work took me to LAX. In the dark. On a Saturday morning when she could have been sleeping. That's what friends are for. The plane experienced turbulence over Illinois and near where I landed at Dulles. It made my stomach a little queasy. After almost six hours on the plane, the landing at Dulles was easy. The airport is modern and has a high speed shuttle to take you from the gates to the terminal. Once your bags are collected at the luggage carousel, all you have to remember is who you rented your car from and find where to stand on the curb to catch the shuttle bus to where the rental car terminal is. Rent your car, find it in their parking lot, and you're off!

Driving from the airport to Winchester took maybe 40 minutes? I had to stop and get something to drink because I was thirsty from the long flight.

So I got in on Saturday and they fed me. I got up on Easter Sunday and they fed me. And we had an early dinner of ham, three veggies and tea. I was so full... These seniors eat way too much way too often. They are so sweet and so retired. They are in their 80's and don't volunteer much anymore. Tressa makes things to sell at the craft fairs around town. She handed me the instructions sheet for Star Pot Mat. Guess what I know how to make now?

STAR POT MAT

Three skeins of yarn, 4 ply worsened weight.
variegated (4 rounds)
white (3 rounds)
Your choice of solid color (3 rounds)

Directions:
Using variegated colored yarn:
Chain 8, slst, chain 2
Round 1 - dc 15 times into ring, slst
Round 2 - *chain 21, skip one st on ring and join in next st of ring. Repeat from * 8 times. Slst.
Round 3 - 10 sc, then * 3 sc in next stitch, 20 sc, 3 sc in next stitch. Repeat from * 7 times, 10 sc.
Round 4 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 5 - Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 6 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End variegated colored yarn.
Round 7 - Yarn on white. Continue to sc and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 8 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 9 - Continue to sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. End white yarn. Shape work to look like an 8 point star
Round 10 - Yarn on solid color, then  * 7 stitches from point of star then sc, and when you reach a star point  3 sc in same st. Sc in next 7 st, sc [repeat from * seven times]. Slst onto first solid color st.
Round 11 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st.
Round 12 - sc in each st, and when you reach a star point, 3 sc in same st. End solid colored yarn.

I was feeling a little stir crazy on Easter Sunday night with the rainy and cold weather, and not knowing where I was going, I drove around until I found a grocery store that was open (Food Lion) and picked up some things. I also bought two VA scratchers at $5 a piece and won $10. Made my money back.

On 04/01, I went to the visitor's center: http://www.visitwinchesterva.com/visitor-info/visitor-center

I went to Stonewall Jackson's home and took the docent led tour with my uncle. Tressa stayed in the car knitting because she didn't feel like negotiating all those steps. I bought a $10 ticket and then later found out they were across the driveway from the visitor's center.

http://www.winchesterhistory.org/society_museums.htm

After that, we decided to take a drive out of town, but before doing so, because by then it was noon, we stopped for lunch and ate at Perkins. I found the food to be very much like Coco's. They offer a 2 or 3 item lunch special. I had the chicken noodle soup and lemon meringue pie, and tressa and frank split a 3 item special - frank had the tuna melt and tressa had the loaded potato soup and split her salad with frank. The bill for three people was less than $20.

Then I drove with them over to the arboretum. They had an herb garden I walked through that looked pretty shabby right after the end of winter. I picked a few leaves of sage and lavender and put them in my pocket. They also have a driving tour of the property which we took. Afterwards, my guts were so shaken, I had to stop the car again and parked across from the herb garden in order to walk to the office building to where the restrooms was. It was a good thing they were there. OK, then we tooled on down the road to Milltown, but the mill building there was closed for renovation. I quickly ran around the building and took some pictures and got back into the car because it was a cold, blustery day.

We drive through Milltown, which is actually older than Winchester and not much of a town at all, and then went back to the house. That was outing for the day. And then we ate again. And I made another star pot mat. I'm on my third one now.

Photos I'm proud to say I've taken

I can't say that I'm any sort of photographer or even someone that has taken classes for it, but because I have an artistic eye and understand a little bit about symmetry, once in a while without trying all that hard, I take some pretty awesome photos, if I do say so myself. So here's a few for your enjoyment.

This is the lighthouse located in St. Augustine, Florida. This photo was taken in September, 2007, before I found the energy and the strength to climb to the top.

And this is what the view was like after climbing to the top of the lighthouse. This is a photo of an inter-coastal waterway which sometimes runs on the east side of the state. In the background is Anastasia State Park.

This is the home of FDR in Hyde Park, New York, and this photo was taken in October, 2011. I was staying in Fishkill and driving up to Red Hook almost daily for genealogy research before my mother's funeral and I wanted to do something touristy to lighten my mood. This national park was on the way.

On a rainy day, once on a guided tour and inside the home, after about 20 minutes, it became so uncomfortable for me to be there because there was no air circulating due to preservation efforts that I began hyperventilating (but especially after hearing the script from the docent which emphasized the fact that this was his mother's home before it became his and then the realization hit me for an ever so brief moment that my mother has nothing of significance for me to inherit, among other things about my mother that hit my consciousness all at once...) and that this was an extremely rare time when I realized my anxiety was kicking in, so I had to excuse myself from the tour in order to catch my breathe. I stepped outside, found my way to a stone bench outside the front door and then to a second bench across the driveway. It started to sprinkle and I quickly took this photo before making my way back to the visitor's center.

Chicago - bite me

I went to Chicago on vacation to do some genealogy work, but what I got instead was to experience a mini-Los Angeles. Mind boggling parking, hours worth of traffic going to and from the city and a mass transit system I just couldn't really grasp in the four short days I was there.

I flew in on Wednesday to O'Hare from Long Beach. I stayed miles from the city, in a suburb called Arlington Heights in a nice business class hotel thanks getting getting a sweet deal from hotels.com. I rented a car from Hertz because it appeared as though that's what I needed to do to get around. I think the next time if I ever go there again, I will get a hotel near a train station, take the hotel shuttle or a cab from from the airport to the hotel and then hoof it after taking the train to downtown. I mean, its about the only way to avoid the city's horrible parking/ traffic situation.

On the night I landed in town, I rushed over to the hotel and checked in and then drove over to the Niles Public Library in order to attend a book lecture on "Oldest Chicago". I love trivia and I thought this would be a nice introduction to the city. I bought a book and the author signed it for me. Nice.

The publisher of the book, Lake Claremont Press, is located in Chicago and also has published other local interest books like for graveyards, history of city, and how to manage genealogy searches. I'm not sure how helpful the first two might be, but I'm thinking about picking up a copy of the third one.

 I ate dinner at Johnnie's down the street from my hotel. They are known for the Italian sandwiches there. I had a one Italian with sweet (grilled green bell) peppers and then I got to slather on as much mustard as I liked. I also ordered a Pepsi. The sandwich was big enough to where you ordering fries would be kind of like a waste of time. It's unique, it's good, and they don't really sell them in California. It's kind of like a roast beef sandwich but different.

The next day, I went to the Sulzer Regional Library and they were really nice about giving me a guest library card for my genealogy research. They didn't even ask to see my drivers license, or if they did, I don't remember.

Then I tried driving into town to find parking so I could do some touristy things, but to no avail. Lots of street closures and I guess there is this weird underground parking which kind of freaked me out. So I ended up driving through town twice, then sick of the bad traffic I headed back to the hotel. Three hours later...

I ate dinner at Mitsuwa at the food court establishment called "MAMA House". It's Korean food and I got the BulGoKI. It was tasty and filling.

Friday, I ate lunch with some my credit union co-workers in the Chicago office and met all of the people I've been emailing for a while now. I discussed my genealogy research with a few of the managers. I dropped an entire plate of take-out Italian food on one of the managers floors. The styrofoam just didn't hold up. I scooped it all up and then threw it in the trash and went and got a few things and move back into the office.

One of the managers volunteered his service to take a picture of a gravestone for me if and when I can find it- HAHA. I honestly do not think he comprehends what he's volunteered himself for. If there's an online index somewhere, I'm going to find it.

After that, I went to another book store wanting to see if the had more books on genealogy or Chicago. At Half Price Books, I did, however, find two Lion Brand Yarn books, one on making socks and the other on making hats, so those were cool finds.

I slept like shit the entire time I was on +2 hours. The room was quiet and the bed was fine, it was the time change I couldn't get used to. So normally I get up at 5AM weekdays. My body was telling me to wake up at 3:30AM all week. So I'd stay up until I fell back asleep and then when I woke up again, by that time, I missed the continental breakfast offered by hotel. Nice, huh? I participated one morning. Memo: don't eat banana nut muffins on vacation. I did not feel good after consuming those. I'm sure they were fine for anyone else but me... they were probably made with dairy in the recipe.

On Saturday morning, I got ready, packed up and checked out of the hotel. No trip to the mid-west would be complete without a stop at While Castle so I drove to Palatine to eat a #1 (4 burgers just like the ones you buy at the grocery store, a french fries and a drink) on the way to go outlet shopping at Huntley Premium Outlet on I90 off of ILL Route 47 before my plane flight going home. My educated guess would be that center is 40% full of tenants. The Van Heusen store is huge compared to the one I shop at at The Citadel in Commerce.

After I could shop no more because my luggage was full, I drove back to O'Hare giving myself three hours before my departure time to deal with the bad traffic around the airport on Saturday, having to turn in my rental car and getting shuttled back to the airport, and the TSA lines which I generally loathe. It was nice to find out that the lines are not particularly long and they make an effort to keep them moving.

I had a Crohn's attack on the flight which was both humiliating and horrifying at the same time and since I check my baggage, I didn't have with me what I needed to deal with it. Since I had extra time in the terminal after turning on the rental car, I should of went to the restroom immediately before getting on the plane because I hate to use those airplane toilets. I went once when I got into the terminal after going through the security line, but then I walked the terminal and then found a seat to catnap until it was time to board the plane. What a nightmare.

After I got home, I found out that my pink hard-sided suitcase was opened and searched by the TSA because they left me a flyer letting me know they did so. Thanks, but next time you go and search my bags, fucking close the shampoo and conditioner bottles please.

Monday, I went over to my ex-mother in-laws house and she started to show me all of these old photos of her family and I just couldn't stand to see them in disorganized piles any longer, so I suggested that we go to Wal-Mart and pick-up some scrap booking supplies so they can be preserved and not handled anymore. I mean, some of the photos were over 100 years old! $75 and about 6 hours later, one book is just about done. I sorted the photos as best I could and Linda arranged them on the sheet and tacked the corners down. We have another session planned for this Sunday to do the other book.

Vacation day 13, October 20th

Yeah, I'm on my way to Disneyworld today. Now my real vacation begins.

Stewart International Airport doesn't seem very international at all and it's actually very quiet at 7AM in the morning. I had no idea what the traffic would be like or how busy the airport would be. I just got up and got ready, packed up my things and got on the road as quick as I could. Stewart Airport is 17 miles from where I was staying in Fishkill. Of course, it was raining almost all the way there. I'm done with the NY rain.

O.K., the drop off for the Hertz rental I've had for he past 13 days is weird at the airport. The way this is set-up is one of the reasons why it feels like it's not an actual international airport but more of a regional one. It's on your honor. Shocking, huh. I know I was. You find a marked space to park your car and then get your stuff out and mark the envelope with the date and time you brought it back and the mileage and the gas tank reading, too. Then you lock the car taking the keys and your rental paperwork with you and walk into the terminal with your stuff to the Hertz counter where there is no one manning the thing at 7AM. All that they have there is an early drop-off box that tells you to put your paper work and your keys in the box. Done.

Since I was able to print out my tickets last night and check in online, I didn't have to do that at the counter. So now I had to go find the TSA line. And typically, I'm looking for this long line of bleary eyed people and grumbly TSA folk barking orders to get you though as fast as possible. But again, at 7AM, no line. I went through by myself with no one before me or after me. I was thinking that maybe I'm in some Twilight Zone or the wrong airport, but nope. I found my gate and sat there until it was time to board.

Seat 12F was a much better choice than 9A which was designed not to recline. So everyone got onto the plane and we waited. And we waited. And then the captain announced that his maps were expired and he was waiting for the new ones and I guess there was a printer problem on top of it. We waited on the tarmac for an hour and a half. So our 3 hour flight which was supposed to land at 11-something AM went to 1-something.

Orlando Airport is huge. On the level where you leave the gate area but before you get on the tram, it looks like a freakin' mall. There was even an ad that said they hold church serves there.  Thrifty rent-a-car held my car reservation for me knowing my flight was delayed. That was nice. They do not have cars with GPS. That was not so nice. And the map that they give you is crap.

So I used the navigation on my cellphone to get to the Dolphin Resort.

This place is huge. They give you a map at the front desk when you check in order to navigate the place. All I know is after I got to my room and settled in a little, my stomach was growling. I had toast this morning for breakfast, and water and some blue terra chips on the plane.

I went down to the first floor and found a small buffet/store called Picabu which has a lot of bird chirps and elephant sounds on a loop to greet you as you walk in.

I ate the chicken dinner, rice and greens. It was about the only thing on their menu that didn't have dairy in it.

I still have 2 and a half hours before the park closes and that's right before the Illusions Fireworks show.
*****************************
O.K., so I was able to pick up my prepaid two day park hopper ticket using my voucher, walk around a bit, find the nearest women's restroom from my entrance gate with a line, and then I walked to the center of the park where the sphere is to go on a ride called "Spaceship Earth". How do I explain this attraction... It's states that through time, communication through the written word and then on computers has been the driving force that is propelling us towards our future. It's depicted through stages, some with animetronics and some not so much. At the end, it inserts a photo of your disembodied head into a future based cartoon based upon a brief questionnaire of your likes and dislikes. And then after the ride was over, I wondered to the pin station and bought an officially licensed Epcot pin.

People start to sit down an hour before the fireworks. Yep, that's DisneyWorld for ya. It occurrs at the California park, too.

I'm falling asleep here at the keyboard. It's time for me to sleep. The park opens at 9AM tomorrow. Woohoo!

Vacation day 3, October 10th

It's Columbus Day! Yeah!

I'm up early again. I decided to partake in the free breakfast that's offered at this hotel. It's served in the breakfast room across the hall from the check-in counter.

It's a meatless breakfast. You can make your own waffles, they have biscuits and gravy, bagels, danish, yogurt and fruit cups, oatmeal, two choices of cold cereal and 2%, coffee, tea and juice. I was able to pull together a meal of a couple pieces of wheat toast with spread and apple jelly, a fruit cup and to drink a cup of coffee with three sugars, no creamer and a half a cup of orange juice.

I grabbed an apple for the road.I also picked up a hotel directory and a brochure for the Mohegan Sun Indian Casino in the lobby on the way up to my room.

So the goal today was get to Waterbury, CT, because, hey, I screwed up the hotel reservations in Fishkill, NY and shorted myself one day because I honestly did not know how long it would take to get from Brockton, MA. Guess, what? It takes four hours. So, I somehow found the nearest hotel, Courtyard by Marriott, to this place called Library Park that, so I was told, had headstones in it. Possibly a Fulford headstone in the park of this guy:

Name       Lt. Gershom Fulford, F416, M
Birth Date      1701
Birth Place     of Waterbury, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Death Date      7 Jan 1790 Age: 89
Death Place     Watertown, New Haven Co., Connecticut
Occupation      Blacksmith
Flags           Military
Father          Abraham Fulford , M (~1675-)
Mother          Phebe Clark , F (1675-1717)

Yep, that's one of my ancestors, my 6th great grandfather. He was a Lieutenant and fought in the French and Indian War from 1754 to 1763. But since it's a federal holiday, everything in the downtown area is closed. I took a walk to the park where the headstones are supposed to be, but I honestly think they are not there anymore. there were some knuckleheads along the wall I was supposed to look at, but I'm thinking the stones were move or removed due to their deterioration.

I located a German Fine dining restaurant at Dreschers but I was devastated to learn they are not open for dinner on Mondays.

I thought I was going to go on the hunt for my 6th great grandfather in the biggest library I can find in Waterbury while I'm here before driving the last two hours to Fishkill, but decided on doing more online research instead. On the city's website, it named someone from the Silas Bronson Library as he city historian. I've decided to contact her.

My Aunt Tressa called last night to tell me that my cousin Debbie just had a baby and that I should visit her in LaGrange since she's off work. More family time. Yeah!

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th

Vacation day 2, Oct 9th:

I took my time getting up and getting acclimated to the time change before driving down to New Bedford to meet my cousin Debra, her boyfriend Ed and her kids Chelsea and Brittany. Debra is a ministry assistant and I'm not churchy, so I didn't want to impede on her Sunday too much. The kids, who are actually college age, were working at iparty.com at the South Dartmouth Mall. iparty happens to be the east coast competition/equivalent to Party City. We sat and talked and watched football. We have so much in common as people but not so much in life experiences.


I can't say that it's an interesting fact that many of the men on the Stutz side of the family are estranged, but it is noteworthy. More and more I'm thinking that is has to do with a strong sense of French heritage. C'est La Vie. But that'a just my theory.

Debbie took me to St Mary's Cemetery in New Bedford where my grandmother was buried, but we couldn't locate the headstone. I'm not surprised. She hasn't been back in two years since the funeral. We then drove to 270 Shaw Street, the childhood home of Bernie. It's a two unit property. All of them on that street are. Then Debbie took me to see Dorothy Aguiar at 330 Query Sreet. She's 76 years old and still lives in her family home, though her parents has long sense pasted away. She's pretty deaf, but still talks. Everyone says she's a little off. Her front door was plastered with bumper stickers. Ed lives in the area so he sees her frequently walking around the neighborhood.

We came back to Debbie's house, said our good-byes to Ed and then took off to pick-up her daughters from work. After, Debbie took all of us to dinner at Friendlys. Debbie is on a high protein diet and mine is non-dairy so I struggled but found a dish I could eat Teriyaki chicken stir fry.

Vacation day 1, Oct 8th

Day one of my vacation started at 4AM to wake up and get ready to meet up with the shuttle service, Primetime. I packed the night before and it took so long, I really had only a nap instead of a full night's sleep which for me would be a whopping 6 hours. It's nice that not long after my alarm went off, then my cell phone was ringing and it was the automated wake-up call from the shuttle telling me they will be there to pick me up in 75 minutes. I took a shower. I was anxious. Knowing that there was rain in the forecast, but the weather would be mostly OK, I wanted to take an umbrella but not my raincoat because I thought that would be just too hot for the trip and hard to store if I didn't end up using it. My umbrella was toast - the end cap was missing, so I took my son's and my leather jacket. Before I stepped out of the house, I fixed the hole I made 3 years ago at work in the jacket on the lower right side, finally, with crazy glue. I went through my purse again to make sure there was nothing in it that wouldn't go through the TSA security checkpoint easily and had to put my lipstick and Vaseline in the quart baggie for inspection. OK, I'm ready and waiting on my side street to go. It's 5AM. My neighborhood is a mass of humanity with all of the apartments and if I stand outside your front door, I'll see the ebb and flow of the neighborhood. There were two men standing on the overpass before the bus stop waiting for a ride, but I don't remember the bus coming or maybe their ride never showed up, but I was still waiting for the shuttle service when they were walking home chatting in Spanish. I wanted to ask, "No trabajo al dia?", but did not want to shout it from across the street in the dead of morning. I shuttle called my cell home again this time to tell me that they are on my corner and I instructed him to turn right - I can see the van. I rode with other travelers to the airport to begin an adventure. There was one other bleary eyed woman from Foothill Ranch, a city further south than mine, on the trip to Long Beach Airport (LBA) with me. There was no traffic so we got there on time. I know it's early and you'd expect that there is no traffic, but frequently there has been many overnight freeway closures for road repair and it jams up because of this fact. No such thing on he 405 north traveling to the airport though. It's nice that the drop-off point was at the front of the terminal. I executed an electronic check-in with Jet Blue online the night before so I was able to walk right past the counter and straight to the security checkpoint for TSA screening, which was in a portable trailer. This airport is old and under construction. They way it's set-up now reminds me of how Ontario was in the early 90's... full of portables disguised as gates that lead you right out onto the tarmac. I went though security without a hitch. I wore my favorite pull on city pants from New York and Company, black silk knitted polo and my DKNY flip flops with the 'shape-ups' sole. Thinking about all of the walking I'd be doing, I thought they would be good for the trip, but especially at Disneyworld, because those shoes are nice and cushy. TSA informed me that the laptop must be placed into a tray on it's own, everything else you strip off of your person can go in a second tray... jacket, keys, purse, shoes, yes they are still x-raying those, and your quart baggie with any liquids your traveling with. There was a buzz at the Jet Blue gate about going to Utah for a football game. Others were going to Reno via Utah. I was flying to Boston via Seattle. Our gate assignment was changed. They, Jet Blue staff, walked us outside to the other gate where we waited until it was time to board. The ramps are ghetto, but ramps none the less. They are old and kind of rickety and kind of steep. They are lined with grit, but I felt like I was sliding backward in my flip flops getting up to the plane. About my seat assignment... row 9 is between other rows people pay an extra $35 to get for extra legroom. Now I'm 5'1", so I don't take up much space, but if I knew in advance that the seat wouldn't recline, I wouldn't have sat there on such a long flight. I was in 9A so at least I could stare out of the window. The snacks are cool on Jet Blue. They make you feel like a grown-up. I'd like some corm poppers - kettle flavor and a ginger ale. The bottled water is Danasi mineral water, which I don't like. It leaves you with a fine grit in your mouth. That can't be good. I pooed on the plane for the first time in my life. When I've got to go, I've got to go NOW. I timed leaving my seat just as someone was leaving the john. The flight attendant said to be quick because they were starting to descent into Seattle soon. I don't think I ever went so fast in my life. I hate the ascent and descent part of flying just like I do roller coasters. My stomach feels weird. We landed early at Sea-Tac. I had a lay over which was OK because it was almost lunch time and I hadn't eaten any breakfast except for the chips and soda on the plane. The trip from Seattle to Boston was long and had a bit of turbulence. Throughout the flight, I would change the DirecTv to channel to 14 which was a google map with an ever moving icon of where the plane was located over the US and Canada. I drank only one can of ginger ale and no snack on this trip. I had to use the john again. I found the men were peeing in the sink on this flight. Don't they know the difference between the sink and a toilet? A sink had no urinal cake in it. Eew. Logan International Airport. It's big and old and being remodeled, too. On the approach for landing, we had to fly over the Atlantic and past Nantucket. I bet those high dollar residents love that. The buoys out in the harbor have blue lights on them. At this point, you should read my Yelp.com review of Hertz dated 10/08. It took about 30 minutes to drove from the airport to the hotel in Brockton. And then you should read my Yelp.com review of Country Inn & Suites. I finally went to sleep at 1AM..

How I spent my summer vacation 2011

My summer vacation blog entry has been postponed until October. One day will be about burying my mother's ashes next to her parents in Red Hook. The rest of the time is mine to do what I want. I'm taking two weeks off work.

JetBlue.com states that with a 2 hour layover in Seattle, I will get to Boston 2 hours eariler than if I flew directly to JFK. O.K., I'm game because the experience of flying with JetBlue is supposed to be nice. So then I'm an hour away from my cousin Debbie. Since I'll be landing at about 9:30PM east coast time, and having flown all day, I'll pick up my rental car and stay at a hotel in Boston. Sunday morning, I'll drive to Debbie's house meeting her after church. Family time. I want to do as much "meet & greet" with family as well as geneology research as I can while on the east coast, so coordinating all of that has been a big part of my plans. I'll be visiting MA, CT, and NY.

There is something weird going on with my aunts and I'm not quite sure what it is. Tressa and Grace talk but not to their oldest sister, Jane. Tressa was written out of her mother's will. Grace took care of my grandma until she passed away and was buried with grandpa in Red Hook and that's where my moms ashes are going to be placed because that was my mom's wish and she was a heir. I'll be dealing with that drama while there. I also have to do a speech at the event which I'm not looking forward to. I realize no one really knows me and I can say anything I want, really. It's more for them than for me. If they only knew some of the crappy things my mom did to me and my brother when we were kids, but now that she's dead, does it really matter that much? I have a theme and I think I'm going to read from the bible psalms 34 since that was the year she was born. What the hell.

The day after the remembrance, I'm flying on JetBlue again from Newburgh to Orlando to go to Disneyworld/Epcot. I'll have a day and a half there and then fly home on Jet Blue for the 3rd time Saturday. I've got to have some fun while on vacation...

Damn Wind

It was cold and windy today. So windy in fact, there was a damn wind advisory for Southern California. And so cold, I decided to drive to work instead of taking the train. Fuck freezing on those damn platforms. Not me. When the weather warms back up again, that's when I'll take the train again to work. 60 degrees or more: OK for train travel, 55-60 degrees: questionable, 55 degrees or less: hell no. There are no heaters on the train!

I took a wrong turn off of the 105 freeway today and because of the way the traffic is so highly controlled around LAX, I found I couldn't make a u-turn until I was all the way in Culver City. By that time, I could turn left. Then I had to back track back to El Segundo through parts of Culver City, Westchester, Marina Del Rey, Playa Del Rey, past Loyola Marymount University and somehow found my way onto Vista Del Mar (right above the beach but it's not PCH) which turned into Highland and intersects with Rosecrans which is where my office is off of. My "detour" added an additional 20 miles to my commute, I'm sure. I walked into the office 5 minutes before 8AM.

There is only thing I hate worse than being cold and that's the wind. I moved from Fontana to get away from the damn wind. Maybe I need to move to a biosphere where there's no damn wind. Or outer space, where no one can hear you scream about the damn wind because there is none.

I think the wind was even affecting my co-workers. Everyone was all yelling and shit and I hate that. You don't have to yell at work. The normal level of noise is good enough. Sometimes, I have to remind then to simmer down because they do get all worked up about this or that. Just fix it and shut the hell up.

Family Extortion

So my mom calls me up and says she needs money to fix her car so she can go to her doctor's appointments. I just was fired from my job and fresh off of a nice driving trip with my son to San Jose. I don't and I won't tollerate this type of demand from anyone knowing that I can fix things myself when I don't have the funds. O.K. mom, I'll be down to your place at around dinner time.

Assessing the problem from what she told me on the phone, she needs maybe fuses and a flasher. I don't know anything about the car she drives, so I locate the manual and parts at my local Kragen. And I'm off.

On Labor Day weekend, I drive to El Cajon and it takes over 3 hours in traffic. I'm not a happy camper in traffic because my last job required me to drive in traffic for a minumum of 3 hours a day. I'll fidget with the radio, take sips of water, chew gum, sing, watch for accidents, avoid idiot drivers, try to stay in the lanes that are moving, look at other peoples rides, anything to pass the time. The drive was grueling. By the time I got to the Oceanside rest stop, the base fire truck was parked on the side of the road and clearly everyone was rubber-necking to see what the hell was going on. All they were really doing was slowing down the flow of traffic wih their presence - nothing going on! ARG! So after I pass that, they traffic picks up a bit and starts to flow nicely after Carlsbad.

I get to my mom's place and make her test all of the lights with me since she said her blinkers are out on the inside of her car. See, Jiffy Lube does this shit for me, so I don't have to worry about it. But anyway, OK Mom, left, right, stomp on the breaks, turn your lights on and off. She had a side light out on the front left. Great. I snip the plastic ties are holding up her felt formed under dash cover, locate the flasher near the steering column, pop it out of the holder and switch it with the one I bought. Then I go to the other side of the car and open up the fuse box and with the needle nose pliers, pull each fuse out and examine it for a break. And it turns out none were broken. OK, so I position myself under the front end of the car to pop out the housing to where the blown light is and retrieve the bulb. It's corroded, yuck. I have to remove the corrosion and clean off the connection so it will work again.

So then I hop in my car with my mom and she's got something to return to Kragen while I have to pick up the tiny light bulb so her blinker on the outside will work. And we go to the Kragen in Lakeside. It's not a long drive, but it's not around the corner or in the neighborhood either. Grr. Thank God, this little dopunk auto shop (and I mean so dopunk that it comes equiped with a southern accented hick - good lord) has got the part. We get back and I finish up the car and by this time, I'm not hungry, just hot and irratated. So I decided to spend the night at my moms. This equates to sleeping on the floor in the living room because she lives in a senior complex full of efficency apartments.

The next morning, we get to talking and I asked her, "What would you be doing if I wasn't here today?", and she says "walking". I can do that. So blah blah, after I find some sort of breakfast - oatmeal with no sweetner - I said lets go walking in Balboa Park. She doesn't like to drive into San Diego. I don't know why she doesn't, but she doesn't mind that I do. So the GPS is not working, and I just decide to turn it off and go by my internal compass which works a good 95% of the time unless I get turned around, but that's not hard to fix, now is it? 8W, 5S, look for the signs to go to Balboa Park and we're there in no time flat... it's 9:30AM on a Sunday morning and nothing is open. All the museums open at 10AM and so we park near the entrance across from the natural history museum. We get around the corner and the first thing out of her mouth is, "I'd like to go there". I must have "Sucker" written on my forehead, huh. I said we can go there once we are done with our walk. I walk with her to the botanical gardens and around he fountain, then over to the art museum and she needs a break. I love to hear the bells chime and off in the distance... a pipe organ? Oh, I got to see that... I didn't know Balboa Park had a pipe organ pavillion... cool. We walk back to the visitors center because you know how old people like collecting stupid colorful cards to places they will never go... it sounds as though she wants me to pay for a gd sd bay tour on a fucking boat. Shit. I hate visitor's centers now... And then we walk to the back and go out to find a cafe coffee cart. Atleast it smelled good. We walk a little further down the sidewalk and I hear the pipe organ again and I'm drawn to it's sounds.

As we were walking by, we had to pass the Japanese Frendship Garden. It's a separate area with a separate fee I guess with a special garden inside. Well, ya seen one Japanese garden, you pretty musch seem them all. Koi pond? Check. Highly sculpted bushes? Check. Maple tree? Check. Tea house? Check. Pagota? Check. Yup, same stuff. And it didn't open until 10AM either.

It turns out the Spreckles Pipe organ pavallion has a concert every Sunday afternoon for free and I had caught some of the warm-up from the organist. The stage doors were closed and locked and my mom is complaining that she's hot yet again. So we walk back to the visitor's center and rest.

After she's ready, we walk in the shade of the buildings back up to the Natural History Museum and eariler she said she wanted to go there, so hell, why not? And it's got A/C so maybe she'll stop complaining she's hot. Nope. We go through the two floors of exhibits using the elevator because she can't handle stairs anymore or atleast thats what she tells me and then on the third floor she's pooping out again. So I said it was time to go.

So I drive back to El Cajon and it's lunch time and we're hungry. Mom wanted for me to go to a greasy diner, but I wasn't feeling it. I drove by this place called the Downtown Cafe atleast three times and it looked fun so that's where we went. And I paid. I paid.

What did I pay? A day and a half of my time, the gas it took to get there and back and from el cajon to SD and el cajon, the museum tickets, the lunch and car parts. But I didn't "loan" her any money I wouldn't get back and I gave her some advice about her debt. She won't file for bankruptcy to get rid of those damn credit cards. And it pisses me off.

That was fun

I went to a Community Manager Yelp.com Event tonight at a gay bar in Huntington Beach. I like guys and no, I'm not gay in the least but places like these don't scare me. Live and let live. The one drink the host bought for me, a well cosmo, was so strong, I nursed it for the two and a half hours I was there. Nice mellow crowd and I'm not one normally to toot my own horn, but thanks to Steph W., WE WON THE JOHN HUGHES TRIVIA CONTEST! WOOHOO!! The prize was a "Pretty in Pink" DVD and a yelp t-shirt for me (My first one) and a DVDPLanet.com gift card and a yelp t-shirt for Steph. YEAH! As of tomorrow morning, I'm going to San Jose for a few days. You can read about what I'm up to while in the Silicon Valley on annazzz.yelp.com.

We share stories

As humans, we share stories not only so we have something to talk about, but sometimes to impart knowledge on others so they can learn from our mistakes.

I love my boyfriend, but sometimes he can be a bit of a knucklehead and steadfast in his ways. This behavior comes from his personal experience which I cannot fault him for because we like what we like and we like what we are familiar with and what works - we are practical people that way, but also from age. So when he felt he wasn't getting the quality medical treatment he deserved and needed, he went home to Seattle to see his doctor, a man who had treated him before for ulcers.

When he left for WA, I believe it was his intention only to stay for a few days in order to rest, run tests at his doctors and receive a new course of treatment. But it seemed that the longer he stayed, the worse the weather got and that got me worried. By the time he was granted permission to go home, the worse winter storm in ten years had settled onto the west coast and he was stuck in it. First, his flight was cancelled. Then once he got onto a plane, he was diverted to Portland, OR because of bad weather. I guess there are worse place to be stuck in during a snow storm, like Buffalo. Eww.

Finally, yesterday he called me to say he made it home after traveling in bad weather on the west coast for the past four days. What an ordeal. I'm a trooper when it comes to things going bad and taking it in stride, but I don't know how congenial I would have been in this situation. If it wasn't for the torrential snowfall, my co-worker and I agreed that my boyfriend could of driven back to California faster than the airlines were transporting him. I'm just happy to have him back in one piece.

NBC maybe going green, but...

NBC maybe going green, but I live in Los Angeles where all of the major television stations here still use helicopters to report breaking traffic news and fires. How green is this practice?

This popped into my mind as I was driving to work this morning going north on the 5 freeway and traffic was flowing heavy but nicely through the 5/101 split. Looking up, there is this helicopter flying overhead directly over the lanes of traffic spewing exhaust and there was no place for me to go to get away from it. Gesus, it's bad enough I'm forced to drive in a fossil fuel burning vehicle but now I've got to be subjected to the smog a helicopter produces, too?

I think helicopters need to go green as well as disel trucks. I'm sick to death of that foul smell. Then eventually, cars the rest of us drive.

Saturday & Sunday

Saturday, September 20th was one of the last days of summer. People rush around to go do something, anything in the sun while it's around. That was our plan... Robert and I are going to Lake Perris SRA Sunday to hang out and ride his waverunner. I an terrified of any sort of big water, but I'm going to face my fear and go for it. He said he would keep me safe.

In the mean time, we had dinner Saturday night at Sakura. You would never think that this place located in a strip mall next to Ralph's would not be any good, but if you thought that, you'd be wrong. This is actually the second time we went there and I got to tell ya, it just keeps getting better and better.

I ordered a sashimi plate and Robert got the baked mussels. We both got these fried chili spiked green peppers. I did fine on the baby one with no chili, but when I got to the second one and bit into the chili, I thought my mouth was on fire. We also both had orders green bean w/ peanut. It's O.K., but I think they are just trying too hard with that one. We also shared a special crunchy roll. Yummy. As for dessert, the chopped orange with plum wine. That thing is crazy good. To wash it all down, we drank ice water and I think 3 bottles of dry cold saki which were shared with the proprietors.

After dinner, we went over to Ralph's in our saki induced haze and bought snacks for the trip on Sunday. A bowl of chopped mixed fruit, a can of nuts, Triskets, Milanos cookies, a package of shrimp, and cocktail sauce. Robert had already taken care of the drinks and the ice.

So before going to Roberts on Saturday night, I thought I had packed what I need to bring to go to the lake. I had shorts, a top and a light jacket for the morning because it's usually kinda cold in the desert and some rubbery flip flops. I was informed I needed a bathing suit because I was going to get wet. Oh hell. I wasn't planning on getting wet because all I wanted to do was learn how to cruise in the waverunner and not get dumped into the lake. So the stupid alarm goes off at 4:30AM by accident and we sleep in until 5:30AM and then I get dressed to run over to my condo with his blessing to give the dog a car ride in order to grab a tshirt, my polo shirt dress and my bathing suit. In my mind, I'm thinking a wet or not, a tshirt over my red string bikini would be ok for waverunner riding and prevent needless sunburning atleast on my shoulders and some of my arms.

I changed into the bikini and wore the polo dress over it during the commute. We backed everything up, got gas and hit the road at about 7:30AM. I was tagged shotgun navigator. That 60 E to the 215 S interchange is still under construction and confusing as hell because the signage is not quite right. Robert said he missed it before and I can see why. What a pisser that exchange is!

While passing through Riverside, Robert said we had to go eat breakfast at McDonalds. He said it was tradition. I was game. We exited at McKinley and found our way over to the restaurant on the north side of the freeway. I ordered an egg mcmuffin w/ no cheese, a hash brown and a hi-c orange drink from the fountain. Robert got the two sausage mcmuffin with egg deal and coffee. We sat where we could keep an eye on the waverunner and the reserve gas bottles.

We made out way out to Perris Lake by 8:30AM and had everything set-up and the waverunner launched in about 20 minutes.

The shirt turned out to be a good idea because it provided me some level of cottony comfort under the life preserver. It also acted as a cover-up for my bikini while I sat under the Ez-Up and hung out in the shade snacking, reading the newspaper, listening to the Angels baseball game on the radio, sunning my pasty white calves and taking pictures of Robert, among other things, as he came in and out of the water.


I went out onto the lake with Robert a total of three times. The first time, I screamed "No!" about one hundred times until he reduced his speed to about 25 mph. I couldn't get over the fact that the speed feels so much faster on the water. It's got to have something to do with the wave motion and all the reflections. Amazing.

The second time, he went putt-putt slow for me around the island in the middle of the lake. That was nice. I can handle cruising under 20 mph. We saw how folks were set-up on the island, how some were fishing, and some local flora and and fauna which is stuff like I like to do anyway. I'm an observer, so that was cool.

The third time, which he said didn't count?!? wth... we went straight to the dam area which is not visible from the Lot 5 location where we set-up camp for the day. That was kinda weird and kinda cool because I never seen anything like that before. He went faster than putt-putt this time, so I was having a difficult time with the jarring and my breathing was still in panic mode, but I wasn't yelling "No!" so much this time. Then he told he ate it twice over by the dam later in the day, broke a toe, jammed up another and ended up with some weirdly placed bruises on his body from getting dumped off of the waverunner. Gesus. He told me Evil Kenevil was his hero before we got out to the lake. So now I know I'm dealing with a man with no fear. Good in some situations, but not with high rate of speed in uncontrolled environments. Maybe he'd like one of those race car driver packages they offer at the speedway in Fontana for Christmas... hrmmm. I'll have to poke around and see if he's ever done that before. But I digress...

So we were out there maybe a total of about 6 hours. It was nice to be out in nature with him because it's something I would not do alone. I told him it was a big deal for me to do something like going on the waverunner and step out of my box... out of my comfort zone. He said he proud of me and now wants to take me up to Lake Mead with my own Yahama Waverunner Cruiser. That was a lot to take in all at once considering I'm not confident even riding alone on his vehicle yet. Sounds cool because I like the desert, but yikes! My own waverunner?? I'll have to go to Lake Perris a few more times before going to Lake Mead.


He told me no one took pictures when he went before so I think he liked the fact that I took pictures when we went. I think they are important especially for only children. I've taken tons of pictures of my son so much so that he now considers me paparazzi and hold up his hand or turns his head all the time. So now I have another subject to photograph - good. I received an email from newegg.com today with a price shocker on an Olympus splash resistant digital camera, which lead me to look deeper for a water resistant one that I could take onto the waverunner without totally freaking out if it got wet. That would be cool to take pictures from that vantage point. He could do his version of speed racer on the water and I could go putt-putt and be happy.