i started in the advertising business as a typesetter but my interest in design was peaked one summer when i worked at a printery.
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i like public transportation, if it functioned properly here, i would be the first person to stop driving.
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i’m back. safely and in one piece. been back since friday, just haven’t got the motivation to write anything before today.
as much as i generally dislike american, i have to say i was impressed, all my flights were early. don’t know if it’s the days i flew but we left on time and arrived early. although flying through MIA, i’m not sure how much of a blessing that is.
miami international airport is one of the worst airports i’ve ever been in. classing it with third world airports would be an insult to those airports. it’s grimy, it’s hot, even at night and you’re hard pressed to find a power outlet. that may be my own pet peeve, but how the hell could you not have a power outlet at the gate of an international flight?
trinidad was… wow. too many cars, not enough roads. so much construction. i vaguely remember the oil boom of the late 70s, early 80s and the behaviour seems very reminiscent of those halcyon days, but we all remember how those ended.
thank you all for you condolences.
i am the master of finding cheap fares; for other people. i`ve done it for my mother in law, i`ve done it for friends. i can find that really cheap ticket with the minimum of fuss. somehow i can never do the same for myself.
i`m trying to get my daughters here for the summer and currently the cheapest fare i can find is in the $800 each, to get them to Nashvegas and that doesn`t include the surcharge for children travelling alone.
i miss the girls and i want to see them, but there is no way i can afford that and conversely flying to Trinidad will cost even more, because even though the fares are marginally cheaper, we would need to fly all three of us, plus accommodation and transport while we`re there. plus all the `cheap` fares i`m finding require us to be gone from anywhere between three to five weeks. neither of which we can afford either.
my job situation is still iffy. i`m on probation for a month, which can be extended at my boss` discretion and i`m firmly of the belief that the nanosecond she finds someone or our busy season ends, i`m out the door. i`ve got feelers out but no nibbles yet.
i hate being fucking broke and stressing about money.
the radio stations here in Nashvegas that advertise the night`s upcoming sitcoms with these little sound bites. based on the little snippets and the canned laughter, it`s a wonder anyone watches television at all. but then my sense of humour is considered dark and obscure in some circles and downright evil in others.
today is the beginning of the lenten season and even though i don`t make new year`s resolutions, the lapsed Catholic in me seems determined to continue the tradition of giving something up for lent. i can`t remember what i gave up for lent last year, or if it was one of those good intentions that got lost in the midst of the migration.
it`s hard to believe that it`s been almost a year since i got here, time flies when you`re having fun. i`ve been going over the paperwork for our next pitched battle with the USCIS; the status change; and i realised that once we submit this application i can leave the country and return with problems. which lifts a heavy burden from my mind. with that in mind i`ve been trying to price fares for a jaunt home; so i can see my girls, the boy chick can meet and charm his extended family; but the fares are ridiculous. the cheapest fare i found for Christmas has us changing planes three times and cost $635 each. you could buy a car for that. i can always magic cheap fares for everyone but somehow it never works for me, but we`ll see how things develop for the rest of this year.
that`s how i feel today.
i always had respect for flight attendants and after yesterday`s short haul in a monkey suit and uncomfortable shoes, my appreciation increases. the presentation went fairly well and all three blocks of Silver Spring, MD and the sections of highway i observed to and from the airport were all very lovely.
i managed to get back home in one piece despite the inclement weather in Nashville, that was the remnants of Ivan. we got delayed out of Baltimore and then put on an advisory meaning that at the pilot`s discretion we could be diverted to another airport or returned to Baltimore. luckily neither of those things happened and most of the bad weather were the vicious crosswinds just prior to the smoothest landing i have every experienced.
i`m sure i had something intelligent and worthwhile to contribute when i started writing this, but my exhaustion is getting the better of me and i am unable to form coherent thoughts.
but i only going as far Baltimore, for the day. it`s not a trip i`m entirely thrilled about. i`m going with my boss to a presentation. i`m not sure if it`s the superfluous nature of my presence at this presentation or that i miss my almost daily lunch with vic or the fact that i have to wear a suit and tie all day. i think of the three, the suit might be the greatest irritant, one of the reasons i enjoy my job is that i generally don`t have to dress for success, i can go to work on most days in ratty jeans and flip flops.
i like flying, i`m exceeding comfortable in air planes; i should be, i`ve been doing it for 33 years now. i flow all manner of commercial aircraft excluding the concorde; which is my loss, i believe; and they hold no fear for me. i know smaller aircraft are safer than their bigger compatriots. there used to be a website called amigoingdown.com that i would frequent before i got on a flight and it would calculate the odds of a crash based on airline, type of aircraft, destination and point of departure, sadly it`s no longer around.
in the last four years i`ve logged a lot of frequent flyer miles, in 2000 alone, i logged enough to join bwia`s platinum preferred programme. i think however; between my inability to leave the country, the cost of travel for two adult and a child and wanting to spend as little time as humanly possible away from vic; that my flights are going to be limited to little jaunts like these for a while to come and being a flight junkie, i`m just going to have to take my little fixes where i can.
well this has been a 50 | 50 day, my job still sucks, but i just sent one of my best freelance pieces on it’s way to turkey. it’s beautifully printed.
so i’m pretty much cruising this evening. satisfaction comes in the simplest of sources sometimes.
in other news, i was listening to the radio in a taxi on the way home, and it was tuned to one of the religious stations and a pastor who shall be hereafter called ‘moreover’ rant about what a bunch of adulterous heathens all of us people who divorced and remarried but the kicker was about the woman’s role. basically, if your husband is beating you, stick around, it’s your biblical role to take some blows. i was in too good a mood to flip out, smack the taxi driver and demand he change that station.
which brings me to the question of the day, do people actually believe this? what sort of god would condone this?
this rant is brought to you by the letter M, used in words like magnificent, married, moral, mighty, moron, morose, munch, mental, mince, monday, meeting, mandate, more…
thank you and good night.