Putting out Fires

I guess what Miss Africankelli said was right, if you put it out there, the Internet helps hold you accountable.  I’d had the hobby idea kicking around for a few weeks now, then I wrote about it and then I realized I couldn’t just write about it then not follow through.  So, today I went down to the local music store and gathered cards of guitar teachers.  For a mere $18/half hour I’m in the hobby game!  So, by this time next year be prepared for singing around the campfire on camping trips.

On a different subject:  I was reading about a first date just now and it made me think back again to when I was dating.  When I was in high school I wasn’t necessarily the coolest girl.  I mean really, not at all.  And I always thought of myself as shy.  But when I got to college I really  came into my own.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it had something to do with being one of the only females in a male-dominated major, but I really did find a new popularity in college, and I fully took advantage. 

My college was in a small town, which had its advantages and disadvantages.  One advantage was that my girlfriend Jenn and I were well-known in town.  We always went out to the bars together on Thur nights and we were never starved for attention.  The disadvantage was that if you dated a guy, there was a good chance he knew someone else you’d dated.  And in my case, if you date more than one guy at once, there’s always a chance that they might play on a soccer team together.  Oops.

Dating was painful.  Don’t get me wrong, I did have a great time when I was dating and I dated all different kinds of guys, but the uncomfortable silences, the feeling each other out for common interests, the wondering if they’re interested enough for a second date, the one scary situation where a guy got a little too pushy.  But the first kiss…  The thrill of waiting for it all night.  Him walking you to the door and you hoping it wasn’t just because it was the polite guy thing to do. Getting lost in their smell and being close to them.  The lean.  Then you’re lost in the headiness of a first kiss.  *sigh* 

I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a husband who I still love kissing.  I can’t get enough.  But still, I’m glad that I have a few friends that I can live vicariously through. 

I need a hobby.  The last two years of my life have been consumed by work and school, then I had a mere week to enjoy my freedom before getting shipped out of the country.  Now I’m back and I feel like I’ve got a chance to do a little bit of reinventing.  I don’t want to get stuck into a routine where I go to work, come home, let the dogs out, change clothes, go to the gym, come home, make dinner, watch TV.  I need a hobby.

I’ve been thinking about this a little obsessively lately and now I’m stuck.  So many choices!  I had such a good time taking pictures on my trip that I’ve been thinking about photography classes.  I would love to learn to do something really beautiful.  I would love to escape into the desert with just my camera and some water and find the perfect picture.  I would love to know how to look at a beautiful scene and use the camera to do it justice.  But I don’t have a nice camera and its a little too late to sign up for a class this year.

I’ve also been thinking about yoga.  I would love to do something like this because I really need an outlet for my stress.  I have a mat that’s only been used for psuedo-yoga from a video in my living room.  I want to actually DO yoga, in a real studio, with a yogi, and learn about energy and flow and all that.  But there’s not a studio anywhere near me that fits this qualification and the cost of one would be out of my price range anyway.

I have a gorgeous guitar.  Its a Fender acoustic with pearl inlay.  I took it to a lame guitar class for a semester about 2 years ago and I was bored with the slow pace of the class.  Now its sitting in the Reading Room collecting dust.  I could take private lessons.  But they’re expensive too. 

Cooking class, Spanish, religion classes, writing, riding, car repair, scrapbooking, planting an herb garden, volleyball…..  There’s a million things I’m interested in.  I’m overwhelmed.  Can’t commit.  Too much money.  Not enough time.  Messed up firefighter schedule. 

But I do need a hobby. 

I guess if I’m going to reinvent myself I’m going to have to stop making excuses and do it, huh?  So if you were to go looking for a guitar teacher, where would you start?

Well, I managed to come up with a very nice Plan B.  1 Hr cab ride ($200) to Gattwick  (the GHETTO airport), then a flight to Minn, layover, then on to Phx.  It was a VERY long day, but I’m home now.  And crabby.  I have 2 suitcases worth of laundry to do and 8hrs difference to overcome.  It is currently 4am in England and I’m still awake.  Barely.  I’m trying to adjust, but it’ll be a few days before I start feeling like a human.

My dogs acted like they didn’t notice that’d I’d been gone (which is kind of nice in a way), and Ryan is doing his best to deal with my attitude today.

OK, love to all and more later. 

OK, too pissed off to come up with an actual Top 10, so you get this:

First it was slowness of the workers, then it was weather, then it was broken equipment, and now its CATERERS.  I take back my last post.  I hate England.

I can already tell I’m going to have a hard time adjusting to life back in the desert.  I’m feeling huge emotion fluctuations.  I mean usually driving all alone between ‘home’ and work I take on the emotions of whatever song is coming out of my MP3, but this week its been twice as bad. 

Last night I was awake for about an hour tossing and turning packing my luggage in my head.  I am SO excited to get off that plane, trudge through customs, wait until my bag (inevitable the last one to come off the plane) comes down the belt, then run full speed into my husband’s arms. 

But then there’s England.  I didn’t give it enough credit.  I didn’t expect the countryside to be so beautiful and that its peacefulness would rub off.  I didn’t picture myself enjoying the fact that I have no house chores to do so I could spend my afternoons working out then laying out with a good book.  I didn’t think I’d see the sun the whole time I was here but it has been gorgeous most of the time.  I didn’t know that this country emparted on my coworkers the desire to hang out with a good meal and a fun movie. 

I really have had a good time here and if I could just transfer my hubby and my dogs over here I’d be a happy girl.  But it is time to go home.  Back to my desert.  Back to Mexican food.  Back to good TV and decent music.  Back to where everything doesn’t cost me twice as much as it should.  Back to where my family is.

But there are some things I really will miss about this country.  Most of all I’ll miss the driving.  I’m not kidding.  Here I feel like a race car driver.  Roads big enough for one car where two have to pass.  Twists and turns enough to make your head spin.  Dodging in and out of round-abouts.  Driving is a joy here and I’m taking full advantage of the special ‘S’ button in my car for my last few days.  Don’t ask me what the S stands for, but I suspect its for “Seriously Asking for a Speeding Ticket but There’s No Cops Around”. 

1.  We finished testing today.  Now its data reduction then a flight home!

2.  I stepped in cow crap yesterday.

It is officially my last free day in England.  I woke up this morning to a gorgeous sunny day and I’m still laying in bed.  I’m overwhelmed by all the things I could be doing today.  Bath again?  A different beach?  National Aquarium?  A nice long drive?  Bristol?  Shopping?  Neh.  I feel like I’ve seen enough.  I may just find a gorgeous garden somewhere and read.  Soak in the beautiful weather and the clean air.  Friday I will be going home and it just doesn’t feel real.  By then I’ll have been here 9 weeks when I was only supposed to be here 3.  Its getting so close!  So, back to the 115degree weather I go…  I’ve been feeling a little guilty about all my complaining about wanting to go home when it is just so beautiful here.  But I’m ready. 

A little bit of travel updating to do.  Last weekend I went by myself to Lyme Regis.  It was pouring rain the whole time I was there, but that doesn’t stop the Brits!  They were on the beach in full force as if it was a sunny day.  Anyway, had a great time walking around shopping in all the funky little shops and looking at fossils.  The next day I went shopping in Bath and in Glastonbury.  In Glastonbury many of the shops boasted treasures from Sedona.  They told me that Sedona is the ‘Glastonbury of America’, meaning there’s an ‘energy flow’ that’s similar between the two places.  OK….  Lots of hippy types, lots of pot smoke drifting from back store rooms, lots of crystals to protect you from, well, whatever.  Had myself a soy milk hot chocolate and picked up a special present for my mom.

Yesterday the 4 of us who have been hanging out together went to a sub-tropical botanical garden.  We had so much fun running around taking pictures of everything!  My favorite were these HUGE leaves:

Here’s my new friend Megan.  Having her here the last 2 weeks really has been fun!  We’ve tagged along on fishing trips with a bottle of wine and a stack of magazines.  So fun.

This is St. Catherine’s Chapel in the distance.  It is a massive structure on the top of a hill overlooking the ocean.

(is my face really that chubby??  must be the camera)

The gardens are known for their breading program of the golden pheasant as well.  Look at the colors on this guy! 

Well, now I’m feeling guilty for not being out in the gorgeous weather so I’m going to drag myself out there and soak it in.  *sigh*  Back to the Phx heat in less than a week. 

I don’t think I’ve yet mentioned one of the most interesting differences between America and England.  In England they love their people….. neked.  (yes, I know how to spell it, but this is a work computer)  They are much more open where that’s concerned here.  For example:  I’m working at a very large plant here for a large British company.  In the snack shacks around the plant they sell magazines.  With explicit covers.  And newspapers.  With explicit covers.  THEY SELL THEM AT WORK!  So naturally, if they’re sold at work, they’re up on the walls at work.  I can’t walk into a single office in the entire facility without seeing a neked woman. 

About a month ago I picked up Miss AfricanKelli at Heathrow for her short layover.  As I was waiting sipping a hot chocolate at Starbucks for her to come out, a very respectable man in a fancy suit asked if he could sit next to me because there were no more seats.  He primly sat himself down, pulled the carefully folded newspaper from under his arm, placed it gingerly on the table in front of him, opened it properly to the first page and BAM!  A full-paged, full-on neked chick.  The newspaper he was reading was called Sport and it is sold everywhere here.  And it advertises its contents very clearly on the front page in full color. 

Last night I had problems sleeping because my head is so stuffed up, so I turned on Big Brother.  They are OBSESSED with their Big Brother here.  Anyway, they just brought on a new ‘contestant’ in the last week.  Well, last night they showed her getting progressively drunker to the point where she grabbed a bottle of wine and then used it in a way that a wine bottle should never be used.  ON NATIONAL TV!  NOT CABLE! 

I’m not a prude by any stretch, but this was too much.  I tend to think that the general de-howardization of the US is getting a little out of hand, but if this is the alternative… 

(side note:  can you get in trouble at work if one of your coworkers royally pisses you off and you proceed to purposely cough all over their desk in the hopes of passing on your illness?)

Let’s take a break from emails in which I:  1) Complain about being stuck in the land of no Cheetos  and 2)  Post a million pictures of myself doing things (cause we all know how much fun it is to look through someone else’s trip pictures.  But don’t think you’re off the hook.  I’ve got one of these posts coming too) .

I’ve had loads of time to read lately (being stuck in, oh wait, no complaining) and I’ve read a few good ones.  Today I’m a bit under the weather (literally and otherwise) so I read all of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in prep for FINALLY going home to see the movie!  Interesting tidbit:  did you know that the original movie was called “Willy Wonka” because it came out near Vietnam and a movie with the name “Charlie” in the title might not have sold well.  Anyway, reading it made me want to run out and read James and the Giant Peach and the BFG again too!

But the REAL book that I’m reading right now was sent to me for my b-day by my good friend Jen/Jenn/Jenny.  Its by Christopher Moore and its called “Lamb.  The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal”.  BWAHAHA!  I started laughing at the title and haven’t stopped since.  Here’s one of my favorite parts:

“Jerusalem.  Here did I, the Christ, and John the Baptist come to find out the will of God and, if we were lucky, spot some really delicous girls.”  

And if you’re not convinced yet, here’s the description on the back:  “Filled with remarkable journeys, magic, healings, kung fu, corpse reanimations, demons, and hot babes”

hehehehe

Well, I have my official return date.  Next Friday.  For about 3 hours today I thought I was coming home this Fri (even made travel plans to and from the airport) and I had a whole slew of emotions hit me.  You ever hear the stories about the people who get kidnapped and they end up falling for their kidnappers?  I know there’s an actual name for that, just can’t think of it through my 2 glasses of wine right now.  Anyway, been held hostage here for 2 full months now and I feel conflicted about going home.  Isn’t that stupid?  I’m worried that I’ve been here so long that its going to be weird going back.  And things are different since I left.  KC will be gone for good, my office will have been moved at work, it’ll be almost the END of summer (which I completely missed), my dogs will probably have forgotten me (come on, they’re dogs.  they have a 7 minute memory span)…  Most of all, I dread going back to work.  I work in a miserable atmosphere of hatred and disrespect and that’s hard to even think about when I’m working with such great people here (well, with the exception of the guy who’s given me flowers twice and who neglected to tell his wife he was hanging out with me.  Creep.).  I miss everyone so much it aches, but the thought of going back to my job….  I know I’m so lucky to have the job I do, and I am even more lucky to be so comfortable at such a young age, but I don’t think anyone should have to work in a place that they dread going to every day.  Anyone need a young engineer??