London

In an attempt to be a good Bridesmaid, and help my best friend with the endless list of chores yet to be done, I flew to London for the holiday weekend.

Miracle of miracles I got first class both ways, thank heavens....

I will write more in depth later, but all in all a good weekend. We got a few things done,,, playlists, and then adjustment of playlists after the groom had a bit of a panic regarding the ratio of 80's music we had going. We rearranged some of the seating plan to make sure there wasn't too much of a screaming polarity between the dullest of dull tables, and roaringly drunk, party animal tables.

We bought hair clips, scheduled hairdressers, etc. Weddings certainly do seem to be a logistical nightmare, and if I ever do cross over and join the smug marrieds, I have to say I think I will elope.

Despite London's cold and overcast weather, we had a BBQ at some friends of Matts'. They had a beautiful flat on the river.

Anyway, I am feeling less bridesmaid guilt, and am giddy with excitement anticipating the wedding, which will be in Tuscany :)

Off to the gym to trick my body out of jet lag....

Hen night in NYC

This past weekend I flew to New York for my friend Sally's hen night.... We all had a great time, and I now have the complication of wanting to move to New York. Being there makes it seem like your life is just passing you by if you are anywhere else. I will try to remind myself that I could not even afford to live in a shoe box there on a flight attendant's salary, and it would be a better idea to just visit often, as I have friends there....

One of my friends who I met in stew school lives in the upper west side with her boyfriend, so I stayed with her. We had a nice boozy brunch on Saturday, and then went to the park with some wine and cheese and crackers, building a bit of a buzz for when the limo arrived.

Sally had flown in from Vancouver along with another one of the girls, and the rest lived in New York, but were all Aussies. We were chaperoned by Sally's "Bridesmale" Dermot, who seemed to love the gender ratio of the group.

I have a pretty good recollection of the first bit of the night, but as the timeline progresses, it gets pretty fuzzy.... Champagne in the limo for a couple of hours, and then dinner and drinks, and then Karaoke. The last little scraps of memory involve lemon drops, dizziness, and being kicked out of the bar....

Because a chocolate mint melted all over my handbag, it was a bit more difficult than usual to use the evidence (taxi receipts, matchbooks, phone numbers) to put the pieces together, as it was all chocolate covered. Just as well really...

Sunday was spent in a hungover daze drinking bloody marys, at the movies, and almost being run over by cars on about 18 different occasions due to inability to move or think fast. I stayed an extra night due to my being unwell. Anyway, all in all a great night and weekend.

A few more days of recovery before I have to do anything now...

Mothers Day!

I just got home from visiting my mom over mother's day.... I got on the flights no problem, which was good...

My brother was also visiting my mom, so it was great to see him too.... It was just what I needed considering some stress I have been dealing with in my personal life! sun, pools, and my mom putting Captain Morgan and coke in my sippy cup for my trip to the country club.... (I guess I can blame genes for all of my naughty behavior).. I think some of the blue haired ladies were kind of on to what was in our cups. I think we were having too much fun, and got a few bitter stares. It is an over 55 community, and considering my mom looks decades too young to be there and probably gets glares herself, my brother's and my even more apparent youth was not appreciated. It was kind of like being Cameron Dias in "In her shoes", causing a stir among the chubby ladies floating in the soup temperature pool with their pool noodles. I wasn't sure whether to feel elated at my closing in on 30 making me a mere child there, or alarmed at medical science's inability so far in finding the fountain of youth to save me from a similar saggy bum and pool noodle fate. :( ?

I am not used to that heat! I felt like I was walking through mud for 3 days. I couldn't keep my eyes open either! Anyway, it was good to see my family. I always revert to a 7 year old when I am with my mom. All of a sudden I can't pay for a haircut or make a sandwich myself even. I imagine this will be the case when I am 60 and she is 90!! I love that.

I am back home and it's cold and rainy... I was going to go to Trader Joe's and the gym this evening, but am having trouble pulling myself away from Dr Phil and the computer....

I may just go and get sushi tonight and do the gym/ groceries/ errands tomorrow. :)

Trainees

Only the airline I fly for would think it's a good idea to send 4 flight attendants in training on a narrow body aircraft that is already overstaffed by 1. I hadn't had trainees for ages, so was actually looking forward to the comic relief and juicy new rumors they provide... However, because we were literally tripping over each other... (2 f/a's and 2 trainee's in coach, and 2 f/a's and 2 trainees in first) I actually escaped to the flight deck for a couple of hours.

I can't exactly figure out the "type" this airline is looking to hire right now. Based on the motley crew they sent us, it seems the corporate Schizophrenia is going strong.

Trainee # 1, took an early retirement at 40 from Cathay... The poor woman will not know what has hit her when she gets on the line... Going from 4 night Dubai stopovers to Cleveland 12 hour ones... she will probably last a week. I actually was slightly nervous about her doing something strange like taking socks off our first class passengers and massaging their feet. I was ready to jump in and intervene any second.

Trainee # 2... Gay guy, mid 20's, with a permanent terrified grin on his face, that only the training center can cause.

Trainee # 3... I believe she has been hired only for our low cost operation (not mentioning names). She honestly looked like someone who would work at a tanning salon. I believe she had jewels glued on her nails. She was actually bossing us around and telling us what to do. I am under the impression the company is leading them to believe they are the vision of the airline, and us "seasoned" flight attendants need to be replaced.. (this is the same message I got while going through training..)

Trainee # 4... middle aged man, seemingly in the middle of a nervous breakdown.. he spent a good amount of time in the lav, leading me to believe he was either hiding, or ill, or maybe looking in the mirror asking his reflection what on Earth he had voluntarily signed up for....


Oh well, at least it means some seniority for me... I just wish the company would get it together on the hiring.

Oklahoma city

I was less than thrilled when I was called for a very early a.m flight. I had to order a taxi for 4:15. Apparently the dispatcher thought I said 4:50...so there I was all dressed up, crack of dawn, with nowhere to go... After a few heated calls to the taxi co, I gave up, and luckily was able to jump into a cab pulling up on my corner. A very friendly drunk guy (I guess a neighbor of mine!) stumbled out. This all begs the question that I have been asking lately. What the hell am I doing with my life??? On a Sunday morning, spending $ to go to the airport, to go somewhere I don't even need to go to? Anyway, a bad start, but it was actually a nice layover. As I was flying with 2 nutters, (one was the typical "HELLO I AM NOT GAY" straight guy, whose mannerisms and actions are so exaggeratedly masculine it's actually funny), I ended up on my own on the layover. I went to the Oklahoma City memorial. It is actually a very beautiful memorial. There were a lot of visitors, probably because of the marathon that week.

I wandered around Oklahoma city. Due to a gruelling personal training session, I was walking around like I had been on a horse all day... but I think it went unnoticed due to where I actually was.

Due to my usually tragic sense of direction, I actually ended up overshooting the hotel, and happily found myself at some sort of beer garden/ arts fair! This was quite lucky, and more excitement than I thought I would have! I was clearly in middle America though, and people watching in the grass with my beer was certainly interesting. The poor artists tents were sparse with visitors, but the food tents were rocking!

I would have to say the most ridiculous and noteworthy thing I saw was a young couple pushing a stroller, with a 2 or 3 year old in it. He had a portable DVD player strapped to his stroller tray , and was watching a movie! Eyes GLUED. No interest in the family friendly outdoor festival. Probably the most white trash thing I have seen in a long time, and believe me, I have seen plenty.. (I have been working frequently on our "lower fare" airline offshoot)... but I am not mentioning any NAMES.