kirin

First of all I want to apologize to everyone who has a message in my inbox that I haven't responded to yet. Work was stupid crazy and I worked a bit of OT so I could take my vacation.

A week ago Saturday was my work Christmas party and Zarphin was my date. He was an awesome date. He entertained me and played nice with my coworkers and looked awesome in a suit. He is of course now lusting for my adorable, beautiful, cute, and crazy coworker who unfortunately hasn't broken up with her BF yet. She seems somewhat interested in Zarphin too so maybe that'll be the push she needs to end things with her current guy since it's not really going anywhere.



I'm in Phoenix right now and it's been a great trip. Had two layovers and 3 planes to get here but it went surprisingly smoothly, with a few bumps along the way. Michigan to Chicago was fine except I got to the airport way too early. Damn me and my OCD planning. I got to sit around there for over an hour waiting for my plane. Thanks to Zarphin for taking an hour out of work to make sure I had a ride to the airport. The plane from Michigan to Chicago was tiny. I had a whole row of seats all to myself because the row consisted of a single seat. I had about an hour in Chicago for my next plane and got to sit next to two interesting dudes who didn't know each other. I got the isle seat, the guy in the middle whose name was apparently Brenden said he was 25, a commodities trader in the metal business and stunk like beer so I wonder how much of what he said was bullshit. I didn't catch the other guy's name but he was a med student at Northwestern and was 26 and feeling old. Brenden blah blahed the entire little over an hour flight to St. Louis so at least I wasn't bored.

The airport in St. Louis has the worst layout ever. I had to change airlines for my final flight and the way the airport is laid out I had to leave the secured area, go back through security, and run to my gate. I had just enough time to grab a tea, overpriced banana, and a bagel at Starbucks for lunch before getting on my next plane. Thanks to TaoAndCoffee for remembering to refill my Starbucks card before I left so he indirectly bought me lunch.

I got the isle seat on my last flight too. The guy in the window seat fell asleep during take off and slept the whole flight so he was boring. There was a boy who was about 14 in the middle seat. It was his first time flying alone so he was scared because of that, and he is apparently scared of everything, heights, roller coasters, boating... We hit a lot of turbulence so he was clutching the arm rests and trying not to hyperventilate. The turbulence was actually bad enough that I even got a little freaked out but I kept reassuring him things would be fine and planes don't just fall out of the sky because of rough air. When he said he was scared of heights I told him to imagine he was on a boat and the water was just choppy and he said he'd never been on a boat in choppy water but the idea of being able to swim to safety was more reassuring to him than falling out of the sky hoping the pilot didn't kill us all.

I got into Phoenix on December 23rd and my brother's college punk band had a reunion show that night. My friend Katie who I've seen once since high school tried to organize a little reunion for our friends to meet at the club. Most people didn't show up but I had a great time with the ones who did. I got to see my brother's childhood BFF and his younger brother who is a year older than me, and his knock out GF. They live in Chicago now so I need to get out there to visit them. We reminisced about when we were kids and they never let me play with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles toys with them because I was a girl.



Here is my formerly fat and shy brother show boating it up on stage. I can't believe how much he's come out of his shell since we were kids.



The drummer dressed as Santa for the show. My brother kept getting in the way so I only got a pic of Santa during one song that he plays guitar in.

My friend Justin that I've known since I was about 10 came and picked me up for the show and reunion and I made him stop at the graveyard (in the dark so I think he was a bit creeped out) to visit our friend Ryan who died our junior year of high school. I always feel bad if I'm in town and I don't go to his grave site. I miss him and wonder what he would be like if he were still here.



I also found a pic from when I was in 3rd grade I think that I thought you all might find amusing.



I leave town tomorrow morning and my dad and I are driving the Explorer back so I can have a winter car so I stop damaging my poor Mustang. It's about a 30 hour drive and our goal is to do it without stopping except to eat and pee. Wish us luck!

And lastly, the cup I've been using for tea since I've been here.