Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2003 - 11:39 a.m.
Greetings,
It’s a chilly Tuesday morning here in New Orleans. I wore my leather trench coat to work again and it’s currently hanging up in my lovely semi new cubicle. I have been working at my new job for over a month now and I believe I’m pretty settled in.
I met up with a co-worker from my old floor last night. The one who is going to look after Stela, Pandora and Agatha for us while we’re in North Carolina. She told me that I looked incredibly less stressed out than I used to when I worked with her. Which is very true. I don’t find myself getting angry all the time when I’m at work anymore. I’m not as tired and bored. Incredible.
We were supposed to go out to dinner, but she had to bail on that to work at home. She was able to stop by Crescentwood to see it and the cats. She loved our place. The hardwood floors, the wood work, the floor plan, etc. It was inspiring to see the house through another’s eyes. It reaffirms just how far we’ve come since the fire on January 31st. Sometimes I feel like a totally new person.
New Orleans is constantly inspiring me to reshape and redefine myself. I suppose it’s no coincidence that I’ve grown more as a person in the 6 years I’ve lived here than I did in all the years I spent living in Connecticut. (Except for that last year – I went through some heavy changes then, but there was way more to come.)
2003 has been an incredible year of change for me. I was able to realize a lot of my goals and dreams. As usual when that happens, there’s a lot of pretty crappy stuff to get through along the way. But in the end – TRIUMPH!
I am going to completely change the subject and rave about my new weekend carry on flight bag that I bought at Macy’s yesterday. It was $30 marked down from $60. It’s black and has wheels and a handle (which tucks away cunningly) but it’s not boxy, it’s got a soft, rounded shape. There’s a cool front pocket with a built in see through compartment for make up and a place to secure a brush or a comb.
It’s extremely *organized*. And it’s VERY Tommy. It was the last one there unfortunately so I can’t get him one, so he’ll have to make do with this free weekender he got at some IT Geekfest, I mean convention earlier this year. He’s not well with this at all. But I will share my new bag. And if he’s going somewhere I’m not, of course it defaults to him.
But like my Crest Spin Brush, it is the schiznit. Seriously.
My list of what to bring is done and tonight I can go home and do some laundry and perhaps a bit of pre-packing. I had this horrible dream this morning where I was apparently flying to England to visit with John and our flight left at 6:30 in the morning and I forgot to set the alarm and I woke up at 5 and thought, “I can sleep another half hour” and then woke up at 5:30 and realized I was supposed to be flying to London in an hour and I hadn’t even packed let alone left for the airport yet.
I was gibbering at Tommy to wake up and to pack like lightning and then I looked at my passport and it expired November 8th (it really expired this past August) and I was thinking that I could just pencil in a 2 in front of the 8 but then I could leave the country but I wouldn’t be able to get back in because I wasn’t coming back until December. Meanwhile the clock is ticking and somehow I’m still not packed.
It was hideous.
So I will be pre-packing as much as I can and getting up at 4 a.m. on Thursday to quickly shower. I aim to be out of the house between 4:30 and 4:45 which should give me time to park the car in the long-term lot and take the shuttle bus to the terminal and check in and get to the gate to board for take off at 6:30. In theory.
They’ve changed the rules at the airport so that everyone must check in before they can access the gate or even go through security/baggage check, but I was planning to check in at the ticket counter anyway as I usually do. But apparently the lines will be longer than usual so I want at least a full hour between when I get into the line and scheduled departure time.
But 4 a.m. is so friggin’ EARLY! It’s not even like a real time to me.
But the good thing is that we’ll be sitting in Edna, my mother’s new Ford Escape, being driven towards my parents’ house before noon. And there’s a glass of wine and cracker with Cheshire cheese with my name on it waiting for me when I get there.
(And a turkey to prepare and put in the oven, but I digress!)
Have I rambled enough today do you think? Yes, me too.
Until next time,
Olrun
