saturday

i fell in love this week. seattle in the sunshine is a place you can’t help but fall in love with. it’s a place where a 25 minute walk to the baseball field for a game is a lovely adventure. where you can pretend you’re kurt cobain, and maybe even sound like it. where going to the market means being greeted by the most beautiful and diverse floral displays. where the breakfast entertainment includes watching ferries come and go in the harbor. and, among other things, where ‘going to the top’ takes on a whole new meaning. sunny seattle dares you not to be completely entranced by it.

with 45 minutes of sleep and a 3:30am wake-up call to make my 7am flight, the trip was off to a slow start. melissa met me at the airport, and after boarding the plane, we took advantage of empty rows to catch a few more winks. little did i know that that restless plane nap would be the only rejuvenation for the day.

we had expected to arrive at the convention center to find the booth installation well under way, and to ultimately end up spending no more than two – three hours getting everything taken care of for the following day. we were completely shocked upon arriving to find that literally nothing had been done, short of uncrating some items. electrical wasn’t laid, nor was carpet, and none of the structure had even been touched. needless to say, the next 6 hours of idiocy and incompetence did not make me very happy. i’m certain the lack of sleep played a role, but even had i been fully rested, i would have been in awe of the sheer stupidity. typically, i don’t even have to be there for booth install. usually it goes up without a catch, and i’m only there ‘in case’ something goes wrong. i’ve faced minor glitches before, but this was the biggest mess i’ve encountered. graphics were missing, the install team couldn’t read the schematics so they created an ad-hoc build from the pieces they had, which meant that the graphics we did have no longer fit. they spent a great deal of time searching for things that were quite literally in front of their faces, and weren’t remotely embarrassed when i pointed them out. they wanted to position the kiosks backwards, forgot about the lights, etc., etc., etc.

eventually we all hit the point where we just had to call it good and deal. it was a rough start for the trip, but it had nowhere to go but up. i made it back to the hotel with just enough time to take a very quick shower before hopping in a cab to go meet jesse and his family.


they were in town doing a little sightseeing before boarding a cruise ship bound for alaska on the following day. jesse had invited me to come join them for the seattle underground tour, and i was excited on two counts. i’ve known jesse for some 3+ years now but never met his fam. it’s always interesting to see where a person comes from. i was also excited about the tour itself. the history of seattle is actually very interesting.


as for the tour, i won’t spoil it for you, but if you’re ever in seattle, it’s a must do. the tour guide was excellent and even though i knew some of the jokes she told were getting their fifth or sixth retelling of the day, she still managed to make it fresh and make us laugh.


after the hour and a half tour we walked for a bit and found a mexican place to enjoy dinner. i called melissa and she hopped in a cab to join us. it was a great, random, find and we enjoyed both the meal and the conversation. we walked back to the hotel, and melissa and i decided to take advantage of the jacuzzi on the top floor of the hotel.

the view was spectacular, and if only they had dimmed the glaring overhead lights a bit, it would have been even more so. the jacuzzi was broken (no bubbles) but the water was warm, so we decided to relax for awhile anyway. i knew dylan and kelly would be arriving anytime, having made the three hour drive from portland, and i was extremely excited to see them.

we let the stress from the day slip away in that hot tub while we listened, fascinated and entertained by the word association game going on around us. a group of ladies sharing the water with us, kept taking turns saying things like ‘pepper. chives. dill. cumin!’ i never really figured out the objective of the game, but before long, i was freed from the need to do so by kelly’s arrival. i made sure to give her a soaking wet hug, and she then informed me that dylan was going to stay in the room so he wouldn’t get wet. ha ha.

i haven’t seen dylan and kelly since last year at this time when i was making regular visits to see spencer, so i was super excited that they were willing to come up and meet me. also super excited that this show is a little different than usual and i would actually have a little time to spend. not a lot, but a lot more than usual.

kelly and i said goodnight to melissa and headed back to the room to meet dylan. we talked for a bit before calling it a night, and i slept like a rock.

nonstop action

this week has been completely full of surprises! dylan and kelly decided a few days ago that they were going to drive up from portland to hang out with me while i'm in seattle. how cool is that!? i haven't seen them since last summer, so even though it will be short, i think it's rad that they are willing to make the three hour drive so we can play. between that, hanging out with jesse and his fam for a bit, seeing my old friend leah, and possibly being set up on a blind date, this should be a really fun/interesting trip!

the week's second big surprise came on tuesday when i got a call from deb saying that she had just landed in la and could i come meet her for dinner. i knew she was going to be in town, but since she was here for less than 24 hours, i didn't think i'd have a chance to see her, and definitely not on tuesday. i immediately got in my car and headed to the city of angels, where we spent a couple of hours hanging out at the hotel, with a quick break for a milkshake indulgence at johnny rockets. so much for dinner! ;)

yesterday morning i got a text from my friend alison saying she had gotten angels tickets for that night, and was i in. um, of course! alison recently spent a couple of weeks in the philippines and between my travel and hers, it's been awhile (too long) since i've seen her. i raced home after work for a quick change, and while checking the mail, i came across an envelope from the animal rescue organization. in it was the cut out clipping of this article, with a note saying she thought i would get a kick out of it. i did, and it was so sweet of her to send it. had i known i was going to be 'published' i might have attempted a bit more eloquence!

then it was off to the game to meet ali. her folks have season tickets so it's always the same, pretty decent, seats. i've been fortunate enough to have been to a lot of angels games, and if memory serves, i've not paid for one of them! i love going when the company is good because really, baseball games are all about the company. we had a lot of catching up to do, but there were a couple of really great game moments to be enjoyed as well.


i expect the next couple of days to be quiet, but this week has been nothing if not unexpected.

tuesday, bitter, tuesday

how i do LOVE the long weekends. well, i love any weekend i don't have to work. but a long one? bonus! i didn't do anything super fantabulously interesting, but it was great. went to see angels & demons on friday night with my friend jamie. mediocre at best. even though i preferred the book over the da vinci code, the movies suffered a reversal in favor.

saturday i spent a good portion of the day cleaning, and more specifically cleaning the patio furniture we've inherited. i don't know why, but spider webs are like a virus where we are, and even though i'm constantly wiping them off, i thought maybe a good scrub down might keep them at bay longer. they were back by sunday night. :(

after getting a lovely little burn (now tan, because that's just how my body is) i headed to chino hills to meet melissa and joan for dinner. joan's in town from phoenix for a dog show, and brought along her sister and brother-in-law. marti, the sister, and i met in december at the akc dog show, so it was a fun reunion. worth noting is that chino hills has been the epicenter for the two recent earthquakes here (one of which i mentioned having felt during long beach pride), so we hoped that things would remain quiet. by that standard, they did, but our nonstop laughter made up for the lack of earthly rumbles. my jaw seriously hurt by the time dinner was done.

on sunday, jesse came down from santa barbara to hang out for the remainder of the holiday. we saw star trek (just as good, if not better, the second time), ghosts of girlfriends past (ugh. i am officially bored with matthew mcconaughey), visited rei (aka 'boy heaven') and ikea. i was particularly excited about being pushed around on one of those 'big stuff'/furnture carts at ikea. smooth ride, and after already having been at the store for some three odd hours, jesse kinda owed me ;) okay really he didn't. if there's one thing that i am constantly appreciative of and confused by it's that jesse is a consummate gentleman, and rarely (and usually only if i'm super sneaky fast) let's me pay for things, i.e. meals, movies, etc. i'm always a little torn because it's such a nice thing to do, but at the same time, i hate the idea of being 'expensive' to spend time with. plus i'm just not really used to it. even my former boyfriends went dutch more often than not, and yes, i realize what that says about my former boyfriends. tangent aside, he always takes good care of me, and we always have a good time.

if you can believe it (that might be my new favorite phrase), i did not take one single picture this weekend. so perhaps now is a good opportunity to remind you that there are loads and loads of pics that never see the light of the blog, but are instead housed at my photo site: tva.smugmug.com, and to assure you that there will probably be more pictures than you would ever care to see after next weekend!

hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable holiday, and took just a moment at least, to remember and thank those who have fought died defending the freedoms we enjoy today.

the thing about dating is...

for as long as i'm single, it will always, always, always be on my mind, even when i don't have time for it. this week's random dating musings come courtesy of long beach pride.

if you can believe it, there were actually a couple of straight guys who hit on me. given how few straight guys there were in attendance, the odds are so remarkably slim that i would get hit on by one of them, let alone two, that i'll admit to having given myself a back pat or two.

both of the guys i refer to were working for the company whose booth was next to ours. both were quite attractive, friendly, apparently had jobs, and were expressing an interest in me to the point that my boss and co-workers made mention of it (just in case i hadn't noticed). particularly gratifying was that my very cute co-worker was simultaneously staffing the booth. their booth, a financial services company of some sort, had new staff every two hours (i was sooo jealous!), and apparently any leads they collected were to be split among the staff for that shift. i only mention this because the guy on sunday morning, who we'll call travis (because that was his name), spent about an hour and a half of his two hour shift talking to me.

now, i don't tell you this story to toot my own horn (okay, maybe one 'toot') but to highlight a problem. a problem i felt compelled to explain (aka 'whine about') to my co-workers. after he was done for the day they were teasing me a little bit, and i responded by saying: "that guy? in the real world*...i can get that guy (did i mention that he was very attractive?), but in the mormon world, not only does that guy not look twice at me, but if i say hello, he might run for his life screaming in fear that i want to marry him."

they were shocked and appalled. as well they should be! they simply didn't understand how the difference of sharing the same religion with someone could NEGATIVELY impact my ability to 'get' a guy, and frankly, i'm not sure i do either. i proceeded to explain it as best i could. that there is this phenomena in the church where average (at best, sometimes) single 'righteous' men (particularly over the age of 30) are elevated to god-like status among the single women because, well, there are a lot of us, and not a lot of them. men who wouldn't get a second glance from me out in the real world are suddenly hot commodities. they lay on their metaphorical chaise lounges, enjoying the frond-fanning, grape-feeding attentions of all of the 'barbies with testimonies', who are clamoring for a little attention. if you're a skipper, forget about it. you might be cute, but you're still not barbie.

what i wish more than anything is that these over 30 single guys would get a little bit of perspective. i wish that they would actively focus on identifying eternal traits in potential companions. that they would make an effort to stay away form the 'mean girls', who for some unknown reason, they are attracted to, or consider a woman 'amazing' because she wears a size 4. men, if you don't think women are attracted to bad boys or hot guys, you're crazy. but what i can say about most of the 30+ single mormon women i know, is that not only do we consciously try to avoid falling into that trap, we have decided to value and pursue other, more lasting, traits. do we fail sometimes? sure. but we try. do you**?

the most common argument to my complaint/perspective would be that you can't help who you're attracted to. i agree, and i don't mean to devalue that truth. what i mean to do is suggest that perhaps the attraction and chemistry that we are all determined to have, can exist in unexpected places when you open yourself up to that possibility, and focus on those eternal priorities. i cannot count the number of times i have accepted date invitations with guys who i wasn't physically attracted to. they were good guys with the right priorities who treated me as if i was worth stepping out on a limb for, and i wanted to avoid discounting that in favor of my first 'physical' impressions. at the very least, this practice has never failed to deliver a fun date. at the other extreme, it has resulted in a couple of serious relationships.

i see other women doing this ALL THE TIME! but if i'm being honest, i've never known a man to do it. and why not!? blah, blah, blah, attraction is different for men. hogwash. the difference is, more often than not, we don't expect everything there is about a person or everything we might ever feel about them to be laid out on a platter for us to inspect before we decide to take a bite. and sometimes, what didn't look all that appealing coming out on the plate, turns out to be the most delicious meal you've ever had. but this particular brand of men that i'm referring to, will never have any idea what they could have had. not just a meal for tonight, but a feast for eternity.

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i interrupt myself to say, whoa, i don't know how this got turned into a food analogy, or why it fits so perfectly, but seriously, enough of the waxing philosophical today!

______________________

alright, i'm almost done.

i'm not bitter, and i'm not blameless either--i've fed this beast a time or two. what i am, is sad. sad to see so many amazing women get the short end of the stick on this one, and sad how many men opt to remain blissful in their ignorance about it. for the record, there is nothing blissful about divorce, so men, do yourselves a favor and set (and follow!) the right kind of priorities.

*real world = non-mormon world
** though this is directly addressed to the subjects of my complaint, to my knowledge, none of them read this blog. or at least, not very often. if you're a single mormon man over the age of 30, i'm pretty sure some part of this applies to you. i've only known one exception and he's married now.

sast presents: wednesday?

last weekend i worked another pride event.


this one was in long beach, and truth be told, it was kind of a rough weekend. my brakes started grinding on the way to the event saturday morning, which meant i couldn't take care of them for a full two days. and if that was enough bad news, my gps was stolen from my car. awesome.


i will say that i really really have come to adore my co-worker melissa, and working with her always makes giving up a weekend more bearable.

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while at pride sunday night, we got a pretty good earthquake. a 4.7 i believe. it was a very surreal thing to be outside and to watch the earth kind of do the wave in front of me. it makes me a little nervous that there have been so many earthquakes since my arrival here, but my native californians assure me that some years are that way, others are not. i am certainly hoping we're not due for the 'big one' any time in the near future!

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i am so excited for memorial day weekend. a weekend i'm actually NOT working. and i get to focus on doing a little as humanly as possible.

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cordy is doing amazingly well. she's pretty much the cutest dog ever. it's been soooo fun to watch her personality evolve as she settles in and as she interacts with the other two canine roommates. lots of tail wagging and tonight, yes, tonight, there was dancing.

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i finally took some pics of the house!

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every short attention span theater needs a little irony. remember my friend jesse? the one i completely randomly ran into on a plane that one time? well, it turns out that that was not the last of our strange meetings. though he was already planning on helping me with the 'do nothing' holiday weekend, it also turns out that the following weekend we'll both be in seattle. i'll be there for work, and he'll be there killing some time before heading out on a cruise with his fam. the irony is that i only learned late last week that i would be needed, so it's not a trip i was originally planning on. but one which is shaping up to be a really good time!

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speaking of seattle. i am super excited to see my old frined leah. not that she's old (we're the same age), but we literally grew up together. two doors down, all through junior high and high school. she ended up joining the church, temple marriage, whole shabang. it's probably been 7 or 8 years since i've seen her, and she lives outside of seattle with her hubby and kids. it is going to be so fantastic to reconnect!

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i saw star trek a couple of weeks ago, though i haven't posted since. seriously, how awesome was that?! i loved every minute of it.

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this episode of sast is now concluded.