Epic fail = epic fall!

I totally pitched and hit the floor in front of about 40 people at the Dallas Airport tonight! Ouch...but more embarrassing than anything. (See if I say that when I wake up looking like a raccoon tomorrow.)

The trip was great and it felt like we could have stayed several more days, but that's the right time to go home, isn't it?

We did have some excitement on the first leg of the trip, where someone got arrested when we landed (tip for the uninitiated European: if you sneak your own bottle of whisky on the plane, don't get drunk on it and then get into a scuffle with a passenger, because there will be six extremely muscular policemen waiting for you on the other side of the pond.)

Even more annoying, it was like the cast of the Real Housewives of Manchester were sitting next to and behind us on the plane. (Yes, I know that show doesn't exist. You do the math.) And even though the guy who got arrested was German, she looked at her friends and said, "Don't bring me to places where this kind of thing happens!"

I will visit your blogs very soon - just need to get home to Mr. RK and the kitties, and get over the jet lag.

In the meantime, I feel totally justified eating some of the fudge I bought in the UK while I heal up, don't you think? As Claire would say, epic nom!

Europe, where the history comes from!

It's sometime after 1 am here, and I'm ready for breakfast! (Normally I don't even eat breakfast, but I've been walking my ass off here and the hotel buffet is epic nom!) Amazing considering the large dinner I had when I met the lovely Claire! She came up with "epic nom" btw. (By the way, not sure if I'm supposed to share this, but she has a slightly naughty sense of humor.) We made up all kinds of silly stories for the guy who accidentally ended up in the background. We'll call him Nigel. (My photo resizing/red-eye reducing software is not working - we're not really aliens. At least that we know of.) Wish we had more time! She is absolutely fabulous, no pun intended, and came quite a ways so we could meet up. What a lovely person! You just don't meet many people like that, who are lovely and don't mind if you say "fuck." We managed to cover politics, religion, and even a tad of sex and never stopped smiling!

By the way, we got poured on - my hair may be flat but not usually THAT flat.

I also saw my darling friend Chella, and we swore we'd meet up for longer than the typical one- or two-day visits we've been having since she moved to England 12 years ago. Hope to see her in NY in the spring!


So much history here - we went to the Templar Church today, built around 1200. The oldest stuff at home is probably something Mr. RK will have forgotten to take out of the fridge ;0 Well, you get the point.



One more day (can't believe it's gone so fast!) and then flying back home, which takes about a day altogether. I will definitely miss walking by places like this...


But I really miss Mr. RK and the kitties. I've told him he has to come back here with me at least for a couple of days when we take another trip. (He normally doesn't want to travel places more than once.)

PS My head is full of Eddie Izzard. You did catch that title reference, didn't you?

I see London...

Well, I'll just say it - YAY! Coming through Chicago was actually pretty smooth. I managed to stay up longer than I ever have in my life - about 36 hours - but our bags were waiting for us at the airport (even though they went to Dallas by mistake, some nice person rushed them on - thank you), I had the best iced mocha I'd ever had in my life at Heathrow, no traffic into London, great hotel, and nice night.

We're staying in Kensington near the V&A Museum, which I love.

We had dinner at an old standby that we found years ago because it was near the hotel where we were staying in Covent Garden. Then we went to see an Agatha Christie play that I've seen and read and still managed for forget who the killer was.

And best of all, I found my friend K's request for "the tackiest present I could find" right away, in the first shop I stopped in.

They're salt and pepper shakers and say "I Love London." The salt and pepper holes are in the heads! My friend said, "It could only be better if they were doing it!"

I told her that Mr. RK could probably arrange something like that with Fimo clay...

PS I just saw as I published the post that the netbook is still on US West Coast time. It's actually 7:45 am here Saturday.

Planes, trains, and automobiles

Thus far, we have sat on planes but not actually gone anywhere - it's been much more about automobiles.

After re-routing (our bags left for Heathrow without us) a few times, we are now supposedly on the way to Heathrow via Chicago. If and when I do find my bag, I'm going to sing, "Reunited and it feels so good!"

But it was nice to have a bonus night with my family. My 15-year-old brother and 11-year-old sister are still somehow convinced I am cool. I will keep plying them with Starbucks and Hello Kitty respectively to keep that status as long as I can...

So wish me luck! Bon (hopefully) voyage to us!

PS I hate to admit it, but I am getting addicted to the netbook. So I hope not to drop or otherwise break it. And...only in Silicon Valley...there is not only a station for laptop charging, but also a wheel-chair accessible one! I hail from the land of equal-opportunity geeks.

London calling!

I will won't be in blogland much over the next couple of weeks, as my Pop and I go to London. Hoping to meet up with the lovely Claire, as well as my best friend from college.

Mr. RK insists that I take the netbook with me, so cross your fingers that I don't break it or drop it or lose it, and I will blog from afar.

TTFN!

Things I like Thursday

Swiped this from Claire.

Number one thing I like today: the event is over, YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!

Number two thing - and I like this every day - laughter. As you know if you've read even one post, I love to laugh, and to make other people laugh.

As you may also know, I work with two relatively non-communicative guys who (I think) are pretty straight-laced. (Who knows. They may be wild men on the weekends, but if they are, I don't want to know.)

So imagine how hard it was not to laugh last night when I walked up to them - they were figuring out the a/v - and heard my boss say to my co-worker, "I just wish I had a couple more inches."

Yeah, he meant inches of room for the screen, but...

WTF Wednesday (almost)

So there are three more hours in my time zone before Wednesday hits, but close enough. I stole this meme from Red (who, oddly enough, is actually a brunette now.)

I have plenty of WTFs to WTF?! about, but here are a handful from event week (there is a dinner I am in charge of tomorrow night, and I feel like the cat up here):

It's the day before the event. You suddenly want....

1) To get in touch about the emcee role you promised way back when but didn't bother to get back to the event manager about for the past few days, until someone with some influence made you call about it and recommit. Then you want two more free seats. WTF!

2) Another option for dinner. Because the meat one and the vegetarian one and the vegan one aren't enough, damn it, you want a BUFFET! Never mind that you are in a fancy hotel! WTF?!

3) To bring eight people when you said you were bringing two. And have them all sit together. WTF!

4) To not get back to the event manager about how many spots you are filling at your table, even though her nonprofit has to pay for each spot you might take. WTF!

5) To do a half-ass donation when you promised a full donation of beverages - AND you make the event manager's co-worker drive an hour each way to pick it up. WTF!

By the way...I'm the event manager.

Also - the cure for all of this is lots of ice cream. Trust me!

Epic fail!

Bear with me, as I don't want to write about 9/11 and am pissed off at Yahoo news for the story titled, "Relive 9/11 with pictures of..." Fuck off! We lived through it once already and it was bad enough the first time, assholes.

SO
Segue -

I don't know if I am just in the wrong generation...or don't know as many perverts as the rest of my friends do...but thus far no man I know has offered to send me a naked picture. (Please note: this is not an invite.)

But anyhow. One of my friends (in her 20s) told one of her friends to piss off after he had been hitting on her.

So he does a big mea culpa. A few weeks pass. Then he starts offering to send her a picture of his...you know.

"If you see it," he tells her, "it will change your mind!"

Tip for the uninitiated: women are not like men, in that we don't find naked pictures sexy (especially if they're just pictures of body parts with no one attached.)

PS This softcore porn (read: Victoria's Secret) postcard did arrive in this condition, with the model looking like a boobalicious vampire - probably the marks came from a mail shredder - so at least it gave us a laugh.

Wordless Wednesday

OK, a few words: it's good to be a cat in our casa.

A question for Facebook users (and non-users)

Full disclosure: for a variety of reasons, I am not on Facebook. That said, I do find it useful that we have a page at my work - we post advocacy updates, events, etc., and I do not have to have my own account to do this.

Most of my friends have FB accounts, and many of you probably do as well - so I ask you, is it me? Or is it incredibly tacky to post very emotionally dramatic stuff on one's Facebook wall for all the world to see? Especially if your profile is not private? And what is the point of doing this over and over again, except maybe for attention?

For instance...one of my friends was horrified awhile back because her spouse announced their separation very publicly on Facebook, even before she could tell all of their friends. I was horrified just hearing about that.

Something similar happened recently with some extended family and it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Maybe it's just me (how many sentences start like that?), but I tend to keep my private stuff between good friends and close family.

What's your take?

The haters have too much time on their hands

I love it how far-left or far-right groups choose nitpicky ridiculous shit to protest - 'cause it's far easier to do than actual do-gooding, like serving meals, spending time with a hopice patient, or volunteering your time somewhere.

Apparently there is an online group that had no problem when "Dancing with the Stars" (which I have never seen, btw, since I don't watch TV) has paraded stars whose pasts included posing for girly mags or making sex tapes - but OH MY! - they have their knickers in knots when a transgender man is a contestant on the show.

Personally, I don't give a shit who's on that show, and I think it takes a hell of a lot of guts to transition. Chaz Bono has not only transitioned, but he has done it publicly, as a role model and inspiration to a population that has one of the highest rates of suicides, suicide attempts, and survivors of sexual assault - way disproportionate compared to most of the population.

Onemillionmoms.com should think about how they'd feel if their children came out as trans. Would they still spread so much hate?

In the meantime...find something better to do. Protest the number of children that go to bed hungry in this country every night, for starters.