Life in the hornline

It’s been so long that I don’t even know where to start. But the important news: Aaron arrives tomorrow for a week-long visit! It has been much too long and his visit will be much too short, but I’ll take what I can.

This summer was completely stressful and busy and not fun in a lot of ways. So I am trying to get back to my normal routine, although many of the dramas continue. I was having drinks with Anna the other night, and she is right: we have a great life here in San Francisco. It really is, but I also want to get out of this limbo that my life has become.  I am working on it, but everything takes longer than you expect.

I few other updates: I still haven’t found my camera. I cleaned my whole condo, and I can’t find it, although I am positive that it is there somewhere. Then I lost my phone a few weeks ago, so even the grainy pictures on Flickr have stopped.  I got a new phone, but it doesn’t have a camera. I am still looking for new owners for the condo and the cats, although I haven’t worked that hard on either fronts. I found a great Malaysian restaurant near work, and now I finally have a place to get good cheap Asian food at lunch. The $1 happy hour oysters at Bacar have turned me into an oyster fan.

That’s about it for now. The wireless doesn’t seem to be working in either SF or SJ lately, so that has impacted my online presence a bit. Don’t be surprised if it is another three months until you hear from me again!

So I have become a blogging slacker. And no, it isn’t because of a boy. I’ve just been a bit busy lately. Since I last wrote, I got back to California, took a last-minute trip to Florida to see my mom (and got to visit Cynthia too!), was a bridesmaid in Mandy’s wedding, and now I am about to go to Spokane. So yeah, my condo is trashed and my cats are neglected. Oh well. And my latest good news is that Aaron is coming to visit in September! So excited, of course. As for what happens after that, we are working on it, and I’ll let you know when I know for sure what our next move is.

What else? Let’s see…a newlywed Laura will be back in California in September and my roommate until her German gets his papers in order. Work is busy but getting kinda boring, but still better than IBM so I can’t complain. Yes, I am a hermit these days and no, I am not in SF very much because I have been in SJ when I am not out of town. In August, I need to get serious about selling my condo (anyone? anyone?). Still haven’t found a home for the cats, so if you know anyone who wants them, let me know. I can’t find my camera, so that is why Flickr has been so quiet lately. Um, that’s all I can think of, so that’s it for now!

I am over half way through my trip to England, so it is about time for another update. London continues to be a very fun and easy place to be, aside from being extremely expensive, as everyone knows. This past weekend was tourist weekend, and fortunately the weather cooperated.

Friday night, after a long week of working and drinking, we needed to get out and relax. So we headed to the Leicester Square area, which was full of theaters, tourists, and people out for a good time. We stumbled upon a Mexican restaurant, Pacifico, which Aaron remembered as being great. I was very skeptical as I had heard about so-called good Mexican food in Europe, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had a great bar where they made some of the best margaritas I’ve had (and they made them without measuring out the alcohol like they do everywhere else), and the food was as good or better than any I’ve had in California. It was a little taste of home, and we had a great time.

Saturday, Aaron and I went down to the River Themes and got a boat to the Tower of London. He had never been, and The Tower was one of the few things that I had wanted to see here since I have seen it in so many movies and I have read about so many people dying there. The Tower of London turns out to be a full day. There are tours to take, lots of towers and exhibits to explore, and the crown jewels to see. The weather was sunny, and we had fun wandering around the huge complex, always mindful of the time as there was a 3:00 FA finals game too watch as well.

After we were castled out a bit, we got back on the boat and continued to Greenwich, passing the few tall buildings in London and lots of fancy condos, and then found a (smoke-free!!) pub to watch the game. Since the Tower took longer than we expected, we didn’t have too much time to see Greenwich, especially since the football game went into overtime. We wandering through the market and then got back on the last boat towards London.

Sunday turned out to be an equally nice day, so we stopped by a Lebanese grocery store to pick up food for a picnic lunch in Hyde Park. We past Speakers Corner, where all the crazys shout about all sorts of nonsense (just like in The Life of Brian). Then it was off to the British Museum where we saw all of the highlights: Elgin marbles, the Rosetta Stone, mummies, etc. I was surprised that there was no security, not even someone looking in your bag, and that you could take pictures with a flash. Museumed out, we wandered slowly back to the flat, stopping for a pint along the way, and then settled in for a quiet evening at the flat.

This week we are working again, and we are trying to figure out what to do with our long weekend ahead of us before I have to fly home. Then we have to figure out what to do after that, but that’s a whole other issue…

It has been just under a week since I arrive in England, and I have seen just under an hour total of sunshine. And I haven’t been so good about blogging, but thanks to everyone who has emailed to check up on me! I posted pictures of my trip so far on Flickr, and now I am trying to catch up on some writing.

Here is a quick rundown of my trip so far:

• Arrived at Heathrow without any problems Thursday afternoon. The passport lady asked me so many questions about the purpose of my visit and who I was visiting that I thought I was going to have to go into personal details that even my friends don’t know.
• The next day, surprisingly not jetlagged, I went on a customer visit in Yeovil, which is a town west of London. We drove right past Stonehenge, which was right there on the side of the road with a little sign at the exit. It is really just sitting there with nothing around it, but it must be only 50 yards from the highway.
• On Saturday, we went to the market at Portobello Road before catching the train to Leeds. There were train delays, but we made it in time, and had fun at the wedding reception that night, dancing to a great funk/rock band.
• Sunday morning, we had a traditional English breakfast with the newlyweds (well, I had poached eggs on toast) before continuing the whirlwind tour of Yorkshire.
• We caught a train to Hebden Bridge, where we hopped out, rain through the rain, played a few games of pool at the pub with Aaron’s friend, and then hopped back on the train towards Manchester.
• Then in Manchester we hopped off the train, had some pints at the pub (well, I had tea because I was so cold) with Aaron’s sister, and then hopped back on the train to London. Yet another train delay meant that we didn’t get back until after 11, so after that weekend, I was ready to relax in London for a while.
• This week, I have been here in London, working at the flat, talking walks to see the sights, and doing some shopping.

That should bring you mostly up to date! More to come!

Multiple people have pointed out that I have posted anything in a while, so I suppose should do one of these what’s-been-going-on-lately posts. I’ll try to make up for what I think is my longest blogging dry spell since I started.

So we last saw Lauren arriving in Washington, DC, after surviving a four-day drive from Colorado. Washington was absolutely wonderful and I wish I could have stayed longer. The city was nice, but it was really about the company. I had been looking forward to it for over a month, and it lived up to my very high expectations.

And now back in California, I must admit that my main focus has been counting the days until I leave again (see title of this post). In 10 days, I’ll be flying to London for over two weeks. I have been thinking about it for so long, yet it still doesn’t feel real to me. I don’t think it will until I am there. What I am looking forward to the most it getting the chance to just *be* there and not have it feel quite like a super-fast vacation where I have to run around and see everything. For two weeks, I’ll be working, so I’ll get a little glimpse at what it is like to live there.

In these five weeks between trips, I feel like I have a big pile of stuff to do, and since the pile is so big, I have been avoiding it. I know it is terrible procrastination, and if I just start doing that stuff, I’ll get through it and feel much better. But yet I can’t. Even the pile of clean clothes to fold feels overwhelming. At least I have been really productive at work this month. Lately I have been thinking about how much I miss having someone to help out with things like that. No, not someone to do my chores, but that partner in life who makes everything more manageable and more fun.

Part of why I feel so overwhelmed and unable to do anything is because so many of the most important people in my life are so far away. And there is nothing I can do to bring them closer. I wish that they were all here so I could help them more, and so it would be easier for me to ask for help. I have so many supportive wonderful friends, and I am so thankful for them every day, and there is no way that I could live here in California by myself without them. But it just isn’t the same. I know it won’t be like this forever, but just right now, it’s hard for me.

But I am keeping busy with fun stuff as usual, so don’t go feeling sad for me or anything. Although there have been some complaints that I have been MIA lately, I really have been going out a lot. I just haven’t been able to be as proactive lately with the arranging of events, although I did do happy hour the other week.

Last weekend I was in Sacramento for family birthdays, including my grandma’s 90th. Before that, I went to the swanky Topix launch party at the St. Regis, and even got to spend the night. Easter festivities were at the SF apartment where I watched kids hunt eggs and eat lots of chocolate. Aside from that, I have been having lots of home-cooked meals at various friend’s houses, which are much appreciated since I tend to eat out so much. I have been spending an insane amount of money on drinks lately, and I really must break my $12 martini habit. Friday night I discovered that pitcher of beer at Zeitgeist are also $12, so I think I’ll be advocating for drinks there more often.

I think that about sums it up. I have spent the weekend here in SF, which has been fun, but it has also been a way for me to avoid that pile of work in San Jose. Splitting my time between two places is hard, especially with all of the traveling. I am hoping that in a few months, I’ll have a better idea of what my plans are, at least in the near term.

1 pitcher of margaritas at Tres Agaves

2 bottles of wine Paragon

2 pitchers of  beer at Zeitgeist

1 round of martinis at Pink

1 round of martinis at Double Dutch

Top it off with a chocolate milkshake and huevos rancheros at Pork Store, and sleep till noon. Serves 4.

Well, this is a bit late. I drove from Columbus, Ohio, to Washington, DC, way back on Thursday, March 29. When I got to DC, I really didn’t have any time to write. I just got back to San Jose about an hour ago, and I am back at work tomorrow. So the epic road trip and Washington rendezvous are over. But back to Day 4…

Can’t say too much exciting about most of Day 4. Dad and I got up, got some coffee, and hit the road, driving through Ohio, and then ducking in and out of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. We stopped in Cumberland, Maryland, for lunch, and then arrived at Dad’s temporary housing right next to the Pentagon by 4 in the afternoon. I did most of the driving that dad, and navigated myself through DC (well, Arlington, really), with making just one wrong turn.

As for the drive itself, it was lots and lots of hills through forests of trees without leaves. It was a little pretty, and I could tell that it would be really nice once the trees got leaves. I talked to a couple at Dulles airport later that night who were from that part of Pennsylvania, and they said that they just got rid of their snow two weeks ago. So that made me very grateful for the nice weather we had that day.

The drive was finally over after logging 1775 miles. I then spent five amazing days in Washington. Since I probably won’t get around to writing about it, just check out Flickr.

I was tempted to not write anything today because I really should go to bed, but if I don’t do it now, I never will. So…Day 3 was a very long day. Before leaving St. Louis, my dad and I stopped at the St. Louis Arch. We didn’t go up in it, but the waterfront park there is very lovely, full of trees in bloom. I have to say, I really like St. Louis much more than I expected.

Then we crossed the bridge into Illinois. Woo. Hoo. The weather got grayer and colder. The trees, which were blooming in St. Louis, were gray in Illinois. And Indiana. And Ohio. In fact, this whole day was gray. We stopped in Terre Haute, Indiana, for lunch at the old Clabber Girl Baking Powder factory, which was about as exciting as you’d expect a baking powder factory to be. By the time we rolled into Columbus, we were beat. It was the longest day of driving, and we lost an hour crossing into the Eastern time zone.

Now I am in exciting Columbus. I can’t really say much about it because we mistakenly took the freeway that loops 20 miles around to the north of the city. Now we are east of the city, so we won’t see it on our way out tomorrow. But the important part is that I am now just 413 miles from Washington, DC! I can’t tell you how excited I am that tomorrow is finally March 29 and I will finally be in Washington! We will arrive in the afternoon–I’ll drop my dad off at his temporary housing across the street from the Pentagon, and then I have a very important airport run to make.

Day 2 began nicely, with a nice breakfast at the inn, and then a tour of the Eisenhower museum. I am not a big Eisenhower buff nor a fan of military history, but Dad is, so he enjoyed the exhibits, and I enjoyed walking around and not having to get in the car right away. Pictures on Flickr.

Heading out of town, we saw eastern Kansas, which was surprisingly hilly and covered with trees compared to western Kansas. Missouri looked pretty much the same. Not much to report except that Starbucks are really hard to come by in both states (although every other chain restaurant is repeated approximately every 48.2 miles).

We stopped in Kansas City for lunch at Bryant’s, which I found on Yelp, and which turned out to be quite the authentic KC BBQ place: no frills and full of locals. Saint Louis has also turned out to be quite the nice town. It is full of huge brick houses that look like castles to this West Coast girl. The Loop, next to Washington University, is a great little area with all of the college stuff: bars, bubble tea shops, pizza places, etc. We had dinner at Blueberry Hill, which while historic, wasn’t that interesting on a Tuesday night.

Tomorrow, we’ll see the arch and then plow through Illinois and Indiana.

Today, my dad and I drove from Colorado Springs to Abilene, Kansas. Here I am, in lovely Abilene at the Abilene Victorian Inn. It really is lovely (see picture below, not above), full of old Victorians and a quaint downtown. Can’t say much for the food or nightlife, but with the trees blooming, it is very pretty after a long, long drive.

Driving from Colorado Springs, which is out in the flat part of Colorado below Pike’s Peak, to the Kansas border is just about what you’d expect. Lots of horses, cows, tumbleweed, and even antelope. Crossing into Kansas, a state that neither my dad nor I have been to, we decided to stop for gas in Kanorado, just a mile or so into the state. We were ready for a break, and just the name itself warranted a stop. The town wasn’t right on the interstate, so we had to drive down a little highway and across the railroad tracks that passed the grain elevator. As soon as we crossed the tracks, my dad and I were shocked: the pavement ended, and we were in a town with no paved roads.

Kanorado, KS, is the saddest, most depressing town in America (see picture above). We drove a few blocks and saw just a few people huddled outside the senior center, which appeared to be the only building on main street not boarded up. It was just plain creepy, and as we drove out of town, we passed the deserted gas station and abandoned cafe along the old highway that used to be the main road in Kansas before the interstate.

The rest of the trip was pretty typical of Kansas: flat, billboards for the “World’s Largest” something, and a million grain elevators, not to mention the anti-abortion sign about every 50 miles. But when we got close to Abilene, we started to see trees for the first time. We drove into Abilene, and I was quite proud of myself for finding this cute little town in the middle of no where. Tomorrow we go to the Eisenhower library, so I’ll write more about Abilene later.

You can see pictures from the day, including our stop at Fort Hays, on Flickr.