i believe in the love that grows.

So here I am again. Alone in a hotel room, bored as hell  (at least I have a laptop and internet in my room now!). Let’s just say that lately the job hasn’t been the most exciting thing in my life. I can only hold domestic flying and end up mostly in 3 cities: Vancouver, Edmonton and St-John’s. Not so glamourous eh? I am getting so sick of seeing these same places over and over again…

Despite all of this, last month I finally got my first layover downtown Vancouver (I usually stay at an airport hotel in Richmond). I had been to the city a few times on my own, but it was different to have a hotel paid for and some free time to shop and walk around. It was a beautiful day ( very telling of the summer they had) and I was more than happy to be on my own, just wandering the streets. I got myself a delicious burrito dinner at Steamrollers and a delightful cupcake from Cupcakes. Did a little bit of shopping and very much enjoyed my adorable colorful hotel room.

So my schedule has drastically changed since the same period last year. With the many layoffs and restructuring of the company that means that the most junior employees suffer the most. Just when we were staring to see the light at the end of the domestic flying tunnel, we got thrown back a thousand feet into it. It’s like when you have that dream where you walk but you are not actually moving forward. Yeah, that’s my career right now.

Then again, being a junior flight attendant also means being assigned things that I did not ask for (like 5am flights) but also getting things I would never get normally (like two long downtown Montreal layovers in the same week). And that actually made me very happy. I got to spend time with my best friend and my mom. Again, the weather was on my side and revisiting my hometown made me miss it oh so much. I love my life in Toronto, but it actually stung a little when I had to depart YUL this time. I truly felt sad that I was leaving this amazing place behind. I think it’s been long enough now that I’ve been gone, that I can start appreciating it again. I rediscover things I had forgotten about this metropolis.  My heart will always belong to it.

Yesterday I was in Chicago. I had never been there before so this was quite inviting. I wasn’t expecting much from that city, or mostly didn’t know what to expect at all. And I found myself to be quite fond of it.  Granted I was there in 29 degrees weather and not in winter…but still. Between the deep dish pizza and Oprah’s season kickoff show taking up most of the downtown streets, there wasn’t a lot of time left to wander (I only had half a day to walk around) so I tried to see as much as I could but I certainly need to come back on my own time and explore. By the way, what a stunning view it is to have a river running through the city!  And they take much pride in it. Also check out the architecture while you are there. It feels like you are in an old black and white gangster movie.

So I guess my job isn’t so bad after all. I tend to complain because I miss my American layovers and all the shopping. But I can’t forget that the little things are what matter most.

On a different note, this past weekend welcomed our first wedding anniversary and I can tell you I was quite pleased with it. The last year was such wedded bliss. I find we have grown so much already since getting married and I love the man more and more every day. I can’t emphasize any more how fortunate I am to have a partner, lover and best friend that complements so well. Our story was not an easy one. We both had enormous baggage from previous relationships mixed with fear and caution, but we let our guard down and opened up to eachother and that made it work in the end. We try to stay connected to one another because it does make things less painless, trust me! I feel we are now ready to move forward. Continue on the path we are slowly building together. We now have a foundation and that paves the way for new adventures.

So profess your love today. Tell at least one person what they mean to you and cherish that relationship. We need those people around us.

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we stop existing and start living.

i finally got a laptop.
i wasn’t lying when i told you that was the plan. i was tired of depending on others. so i went and purchased a second-hand one on ebay. oh it wasn’t without its glitches. the first one they sent me was defective. after sending emails back and forth to the company’s customer service department, they agreed to reimburse me the fees i would be subjected to by returning the computer and then receiving another one. imagine this. i get the new laptop, have to pay custom fees and taxes even though they marked it as a gift. at least this one works perfectly. i message the company to let them now that i am satisfied and they can just go ahead and repay me the 60$ i had to pay in total. well, they claim that someone hacked into their computer and sent me the emails under false pretense. really? i mean really?! come on!
so after arguing some more (!), they finally conceded to give me back half. wow. talk about a flaky settlement.

so here i am now, in my charming hotel room downtown Vancouver writing these lines. it does feel good to be independent. i love having the freedom of hopping on the internet whenever i want and not having to wait after someone else to be done so i can use my 20 minutes of free time. now i can just relax and enjoy the moment.

a lot has happened since the last time i wrote. what was it? June?
i have to find some way to catch up on all the little things.

in the meantime, please enjoy this for me.
after all, the King of Pop did die while I was away.
i know he’s been on the news over and over, enough to make us all sick. but i can not even start to explain how bothered i am by his death. that man, as crazy as he was, is a legend. he is a bright shining star. and i know he is somehow in a better place now. he was too fragile for this world.

peace y’all.

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you are the one who gives me hope.

I seriously need a laptop.
I feel so removed from everything when I am working and away from home for long periods of time. I have been away since Monday morning and I have trouble setting myself in an actual time and space because I have nothing but a bed and a tv in my hotel room. With a laptop I could keep up with the world and especially with this blog. I really do miss it. I miss writing to get some of the millions of things that spin around in my head. It somehow keeps me sane. I miss researching the topics I talk about and reading other people’s blogs to make sure that I am not stealing anyone’s thunder. I miss just having that alone time. I will look on Ebay and see if I cannot by any chance fall on a cheap computer that is setup for Wireless / WiFi. It has become a necessity.

The husband and I have gone back to our weekend escapes now that I have my flying passes again. It really does make a difference. We went to New York City a few weeks ago, just because. I hadn’t been to the Big Apple in about 10 years and I needed to refresh my memory. We saw a great Vaudeville show and enjoyed some Katz Deli superbness (not once but twice!) and walked around the Lower East Side. I actually fell in love with that area. Manhattan has a great energy and it’s so exciting to be part of it, standing on the corner of the street looking up at those tall buildings and feeling like you are part of a microcosmos. The East Village though has a different spirit. More laid back, a little immodest and home to some good debauchery. I felt comfortable there. Needless to say, spending 3 days in NYC is not a vacation! We were initially only planning on being there for 48 hours, but standy status oblige, we were forced to leave a day later…which also included sleeping on the floor of an empty LaGuardia airport. Finally, after all the walking, the museums (MoMa and Museum of Sex), the shopping, the sight-seeing, we were truly exhausted. We ended up coming back home more tired than before we left!

So to really relax we decided to go to Las Vegas (yeah, i know, life is tough). And that was a vacation! From the moment I stepped out of the airport to our last trip on the shuttle out, I was enjoying every minute of my time there. What a wonderful place! Wow. I really wasn’t expecting to like Vegas because I have issues with concrete capitalist tourist-oriented businesses, but in its own vulgarity, Sin City does have a charm. I guess I felt good not being the odd one for once. Anything goes in Vegas and it’s like all the deviants come together in a giant embrace. Of course, you have all the tourist traps and the colorful and loud attractions, but we generally stay away from those anyway. So Vegas was no different. We now how to choose our activities.

The weekend was mostly focused on the Burlesque Hall of Fame. This event takes place every year and honors the Burlesque queens past and present. As a newcomer to the scene, it was such an enriching experience to be part of. I learned a lot from the different performers and got a glimpse of the pinup world that is out there. All those gals are just phenomenal. I even got to buy a beautiful summer dress at the Burlesque Bazaar!

You can’t go to Vegas and not gamble. For my part, I spent most of my money on the slot machines. My favourite was the Price Is Right one. I even got to play Plinko on it. What a treat! ……Then I discovered blackjack. I had an interactive channel at home when I was younger that let you play “live” games on your tv and I spent so much time learning blackjack. So I did try the real table with real tokens in Vegas. I must say I felt a bit overwhelmed at first, but you quickly grow into it and it becomes a bit of an addiction. When you realize that you are winning, it is hard to stop. I ended up winning 45$ and walked away.

On our last day, we lounged by the pool, something that we rarely do because we are a bit restless and like adventures more than quiet time. This time it was much welcomed. I truly think I have an extraordinary hubby and getting to spend some quality time like that with him means the world to me. He is my favourite person to be around and these mini vacations genuinely bring light and love to our relationship.

I am the luckiest girl on earth.

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start to fade like footprints worn away.

Wow. Time does fly (no pun intended!). Since I’ve been back to work, I feel like I am caught in a twister of time. I forget what day it is, what city I am in, the things I need to do….and so my blog is suffering. I constantly think about writing, but then I go down the list of things I have to do and focus on something else or when I do find the time I can’t find a computer. When I was working for the Government, I was sitting in front of a computer all day and since I had to find my own ways of keeping busy, I would catch up on the news and write. I loved it! Now I feel so removed from society. I litterally live in a parallel world up in the sky. So please forgive my brief disappearance.

I had some time off to reflect on life. I really do not want to end up like my mother and watch life pass me by, so I have decided to kick myself in the butt and get started on the things I want to do!

I began by painting our bathroom. It wasn’t an easy task but I managed to do it alone and did a pretty good job at it too. I am very proud of myself!

I also spent some quality time with a good friend of mine.  She is also a flight attendant so sometimes our schedule don’t match up and it takes months before we see eachother again. This was a nice treat. I try to help out one of my best friends with her twins as well. She is very courageous let me tell you! Dealing with double the trouble every day. Kudos to her!

Most of all, I started taking Burlesque classes. At first, I wasn’t sure I would be able to make it. As much as I dream of being a dancer, I am really bad at it.  I have no coordination and trip on my own feet. So the first week, I felt like crying after each class. But I also took it as a challenge. And now, almost 1 month in, I can honestly say that the pinup in me is taking her place. My teacher even took me aside after the last class and demanded that I start building an act because she wants me to perform. She thinks I have the spark.  I am more than flattered. I will work hard on this and I promise there will be a show at the end of this.

As for now, well it’s back to work…. I did a rescue flight today from Milwaukee to Vancouver. The crew had a burning smell in the cabin so the pilots landed in the US just to be safe. We had to go “rescue” the stranded passengers and take them to their original destination which was Vancouver. The people were great considering the situation.

So I have to go to bed soon just so I can be up and on a plane again in about 8 hours.

Have a good night y’all.

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