The pain is getting pretty serious and I just don’t know what to do with it.  I am actually getting quite irritated with our health care providers in the sense that I feel let down. Everyone was very nice to me at the beginning, promising care and follow-ups. Now that I’ve been under care for over a month, I find myself to be brushed aside. Whenever I go to my treatments and tell them that there is no progress in my development, they inform me that only time will help and that I have to be patient and just rest as much as I can. The doctor suggested I take time off work until I am healed but offered no option for immediate pain relief. When your back is out and you are debilitated it is very insulting to have specialists tell you to suck it up and wait for it to all go away magically. I can’t live like this any longer and I need help. For real.

Has anyone else gone through this before?

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In October, my best friend and I decided to go to Vegas for a weekend to celebrate our almost 15 years of friendship. We have done some traveling together and have had quite the adventures (trust me on that one!) but never actually out of the country. So this was well overdue.

I decided to go to Montreal the day before our trip to spend some time with my sister and mother. What a delight. I love them so much.

The next morning, we got up at 6am to make our way to the airport. After a very long wait at customs, we finally got on the plane and were very happy to see that we got the emergency aisle seats. Hurray for more leg room! The flight was smooth and soon we were out on Nevada soil and on our way to The Tropicana. Very decent hotel with nice rooms and great location (next to MGM and the main arteries of the Strip).  We spent most of our time at the pool, getting some rays from the hot desert sun. We walked the whole Strip all the way to the Fashion Show Mall where I had to buy some lingerie at Victoria’s Secret.  We also visited the Miracle Mile Shops where I got myself two beautiful pinup dresses from the Bettie Page store. On our way we met Jerry Springer and Betsey Johnson. The latter was such an honour! She is just fabulous and so friendly. I am so happy to have been lucky enough to be there at the right time.  At night, we would just visit the casinos and tempt our luck at the poker and blackjack machines. I’ve played the tables before but this time around I just didn’t feel it.  It was a great weekend.

Then we had to leave. And this is where the nightmare begins.  Because of my job, we get incredible deals on tickets but it also means that we fly standby. And flying standby means that sometimes you have to have a Plan B and even a Plan C.  And that’s exactly what happened on that day. Our flight to Montreal was full so we automatically get bumped off of it and have to find another flight home. We wanted to get on the Toronto one but it was oversold also (it’s Vegas, it’s not surprising!).  So our only option was to go through Calgary and then catch the redeye to Toronto and fly to Montreal from there.  The whole thing was very chaotic and stressful and didn’t necessarily bring out the best in both of us let’s just say… Our friendship was strongly tested. I will spare you the details just to avoid being too partial on my part. I finally got home about 28 hours after we started in Vegas.  It was hell. I will definitely think twice before I bring a friend on vacation with me again, trust me!

Aside from that, Halloween was a success. This was our first time living in an actual house and on a main floor, so we really enjoyed decorating the front porch and dressing up to give candy to the kids. It is so much fun! I wish Halloween happened more than once a year. It’s definitely my favourite holiday.

So there you go, your recap for the last month.  Let’s see what the Holiday Season will bring next!

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An intimate venue and a petite woman with such power in her. I couldn’t have asked for anything better to share with my partner.  We even got her to sign an 8×10 picture of her from the old days.  What a wonderful experience that was!

We spent the next night alone and had a delicious homemade dinner and some quality time. I love you buddy!

And just because we can and we get a little greedy, we decided to also go on a mini vacation to make the fun last just a bit longer. Direction: Jamaica.  We chose Hedo 3 after much research and reviews. We really wanted a place where we could just let loose and have fun without having to worry about anything. And honestly, there is no better place than Jamaica to leave all your worries behind.  Oh what a hot destination (and I don’t necessarily mean the weather)! If you have never heard of Hedonism you have to at least know right away that they are clothing optional resorts. The place is divided between the fully clothed pools and the nudist ones. Let me tell you that there was NOBODY on the fully clothed side! Most people who make the effort to go to such resorts are there to enjoy the perks of being naked. We didn’t know what to expect at first, but you are quickly introduced to the ‘anything goes’ policy. There are no rules at Hedo! You can even be in the pool and hottub all night if you wish! Just be aware that you are in prime time for all kinds of action.

I love the Jamaican attitude and especially the food. The weather was amazing and it was just divine to tan with no clothes on. Goodbye tan lines! (make sure you lotion up though or you’ll get an unpleasant surprise…) This was a very relaxing week  (5 days) even though I had some annoying back pain. Lying in the pool all day surely helps! The only flaws we found were the beach (they are very small and dirty in Jamaica unlike our beloved Mexico) and the food was a bit boring after the 3rd or 4th day. One very good perk was that compared to quieter resorts where the focus is mainly on day activities, Hedo has nightclubs and parties until the wee hours of the morning.

All in all, September was a month filled with love and good times.

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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 me 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 painful, trust me! I feel we are 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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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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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!).

We also 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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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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It’s the 9th of May and I’ve spent time in Newfoundland twice, San Francisco and Edmonton already. I’ve crossed the country too many times to count in the last week -in the last 48 hours-. I have worked a whole hell of a lot since I left the Government offices.

I’m so happy I get two weeks off after this. I really need it! Ah the joys of working the friendly skies. Not always as glamourous as it seems.

I also really miss my hubby. I usually always have a thought for him no matter where I go or am, but these last few days, I especially have been missing him. I do not particularly enjoy being in cities we both love dearly (i.e. SanFran) without him. I feel like a widow revisiting past memories and it makes me sad. I wish he was here.

All in all, I do have the best job in the world and I know it.

Ok. More later. Time for bed now. I am getting picked up at 4:45am after all. Good night darlings.

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