Visitor Update

So my penpal has now come and gone and I believe I did an adequate job of showing her around =-). We did Tacoma touristy things one day, and Seattle touristy things another day. She went from having a very efficient driver in California (my Dad) to having me - someone who had to call for directions on how to get to a park in my own town (and then I actually got lost inside the park!). When I told her my Dad was a better driver than me (direction-wise), she said "Yes, your Dad is very perfect" =-p. Now, of course I think my Dad is pretty damn close to perfect myself, but she meant efficient and precise on the driving and all that stuff.

Anyways - I think she had fun. And she bought about $100 worth of Ichiro stuff at a Mariner's store to bring as souvenirs to the folks back home (for anyone out there who is as baseball-uninformed as myself, he's a totally famous Japanese guy who plays for the Seattle team). We went to Safeco Field, to Pikes Place Market (I finally saw them throw a fish, but I seriously don't know what the big deal is!), up the Space Needle and all that good stuff. She got to eat a bunch of different stuff while she was in CA and WA, I also took her to one of those Spirit Halloween stores (since they don't do Halloween) and I took a picture of her with some of the stuff even though I knew I would get scolded by the teeny-bopper at the counter (TeenyBopper: "Ma'am - please don't take pictures in the store!!!" ME: "She's from Japan and she's leaving tomorrow." - I knew they wouldn't want me to take pics, so I waited until we were ready to leave, but I should have had a better comeback ready, like "Oh - we're only doing this so we can plan a Corporate takeover that will annihilate all Spirit Stores"), but the biggest achievement of the whole visit was probably that I even managed to get her to the airport on time in the 6 a.m. hour on Friday morning!!!

So I think she had fun - and it just impresses the hell out of all of us at how well she does with the language considering how crazy different it is from English. And now she's back in Japan where things are smaller and the food portions aren't so huge (evidently they totally have Subway over there, but the sandwich sizes are much smaller =-p - she also had my parents take a picture of her behind one of the "big" grocery store shopping carts =-p).....she wants to come back in a few years after she finishes up her PhD. Shoko and I have been penpals for about 15 years I think - pretty impressive (or is it frightening that me and my family are the representatives of the entire nation =-p)!

It's Bed-Time!

Well, it's not quite beddy-by time, but I will try to venture that way soon. I always think it would be a spectacular idea to try to make myself go to bed earlier, but I rarely ever succeed in doing such. Anyways - that's irrelevant. Today I mustered up the energy to do the full-on bedding shift....time for those flannel sheets! A couple mornings ago I woke up begrudgingly when the alarm sounded, and I was SOOOOOOOOOO COOOOOOOOLD!! Okay - not Eskimo-in-Alaska cold - but certainly Shababbler cold! So I vowed that it was time for me to bust out my soft and cozy flannel sheets. However, the container I keep my bedding in is kind of difficult to get to, so the task got put off. Today after work I took care of business, and even positioned my Velux blanket to boot. Yay warm nights and mornings ahead!!! Woohoo =-)!!!

On a totally different side note - as I was driving home tonight I noticed a cup in the road, so I swerved over and was pleased when I saw in my rearview mirror that I had managed to break it =-). It was plastic - and a lovely cheap thrill for me on my drive home =-). I had a moment of panic a second later though when I saw sirens coming my way. It wasn't a big swerve, but maybe they could have thought I was a bit tipsy. Fortunately they were whizzing past me on to things much more significant (potentially) than my cup smashing episode =-). Phew!!!

As if I didn't feel bad enough...

I'm on my roommate's computer right now, and since it was recently worked on, all the old links are down....so I decided to do a search on "shababble" to try to get to my blog. The wonders of the world of cyberspace lead me to a link that mentions my blog and me to someone else in what I assume is their blog. This person is evidently feeling semi-something-or-rather about just landing a mediocre job as she is still working on her M.A. So the person I know pretty much said - "hey, at least you got a job, I know someone who is a total loser with a Master's degree and hasn't got crap to show for it.....here, check out her link to see how pathetic she is." Okay, so those weren't the exact words, here are the exact words:

"Hey, at least you picked up a job with benefits so quickly after getting out of school. You could be like my very good friend shababble (http://shababble.blogspot.com/) who picked up her masters in 2000 (I think) and STILL hasn't found THE job.. and barely even 'a' job... You should check out her blog there to see what I mean. ;-)"

So thanks a lot you-know-who-you-are, because now I feel even more pathetic than I already did, but I guess it proves my point, that maybe I'm just here to make other people feel better about what they perceive as their own ridiculous little work situations. I just didn't realize that that would expand to people I didn't even know. At least I was called "a very good friend". And the degree was earned in 2002, not that that would make me any less of a bulletin board for reasons not to go to college. So if anyone else wants to point out to someone just how stupid you think my existence is, maybe you should e-mail them the link so I don't read about it and feel like crawling into a hole.

Visitor!

I have a visitor with me for a few days from Japan. She first went to visit the rest of my family, and then flew up to see me =-). My friend-retrieval skills are seriously lacking when it comes to airports =-(. When my super-wonderful pal was out in July I was eagerly waiting for her at what turned out to be the wrong gate =-(. We later met up in baggage claim. And with this guest I rushed to the gate.....and again it was the wrong one. Yes, I am an airport-guest-picker-upper-incompetent-jackass! I found her baggage carousel and rushed down - but she wasn't there, however there was a guy I had met recently who was waiting for his bags from a different flight, which is really random, so we chatted for a bit. Luckily he saw me first, so he can't accuse me of being a stalker =-p. He's kinda cute though, so I'm glad I had bothered to groom - haha =-p.

Anyways - I worriedly trekked up and down the escalators, and even stopped and asked some folks what flight they had been on.....and finally she came breezing toward the baggage area (as I was on the phone to my Mom asking if she had even checked a bag and what she was wearing). So now I have my Japanese penpal here for what will hopefully be a lovely visit, and the weight of the tourism world is on my shoulders as it is my responsibility to make sure she sees some good stuff =-).

A Little Less Crazy...

Just for anyone who was wondering, the trip back wasn't nearly as eventful as the first trip. Phew =-)! We boarded, flew and landed on time and I wasn't sitting next to any psycho Samoan's or anything like that. Now please readers, don't think I have it out for Samoan's in this insanely PC world of ours....I just like the way it sounds and I think he was.

The only real thing of interest in the airport and on my flight was a guy who looked like he was in the WWE (isn't that what they renamed the WWF?). My Pop and I commented how he totally looked like a wrestler with his massive build and his long locks that were topped with a cowboy hat and shades (even in the airport). Well, he was one of those "spiffy" first class people, so you walk by them when you go to your meager coach seat. So I smiled just to be nice and I noticed a few seconds later (we were moving very slowly as people loaded their carry-ons) that he had nestled his funky cowboy-like hat lower on his head so people couldn't see his face. I thought maybe he was planning to take a nap, but since he was looking at the paper that wasn't it. I don't know if my small smile is what triggered this event (if so then my goodness - after the psycho Samoan I must really need to work on that smile!!!), but come on now!!!! I assume there was a modicum of possibility that he was some famous wrestler guy, but it's not like I ever actually choose to WATCH wrestling! Sure I took in some episodes of "Hogan Knows Best" when VH1 was having a marathon, but that's it. So if you are a famous wrestler and my smile somehow unnerves you, then RELAX - I Don't Know Who You Are!!!! I'm not about to blow a cover that I don't even know if you have! However, I would like to suggest to all of the famous wrestlers out there who don't want to be recognized (if he was indeed one).....granted, your massive physique is hard to hide, but certain elements of your "trademark" look can probably be covered.....If you have long hair, you can always put it into a low ponytail and that shouldn't wreak any sort of havoc on all of the hard work done by your hot oil treatments, plus - if you're the funky-cowboy hat wearing type, try switching to a baseball cap - it stands doesn't stand out nearly as much (except possibly in places like Texas =-p).

And as for me, I'm back to whatever existence it is I have up here, and in evident need of practicing my smile so it doesn't alarm the masses.

Flying the Crazy Sky's

Recently I had cause to take an unplanned trip - so I had a last minute flight booked with a one-way ticket. I knew I'd be red-flagged for that, so I wasn't at all surprised when I got selected for a special search. As the girl waved her wand all around it beeped on my butt....and she said something to the effect of "Our sensor has gone off in a sensitive area so I will be patting the area down with the back of my hand." So I guess my rear end is a high sensitive area. Then the fella meticulously went through all of my carry-on belongings...even going as far as taking every item out and opening things like my wallet and planner up. As much as I was standing there with a semi-grumpy look on my face, I was impressed with just how careful bag-searching-guy was at being nice to my belongings.....something I have rarely seen before.

So I thought my red-flagged search would be the limit of my excitement for this flight, but, I was wrong. As I approached my window seat in the plane I was pleased to see that there were only 2 seats in my row. I got situated, but then decided to go use the restroom. When I came back there was a big guy sitting in the aisle. After some people passed I asked him if I could get in. Sure he probably had just sat down and it's never convenient to get back up, but he turned and gave me an ice cold look as he got up. Alrighty then. So I moved over to my seat thinking that it was much more pleasant for him to get out than for me to attempt to climb over him, but perhaps he disagreed. Whatever. We both kept to ourselves as we waited for takeoff, but at one point we made eye-contact. An unplanned moment of eye-contact with your seat-mate usually elicits half-smiles or, for the non-smiling types, at least awkward nods of acknowledgement. Not from Mr. Aisle Seat. No, Mr. Aisle Seat greeted me with another ice-cold stare laced with some sort of anger that I had no idea what I had done to deserve. I made a mental note not to make eye-contact again and lowered down the armrest inbetween us, which I thought I had already done, but I guess not. Big Mistake!

Mr. Aisle Seat: "WOULD YOU STOP PUTTING THAT DOWN!!!!!" This was said with something that was about as close as you can get to a yell without (I think) actually being one. And, as I had come to realize is to be expected from Mr. Aisle Seat, it was delivered with the frigid stare and the angry eyes.

Now keep in mind, I thought I had put the fricking armrest down (because if you had been greeted by icy-cold, angry stares you would want a divider between you too), but when it was up again I figured I had simply forgot.

I said something to the effect of "I'm sorry I thought...."

Mr. Aisle Seat: "I HAVE PUT THIS UP THREE TIMES AND YOU KEEP PUTTING IT DOWN."

Shababbler: "I didn't realize you had put it up."

Mr. Aisle Seat: "EVERY TIME I PUT IT UP YOU PUT IT RIGHT BACK DOWN!"

It has been a bit more than a week or so since this happened, so the words are probably not exact, but the anger coming from him was insane to me. I don't scare easily, but I knew for damned sure I didn't want to sit next to the big, angry man for a full 2 hours. People had been switching seats, so I reached up and pressed for the attendant to come over. She came right over and I said "This man was just very rude and very hostile to me and if possible can you please move me to another seat."

Mr. Aisle Seat: "SHE STARTED IT! EVERY TIME I PUT THIS UP SHE PUTS IT DOWN AGAIN - I WAY 275 POUNDS AND I CAN'T HAVE IT DOWN."

Shababbler: "I didn't realize you had put it up!"

Mr. Aisle Seat: "YES YOU DID!!!!"

At this point the flight attendant told me to follow her and she took me up front and had me stand in the little cubby area where they stand. I told her I didn't realize he had been putting it up and she told me that he was being ridiculous and that it's my right to have it down anyways. I told her if he would have asked me to leave it up, I wouldn't have been happy, but I would have done it. She was very reassuring and went to try to see if there were any other seats.

All the while she was off and about she would come back and talk to me, and she told me every time she walked by Mr. Aisle Seat he would hand her over one of his vicious stares just daring her to challenge him. Unfortunately, the flight was full because some woman was being very bitchy about giving up the non-paid for seat she had her baby's carrier (and the baby in). Even though I was standing in the cubby, I heard the attendants talking and there was talk about booting Mr. Aisle Seat to another flight! Holy crap! I didn't want this mountain of anger to be displaced! I just wanted to be far away from him!!

I made sure to tell one of the flight attendants near me that he didn't threaten me, and she said they knew that. The original flight attendant came back in and I told her I hadn't wanted him booted, and that I'd even take a middle seat, but I just didn't want to be next to him. She told me that they didn't want to fly with a hostile passenger. As much as it probably would have been the noble thing to offer to take a later flight, my ride was already scheduled, so I couldn't. And as much as I could have said "Oh nevermind" - I don't scare easily, but this guy freaked me out and my pulse was racing.

They drew the curtain where I was and pulled him off to talk to him - some of which I could hear, but not all. He was NOT HAPPY. They started talking about having him take a later flight and he was pissed (understandably so). He was saying things like "I don't like the girl - but if I have to compromise I'll leave the damned armrest down!" Etc., etc., etc. He refused for a while to take the later flight, but finally realized he had no choice. In the meantime they were announcing over the speaker that it would just be a couple of minutes while they resolved a seating issue." Mr. Aisle Seat didn't know where I was, and there were attendants blocking where I was, but if he had seen me, at the very least I think he would have been analyzing every last detail for when we met again in the future.

All of the drama was resolved and Mr. Aisle Seat was given the boot. I walked back to my seating area, feeling the stares of dozens of disgruntled passengers whose flight had just been delayed by 15 minutes because of me. Needless to say I avoided eye-contact. I think the people near me hear his explosion and certainly wouldn't have wanted to sit next to the mountain of anger either, but oh well. When I arrived on the other end I made sure to remove some identifying details just in case Mr. Aisle Seat had a ride waiting for him who he had asked to find me.

So - much more excitement and drama then I'm used to in a flight. Oh - and ironically, because another man had been displaced several times due to the complication's caused by the woman's baby carriage, he got my seat and I was stuck in Mr. Aisle Seat's spot.