Profundity

Not sure what to say here. This is a bump, just to say that I'm still alive and kicking. I'm enjoying my coffee and lemon loaf from Starbucks. Glad the weather's nice and I'm in good health. Let's see if this works. :)

The Fool

Here I am sitting waiting for the opportunity of a life time and it passed me by. I have been comforted by Borislav by his kind words, "very few people mean what they say."

To give you the background, I had an amazing project for several months doing what I do. I was so happy because I even got to TEACH what it is that I do and found that I was quite good at it. After the project, there was a small get together with a bunch of other people from the project and the manager. I felt really connected to the manager because I was given several responsibilities far greater than usual. I was recognized - so I thought. At the end of the meeting, the manager pulled my aside and stated that he wanted me and one other person to be part of a special task force and have meetings to try and get ahead of the ball. I was waiting and waiting for the call or email to come. One of the other people chosen was someone who I became great friends with until the another stepped in. I had worked with the latter and was not fond of him, but there were a lot of reasons, the most outstanding was his cocky personality. When I found that he had joined the project as an equal, as a consultant, ny views were changed and found out that he turned out to be a nice guy after all. The first guy, the one I befriended, also bonded with the once cocky one and I felt that their own friendship needed to be developed without me getting involved.

I am at such fault because I recently contacted the manager with some great information only to find that the 3 of them have already been meeting and put something in place. I'm such a fool for thinking that the opportunities are going to be coming to me rather than going out and getting them on my own. Lesson learned.

I'm in a situation where the industry is not in my favor and this special team was left without one of its star players. What do I do?

Update depserately needed

Ugh. This is what happens when you do not have a job... you get distracted by everything and pay too much attention to the thing that need it the least. Like shopping. I do not need to go shopping. But I did. I found this great pair of jeans from Energie. I love them. They have replaced my other pair of favorite jeans - which also happen to come from Italy.

Bobby is making some of his famous fluffy omelets - which are legendary! I had to stop typing and gobble down the entire thing, because it's so good. I'm about to wash it down with strawberry aloe drink - so I've achieved the Japanese Strawberry Eggs title for this rainy evening. :)

I watched Iron Man last night and have to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. <- Past perfect... sorry I was conjugating. And I'm probably wrong too.

I went to CT at the beginning of this week to visit my parents. CT was über cold. Beyond frigid. I made an appointment to get the rear spoiler painted and installed, the rear quarter panel fixed, and the light bar to be installed on the front bumper. I'm kind of upset at the latter - the manufacturer claims that no drilling, cutting, or welding was required. I had even researched some of the customers to see if they were happy and all of their pictures were posted with it successfully in place. What's my damage?! I've also replaced the brakes (all around), switched to Mobil 1 synthetic oil, and am SO happy with the ability to haul the things that I can.

Video game update. Where to start??? Dragon Quest IV for the DS, Final Fantasy IV remake for the DS, some Castlevania game for the DS, right now I'm totally infatuated with Chrono Trigger on the DS! Mario Kart Wii has been a highlight - we have unlocked everything and are not trying to get double star status. I got some crazy Dragon Quest game for the Wii, haven't played it much - with all of the DS releases. OH!! Secret of Mana as a download to the Wii. I love this game too. All of the nostalgia is over flowing - much like this deluge of rain for the past 2 days. UGH! Wet. :(

We also got a new card game, Alibi. It has the elements of Clue where there's the who dunnit factor as well as the melding of Rummy. The points system is something yet to master - but the game is fun none the less. I also found an old school Uno deck. :)

Got some new Castle LEGO sets - they have dwarves! There are little beards and mini legs but they are not pose able. They have Viking like hats and battle axes. Oooooh! LEGO also put out some crazy huge Ogres, they are so cute tho. Goblins! How can I forget about these little green guys. They too are oddly cute. Hrm.

Lily update. Oh yes, I'm an Uncle. My sister gave birth 2 months ago to a beautiful baby girl, Lily. She's amazing. She needs to be able to talk, so I'll have to wait until they have that chip installed. It'll be a while.

I'm off for the moment. Gotta beat this optional boss in Chrono Trigger. :P

Hungry + Insomnia

I just received the most peculiar comment on my blog, which yes still exists, but has sadly been neglected. It's like the poor online dog I have on Facebook. I get constant reminders that my puppy needs to be fed, watered (all of the sudden it's a plant) and is lonely. I wish I got these kinds of reminders on paying the utilities on time or when to turn off a light when I leave the room. I'd better be careful for what I ask for - it might come true.

So Bobby and I went up to my parents for a couple of days. Great fun! I even got to see some of my class mates that I hadn't seen in a while. Too long of a while. Again, that neglect thing... Bobby DOES remind me when I neglect him, in of course in his own way. Jumping on me, hugging me, kissing me... the list goes on but I'm trying to maintain a rating of E for everyone. (These Reese's peanut butter cups need to get out of my face! I'm eating them all - ACK!)

So back to the friends thing. I got to drive my car with it's fresh new replaced fog light. I'm so impressed I was able to dismantle my front bumper all by myself - Crap! Cut off my hands. UGH CHOCOLATE!!! focus. breathe. meditate. center. Ok, I'm normal, if that's possible. Fog light, light bulb blew out and I was a little sad. I definitely noticed a difference without them. I had a spare bulb in the back and was all set to change it out. I had taken it out to remind myself and left it in the front bumper and drove to the city with it hanging on for its dear life. I remembered that it was there once I got into the city and at a red light I got out of the car and it was still there! It was meant to be, the fog light and me. <- pun.

All I have to do now is maintain sanity until the next morning for coffee. Why am I so hungry at 3AM? I totally think I'm a zombie.

doldrums of depression

Woe is me. For it is I that cannot see. You wanna piece of me? I am stuck on the number 3. It is left to be, which is unbeknownst to thee. Perhaps this was meant not to be, you and me. Only time will tell, so you can be free of the pain you have endured from me. I am as sturdy as a tree, and got stung by a bee. Truth be told, we were in love - you and me.

Around the world and back again

Yes it's been too long since I've written anything. Sorry. I have been up to a lot and without a stable internet connection which is why this poor thing has not been updated. Enough of the 'been' thing -

Not sure where I left things so I'll start by saying it's nice to be out of a bad job. I love what I do, I just didn't enjoy where I was and how things worked at my last employer. I chalk it up to experience and reminded myself that it's not permanent (how Buddhist!) So in April, a new consultant shows up and is introduced to the entire department and I knew that something was up. It didn't help that my Father is sick and I had to take a considerable amount of time off to help my Mother. So he is introduced to everyone but me, strange huh?! Then I walk over to see what the others are doing and I make the manager all uncomfortable and she is then forced to do the meet-and-greet. Later that afternoon I get a call from my agency (at 4:55PM) stating that my presence is not longer needed and that it was my last day. I was glad to hear that it also came to a surprise to the agency that it was such a short notice. I say, good riddance to a bad situation. :)

So Bobby & I planned a 7 week trip to/in Europe. We're now back in this sweltering humidity after our version of The Amazing Race®. Our sleeping pattern was already disrupted and we knew our flight was leaving at 7:30AM. We decided to stay up since we were used to going to bed at 4AM. We got to JFK and checked in and already things were proving difficult. Our flight was with Virgin Atlantic and with a partner, Bulgaria Air. Since our tickets were purchased with Bulgaria Air, Virgin didn't want to check our bags to our final destination. Technology and common sense were lacking here, what year is it?! 2008 not 1608. Any hoo, we flew from New York to London and got our connecting flight to Sofia, Bulgaria. No problems but we were tired and exhausted. Note to self, SLEEP BEFORE YOU FLY NEXT TIME!! The next evening at 10:30PM Sofia time, Bobby's mother and the 2 of us got on a bus and were off to Macedonia. The bus was so uncomfortable having just spent a day on a plane... We arrived in Ohrid and met up with Bobby's high school classmates. I'm happy he went to an English speaking school so I didn't have to worry about my unpracticed Bulgarian. Everyone was really cool and even Bobby had a great time. 2 days later we are on the uncomfortable bus again back to Sofia. There was a small incident with the a/c while traveling - we complained that it was toasty. The tour guide's freeloading friend made a stupid comment about how hot Macedonia gets. This only ticked off the paying clients who demanded their money’s worth and requested that the a/c be turned on. The freeloading friend made another comment which was really over the line: something along the lines of “people are more interested in comfort than history – since the tour guide was babbling on and on about Macedonian factoids. How dare the paying customers have to sweat it out while the bus driver would have made out with the money saved by not consuming more gas with the a/c on. Phew! Glad that was over.

We had a couple of days back in Sofia before we rented a car for our Euro Road Trip. SLEEP! I've never rented a car with unlimited mileage before, and boy did we utilize that option. We left Sofia in an Opel Corsa with a 1.2 litre engine. For those non-car savvy people, it's the engine of a toaster. Our trip included a detour, my fault, through a not so good part of town. Oops. So we move on to the border of Serbia. The border person ignored me since I was an evil American and thought I wouldn't have understood, which is what I was told to do (but I did - Serbian is close to Bulgarian) and moved on to interrogating Bobby. He asked if we were transporting Heroin. Um, like yeah, do you want some? NOT! He even checked Bobby's arms for needle marks. Since there were no drugs or other potentially threatening materials in our vehicle, we moved on. Strange. ☺

We drove through Serbia got to Belgrade, paid some tolls and moved on to Hungary. There was another border control, which took forever. It rained the Nile while we proceeded to wait in the unmoving line. *Interesting note, Hungary is the gateway into the EU, so the hold up was due to a very strict border control. Since we had driven all day we were in need of a hotel, stat. We stopped at a gas station to fill up the car with gas and I had made an attempt for communication in Hungarian. Töredezettségmentesítőtleníttethetetlenségtelenítőtlenkedhetnétek tör?? Antidisestablishmentarianism. Yea, it didn't go to well. I tried to ask if I had to pay first, the gas station attendant didn’t understand but luckily another patron replied, “take first, then pay.” The gas station attendant did understand the word ‘hotel’ and gave us directions with some English thrown in. ? Yes English. We made it to the Hotel without problem and enjoyed the well-deserved rest. I watched an interesting program on a new Audi. The next morning we headed out and drove through Hungary and stopped in Budapest for a cup of coffee. Atop of a castle in Buda, I attempted to call my parents and missed them. Oh well.

Moving right along thru Hungary to Slovakia. We eventually needed to get gas and a cup of coffee. Nothing worth mentioning, just a lot of road – fewer gas stations than in Serbia.

We make it into the Czech Republic and made our way to Prague. We like Prague. The layout of the city was great, the language is close to Bulgarian but my credit card didn't work. I high-tailed it to the bankomat and got me some Czech Krona. We wandered around, saw the Astrological Clock on the hour and caught a glimpse of the moving figures. Took a picture for a Japanese tourist on the famous bridge. Prague was simply wonderful. As it turns out, we had rented an apartment which was so cool. There was so much room and a bidet! We even had Internet there, but I was enjoying the city so much that I only checked to see if I received any important email. Of course there is a job opportunity and I’m unable to take it because I’m on another continent. Bobby’s cousin had another girl. CONGRATS! We even went to a gay dance club. Some random guy bought a bottle of some lemon alcoholic something or other and proceeded to offer it to the other guys at the table. ☺ He passed out from consuming almost half of the bottle, a little scary.

I forgot to mention that the Euro Cup was going on during our road trip. We saw lots of Fan Zones with huge TV screens so everyone could gather and watch. I could go on about Prague but it’s this was only the beginning!

We decided not to go to Berlin only to double back to Vienna so we stayed an extra day in the much loved Prague. Luckily for us our special discount for a last minute reservation yielded the 3rd day at the same rate. We parted Prague reluctantly and drove to Vienna. I was able to reconnect with a long time AFS Thailand friend. Bobby was able to reconnect with a childhood friend. We ended up staying Bobby’s friend’s which was so, Spartan. We had the first day to ourselves so we took the Underground to the Schönbrunn and had fun in a labyrinth. The next day we hung out with my friend, met his beautiful g/f and his tech savvy friend. Went to a gay club and had a blast. The last day there we went around Vienna with Bobby's friend and got a great history lesson and ate at a Viennese pub. Yum.

From Vienna we hopped in the Corsa and moved on to... Switzerland. On the way we went through München. Got gas and chatted with a gas station attendant from Kosovo - who apparently was a huge Bill Clinton fan. Fun. At the Swiss border, since it is not part of the EU, we were asked for our passports and oddly my driver’s license. I was asked if we were going to the Futball events, which I happily said “no” to. That got some weird looks but they still let us in. We made it to Basel and it was cold and raining. ☹ The roads were so confusing, very user unfriendly, definitely designed to keep others out. We found my friend’s fiancée’s place eventually only to find out about the parking nightmare. So far everywhere we’d been had parking or you were able to leave the car on the road. Unfriendly Switzerland left me either to pay a meter every 90 minutes, which cost 1.5 Swiss Francs, which I didn’t have, or to find a parking lot. I had to wake up at 8AM the next morning to I mapped one out only to find it was across the street from a barrier. I tried to get to it and got so lost, honked at, yelled at by cyclists, even the people were unfriendly. Exhausted and turned upside-down, I found the SBB train station and just parked which I knew I was going to have to pay for later. 40 euro! Italy won the Euro Cup the next evening, which was celebrated by honking of horns and flags adorned. We couldn’t get out of Switzerland any quicker.

The next morning we drove towards Italy where I proceeded to make wrong turn after another – even went thru a 9km tunnel only to do it again since I was not going in the right direction. Finally we made it to the Alps. There were several tunnels and sketchy parts hovering over cliffs leading to the famous Gotthard pass. Both Bobby & I had seen some TV special about a nasty 30-some odd car accident in this particular tunnel, which was closed to passenger cars. Our route led up, across, thru and down the mountain range. I have to say it was invigorating. Unfortunately the Opel Corsa did not agree as my Subaru would have. I did see a bunch of Imprezas racing up and down a pass. I was a bit jealous. :)

So into Italy we got, destination, MILAN. Italy was our favorite destination – almost tied with Prague. Milan was definitely fashion capital and I saw a 2009 Impreza WXR STi :) Our Italian had been put to the test when a motorcyclist came up to us and asked for a ‘fuego.’ I knew what it meant in Spanish and handed him a lighter. I was so impressed that my language skills were utilized so much. We saw the Duomo Milano and were just taken back. It was so beautiful that I got goose bumps. We also saw the famous La Scala. Oh, New York was definitely put at risk for the amount of fashion present in Milan. We had heard about an outlet about 40 kilometers south-ish of Milan and we tried to get some Italian clothing. We were really shocked to see the amount of American clothing stores. Bobby got some Puma kicks and I saw my Puma racing jacket in the Puma store. Since we didn’t find what we were looking for we chugged along.
We then went to Imperia spent a night there and in San Remo. Bought some Italian denim and had some great cuisine. The weather was also beautiful. Our plans were to try and get to the French Riviera and had to turn around due to traffic. The next day we ventured back towards France and visited the red carpet of Cannes, had our own photo shoot outside a Christian Lacriox store, took pictures of the beach and high tailed it to Nice for a café au lait. Went to Monaco and saw more Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and Maseratis than people! Had a cup of coffee and met an English family. They kindly gave us their map and we walked around. We got to see where one of the famous Monaco races takes place. ☺ We then drove to Cote d’Azur, which was really blue. I saw a Lancia Delta Integrale!! We decided to head back to our hotel in San Remo and check out the nightlife. To our disappointment, the clubs closed as we were heading out. We easily walked by the “night club” and ended up just going to bed.
We had to start heading back towards Bulgaria since our car rental was due back in a few days. We drove to Venice and that’s where the humidity hit us. UGH! We were surcharged for sitting at some pizza joint but the food was amazing so it didn’t really matter. Our hotel was in Mestre, which is on main land. A mosquito bit Bobby and it was the largest allergic reaction I’d ever seen. It was quite scary. We hopped a bus the next morning and had a romantic time wandering aimlessly and even got lost. ☺ Pictures, pictures, pictures… Saw San Marco Square and all of the pigeons, singing gondolas, did I mention humidity? Found Emporio Armani underwear and a bag, Bobby got flip-flops. The buildings and canals were awe-inspiring. I got some Venetian glass for my parents and was sad that our trip was actually coming to an end. On the bus back to the hotel we heard what sounded like water running. As it turned out, it was someone’s GSM. What was so funny about it was an Italian man made a comment, “Pronto pee-pee.” - because it sounded like somebody was doing pee-pee. It got a chuckle from the others on the bus.

Our final leg of our Euro Trip was Venice to Sofia, in one day. Road and more road. Drove thru Slovenia and Hrvatska where I was asked for my driver's license again. The guard knew English and saw my license was from Maine and said "where America starts its day." That threw Bobby for a loop and he questioned how he knew that. I said "that's what it says on the license." Gas and coffee, saw a right hand drive car from Great Britain. More road… did I mention road?! Back thru Serbia. Roooooooooooooad… We finally arrived at the Serbian/Bulgarian border and did not see the mess of trucks waiting to get into Bulgaria as we did in the beginning of our trip, which was a great relief. There were a bunch of cars from Germany, which were causing all sorts of mayhem. At the border we experienced a 2 leva (Bulgarian monetary unit) fee for a disinfectant spray administered to the bottom of our car. Didn’t expect it, but it was later explained that since Serbia is non-EU and there is potential road kill – it was a precautionary step to not carry foreign contamination into Bulgaria. At least we didn’t have to wait in the non-Bulgarian car line. Back at the border, I knew what the speed limit was and the Germans were definitely thinking that Bulgaria wasn’t strict about upholding these rules. Boy were they wrong when one got pulled over for doing well over the posted limit. Oddly, the other cars from Germany didn’t stop and wait for their comrade. It was 2 AM, I think, and having been on the road in the Super Toaster, aka Opel Corsa, since 10 AM, we were both happy – sort of – to see familiar turf. ← woo! Holy comma splice, - hyphenated sentence Batman®. It was kind of sad that the 5,400 km trip had come to an end. We returned the car with an argument about the agreed price and what currency it was supposed to be in. After a calm and collected discussion, the manager gave us a price we couldn’t refuse, really. It was less expensive than what was originally agreed on.

We both agreed not to do anything so tedious again and have more sense to travel in style by flying everywhere. ☺ Directive – Jet Setter.

This brings my travel log to an end. Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as I had writing it. Ciao.

2. 2. 2. 2. 2.

Why technology and violence don't mix, I broke my Wii. That's okay because it's under warranty and it was fixed for free. In addition, it was mighty quick. I was only Wii-less for 1 week. + for Nintendo. Bobby, Deborah, & I are playing Mario Kart which is super fun. Eek, I've used 'super' twice today, I better slow down.

So as the story goes, you use the 2 button on the Wii-mote often. So I'm already done pressing the appropriate buttons (2) and I'm waiting for the other player who is like 14 screens behind. Ok, a little bit of exaggeration but you get the picture. So I say, "2." and of course the next thing for them to do is press the 2 button again. So any time there is a pause, someone inevitably says, "2 2 2 2..." Thought I'd share that with you.

In the meantime, Bobby & I have been conquering the world in Civilization IV. Go us. :)

I have to say that this rain needs to stop. Spring where are you?!