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I'm sporting a sexy new Italian virus 2002-06-25 I'm back and I do Not know where to start, for real, but I was very impressed by a mullet at the Memphis airport yesterday so I guess I could start there. It belonged to a woman, which is what made it so impressive (you don't see a lot of woman-mullets), and it was steel grey and long, with a perm. I took my camera out to get a picture of it but I couldn't take the picture without her seeing me so I gave up. Also, on the first flight we took on the 6th, at the start of our vacation, I saw the mullet belonging to none other than Chopper Harrison, local radio personality. He was on the plane because it was flying to Detroit and he was going to see the Stanley cup game (or games, since frankly I don't know how the Stanley Cup works) because our Hurricanes were in the finals and he's a big fan. There were a lot of people on that plane for hockey purposes, so really there were mullets a'plenty, but only one belonging to Chopper Harrison. I used to like his morning radio show a lot but then he brought on a guy named Jimmy and that ruined it for me. Like when Scooby Doo added Scrappy--the magic is gone. But I digress. I'm very tired--the jetlag and all--and I've got a cold that is refusing to progress beyond the initial washrag throat, so I'm not at my peak and my brain isn't working very well. I came back to work today and was greeted by over 400 emails. I was able to get them down to just over 100, by deleting the crap, but that's still a lot of email. Only 12 voice mails though, and I was expecting more. I won't dig myself out of this hole this week, but next week I should be caught up. On the plane from Amsterdam to Memphis on Sunday I was seated between Francisco and a Dutch man who was very nice and ate his food very quickly and seemed to enjoy the Meg Ryan movie 'Kate and Leopold'. I couldn't get into that movie but I managed to watch the preceding movie, 'High Crimes' which was so bad it was riveting. I was practically counting the hackneyed plot devices off as they happened. I wrote a minimalist review of that movie--wanna hear it? Here it is [ahem]-- "It was as if someone was pushing the characters around on a plate with a knife and fork". I mention the Dutch man because we chatted with him a little bit at the end of the flight and we were able to express our chagrin at having a stupid president, which was sort of therapeutic for me. I want the rest of the world to know that not everyone in this country is happy with Dubya, and if I have to do that one person at a time, so be it. Yeah. I know I'm not talking about the trip proper; I think it's going to be recorded in little bits and pieces. It was a really great vacation but at this moment it's hard to think about writing it all down. I will say that the first morning we were in Amsterdam (arrived at 6 am) I hated it there, but that was because I was tired and cold and wet (it was raining) and hungry, and apparently the Dutch do not eat breakfast out because we couldn't find any restaurants open for breakfast. I had also sat in gum first thing that morning, so my pants were ruined as well as wet, and we had been menaced by a man trying to get change from us, who said he had just gotten out of prison. I really thought he was going to pull a knife on us or something--it was scary. In lieu of food we had 2 cups of coffee each at a tiny, smoky little bar where a woman was drunk or high or both and stood weaving, staring at us, and I sat there, moist and shivering, thinking, "Oh my god, I Hate this place! What am I going to do?!" Of course Amsterdam became one of my favorite places when all was said and done, and I very much want to go back and do a bicycle and train trip around the Netherlands. I learned on this trip how to postpone my feelings for later, and that came in handy during the many times I was very tired from walking around museums or whathaveyou. It also came in handy during the train ride through hell, aka Italy, but that's another story for another time. The brain is scattered--we will pick up from here next session. I have to say that I'm somewhat stunned to come back to the honor of having several more people listing me as a favorite; I didn't expect that. If anything I thought people would dump me for not writing for such a long time, so WOW! Big hello to my new friends and European-style multiple cheek kisses all around. I'm going to have to adopt that kissing thing except that I don't know many people who would tolerate it. Love! E PS I didn't learn much French but I can now say Bonjour with a really good accent, and I grew to love espresso. As always, it's the little things. |
come over some time & see me - 2011-02-25 |
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