Your Dog Freaks Me Out

I don’t believe in luck. Sure people or happenstances can seem lucky, but so what? It comes down to odds. It's why I don’t like gambling; they're against you. On Monday, they were working overtime.

While flying back from Florida, we were in a giant line to get through security. Thousands of people were trying to get through to hundreds of airport terminals. The only thing we had in common? The fact we were trying to leave Florida that morning. We could be traveling to anywhere in the world. The couple behind us was returning home to Japan. Directly in front of us, a girl had a carry-on with a puppy inside. This fascinated me. You can take live pets on a plane? Does it go through the metal detector? Where does it go on the plane? I took pictures.

We board our flight and I’m still talking about the crazy dog. At this time, it’s pointed out to me: She’s sitting in the seat directly behind me. How is that even possible? If beating the odds equals being lucky, I want a lottery ticket.

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The Eighty Dollar Nap

Last weekend was Racine’s Brewfest. It’s a fundraiser for the Kilties and my favourite event of the year. If you’ve never gone, you walk around, sample amazing microbeers, and see the Kilties perform. We go every year and drool over the VIP perks (early admission, t-shirts, beer stein, etc). This year we decided to pay extra to be VIP. (It seemed like a good idea when we bought the tickets in May.)

The first hour of Brewfest was perfect. The VIP crowd was manageable, lines were nonexistent, and the beer tasted amazing. After they opened the gates for general admission I decided I needed to slow down. I had another four hours to drink tasty beers. Long story short, after mixing as many samples as I did, slowing down didn’t help. I was done drinking after the first two hours. Not waiting to miss the Kilties perform, I decided to sit and wait for them. As brilliant as this was, it backfired. I slept through the entire performance. In a crowd of 1500 drunks, I took a nap. How cool am I?

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The One Where I Freak Out

I’ll admit. I’m a decent traveler. I know how to behave on a plane. The problem is all the time before the trip. I don’t like surprises and rather have things planned out. Unfortunately I’m a lousy planner. Combine these two facts and you’re left with stress. Our trip we’ve been planning for 9 months is only 9 days away. This suddenly occurred to me today.

I am now in research, desperate planning mode. Don’t get me wrong; I’m excited beyond words for this trip. However, information assimilation is exhausting!

We have a lot planned, but nothing I have previous experience with. Trip highlights included going to Comic-Con (con-virgin here!) and live tapings of Craig Ferguson (a fellow foreigner/naturalized citizen!) and Conan O’Brien (ZOMG! Tonight Show). Somewhere in between these adventures will/may be Disneyland, Seaworld, or Universal Studios Tour. If I don’t come back dead, broken, or sun burnt, this trip will definitely be a success. I just need to chill out until I get there.

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Propa Lang Skilz R Crucial

Like flocks of geese, large groups of people worry me. Ignoring the obvious crowd issues, the bigger problem is when they have too much in common. Every group needs some balance. You’ll end up with a more interesting and functional group.

I exercise at a female only facility. Yeah, there are benefits, but it's strange. I like to talk about twitter (they need to be exposed). Usually this leads to some old fashioned bigotry (regarding twitter, text messages, or online communication). Last time these concerns came up: Poor spelling, social dysfunction, and stupidity. I wondered if I should walk away? Argue (again) that phones and voicemail are an obsolete technology?

I tried to explain why twitter helped communication instead of hurt. I tried comparing text messages to voicemail. Their argument: think of the children. So an 8-year old who things text speak is proper grammar is why you abandon text messaging? A kid victim to cyber stalking is a reason to abandon the Internet? Please.

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