Oh the places you'll go... and have been.

I found an application on facebook that lets you track all of the countries and cities you've been to. So far I have 252 cities marked and 20 countries. This sounds like quite a lot unless you consider it's been my goal to go to a lot of places. That means I actively look for places to visit but I also keep track of where I've been in order to keep score.

Besides the places I've lived I've had some great jobs that have allowed me to travel. Until recently flight attendant and then in my early 20's I escorted older ladies on cruises. 24 cruises in two and a half years.

an update

Even though I've been in Florida for the past 6 months it hasn't felt like it has before until recently. I'm staying in Sarasota with my bf Reed and going to the beach and coffee shops almost every day. Two things that were missing in Punta Gorda. I've been forcing myself to write on one project every day (instead of adding a little to all of the stories I've collected over the years) and we started a labyrinth in our favorite spot on Lido Key.

I don't know if I'll be able to pursue any legal actions from here so I've been slow to make any decision as to where I'll live or what I'll do for an income. .. but at least the tan is coming along nicely.

So I stabbed him

Apr. 26th, 2005 05:10 pm So I stabbed him.

I realize that anytime a story you're telling gets a little boring you can ad the line "so I stabbed him" or a version of it to spice it up. I saw a comedian say this so I can't claim this as my own but it certainly works. So I'll do that with my post today.

After meeting one of the guys who reads my journal I now run into him often. He's a cutey and fun to talk and it's certainly good for my reputation to be seen talking to him. Jeff and I were at Baja Betty's yesterday and I saw him again there.. we chatted some and had a few laughs. Then I stabbed him.

I'm sitting at one of my favorite coffee shops and there are some interesting characters. One is so skinny she literally looks like a concentration camp victim. one leg is stiff but it's very difficult not to stare at her. Directly across from her is a man who rode in on a motorcycle and has a tattoo covering his entire back (I've seen him before). He tries to be so masculine but he walks like he just took off his prom dress. So I stabbed them both.

My roommate is having a full moon party tonite so I'm avoiding the house. I don't mind really and I'm always invited but they're just too odd for me. He freaks out when he has them and cleans the common areas of our apartment from top to bottom so I don't really mind. But I still stabbed him.

Writing update

I'm working diligently on my memoirs "raised by white trash". I have so much of it done it's really about filing in the blanks and adding the details I skipped over while I was doing the initial draft. What's interesting is that I'm on the part where I'm in 4th grade and I'm getting input from people who were actually there! I'm talking to people I've been trying to ignore for over 30 years.

Change of plans

Ok.. I was working on Invaders of Lame but now I need money and success a little faster. A series of essays I've been writing over the last several years is now in the forefront of my mind. It's called Raised By White Trash and it is of course about me and growing up in Missouri.

I have that plan made but no other real plan. I'm crashing with my boyfriend at his pad in Sarasota Florida. It's cramp and since everyone else in the apt is in his low 20's I feel old. Too old for this!

This chaos has made me work harder to find time and place to write and at least that's been successful so far. I've written a few hours a day.. starting yesterday.

Communication

I remember when I got to make my first phone call. It was on an old wall style phone in our kitchen with a 20 foot cord. My little fingers were barely strong enough to dial my grandmothers number. I remember then how amazing I thought it was that I could talk to anyone that was anywhere with that thing!

Of course "anywhere" meant any home that had a phone. And.. as long as that person was home at the time. If you were expecting an important call you couldn't leave the house until you got it.

Then came answering machines and phones that didn't need machines to answer themselves. This made it easier to get out and about. Nothing much happened until I got a pager. Now I could call someone when they summoned me. From pager I went to cell phone. Not the brick. I had to wait a little longer. I was amazed though. Now I could make or receive a call from anywhere. I didn't have to wait at home for a call.

It was hard to predict the jump from talking to writing to people. Instant message became my method of choice for direct communication. Of course I ended up talking only to people who had a personal computer that they were attached to. From instant message I went to texting and now I'm at the hybrid of the two. Facebook and twitter messages.

I look back to that time of amazement at being able to use the phone and how it closed distances. Now I just pick up my iphone to see if anyone's around.

sigh.. fired

In case you haven't heard you will. I was fired yesterday Monday, June 22. Thanks to everyone who has has called or messaged me. To make things easier I'm going to answer some questions here.

Why did you get fired?

For having my cell phone out during taxi.

Is that it? we all do that?

That's the official reason. I suspect there was more to it and I plan on following up. .. yeah.. I know we all do it.

Who ratted you out and why?

Jonathon Pallas. I know because he's happily telling everyone he can. why? I can only assume he's a lonely bitter nasty man. I was warned before flying with him that he was looking for something to get me on.

Can you use that Peer Review thingy?

I don't know. After reading over the rules there doesn't seem much that can be used for Peer Review.

Did you rat out Carmen Cook?

no. I found out through the grapevine that something similiar had happened to her. I don't know her story. That's for her to tell.

What will you do now?

I'm going to hang out on the beach in Florida for a week before I start whichever process I decide on.

I also want to apologize for some bad advice. Get a union.. get one quick. If you get called in for doing something that you see everyday or something that has confliciting rules and training you're on your own.

I will say I will miss a lot of you beautiful fun people.

Didn't write

Too much on my mind living rent free in my head.

I have been thinking of the details for a cool restaurant in my little town in the setting. I should have written them down so I could be technically productive. I'll do that this afternoon.

Feb. 26th, 2005 01:47 am Tackle face

I saw a woman in the coffee shop where I like to go to write. She had both sides of her nose pierced. the top of her lip, the bottom of her lip and that little chin piercing. Basically creating a straight line in her face made of hardware. She caught me looking and rolled her eyes and gave me attitude. Now tell me... who'd do that to their face then be pissed if people look? If I see her again I'm putting fridge magnets on her mouth.

uh oh.. seems I haven't changed much

here's an excerpt from my old live journal. I seem to have a recurring theme!

Feb. 8th, 2005 08:25 am Knocking around

Yesterday I started my taxes and what do I find in the mail? a 1099 for a prize from a game show that I forfeited. Now I have to wade through this mess if the show is even still on the air. It sucked pretty bad.

I tried to play Evita yesterday which I only have on VHS and lo and behold my VCR isnt' hooked up! I've gone quite a while without watching a videotape I guess. As a matter of fact I pulled PowerTool out and I didn't even know I had that. ( I like the classics )

I spent a lot of yesterday bouncing around writing projects I'm working on. I put in a lot of raw infor for a book that's barely past idea form that I want to call "how to scam an American". Talking about the scams and lies we see and don't see and how sometimes we just accept them and move on.

I looked over a contract for a law friend. He wrote it late at night and wanted to make sure he didn't go braindead and it all made sense the next day.

One of my friends is about to get screwed by his future ex-roommate so I've been keeping track of all the red flags we've seen in his personality that would let him justify it to himself. I started keeping track of culture and personality traits that keep people undermining themselves and keeping them poor. The basic things are pretty evident.. not thinking past next week.. too much emphasis on buying products that they think give them status but really just suck down their funds... Save a buck today that coast them 30 bucks tomorrow.. etc.

But that makes my brain hurt sometimes so I'm going to watch Fairly Oddparents today.

I am back from the hunt!

I'm in California today. San Mateo California which is near the airport. The hotel is nice enough but the surrounding neighborhood is loud, dirty and a bit run down. There isn't much in the way of restaurants but I had to get out and I had to eat. A bottle of not too bad wine and a frozen meatloaf dinner are my spoils.

I'm in CA for a meeting at the corporate office. I've been suspended with pay for a little over a week and Monday I find out if I still have my job. It's a long in depth story that of course I'll have to write but not today. If I end up fired I'll have plenty of time to write about it then.

My plan is to eat my now cooling frozen dinner have a glass of wine... or in this case a coffee cup of wine.. or two. I have the skeleton of my current story constructed. Plot, characters, setting and even an epiphany.

The meeting isn't until Monday so I have all weekend to sit around. Even though I'm here near San Francisco I'm probably not going to go much further than where I can walk from the hotel. If I still have my job I plan on coming back with my boyfriend for vacation so I can explore San Fran more then. Besides.. it's cold and windy.

yeah write.

I wrote! and I wrote quite a bit. Actually writing this time though. Not just the sittin' around thinking about writing kind. I'm flying today from Southwest Florida to San Francisco so I have my old school writing gear (pen and paper) and some ideas.

I have a lot on my mind today and for some people that can be a distraction. For me though it gives me a reason to be distracted and I actually write more. I have a plot outline and some pretty good characters so now it's a matter of stringing everything together. My goal today is another chapter.

We went out on the boat yesterday. It was the usual skiing, snorkeling and drinking. It was a pretty cool day but the "this is cool" moment came that night. We headed up to the quirky "real florida" restaurant up the Peace River called the Nav-a-gator.. even saw a very large alligator on the way... for some food and probably another drink... or two.

On the way back the tide had gone down and navigating the river became a little more tedious. Usually that means being careful to run aground in the soft muddy shallows. Last night however we did more than run aground.. we ran over a crab trap. One prop was completely encased in chicken wire and for some reason a beer can.

This wasn't as devastating as it could have been. It meant we had to limp back to the dock with one engine at idle speed. It also meant our captain was going to hang over the back of the boat with dull wire cutters freeing up the engine. After seeing the huge alligator nobody was too excited about jumping in at night and helping out.

We've been up and down the river several times but this slow pace made for different perspective. The shoreline had a few campers so from time to time we'd see a light twinkle through the trees and one or two campfires. The water was as smooth as glass in most places and there was enough ambient light to reflect the trees. It felt more like floating through a jungle river in South America than in the retirement capital of the US.

To accent the effect clouds high up were giving a lightning show. Not the kind that strikes the ground but the type of lightning that flashes across the sky in veins and lights up the entire landscape. It was a very "this is cool" moment... except for out Capt who was still straddling the motor face down wrestling with a ruined crab trap.

I want brown feet.

I don't tan as dark as I used to. I don't know if it's because my skin has changed or if it's the fact I just can't spend all the hours I used to at the pool or in tancentric conditions.

Even in California I found it harder to keep my tan. June Gloom days and cold ocean water just reduces opportunities. Back in FL though I don't know why I can't get a rich cancer riddled leathery look that seems to be so popular here among women over 60.

As a child the semi-public pools were our babysitter in the summer. We'd be dropped off in the mornings with a few dollars and picked up 7 or 8 hours later. By August my hair had lightened and my skin had darkened to about the same color. My hair doesn't fade evenly though so I often had the look of a brindle cat. An effect no hairdresser has been able to recreate.

In Florida before I was a full time massage therapist and loved it when my hands were darker colored than my clients. Most of all though I like when my feet are tan. I think tan feet are the ultimate in tanning. It says not only can I play outside.. but I can play outside barefoot.

A snapshot in life moment.

The plan yesterday was to grab my notebook and my boyfriend and head to the beach to do some writing or take some notes for "Invaders". It seemed like the good idea. The boyfriend is an illustration student working on some projects and can really work about anywhere that has a flat surface and sufficient lighting. It's not ideal that I'm not typing in my work but it's not completely unproductive to put it on paper either.

We grabbed food for lunch, packed the backpack with towels, notebooks and sunscreen and decided on the beach. Then we got the call from a friend that there was a boat trip being planned. It seems he expected us to drop all of our plans and just go out on the boat for the day. Which we did.

Not much illustration got done and not much work on Invaders got done.. however it was a great experience and I did get a little further on my tan. I'm alone today so it's a good day to actually write.

Did I write today? Not unless you count this

I came up with a few more ideas to make the characters richer in Invaders of Lame but didn't even put pen to paper. Though I did buy a new pen.. and looked at new paper.

Sometimes I beat myself up about going a day or two without writing but in reality it does help me run things through my head and deepen the values of my stories. Especially when I'm out walking around.

So I walked around today thought about writing.... that's something... right?

A point in time.

Every once in a while I'll take a moment to find out exactly where I am. It's not as interesting at the time but it's been very helpful over the years to look back and use these points in time as a sort of time line. It's often hard to find if I'm moving forward or moving backward. It is obvious that I'm moving.

Where:
I'm in Southwest Florida in a hotel on the water. The company I work for has put me here and I've been here for about 6 months now. This is my last month however so vacation is coming and I'm planning on travel. DC, Boston, LA, San Diego, a cruise?.. still figuring it all out.

Love Life:
Dating someone.. he's staying here in the hotel with me.

Project:
Working on The Invaders of Lame.. I'm sure it will be an instant classic if I get past the first chapter.

A new blog

A new blog is like a fresh sheet of paper in a new notebook or a blank page on a word processing program. I've done this many of times and have piles of notebooks and piles of data files of mishmash thoughts and rantings, Observations on life and business and over 200 characterizations s and story lines. Now here we go again.

So for this blog my intent is to organize my thoughts, chronicle the writing process and have a place for the all of the ideas that have been living rent free in my head up until now. Time to get serious, make some real money and get organized.... probably.