enfinblue's Bluey (credit to Fifi for the nickname!) Diaryland Diary

"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." -Vinc3nt V@n Gogh

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International HAGGARD woman of mystery

OH MY GOD

Do you know that when I was in Rome on the 4th I was thinking that I should have called United and routed myself out of Rome...but then I didn't do it?

ACKKKKKKKKKKKKKK...

I just got home, NOW, i.e. at 2 a.m. on the 8th of January. It might not escape you that I left for the Florence airport at 4 a.m. Eastern Standard time on the 6th of January.

Yes!

I got to the Florence airport and a very unhelpful agent told me that I had to get on the flight to Frankfurt at that point, but that my United flight from Frankfurt to Washington had mysteriously been canceled.

So I got to Frankfurt and had to wait in a customer service line for THREE HOURS to get a hotel voucher. I slept in Frankfurt and then got to the airport only to wait for yet another LATE flight to Washington.

I did eventually get to Washington, but I missed my connection to Ottawa and had to wait - after spending an hour clearing customs - for nearly another 8 hours before we took off for Ottawa (in some doubt). And then when I got to Ottawa I had to wait in a taxi queue snaking all around the airport, because a bunch of flights had been canned and we still have a bus strike going on here.

Oh and there was a big snow storm here today.

Yes. And I've been sick the whole time. Though I am doing not so badly. So I missed work yesterday! Also, I haven't eaten or slept properly in hours. I must say that although the customer service people were very efficient and I have no complaints about last night's service in Frankfurt, I was NOT impressed with United's food. I mean, WHO gives people a white bread sandwich with a piece of bologna and a piece of cheese, accompanied by a chocolate bar and a bag of chips as a MEAL???

Also, I had to pay for wine on the plane, which always annoys me. :) (At this point you're free to crack a joke about WHICH wine, missy, you expected to have served with a BOLOGNA sandwich.) Next time, for sure, I am flying Swiss again or even Air France. I am also not routing through the U.S. Not that I have anything against the U.S., of course, but it is always more complicated to go through the U.S. I should have thought of this and paid the extra couple of hundred to fly Swiss back from Zurich to Montreal. Much more efficient and FREE WINE! And FREE CHOCOLATE! And European pastries!

I really want to be a European, as if you didn't know that.

I love so many things about North Americans. North Americans are very reliable in so many ways. And they are generally very generous and nice. But the flair...and the NO FREE BOOZE THING...

IN other but tangentially related news, the world is a fucking depressing place, is it not???

I was sitting in the airport in Frankfurt this morning reading about Adolphe Merckl3 suiciding and the goings on in Gaza. Add in the even WORSE news re. the U.S. economy than expected...I really don't want to know what I'm going to see when I get to work tomorrow.

I did have a nice breakfast this morning with a very cool American woman who I WISH had been on my flight (she went to Chicago instead). She is exactly my age and recently met a German and is getting married. She had done a month in Florence a few years ago and we got along like a house on fire. Too bad.

Last night in Frankfurt two Germans tried to pick me up. One was my age but I think he was thinking, "Meh, my plane was canceled, maybe I can get some action." I ignored him, even though he was very spiffy - in that German-young businessman-whose-mother-buys-his-shirts sort of way. (C's mother still buys his shirts, and I'll admit that she has excellent taste.) The other was a young cutie waiter who kept on bringing me free beers. I also politely declined. What's up with the young dudes lately? (*Note: Germans get points for offering free beer with our canceled flight complimentary meal, although demerits for charging money for either wine or coffee or tea. Welcome to Frankfurt?!?)

Did I happen to mention that I did kiss the French Canadian dude on New Year's Eve? Nothing beyond a kiss, mind you, but I figured why the hell not let him as we walked through the broken glass in the Piazza della Signoria at 4 a.m. and then along the Arno? SO it seems that Florence is lucky for me, because I've kissed some boy every time I've been there, without even planning to do so in the first place at all. (And I can't seem to kiss ANY boys in Ottawa. Hmmm..) Last time of course it was TWO boys. Do you think that I should mention to M. when he inevitably gets off his ass and writes me that I kissed a boy exactly half his age this time? ;-)

Seriously, it was nothing serious. It was sweet, actually. I honestly felt that it was serendipity that I had had that conversation with that guy, because it gave me an anchor with which to keep myself steady through the M. storm.

On the plane I kept on thinking about what I'm going to do. To be honest, I want to have it out with M. and give him a piece of my mind. I'm guessing that that is not the right thing to do, but I'm so annoyed with the mixed messages. I need some closure on this one.

Having said that, I'm looking at his wonderful gift and I understand that he doesn't want to get hurt. He probably knows better than I do. When I was sitting in Frankfurt talking with that American woman who is going to marry the German who is exactly one year older than she is (i.e. he's 39), I was thinking that I want the same thing and I want to have a kid of my own. I think that M. is right - I'd be a pretty good mother. But seriously, HOW is this to be done without completely compromising myself??? Really. I need some higher power on my side. At the same time, when I was in Rome, I felt a strong pull to get an international job. WHAT TO DO???

Have I mentioned that I really, really hate my hair cut? At first I thought the hairdresser had done a good job by lightening it up but really it is a hack job. I look terrible since he thinned it out so that my wavy hair goes haywire (and not in a good way). Thank goodness that hair grows. Another four months before I feel presentable though, at least.

I'm really babbling now. I'm wondering if I should take a decongestant. Hmm...I just left a message with my boss that I will be in late tomorrow.

Do you know that right now as I'm sitting here I can still hear the sound of a plane landing inside my head - that coasting sound as it slowly loses elevation. (I hate that.) I just realized that I have taken 20 flights between April of last year and tonight. Pretty good (or bad, depending on how you look at it), for a chicken shit.

Well, I should sleep. I really don't feel like sleeping. TO sleep perchance to have nightmares about work. :) Also, when I came into the house I felt sad about R. again.

Let me see if I can post a little video from my trip. I took a whole bunch. Nevermind. I think that will have to wait until tomorrow. :) I must tell you in closing though that it is a testament to how much I love Italy that I am still firmly decided to go back in April, even given the last two hellish days of travel. I'm going to take my course with Joan (yes!) and I think I'm likely to do it WITHOUT seeing M. I am also going to spend some days in Rome. I think I'm going to try to do 3+ weeks, if you can believe it.

So will I still have a job come May?... :)

1:57 a.m. - 2009-01-08

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