Queen of Missed Flights

 “Wait…you missed your flight AGAIN??”

Why, thank you. You may sit down, lowly, responsible subjects who have never missed a flight.

Queen of Missed Flights

I don’t know what happened, but I swear I used to be super time-conscious and responsible. Prior to moving to Binghamton, I’ve only missed a flight once and it was because my first flight was late and I missed my connecting flight. Oh wait, I take that back. I also missed it when I went to the city for the first time last summer because I got caught up doing errands. But see! It’s all related to New York!

Let’s count the times I’ve missed flights since moving to Binghamton:

1. I woke up at 6am…which was when my flight was scheduled to depart.

Granted, I was up late the previous night and had to get up at least by 4am to be able to make it, so I figured I had probably slept through my alarm. Upon further investigation, however, I found that while I did, indeed, set the alarm for 4am, I set it for the wrong day.

 

2. My first flight was delayed and I only had about a 30-minute layover so I ended up being stuck overnight.

Ok, this wasn’t my fault so I’ll give myself a pass on this one.

3. My original flight in the afternoon got canceled and the next flight wasn’t scheduled until around noon the next day. I had plans around noon the next day so I was not ok with this.

Ok, so this also wasn’t my fault but instead of just going, oh shucks, sure I’ll just cancel the plans I had back in LA I decided that no, I didn’t want to cancel so I made it more complicated for myself. I took a Greyhound bus down to JFK airport, which is around 3 hours away from Binghamton, stayed at a hotel, then flew early in the morning. And you know what almost happened? I almost missed my flight. Yes, true story. I think I turned the alarm off instead of hitting snooze but luckily I jolted awake and realized I needed to get my butt to the airport shuttle ASAP. I made it just in time. If I hadn’t…man, that would’ve been a waste in time, money, and effort…

4. I was in the correct terminal waiting for my connecting flight with kitty in tow and then…I missed my flight.

True story.

No, I’m not kidding.

I know, right?? Seriously, I was sitting right there, absorbed in this crappy free book on my kindle, when I looked up and saw that the screen said, “Airplane status: Departed.”

In my defense though:

1. I heard her say, “Boarding passengers with special needs and first class only,” so I waited. I didn’t hear her announce the other zones.

2. I’m used to bigger flights where I see people lining up by the terminal door so it gives me an indication when the rest of us lowly zone 4ers and above are allowed to board and I saw no such thing.

3. There was no final call that I heard AND I’m used to bigger flights where they actually call your name when it’s the final call.

No? Ok, fine. It was totally my fault. But! Silver lining though! Rather than panic or feel the need to sit in a ball on the floor and cry, my thoughts immediately went into planning mode. Do I rent a car and just drive the rest of the way? Do I try to find a connecting flight to a nearby airport and then rent a car and drive the rest of the way? I have to say even though this last one could have totally been avoided, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. I just saw it as an inconvenience and I immediately went into action rather than spend time berating myself. I call that a success! Go me!

😀 😀 😀

Ya gotta be able to laugh at yourself!

 

The Courage in Staying

When people tell me of a change they’re planning on making, whether it’s a move, job change, or anything really, I get excited for them and tend to encourage them to go for it. It’s like, yay! Go! Adventure! Embrace change! Change is good!

Hopefully, I don’t come across as pushy or being supportive only if their final decision is to make the change. The truth is, I support whatever decision that person makes if it’s what will ultimately make him or her happy. I think the important part isn’t whether or not you decide to make the change; I think it’s really about being open to the possibility and really thinking about which option is better for you.

I’ve got a friend who’s torn about leaving here and moving to Texas because she feels like she just established herself, just found some pretty awesome people and found love for the crossfit kool-aid. I know exactly how that feels since that was pretty much my situation shortly before moving here. My response to her is that these awesome people she just met (like moi!) will make an effort to stay in touch and that if her heart tells her to go to Texas, she should definitely go for it. Of course I’m going to miss her, especially given that we’ve just recently started to hang out and get to know each other, but hey! That’s what airplanes and road trips are for!

Then I have two other friends who were considering quitting their jobs and taking another job position elsewhere. Both of them were leaning heavily towards taking the other position, for the usual reasons: tired of the current job, felt like they needed the change, seemed to have more opportunities, etc. And of course, my natural inclination being to encourage people to go for it, I was very supportive and encouraging for them to make a change. Then after some thought and self-reflection, they both realized that they actually didn’t want to leave. The other opportunity wasn’t actually as good as it seemed, and I am proud of them for being able to look at what seemed like a new golden opportunity and say, “you know what, nah. What I have is actually pretty damn good. I’m going to stay.”

I think it takes a certain courage to be able to say no to something that may seem like such a great opportunity, because at the back of your mind you think to yourself, “but what if this kind of opportunity doesn’t come up again?” The way I see it, opportunities are everywhere. It doesn’t mean you need to take it if the timing isn’t right yet or it’s not quite what you’d like. It’s ok to stay put and not take it. I really believe that when one door closes, another opens. And if not, well shit, go for the window.

The Flying Kitty – Part 1

Last weekend I went back to LA to pack my things from my apartment to get ready to move it into storage. I know that I “moved” to Binghamton, NY back at the end of January but it didn’t feel real until now. Now I actually have to go through the process of packing my stuff and bringing the kitties over (one at a time), the latter of which makes me happy and anxious at the same time. Happy for obvious reasons but anxious because I’m so afraid they’re going to run off when I have to carry them in my arms when I go through airport security.

Freedom!

Although my cats have gotten a bit on the chunky side since my roommate has been taking care of them (God bless him for doing that for me) so it will probably be more like this:

I..can…fitz…

I was just nervous about the whole weekend and the upcoming one because I’m just hoping things will go smoothly. I needed to pack the majority of my things by this past weekend so that things will be pretty much ready to be moved by the moving company this upcoming weekend. The packing went surprisingly well. In fact, although I expected this to be an errand trip, I still managed to hang out with some of the girls from my old crossfit box (I miss them 😦 ), still managed to have amazing food, get my wax on (good-bye, caterpillar eyebrows!), get a massage, and go out to dinner with my cousin and roommate for my cousin’s birthday. And because I love food, I just have to share some pictures.

Dinner with my roommie on Friday night at Bru Grill & Market:

Brick Oven Roasted Chicken Seared in Rendered Duck Fat

Breakfast with my roommie on Saturday morning at my favorite breakfast joint in Lake Forest, Break of Dawn (no, not Breaking Dawn as in the Twilight series):

Mac & Cheese (top), Beef Brisket with Merlot Poached Eggs (bottom)

And saving the best for the last (also because it really was the last – hah!), dinner with my cousin and roommie on Saturday night at Cucina Enoteca at the Irvine Spectrum:

Appetizer: Mediterranean Mussels

Sides: Burnt Brussels Sprout + Ivan’s Hot Sauce (left), Farmer’s Market Vegetable: Cauliflower Goodness (right)

Entrees: Spicy Shrimp Puttanesca Angel Hair (left), Brick Oven Roasted Whole Fish (middle), Veal ‘Saltimbocca’ (right)

Dessert: Roasted Strawberry Fregolata

I love food so much! It just makes me so happy!

So then Sunday comes along and I am just so nervous. I went through the plan in my head as soon as I woke up then executed. Breakfast. Check. Give the kitty who’s traveling with me some drugs. Check. Put the harness on the kitty. Check. Put on my catlady outfit number 1. Check.

Put cat in carrier. Che–Dammit, Cooper! That is NOT how you’re coming with me!

Once I put him in the carrier, it was show time. I was so incredibly nervous. At one point, I looked at my hands and they were shaking. Then I realized I was being overdramatic and tried to calm myself down. After all, Cesar Millan says the pet owner must be calm and assertive because the animal can sense that.

It actually went ok. He didn’t try to run off when I had to carry him through security and he only meowed once when we landed in our connecting flight. He was such a good boy. I was a proud cat momma.

A well-behaved Cooper on the airplane

Now I’ve got one more errand weekend to go and one more cat to bring…then I get to worry about other things. Yay! Lol

On a serious note, with my cats being here it’s all becoming real now, the whole idea that I’ve made a choice to stay here on the east coast. And with this reality check comes the anxiety and stress due to my uncertainty and instability. I am not one to go with the flow. As my friend told me last night when I called her freaking out, I’m pretty linear. I really, really don’t like instability. I don’t like not knowing what the end of the year is going to be like. I’m ok with plans changing, as long as I can re-plan things. Luckily, once I talked to my friend and I got a better understanding of why I’m feeling the way I do, my normal mode of thinking kicked in and I do what I always do when I’m stressed out. I made a plan.

I anticipate many more decision sheets will be filled out in the upcoming weeks. 😛 I just need to breathe, take it one step at a time, and remember that everything’s going to be alright.

 

Do you like your surprises as an appetizer or as a dessert?

“I guess I should start out by saying that I will no longer be your manager.”

My reaction:

Followed shortly by:

That’s how my current manager started the conversation and throughout the rest of the conversation the shock was still with me so I wasn’t fully there. I’m not sure if it would’ve been better if he saved that for the end of the conversation though because I’m pretty sure I would’ve sensed something was coming and I would’ve been distracted throughout the conversation trying to figure it out. I guess there isn’t a delicate or easy way to deliver shocking news like that. Personally, I like doing the sandwich method, where you start the conversation on something mundane like the weather, deliver the shocking news, then carry on as if you didn’t just say something shocking. It reminds me of the following conversation I had with a friend of mine when I was trying to tell her I made the excellent decision to go back to my ex:

FRIEND: So how’s everything going?

ME: Oh everything’s pretty good! I’m getting ready for summer so I decided to buy a patio set for my balcony. I’ve decided to go back to my ex. Yeah, the patio set was pretty cheap at Big Lots, you should totally go there if you’re looking to buy some reasonably priced furniture.

FRIEND: …wait, what?

ME: I said that Big Lots is a surprisingly great place to buy reasonably priced furniture.

I really like my current manager, although we aren’t close like my manager and I were at my previous job. Plus, I’m unsure whether or not I like my soon-to-be new manager. Putting the emotional aspect aside though and trying to look at the big picture, when he was describing to me the reorganization that is going on with our company, I wasn’t sure (still not) if this will be for the better or for the worse. I’ve known that change was coming but I naively thought I wouldn’t be affected. Now don’t get me wrong, I typically embrace change and welcome it. It’s just that I’m not really sure about this one. I haven’t quite put my finger on it but something feels off. I think once my shock wears off I’ll do what I do best and write things out – pros and cons, what my misgivings are, observations since being put in my current job position, etc. I will also take advantage of my new closeness with one of the newly appointed chief engineers and get his take on it. Now that I’ve had this talk with my soon-to-be former boss, I recall that the chief engineer had mentioned something to me about a change coming and this could be it.

The chief engineer is currently on a flight somewhere, there’s supposed to be a team-wide meeting later on this week, so really there’s not much for me to do as far as information gathering other than waiting, which I am oh-so-good at (NOT!). Since I’m not good at simply waiting, I’ll probably organize my thoughts on paper when I get home to try and figure out what’s off about this whole thing and what it is I’m looking for as far as my career goes. Damn type A personality, why can’t I simply relax??

I wonder if this is part of the thing I feel like I’m missing that’s going to help me figure out what’s going to happen in the future, and by future I mean the end of this year (I can’t even go beyond that at this point). If so, I’m excited! I think I’m going to think of it that way instead of worrying about the unknown, which I tend to do. Breathe, girl, just breathe. Think happy thoughts.

 

 

I’m in Miami, trick!

It was actually during my trip to Miami that I decided to start this blog and document my adventures since moving to Binghamton, which is why if it seems like I’m going on several trips in one week it’s really because I’m posting about current events and backlogging at the same time. I mean, yes, I’ve been doing things almost every weekend, but not as many as it may seem. 😛

I went on this trip with my girls around April, when it was already officially spring. I bring this up because it was pretty incredible to me how moody the weather can be around here during that time. It was around 78 degrees F the weekend prior to my trip but the day I flew to Miami the weather was like this:

Which was fine with me because I knew what I had waiting for me in Miami, and I wasn’t disappointed:

My friends flew in a day before me so I met up with them at our hotel. Their reaction to me was priceless. Although it had only been around three months since I saw one friend and one month since I last saw the other, they didn’t recognize me at first. It was kinda like this:

 

Apparently, in the short amount of time I had spent in real winter, I had turned from this:

to this:

Once we all got over my inadvertent transformation, we went up to our room and I got greeted with this wonderful view from our balcony:

I was so happy. Being greeted by that view every morning, hearing the waves crash every night as I fall asleep…it was such a wonderful trip!

And of course, it wouldn’t be a great trip if it didn’t include great food and great drinks!

I would like to thank these two friends in particular for introducing me to the ways of the foodie. If not for them, I would still be walking around, blind, eating food only to sustain rather than enjoying each delectable bite and savoring each meal like it’s my last. I have started a lifelong love affair with food.

Alas, after a little less than a week of laying out by the beach, eating at wonderful places (I highly recommend eating at Pub Belly – that’s where the food collage was taken from), having quite a few cocktails and glasses of wine, and exploring the night life, it was time for us to go back to our respective homes. My friends had an early flight but mine wasn’t until around noon, so I decided to take one last walk along the beach before heading to the airport.

God, it was beautiful. I love my girls. I love my life. Life is beautiful. 🙂

My First Cannoli

I want to start off by saying that I can’t believe I’ve never had a cannoli before now. I first learned about the cannoli when I was watching an episode of Cake Boss where they had to make hundreds of cannolis for the annual 25 cents Throwback Cannoli Day. This episode aired in July of 2009. It is now June of 2014. Like I said, I’m not sure why it’s taken me this long to try one considering I’ve been curious about it since watching that one episode.

In any case, I popped my cannoli cherry this weekend at the Italian festival in Endicott, NY, known as St. Anthony’s Italian Feast Days.

There were several food vendors, games for the little ones, live music, and wonderful home-made treats.

Aside from the cannoli, which was really freakin’ good, the tiramisu was also the best I’ve ever had. Normally, I’m not really a dessert person but it was just so delicious I took more than my usual one bite. It didn’t have too much rum, it wasn’t too sweet, the cake wasn’t too spongy…it was heaven in one bite. Ok, it was more like two. Ok, fine. Three. I also tried these things called Spiedies, which is marinated chicken, lamb, or beef on top of some type of Italian bread. They only had lamb Spiedies at the festival so I had that and because I am also wheat-sensitive, it was my intent to just have the lamb and maybe taste a little of the bread. Nope. The bread, while very ordinary-looking, tasted phenomenal so I decided to just suffer the consequences later. I’ll be back on my strict health-nut eating the rest of the week, I promise, body.

I had a lot of fun at the festival. I even ran into someone I knew that I didn’t meet at the gym! Speaking of my gym, the whole reason I knew about the festival is because they had mentioned it to me last minute earlier that day. I have to say, now that it’s gotten warmer and more events are going on (we all went to the Greek Festival last week) it’s really nice to be going out as a group. I mean, I see them pretty much everyday at the gym but it’s just nice to see them outside of the gym too. I also found out that one couple is also a foodie and wino so I have even more people to hit up when the foodie in me wants to play!

It was also really nice when one of them talked to me about how I could actually move here. He asked me what I did because he was thinking that there could be something in his company for me. It didn’t seem to be the case, but I was really touched that he genuinely wanted to help me out. Him, my co-worker, and my co-worker’s wife have all tried thinking of ways to help me…it’s just such a strange but wonderful feeling to have just met people who already genuinely care about me. I mean, I’ve only been here since the end of January, which makes it a little less than 6 months. I lived in Lake Forest for over 6 months and it wasn’t until shortly before I moved to Binghamton when I started to get close to people. I’ve been here in less time and I’m already way past that. It’s amazing. I can see what my friends who are originally from the east coast mean when they say that east coasters are different. I mean, I love my west coast peeps, but unless you’ve already found your bubble, which I’m very fortunate to have even now being far away, it’s very difficult to meet people who will become your genuine friends. Just to give an example, the only people I still keep in regular contact with from back home are the people in my awesome bubble and my family. Even the ones I was starting to get close to in Lake Forest I haven’t talked to as much as when I first moved. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge them or anything. It’s just an observation and one that makes me even more grateful for having met these wonderful people. I could be wrong. If I end up moving back (which I highly doubt) or moving someplace else in the east coast I could very well lose contact with my new friends. But I don’t think so. At least, not the handful of people that I already feel very close to.

I’m not sure why I’m even thinking about that though. You know, since I’ll be moving here and that theory won’t ever get tested. 😉

Things I Miss About LA

Before I go into my list, I want to first make it clear that I love being here in Binghamton, I really do. There’s no sarcasm here. It’s just that I’d be lying if I said there was nothing I missed about being in sunny, beautiful southern California.

That being said, below is a list of things I miss about home. I’m probably going to sound like a spoiled, materialistic little brat, but this is how I really feel…

1. My car.

Yes, I really do miss Caden (I named my car – even looked up names in a baby book). I didn’t realize I was a car person until I would get in my rental car (before Monstrosity) and genuinely feel sad each time.

2. My babies.

It wasn’t so bad when I was staying at the hotel but my first night at my apartment I felt really lonely. The apartment felt so empty and I just felt really sad. They’re coming here soon though so this one is getting crossed off the list!

2. Yelp.

When I first moved here and I hadn’t made too many friends yet, it wasn’t that big of a deal to me because I’m pretty independent and good at figuring out things to do on my own. I decided one day that I felt like getting a massage, so I turned to Yelp. See my dilemma here? I had no idea where to go. The same went for looking up places to eat, although there were at least some reviews.

This isn’t as big of a deal now that I’m meeting people who can tell me where to go, but when I first got here I was like, “But…but…how am I supposed to know where to go?? You mean I need to actually talk to people??” Lol!

3. Various conveniences.

When I first moved to Binghamton in the middle of real winter, my body said, “WTF is this shit” and went into strike. In other words, I got sick. I really wanted to get an immune boosting juice so I went to Yelp to try to find a juice bar…then I discovered that (a) people don’t use Yelp (see item 2 above), and (b) there are no juice bars around here…

Aside from the juice bar, know what else I miss? Being able to walk into a massage place and getting a massage then and there. Here, you have to make an appointment several days prior…I also miss being able to go get a mani/pedi on a Sunday, having several options for which cafe to work at on a Sunday, or even just eating at a good restaurant on a Sunday. What is up with places being closed on Sundays here?? Don’t you know that people still require services on Sundays??

A friend of mine who is a waitress here was complaining about this one customer who ordered a pomegranate martini. She was like, “Really? A pomegranate martini? Where do you think you are?”

And I was all, you know what, I totally get her, because that’s totally something I would’ve done before I learned that you don’t do that kind of thing here. In fact, I went to The Blind Tiger Pub to watch the Super Bowl and I asked for a drinks menu. I pretty much got the same reaction as my friend probably gave the lady who ordered a pomegranate martini.

4. The Beach

I really took this for granted…I miss smelling the ocean breeze, eating somewhere that overlooks the beach, walking along the beach, and even just knowing that it’s close by…

5. Friends and Family

Of course, I miss my friends and family. Like I mentioned before, my second visit really brought to home the fact that I am now thousands of miles away. I can’t just shoot a text and ask if my cousin wants to join me and some friends for dinner, or call my mom and ask if she wants to go to a festival…but. On the same note, I actually make more of an effort now to stay connected to my friends and family, so that’s the plus of me being so far away.

Now here’s the part that is going to make me sound like a spoiled brat…what I really miss the most is item 3, the conveniences…man, I had it really good back home! I didn’t realize that I was kinda high-maintenance until all of that was taken away from me! I was (still am) really dependent on being able to get things done for me with little effort, like getting my knives sharpened, getting a juice from a juice bar, getting my shoes repaired, and other little things like that. I’m just a little princess, aren’t I? What I’ve noticed is people here actually know how to do stuff, whereas I was just really good at figuring out who can do stuff for me.

Here are some things I’ve heard people say around here:

“Yeah, I’m going to tear this wall down, hang dry wall, then…[I no longer remember what he said because I didn’t understand]”

“Oh yeah, I’m just making the counter top. I just have to fill it with concrete and let it dry. This time I’m not going to put the stone in and make it smooth instead because…[I no longer remember what he said because I didn’t understand]”

Here is what I would say if I needed those things done:

“I looked through Craigslist and various other sites on Google to find someone to do it for me.”

“I looked through Craigslist and various other sites on Google to find someone to do it for me.”

Yeah…I don’t see myself changing any time soon. Like I said, I may love it here and end up living here but…I will always be an LA girl at heart. 😛

Besides…

How you doin’, gorges? – Meeting Watkins Glen for the first time

“You HAVE to go to Watkins Glen. It is absolutely beautiful.”

And so I did. They were right. The beauty just completely blew my mind.

Sadly, it wasn’t a sunny day that day but even so, it was just incredibly gorges (see what I did there? I so funny!).

I must have a thing for drives because even on my way there I was already stunned by how beautiful and green everything was. Looking at all my “drive” photos, it all looks the same but still, it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Once I got there I decided to follow the Gorge trail, which is 1.5 miles each way and fortunately very easy to follow.

And then slowly, but surely, Watkins Glen proceeded to blow my mind.

Over.

And over.

And over again.

It was also cool seeing the Fall Brook Railway and knowing there’s history there.

It was really cool to see that the trail is so well-maintained. They have step stones and stone bridges. They also had this spiral staircase that I thought was pretty neat.

There was a part of the trail where you got to go behind one of the waterfalls. I’m pretty sure I looked like a kid who tasted ice cream for the first time, my smile was so huge! I don’t know why, but I just felt like I got to do something magical by being behind a waterfall. I guess I had always pictured the side of the mountain being behind a waterfall, thus making it inaccessible, so when I went behind this waterfall I felt like I was doing something mischievous. Like, “oooo! Look at me! I’m behind a waterfall even though you said I couldn’t!” Yeah, I don’t know. It was cool. 😛

About halfway through the trail I met someone who hikes there often. He went with me the rest of the way and provided me with fun facts about each site. I pretty much had my own tour guide!

Unfortunately, while I was listening intently at everything he was saying, I have the memory retention of a goldfish at times…I did somewhat remember the story behind the Minnehaha Falls, a waterfall that lands in a heart-shaped pool. I noticed the heart-shaped pool and he explained that it’s called Minnehaha after a Native American woman named Minnehaha (or was it just Haha?) supposedly jumped into the falls after her lover had passed away. Supposedly the heart shape represents her heartbreak. I can’t find this story on Google for the life of me right now so he totally could’ve just been yanking my chain. Regardless, it was an interesting story.

Then he told me that the most picturesque view on this trail was the Triple Cascades. He was right. Even now I’m looking back at this photo in awe.

The waterfall on the left is called Rainbow Falls because when the sun hits it a certain way, it looks like a rainbow on the waterfall. Unfortunately, the sun was being shy that day so I didn’t get to see that for myself, but even so it was beautiful.

The Sentry Bridge marked the end of our tour. He told me that there’s a position opening for a tour guide for the trail and that he hopes he gets it because he loves doing it anyway. I certainly hope he does too. Aside from the fact that I love meeting new people, I really enjoyed hearing some fun facts and learning and I’m sure others would too.

Daddy’s Little Girl

There is one memory in particular that stands out to me with regards to my father and it wasn’t because of a grand gesture or big event either. I was probably around 11 or 12 years old hanging out in his room as he got ready to go somewhere. He was explaining to me how the Philippine National Police worked and how it was similar to the American military in terms of ranking. Unlike the American military, however, you had to retire at the age of 55. My dad at the time was a colonel and was around 47 or 48 years old. With the total candidness of a young girl, I straight up asked him if he thought he was going to make it to General given that he only had a few years left before retirement and it’s extremely difficult to get promoted.

His response?

“Of course.”

No hesitation, no further thought given. He didn’t even stop brushing his hair.

That was a very mundane moment, but an extraordinary memory for me. It’s been over 15 years and the memory of that mundane moment has stuck with me. When you want something, not only do you go for it, you have to believe it as the truth – there is no other option. It’s like, instead of thinking of all the things that are going against you, think about all the things you’re capable of and make it happen. It’s that simple.

My dad retired at the age of 55 years old as a General. 🙂