And she travels...

SO let us see.

Chicago and the midwest in September.
Upstate gorgeous NY end of September/start of October.
San Fran for a short trip.
San Diego for a shorter trip.

And that is my travel schedule this fall. I call it "travel light" as it is no where NEAR the craziness I did last year. Which is odd given my boss's maternity leave and desire to stay closer to home. Which, by the by, if I had a daughter HALF as adorable as Natalie, I would so totally stay home all the time too.

Yeah and I said it. Time to check out what specifically I should DO in those places. San Fran is covered (thanks to my better half) but for a hot second we were going to do Disneyland on the San Diego trip. The NERVE of them there folks closing down Alice in Wonderland AND Its a Small World at the same time. Like it would ever be a trip to Disney without a float through Its a Small World...

I am so swamped

Well not really.  But I like to pretend I'm just too busy.  Yeah right.  So I should take some photos, get packed, get to work, go to dinner...all the usual stuff.  But I leave for Chicago in t-minus not enough hours.  I know...get offline and get it all done.  Right.

Tomorrow

I just realized is Friday the 13th. Which is good cause it takes one of those once in a blue moon occurences (evidently) for me to hook up with one of my fave people in the world. World, meet Liisa. And yeah, she spells it like that. Which is why she is totally one of my fave people.

Pizza (on a diet...that will go over swell after what I had today) and a drive in rush hour traffic. She is so totally worth it. And then some.

Cause she does stuff like this:

Person X is not so much. Person X overheard Liisa talking to someone else I really DO like about me. Person X is all "Ohh...you're talking about B? She is cool people and she is one of my fave people in the world." My Liisa senses the disconnect. My Liisa doesn't let it slide. And I think my Liisa would be pissed at me laying claim to her all like this, but my Liisa (not YOUR Lisa) knows me like that. Anyhow...I digress.

I was saying.

My Liisa called her out. straight up. In one of those smart people ways. See...I'm straight hood. So I would have said something like "Girl...you don't know her." Liisa is slick. She's a bit (okay, a LOT) hood too, but she says:

"Ohhhh...so which was your fave picture from her blog??"

[silence]

"You know...pic your fave, win some pics??"

[more silence]

"...from her trip with Robert..."

[some silence, but then...] "Who's Robert?"

"Yeah."

To the person she was originally talking to I imagine something like "The look" whereby they both knew this person didn't know/like/care about me for Adam. How do you love someone like that and not know she went on a trip? Or the name of the man she's been with for 2 years? Really now. Course, I didn't know till yesterday that Liisa had moved to Alaska for a hot month but I'm a hot mess and I roll like that. And she loves me still. And I will always love her. For that alone.

In regular life

Ahhh...Sunday. Yes, I know it is Monday. But Sunday. See, Saturday, I spent most of the day holed up in my scrap hole trying to dig out from under the mess so I could see a table again. Almost. Sunday, I woke up to do much of the same. But my better half was bored. Wanted to know how I would entertain him. Alas, everytime we began to think of a bike ride, the weather went to...well...it went to Typical Seattle. To the point that 5 folks up north were struck by lightening. Talk about an electrical evening.

So instead, I finished up the scrap cleaning and then we made lunch. Burgers (veggie for me, thanks) and tater tots. I love tater tots. That and Kraft Mac and Cheese. I could be a happy girl with just those for a while. And maybe some peanut butter toast. And watermelon. Oh...and frozen gogurt pops. I think that's it. Water. With some lemon on it. Oh and for lunch...pho and mushroom garden rolls. I digress.

So we ate lunch and made a list and checked it twice. Then it was off to free lunch Sunday at Costco (love all the samples!) but we went to shop. We were both way off on the guesstimate at the end, but so it goes. Then, we left there and went to "the regular grocery store" to get the stuff we don't need annual supplies of--you know...hair gel, deodorant, veggies...although we did buy grapes at Costco.

After that, we went home. And though we tried not to, it was nap time. For some of us at least. I did manage to get a digi layout almost done. Was playing with some filters and totally diggin' a new non-scrap site and got some really great stuff done. Then I put it away. And we had dinner. Again, the better half whipped up a wicked great combination. Me, not being a fish gal, LOVED the salmon. I love our GF grill...totally. I like the regular one too, but the GF just keeps everything so moist. I could so become a fish girl. Anyhow, after that, it was time to get the clothes put up (trust, this is an accomplishment in and of itself) and then I hopped into bed and tried to read. Fell asleep. Slept very well. Woke up early enough (today) to get to work at a respectable hour. And my hair is not a wreck today and I managed to decently coordinate an outfit. I think I will return to hanging my clothes up by outfit as opposed to individually (ie, a shirt and slacks together instead of separately)...makes the mornings much easier.

And here we are...Monday morning. Almost 11...almost halfway through the day...and of course blue skies since it isn't the weekend after all.

Here's to a great week!

Seriously, Tibet.

Okay. I'm a bad blogger. I know this. It might have something to do with perfectionism and not doing it until it is complete and done but forgetaboutallthat.

Go. No RUN. To this place here:

Tibet Meanderings.

Meander the site for all the verbage. Seriously. Relive the trip with me.

For those who are visual learners, go here instead:

Tibet Photos.

The photos are mostly from our SLR shots (shared camera...fun...when the P&S batteries die and you can't figure out that you need to leave the key in the slot for the electricity to work to charge it) and a few P&S pics too.

This is fun stuff. Why are you still here??

And Then There was Tank Man

Last night, R and I were sitting around being lazy bums. It is summer and there is only summer tv so we got to watch some crap like American Inventor. No disrespect to the fans but really. Invent something already and stop being a reality tv ho!

Anyhow, I digress. We were futively flipping through the DVR recordings when we came upon a replay of a VERY GOOD Frontline episode. Think 60 minutes but BETTER. This particular one was on The Tank Man. You know...the dude who stopped the tanks in Tiananmen Square? Back in 89? Well, let me tell you more.

So. One of the first notes on this program is about how as they are filming the episode, they are stopped by everyone and their mama in uniform requesting to see papers--what are you doing here? Why are you filming? Never mind the irony of the fact that that place...Tiananmen Square...has more cameras than a slot room in Vegas. Anyhow, they delve into the story which is all about the back story of why most of us Westerner's know Tiananmen Square. I was what...12 years old when I saw on tv the dude standing in front of the tank. It wasn't until last night that I came to understand the back side of what all of that was about.

When we went to China, R was all about "there is no violence here, there are severe consequences for it". Until I watched the Frontline episode, I had no idea. I mean yeah, I was OUTRAGED when I watched the LA Immigration protests that turned into a police state beat down of everyone from the kids to the journalists. I was furious. But they were using rubber bullets and tear gas. Crappy stuff, no doubt. But they were not spraying through the streets with live amunition. They were not crunching over hundreds--check that THOUSANDS--of people with tanks.

I never knew. I would have been a crying wreck while I was there if I had known.

Watching Frontline after coming back from there was just so DIFFERENT. Before, I would have had this detached interest--I always love shows like that which educate and open my eyes to things going on. Most times I say "That's a shame" and move on. But last night, I understood.

When they talked about the 10 minutes of complete darkness when the lights went out the evening of June 4 in Tiananmen Square, I FELT that and understood how scary the dark could be in China.

When they talked about the throngs and throngs of people marching through the streets, I FELT that and understood what an army of 300,000 might look like in context.

When they talked about the injured being carted away on carts attached to the back of bicycles, I FELT that and understood why there was not enough room for cars or much less ambulances.

When they talked about being a journalist and getting "caught" taking pictures and having to hide the film in the toilet and come back for it later, I FELT that and understood why I felt so apprehensive taking pictures in that country.

But most of all, when they talked about the amazing speed of growth in China and the 200 million people who are now middle class, tie wearing, import car driving, children attending Beijing University and not having any IDEA what 1989 Tiananmen was all about, I FELT that and understood why I was so floored by what the Chinese are doing in Tibet.

History repeats itself. Over and over and over again.

The crux of the show was "Where is he now?" Who was the tank man? Why didn't the gov't make a show of executing him? Is he still alive? At first I thought "Surely, they would have made a show out of someone who dissed the government so publicly." But then my super analyst bf (that's why he's so good at what he does) was all "Nope, why make him out to be some superhero who stopped the gov't". And you know what...yeah it's tv and dramatic to the hilt and I'm sure they could have tracked down SOMEONE on that campus who knew what a picture of the dude standing in front of a tank was.

But on the show, not one of those college students knew what it was. Something that happened less than 20 years ago. This is EXACTLY what is happening in Tibet. Take down all the pictures of the Dhali Lama and allow only a fraction of the monks to join monestaries as used to and in 20 years, maybe no one will remember Tibet. I didn't "get' this notion at first. Mostly because I wouldn't have the patience to take on what I thought would be generations of forgetting. One generation folks. Less than 20 years. That's how long it took them to forget Tiananmen Square. How long until they forget Tibet.

You know why they have no clue about Tiananmen? Aside from the obvious "Well, they live in a communist country so the gov't controlls what they know". Guess who is helping their gov't to controll what they know?

We are. Yahoo. Google. Microsoft. We are. Google Tiananmen Square stateside in "images" and this is the first one that pops up. I Googled it while I was there (because I wanted to see kit flying images) and none of this shows up. None of it. Google helps them do that. Anything for money. But it gets better.

Yahoo actually turned over a Chinese journalist who provided a NY journalist with information on how the gov't wanted Chinese journalists to cover the anniversary of TS. They turned him over as in giving not only email and IP addresses, but times it was sent to who from what computer terminal. I loved the line by Congressman So and So (yeah, you like that) that just because it is the right thing to do within the laws of the country, doesn't make it the ethical thing to do. If that were the case, should we have turned over Anne Frank because it was the "legally right thing to do"? No...not so much.

But wait...it still gets BETTER.

Take it full circle. There's this country who doesn't so much as rely on foreign corporations to do their dirty work because instead, they have enacted a law known as the Patriot Act. Within that act, they don't need corporations to do their dirty work because instead, they just go to your local librarian and ask her to dig up your dirt. And they go to your local phone utility and your friendly banker and they even follow you to Vegas and ask the casinos to turn over all your info. I would be disgusted with the Yahoo's and Google's and Cisco's and Microsoft's of the world if I weren't so busy being flabbergasted at how ironic it is that we can be so pissed at them for doing what they do when our own government (our, relative, hi international folks!)--our own country of the free--would do the same to their people. Maybe China ain't so bad after all.

First Janet...then...

OH MY WOW! Ms. Thang is on the Tyra Banks show. Now. I'm usually NOT a big fan of the TB show because she just so very much annoys me. Just a bit too "Girl, I'ma fix this for you."

Anyhow. She has Ms. Janet. Ms. Jackson if ya Nasty herself. On the show today. Now. I cannot BEGIN to tell you how much of a Janet fan I am. I would be a stalker if I were not too lazy to do something like that. So she's on the show today and she gave Tyra permission to ask her 20 questions that no one has ever asked her before.

No biggy--like everyone else, she's gonna lob softballs at her and Ms. Jackson will remain Ms. Innocent but yeah, go listen to some of them interludes on her album. Yeah.

Tyra is off the HOOK. Asking her stuff that most folks didn't have the guts to ask. And the answers? Whoa now! I might have to go out of my way to buy like the video transcript of this show. I love me some Janet. She can sing. She can dance. She is so amazingly wow! I need to go buy 20 YO now.

But here's a contradiction - TB asked J if she'd rather gain a lot of weight and have her talent still or if she'd rather keep thin as she is now and not be able to have her talent. Basically, she chose both cause she said I'd have to keep my talent cause I love to dance and sing and I love what I do. honey. You wouldn't be able to dance like you do if you was thick like I am (or like I supposedly saw you before you dropped all that weight--you know...in the mags...) AND I bet half the world would fall off if you couldn't both dance and sing and get nasty with it like you do. True, there are some boys that like big girls. But they know you're a tiny girl (REALLY--she's like up to Tyra's underboobie AND she's wearing like 8 inch stacked heels...true Tyra is wearing like 4 inches herself, but still) so that big girl thing won't fly.

OH MY...TB just asked about J's worst weave disaster. TB said she loved J in That's the Way Love Goes and she tried to get a weave like that. J turned to look at the photo and said "you're beautiful". And then...she busts out with "Oh, so that's what you were trying to do?"

LMAO. I mean come on...she's just so sweet. She was like "I didn't mean it like that, just that you know..."

If J could do a reality show and had to choose from American Idol, So you Think you can dance or America's Top Model. She chose Idol. Of course (smile). I love how real J is...all out there with the "in my 30's, I hated what I looked like". And now, she finally looks in the mirror and can say "I love the sway of my back and my smile."

Okay.
Too real. I'ma go watch and stop transcribing. I might have to start watching this show all over again. 21 minutes till my next session. Stop the commercials already!

ETA! Oh and yeah...I wish I was on the dance team again. Janet brings back some memories...ohhh man.

Well...what prize??

Well if you are here for scrap prizes...and the lovliness that is ScrapinStyle TV...then you should really instead go and check out my scrap blog which is (of course you knew this already, but just in case)

www.b3designs.blogspot.com

Go quickly. And go forth and comment! You need to comment on my scrap blog for the prizes...I know...being difficult is not cool but neither is trying to figure out who said what so many times. Sorry for the confusion!

It is 3:20 am....Seattle to Tiananmen Square via SFO

And he's brilliant. He says to me "Girlfriend. Trust me this is for your own good. If you stay up all night here, and drop out on the plane, you will be ready for the shift when we hit Beijing."

In case you don't know, I trust Robert completely. Absolutely. So of course I stayed up all night on my little computer. I didn't fall asleep once. The only problem with this little theory is that I'm not yet far enough removed from my college days. Rather than my body falling out at 7:00 am for the flight, I was WIDE AWAKE. My body just figured this was one of those fun all nighters for old time's sake and me being the type not fond of drugging myself up, didn't take any sleeping pills. So I stayed awake. I stayed awake from Seattle to San Franciso. I stayed awake until I could see these really strange "white things" from my plane window.

I'm sure I knew this on some subliminal level, but really, I didn't *know it* really. You don't fly in a straight line from San Francisco to Beijing. Rather, you fly in a bit of an arc. An arc that takes you over the edge of polar ice caps. That was an amazing site. I think I want our next trip to be to Antartica. No, it has nothing to do with the "white things" I saw on this plane window (aside from the fact that there is lots of white in Antartica), but still. I digress.

Perhaps I slept 3-4 hours on the plane. Robert, on the other hand, slipped a sleeping pill and some Airborne almost as soon as we sat down. I turned to him to ask a question about two seconds into the flight and he was knocked out. He missed out on the really good (yeah, not really) Ramen noodles snack and chicken stir fry. I wonder if we were instead going to South Africa we would have been served Boerewors sausage sandwiches. That would have been tasty. The Ramen, not so much.

As we got close to Beijing, I was fascinated. China is roughly the same land mass size as the United States. Just as I am always amazed at how "unpopulated" our (there I go assuming...welcome Canadians and the rare French native on this blog...welcome all) country is from above when you fly across the heartland, I was totally in awe at all the farmland we flew over even on the relative edge of the country. Then we got a little closer and I started to see just why I'm now such an environmentalist.

I had read somewhere--no idea where so there goes that credibility--that with the relatively recent boom in industrialization in China that environmental policies were not keeping up with the pace. As to be expected I suppose. More on Intellectual Property and THOSE policies to come later. Anyhow...we're flying over clearly obvious industrial regions. And just like in the States, when you're looking at the industrial areas, it just doesn't look as clean as the pretty farm land and the gleaming new buildings. I guess I was just thrown for a loop when I saw these canals and ditches just clogged with waste--trash, construction waste, etc. It was likely looking at someone's very recent scar from a tragic accident. I keep trying to just put it in context. The context that this is the second city that I've had the pleasure of traveling to as they were preparing to host the summer Olympics.

Back in 1996, I went to Atlanta as a Coca-Cola scholar and got to walk through lots of the Olympic facilities just as they were being completed. But I digress. Over Beijing, we flew over quite a few construction projects. I have no idea what they were for, but one looked very much like a stadium project. The other was a massive expansion (I think) of the airport.

This was my first real international flight. When the pilot landed the plane, she got a round of applause. Yes--she. Robert was awake by this time and he tuned me in to the traffic control folks and that was interesting to listen to. Evidently, English is pretty universal for flights. The Bejing crew would talk Chinese to each other some, but they communicated with the pilot (and she with them) in English. I did know from Robert's past trips to Asia that most folks would speak English but still, I didn't really "feel like" I was in China just jet. Everything was still so...American.

When we walked into the airport, it was so quiet. And dark. Funny or ignorant thought that first crossed my mind? "Wow...I'm now in a communist country. No such thing as excess here." Anyhow, no matter where you go, no matter what language the people speak, all you have to do is look for the little man running towards a door icon and you're well on your way to the exit. So there we went.

First stop was immigration. I'm a couple generations back American and my people didn't come through immigration stations to get to the U.S. So this was honestly a kinda scary experience for me. I didn't speak the language, didn't know if it would be appropriate for me to walk up to the booth with Robert, didn't know if I would even be able to understand the government worker about to determine if I was worthy of entering his country. Then there were the huge signs with all the instructions in English about how the government essentially retains the right to make your life a living hell for the fun of it under government act 2 gazzilion, BfG subsection 8 established many years ago and updated just yesterday. All in the name of protecting the People's Republic of China. It almost seemed a bit off the edge to me, but then I remembered that I was from the United States and we had a really nice piece of legislation called the Patriot Act that could get me detained on my flight back to the States if I fell asleep with my head in Robert's lap and someone became "uncomfortable" and I was unable to be awakened by the stewardess (or steward---guys can do it too). I'd be disobeying flight crew instructions and in the name of protecting the United States of America, I could be detained and have my life made a living hell for the fun of it under goverment act 2 gazzilion, BfG subsection 8 established not as many years ago and updated yesterday--US version.

I wanted so bad to take pictures. But my gut told me not to. By the end of the trip, I would realize that taking pictures in airports and at immigration check stations--big no-no across the globe. Except in the States. I mean they frown on photos at immigration as well, but you can get cool airport photos like these:

At the visa check station, I was paranoid that maybe I goofed on my visa application and life would begin to get ugly quick. Instead, the guy looks at my passport, stamps it and about a million other little pieces of paper. As he hands it back to me he points to his head, gives me a quick smile and says "Your hair...I like your style." That was about the first and LAST compliment I got on my hair in China. BUT...it was a GOOD intro to a country that quite admittedly, scared the living daylights out of me.

We walked some more and did the celebrity alley. I call it this because it reminds me of like the red carpet walk for the Oscars--sans the red carpet of course. There's a fence keeping the people back who are all pressed up against it with their signs and cell phones (oh my WORD...this is a Seattle dweller telling you that I have NEVER seen so many cell phones in use in all my life!!) looking for someone. We had no one to meet us--we proceeded to the taxi stand.

There we had our first experience with folks who didn't speak English, didn't read English and had no idea what in the world we were trying to say. Thankfully, Robert had the wherewithall to have his co-worker translate about 5 or 6 phrases onto a sheet of paper. We managed to convince them that we were going to the Capital Hotel, Beijing. On Qian Men East Street. Which was about 6 minutes walking from Tiananmen Square. It was actually like forever a day from the airport because, evidently, having airports clear outside of the city is the way to do things.

Our forever and a day cab ride cost us $15 US. $15 in the US would have gotten us to the edge of the airport. At least in Houston (depending on which airport you fly into) I know for a FACT that $15 would not even get you to the edge of the airport. That was the $60 no tip because I just ran out of cash and really thought I was going to have to walk cab ride of my life. But I digress yet again.

On our cabride (which, yes, I fell asleep for most of--I mean come on, I don't stay awake on ANY car ride that lasts longer than 15 minutes. 45 minutes if I'm driving), we were just in awe at how many high density housing complexes there were. I've been to NYC. But even that was no preparation for just how closely packed in and DENSE Beijing is. Although, I have to say, it was not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be.

Once we checked in at the hotel and promptly hung up Robert's coat in the closet (this will be an important fact soon enough), we ventured out onto the street. Specifically, we wandered over to Tiananmen Square.

I was absolutely unequivocally overwhelmed. First there was all the staring. Hard core staring. It wasn't rude really. It was just...different. In the States, when you get caught staring at someone for being "different' you feel a sense of shame and guilt. You try to turn away quickly...you want to apologize. So not the case in China. Robert is heart and soul convinced that he tried his best to prep me for this. One of my fave bloggers is a sister living in China and I read her entries about going out to the Forbidden City with her hubby and daughters and people literally walking up to her and asking to take pictures with them and touch her kids' hair. Robert talked about walking into stores and being stared down because he was so tall. I suppose I walked out the door expecting people to walk up to me and ask to take a picture and people to stare at Robert because he was tall. I didn't quite account for the fact that not only am I a sister, I'm a tall sister AND I chose the very wrong moment to go for convenience over style with my hair. I absolutely stood out in a country where it is all about fitting in (well, mostly about) and that was so not good. No one walked up and asked to take my picture. They stared. They whipped out their cell phones. They called people to come and look at me. They stopped in their tracks and told their friends to turn around and look. They snapped photos with their cell phones and even the other TOURISTS would position their cameras so as to get a shot of the neatly pressed guard AND that odd looking black girl.

Overwhelmed really does not begin to describe the all of what I was feeling. I shut down. Literally. I have never been so self-conscious in all my life. Robert asked if I wanted to fly a kite in Tiananmen Square. I told him no. I turned down flying a kite in Tiananmen Square because I was just so scared of everyone looking at me.

We went to the flag pole hoping to watch them retire the flag that evening. Clearly, lots of others were hoping the same (or maybe they were just following the freak show) because lots of us were pressed up against the fence waiting for it to happen. Then it started to rain. So we decided finding cover was a better idea.

We managed to wander our way over to Donghuamen Night Market. I have no sense of direction so at the end of the night, when we were ready to go back to our hotel (with the handy little "take me back here" card the hotel Assistant Manager/Concierge handed to us) I was ready to walk it back when we had a bit of trouble hailing down a cabby on the right side of the street. Yeah, thank GOODNESS, Robert had some sense about him because I would have been hot and livid if I would have trekked all the way back to the hotel from there.

At the night market, there's a whole area of shopping right around there. The first shops we see? McDonald's (which R had to stop at and get a soft serve cone--that boy needs his dairy) and KFC. I shutter at how gross that stuff is. But it is only day one. We wandered into a grocery store that was just ripe for picture taking. So many colors and things I just never seen before in my life. Alas, I am a picture taker, not a photographer, so I was too scared to whip out my camera. Oh to call a do over. I was still a little tender from all of the fascination with "that girl" so it wasn't until we got to the actual night market (found the long way around and even then R was not impressed, he was expecting more variety), that I loosened up a bit. We walked down the aisle once and just went about it pointing.

Robert is a lot more adventurous than me when it comes to trying food. I’m not a vegetarian, but I have serious texture issues. He picked about three things thinking they would be something other than they were. I loved every last one of them. At the end of the aisle, we made the decision to find a restaurant nearby rather than make another pass through the market. We spent like $6 and I was almost full. We roamed, found $1.75 cancer sticks and right next door found a little restaurant. Where of course no one spoke English. I was starting to feel like I was in China. This was a good thing. No one spoke English, but there are plenty of pictures on the wall. Only negative was that those pictures looked all like the exact same dumpling. I didn’t know which would have meat, which would be veggie. I don’t know HOW we managed to convey this, but the girl helping us out, pointed to one dish. We said sure…that and this. Come to find out, we SCORED!

I got a veggie dumpling of some sort (yummy!) and Robert finally got the meat he was looking for. There was some soup thing and some black flakes of something with it. I was full before I got to taste that. Most important though, smoking is allowed EVERYWHERE. The guys at the next table from us ate their dinner and lit right up. Yeah…I can’t blame those barely on the wagon for teetering to the other side.

We finished dinner and roamed some more. We managed to find this side show something or another off of the market with a girl singing (not very well, in any language) and all sorts of folks that had plenty of t-shirts and other touristy stuff to sell us.

It was an interesting side nook, but we were finally starting to wear down. On the way out to the cabs, we walked past a bank that was being restocked. You thought armored cards in the States had security. Again, I had the urge to take a picture, but not the urge to end up detained so I passed.

At the cab line, we tried to find a cab driver that spoke English because the next day, we were going to have a driver take us to the Great Wall and then take us to our contact guy to pick up our train tickets. I saw one driver having an extensive conversation with folks that looked European so I was all on the “He must speak English”. Yeah no not so much. We were so tired by this time that we gave up and figured on letting the hotel figure it out for us. But as I noted earlier, that didn’t end the night. What I DID love about China was the honesty of all the people we ran into. Any one of the cab drivers on the side of the street we were on could have let us hop in back and charged us a ton to drive around the block and get faced in the right direction. But all of them just pointed us to the other side of the street. Which, ironically, when we got around the corner, we ended up back on the other side of the street and someone picked us up and took us where we were going. Go figure.

Back at the hotel, I did some exploring and the theme of the trip became such:

“Oh my goodness! There’s a western toilet and running water!” You know it is a rough trip when that is the highlight to checking into your hotel. It was day one so I didn’t quite grasp the importance that a hot shower would soon have so I clicked on the tv and tried to flop onto the bed. Note to self, you don’t FLOP onto a bed in Beijing. Robert’s cracked tailbone will attest to that. On tv though? Guess?

Deal or No Deal. I knew that it wasn’t a U.S. brain child. But to turn on the tv and see something so familiar was just classic. Classic.

The quote of the day as said by Robert:

This is so great. Now I’m the landmarker instead of the land mark. Instead of “look at that big white boy” people now say “Do you see the big white boy? Right beside him. Look at her!”

Disclaimers: Thank Yous

Okay...you've been patient and kind and I am going to stop neglecting you and using the whole jetlag excuse. But please do note that I am NEVER up at 5 am and so incoherent ramblings aside, I really mean it when I say read the disclaimer and thank you's first.

Disclaimer: I am but only one girl. Not really a world traveler, a bit too conspiracy theorist, a picture taker but not a photographer, a fighter, but not really an all out activist. I see things. You see things. Often times, we don't see the same things. I don't know all Americans nor did I get to meet all Chinese citizens or Tibetans or Nepalese or Indians on this trip. When I make a comment like "Fat lazy American" I of course refer only to myself. When I make a comment like "they are all so nice" I refer only to the 200 or so pilgrims trekking about me. When I say "the Chinese government disgusts me" I mean "the Chinese government disgusts me". But in context of course.

Everything I say here I take credit for. I of course reserve the right to debate the heck out of an issue here on my blog with those that leave comments and if you email me thinking you'll stay annon that way, think again. If you ask to not be identified, I won't post your email addy for people to spam you, but I reserve the right to talk about what you write to me because I am still very much processing this trip and I'll be darned if some good hindsight doesn't do me well in (gasp!!) changing my mind on some issues. Fair warning that you will never change my mind on the Chinese government. Okay, maybe you will. Doubtful, but there is hope yet.

I will try to not make this boring and long, but anyone who knows me at all knows I talk/type a lot. If you don't have the attentiton span for it, might I suggest my www.shotsfired.blogspot.com picture blog where you might even win a prize for leaving a comment? For those who want a more in-depth disucssion and overview of the trip, you're in the right spot.

If you leave a comment with contact information, I'll likely respond directly to you. If you leave no contact info, I'll respond in the comments of the thread. If I feel that it REALLY warrants it, I will edit a post and make it obvious (ie a different color), but generally speaking, if I do more than one post per day to this blog, generally the second post will be marked to note that it is a commentary piece on your comments. I know, I have grande visions of lots of folks making comments which will likely not happen, but I'm the kind of girl that likes to have lots of contingencies. Partial reason why I'm not a fan of the Chinese government. More on that to come.

That all said, some thank you notes are in order. In no particular order of course, I'm thankful to Seattle University--particularly the law school and the law school admission staff--an amazing group of women and students who worked their tails off so that I could even fathom taking a trip like this at a time like this. I'm also thankful to Mike O. and Vicky K. at the Olympian--Mike was patient enough with me on his Diversity Panel and really helped me to grow as a writer--please don't blame him for what transpires on this blog. But more importantly, Mike and Vicky, a year or so ago, were all ready to make me a bonafide correspondent when I was supposed to go on a Rotary Group Study Exchange to Africa. Because way back then they believed I could do that, I figured a journal and a camera would be good to pack for this trip. I thank them for opening my mind to the thought of sharing. And of course, thanks to the Rotary Olympia GSE folks. Last year, I almost went to South Africa. Best laid plans of course BUT, in preparing for that trip, my eyes were opened theoretically to what it meant to not be an American (mostly because in that training I found out that Jesus was born on the same day in Canada as he was in the U.S...) and to not be "lucky". I'd be remiss if I didn't also thank people like the amazing teachers/professors and instructors I have been blessed with throughout my life. From my first fave teacher Mr. Jim Oakes back at PHS to some of my current faves like J. Stringer at Seattle University, the common thread amongst them all is that they all realized that I was just a girl with a tad bit different perspective on things and they never stifled my need to ask "why". I thank the Freedom Writers who beyond keeping me entertained on a way too long flight to Beijing, also opened my eyes to living beyond the context and I also thank John Krakauer for being from Seattle and surviving the beast that is Everest. He kept me entertained for 48 hours of tedious train shuffling, but moreso, he made Everest real for me. I thank Kodak for making great picture print paper because without them, I wouldn't have had Crystal, Quantae, David, Tyshaun, Jarius, mom and granny with me on this trip. But most importantly of all, I thank that crazy, determined, amazing man that 20 someodd years ago first had the notion that while the summit might not be a good idea, Base Camp was really not that far flung. His patience, motivation, selfless nature and amazingly analytical mind knew with an uncanny certainty that if we flipped a coin, Everest would win out and if it didn't, he was more than prepared to make the case for why Everest, why now. I love risk takers and I love that this particular risk taker loves me back.

So there you have it. Please comment often and in detail about any crazy thing (or "no duh") thing that spews from my keyboard. I commit to trying to make this at least a daily entry, but you know me...if I can't say it all, I often wait until I can. That said, the easiest way to keep track of when I have something new to say is to sign up at www.bloglines.com. It is free, it is easy, it will tell you in big bold letters when I have something new to say. Alternatively, if you say pretty please in your email, you can also shoot me a note and I'll put you on a VIP list of folks to get a weekly email from me with a bit of the condensed version of what went down for the week and I might even hyperlink some stuff for you. Wow! Special. That will be three emails tops (I don't anticipate these ramblings to take longer than three weeks) and then I'll likely forget your email address and never talk to you again until I have to email and tell you that it has been 4 years since we last spoke, but I'm ready to talk again. That's how I roll.

In the meantime, thanks for stopping by and be sure to send lots of others by to leave their two cents as well. Check out the www.shotsfired.blogspot.com blog for lots of pics and thanks for joining me as I relive this journey of a lifetime.

Briefly...

I'm back. and I'll be darned if it doesn't feel like I should be sleeping right now. so I'm going to give in. Tonight, the disclaimer. Maybe even day 1. For the month of May I'll go day by day through the most amazing trip of a lifetime. on the shots fired blog, I'll load three pics per day and let ya'll choose which is your fave for each day. here I'll transcribe my journal (in italics) and then add some after the fact commentary--warning, the entries will be long and many times pictureless but will give you some of my thoughts on everything. My suggestion would be to check out shots fired for the pics and then here for the stories behind it all and then some. Print these entries off...maybe they'll make for good bathroom reading.

Gotta get a list together of folks I've been neglecting for a while so that I can tell them to come and check out why I've been a bad, bad, friend and then hopefully get the life back on track. Oh how I miss my cell phone...

before my head hits the keyboard...until later.

Gulp...

going off the grid. It is 4:21 am my time. In about half an hour, we head off to the airport. Our plane leaves at 7:50. we are checked in, just have to check the tons of luggage we're toting along...much of it photography equipment.

I can't believe we're really doing this. Wow. I feel kind of at a loss for words. I wish I could take my mom and my sister and my brother and my nephew with me...let me grab some pics...done.

Just grabbed breakfast, cab will be here in 30 minutes. Maybe we will have sold the house when we get back--we had our first set of folks come through to look today. It went up with the MLS number yesterday.

I wish I would have put more thought into this trip. Thought of what to bring people instead of all the beautiful pictures I would take from them. I can't believe I'm going to Tibet. I can't believe I might be buying a house. I can't believe my mom might be moving to Seattle with my cutie nephew. Never mind that I'll have someone I can take lots of pictures of (smile). But for him and the upgrade in schools, I almost want to call her up and tell her come tomorrow. But those are thoughts for another time.

I almost didn't have socks for this trip. Wal Mart is evidently not open 24 hours here. Go figure. Three weeks. Here's hoping I can post at least once while on the road.

Till then...

Hot. Mess.

Not the "hillarious" southern kinda mess. But the "girl, you got issues no matter what part the country you in" kinda mess.

It's official. Says me.

I've done some crazy stuff today. No...aside from spend 3.5 hours at a Florida rest stop (so safe...I mean they have armed gaurds because of those people down there that got shot at the rest stop...). Aside from completely rearrange all of my hoards of digi scrap stuff sot aht I could avoid actually scrapping anything because I'm scared to death I'll never measure up to my "Hall of Fame" status. Okay...aside from coming to work on a day when I (clearly) should have just stayed home.

I'm not beneath going the extra mile to get what I want. Especially if you lay it out there clear as day for me about what I'm supposed to do. I am a rule follower after all. Hello! So is it my fault that I read between the lines well? No. Is it my fault that I will "go there" just because I know no better? No. Is it my fault that I might get a ticket if I stay and type this any longer. Probably. So I'ma hop on off and just say that I am officially a hot. mess. I know it, you know it. We all know it. I'm a go home and do absolutely nothing but procrastinate on all the stuff I should be doing. And rub up on my bf. Maybe pluck his arm hairs out. He likes when I do that. Or just sit across from him and stare at him. Or I could be really cruel and make him pick out a picture of us for the CK folks that I have not already used on a layout (uhhhmmm...impossible) with the catch that if he picks three and they are no good, he has to sit for another one with me. That's cruel. And I love him so I won't do that. But I should go and pimp myself out for travel money. No not like that...like THAT! Right...

Uhhhg....Come up Already...

Okay...it's 4 hours before I'll be on a plane. Things I kinda should do first:

Dry the clothes to take with me (done)
Pack the files I have to take with me (done...all 75 of them)
Put some songs on the iPod...or the other thingy. (yeah not so much...just took the laptop)
Figure out if I should pack the laptop charger or not (did, but for what I don't know)
Take a nap (it will be a long night) (was a long night, there was no nap)
Print off some more stuff (done)
Get another layout (or 4) done (well...sorta)
send about 10000000 emails (sent the three most important ones)
get offline (momentarily)
kiss Robert (oh yeah *smile*)
find the camera (where it is supposed to be of course)
take the camera (did...got some good Airport shots!)
update the to do list (I give up)
pack some toiletries...or maybe just some makeup (yeah...and forget the toothbrush...ick...7-11)
take a shower (more like boil myself in a tub of hot water)
eat something (Panda Express...yummy!)
organize something (uhhmmm...that's life...just never something important)
just do something (sigh...)

All that aside, we went out and looked at houses again before coming home to our perfectly lovely home and fixing it up for selling. Thing is...I like our place. And I like the million dollar places we keep looking at too. Problem is, we can't afford a million dollar home. So after we look at those amazing places with great views, great neighbors and great finishes and we walk over to the homes we CAN afford...well, nothing works. This is going to be a struggle. I know it. And then there's my analyst better half who is good about telling me why something will work but won't take a jump if his totally non-analytical (but slightly strategic...another post for another time) "gut-feeling" GF "feels" a house. I wasn't feeling any of them yesterday. Well...I felt the million dollar ones, but as I said, that ain't gonna happen. Sigh...where have I gone? A good ten years ago I would have never dreamed of owning my own place...now perfectly acceptable places are not "good enough". I am definitely an American. Set for a rude wake up call in about a week and a couple of days. Did I mention I hate my typhoid oral? It makes me want to puke. I wish it would just come up already.

What for Sale Sign?

So I guess we need to probably go to plan c. Chances that our neighbors have not just screwed us royally by putting their place on the market. Slim to none. We need a certain price. We're certain we can get a certain price. Then they come in. If they priced their same floorplan at a ridiculously low rate (we don't know yet) then we're screwed. Lovely. Talk about timing. My life has certainly been a very good lesson in timing these last two weeks.

The good of this (since I already had the cynical house hunting statement last week) is that thank GOD we didn't put down earnest money. I'd have croaked right about now if that were the case.

They're just Ready for next year...

my big one. It is a Christmas Tree. I know a tree when I see one. It really shouldn't bug me. Maybe I should just go ask them. but why. I know what it is. It is a tree.

shots...more of them. Ouch. But I wanna live on my trip. I can't believe I'm going to Tibet. Wow!

I can't believe the gist of my life lately. But then again, soon as I wake up, maybe we'll get it together. Time to go schmooze it up at work. Let the fun begin! I need more business cards for that other venture (surprisingly...not scrappy!). Wow life will just wrap you up in a whirlwind if you're not careful. Really. Time to go and see the negative "why her" stuff that I'm sure is out there. It will be fun because truth be told, I'll be the first to say "no clue".

Sigh...where are my cheetohs (smile).

Check, check...double check. Uncheck

Okay...lots of moving parts right now. Yes, I'm totally excited. Wow. Scrap life is going very well. And life affiliated with scrap life (photo life) is as well. Love it.

Trip life...which one. I need to book a hotel. But I got our Chinese visas back finally and got some clothes ordered and finally found a backpack. Once all that gets in, I should be able to start pulling everything together and seeing what I really need.

Work life is crazy. Crunch time...end of every cycle is always crunch time. People are cranky in this cycle (they know the answer is going to be no...just don't want to wait to hear it) and others are entitled and want us to focus on just them. It all goes as it goes. The positive is that we just had a birthday party for the March folks and the cookies were to die for. I have to get a lot more reading done, but I can print off a few things and call it a day.

Wonderful life is wonderful. My better half is at this very moment wowing the HECK out of someone. I just know it. But of course won't say it because...well you know why. Superstitious. We're going to put the house on the market probably before we leave. Which could very well mean that I'll be sans scrap space (or even sans home) by the time we get back. Ideally that would be the case. But it could very well go through the summer and leave us wondering. You can't not do it for fear of failure. And that's what I love about him. He's just as scared as I am, but he's much quicker to jump off the cliff.

Time to get back to work. What a day. What a WEEK! And I have a lucky penny maybe to show for it...

I swear...it has to be a Christmas tree

I really don't make it a point to stare into my neighbor's house through their window. It's just that their Christmad tree...check that, their LIGHTED Christmas tree (one of those fake (I hope) white flocked kinds) is staring right back at me.

Now. There was a year that I was sick with anemia. Not your mama's anemia either. I'm talking "pass out, knock your head on something, no insurance but something is cleary wrong so lets got to urgent care" anemia. Well, on the day I finally became eligble for insurance at my Top 100 employer. Yes, that is so tongue in cheek becuase if you're a top 100 employer I'm thinking all your employees should have health insurance. No it wasn't Wal Mart. Someone with a much better rep than them. Next time they make it as one of the top grocery stores in America, ask yourself why it is that every year they are pegged as this great employer, they won't allow any of their store employees to interview on the local news stations. Think about it. Still love their pasta bar though. And sushi in upstate NY. Who knew??

I digress...but on another digression, I have tainted my poor sweet innocent nephew. He loved sushi in El Paso. Yes, I know. But wait for it. SO that is all he wanted to do when he came to SEA. Go eat sushi. We took him to a couple of places--last time to our fave place. I swear he could have been a plate champion. And he eats the real stuff...unlike me. Soybeans and fried dumplings...maybe some imitation crab. Shrimp...I can do that too. Yeah... But so my mom takes him to the chinese buffet and he grabs a plate of "sushi" (it IS El Paso after all). He ate one piece. She asked him what was wrong. He said (and I quote)

"Grandma [pregnant pause]. It just...well...it's just not the same as in Seattle."

I've scared the boy for life. Gave him a taste of the good life and SNATCHED IT AWAY. Oh to have part time kids (smile). Hope he still loves me.

But back to the tree. I swear by all things I know. That HAS to be a tree. And I brought up my anemia because back some odd years ago, I too had a Christmas tree that made it to April Fools Day. But it was because I was hospitalized with anemia. Granted, that was in Feb of that month and I still had a couple months that I could have gotten up and taken it down. But really...I was just too tired. Maybe they are too tired. And I presume their's is dead. Which makes them better people than me because mine was a "live" tree. It was kinda dried by the time we took it down (April 3 folks) and really, we took it down one needle at a time. Or, I should say, we swept it up (no vacuum cleaner folks...we couldn't afford that with our no-health insurance having selves either) needle by needle.

My better half says that they still have the tree because the kids were too sad to let it go. When we took our's back to Ikea, we saw too very sad kids in the back of a truck waving goodbye to their tree. And I'm such a scrapper at hear that in the midst of all their angst and sorrow I thought to myself "I hope I have cute kids that act like that so I can take a picture and scrap it".

Heartless. I know.

On Houses and house hunting

So no...we didn't get the other house. But now we're serious about plans b, c, d...etc. As in, sista gal might not have a lovely scrap room for much longer. On a temporary basis of course. But still. My sweetness. It is a really sad state of affairs when, in looking online at houses last night, he found a nice three bedroom much more comfortably within our budget. To that I responded:

But what's the point? Why move from one three bedroom to another three bedroom?

People. We have no kids. We have no dog. We have two rooms of this current place that we never set foot in--well, he goes into the living room when he's on his way to the grill. This is ridiculous. But I love the FEELING of "planning for the future need for more space". Love it. Not pregnant. I swear mom I'm not pregnant. Just like planning for the future. Especially planning for the future with the hottie that I'm so lucky to do it with. He's hot and smart. Or smart and hot. I think his smartness is what makes him totally hot to me. Okay...it's not food people...but still I'm rambling. Life goes so like that.

Sometimes...it just ain't meant to be

and sometimes it is. I don't know what time this is. As you well know by now, I'm about as superstitious as they come so I saw this coming. And you also know that while I actually have a very cheerful, pretty optimistic demeanor, I tend to "prepare for the worst" and avoid hoping for the best. Protective measures and all.

Well, let my guard down a tiny bit. Still trying to process it all. I mean, it is what it is and as it is meant to be. And I learned a lot in the process...a whole lot that I really needed to know. But still...sometimes it just ain't meant to be. My one cynical/realist comment of the night:

It came too easy. And nothing in my life comes that easy (smile).

So it is. Just wish I hadn't quite called mom just yet. That's when the superstitions kicked in. Sho nuff they did.

On a good note...great note actually. I found a REALLY great site this weekend. You'll have to check the colored white blog for that though. Guess I should get some reading done--not with the mind of denying as many people as I can...maybe more in the mindset of really looking for ways to grant some dreams tonight. That will be a refreshing change. I've been reading nothing but denies this season...probably why I'm not liking what I do so much right now. Just want to say "yes" to someone. Just want to change someone's life for the better. That's why I really like that site I found this weekend. I actually feel like I'm doing something for someone else. And it feels so good!