Evil Sleeper Shoes

Does anyone else have shoes that are pure evil? Shoes that are perfectly great for months, maybe even years and then at the least inopportune time when you least expect it and when you most need them to be sensible, they strike, wreaking havoc on your feet. They were just lying in wait that whole time, building your trust so that they could turn on you.

I had a pair of evil sleeper shoes strike on me yesterday, turning both of my little toes into full blisters and putting me on the yoga injured reserve list.

Though I could also just be losing my mind because when I got home, I pulled off the evil shoes, yelled "bad shoes," and threw them into the suitcase (aka the shoe dungeon) where they will remain until I return to Winston (and where they will have time to think about why they were put there in the first place). Only then, if they truly show remorse may they possibly be able to work their way into a regular rotation.

My New Traffic Rule

If I let you merge in front of me and you don't give me the friendly "thank you" wave, I get to ram the back of your car. That should be a law, don't you think? Bringing back common courtesy one car at a time.

Two Weeks Left

Currently sitting in Palm Beach International Airport, praying to get on this flight to Atlanta. The ticketing agent said that there's three seats, and I'm third on standby, but sometimes they don't know what they're talking about (ask me about my flight to get to West Palm sometime). Signs point to yes.

I'm reflecting on my crazy summer which started with a trip to China and will end with a weekend at camp in the end of August and for once I can't really find words to describe it...maybe ridiculous. (PS I just totally had a Doogie Howser moment where I stopped typing, thought a moment, deleted something and then retyped.) Yes, I think I'm definitly going with ridiculous. Ridiculous internship (it took me until last week to get a letter approved to go into circulation that I had been assigned the first day), ridiculous apartment (I swear that there are police staking the place out...not kidding), ridiculous travel (best summed up by the Bahamas trip that we pieced together at the last minute), ridiculous travel strategizing (taking a two hour nap in my car after a red eye back from San Fran is not even the half of it), and all that put together equals a ridiculously tired JSto.

They mentioned possibly extending my free flights through the end of August, so that I can go to San Juan, but I'm not sure how I feel about that. I was kinda looking forward to that week and a half where I can just lay on my purple couch in Winston and get my life back in some sort of order/routine. Though on the other hand some time in San Juan would be nice. It's been an awesome summer....though tiring.

Laughed My Freakin' Ass Off

Earlier this evening, I was on the phone with Danielle. She was looking online for one of those stupid Nittany Lion Tails that hangs off of your trunk. Suddenly she told me a website to go to and a picture to click on. When I did, I came to this.

I laughed so hard I started crying, and in between hysterical fits of laughter, the only words that I could get out were "I'm blogging that...I don't know what I'm blogging about that, but I'm blogging that."

More Random Vacation Pictures

I have a couple more random pictures that I want to talk about, so since I have a load of laundry in the washer and am drinking wine straight from the bottle, I thought this might be a good time to post them. Coincidentally (or not), they're both of food.

That is the "gift box" that the guys in Plano, TX that work for Frito/Pepsi put together for me so that they could be the "Best Hosts Ever." It was stuffed with random FritoLay snacks some of which came in unbranded black and white bags. I LOVE the Carolina Barbecue Chips. They are like barbecue and salt and vinegar chips rolled into one.

That is my Crunchy French Toast that I had for breakfast at my hotel in San Fran. It was on the "Healthy Options" portion of the menu. I'm not sure how healthy it is when you eat four slices of it. (I didn't, btw).

Stop the Clock

She's back in jail. Joy wins. Though I'm not actually sure what she wins since we didn't really make a wager.

The Story of Elizabeth Brown

I'm on a roll, so I thought I'd continue my blogging. Whenever the flight I have my eye on starts getting a little dicey, I start doing some investigating on the reservation system. I see how many people are getting connections, who has checked in already, who is on stand-by and if they happen to be actually booked on a different flight, stuff like that. I was at the airport waiting for this flight when Joy called...here is a somewhat modified (because I'm tired and can't actually remember) version of our conversation.

Joy: How's the flight look?
Me: eh...ok...there's like 5 open seats and 7 people on standby, but at least one person isn't making the flight cause she never checked in to her first flight. Unless Elizabeth Brown drove from D.C. to make this flight.
Joy: She may have died yesterday.

Flash forward, they're calling people to make sure their not in the gate area before giving away their seat. They call Elizabeth Brown, and I sadly think to myself "poor Elizabeth Brown, she might be dead." So Elizabeth Brown if you happen to be reading my blog, leave a comment so I know that you're ok.

World Cup in the Wild

I'm currently on a plane to San Francisco. I'm really tired, but I'm also cold and in a middle seat, and the guy in 21D refuses to cuddle with me. Jerk! So I'm back on my computer at least until the battery dies in approximately 1 hour and 23 minutes. Since Amanda 1 requested a blog update, I thought I'd give in.

Last weekend I was in Dallas visiting some Wake people that are interning at Pepsi/Frito. We had been debating where exactly to watch the World Cup, so when we ran into a recently graduated Wake second year at a bar Saturday night, and he invited us to his mom's house for the game, we gladly accepted.

Little did we know that we were entering probably the biggest supporter of the taxidermy industry in Dallas. His mom is a big game hunter, so in the living room was 6 deer heads, a chandelier made of antlers, a antelope head, a gazelle head, a lion head, a full lion rug, an alligator skull, two giant elephant tusks and a basket of ostrich eggs. It was creepy. And to make it just a little more uncomfortable intermixed with all the dead animals was religious art including a statue of Gabriel. I honestly had trouble focusing on the game because I felt like deer and/or Jesus was watching me. I was sooo glad to get out of there! (Wish I could've seen what was in the bedroom or could've secretly taken pictures to blog.)

Diversification Strategy

I'm in Dallas this weekend. There's a store here called Merry's Christmas and Clowns. Weird....They have a website. I'm not making this up.

Our New Game

Danielle and I came up with a new fun game in the Bahamas. It's called "Dad or Sugar Daddy." The rules are simple. Identify a couple: older man, beautiful young woman. Observe. Decide whether she is a daughter or a girlfriend/wife. Observe more to either prove or disprove your hypothesis. Everyone wins!

Adaptability

When I started my internship, they had me read this book and do a Strengths Finder test to see what my top five strengths were. One of them came up as adaptability, and I think that has been validated in the last week.

Last week I was looking at flights and saw that the ones to Nassau, the Bahamas, looked fairly open...Surprisingly (hmm...bahamas, wichita, bahamas, wichita...I think Bahamas wins.) I texted Danielle and was like "hey, do you have to work July 4th? wanna go to the Bahamas?" Surprisingly, she was like "ok." So between last Thursday and today, we booked a hotel and listed ourselves on the standby list.

The original plan was for me to fly out of Atlanta and her to fly out of BWI and meet up in the Bahamas today. Well, Friday morning (aka yesterday) I logged into the AirTran reservation system and all hell had broken loose on the Atlanta-Nassau flight. Everyone and their brother started listing for it. I made a key strategical move and decided to try to fly to BWI and meet up with Danielle Friday night opting for feasibility of getting on the flight versus number of options should I not make the flight. Danielle had already gotten a hotel room to spend the night in Baltimore,so that was good. Now, I made this decision at 7am Friday morning and usually leave for work at 7:30. I had not packed or done laundry or gotten cash from the ATM or any travel prep as I fully expected to do that Friday night. I managed to rally (with the aid of an early dismissal from work) and am happy to say I am currently on a flight to the Bahamas.