10 flights in 3 weeks!

Just realized, with three trips planned back to back, and no more than a day in between each, I'll be on 10 flights within the next three weeks. Not that I'm complaining;) The man is off to Paris for work, and invited me to join him for the weekend. I'm beginning to feel that I'm leading a charmed life. Wait....*suzer scratches chin contemplating the 2,500 word essay she must complete in 48 hours as a result of said trips taking up spring break* Anyway, life is good. My favorite day of the year has come, and we now have an extra hour of sunlight in the evening (it is a week earlier here). Back to HR and empowerment...

Another story

My second trip to Ireland, I sat next to a woman from Missouri and her husband of 40 years. She was hysterical and very friendly with an accent slightly similar to my grandma's; we chatted for about half the flight. The woman in the aisle seat across from me kept getting up to rifle through her belongings in the overhead compartment and at one point, the Missouri woman laughed and whispered, eyeing the other woman..."Hungry butt." I was like, what the hell. She laughed and pointed to the fact that the woman's underwear were...well, you know...so her butt was 'eating' her underwear. It was so funny. Then she told me how great her husband's butt still was after 40 years of marriage. He overheard and just looked at me kind of rolling his eyes but laughing. Anyway, I got to hear all about how great her husband was, what a wonderful 40 years they had had, child free, working together and living next to her mother-in-law, who she was crazy about! So I asked...what makes it all work...for that amount of time, with no kids, the focus beind solely on each other, etc. She stopped talking, looked thoughtfully pensive, then with tears in her eyes, said simply..."thoughtfulness and consideration". Some encounters, you simply don't forget.

Very cool

Didn't realize (or maybe forgot, knowing my memory) that Kafka was from Prague.

Things I can't find in England

Cheerios without sugar coating and non-thong undies. I'll never understand the female fascination with underwear made out of dental floss;) Seriously, I have to do some power shopping just to find panties that cover my boo-tay.

Boycott the Salvation Army, not Target

There has been a lot of talk over the past few years about Target not allowing the Salvation Army to collect outside of their stores. I've always been in full support if this as 1) I don't like to be solicited by charities and 2) After working for a non-profit organization and seeing how much of donations are wasted and/or spent unwisely, in the future, I will only give time, and not money. It turns out, however, that part of the reason Target will not allow the Salvation Army to solicit on their property is that the SA is an anti-gay organization in that they won't allow any sexually active gays & lesbians to work for them. Go Target!

Cracking a mental block

I have been sitting in front of the computer for the last three days avoiding working on a presentation I have to give next week. It's been driving me nuts. Was just having a serious mental block towards the project itself. It includes a lot of marketing models that I find a have a hard time with, as they require some kind of brain functioning that just stops me in my tracks. So, last night (and this is cheesy) I took a post-it note, wrote "Just Do It!" and stuck it to my desk. I spent part of this morning procrastinating, but just started on it again now. I did have quite a bit of background work done, so it shouldn't be too hard. I find it very difficult to put a lot of work into projects here and only get mediocre grades back. The reward doesn't seem to equal the effort, and I'm not sure if it can just be put down to this being an entirely new subject area and way of researching than I'm used to or what. Anyhoo, back to...Tourism Australia.

What do you think?

Copied from a post on www.waiterrant.net:

"Nothing’s more dangerous than a girl under the age of twenty five. That’s not a misogynistic statement mind you. It’s just a fact. Ask any guy over thirty. For that matter, ask any girl."

Thoughts? Why is the age of 25 important? When did things change for you? Do you know what he means? Or is this the rambling of an old fill-in-the-blank?

Modified to add: I think this one much better, from the next post:

"Sometimes men and women get hung up on each other’s sharp edges.
But sometimes they get hung up on each other."

Things I'm looking forward to....

when I go home for a week in April:

• Good food and American sized portions!!! Mexican, Ethiopian, and who knows what else.
• A good haircut that doesn't cost me $80 and lasts more than a month
• Driving:)
• A nice hot bath
• A proper pedicure in a massaging chair with a whirlpool tub (possibly...)
• The usual...seeing friends, family and cat

Dreams and holidays

Just woke up from a dream that a couple classmates and I hopped on a plane to go to Belfast for the day. I was really excited until I realized upon arrival that I couldn't find one of my shoes and for some reason couldn't get out of the airport (one of those immobility due to freezing type dreams). Anyhoo, the excited to be able to travel quickly to different countries part was pleasant. I have a list of places I'd like to go while here, although I know I won't have the time or money to do all. They include:

• Prague (will be checked off the list in April)
• Brussels
• Paris (been twice, but it's a repeat visit destination for sure!)
• Northern Ireland, including bits of ROI I haven't been to before, such as Donegal and the Aran Islands
• Isle of Man (found a good article on it while researching a presentation yesterday...how I get sidetracked!)
• Perhaps a quick weekend trip to Cornwall
• Maybe: Spain, Greece (although these almost definitely won't fit into my time/budget here)

Happy March!

I can't believe it's time for spring to be appraoching. I've been in England six months today and while the time has gone fast in a sense, it sure seems as though I've been here a long time. It's been stressful on occasion, but the good far outweighs the bad. I don't think my life could be going better as I approach 30. I'm well on my way to completing an MA, I've made some excellent new friends and met a fantastic man, have travelled to a few new places, and more are on the way. Who knows what's next...other than sunshine and warmer weather!

And speaking of marching, our university's tutors will be going on strike next week, as will many others at other universities in the UK. At the moment, they only have one day of picketing planned, but who knows. The strike is over (lack of) fair pay increases and the students have the opportunity to go out and support them on the picket line, so a few of us will be there.