oh the drama

i'm working from a starbucks in the middle of old-money-ladies-who-lunch-land in san antonio. it's also adjacent to a small catholic university that rich kids go to.

eavesdropping on these convos is so funny:

• when i came in a bleach blonde woman and her plastic friend were discussing her upcoming vacation to miami. they're staying at the biltmore and the friend was saying how she always prefers the ritz because its closer to shopping. um. when i go to miami i just want to roast in the sun. but thats just me.
  
• one boy was studying his organic chemistry (and staring out the window) when he ran into a girl from his class and they discussed their grades and studying techniques and the professors test style. it reminded me of a tams discussion that might have occurred for me 7 or 8 (!) years ago. made me feel old.
• now three women are gathered at a booth in the corner and are planning a gala for something. one woman was on the phone lecturing/counseling someone about the actions of her irresponsible daughter. another one is organizing her family's attendance at a wake later this evening. the third just arrived and is stirring sugar into her coffee. they're all dressed in cashmere cable knits, pressed oxfords, pearls and smart pumas or loafers. their wedding rings are HUGE. the big topic of conversation is the width of ribbon for something. its so foreign.

i need to focus on my own work/life. instead of listening in on others...

festivities

hope everyone had a nice christmas with the family. and if not christian... well. hope you had a nice day off of work doing whatever...

mine was great. saw lots of fam.


played games. (they had fun even if it looks like they're doing homework)


went to bilingual mass with lots of incense. sin and fish sound very similar in spanish... i keep confusing pecado with pescado - it made me giggle a bit. whoops.


watched movies.



took a movie of a drunk/rabid possum...


spent a lot of time passed out on the couch. good times...

never knock the way another cat swings

some pre-xmas randomness:

• i freaking hate all stores and malls and commercial areas from dec1 through dec25. prob even through jan 2 or 3. they're packed. ppl are wasting money on things. kids are crying. america's debt is increasing. in a move to avoid all the junk that annoys me, i spent a chunk of my day outside in the sun finishing kite runner.
• i've put off reading this book for ages cos it was too popular and usually that means things are shite and overrated. but this book actually was a super read. i started reading it on my flight home on friday afternoon and finished it up today. charged through it. it kinda made me sick reading some parts on friday. that just meant it was well written. when a book makes me feel ill, or immensely sad, or even makes me cry - i love it. i love being moved by words. i finished this book today being happy that i finally read it. still not sure if i actually want to see the movie tho.
• that said... it's dec23 and i'm still not done with my xmas shopping. no surprise there. not too bad tho, b/c all that's left is to do the 'family' gift where we give the same thing to each chunk of the family.
• i took this picture yesterday morning that i'm really happy with so i'm going to print and frame it tomorrow x 10. hope everyone likes it...
• i saw 'across the universe' yesterday with my brother. (finally) i think i wanted to like it more than i actually did. it was a totally fun movie... just not all that i wanted it to be. i hate when that happens... cos i did like it, think i just wanted to LOVElove it...
• i remember not liking the beatles when i was younger... thinking - how is it that everyoneee can love them and i dont? now i get it. i dig them, just like 90% of the rest of the world. beatles made great pop music. and covers of it can be just as fun... turns out.
• today my favorite used bookstore in SA had all cd's for half off. so i bought crazysexycool for $2.49. as she was ringing up my purchase, the chick at the counter said, "oh, i remember when it used to be cool to listen to this cd." USED TO BE COOL? this cd has hip-hop classics. i only had the tape version back in the day. so this was a super find. um, it was awesome back when it first came out and when i pressed listened to diggin' on you again today - it is still awesome.
• i know. i'm cool. i need no confirmation.
  
• fam reunion tomorrow night - yay.

someone at the faa hates me

the travel gods truly like to screw around with me.

on thursday i managed to grab a seat a mid-day flight out of logan and after a layover in denver (?) i made it home to san antonio. it only took 12 hours but i never had to shovel any snow.

yesterday i visited three airports, sat on two planes, and only flew on one. apparently due to cancellations and skeevy plane maintenance, there were no airline seats out of san antonio until tuesday (dang international conferences. tourists taking up my space!) so the majority of my afternoon was spent driving eastward on 1-10 in the back of my uncle's volvo. to bush int'l. where i got on a plane, watched diggnation, listened to e.v.r., fell asleep to ratatouile, and woke up to sit on the tarmac at logan for 45 min before being allowed to de-plane.

i got into bed around 2am and woke up at 620 to my building's fire alarm blaring. no smoke so i went back to sleep for 45 minutes and then had to get up and come to work. greatttt weekend.

seriously? i spent 24 hours over the weekend TRAVELINGGGG. why do things like this happen to me? i have can't say i have the worst travel luck ever, cos i usually get where i'm going - eventually. it's just only after i've been messed around with for a bit. airports and airlines and fate all like to play little jokes with me. poopers.

----

also, my mum and bro were icky sick all weekend and now i think i'm coming down with something. i'm supposed to be invincible! think i'm going to vit-C overdose now. it's my cure-all. :) prob shouldn't wander around icy boston too much either... but i have stuff to doooooo! man. x-mas overdrive, commence.

inconvenient breakdowns

today is my travel day. time for me to fly back to the bean from sweet and sunny south texas.

most travel days are icky and rushed, despite whatever advanced planning i do. today was no exception. in between conference calls and messing around in excel, i ran around my house feeding the pets and throwing a few last things into my suitcase.

when feeding my dogs i noticed the bag was almost empty. i know it sucks for my mom to have to get a giant bag from the store, so i thought i'd be helpful by running out and getting a bag before i left today. the grocery store is 2 minutes away and i could be there and back in no time.

unfortch, once i loaded the bag into my car and tried to turn my car on - i hit a problem. my car would not start. it would not even fake start. nothing! all those weeks of letting it sit there doing nothing... yeah, not a good plan.

i called my mom and grandma. usually its daddy that attends to my car issues but he's not in town... so. my mom called my uncle and he came to the rescue with jumper cables and some quality time.

i never see my uncle, even now that i am in texas more often. so even though it was annoying circumstances, it was great to see him and hang out. got to chat about him and my cousins, traveling, and our jobs. i probably never would have made a lunch date with him on my own but because i needed help, he was there and we did get to have some fun over miso soup at a sushi bar. family. i love it. if this had happened in boston, i would have just called AAA, gotten a jump and been on my way. since it happened in san antonio i got some family time and sushi for lunch. having family around is really great.

also i highly doubt any shaws employee would ever help jump a customer's car while in san antonio i had h.e.b. guys helping me with no problem. so nice.

how they do it down south

so. while i still spend my work days in boston, i am officially part of the austin office.

today was a training session for people from the dallas and austin offices of my company. it was my first time meeting any one from texas offices. i was nervous about the whole 'walk into a giant room where you know no one' thing. but i've done it before. and of course, all these people were texans, so it was easy to sit down and find people to talk to right off the bat. i know that i work for a huge, global company and everytime i meet people from different places i'm amazed at how similar our work experiences are. and the whole 'it's a small world' piece of it also. it's awesome when i meet someone who knows someone else i know.

so anyways. we went over a series of situations that can come up at work, on the client site, and how to approach them. the seminar's faculty gave advice on how to take ownership of our careers and make sure we continue to develop our skill sets. so you know... some good stuff. general people and client management stuff that can definitely yield results going forward.

but the one thing that stuck out to me the most today- which is not particularly career focused but is definitely related - was the percentage of married people in attendance. this company function was focused on people at my level, who for the most part are mid to late twenties. and i would say that at least 90% were wearing wedding rings.

obviously, i'm used to senior level people in my company being married. but seeing people my age - all married off, it's weird. things just aren't like that in boston. yes, there are definitely young people in boston that are married. i friends with a few. and a few engaged people here and there. but it's definitely not the majority.

i ate lunch with three women and a large part of our conversation involved, 'my husband this...' or 'my in-laws that...' then they turned to me, "flora- are you married?" um. no! boyfriend? still no... cue awkward silence.

it's weird feeling so out of place due to my marital status. my non-existent marital status.

yes, of course i would like to find a nice guy to date. that'd be awesome. i'm generally open to meeting new people and i'd love to find a boy.

but come on now. seriously? i could not possibly see marriage in my near future. at all. i'm such a kid. focused on me, myself and i. and sometimes the world as a whole. but mostly- me.

these texans. already all married off by the age of 25. i don't get it. i'm not fitting in. also every single person i met today besides the two foreigners (UK and France) went to college in texas and lived here for most of their adult lives. UT, TAMU, baylor, SMU, texas state, UNT. also, so not me. i was the only weirdo who'd wandered off for college, and then was crazy/smart/dumb enough to return to the homeland. at least people had heard of boston college. of course, i know our recent success in football is a factor in my school's brand recognition.

however. they did all say, y'all regularly. and there was almost an aggie/horn throwdown which was thouroughly entertaining. and they all know where grapevine mills is and the awesomeness of chick-fil-a and have visited san antonio beyond the rivewalk. texans. i love them. i am them. kind of.

so... i'm still alive and other things

wow. i haven't written here in a bit, eh? considering i go some periods with 1 or more updates each day... having nothing to say to the internet for a whole 2 weeks. like, whoa dude. :p

probably havent posted lately due to the fact that most of my waking hours are spent: at the office, in a car, at the airport, eating unhealthy foods, outside with my family, inside with my friends, or laid out with eyes half open trying to watch the new season of some show on the tele...

yeah. living la vida loca, that's me.

um. no. not quite.

work is still ok-ish. might be getting better, hopefully wont take a turn for the worse. i'm actually interested in what i'm starting on now and i think this is definitely related to something i can work with long term. more than developer code and data tables. only, weird thing is... that stuff is still sometimes cool to me. i'm so strange.

traveling sucks. straight up. the back and forth is long and i get delays and missed flights and random nights spent not where i'd prefer... during the next month i'm cutting my flights down to every other week so it'll be alot better for my sanity and a little better for the earth. i really feel so bad about all the flights i'm taking and all the trees i'm killing. (yes. environmental guilt. i'm full of it.)

however. seeing the family every weekend has been fantastic. i love it. i love them all and this is why i asked for the transfer and why i am ok with the delays and long hours spent in airports. cos at the end of it i get to see the most important people a lot more often. so cutting back on the flights is going to kinda suck cos it means i'm cutting back on this texas family time i'm just sinking my teeth into... hmm. boo.

but. i am saving money. which now... two years into the working world i'm actually putting an effort towards. mostly cos i have a goal of buying a house asap. i feel like i need a big investment. and real estate property is it. living with my mommy lets me save money at a faster rate then when i flushed it down the toilet every month living in boston, aka paid rent.

living at home with the fam is good. i know a lot of kids my age say they couldn't handle being en casa with their parentals again after leaving the nest only a few years ago. maybe i'm different since i havent really lived home-home full time since i was 16. dunno. i like it. they're nice to me, they love me, they feed me, they let me take naps when i want- it's a good arrangement for now. we do have our squabbles where we yell or cry or i pinch them to show my displeasure. but then we get over it and make up. it's all very normal i think. only apparently this child/parent relationship i've got going on is abnormal compared to the scenes of my peers... hmm. don't get it.

so yeah.

i'm in boston or san antonio or somewhere in between 100% of my time. looks to be the ongoing plan for the next few months. i can handle it. i can make it fun. i can make it enjoyable. i can.

tomorrow night: san antonio heat and southtown's first friday with my bro. we have to do some surveying of the scene/ market research for my other big goal i'm working on/saving for... to be announced.

we came to rock

so, ACL was this past weekend. austin city limits festival 2007.

my brother and i went. he's turning 20 in a week... this is an early gift. and the weekend guaranteed i got to spend some q.t. with my baby during his last bit as a teenager.

3 days spent in the company of david as well as assorted UT kids, old tamster friends, a couple of cousins and 60k other people. and you know... some rock bands.

for posterity's sake and in case anyone cares, below is who i saw. i sat for sets ranging between 20 minutes from far away in a field for pete yorn on friday afternoon to the full MUSE show, packed tightly about a hundred feet from the stage near a mosh pit on saturday night. my favorites are star'd. overall, friday was my favorite day - possibly because it ended with blueberry pancakes... but muse was my favorite show. for sure.

friday:
pete yorn
peter bjorn and john*
joss stone**
m.i.a.**
spoon*
gotan project
kaiser chiefs
the killers
bjork

saturday:
kevin devine*
young love**
dax riggs
paolo nutini*
cold war kids*
stephen marley
artic monkeys*
muse***

sunday:
yo la tengo*
the national*
ben kweller
grace potter
common*
bloc party
rose hill drive
regina spektor
wilco*
ghostland observatory*
bob dylan


so my dad picked us up on barton springs, drove me home to san antonio by 12am and i got back in the car at 430am to drive to the airport. and now i'm in boston. clean of any lingering sweat or zilker park dirt, but still bearing my acl mark in the huge amount of sunburn across my back and down my arms.

ah. it was a very good weekend. and now i am pooped.

i heart interpol

went to interpol concert tonight. it was fantastic. (sidenote- agganis sells beer. bc's conte forum does not. this was so strange/great to me.)

anyways.

interpol. i love them. i LOVE daniel's dancing. i LOVE pauls voice. and carlos. kills me. KILLS me. i dont know why.

seeing them rock makes me happy and dance-y. i just bop around, smiling while they sing about stabbing necks and 200 couches and how the subway- she is a porno. I LOVE IT/THEM/TONIGHT. 'twas great. i called at least 4 ppl to let them listen in. if i could dial annatudor in scotland without spending a million dollars in phone bills- i would have called her too, to share in my poppy boppy rocky joy.

stella was the final song. nyc before that. perfect ending. really.

--

this is a great kickoff for my musical week. interpol was the one band that from the announcement of the initial ACL lineup that i was really sad about not being on the list. and now i got to see them anyways. a few extra bucks but a musical thirst has been quenched. i've gotten my interpol fix for now. now i can focus on the other bands.

which i am so excited about.

3 days of possibly rainy rocking out in zilker park. i have rainboots and a poncho. i can deal - for sure.

and now i may have tix to a few after-shows.

grizzly bear. YAY.

and some highschool reunions with old friends. and some quality brother time. and hopefully even a cousin sighting or two. (i have a lot of cousins).

it will be grand. good old austin city limits. here i come. posi thoughts from here on forward.

and back again

i was in san antonio for less than 12 hours. but i got to have some of my grandma's fresh tortillas and meet bunny, my family's newest pet. also got to hang with momma and gram.

great to see them, if only for a few hours.

the flight back sucked but eh, what can u do. i signed up for this.

sleeping in a hotel tonight. no roomates to chat with and make fun of dumb tv with and no yoshi to pet and chase around the house. boo. miss that roommate life already.

the road home

my week ahead is scaring me. again, a list:

my dad gets into boston tonight.

tomorrow my car gets fixed and it's my last day in the office as a 'local'.

thursday and friday will be spent packing and cleaning.

friday night or sat morning we'll take off, headed south to texas.

drive for 3 days and land at home by monday.

kiss my momma and grams and rest for 10 minutes.

tuesday morning i have to get up at 4am and head to the airport to fly back to boston.

ugh.

sweaty and salty

packing and moving is one of the most annoying things in life.

i know this is exactly what i asked for. what i've been working towards.

but ughhhh.

trying to organize a 2000 mile move plus keep things under control at work... it just is a lot going on.

plus it's toasty and humid here in boston. which i know is exactly what i'm moving back to in san antonio... but ughhh. i just dont want it now. i'm not in the mood...

yeehaw.

got the final approval today.

i get to move to texas.

and by move i mean fly there on the weekends and then back to boston every monday morning... yeah.

more family time for sure. that's whats important.

yay!

moving on and on and on

moving out of my place in 12 days. i've been packing on and off for the past two weeks and it still looks as if i haven't even started.

this is not going to be fun.

i didn't even go out today except to go to mass and the grocery store. i actually did spend the day packing. and still... so much stuff all over the place.

i hate moving.

beyond the accumulation of 'stuff' on such a grand scale is the somewhat significant issue of figuring out where i will be 'living' per se come sept1. i can only last on the couch of ex-roomies for so long i think.

so stressful.

and i have amigos that are planning on visiting in the coming months. visiting 'me'. of course, when visiting me, it's important that they have an actual placeee to visit. a physical location where i live and they can stay for a night or two. i don't know where that is. eek. i need a place. soon.

this sucks.

----

went to a concert yesterday. the day was pretty beautiful out, feeling like fall in new england (though it's still bloody summer!), with sunny skies and nice breezes. only once the sun set it was freezing cold and my fingers began to turn blue.

musical highlights of the concert were band of horses, yeah yeah yeahs and modest mouse. my first time seeing each and they were fantastic. seeing karen o. in person in her total rockstar persona with crazy dancing and theatrical makeup and was so awesome.

seeing guster again was also great, only cos it took me back to bc days. i remember sitting on the windowsill of our mod on the last day of classes to watch them perform in the mod lot. ahh. bc memories. :p

----

my mom/bro are on the phone giving me update on people from my elementary school that she sees around town. two more girls are engaged/married. seriously. i cannot move to texas under these conditions. all other girls my age are married or engaged. all decent boys are already taken. there will be no girls for me to hang out with and no boys for me to date. fantastic.

not.

so depressing.

mmm... tasty

i just got a couple slices of pizza from the caf at work. i never eat pizza here but today i wanted something different.

mushroom pizza. the mushrooms are most definitely from a can.

i like that.

the pizza tasted just like what i used to eat at pistol pete's when i was a kid. ahhh, pistol pete's. i think i had a birthday party there in 6th or 7th grade. obvs way too old for that kind of thing but i didn't care. greasy pizza andddd skeeball!

man. pistol pete's was awesome.

now its a bingo place. lame.

homesick

i'm looking at houses online. cos e-shopping for homes is great. between zillow, realtor and craigslist dot-coms there are a ton of places to just wander around the virtual realty market.

today while shopping i took a sattelite-swing over to check out my own house in dear san antonio. the satellite picture shows my dad's van in the driveway that is trimmed with rocks my mom and bro laid out. i see the shed in the back and our giant tree in the front yard.

seeing a place so familiar makes me so homesick. so.

i may not be in san antonio on september 1, but i'm working on getting there AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. forreal. i hate being so far away. especially when my family needs me.

these times, they are a changing

i'm moving back to texas. woohoo! 6 years later...

i've asked for an office transfer. to austin, texas. in september.

wow. should be fun.

really gotta make the most of my last few months up here. operation rock boston will start today!

beanie weenie

back from texas.

flew in to san antonio friday morning. after what-a-burger i logged on and did work. then the first of 3 lyssie events.

bbq at my cousin's house. it was so nice, and yum with food from rudy's. my cousins alec and luc played guitar for alyssa and alec said some stuf. and told bad jokes. my favorite line: people all around the world love cash, but here in texas, we love johnny cash. it had not much to do with anything besides the fact that we were in fact in texas, but still funny and so alec-y.

it was great seeing all my cousins and aunts and uncles i hadn't seen in ages. a mini-family reunion. the addition of 6 kent-kids running around definitely made things livelier.

saturday morning was a b-fast back at the kents, then ma and i ran some errands and went to fetch the boy from austin. i love my brother and his crazy clothes and his crazier hair. really.

made a slightly late entrance to the final lyssa party but did get to see a great slide show of my baby cousing growing up. and i got to laugh at david getting dragged around the room by my gram, earning his place as #1 grandkid.

home to pass out, wake up early, b-fast with ma, pa, gram and baby before heading to the airport and flying back to the bean.

it was a quick and hectic trip but i'm definitely glad i was able to go down. i got to see my lovely family and celebrate alyssa's graduation. and soak up a little more texas sun and love. and even though i didn't get to watch the spurs beat the suns, but knowing i was in the same city as the victory was still good.

so in conclusion, yay family and go spurs go!

happy

happy cos i'll be in texas in two days with my family. it'll be warm there too. and i won't have to do work for a week.

it's fiesta week and there's tons of stuff going on. a luncheon, a wedding, and a baby shower. parades and festivals. hiking trips, movie dates and graffiti explorations.

i lived in san antonio for 16 years. then on and off for the last 8. (even though i've been working in boston the last two i still consider myself only here part-time.) every trip home is great and especially now, i haven't been home since x-mas- almost 4 months- it's like a big re-connection for me.
i need to charge up my 'hometown' batteries. climb a giant hill with daddy and just cuddle with mommy. pinch baby david. get full of shrimp fajitas and whataburgers and cherry limeades. it will all be good for the soul, ya know. it'll help me get over the grey slump of current life and get more pumped for spring in boston.

i'm so happy. feel like singing a pat green song.

(i feel happy like this only when i stop watching the news and don't troll the internet for the latest updates. still. the latest news today has me sad about the families of the dead, sympathetic to all the vtech kids, worried about all the outcasts at american college, and horrified by the number of people killed in iraq.)

eastertide

tomorrow's easter. pretty much the most important holiday for christians. the resurrection is core to our faith and tomorrow's celebration of jesus rising from the dead his ascension into heaven makes our holy trinity complete.

(does it seem weird that i wander from talking about snow and concerts on previous posts into a sudden religious rant? trust me. this one's more important to who i am.)

tomorrow i plan on going to an early mass and then in the evening going over to a friend's house for easter dinner. at this easter there may be 2 or 3 or even 4 christians. then some jews, agnostics and atheists thrown in to the mix. kind of different from what i'm used to.

it's weird this year. it's the first time i haven't been able to go home for easter. and the first time i really feel 'out in the world' so to speak. at home in san antonio, a big percentage of people are christian. same for tams. and bc, obviously, a catholic school. even last year i had one catholic roommate. i've always sort of been surrounded by people with beliefs similar to my own.

now i live in a house where i'm the only christian. and it's not like i'm a catholic fanatic. i'm not even a very good, by-the-book type catholic. but i do have beliefs and faith and an allegiance to the catholic church. yet now i'm the odd man out it seems, at work and at home and with friends. kind of a different place for me. it's awkward having people make derogatory comments about things i believe in, my faith. and i know they aren't saying these things as personal attacks on me and they might not even see them as derogatory. they really just don't understand, don't believe, or don't agree with things i have strong faith in.

and it's uncomfortable cos i don't like to just listen to these things without arguing back, defending and explaining my position and faith. also i don't really believe 'defending' my faith should ever be neccessary. i think people believe or they don't, i shouldn't have to convince them to agree with something i find so definite and true, just hope that they find it on their own. and besides, i feel like most times they don't want to hear the other side and it can really turn a social situation awkward by talking about my belief in the resurrection and why easter is so important and so real and how the communion at church really is the body of christ, without sounding like a lunatic or a cannibal. so instead now i just keep quiet, roll my eyes, or leave the room. i don't want to 'convert' all these people to my side of things. and i don't want to live in a world where everyone believes the exact same thing. i appreciate the diversity of life and the people around me.

just sometimes, i like being in a place where i don't feel defensive about my faith. i know it's good to question things so as to learn more and grow. but sometimes i like to sit and be enveloped in common faith. at bc and home it was great because if i didn't feel like being questioned or pushed, there are always people who are more knowledgeable and more faithful right next to me, able to help out and 'show the way.' i feel like in my immediate life situation, locally more than emotionally, i am the person with the strongest faith. and it's a heavy burden. i guess that's what they're always talking about in the bible tho. bearing that mark of faith is a challenge and it/i will only come out stronger.

/end rant

so yes. tomorrow church and food and friends but no family which sucks.

BUT.

in two weeks i will be home in dear south texas. it's spring and fiesta in san antonio. i really hope the bluebonnets will still be out. i'm so excited to spend time with my parents and baby brother. i want to go to oysterbake, a parade or two, and niosa. i want to eat bean and cheese tacos and shrimp fajitas and all the paletas i can find. i plan on hiking and shopping and walking and just sitting with people i love in the sun or in the a/c. a late spring break to spend some time with the fam. SO excited, i can't wait. 13 more days. :)