Eary April Musings (no pictures)

I started a paper journal on the plane to San Francisco with the intention of capturing blog posts to later type onto the computer. Here are my thoughts from April:

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Pete and I step outside the apartment on our way to my hair appointment and it is snowing! In April! (You saw the pictures of our barbecue two weeks ago when it was warm and sunny- I thought that weather was to stay!) Texas weather is crazy! Too bad because I was really looking forward to the Texas heat while I was in San Francisco fog, only to be teased by one and a half days of sunshine and then wind and cold. Last night we actually had to take the comforter back out of storage and put it on the bed it was so cold. But still the absurdity of the snow made me smile.

I got my hair cut and Pete played around with his new laptop. An Apple I Mac, fancy fancy. He loves it. Feels so good to have gotten my hair cut...for some reason my hair and nails grow crazy fast...even my hair dresser commented on the amount of grow out I'd had since my last appointment. Hair is fine with me...I like it long but my nails drive me crazy...I want them short and neat and since I can't keep a manicure, they look gross long.

So now I'm on a plane bound for SF again. Pete and I got to the airport crazy early because we dropped his car off for service and we weren't sure how long it would take to get to the airport from the repair shop. We hung out for like a minute before I got bored and decided to go through security (unfortunately there are no pre-security restaurants shops or bars at DFW)with over an hour to kill. I spent this time in a bar near my gate where I proceeded to accidentally get very drunk and almost miss my flight as they changed gates on me and I had difficulty reading the computer as I stumbled to my former gate only to find about 100 service men and woman lounging in the gate area. But I made it, and I upgraded to Premium Economy and the plane is pretty empty so I got bulkhead and the entire row to myself. Nice.

Sunday, April 8, 2007

Last night my parents picked me up from the airport and I gorged on a Wahoo sandwich and watched a weird arty movie on IFC with my dad (we thought we were watching a horror movie and kept waiting and waiting for it to get scary but it just kept getting weirder and then it ended)before meeting up with Phil, Joe, Victor, Andy, Jaime, Adam and Jason hanging out in front of the Peacock lounge on Haight street.

This morning we got off to a late start, each family member dawdling over their own errands whilst lazily getting ready for Sunday brunch. I tested out my new webcam and Skype connection, talking to Pete and showing him my parent's new kitchen.

The sun was shining but the air had a bit of a chill to it. Auntie Joann and Luis once again hosted an awesome party with great food and drinks and conversation. The kids excitedly hunted Easter eggs in the backyard as the adults wandered around catching up with everyone. Unfortunately I was having such a good time revisiting with friends and family I did not take any pictures at all this weekend. I'm not Peter, it doesn't come second nature to me to capture memories on camera. I am usually too busy enjoying the moment and it is only when I look back at my meager picture offerings at the end of the day (or more accurately for me, the end of the month) that I express regret for not having captured more moments and events to share with others.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007
(Monday April 9 disappears by the magic that is crossing the International Date Line)

Easter Sunday evening I got on the 12 hour Air New Zealand flight to Auckland where I would lay over for an hour before getting on another Air New Zealand flight for the 3 hour ride to my final destination of Brisbane, AUS. The flights were not bad at all...the trick is to take full advantage of AirNZ's Premium Economy class, especially on the long haul flight...it is definitely worth it. The seats have a little bit more leg room, you get to board early with Business class, you are separated from the rest of the aircraft, the food is a little bit better (served in courses...with a nice salad, fresh bread and a fancy New Zealand cheese course if you are into that). Juice water or champagne are offered immediately after boarding, water bottles and in-flight kits containing ear plugs, eye mask, socks and toothbrush and paste are waiting for you, also there are help yourself snacks available during the entire flight...fruit, cookies, water, juice,etc. The flight actually went by quickly...I ate dinner, watched a movie, slept, woke up for breakfast and then we landed.

Changing planes in Auckland wasn't too bad either...you don't have to go through customs or change terminals...you just do another security check and then hang out in the international terminal with oodles of duty free shopping, a fancy bar, and internet and massages for a fee.

Now I am in sunny Brisbane in the cab en route to our hotel. So excited!