Things that Annoy Me

In no particular order...

1) Poor public transportation etiquette.
2) People who wipe their boogers on the bathroom walls
3) Wax museums...poor Shiloh!

4) People who talk, check their blackberry, or do other obnoxious things in the movie theatre
5) Loud talkers and slow walkers
6) Hollywood's annorexidemic. Will someone please tell dear Keira to eat a piece of pizza??

7) Two people who both are talking on their cell phones while dining together
8) Paris Hilton
9) You know those moving sidewalks? I hate it when people stand side-by-side blocking those of us who want to walk down the sidewalk.
10) Stockings and open toed shoes at the same time. It just grosses me out. I don't know why.
11) Along those same lines, toe overhang. Its amazing how many celebrities walk around with their toes hanging out beyond their shoes. You can't see it so well here, but trust me, it's ugly (though I love Gwen!) I guess that's what happened when you get all your shoes for free from Manolo and Jimmy and such.

12) Undercooked, soggy, french fries
13) Poor elevator etiquette.
14) Dog shit in the middle of the sidewalk.
15) The people who keep pissing, vomiting and other things in my alley at night.

That should do for now.

Wow, I feel better.

Nota Bene

You might experience an interruption of interravision.com in the next couple of days as some changes to my hosting agreement. If you have problems, you can still reach the blog (for all 5 of you readers!) at:

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Thanks!

In other news, I am back again in Long Island. It took forever to get here yesterday due to the horrible storms. Lightening struck so close to the car that I could actually SMELL it! Nutty. Never saw it so close before. I am here until Tuesday night.

I am so excited because later today I am meeting up with an old friend from high school who lives in NY. Actually, she just moved to New Jersey. She's pretty much the only person I keep in touch with from the class of '92 at Winston Churchill H.S. in good ole Potomac, MD. The last time I saw her was about 5 years ago when we vacationed together in lovely Cinque Terre in Northern Italy (go go go!!).

Lets Talk Travel: I need suggestions!

For some weeks Damir and I have been looking into a possible trip to Sarajevo and Dubrovnik for 2 weeks in September. However, we've decided now that for a variety of reasons the timing isn't great for this trip. So, we are thinking about splitting the two weeks into two smaller vacations: 1 week local (Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, the Cape, Fire Island, etc.) in the upcoming month or so and one week in the Caribbean later in the fall.

The problem is that neither of us has much experience traveling around these areas, so we're very open to suggestions. I've been to Nantucket once, years and years ago and loved it. If you have any suggestions about where to go, where to stay, etc. Please let me know!

I think both of us prefer to avoid super-touristy areas like Club Med type places. Ideally we'd love to rent out a small place with a kitchen and be close to the beaches. That's about our only preference!

Anyone? Thoughts? Suggestions? Advice?

I will Not Blog About the Weather. Again.

Holy Liberace on a bicycle. I know its soooo boring to blog about the weather. Again. But it's hot. REALLY HOT. I don't like hot. I really don't. BUT at least it isn't raining, right at this moment anyway.

How boring am I when all I blog about is the weather?

What else? Let's see. I think I have a few things to tell you.

I was thinking back to something that happened over the winter and thought, "wow, was that really me??" And the more I thought about last winter, and the crazy thoughts that went through my head, the more I am convinced I was taken over ala` John Malkovitch in Being John Malkovitch. I won't go into details about who I think it was inhabiting my brain, but I can tell you this: it wasn't me. And she was a little nutty. In a few ways I miss her, but mostly I don't.

Though in some ways things around me are much more chaos than this past winter, I feel as though I am standing on much more solid ground. That's good. So many things have changed so much over the past several months... it's amazing a life can be so different in such a short amount of time. Amazing and really wonderful.

Anyway. I am thinking about moving. Not the wistful, dreamy, kind of thinking of years past. REALLY THINKING. Sitting down, putting numbers to paper kind of thinking. Making plans kind of thinking. And if you couldn't guess already, it appears that NYC will be my next home. That might sound rash or crazy to some of you. And maybe it is, but strangely it doesn't feel that way to me. It feels like... the right thing to do. What do I have to lose?

I am not thinking of moving in with my sweetheart, that would be a little too much all at once. Although if he had his way, I would just pack all my stuff, head down there and move right on in to his place tomorrow. But you know, the parents issue is there, which is a bit tricky. So, instead I am thinking about moving within an easy traveling distance that does not require the purchase of a ticket more than a subway ride would cost. I have taken a liking to the area of Long Beach, wouldn't it be so great to live near/on the ocean and still be within commuting distance to Manhattan? I am going to go look at some apartments soon. Yes, I am that serious about it. Don't say I didn't warn you.

All I know is this, my heart breaks a little each time he gets on that airplane, or I get on that train, back to our respective states. I want more. I want the mundane of the everyday.

Vice President of Fairies

Yes, that is me. The VP of fairies. Let's back up. Tarantino style.

I spent the last 2 weekends down on Long Island....ahhhhh Long Island...which really isn't as bad as I first thought. Or maybe I am just getting used to it all. The beaches are sorta nice, and there are some very good restaurants around. Very good in fact.

It isn't easy to be the only person in the room who doesn't speak the primary language of the others around you. It is rather isolating, and an odd sensation to feel alone in the middle of a crowd. But strangely, over the past 30-odd years I have encountered this very scenario time and time again. I will never forget sitting at Franco's mother's dinner table feeling nervous and out of place while she watched me with the eagle eye of a mamma bear protecting her cub from a predator. No, she didn't care for me much so it is just as well that I could never understand what she said to (about) me.

It's funny to think back to the four years spent in Amsterdam where I barely could string 3 Dutch sentences sucessfully together. Rarely was it a problem or an obstacle. But often I was out and about not understanding the majority of words passing over my head. You sort of forget and tune out after a while, I guess. You forget how fun it is to overhear snippets of other people's conversations.

This is my strategy:

1) Learn enough vocabulary in the foreign language to know at least what is being talked about. You might not know in what context or reference, but having some sense of recognition of what is being talked about is reassuring. At least you know they aren't talking about you. Well, maybe.

Example: last weekend I caught the following words while attempting to follow a conversation taking place around me:

Jorge = Jorge (that one was easy)
Pivo = beer
plage = beach

So, genius that I am, gets that they're talking about Jorge on the beach drinking beer. I don't know if they were saying he drank too much, or liked the brand, or got sick later and died, but they definitely weren't saying:

Terra
Horrible
American

That's good. But then again, I don't know the words for "Horrible American" so I could be wrong.

2) Try to find at least 2 people who can talk to you. This often isn't possible, so you are stuck trying to look no-so-stupid, or not-so-bored. Luckily I always have one, Damir, but finding a second so I don't have to purely rely on him, and he doesn't feel like my babysitter or personal translator, can be a challenge.

Thank god for Selma.

Selma is the daughter of one of Damir's uncles or cousins, I couldn't follow which. She's five and bless her for speaking lots of english with me. The other night she latched right on to me as soon as she found out that swans are my favorite birds. She and I sat in a corner of the big leather sofa, surrounded by family, talking about birds, fairies, the color pink, what food she likes to eat, what school is like, and a host of other topics. We decided, since she owns purple wings, that she should be elected President of All Fairies, and that I, not having my own set of wings (but can borrow her pink ones) would be Vice President. Damir is not allowed to hold an office in the fairy cabinet because he is a boy, and boys can't be fairies. It's the law and everyone knows it.

I promised Selma to come visit and spend the night sometime. She's going to see that her mom makes some lasagna.

Thank heaven for little girls.

Waiting on a Plane

My work week started auspiciously enough on Wednesday morning as I sat in stinky JFK airport waiting for my plane to take off for over two hours (due to terrible storms), next to a wailing baby. Ahh. What to do? There are no fun shops to browse, no CNN to steal my attention. I pulled out my laptop praying to the wireless gods for an internat connection, alas none was to be found. So I opened up my ITunes and started a "Waiting at JFK" playlist. This is what I chose:

1) Volare, Dean Martin
2) Stuck in a Moment, U2 (acoustic version)
3) Such Great Heights, Iron & Wine
4) Wait, Sarah McLachlan
5) Missing, Everything but the Girl
6) The Time is Now, Moloko
7) Spread Your Wings, Robbie Williams
8) Leaving on a Jet Plane, Bjork and PJ Harvey
9) Waiting for you, Seal
10) Waiting in Vain, Annie Lennox
11) Time after Time, Cyndi Lauper
12) Waiting for Tonight, J.Lo
13) Waiting on a Friend, Rolling Stones
14) Time, Sarah McLachlan
15) Standing Still, Jewel
16) Trip Through Your Wires, U2
17) Time for me to Fly, REO Speedwagon
18) Raining in Baltimore, Counting Crows
19) Learn to Fly, Foo Fighters
20) Marooned, Pink Floyd

Ha. That was fun.