I must have been more tired than I thought, because I managed to sleep in Saturday morning. I wasn't planning to, but I underestimated how tired I was and the power of blackout curtains. I had hoped to spend the morning with the Chans, but that didn't work out. I was pretty disappointed about that, but I guess I needed the rest. I spent the morning getting ready for the big wedding and figuring out how to get there.

I left my hotel room at around 12:30 and headed to the subway station. It was not a long walk, and the streets were busy with tourists. I was happy to discover that I didn't even have to transfer, as I had expected, and I even helped a man buy his metro card. I took the A Train straight to Brooklyn. The train was crowded through Manhattan, but it got much less crowded as we got closer to Brooklyn. I arrived with no trouble and walked the several blocks to the event venue.

I got to the community garden early, but it allowed me to help out Tanya a bit, so she could go get ready for the wedding. She and her crew (Uncle and I'm not sure who else) had already done a great job at making the place look pretty, so I just did some finishing touches with someone named Simona. My sister and family arrived after a little while, and we caught up on things. My relatives (Auntie, Uncle, and Tanya) seemed surprised that I was there, but they were really, really surprised to see Cha, Ed, and Annie.

The wedding ended up being really nice, though it started a lot later than anticipated. My relatives were really happy that there was family in attendance. I think especially Auntie was happy about that. Kiana and Billy's wedding was, of course, non-traditional. It was short on ceremony and long on party, but it fit them perfectly. It was a beautiful wedding, and it was a lot of fun, too. The weather could not have been better, and I only got three mosquito bites out of it all. I'm really happy for all three of them, and I know they already are a beautiful family.

Ed and Cha decided to drive me back to my hotel, even though it was a long drive. They were staying in Brooklyn. We got lost a bit, but I finally made it back to the Flatotel and my hard bed. I hadn't eaten much all day, so I considered going back outside to find some food. In the end, I decided to order room service so that I could eat on my bed in front of the TV. It was a good decision. :)

It was a trip with a lot of promise. What could be easier? Fly into JFK on Friday morning, do some stuff on Friday, go to the wedding on Saturday, see more on Sunday, and fly home on Sunday. Most of the trip went according to plan, so I'll start with the good parts.

I arrived at Burbank Airport early on Friday. My flight was to leave at 7am, and I had plenty of time to catch my plane. My seating companions were an omen of the trip to come. As I came down the aisle, I saw one of them sit in my seat and shrug her shoulders, as if to say, "I can sit here because I was here first." When I got to my seat and informed her of the fact that it was mine, both women rolled their eyes and moved over. They were clearly unhappy about my sitting there. Honestly, what the hell did they expect? One of them (the one who was now sitting my the window) decided to insult me by calling her friend on the phone and declaring that, "Somebody sat next to [whatever the hell her friend's name is] and is taking up all the space, and she is pissed." EXCUSE ME??? Taking up all the space??? If these people don't have the money to buy the seat next to them, then I actually believe that seat belongs to someone. Idiots.

The rest of the flight continued without incident, and, as I expected, we arrived at JFK a little earlier than scheduled. I called my car service and was told where to meet them. I went to the designated place to wait for the driver. The car drove up, and I moved toward the car, just as I heard a woman say, "That's our car; it has a 7 on it."
"No, that's my car," I said, but no one heard me.
"Are you going to the Flatotel?" asked the driver.
The woman clearly didn't understand him, because she answered, "Yes, the Westin."
"This is my car," I said a little more loudly. The driver looked at me.
"No, DEAR," the woman condescended. "This is our car."
I directed my question to the driver. "Where are you going?"
"Flatotel," he answered.
"This is MY car," I stated again. Finally, someone figured it out. The woman continued to insist that it was her car.
But the driver said, "You will have to wait for your car."
"But this was the confirmation number she gave me," the woman whined.
"Then call them," answered the driver as he put my bag into the car. Once in the car he apologized, though it wasn't his fault. He drove me into Manhattan and dropped me off at the corner of 6th Avenue and 52nd Street, about a half block from my hotel.

Flatotel is a medium-sized, medium-quality hotel in midtown Manhattan, close to Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue shopping. Does that sound like a commercial? It's not. I mean, it's an OK hotel, but it's nothing special. Some of the rooms are like apartments, so that's nice. My room wasn't like an apartment, but it did have a mini-fridge and a teeny-tiny microwave (which I never ended up using, though I had thought I would). The decor was modern and nice, although the bed was hard. I got settled but was soon out of my room to experience the city.

I headed to Rockefeller Center to find something to eat and to look for the Palm store. I needed an adapter for my Centro, since the Centro headset plug is 2.5mm, and a standard plug is 3.5mm. :( After walking around for a LOONNNGGGG time, I decided to give up. I did manage to find 'wichcraft and grab an onion frittata breakfast sandwich, though. YUMMY! Though I would have preferred more onion. Haha. I headed out to 5th Avenue and nearly ran right into the Sprint store. I went in and asked a very nice man for some help. He didn't have what I needed, and he also informed me that Palm has closed all of it's physical stores, because people buy Palm products either from cell service providers or online. Makes sense from a business point of view, but it doesn't help me. :(

I decided it was time to go to the Met. I had been wanting to do this since my last visit to New York, so I was pretty excited. The question was, How do I get there? I didn't have a map, so I asked someone in the Met store at Rockefeller Center for help. He told me the correct bus route, but the problem was that I didn't have any coins for the bus, and I didn't know where the nearest subway was so that I could buy a metro card. I decided to start walking, and if I happened to gain either of those things, I would hop on the bus. Thirty blocks later, I arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, tired but happy to arrive.

The museum's suggested entrance fee is $20. Technically, you can pay any amount you want to get in, since the fee is a donation. I willingly paid the $20. If I had known about what was to come, I might have saved my money. The Met is HUGE! I only had about 2-1/2 hours to see the entire thing, so I walked through very quickly, trying to absorb as much as possible. I saw SO MANY things that it's impossible to describe it all here. I especially liked the musical instruments, the armor and weapons gallery (which was surprisingly interesting), and the Renaissance stuff. I will post pictures when I get them downloaded. I even had a chance to stop by the store and pick up some postcards and a cute bag. I could explain even more, but you just have to experience the museum for yourself. :)

I had only $1.50 in coins, and I needed $2 for the bus. I got change from a mother and daughter outside of the museum, and waited for the bus. The bus was pretty easy, even though I had to stand for most of the time. I bought a gyro from a street vendor on the way to my hotel, bought some more supplies from the hotel store, found my room, and turned in for the night.

My first day in New York was, although a little annoying at points, was relatively uneventful. Oh, if it could have stayed like that.

A day off is an interesting concept for me. After all, I don't have a "real" job. OK, the job itself is real, but the hours really aren't. So even though I can't really take off and go anywhere for more than a couple of days at a time, I do have a lot of free time during the day. Thus, the idea of a day off is different than that of most people, I guess. Nevertheless, it was nice to have a real day where I didn't go to work at all, and it was even nicer (at least in theory) to be able to spend the day with my old friend M (read: dysfunctional relationship).

He arrived about an hour after we had planned, due to some communications issues. (We kept missing each other on the phone.) He got to meet Milo, which was nice. Milo actually liked him, after the initial wariness. Then we were off to breakfast. I kind-of wanted to go to Foxy's, but I hate the parking there. So we just went to Ihop, where I had country fried steak and eggs (no lectures, please), and he had a strawberry sundae. It was mediocre, but I love breakfast anyway.

Then it was off to the beach. There was some tension in the car because I didn't exactly know where we were going. It would have been easier if he had told me which beach he wanted to go to, but he we pretty vague and then was annoyed because I managed to confuse the both of us. *sigh* We finally ended up at Santa Monica, found parking, and walked to the pier. I hadn't been there in FOREVER, so it was fun to see it again. We walked around a bit and then rode the Ferris wheel. That was really fun but very overpriced. We walked around some more and then headed toward the actual beach. The beach was crowded--one of the reasons I rarely go to Santa Monica. But we sat on the sand, watched people, and talked. That turned out to be very nice--or so I thought.

After running out of quarters, we headed back into town to have dinner. We faced a bit of a dilemma, because we were leaving right at the height of traffic, so I suggested an alternate route. Actually, I thought I suggested heading back to Century City and hanging out at the mall until the traffic was better, but I think he just heard the directions and not the part about the mall. *sigh* We ended up being in the car for a really long time. Unbeknownst to me, he was getting more and more annoyed with driving. *heavy sigh* It all came to a head when I managed to get us lost. (I really did think those streets met!) Soon I was in big trouble for getting us lost, not paying attention, and not respecting his feelings by making him drive for so long. (Gee, I only drove us everywhere for 4 years . . . why in the world would my feelings about that make a difference?) *enormously heavy sigh*

We finally ended up in Pasadena, where we had dinner at Green Street Restaurant. The food is really good there, even though it's not where I was planning to go. It's amazing how good warm, freshly-made potato chips can be. Dinner was OK, though still kind-of tense. I had wanted to go to the movies afterward, but I figured that wasn't a good idea. I wanted to go to Vroman's, but Borders seemed closer to walk to, so we went there. I was very sad, because the day hadn't turned out how I'd hoped. So even though most of the day was nice, it was now ending on a not-so-great note. He drove me home and gave me a hug good-bye.

I don't know if I'll ever see my friend again. I miss him already. He was my best friend, and now he's gone . . .

One of the interesting things about living in L.A. is the famous people that one sees randomly. For example, last month I spotted Eva LaRue shopping at H&M in Glendale. I've been a fan of hers since she was on "One Life to Live" a gazillion years ago. And, of course, there was the time I sat in a jury waiting room with Ian Ziering. I blogged about it here.

Teaching in private schools in Southern California is interesting, too. One tends to run into well-known people or people who are connected to well-known people. (By the way, it is this latter group that is more annoying than the first.) So I could relate a little to the scenario in this article from the L.A. Times. I've met people who work at Oaks Christian, and I can only imagine that teaching there is similar to working at other private schools. Anyway, since most of my readers are from not-here, I thought you might get a kick out of life in La La Land.

Finally saw the doctor on Wednesday, and he gave me an antibiotic. Today was the first day I could actually breathe! I love Zithromax! I still have a bit of a sore throat, which alternates with a cough (dry and hacking, for the most part). I hope the cough goes away eventually. It's been so long since I've been this sick (since I stopped teaching teenagers!) that I don't know if I'll end up with the lingering cough. Time will tell . . .

If you came of age in the '80s, as I did, you might remember the big deal about wearing Sperry Topiders--without socks, of course. (Eww, and I remember the smell, too.) Anyway, these shoes reminded me of those--except these are prettier and cost $495. :)

What do you think?

I woke up last Tuesday with a sore throat, and my skin hurt. I had a ton of stuff to do that day, including starting a new GMAT Advanced class and checking out the restaurant that is catering my parents' anniversary party. So I basically ignored the entire sick thing, and I was actually successful at sticking to my schedule.

I ended up basically having an entire week off, due to the 4th of July holiday and the fact that one of my GMAT classes just ended. This turned out to be a good thing, since have spent most of my time off being sick. I felt worse on Wednesday, though it was pretty much more of the same. By Thursday my skin didn't hurt anymore, but I was starting to get congested. On Friday my sore throat was gone, but I was all stuffed up and starting to cough. I managed to take a long nap on Friday afternoon, which helped A LOT. But by Saturday, it was even worse. I slept a lot during the day, but Saturday night was impossible. I had so much trouble breathing that I only managed to sleep for about 3 hours. When I got up in the morning, I found my dad's stash of Sudafed, and after breakfast I went back to bed. I woke up only when the Sudafed wore off and I couldn't breathe again.

I seem to be better now, though. I haven't taken any Sudafed since 3pm, and I'm actually breathing OK. We'll see how tonight goes.

I hate being sick. Bleah . . .

Here's another This I Believe that I read today. This one makes me sad, though I completely understand where the writer is coming from. I know what it's like to serve God out of fear rather than love. And I definitely know what it's like to be judged by fellow church members to the point of having to walk away.

I'm glad that Paul Thorn has finally found a spirituality that works for him, one in which he can live without fear. It's very sad how Christians treated him. I hope that one day he realizes that though we wear the label of Christian, we're not always good at being a Christ-like as we should.

I haven't blogged about it much lately, but one of my favorite things is the "This I Believe" series from NPR. This essay came at such an appropriate time for me and was so touching that I had to share it. The essay was written by someone who became famous for something that none of us would ever want to be famous for. I'm amazed that someone can live what she did and still be able to forgive. Or maybe the forgiveness part is how she lives.

Check it out. It's pretty cool.

I read this really interesting article today about what it means to be multiracial in America. Reading the article reminded me of something Carla said to me once when we were discussing filling out our census forms: "Everyone I know is an 'other.'" She went on to say that even I am an 'other' when you think about it. And I had to agree that she's right.

Anyway, it's a good article, and it looks at Barak Obama's run for the presidency in a different way.

So . . . I received a package from FedEx today. It took me completely by surprise--first, because I'm expecting my new phone, and I was surprised that it would be here so soon; and second, because when I realized it wasn't my phone, I had no idea what it could possibly be. I opened the package, and all I could see were pink and purple feathers! Turns out that someone connected to Divabetic read this blog and how disappointed I was with my experience, so she wanted to send me something to make up for it. She sent me a feather boa (in pink and purple--my favorite colors), a T-shirt (not even close to being my size), and a huge tote bag. It was strange, nice, and a little creepy. My thoughts . . .

1) I think that Divabetic is great, in theory. However, the event itself was very unorganized and too loud. There was just a lot of yelling--so much, in fact, that I couldn't understand the people in the education stations. There was too much waiting, and the things that people wanted the most were really unavailable unless you wanted to spend the entire event waiting for one thing. I realize that the event is helpful for a lot of people. It was probably the most helpful for those people who pushed their way to the front of lines to "be with their group." (In the grocery store, I call it tag-team shopping.)

2) I think that the education stations were also a great idea. However, I really didn't learn anything that I didn't know, and I am irritated that I was told that the only way I could get my gift bag was to visit every single station. If the information had been helpful, that would have been one thing. But it really wasted my time to have to stand in long lines to hear something I already knew.

3) I think it's great that there were free food and free drinks. It would have been even better if I had gotten to eat more than one thing, but, hey, that's just because I'm polite and didn't push my way to the food. Also, maybe next time Divabetic should provide recipes in order to make it a true educational experience.

4) I think it's a sign of a good company if there's someone in the company who periodically searches blogs and other places to see what people are saying about the company. (It's the reason I didn't use the name of the place I was teaching earlier this year.) However, I think it's a little creepy and possibly over the line to match someone's blog with the registration list in order to get in touch with someone whose blog you read.

5) I really appreciate getting the stuff. It was a nice gesture (even though the shirt doesn't fit; I'll have to donate that to the Women's Center). And the feather boa is pretty cool. Even though, well, see #4.

So, thanks, Divabetic, for reaching out, even though, well, see #4.

Here is the latest ad I got from Kate Spade. The shoes in question cost $298. SCARY!!!