Back home again :)

Yesterday, I woke up hung over, a bit... dragged myself up, packed, had breakfast and felt better. Mailed postcards, loaded the rental car, then made the mistake of asking the hotel clerk where I could find gas to refill the rental car on my way to the airport. He drew a route along the south, going from plaza to plaza. I made it through the first four OK... then exited the 5th rotary too soon, sending me unawares off into a different part of industrial Madrid. I spent 45 minutes trying to get back or stuck in rush hour traffic. Gave up on refilling the car, arrived at the airport with less than an hour before my flight left. Sigh. But I made it...

The flights themselves... I slept for 5 hours on the trans-Atlantic flight, got pizza in Newark airport for lunch, then finished a book between there and SFO. Packed flights, no upgrades, but at least I had exit row seats.

It was great to see patgreene and the kids. :)

( a couple of in-transit photos )

Thoughtfulness, appreciated

While I'm catching my breath, figuratively... I have a partner to thank for a very useful birthday gift. geekchick gave me something I never would have considered getting myself -- an Ipod shuffle -- as well as a sampling of music she thought I might like. This kept me company in the Arctic, day after day in the tent drilling (I'd turn the volume *way* up to cover the drill noise), on airplane flights since, and it was the only thing I had to keep me alert and awake, driving back to Madrid on 9/30 from Avila. 110km, at night, and I was jetlagged and only had arrived in Spain ten hours earlier. And... these were all useful, granted, but also I've felt appreciated and loved whenever I've used it. Thanks, Cathy. :)

Back to joyless traffic, here

Today I drove about 50 miles roundtrip, to have lunch with my friend LH. After ten days driving in Europe... the roads here seem wide and flat, but drivers seem slow and somewhat plodding or inattentive. And the vehicles are so large... A nice-sized, reasonably quick car in Spain looks shrunken and insignificant on US 101, even the same make and model. Giant rumbling pickup trucks with empty cargo bays and one occupant inside... look silly and wasteful. Not that my Mustang is much better, efficiency-wise, but at least it performs.

I had to keep slowing down on the freeway... I'd look down, think "I'm only going 140 km/hr, not fast at all" and then reprocess that to "I'm going 88 and could get a ticket". My somewhat-aggressive driving style, tolerance for close margins and preference for speed and maneuverability meant that I was very comfortable driving in Spain. Even asserting myself into traffic circles in plazas, daring others to cut in... zipping back and forth. Almost a dance. Here, I feel a bit out of place when driving... most drivers seem... joyless, for lack of a better adjective.

5+ years of LJ

Account type: Permanent Account
Date created: 2001-09-30 00:00:34
Journal entries: 2,195
Comments: Posted: 13,557 - Received: 16,004

While I was out of the country... on 9/30 I passed my five-year anniversary on LJ. Originally, it was an experiment that I didn't expect to last more than a few months. I'd seen more and more alt.poly friends from Usenet go over, at least with their personal daily details, and was curious.

It has clarified how I've viewed myself, and issues... introduced me to friends and a partner I wouldn't have met otherwise, given me an outlet... changed my life in small ways. A worthwhile experiment.

From the statistics, I've averaged between seven and eight comments per post. This number is slowly falling because I've had less drama and fewer flamewars in my LJ in the past year or two. 15-20 comments is a big discussion, nowadays...

back on the ice :)

I can still do this! Yay! After being concerned for several weeks about how I'd fare in my first group skating lesson of the season, I did well. Off my peak last April, but not vastly. I missed the first two Wednesday classes while in San Antonio and Spain, and expected to be both behind and rusty and clumsy and uncoordinated from jetlag. But I could do every maneuver (spins were tough to get right) and it felt good to move. :)