NC

Well, an eventful travel weekend was had by all in the family- I took the boys on our first official roadtrip of sorts to Wilmington to visit my Aunt and Uncle and for Croix to visit UNCW on Friday. They slept most of the way which was probably for the better but lets talk about boring driving! At least I was in the comfy and zippy Highlander Hybrid, which I had connived because I was picking up a desk for my house from my Aunt. Thanks to a late departure (my family is on time for no man) and an extended gas stop (thanks Blake, I know it was really important to buy ANOTHER fishing pole at the redneck gas station on the way down to add to your collection when we were already half an hour late!) we arrived at UNCW just as the tour was starting. We were a disaster, Croix in a sweatsuit, Blake looking for somewhere to empty a cup I made him pee in because I wouldn't stop again and me in pink Uggs and a Juicy sweatsuit- oh we were CLASSY. Did I mention Princess came along for the ride? At least we had something soft and cuddly to entertain us. Oh, what am I talking about, Princess is boring, unless you are the one holding her! I consider it a personal victory that I only nearly lost my shit once on the 6 hour drive. Thats pretty good for long distance travel with teenage siblings and a dog!

So, Croix did the tour and my long journey was rewarded by a Bloody Mary and a walk on the beach. Woo hoo. The rejuvinative powers of vodka!

Saturday saw me heading back north to Raleigh to visit Krista and Kelly, where we indludged in a serious Pizza at Lilly's and I got possibly the most forward pick-up line EVER: "I think you're really hot, wanna go out sometime?" E for effort pal! (make me wonder about the famous "Nice shoes wanna F%&$" line- is it just to be funny or is it funny b/c everyone knows guys never look at a woman's shoes?

Anyway, it was great to see Krista and Henry and their awesome respective abodes, we went out for drinks on Saturday and it was mind boggling to see how many women in Raleigh (and by women I mean college students) have had plastic surgery- truly insane...my favorite roadside billboards being from the plastic surgeon "Dr. Cummings" and the NC wine ads promoting Duplin Wine "America's #1 Sweet Wine"

But I digress....a fun weekend but probably best to do with more time next time, my back is killing me today from driving and I'm behind on homework so best to get to that. Next weekend will definately be a sedentary one, hopefully involving lots of alcohol as its going to be a LONG week. For those in the area, my first server shift at the drafthouse is on Thursday! Come see (and tip!) me :)

The Metro

So lately, the most travelling I've been doing is from my house in Ballston to Metro Center on the ever frustrating DC Metro which at least (and this is the very least you can say about the metro) is mostly clean. Mostly.

I've been riding the metro since high school when I used to drive to Franconia from Fairfax, get on the blue line, transfer to Metro Center to the Red and take it to Van Ness/UDC where my high school was. At least then I was guaranteed a seat, and I'll admit my consistent tardiness was split 50/50 between my own resistence to alarm clocks and Metro's resistence to scheduling.

So, now, I'm so much closer but yet still so far. 7 minutes walking from my house to the metro certainly beats 25 minutes of driving to then park at the metro but unless I'm out the door by 8 there is no way I will make what should be a 20 min ride to Metro Center on time. What should be half an hour door to desk is really more like 45-50 minutes. And yes, its infuriating. Much like when I got on the metro this morning at Courthouse (a whole three stops closer than Ballston) only to see that the next train was 6 minutes away- in Ballston. 15 minutes later the train arrived, stuffed to the gills with no room for more passengers.

Which brings me to another note- ladies- PLEASE if everyone is crammed into the damn train, please take your humungous oversized, unncessary tote bag/knock-off Birkin/LV/Kate Spade WHATEVER off your shoulder and hold it at your legs, I swear your taste in oversized accessories is half the reason for overcrowding on Metro. (Oh yea and the inability for Metro to run a train on schedule but that does become a chicken and the egg kind of question see as earlier in the morning trains DO run on time (hence my 8am departure from my house means I arrive on time) and maybe, god forbid, we admit that overcrowding also has to do with too many people trying to sleep an extra five minutes each morning, thereby rushing into the station and cramming into the cars, the doors don't close etc etc "please stand clear of the doors" = you are delaying this train get out of the way fool. Not to say Metro shouldn't run more trains but...c'mon people its not entirely their fault.

I'm not going to even touch fare increases with this, but lets just suffice it to say that I'm not so satisfied with my new means of travel. In a way you could actually make the comparison of the denizens of DC crowding into already overcrowded trains with passengers swarming into line at the gate to board a plane- which is even more pointless for those passengets because at least they all have a seat!

But, the good news is, as of February 28th I get to abandon the DC metro system for awhile and take up my other hobby- international travel, this time 24 hours of flying to Palau followed by an insane 48 hours in Tokyo! Woo hoo!