Odds and ends:

-Apparently, I parked my car a little over the line to the car next to me and took up part of the spot. When I got back from my trip, I found a note on my car basically telling me what my error was and that I should think about the fact that I'm not the only person on the planet.

Yes, that's my bad. I did a bad job parking.

That afternoon I ran some errands and parked the car in exactly the same spot, except for the fact I parked it in the spot. I wonder if the guy who wrote the note walked by and wondered if he had imagined that my car was parked over the line

-This morning somebody buzzed the buzzer to be let into the building. I didn't press on the buzzer to let him for as long as I was supposed to so the person who wanted to get in couldn't. They then buzzed me quickly and repeatedly, you know flashing a little attitude. So I'm thinking, I'm the random person in the building who is buzzing you in despite the fact I don't now you or that I shouldn't really actually be letting you in. And you're giving me attitude?

-While back, I picked up the book Eragon, the fantasy novel about dragon riders and evil empires and all that. It's going to be a movie that'll be released in a week or so. What can I say, I'm a geek. As I read through the first couple of chapters, I realized why I hate reading fantasy novels: too many references to "steely eyes" or lines like "her hair was straight and she walked with grace" or even "soon she understood everything he said and commented frequently." This book even has a weird fetish over bodily functions. I think the main reason why everbody loves "Harry Potter" is because it's one of the few fantasy books in which the writer is so obviously not taking it that seriously. Or at least shows a sense of humor.

-After watching 30 Rock tonight (it's kind of funny), I realized that Alec Baldwin is becoming the new William Shatner.

-And speaking of tv shows, I came back from the east coast with a weird desire to watch a lot of "Scrubs." I don't know why

When I was a kid, I used to love flying. It was something new and cool-- you're flying in air! Plus airplanes (and airports-- I used to love going to airports too) always meant I was going somewhere, somewhere cool. Going somewhere is always fun. As I got older and did my fair share of flying, my love of flying dissipated but I still didn't mind it. Oh, I minded the occasional claustrophia and the occasional mind-numbing boredom, but I was alright with it. And most importantly, I was never scared of flying.

Now that I'm older and should be wiser, I have come to the point where I realize I hate flying. And it's not just the lack of comfort or crappy food. And it's definately not boredom as I have way too many things to occupy my times. It's just that I am now scared to death about flying. The moment turbulence hits, I start in with the Hail Mary's and I'm not even Catholic.

Take today's flight. We had the occasional turbulence on and off but things got pretty hairy at one point. As the plane started to rumble, I told myself it can't be too bad because the fasten seat belt light hadn't gone on yet. Then it did. And then I told myself it can't be too bad because the pilot hadn't told the flight attendants to sit down and buckel up yet. Then he did. And just as I was calming down, the pilot came on to describe what was happening and that we should not only buckle up but tighten the seat belts even more than we normally would.

No, I wasn't happy.

The thing is that it's not necessarily the thought of falling out of the sky (although the scene of the plane breaking up in "Lost" did enter my mind a few times). It's more of a control thing. If we go on a roller coaster, we know it'll be over soon. Scary drive? We can always pull over. Scary ski run? We can slow down. Scary plane fight? Not one damn thing you can do about it other than pop more tranquilizers and order another bloody mary.

And sometimes that doesn't even work.

Hey look I'm posting again. Yeah, I know, I said I'd keep on posting but I've been travelling (I'm in Baltimore right now) and well, the other blog is turning into a lot more work than I thought it would. Or, actually, worrying about it takes a lot more work than I thought it would. The biggest problem I've been facing is that since I'm three hours ahead, I look at the clock and think "oh my God, it's 2 o'clock and I only have five posts up" and then I realize that it's really 11 back home and that's a reasonable number.

So anyways, my big revelation in regards to the east coast is that when you look around, it becomes obvious that people look different here. It's hard to put a finger on it but it's true. People's faces are more angular, pastier. And to cover up the pastiness, they wear not so good makeup. And they look more ethnic, more full in their features. The Italians look more Italian, the Jews Jewier and even the nerds look nerdier. And before you think I'm being biased, keep in mind I've said some unkind things about my local SF denizens. As I've said a bunch of times, hipster types and the sunlight never, ever mix.

BTW- because I have so many songs on my Itunes, I'm now getting bored with my usual random listens. So now I'm entering in a word, like "sun" and see what comes up. Hello new playlist.