Home for the holidays and Mom shows me a copy of my birth certificate she'd dug up. When we last went to get a copy of it I ended up with a watered down version that basically states that "yes, I was born" in a lovely laminated student id type form. Seems that figure they can leave out all the little details like the time you were born. So now I know that I was born at 6:40pm. The more interesting thing is my mom's signature hasn't changed a bit in 26 years while mine is ever evolving with the most recent change being the style of the "M" to start my name with. At least I'm well past the e.e. cummings-esque signature stage.
I thought I would share with you what I came up with while traveling over the holidays as a new way of spreading music. Leave your case of cds in the airport. That's right, just leave them on the seating when you get up to board the plane. If you are lucky no one will turn them into the Lost & Found and some lucky person will now have 30 of your favorite cds to enjoy.
Sad but true. I had a horrible day of traveling on December 24th and everything that could go wrong seemed to, um, go wrong. The worst was my flight from Denver to Billings, MT was delayed indefinitely due to hydraulic problems. Finally we were told to board the smallest plane ever (17 seats and even short people had to duck to walk down the aisle) and in my excitement at the day ending I inadvertently abandoned my case of 30 cds. Some guy went back to look for them but didn't see them (or just ran around in circles so it seemed like he'd searched a bit).
I admit, I've been lucky in my years of music ownership in that I've only had some tapes stolen from my house in college and for the most part the cds are replaceable (except for the damn Jason Mraz discs prior to "Rocketship") once I get home to figure out which ones I had with me for sure. Still hoping, but I fear I'll be scrounging the used cd bins in the new year.
A week and a half later I finally get around to unpacking and separating out the laundry that needs to be done. In doing so I had a slap myself on the forehead sort of moment. I had bought a Duck Back at REI before going to Chile. So while checking my pack to make sure I'd emptied everything out, the above described action was the result of finding a raincover attached in a "hidden" pocket. Anyone want a raincover for Christmas?
I find it quite strange that although it hardly rains here, people always have an umbrella handy. I can imagine their excitement. Ooooh my, Martha. Break out the ol' umbrelly. Me, on the other hand, do not even own an umbrella. Works fine for me. I actually like walking in the rain (when I know I can go home and dry off later). I didn't bother to wait on a prime parking spot at Target tonight so I didn't have to walk very far. Gotta enjoy the change in weather while we have it here. There was even lightning tonight.
So I was quite for a week. Pretty much anything that would have flowed out of my fingers would have been littered with obscenities. I did not have the best of weeks on my return from South America. Nearly everything that could go wrong pretty much did. Everything from a tonsil the size of a ping pong ball to killing my computer at work (not that I really wanted to be working anyway...).
Christmas shopping is just about done but my traditional cd isn't. Just need to rip through it. I have an idea for the artwork - two of them actually. Going to finally take my film in for developing. All 15+ rolls of it. That's gonna hurt the pocketbook.
I don't think you have any concept of how excited I am for this. I mean, South America was big and all, but I've been wanting to see this band for 5+ years. The only consolation was that I could go see Glen play solo.
Yea...slightly eerie timing isn't it. If I find it taped to my cubicle when I get to work tomorrow I will take it as a sign to just put my headphones on and get back to work since I did just take the world's longest coffee break (mmmm, starbucks...).
Anyway, picking up where I left off - Jen and I spent our last night in Santiago having dinner at the ever so popular McDonald's (Jen has a little tradition of eating at one in ever country she's been in) and watching a crappy movie on an ever so small television in our hotel. We spent Thursday day touring two wineries - Conch Y Toro which is the most exported wine in Chile and then a small family run winery where they were corking bottles of champagne. Had to buy a bottle for the upcoming NYE of course.
Then it was back to the hotel to retrieve our packs and head to the airport. For most of the trip my pack has been referred to as a giant dead beetle as that's what it upside-down when its upsidedown on the ground. Speaking of packs - Nick Goodman is the lucky winner of how heavy they were with a guess that was off by one pound. I don't even want to venture a guess what the total weight returning was since as personal assistant to Kathy I brought back a few items to make room in her bags for more Christmas presents as well as my own purchases on the trip.
Our flight left from Santiago at 10:45p and we were there a good 5 hours early. This lead to a little duty free shopping and wandering around the airport. Soon enough I was buckled in, staring out the window at the city lights waiting for Benadryl induced sleep to hit. The flights are a blur now but come late Friday morning I was back in Los Angeles driving a rental car north into the ever so smoggy San Joaquin Valley. During the drive the thought came to mind that the past three weeks might just be a strange dream as it is all so far removed from life here in Bakersfield. Proof that it's not is in the pictures I suppose. I've got more rolls of film that I can count on my fingers to get developed but in the mean time I've uploaded a few of the digital ones I took before the batteries on my camera drained.
So here I am, in Bakersfield. My plants and the fish are still alive. I'm slowly adjusting to the time difference and lack of daylight (in Punta Arenas - our most southernly location - the sun set at 10p and rose at 5a). I had a great time imitating the life of a backpacker and experiencing another culture. I got to see the Southern Cross for the first time. I wa loted a river of ice. I hit my head - alot (either I'm thavocl or the Southern Hemispdoors framesng havock on my ability to avoid doorsframes and such). I may have missed Thanksgiving but I am thankful for the opportunity I've had to take this trip and thank you for sharing in it (or just not complaining about my words filling your inboxes). With that I conclude the travel adventure that was the first of hopefully many more to come.
Went to the Cher/Cyndi Lauper concert here with some friends tonight. I admit, I was looking forward to seeing Cyndi perform as I do enjoy some of her songs (like "drove all night", "true colors", and "time after time") and she was a good performer. Tended to ramble on in between songs but she still has an impressive vocal range.
As for Cher...I wasn't all that into seeing her perform but was in it for the cheese factor (much the same as when I went to a Neil Diamond concert) and it is her "farewell" tour. For me her set started out iffy when she covered U2's "still haven't found what i'm looking for." Diva or not, there's just something amiss about Cher covering U2. All in all the performance was interesting in a Cirque Du Soleil way with all the dancers twirling about from suspended fabric.
I had a celebrity sighting here in Bakersfield. One of the members of Korn. Brian "Head" Welch. Not that I knew this - picked up the fact as I was waiting for soup from a local sandwich shop here and someone asked "How was the tour?" and then looked it up online when I got home. Exciting huh? Yea. Not really.
Oh yea. I'm back. A wrap up on the trip when I get photos developed. Lots and lots of photos.
So here I am...in Santiago again. The last few days
have been a blur of activity and travel which will
continue through until my return.
In El Calafate, Kathy and I took a trip to Moreno
Glacier (60 meters high, 5 km wide) where we watched
it dynamically crack and thunder down chunks for 4
hours. Sort of like watching paint dry...but more
exciting really. The second day we took an all day
boat excursion to see several glaciers including
Upsala which is the largest in South America.
I also got to see and touch my first iceberg. Okay,
only touched a little piece of ice floating in the
lake but technically itīs an iceberg...I think. Hope
the photos come out of all of it. I even took a
couple ĻgeologyĻ shots. I once thought about studying
geology...then I came to my senses. I parted ways
with Kathy as she headed south to Ushuaia and myself
back to Puerto Natales to meet back up with Jen.
Yes...I traveled solo in South America and I didnīt
even have to resort to eating hot plates of cheese.
So tomorrow we are doing a day winery tour and fly out
at 10:45pm and some 16 hours later we land in Los
Angeles. The time has rushed by these last few days
but itīs been wonderful. Time to walk back through
the bustling streets and savor a good night sleep in a
hotel where you donīt have to figure out the trick to
getting hot water.
