Weekend roundup

Last day of the month! Crazy this is the end of September…already! It couldn’t have ended any better than how it did, with my family coming to visit. Ok, so they didn’t come to visit me as much as they came to visit everyone, but it was great all the same.

With my brother here with his family and my sister with hers, it was a full house. 8 kids and 7 adults; with the tv on, made for a very loud house, but the giggles and cuddles made up for the noise level. We had taco night Wednesday, a massive BBQ Thursday and a birthday party Saturday. I’m pretty sure that was the busiest my schedule has looked in months… ok, years. It would have been bigger had I remembered I was supposed to go to a college volleyball game with my sister Friday.

Some from the long weekend.

Yes, that would be my mountain man brother and little bitty sister.

It was a great time spent with family with naps in the sun on the patio snuck in. I’m becoming quite fond of naps.

How did your weekend turn out?

Oh Oh and you have to check out this article (if you haven’t heard about it already). It’s about a UT football coach who suspended his whole team. Well the neat thing is, is that I know the coach! He was at my high school when I was there, so it makes it an even greater story, not to mention seeing where he is these days.

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how to pack for long trips (part 2)

I’ve been thinking awhile about it and thought back to my first trip ever outside the US (I choose to ignore my Tijuana day trip), to Europe in 2010, and I really wish I had known what to pack.

I wasn’t blogging then…didn’t even know the word “blogging”, so I had no one to reference (let me rephrase: I had no woman to reference) to be sure what I should pack and what I should leave at home.

It was a 2 1/2 week trip, spanning 3 countries in the DEAD OF WINTER. Please anyone, talk us out of that next time. It was completely romanticized, going for Christmas and New Years to Rome, Paris and England, but then Paris had the worst winter they’d seen in over 100 years and our friend’s house in Northern England had radiators dispersed in a room here and a hall there that they didn’t like using (as often as we wished) so us poor {sick} Americans were fully clothed with jackets and blankets on almost the entire time.

But packing for that winter was hard!

I digress.

Since that trip, I’ve traveled quite a bit more. I’ve made several trips to Hawaii, and while that’s not international, it’s still a big trip that was generally no less than 10 days, at most 3 months at a time…the shortest, 2 1/2 days…(which I'll never forget). Then I’ve been to Mexico and Japan twice.

Even though they’re completely different in the way of climates, I became methodical with the clothes I brought to maximize space, reduce the over-packing and still have outfits to wear. It hit me with all my trips to Hawaii, that I tended to wear the same t-shirts all.the.time, so my packing became non existent over time, though I’d still bring 1 nice top or maxi.

This last trip to Japan, I knew it would be blazing hot and incredibly humid. So light was key, but again, I definitely wanted variety and as much as I tote the I’m a ‘light packer’ bit, it’s really not true. So to help fit everything in, I read up on the supposed ‘flight attendant’s way to pack’…and I’m a believer!

And what’s their way? Rolling. Friends, let me tell you this is the most space saving way I’ve ever packed.

You can see that all of my clothes are on the bottom, nice and neatly rolled. I definitely didn’t leave anything behind. I made sure I had plenty to get me through the 3 weeks I’d be in Japan and I have to say I wore every single article of clothing too, except one top…and that wasn’t for lack of trying either. Darn pants didn’t match. But everything was utilized.

As I continued packing, I put all my bigger items on top. of course I had to bring Dunkin..

I still had a ridiculous amount of room left over for my makeup bag and final bathroom essentials I’d put in there the morning of the flight.

There’s a lot of things that I have to take on the plane when I fly. I mentioned the essentials yesterday, but beyond those, I have to carry on my laptop (can’t risk another broken screen!), my camera, 2 lenses, my iPad, phone, wallet, sweater, socks, and headphones (with it’s horribly bulky case).

It’s A LOT!! So I put everything into my new favorite travel tote that I got at Kohl’s. It’s not all cutsie and it doesn’t scream I’m into fashion. It’s practical with 3 compartments, its big and sturdy and it works wonders. Just how I like ‘em.

With all that inside, it becomes incredibly heavy. (I blame that silly laptop), but having to carry everything on the plane really helps free up more room in the checked bag. And it works as my one personal item, so I ditch the purse (you can see I packed it in the checked bag), and use the tote the entire flight.

After my 3 weeks was up, and I gave G-man all his little goodies, I discovered that I had a lot less stuff. So I challenged myself to fit it all into a carry on bag and I couldn’t believe it, but I did it!

I’ll admit that I left my moccasins, my big jewelry travel case (the teal thing in the above pictures) and my hair towel behind but everything else I rolled up and fit in the carry on and all the tote items went right back into their proper places. It was a tight squeeze, but I was thrilled I succeeded in packing 3 weeks worth of stuff into the carry on.


by the way, the yellow thing is the bag with my shoes in them…in case you’re curious.Rolling. It’s the greatest thing to do when packing for long trips. I highly recommend it. If anything, it allows you to pack more..I mean..who am I kidding, I mean pack more!

How do you pack?

Have you ever done the rolling method?

Or are you such a light packer, it doesn’t matter how you pack, you’re a carry on person regardless?
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What should I bring on the plane? (part 1)

Do you ever wonder what you should take with you for an international flight? When I first flew internationally in 2010, I had no idea. I blindly followed the flight attendants, wishing for this or that when I didn’t have something that would have been useful and made due.

Since that trip, I’ve traveled quite a bit more.

With international flights, there are some things that you absolutely can’t live without while on the plane. Here are just a few I’ve found vital.

+ Pen! – you need a pen to fill out your customs cards. Its best to fill them out before landing since the lines can be very very long. (just imagine your entire plane of 200-300 people racing toward that one line) Stopping at the tables to fill them out will only serve to put you at the end of that very long line.

speaking of very long customs lines, if you’re a US citizen…
+ Global Entry card. If you travel and fly into an international airport that has Global Entry, GET IT! It will allow you to bypass those hideous lines, scan your passport and leave those poor sad tired people to stand there for (sometimes) hours. It’s been an incredible lifesaver for every single one of my re-entries.

+ Passport and airline ticket. These are needed for your customs cards, so its best to have them next to that pen, for easy access. Sarah shared this great travel wallet that would take care of that for you.

+ Socks and sweater. The flight is cold. There’s nothing worse than being cold the entire flight when all you want to do is be cozy and sleep.

+ Noise canceling headphones. For international flights, they’re practically mandatory.

+ A back up t-shirt. You never know if you’ll spill or…ummm stink up the one you’ve been wearing for the past 15 hours. Smelling fresh is always welcome with a clean top.

+ iPad and movies pre-downloaded. I say this, but check with your airline to see if they offer individual tvs w/free movies on the flight. Air Canada did, so I never touched my iPad once, while Hawaiian Airlines makes you pay $15 to watch their movies, so I made sure to load up my iPad in those cases.

There’s plenty of small things that can be brought as well that don’t make my essential list:
water, snacks, credit card to buy duty free food if you get hungry, comfy pants if you aren’t in them already (I wear my leggings), hair tie for the crazy static that can happen, neck pillow… to name a few.

a little flashback.
Mexico

Japan

Hawaii

Italy

France

What are some things that you have to have while on your flight? The essentials I missed that come with you no matter what?

Tomorrow I’m going to show how to pack for 3 weeks in a full sized suitcase and then in a carry on. Oh yes, it happened. Be amazed…

ps..I realize Hawaii isn’t international, but it’s still a minimum 5 hour flight, so these become necessities just as much as everywhere else.

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I’m thankful today

Happy Monday and more importantly, Happy Fall to each and every one of you. I wasn’t exactly hating on Summer as I know many have been doing lately, because I have far more Summer clothes than Fall and Winter, but I always welcome a little bit cooler weather, just the same.

I wore 2 pair of jeans I haven’t touched in months over the weekend. And 2 light sweaters even. (for the record)

I realized just the other day that I have gotten away from the thankful posts I used to do every week. It’s not that I haven’t been thankful, it’s just I haven’t felt it as important to be reminded of all that I’m thankful for. Today I want to be reminded of it.

+ Over the weekend, I had the chance to go watch my 4 nieces and nephews so my sister and husband could go out to dinner. Yes, I’m an awesome sister and an even more awesome Aunt for doing this. kidding

It was fun though. We played Jenga. Played with the blocks. I held the baby for 45 minutes as she squirmed in my arms restlessly. And finally put her down to sleep with the thought she would scream and cry and fight it, only to stretch out, turn her head and fall right to sleep.

who knew the reason why she was squirming was because she wanted to lie down to sleep?? I could just hear her sighing in relief when I finally put her down. If she could, I’m sure she would have said ‘its about time!’

We eventually popped in a movie (that I laughed at more than them…Emperor’s New Groove…seriously so funny), and relaxed on the couch. It was a good night.

+ Last week, I had some good hair, and you know when you have good hair, you have to document it. This was day 2 of my flat iron curls and I couldn’t have been more happy knowing I could walk right out the door without brushing my hair that day. Nice soft waves for the win…I also hadn’t slept that night, so little effort was key.

Ironically, I went to Walmart that morning for a prescription with no makeup on, but came back to put makeup on to go to Target. Isn’t that how it is? Target just raises the bar with presentability, don’t you agree?

+ The food my mom and I (more mom than I ) have been cooking has been really delicious. This reminds me that I need to reeeeally start working out again…starting today.

+ You know you have a great friend when you text ‘you near?’ and she responds back one minute later ‘for you, always!’. It truly warms my heart.

+ And another friend who texts that she’s praying for me. And another who texts hoping I’m well.

Its this love and support that I can’t get over and am so grateful for. Knowing they’re thinking of me through their days, means so much.

+ I just have to say my parents are beyond amazing. We’re all still adjusting, yet their love toward me is completely unconditional, its humbling.

I hope you had a nice weekend, filled with rain (except Colorado, of course…) and blankets and warm steaming mugs of deliciousness, like me. And hopefully you got better sleep than me too, because seriously, being unable to fall asleep until 4am isn’t exactly the way I like to do things.

Happy last week of September!

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“Engrish” – take two

They just get better and better…

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The middle of Kamakura

There’s no way I can go in order. No way. As I was lying awake at 3am yesterday, I started killing time by editing my trip photos. There’s 250 of them, so to keep my sanity, I started in the middle with the easy ones. A 3am mind can’t take anything more serious that the easy ones.

So that’s where I’ll start. In the middle of the middle of a day trip to Kamakura.

Kamakura is a major tourist spot. Or trap as some like to say, but I had a great time there, and actually there’s so much to see that I could constantly go there and see something completely new. They have this adorable old style train that sounds like it’s going to break down at any moment and the brakes will fail at each stop, they screech and strain so loudly. But it’s the only way to get in, and everyone loves it.

Even the Japanese take photos of it as it comes in and out of the stations.

                                                                                       creeper, 11 o’clock!

Mid way through the day, we headed to the Hasedera Temple, to walk among the grounds. The views were beautiful.

I wonder if you know just how much walking is involved in Japan. Think of it being a lot and then times that by 85. A ridiculous amount of walking is involved in this country, and it’s necessary to throw on the sneakers in order to survive…for me at least. There was no ‘fashionista’ opportunities for me. It was all about making it through the day with my feet.

Japanese women on the other hand care all about appearances. They walk miles, hike, take stairs and even run in their high high heels and wedges. I don’t know how they do it, I really don’t, but a vast majority of them are dressed to the nines with their high heels and it would leave me in painful awe watching them walk.

What are your go-to shoes for travel? Do you stay cute? Or do you go practical with the tennis shoes?

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Sleeping duckling

because let’s be honest…there hasn’t been any sleeping “beauty” here the past 4 days.

I don’t think I’ve ever slept so much in my life as I have in the past 3 days. Since being back in the states, I feel like all I’ve done is sleep. Granted one morning I woke up at 2:45, but come 9, I took a 5 hour nap and could have even gone longer.

2 hour naps every day since, and this body is slowly starting to feel normal again..almost. I’m less a zombie and more a functioning human being who brushes her teeth on a regular basis. Though I did wake up at 3 this morning, so there’s nothing like going backward in my progress… Hopefully today I’ll be starting a new normal for me, which is being proactive with looking for a job. I can only pray I get one soon and one that I actually like, if not enjoy.

I’m sorting through my photos and videos getting them ready to show you from Japan, and I’m excited to share. And a little tips post for traveling internationally that would have been helpful had I known the first time I flew internationally 3 years ago…heck, I knew about them this time around and STILL didn’t heed my own tips (which had me kicking myself to and from Japan) but hopefully they’ll help someone for their next trip.

Who watched Miss America last night? This might have been the first time I’ve seen it in 3 maybe 4 years. All I can say is Miss Florida and her batons was my favorite, and Miss New York is as cute as can be. 3 hours was a bit much to watch, but it kept me in pretty much the whole time.

If you watched it, who were you cheering for?

a little serenity to start your week off right. : )


Happy new week to you.

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It pays to be a witness

I’m back in California now. After an over 24 hour travel day, it feels good to…not be traveling.

Normally, my flights go off without a hitch. I board, sit, exit and move on to the next flight without any excitement other than seeing how long I can hold my breath when a “silent but deadly” is released by another passenger, but this time around, there was more excitement than I knew what to do with.

Toward the end of my flight from Japan coming into Vancouver, Canada, a passenger who apparently was rough to deal with (per the flight attendants), happened to have her 2 bags at her feet as we were coming in to land. She was in a bulkhead row, so the flight attendant came over and said they needed to be stowed under another passenger’s seat for landing for safety reasons.

The passenger didn’t want the flight attendant (FA) to move her bags and argued in Japanese not to. The FA kept saying they had to be moved for safety reasons, that she’d move them to the next row in front, and would even personally bring them back upon landing, and proceeded to move both bags.

This is where it went south.

The FA sat in her seat (directly in front of me), strapped herself in for landing, and at the same moment, the passenger, with her baby strapped to her in her baby bjorn, undid her seatbelt, jumped up and walked to her bags, picked them up, and as she walked back to her seat, smacked the FA in the shoulder saying, “I don’t trust you!! I don’t trust you!!” And then went off in Japanese wagging her finger in the FA’s face.

She sat down cursing and mumbling at the FA, buckled up again and within 30 seconds, the plane landed. The FA turned to me, asked if I witnessed everything, I said I did and she immediately called the first attendant to have the police standing by to have the passenger arrested for assault.

They announced for everyone to stay seated, and for over 10 minutes we all sat motionless on the tarmac waiting for the cops to come escort her off. But they were taking too long, and the Captain ended up coming back to escort her, but in the impatience of others, they announced that everyone could get up and leave, though she hadn’t been removed which caused quite the cluster around us.

I’m asked to follow them to the very front of the plane to give my statement, so I did and witnessed the passenger scream and yell and meltdown to the police as she denied ever touching the FA.

They took her baby away from her amid wails and (thankfully) was given to the Grandma who was also there. Ended up having to handcuff her, and escort her unstable wobbly self to the airport police room, all while the crying Grandma profusely apologized to the FA standing by.

I stood around among the flight attendants and police for well over an hour as I relayed what I saw, and wrote 2 separate statements. As I waited to talk with the cop one more time, a representative of Air Canada came up to get my connecting flight information (which thankfully had a 5 1/2 hour layover allowing me to stick around as I did) and said he wanted to see what he could do for me as a thank you.

He returned saying he gave me access to their lounge for me to rest in and I was more than thankful for it after a long 9 hour International flight.

The cop and I struck up a conversation after everyone left, and he ended up escorting me through the entire airport, through Canada customs, bypassing the huge long line, got the Customs Officer to fill out my customs form for me! and processed me through, while everyone else waited.

I felt a little VIP, not gonna lie.

Once I got to the US Customs, their systems were down, leaving the well over 100 people snaked in a massive line with no a/c on, to sit there in fear of missing their flights. Having Global Entry let me bypass everyone and stand in a 10 person line that was given first priority after only 10 minutes of waiting. ((I’m telling you, if you travel Internationally a lot and don’t have Global Entry, you need to look into it ASAP))

I finally made it to the lounge where the moment I gave my name, he smiled and waved in full anticipation of my arrival, showed me to the private shower room, where I showered, changed and felt like a brand new person.

I munched on the food, had Cappuccinos and took advantage of their plush leather chairs as I waited for my flight.


It was nice..ok it was more than nice. It was wonderful. If I could witness more assaults to receive this kind of treatment, I would. kidding! I wasn’t expecting to be compensated in any way, and even denied wanting anything repeatedly when they offered initially.

They’re working on getting her banned from Air Canada completely, the FA plans on filing charges and I’m just thankful it wasn’t worse than what it was.

Have you ever witnessed anything like that on your flights?

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It will change you

I wonder if the creator of any social media site knew the magnitude of what they were doing. Back before all the major sites, I can remember uploading all my photos to kodakgallery{dot}com and sharing them with family, thinking it was the neatest thing to be able to do.

In a way, that was the start of it all {for me}. To connect and show and get closer to those far away, through a photo website. It all morphed into crazy when I obsessed over Facebook for years and then deemed it time to get off for good. I steered clear of weird myspace and deemed twitter 100% lame and then, I started blogging, and blogging made twitter cool. And darn, if I don’t do twitter and now instagram as well.

Because an iPhone is essential, and apps are vital to the iPhone’s survival, and I can’t very well be responsible for an iPhone’s demise and not have apps all because social media is the devil…

Ok, ok, social media isn’t the devil.

I’ve seen a huge change in me alone, thanks to the world of 24/7 “I will be all up in your business” websites. I question how some completely cut themselves off. Yeah, I ended Facebook but if I were being honest with you, (which I guess I’m about to be), my Facebook profile has been reactivated but only because I was forced to, to stay up on the latest information of a group I’m in. {apparently FB is the only way to get the information…and I suppose I’m a little bitter over it}. I only jump on a couple times a week to see what’s new in the group but that’s it.

I know a few people, a blogger specifically, who shut down her blog, hardly instagrams and hasn’t tweeted in well over a year…and she even has a BABY!! I mean, how does she refrain from sharing adorable photos of her BABY!??

That’s like an IG policy…
Once baby is identified in the womb, you will cease to photograph anything other than your belly (and food), and then hence to therefore, will IG your baby and nothing more.

Let me just say, babies are adorable and 78% of your photos I see of them are cute.

Being baby-less, I have to think outside my little box when I’m strolling down the street, because I want to share something other’s will like. Darn, I admit, I just want to be liked. Isn’t that was social media is all about? Being liked? …if not {willingly} stirring the pot from time to time…not me though, I’m not a pot stirrer (for the record).

Far too often, I think of cutting into my trip, my evening, my quiet moment of solitude with my man, to snap a photo to show you because somehow someway you’ll understand the story, and think it AWESOME.

Take this the right way… I need to stop thinking about you in these daily moments. I can’t!! but I need to, because its not about you, its about me needing to focus on the people there, the moment we’re having and the memory I created, not the memory I feel needs to be shared.

That’s what I feel social media has done to me. Tweaked my brain a bit more into a self-centered “I’m just the coolest being ever, here’s why” type, but really, didn’t I believe that well before these sites existed??

Besides all that, I’ve met some darn cool women through it all and I’m pretty stoked to have my twitter and instagram and blog because without them, they’d be doing their thing, I’d be doing my thing and our paths never would have crossed.

I just can’t imagine that happening, ya know?

Jenni's creation - Story of my Life

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My days are numbered

I should say “day” since I’m leaving tomorrow.

Tomorrow.

This has come entirely too quickly.

I never knew 3 weeks could fly by so quickly, but they have. What an honor to spend 3 weeks in Japan with my love. Tomorrow I will spend an entire day traveling back to California, with a layover in Vancouver for many many hours. Too bad I don’t know anyone in Vancouver to help the time pass. I sure would love to hangout with someone.

Shortly after I leave, G-man will be gone for work again and will be gone until December. Not too long of a time, but it will be a tough couple months mentally.

It’s funny. I was getting into quite the groove here in Japan. Navigating the trains…ok, G navigated the trains, I followed while asking lots of confused questions, enjoying the foods (fyi Domino’s Pizza in Japan is disgusting), and taking in the culture one day at a time.

I learned ants are everywhere, which sounds really stupid to say, but these ants are everywhere. And they’re the black fast as lightning ones that had me realize how much I really don’t care to be around ants. And then the spiders are scary looking. Incredibly so. The biting bugs are always out with a vengeance to get me, leaving me with huge bright red swollen welts all over my legs, neck, arms and feet. And I screech whenever any flying insect comes even remotely close to my head.

But I like it here. Its quiet and clean. The people can be a little stand off-ish, and even rude at times, but they keep to themselves, which lets us keep to ourselves. Never loud or obnoxious. Even the drunk ones are quiet. The trains are crammed like sardines, yet all you hear are the sound of the leather hand straps we all hold onto, as the train zips to the next stop. Its crazy to be a part of and something that has to be witnessed.

I’ll miss being here. All the walking, the insane humidity, the views, the earthquakes and spending these days with G-man. Maybe I’ll get to come back again. Here’s hoping.

                                                                                               prayer boards

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I hear an echo

I could barrel through this post without mentioning my lack of blogging or even appearance socially (minus an IG picture from time to time), but it would seem fake. I didn’t think I wouldn’t blog almost the entire time I’ve been in Japan, but what do you know, I haven’t.

I imagined I’d have ample time to sit and blog each and every day, but the days I actually did have time, I had no interest being on my computer let alone blog. Its funny. Blogging is great. I love doing it and all that I’ve gained from it, and what’s great about it is it’ll always be there, available, whenever you need. Whether you blog 3 times a day (which I follow a blogger who does, and all I can say is whoa), or once every 3 months, it doesn’t matter.

Since being so sporadic, I feel like I’ve lost pretty much all of you and the times I do blog, its for the empty room of chairs, but maybe there are a few of you left who are interested in sticking around. If you are one of them, then HI! I do plan to be up and back to my normal self, at least with all the travel/sight seeing posts I have to share since being in Japan.

There’s a lot floating around in my head I want to share..I probably should write it down before I forget…like how I get stared down by A LOT of Japanese women on the daily. So badly, even G-man felt he had to point it out to me. Or how you have to sort your trash into 4 different categories, and for the non recycler that I am*gasp* its very hard to grasp an understanding for each category. And how, as an American, you can get into big trouble if you don’t sort it properly. Or how the stovetop will decide if you’ve used too much gas, and shut the burner off without warning and not let you light it again…for hours.

You know, fun stuff like that.

I have a lot! So stick around if you’re still here..or come on in. I promise, things will get good soon enough.

Would I post a 1 eye closed the other 1/2 open picture, if it wasn’t?

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You are beauty

Well, I certainly hadn’t intended to take such a long time off from blogging, but when I’m without internet for well over a week, it kinda tends to force my hand. Its insane the amount of things I have to share. Some of you know, some of you don’t, but I went on a little trip…

I’m in Japan!!

Is it crazy? I feel its crazy I’m here. and neat. and exciting.

I snuck away on the 23rd and have been here ever since spending time with my one and only love. We’ve been doing some fun things and I did a big thing for me; traveling entirely on my own in a foreign country.

I’ve flown alone before (no biggie there) but I’ve always had G-man as my navigator to and from the airport, but this time it was me and only me needing to navigate myself from the airport, 3 hours to my final destination. I was determined to succeed. And succeed I did!

Thankfully…though I don’t count this as cheating, G-man was told about a bus that runs the majority of the trip from the airport, so he passed the info onto me, and I was sure to beeline to that counter to get my ticket. Otherwise, it would have been a 3 train rides trip for me, and with a 50lbs suitcase, I was more than willing to take a bus to the final train station and finish the route with only taking 1 train. But carting that suitcase around, up and down stairs and during the busy end of the day was quite a workout.

Oh and also holding up the line when I put my train pass in the wrong slot, jamming the machine and having the transit policeman remove it for me, as I raced against time to make my train that was arriving in 20 seconds...

I’m always up for a little adventure…albeit forced.

After arriving to my final stop, I had to walk 10 blocks to meet G-man, lugging the heavy suitcase alongside mind you, when I see this little person running across the street a little ways in front of me. I didn’t think anything of it until he stops right when I’m passing and has me stop as well.

- You American?
yes
- I like America. Will you be my friend?
sure
- Can I hug you?
ok
- You are beauty.
thanks
- How old are you?
32
- You are beauty.
haha thanks. I have to start walking now, I’m meeting someone.
- Your boyfriend?
yes. He’s waiting for me.
- Will you be my friend?
yeah, that’s fine, but we’re going to keep walking ok? How old are you?
- 15
{{follows so closely I have to hold my arm up from my side}}
- You are beauty.
thanks
- Can I kiss you?
no
- Can I hug you?
no, you already got your hug.
- You are beauty.
its beautiful. Beau-ti-ful.. say it, beautiful.
- Beau-ti-furrl
there you go…. ok, I need you to move over a little bit. You’re too close.
- Stop here and lets go in there (pointing in an alley) so we can hug.
no, I’m not stopping. Are you really going in the same direction as me?
- I’m meeting friends. Let’s go in there to kiss (pointing to a parking garage).
no, I’m not stopping. You need to step aside and not block me.
- Can I be your friend?
yeah, sure I already said you could.
{{I arrive at my destination}}
ok, I’m here, I need to go now.
- Can I hug you?
you can shake my hand and that’s it.
{{shake hands and starts to come in for a hug}}
no, I said we’re not hugging anymore.
- I want to hug you.
no, handshake only.
{{comes in three more times for a hug as I push him back each time}}
Ok, thanks for walking with me. Bye.

At that point, I was done with my new friend. I sprinted up the 2 flights of stairs with my bag, walked across the bridge, turned and saw he was following me but once I went down the other 2 flights of stairs on the other side, he stopped and I was immediately greeted by G-man who had no idea I had a little follower.

It was funny to say the least and we had a good laugh about it the rest of the night.

It’s been nice being here. Its hot and incredibly humid where I didn’t know my hair could be so wavy, but I’ve been getting around town and seeing more of the little city here and its been fun. I haven’t gone to see too many things, but hopefully this coming week I’ll be able to rectify that.

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