Jiggity jig

I'm back! California was definitely an experience (and then some), but I was so happy to step off that plane in Chicago to a faceful of freezing wind. Nothing quite like a chilly, Midwestern, late fall day! (How's that for squeezing in adjectives?) Mike and I thought we were going to miss our connection to South Bend, but it turned out (oh, hooray) that that flight was delayed by about an hour. We waited the hour, then a bit more, and had to listen to this woman bitch for fifteen minutes to a mysterious someone on the other end of her phone call. I was about ready to turn around and inform her that no, she was not some special princess who for some magical reason got better treatment than the rest of us. Yes, the airline should have kept us better informed, but it is the freaking holiday season -- give it a rest and learn to modulate your damn nasally vowels.

I wanted to thank the lovely people who commented on my last post. I really don't like to do mysterious, vague posts, but at the same time, I am completely cognizant of how boring "I have emotions and deep feelings and life is so unfair and gosh I am so torn about this!" kinds of posts can be. But anyway, I totally busted that dude on his jackassery, and yes, it felt damn good. The next few days I kept purposely putting myself in his way to see how uncomfortable he got trying to avoid seeing me/talking to me. Suckah. I wasn't about to open a heart-to-heart with him, so I totally went for the "I'm going to amuse myself" route. Still, I guess it was good to confront issues like that in a fairly straightforward manner. I mean, we'd only known each other for like two days so I didn't feel he really deserved the full-on "let's talk about this" treatment. I've been working really hard on getting rid of any passive-aggressive tactics, and it's good to see some sort of proof of all that work.

I went into work today for a couple hours, and it was so good to see everyone. They were all really happy to see Mike and I, and we ended up staying for a few hours just to talk and catch up with everybody. There was some boring paperwork to do, but that was quickly taken care of. Then I went shopping. Don't laugh, winter has come with a vengeance and I am not prepared at all. Tsk. I went to Kohl's because their current sale is freaking amazing. I got a pair of black winter boots, a dark green corduroy coat, a dusty blue coat for warmer days, two thermal shirts (I'm wearing one right now and it has blue snowflakes on it!), and a deep plum sweater. My black, wear-it-everywhere sweater is falling to pieces, so I needed a replacement. I don't buy a lot of clothes (or much of anything, really), so it was kinda fun to just go a bit crazy. Hooray for sales! I think I might get a couple more thermal shirts. I like 'em.

I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow -- it's a bit exciting to think that I'll be on both coasts within the space of three days! I'll have to dip my toes into the Atlantic just to say I did it. Sadly, most of my beach time in California was at night, but I did, technically, go there. I'm picking up a car from my aunt; I'm very thankful for relatives who love me enough to give me really good deals on their old cars! I'll stay for a few days, and I'm going to look into staying with a friend in Nashville for a night when I come back. It'd be a good way to break up the trip, plus Nashville is freaking awesome.

This wasn't the most enthralling blog entry ever, but give me time -- I'm still tired and my brain is not functioning at its best. And no peanut gallery comments about how it's never functioning at its best; I'm too tired to think up witty and brilliant responses!

Reading: The Economist. It's a guiltynerdy pleasure.

Listening: Dropkick Murphys, The Warrior's Code. Just can't get enough of them. They make me endlessly happy.