Soldiers of Misfortune

There were five tragedies this week.

Tragedy #1: I ordered an egg salad sandwich on Monday at a cafe in St. Louis only to find there it contained celery. I despise celery. I wouldn't eat it if I was starving to death.

Tragedy #2: Flying into Dallas on Monday night was particularly interesting:

My colleague and I had just flew into Love Airport and were delighted that our flight was on time despite delays over the rest of the country due to the "Arctic Front" that was conveniently blowing down from Canada. Not unlike normal, we picked up our baggage at the claim and strolled outside (it was a frigid 20 degrees) to find ourselves a taxi. The first cab was a car and I asked if we would be able to fit all of our luggage into the sedan. The taxi facilitator assured me that we would be just fine. So, we hopped in the cab (it was cold in there as well) and I dictated to the cab driver as he punched our hotel address into his GPS system.

"Can you turn up the heat?" I asked. To no avail. He, a small man presumably hailing from Indian judging by his dark skin and accent, didn't seem to hear me. "Can you turn up the heat?" I asked again as my colleague giggled in the seat next to me.

"Uh, ma'am...the heat, uh, it no work. It mess-ed up." Well, you can imagine that this was a bit of a problem not only considering we were cold (I didn't bring a jacket!), but also because both Dallas and the cab were covered in ice due to a storm that had ravaged the city that afternoon. This also meant that the defroster on the car didn't work.

"What?" I replied. "Perhaps we should get another cab, sir." But he wouldn't have it. "I okay, ma'am. We get to your hotel." Well, alright. What choice did I have? I thought to myself. This is a job that requires me to trust others, especially cab drivers. But can he even see out of his windshield?

Finally, after a solid ten minutes of driving, and just before we were to enter a highway cluttered with cars that seemed to be traveling at speeds of under 10 miles per hour, he hesitated. "Uh, ma'am...I drop you off. I worried about safety of driving on freeway. I want you safe." And within a few moments, we found ourselves stranded on the curbside of a Shell gas station. The driver didn't even help us with our bags, nor did he call us another cab, he just left us for dead at a random convenience store in a random part of Dallas with no idea where we were or where we were going.

We hurried into the store (without paying the driver) and I immediately asked the clerk to call us a cab or car service so we could safely get to our hotel which, as I had discovered, was about 20 miles due west. He agreed to call us a reliable service. We waited for approximately 25 minutes during which featured encounters with a homeless gentleman who stopped inside to go to the restroom on a break from standing at the corner with a sign that read "Hungry" and a student nurse who had just suffered a flat tire and was crying because she was stranded in a bad part of town. (That REALLY made us feel better.)

Finally, after we laughed at the situation once more for good measure, the car service pulled up and we ran to get inside the vehicle. In the end, we did make it to our hotel, but only after enduring a rather "entertaining evening," if you will.

Tragedy #3: At the Dallas airport on Tuesday night, I wore a dress. Unfortunately, I was also traveling with a backpack. These two items do not go well together. On three separate occasions that night (once in Dallas and twice in El Paso), three different people ran up behind me to tell me that my dress had gotten caught underneath the backpack and I was flashing everyone behind me. After I said "Thanks" to him, one guy even said, "Thanks for the show." Oops.

I do love attention, but I swear I didn't do it on purpose.

Tragedy #4: I got delayed for 3 hours at the Phoenix airport on Thursday because of snow in Seattle (ARGH!) and I got delightfully drunk. After boarding, I fell asleep and woke up in the snow-covered, immobilized city that is my current home. JH completely refused to pick me up from the airport (and I don't really blame him since I'm unsure of his ablility to drive in snow) and I arrived at the taxi line only to find that it was (literally) 4 hours long. (I am not joking.) Shuttle Express was booked, I couldn't get a limo or car service. So, after I freaked out for a bit, I rented a car and drove to JH's apartment in all of my fury. I'm telling you, Seattle has been a ZOO with all of this crazy weather!

Speaking of snow, we're supposed to have the storm of the century tonight. I'll let you know how that goes. It started around 5pm and is supposed to snow until late tomorrow night. Let me remind you that Seattle is EXTREMELY immature when it comes to dealing with snow and its removal. I can't even begin to count how many roads are closed in this God-forsaken city due to ice and snow. But I will say this: The hills are TERRIFYING. Mark my words.

Tragedy #5: My most amazing bf has abandoned me during the holidays for a cruise in Mexico. At least now I know where I stand. In all seriousness, I am actually abandoning him for Green Bay. That's right, I chose GB over JH. Ooooooo. We're on.

And finally, some good news! I'll be home (in GB, if clarification is needed) in three days. Yay! For now, I'm enjoying my time in Seattle.

Ciao for now!

XO.