here's what's happened lately:
-quit my job at mindfireinc
-moved to Amsterdam
yeah, i could tell you that i moved in with my brother for a few weeks and i went home for Christmas and whatnot, but whatever. these are the two most important points. the former being important because you will no longer see anymore "office in real life" posts and the latter because that's what i'm going to be talking about from now on. also, i think my blog is schizophrenic. but i digress.
because of all the crazy new TSA regulations, everyone warned me to get to the airport earlier than normal for my flight. i got there with 2 1/2 hours to spare, and you know how long it took me to get through security? 15 minutes. MAYBE. it might have been less than that. anyway, i had plenty of time to sit at my gate and think about what i was about to do. when i checked in they told me that i had a middle seat, they were sorry, i could get it changed at the gate, etc etc. got my seat changed to an aisle seat-- better than middle, but i prefer window-- only to find out when i sat down that it was an aisle seat next to one of the main cabin lavatories. not only did i not have a window, i had people walking by me and slamming doors most of the flight. fortunately, many years of concert-going have taught me to always have a pair of earplugs handy (see, dad?), so it turned out to not be a huge deal, except that i didn't have a window whatsoever.
also, i was flying virgin atlantic, which everyone raves about. don't get me wrong-- it was a nice enough flight, but all the perks that everyone (who flies economy) loves were banned by the US government because of the new security regulations. no on demand movies (a couple of pre-chosen movies that played through no matter when you started), no wireless, no 24 hour news, and no GPS to show where in the flight you are. combine that with my lack of window and valid time source, and i was COMPLETELY disoriented. it was like sitting in a simulator for 10 hours, never knowing how long i had been asleep for, where in the flight we were, if there was an outside, etc. if i had to guess, i'd say i slept a total of 2-3 hours. by the time i was in london i was so tired and confused that i passed out the minute i sat down for my 45 minute flight to holland and didn't wake up again until we landed.
but enough about that. everyone's got a traveling horror story, and mine is not particularly interesting. got to schiphol airport, had trouble purchasing a train ticket, successfully got all my luggage, found the people from the hostel at the Victoria Hotel outside of the train station, and here i am several hours later. still confused. keep forgetting what day it is. still tired but not sleepy. head swirling with names of people i just met. not really scared, just a little overwhelmed by the whole thing. i know in a week or two when i've met everyone and i remember how to get to my room from the kitchen and i meet my new roommate (who isn't here until tomorrow...today? whatever. isn't here until later.) everything will be good. right now it just seems kind of surreal.
here is my little room:
there is a chair and another bed/closet that are not pictured. also, this is an entire house so all the common areas are available to me as well. so...that's it for now. i'll try to update regularly and not post boring things like pictures of my room. or of my airplane food:
but i will post things like this funny picture of these insane twins i saw/heard at my gate and laughed about to myself for like 10 minutes:
i first noticed them because the flight attendant said bye to them and they responded in unison: "goodbye! nice meeting you! have fun!" no joke. exactly the same thing at the same time. then they started talking to people around them talking about how they always dress the same and have the same job and both never got married. awesome.
