RuffBlog

THE STATUS 'PO

I've you've been within five feet of me this week you probably know my double-whammy of sob stories.

My debit card and PIN were cloned/scammed/hacked/frauded/whatever, my account is overdrafted by $1000, and locked pending the super-pleasant fraud investigation. It's such a fucking hassle, but I'll admit with a little pressure RBC eventually came through, advancing me seed money for my week of Outgames debauchery.

Surprisingly coming in a close second in my woeful week, my company lost their main contract and I'm facing a layoff mid-month.

It's an awkward feeling... I never meant to embark on a career as a travel agent... so I'm not sure how I feel about suddenly having to find another job...

but I'm good at it, and perhaps due to my fetish-like fondness for all things complex and chaotic, really enjoy it.... so much so that I'm aligning my paths to combine design, travel, and business... my explanatory scenario generally reads "eventually, I want to be the guy who designs the identity for an airline, or spearheads the design revamp of a hotel chain..."

in the meantime, I've got some more time to put in being a Sabre-geek.

at first, it was really scary watching experienced colleagues pulling up fares... it's this odd physical-mental human-computer twitching... you describe to sabre what you want (be it a passenger record or a list of flight options), wait for a response, do a split-second analysis of what has been presented to you, and repeat the twitching transactions again and again, all the while maintaining chipper and efficient conversation with the client.

anyway, stuff is happening. more to come...

I would just like to point out...

There is a donut in the middle of Quebec. You heard it here first.

Dragon: An ad for United Airlines

This is sweet.

nyc

i was in new york last week. i forgot to blog about it.

movin' on...

Bumping Seats, for Fun and Profit...

So we left yesterday. For Seattle.

Jay was pissed that I waited so long to pack. That I wasn't ready to catch an early bus and arrive ever so early at the airport.

We did, of course, arrive fine. As we were boarding, they did the routine "we need a volunteer" announcement. I light up, practically begging Jay "Free Ticket! Can I do it?", as he looks sad, like "you'd ditch me for a free ticket?".

It hadn't occurred to me that we could just volunteer to be bumped together. But of course, they were more than happy to.

We not only BOTH got free round-trip tickets, but they simply booked on the next westward flight (on a different airline)... in First Class. We connected in Chicago instead of Philadelphia, arrived less than an hour later than scheduled, and filled ourselves with airplane meals and Tanqueray.

"Don't you feel like we're surrounded by Republicans", I whisper to Jay on the first flight, as I size up my fellow American Airlines passengers...

We didn't get to sit together on the second leg... this unattended minor didn't want to switch seats with us, because it would have meant him sitting next to an old man. Jay and I both thought, at precisely the same time, of whispering to the kid "wouldn't you rather sit next to that old man than next to homosexuals like us?"... but for some reason our consciences declined to take us down that fear-instilling route. Instead, Jay just slammed the curtains shut so the kid couldn't look out the windows, and I kept waking the brat up telling him he had to put his seat back up so I could get out to go to the bathroom.

Washington State is dull in February... no snow, but no leaves either. Tacoma looks like... Portland Maine. Seattle looks hot.... there's this Pacific Northwest kind of architectural style going on that I seem to really appreciate... it's obvious the moment you arrive at the airport. I kind of had this feeling, coming here, that I'd simply adore the city... the "lifestyle"... I even wrote to my sister last week, saying I was half-expecting to come away from this trip thinking "I want to live over here".

I don't know. I need to go back to San Francisco... see how it affects me now, five years after living there (how Mark Twain, eh?)... because I still feel like it's the place I'm supposed to be at, or supposed to be living in... and I still doubt the validity of that sentiment on the simple basis that the first place I "arrived" at can't possibly be the right one. (Like falling in love.... how can the first love be the right one, simply because there's the potential for so many others....)

Anyway. More later.

Oh yes... and last night. Jeff and Phil took us for a surprise.

"What year were you born? I'm sure Brett knows who she is."

"I can't believe we're going to see Eartha Kitt."

"She's a gay icon."

"She was catwoman."

"She's like what every drag queen aspires to be. Except she's real."

(I had no idea who she was, but yeah, she was great. She's 78. I know almost nothing about Jazz, but I could instantly see how she, and every sound like hers, can represent and augment the quintessential homosexual experience.... I was completely exhausted, and totally underdressed for dinner/cabaret, but I really enjoyed the show.)

Escaping Montreal...

I've been.... not so happy... the past few weeks. And it just pisses me off, because life is better than it's been in a long time... but I'm just worn down from all the compounded problems I've been working through all year.... apartments, family, financial aid, academic red-tape, and my battered ego.

Leaving tomorrow. Not so much to get away, but to get a plan.

Home Tuesday. Moblogged pictures a possibility. Check back tomorrow.

AirToons

I came across this website, and wasted half an hour laughing out loud while half the stressed out people studying in the art history library were wondering why i was being such a retard.