Life, the Universe, and the Amazing Race

[fauxklore]

I have, as usual, too much to do.I am scrambling to get things done before back to back trips. The business trip to L.A. is for a conference but I am trying to squeeze in a couple of meetings, too. And I am planning to take advantage of the timing to go to both Long Beach Storytellers and Community Storytellers. I'll have a night at home when I get back and then fly up to Boston, nominally for the Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Somewhere in there I have to deal with life maintenance like laundry and taxes and such.

Sometimes life gets in the way of things I planned to do. I'd intended to go to zumba (or possibly try out a hula hoop class) tonight but the metro got in the way. I did scribble down a few haikus once I finally got on a train, only the first of which is really related to tonight's commute:

19 minutes is
way too long to wait for the
Blue Line at rush hour

Please do not block
the door with your stroller. Have some
common courtesy.

Manual braking
makes the metro ride herky
jerky. I feel ill.

Cherry blossoms may
be nice to look at but they
bring ugly tourists.

I need to sleep at times, also. I woke up in the middle of the night and it took me a long time to get back to sleep, not helped by my deciding that I wasn't going to get back to sleep and doing a few things on-line. When I did get back to sleep for a few hours, I had a dream in which I had managed to lose two cars in the same parking lot. piefessor pointed one of them out to me, but it turned out she had really stolen the license plate and the trunk of my car and installed them on an orange and white PT Cruiser. I was upset that the jar of spaghetti sauce I'd had in the trunk was missing.

But I still managed to watch The Amazing Race. And I will put spoilers behind a cut.


Some people hate the bunching that happens when everyone is on the same flight. But that's actually pretty realistic for travel between certain places. It wasn't clear that they all had to take the same flight, actually, but the boat service was definitely a limitation and I don't think there are a lot of flights from the Seychelles to Malaysia.

The cowboys made the flag-balancing detour look very easy. I'm not sure if it really was or if it was just their general athleticism. They did a fine job of coming from behind and I was pleased to see them avoid bone headed mistakes and finish first in this leg.

I don't really get why the cops like the models so much. At least the models were not so whiny as usual this time. As for the cops, I was sure Louie was going to have a heart attack climbing all those steps.

The major mistake Steve and Allie made was getting out of their taxi and trying to walk. They lost mostly out of bad luck, though, with the taxi taking them to the wrong place. I'm sure Allie is relieved to be out of the race and able to replace her lost make-up.

I'm rooting for the cowboys and, to some extent, for the cops on the grounds that they look like they're having fun. If you want me to cheer for you, the main thing to do is to avoid kvetching.

Comments

[piefessor.livejournal.com]

Sorry I turned up in your dream as a COMMON CRIMINAL. Or maybe uncommon, what with the spaghetti sauce and all.

But every time they show me the Seychelles I make a little moaning noise of longing. SO BLUE! SO PRETTY! I WANT TO GO THERE.

[bugsybanana.livejournal.com]

If you're at the Boston Crossword Puzzle Tournament, please be sure to say hi to my brother Ric, who will be there.

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

Are you going to be doing your storytelling at any locations and dates closer to the valley than Long Beach?

[fauxklore]

Community Storytellers is in Culver City on Thursday night. Which isn't a lot closer, but ...

I am going to the National Storytelling Network conference in Woodland Hlls at the end of July, however.

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure we'll make Thursday night, be we should be able to make Woodland Hills. By the way, you know you're welcome to stay with us if you need to be in Woodland Hills. We're in Northridge, not that far away, and we have a guest room.

[fauxklore]

The NSN Conference is mostly workshops and the only telling I'll really do will be late at night at story swaps. For various reasons, it makes sense to stay at the conference hotel.

But I wonder if perhaps your synagogue might be interested in having me come do my one hour "From Chelm to New York: Jewish Stories Old and New" program on Sunday August 1st? It won't make sense for me to fly back until Monday morning, so the timing would work.

[cahwyguy.livejournal.com]

I guess we could offer. I can't see it as a men's club event (unless you want me to suggest it). Who do you think I should suggest it to? (Our synagogue is tasnorthridge.org -- and a warning -- they'll be taking a group (including Erin) to DC at the end of February 2011!

[fauxklore]

I've generally done it as a family show, though aimed at ages 12 and up. Not that there is anything truly unsuitable for younguns, but there is a lot that would go over their heads.

My complaint about tourists has mostly to do with metro etiquette, by the way. They tend to stand on the left on escalators, not let people off the train before they get on, and cluster around the doors (blocking them). Since the food court in Crystal City cloesed, I no longer have to deal with teenagers sitting on the steps, blocking the path to my office.

If you have an influence, suggest they use a tour bus.