Goodnight Boston

Both by bags and I made it safely to Boston with relatively little fuss. I allowed just enough time. The freeway traffic was moving at a steady clip all the way to LAX, I parked with no fuss (I pre-register with Johnny Park or LAX Park Place for decent fares) and caught the free shuttle to the gate. I waited in line for my ticket for 15 minutes, waited another 5 for my bag tag, waited 15 more minutes to drop my bag off for x-ray screening, and then waited through the "security" line for another 15 minutes. I got to the gate 30 minutes before departure and they started seating shortly thereafter. I was worried that my seating zone would have me sitting with my bag on my lap after all the overhead bins filled, but it was fine.

Despite being in a middle seat, I was pretty comfortable. Way more comfortable than the 6'4" guy next to me in the window seat. How come the only time I meet tall guys I have to smoosh into their personal space on a plane? Where are these men normally? I saw and spoke to at least 3 on this flight alone. (No phone numbers, though. I did try. I was personable but not too pushy. Apparently just not pushy enough.) With a little help from Lunesta (great product), I was able to be coherent enough to have a snack, sleep for 3 hours, let tall boy out to stretch, do 2 easy sudokus, and snooze a bit more before getting off the plane.

Thanks to the new "Silver line", I was able to take the bus to the train to my friends' house near Davis Sq. Previously it was the bus to the train to the train to the train, which was a lot of shuffling from blue to green to red and waiting for all the trains besides. I was able to drop in on the T-accessible friends for breakfast (morning people have their good points too :) We had some lovely fruit and bread products. Then I passed out on their couch, as planned, for a couple hours before meeting work friends for lunch. They were worried there might be too much noise going on but I was out like a light and never heard a peep until the kitchen timer told me to wake up.

It was very odd to be back. A lot of things felt like home: Riding the red line, student types on the subway (they dress differently here than in CA), the layout of the articles in the newspapers I was reading over people's shoulders, the scary bronze statues in Davis Sq (will post later), the stores I'm used to, the accents I'm used to, and the drive into work. Yet a lot of things weren't quite right: some of the stores have changed, there has been a lot of turnover at the old job and some expansion, so the cube farm has been moved around, there was lots of road construction on my major thru street, and I don't *exactly* remember where I'm going. This last is kind of like singing a song you know so well that you no longer consciously remember the words, then stumbling and not knowing how to start up again.

It was great to see some old colleagues, if briefly. But it was also nice to realize that I don't want to work there anymore, and was happy to have left. Some of the turnover has been good - there are a lot of new people which can bring good ideas. My former boss gave notice and there was a going away happy hour last night; I hope she does well at the new gig. We ate at my old favorite the Thailand Cafe and I got my pork Pad-See-Yu, spicy, with chicken satay and extra peanut sauce. So tasty! I didn't have to check the menu. And they kind of remembered me. I'm looking forward to being able to spend some more time with some of the folks at the wedding tomorrow.

Finally, I got a ride (thank you!!!) out to where I'm staying in Waltham. This gave us a chance to talk in person with no audience and it was so normal yet precious and tried not to cry. I don't miss the work, I kind of miss the area, but I really, really miss my friends. So Esperanto Guy and I did some retail therapy. I got an alternate skirt and a purse for the wedding ensemble, and tried on a hideous blue shirt that wound up looking great on me. I might wear it the rest of the rest of my vacation. (sorry to anyone who hauled the heavy ass luggage...)

And I also got sucked in by a bookstore, of course. I was checking to see if they had any Suz Brockmann books (they carried all kinds of fiction, including romance, chicklit, mystery, various overhyped best sellers and the more 'cult' type best-sellers that are actually good reads). They didn't have any so I asked to see the book manager because she's local and it seemed wrong. The manager claimed she knew of Suz, and mentioned the publicity wrappings on her van so she wasn't just shining me on, and said the buzz was good and they'd sold her previous hardcover. I mentioned that Suz has two more books coming out and that there will be a christmas novella benefitting a Mass charity so she told me she'd look into making sure they ordered some. I hope I did good.

To show I wasn't just there to harrass her into selling Suz, I asked her to recommend a couple books for me and I bought them. She was very nice. Then at the register, they had a series of childrens' board books called Goodnight X, as a takeoff of Goodnight Moon, where the X stands for: Boston, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Vermont, etc... They're actually quite good. I need to pick up some more for children's gifts now that everyone in the world seems bent on reproducing. (One of the four of us at lunch was pregnant, and it wasn't me.)

I didn't think I'd rattle on this long, but EG is playing Legend of Zelda with his Wii, and I get long winded when exhausted. But he's starting to get annoyed with this level and I need to put on that funky blue shirt and go to dinner before I shut down completely from 9 fractured hours of sleep in 3 days. I set up a haircut for tomorrow AM, then there will be brunch at Joseph's Two, and all sorts to good things I want to be awake for.