I never heard the melody, until I needed a song

Wow, it's been a while since I blogged. I didn't think it'd been a month. Time flies when you have no life. Well, anyway, I looked back and on my last blog/note, I was down 20 pounds. Now, I'm down close to 30 pounds! I'm well on my way to my original weight of 10 lbs., 9 oz!! Yes, I even lost a pound on vacation. I kept up with my points and walked around a lot, which was my exercising instead of the gym.

So yeah, I went on vacation about a week and a half ago. I went to San Diego. If you read this at all, you know this. No, I don't know anyone in San Diego, although I did find out that I did know someone who would be there (more on that later), I have no family out there. It was a random choice. Free flight from Southwest and I've always wanted to go to California. My flight was mid-morning so I didn't have to wake up too early to get to the airport and I made it there in plenty of time. I had my book ready and my Vanity Fair & Games magazine on hand as well. I was prepping for an uneventful flight. I got on the flight and thought I was gonna have drama courtesy of one woman. She and her husband were the last 2 passengers and the only seats left were center seats. She complained without complaining to her husband about it and made a big deal of the inconvenience. Her husband was sitting by me, she was in the row behind. The lady in the window seat behind me heard her griping too and offered to switch seats after she was done with her work. She also told griping lady that if you check in earlier, you won't have this problem, but in a polite way. Griping wife finally made friends with the passenger on the other side so when working woman offered her seat later, she politely declined. She said her husband probably was enjoying the peace & quiet. Since I was reading Vanity Fair rip Sarah Palin to shreds, I wasn't talking to him, so I imagine he was enjoying the peace & quiet. Glad I could help you out sir!

So then I landed in San Diego. I saw sunny skies & palm trees. I loved it already. Hotel wasn't far from the airport and I didn't get lost, so that's good. Went to my hotel, which wasn't fancy, but it was clean and nice and the pool was good - and it was CHEAP! then I got something to eat. I headed to the beach so I could get some west coast sunset pictures. It look a long time to find a park, but I found one just in time. There is a huge pier at Ocean Beach and I got some great shots. Leaving the pier, I saw some guy with rolling papers and he was putting something in them. HOPEFULLY it was tobacco. I was too intrigued to look away but too paranoid to stick around. Then, I went to eat at the Mexican restaurant at the hotel that night. I got a spicy chicken sandwich, I don't like Mexican food. Then I prepped myself to be a tourist!

Thursday was zoo day. That is a big zoo, and it's really nice too. It's layout is good. They have a lot of animals and they do a lot for animal conservation. I got lots of pics of some sort of critters. Some of them I even recognize. I even dealt with some work issues while there. I'm a multi-tasker! The day started out sorta cloudy, but by noon, it was perfect. Clear skies and temps in the 70s. Yes, I got too much sun that day. But I couldn't be in California without coming back with sun. After the zoo, I went to the Wild Animal park which is about half an hour north of the zoo. I don't know why I went. It had some of the same animals as the zoo, the exhibits were just ok, and it overall looked decent, but like it was an afterthought or maybe once had been more dynamic. It looked like the old mall in what's now the lesser part of town.

That night, I went to Old Town. Mainly because I heard it was cool and I could get there without getting on the interstate. I walked around a bit, tried to find something to eat, and scope out haunted tours. I found a lot of Mexican restaurants. But I found a place called O'Hungrys. They had 2 guys singing and playing guitar, but more importantly, they had $5 entrees. I was sold! It would be my home the next 3 nights haha. I also found the "haunted" Whaley house and made plans that next night to visit there. It was good to hear the stories about the house. They give history tours of it by day, ghost tours by night. One night in Old Town, I even saw a man who set up camp outside a store and had 2 dogs and a chicken. Sometimes, the chicken would ride on the dogs' backs. Yeah, it's weirder than it sounds and that says a lot.

Friday, was Sea World. My friend & former co-worker Brook, I found out, was in SD the same time I was. Happy accident. I was at Sea World the same day she, her husband, and her sister were. I had hoped to run into her but she found me at the sea lions show. I loved that show. It was actually funny & entertaining. The dolphin show had too little dolphin, too much weird aerial ballet & diving. Shamu was good, but with some horrendous Disney style song that could have benefited from a sound system malfunction. I saw a dog & cat show too. Yes, at Sea World. No, I didn't get it either. I saw dolphins up close, I saw sharks, I dealt with a work issue, I rode the sky tram and didn't freak out (but was scared, I freely admit it!). It started off cloudy but soon gave way to clear skies and temps in the 70s. Sea World was awesome. Later that evening, just before sunset, I got in the hot tub at the hotel. I was all alone in the pool area and loved it. I looked up and saw the sky begin to change colors from blue, to red, to orange. I saw the tall palm trees sway gently in the breeze. I was perfectly at peace. I was in a hot tub in southern California at sunset. Loved it!

Saturday, I had plans at one point to drive up to LA. I'm glad I thought better of it. So I took a trolley tour of San Diego. I went to the Harbor (it was the beginning of fleet week so it was PACKED!), went to Coronado and saw the hotel there. It's HUGE!! And it's wooden and had a red roof, but it's nothing like a Red Roof Inn. Apparently, parts of Some Like It Hot were filmed there. I went to eat lunch at a restaurant there (after the seafood place at the harbor messed up my order) and found some Tennessee fans. They were very nice people. Bama was demolishing Duke and UT was in a dogfight with the Gators at the time. It was good to be around folks who cared about SEC football though. One last night in Old Town, then off to pack to come back to Baltimore and deal with work issues on Sunday morning. The plane ride back was quieter. I sat next to the 2 nicest older ladies on the flight to KC. They were sweet as can be. I sat close because I had a quick turnaround between flights, but I need not have worried. I had to go 30 feet to my gate and still way 10-15 minutes and deal with a work issue before boarding.

So yeah, then it was back to reality. Back to work on Monday. Back to the gym but with still sore feet, back to my exercise class, back to choir practice. Back to life, back to reality, back from a fantasy (thanks Jeff for also thinking of that song for me earlier this week, it was already in my brain haha). I did see The Town on Friday. Awesome movie, a must see! Yesterday, it was the church community fair, then back to the apartment to watch Bama come back in the 2nd half for a huge win, watched a kinda decent episode of SNL, then sleep. Today was church, WalMart (and some NedWrecks!), Steel Magnolias (don't judge), NFL, and Mad Men. Yes, I'm that boring.

My deep thought of the week is about resilience. Kids are some of the most resilient creatures on Earth. They have short memories of heartache, despair, and pain. Yesterday, a little boy at church busted his mouth open, he was crying, he was bleeding, his world was awful. His dad was inside packing stuff up, his mom was at his grandmother's car. He needed his parents in a bad way. So I scooped him up and we went searching. It hurts me when kids are crying & in pain. Mom was found and she took over. I checked on him a few minutes later, his two front teeth were out and he was cleaned up and smiling. He was happy again. 5 minutes earlier was an awful time for him, but he bounced back that quickly. He even smiled for us all and showed his new profile. Why aren't we like that? Why do we let petty things drag us down? Why do we have such long memories? Jackson has a lot to teach us I believe.

Have a good week everyone. Wake me up when September ends.