I feel I will have no think until I return home Wednesday, so how about we just look at the pictures til then, hmm??

SUNDAY 12.26.21

MONDAY 12.27.21

TUESDAY 12.28.21

WEDNESDAY 12.29.21

Annnnndddd…my flight home was canceled. Sigh. At least I’m getting lots of practice in on “going with the flow.” Rolling with the punches?? Yeah. That one. Anyway, that was kind of a blessing in disguise as I HATED flying down on Spirit, it was the MOST cramped and crowded flight I’ve ever been on in my life. So I found a flight around the same time, with Jet Blue, which I’m finding to be a very pleasant airline. I always thought it was like a budget airline, not “fancy” like American or United, etc. But really, it seems to have the most space, it always has wifi and outlets for chargers, excellent snacks (I had the loveliest cinnamon oat crisp things!). Maybe it started out as a cheapy, but it has definitely matured. In quality…and not in price. Just sayin’.

However, being on a different airline had me returning to a different terminal…which meant I was not parked near where I was landing. Just One More Thing. I managed to figure out that there’s a free shuttle that goes around to all the terminals (they are not all connected at La Guardia, aka The Airport from Hell) and it was actually easy to get my luggage then to get to the shuttle, which took me to my little car.

HOWEVER. Sigh. I was so relieved at seeing my little car waiting for me (I’d had some anxiety during the trip, thinking that I was not parked in a real lot and that my car would be towed to whoknowswhere while I was away) that I LEFT MY CARRY-ON BAG ON THE SHUTTLE WHEN I LEFT. Oh good lord.

HOW HAVE I MADE IT TO 61?!?

FORTUNATELY, another shuttler noticed it before they took off…and the driver yelled and yelled for me (I HEARD someone calling MISS! MISS! but didn’t think that was ME!) and I finally realized and ran back, laughing, and got it, thanking him profusely.

When I finally got INTO my car (aka HOME), my laughter turned to tears as I just….had a little meltdown. But at least I had it in my own car.

THEN (ha ha ha) I had to pay to leave…$213!!! I was shocked and awed šŸ™Ā  I told myself to just calm down, that was to be expected…I hadn’t pre-booked this lot for a lower rate, and that day I was leaving and had wasted time going to the wrong airport (I repeat, HOW HAVE I MADE IT TO 61?!?), I just had to take what I could get. Now I just have to make sure I get refunded for my ORIGINAL parking…which was $153 to be there for 5 days, but I was actually only there for 45 minutes (if that). Hopefully, they base the charge on when I was actually there, and not when I reserved for. Other nonsense (plus, exhaustion meltdown) has been going on since I’ve been home and I haven’t checked or made any calls or anything.

I also have to get a refund from Spirit for the canceled flight. I hope THAT isn’t a problem – when I landed in NY I had an email from Spirit saying they’d booked me on another flight later in the day…of course at that point I’d ALREADY booked another flight and was already HOME, so…too little, too late, my Spirited friends.

Fortunately, there was ZERO traffic coming home (where IS everybody??) and I was home quick as a bunny. And I gave myself the day OFF. No unpacking, cleaning, studying, erranding, just straight to the sofa and watched stuff. Good, mindless entertainment. I’m watching a pleasant but not-especially emotional show right now, “Hospital Playlist,” which is, essentially, Korean Grey’s Anatomy.

OH, but two things did make me smile (WITHOUT crying, ha ha). Leaving the airport, sort of on the residential outskirts…I saw a dad and his young son sitting at a picnic table just outside the runway fence. When a plane took off and passed pretty close overhead to them, the boy jumped up and down waving his arms in the air and then he hugged his father’s legs. Cute.

AND there was a falcon (hawk?) perched on one of the runway light-poles. Just sitting there all handsome.

Did anything makeĀ you smile today??

THURSDAY 12.30.21

Today was more of the same nothingness as yesterday afternoon…UNTIL I realized a work thing had never been resolved and I had to put myself in slap-on-the-wrist harm’s way to get it sorted out before the holiday/weekend. So. Yeah. Good times. Glad to be home.

HOW DID I MAKE IT TO 61?!?

FRIDAY 12.31.21

Okay. I resolved to be productive today…made a list, got out of the house early: bank for rent money, gas station, pharmacy to refill prescriptions, the market for the week’s groceries, deli for breakfast sandwich, then home by noon. I studied most of the afternoon (had Korean tutor last night, his departure date has been pushed back as he has still not received his visa approval), and now it’s 5pm and I’m thinking about dinner, getting into my nightgown (one of life’s great joys), and returning to the sofa for more Not Grey’s Anatomy.

Notice that since I’ve returned home, there are no more pictures. Ha. Sad. I’m so weary of seeing the same things around me every day that I no longer SEE anything.

Oh yeah. It’s New Year’s Eve. Like THAT means anything. I’m certainly not staying up to watch the ball drop.

SATURDAY 1.1.22

2022. Wow. That’s kinda crazy, right?? That we’re entering our THIRD calendar year of covid. Who’d’a’thunk in March 2020 that we’d still be being tortured with this thing two years later? I’m not sure how it is in other areas right now, but NY is INSANE. Hitting record highs of new cases daily. Deaths are still RELATIVELY low, thank goodness…and it just SEEMS like people who are getting it now, are not being hit as hard as people were the first time around. Whether that’s due to the vaccines or what, I don’t know. But…that’s one blessing, I guess.

I do feel like no one’s taking it quite as seriously this time around. It doesn’t seem as SCARY this time. Last time I had my GO BAG in the car, with all things I’d need if I came down with THE COVID in the middle of the day and had to be whisked away to the hospital, unable to even stop at home for THINGS. I was afraid of DYING from it.

Now I, probably like many others, feel like…ehh, it didn’t get me the first time, clearly I’m better than everybody else and it wouldn’t dare touch me…and even if it DID, I’ll just have like a cold for a couple days, then move on with my life. Big Deal. And because we’re no longer AFRAID OF DYING from it, we’re going about our normal lives, more or less. Back in masks, but.

And I guess that’s exactly why things are escalating as quickly right now as they are. People aren’t taking it as seriously…AND The Powers That Be are not saying STAY HOME DON’T GO OUT. Which is, in my mind, probably a mistake. Even just two weeks of STAY HOME DON’T GO OUT could make a dent in the speedy progression of this thing. Hopefully, put up a firewall…and then we could come back and proceed with our lives like normal. More or less.

These are just my opinions.

Interestingly, in Florida, Katie and I were The Only Ones in Masks anytime we went inside. Even when we went to the hot pot place, there was a SIGN outside saying masks were mandatory…and yet…we were the only customers in masks. Staff were wearing them but. CVS, Dunkin Donuts, post office, nope. Just us. And Katie was probably only wearing it for my benefit. Still.

Wow. This is some Happy New Year’s greeting.

PLUS – I registered today for my TEFL (Teaching English as Foreign Language) course. I have six months to complete in order to get the TEFL certificate, which is a requirement for most online language teaching companies. So. One more thing to cram into my schedule. Ha ha. It’s alright. It’s all good. It’s moving me in the direction I want to go. I just have to be REALLY mindful of how I spend my time.

I also updated my budget for 2022. And…I will not be doing many fun things this year, ha ha. I have a LOT of money to save for Korean language school. So…I have to be really mindful of how I spend my money.

I ALSO want to be lighter to go abroad, just so things (walking) are easier. I don’t want to NOT do things cuz they’re too physically difficult for me. So…I have to be really mindful of what I eat this year.

HA. I guess the word of the year is MINDFUL. Think about each decision…weigh it…is this getting me closer to my goal??

So. Yeah. Day One. GO!

SUNDAY 1.2.22

It’s my 15-year anniversary at work today. Woohoo.

I had tentative plans to meet a friend for a walk (aka leave the building) but…I got so engrossed in studying that before I knew it was later in the afternoon and…yeah.

Tomorrow is back to you-know-what and Real Life…and all that nonsense. Sigh.

Found the actual application for the school I want to go to in S Korea (I mean, they’re all essentially the same application, but…I had not seen it before). Up to now I’ve only emailed with a guy from the company that facilitates foreign students getting into a selection of Korean language schools. He made it sound like you just pay your money (and be over 18) and you were in. The actual application for the school is a LIIIIITLE (read: a LOT) more complicated than that…with needing birth certificate, diploma from highest level of education completed, banking information, etc.

I don’t think I ever actually RECEIVED my college diploma. It was sort of an outlier program at a real college (Hofstra) but because I had to get a loan from them directly (financial aid ran out before the program was over) to pay for my last semester, I didn’t actually “graduate” until the loan was paid off (which it was). Then they said I could walk with THAT year’s (the year I finished the loan repayment) graduating class but I was like, naah, I have no need to spend an awkward day with strangers and it’s not like I had anyone (family) who would have gone. So I would have been handed the diploma that day…but since I didn’t go, they were going to mail it to me. And I have zero recollection of having ever received it or seen it…and now that particular program (and probably its staff) no longer exists. I guess I just go to…I don’t know. The Main Office Where All Things are Managed…whatever that is…and ask them? For a copy? I guess?

And I’m assuming in wanting to look at my banking information, they want to see that there’s MONEY in an account HA HA HA HA HA. It also asks for parent’s income and bank information (not BANK INFORMATION, not like account numbers, but like bank statements, work pay stubs, etc, same as if you were applying for an apartment) as I guess the majority of students are still in “dependents of their parents” age. Then there’s something about a “Korean guarantor,” which…what?

Then there’s the whole apartment issue – how to get an apt when I don’t have a job…but I guess all the other students are in the same situation…but maybe Mommy&Daddy are paying for their apartments??

Oh. It’s a lot. The To Do/Figure Out List just keeps growing. Everything I think I get sorted out, 3 new things pop up in their place. One day I’m like THIS IS HAPPENING, the next I’m like THIS IS SO NOT HAPPENING. And if it’s not happening, THEN what am I doing??? Picking out my cardboard box, I guess.

The quote ruling my life/future right now is this one I saw in Florida (above): “If at first an idea isn’t absurd, there is no hope for it.” ~ Albert Einstein

My BRAIN needs a break. Or better yet…an ASSISTANT. Someone who can look at my ridiculous TD/FOL and do/figure out some of the things for me. The SIMPLEST things are seeming too challenging to me these days. I might have MADE it to 61 but…who knows how much longer I can keep this up.

Sigh.

And with that, vacation was over and a new year begun.

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO

This song has my heart right now. It’s a solo by Kim Taehyung (BTS) called Christmas Tree, and it’s from the soundtrack of a new k-drama, Our Beloved Summer, that I am DYING to watch but am trying to wait til it’s over before I start watching. Anyway. The song is lovely. His voice is lovely. Together they warm my heart and give me a smile.

It’s a “put in your earbuds, close your eyes, and rest your head back for a moment” kind of song. A gentle little break in the day.

WHAT I’M READING

OMG I READ A BOOK! And it wasn’t Asian in any way whatsoever. Well. I mean, I read it cuz Kim Namjoon was reading it on In the Soop, Season 2…and highlighting things and taking notes…and then Yoongi picked it up and did the same. SO HOW COULD I NOT READ IT? And truly, it was worth it.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. It was a very interesting premise. Young woman who wants to end her life (it does seem that a large percentage of books I read are based on a character that wants to end their life) but is offered the unique opportunity to stop time and “try on” all the missed opportunities in her life…so she could see where those roads would have led. Would they have been better? It was about regret and how that is often misplaced.

It was a pretty fast-moving story…each chapter is another “try on” from a different stage in her past life. There were lots of “ooh ahh” moments, as my phone’s camera roll will attest (I take pictures of passages in books that I want to…whatever…remember…learn from…explore…research). Life lesson kind of stuff.

I recommend.