Burr Burr Burr

I've been here in SD for about 9 days now. And that's pretty much what I can say...burr..burr...burr...and burr...lol.

But I'm not complaining. Back in Cali I was singing, "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow." And by golly, SD has not let me down. Lol. But not enough to build me a snow man or a snow angel. Oh well. Better luck next time.

Anyways, coming here, I was dreading the traveling because of the last time that I travelled. The long arduorous...hmm...is that the right way to spell it and very tiring trip from Manila to LA to SF. Lots of layovers and rather long ones.

But before I even got to the travelling, packing was another story. Packing for a much colder winter, as compared to California was certainly difficult and to think I would only be in SD for less than 2 weeks. For one, coats were bulky and clothes actually. I just couldn't bring one layer of clothing. There were turtlenecks, thermal clothes, socks, scarves, mittens, stocking caps, house clothes, jeans, and don't forget the shoes. Not just ordinary shoes but boots. I ended up taking out some of the things to make way for more important clothes. Towels were left behind and my fluffy bathrobe...hehehe..I'm sure they have towels there. Then I had my paperwork to bring too. (Just in case I would actually work, or rather, they were my security blanket...hehehe..and I haven't touched them yet. But they are out of the suitcase.)

I had to almost sit on my suitcase but luckily didn't have to. It was extended as far as it could extend...hehehe...I was just hoping that it wasn't that heavy that I had to pay for excess baggage.

So, with packing done, I had reservations for the aiport shuttle to come pick me up. Check. With that done, then I had my ID to bring. I still hadn't received my Cali ID so I had to make do with my passport. Plus there's my shuffle to keep me company, my trusty phones, and Goldilocks from Leila and yeah, Hershey's kisses in case I had craving for something sweet.

I was told that the airport shuttle would pick me up between 11:35 to 12:05 so I made sure that I was all dressed up by the time 11am came. I had checked in online in the morning when I woke up. Thank goodness for online check ins. I had printed my boarding passes as well as checked in my luggage and paid for it. The airline that I was going to fly in was cheap but required payment for checked in luggage. No was was I going to handcarry that. If there is one thing that I noticed, people around here do not really check in luggage. They would rather handcarry everything. In fact, it was the first time when we flew from LA to SF that there was actually no more space in the overhead compartment for my bag. I ended up putting it in the seat in front me. That was what I expected too.

I was sad though that there was no rice...oh no. So I ended up making rice but could not eat. Again, I had to content myself with a sandwich and soda and then after cleaning up and brushing my teeth, I waited for the airport shuttle to arrive. It was cold and miserable outside. It was starting to rain, not exactly encouraging so I made sure that I was all bundled up. I had my thermal shirt on, a shirt, a coat and then my puffer coat. And boots, socks and jeans. I was hoping that was enough to keep me warm. I'm sure the airport would be warm enough. Lol.

The airport shuttle arrived around twelvish so I said goodbye to Leila and got my luggage out. I was the only passenger and there was not much traffic going to the airport.

San Jose International Airport was much smaller compared to SF. There was a lot of construction going around. I went to the Frontier Airlines counter and checked in bag. I showed them my passport and my boarding pass and passport as an ID and I made sure that my bag would reach its final destination, Rapid City. Yeah...lol. Where is that? In South Dakota...lol. Hopefully, it was going to reach Denver first and then RAP. With my bags taken cared of, I went through the usual checks. Taking off my boots, putting my bags on the tray. There were a lot of Pinoys in SJ. How did I know? They were speaking in Tagalog. Lol. And one even said, "Salamat." Hehehe...that was fun. It was pretty quick so I looked for the gate where I was supposed to board even though I was way way way early. Like hours early.

When I got there, there were a lot of people around. Turns out they were waiting I think for Delta airlines bound for Houston and their flight was delayed. Go figure. Apparently, most of the flights were delayed. Oh no, that didn't sound good but it did say so far that Frontier was on time. We'll see.

When the Delta bound people left, the gate was quite empty. There were early birds like me and they were busy either reading a book, using their Macs or just chatting around. To occupy myself, I texted Leila or listened to my shuffle. Which reminds, I have to charge it or else...

I waited and waited and finally it was almost 2:20pm. That was the time were were supposed to board the airplane. But nope, we were late in boarding. But that didn't worry me that much. I figure I would still make my connecting flight in Denver at 7pm.

The trip was umm...quite cramped. I had a window seat and there was this father / daughter sitting beside me. The trip was almost 4 hours. Not much to see since it was dark when we arrived in Denver. When I looked outside, it did look very cold. Much colder. I could see the wind blowing and snow??? moving around, lol. But Denver does look beautiful from afar. There were a lot of lights. Very pretty.

We arrived in Denver around 6:10 pm but sadly, we couldn't go to the gate because there was still another plane. We waited and waited hoping for a gate that was available but no...we had to wait for that gate. Tick tock tick tock. People were starting to get restless. I think most of the people there were bound for somewhere else too so time was of the essence. I know I was starting to worry when 6:45pm came in. Yikes, would I make it to my connecting flight in time? I don't know if I was going to be able to run that fast. I was just glad that I checked in my luggage. And even if I did make it in time, would my luggage make it in time? Oh no. Finally, we were able to leave the gate at 6:50pm. We were at Gate 37A and my connecting flight was at A68. Yeah, thank goodness, at least it was also in A. Lol. There were supposed to be carts waiting for us to bring us to our terminals but what the heck. I just ran and ran as fast as I can. I was just glad that I didn't fall flat in my face. I was sorta imagining myself to be one of those people in those movies running after a flight...lol. It was funny yet really annoying at the same time. Oh well. I wasn't exactly looking forward to spending the night at a airport waiting for another flight. There were only 2 flights going into RAP with that particular airline. And mine was the last flight going in.

So there was I running and running. Hmm...hopefully not like the runaway bride, lol. I just hated all those numbers. Where the heck was 68? Hehehe...I was hoping they would be skipping numbers. But nope, there was 41, 42, 43, etc. etc. etc.

Finally, I see hope, lol. I saw 68. Whopee...turns out that they had started boarding but not everyone had gone in yet. Yipee...hehehe...at least I didn't get left behind. But man, I was panting like crazy. And it was very cold...burrr...I think the temp there was like zero celcius...burr...and only one door was open and yet I could feel the cold. There was this couple that I talked to and it turned out that their flight got delayed too. They were flying in from Sacramento. I made the usual call and complaints, but I was just darned glad I made it and I hope that my luggage did too.

As usual, I had a window seat and what can I say, the plane was even smaller. It was a propeller plane, lol. I know. I'm used to airbuses and seeing that teeny tiny plane...er...started to make me worry a little.

Well, turns out that all that running was all for nought. The plane left very late. They had a problem reconciling the passenger manifesto and the airport list and they didn't want to make the plane leave without making sure. Oh wow, they're very strict. I was just wheezing and had a difficult time breathing. I think with the altitude and worsened by the running, that just wasn't good. And my legs felt like jelly too. I've never run so much in my life. Now, I'm starting to worry about my flight going back. Will I miss my Denver flight to SJ? I hope not. Or else...how will I get home? Lol. The airport shuttle will have left already. Oh no...

We finally arrived in RAP around nine-ish. There wasn't that much to see. Not as much as Denver anyways. I did see more snow. Lol. Well, I'm just glad to have arrived. When I looked out the window, there seemed to be a lot of people at the terminal as well. Waiting for us I guess. Lol.

And that's another story.

Miserably Cold

Yesterday, we didn't let the rain deter us from our shopping expedition. It did rain but today was the worse by far and what made it even worse was that we had to walk going from place to place. My poor shoes were just drenched. Lol. And we had to lug around bags.

I was all bundled up with my puffer coat, scarf, stocking cap and yet I was still so cold. Burr. It's miserably cold out there. I won't mind the rain but the wind...burrr...then you get so cold that you won't actually feel your hand.

This week, its supposed to be raining. Burrr....I just hope I don't have to walk around as much as I did today. It was just plain miserable.

The Real Meaning of Giving

A couple of weeks back, Leila mentioned about a former housemate and how we would have an "exchange gift." Leila just scoffed at the idea. Well, I totally agree with her. Exchanging gifts is not really what Christmas is all about. As she puts it, real giving means not expecting something in return.

I heard something like, "Real giving hurts" years and years ago. What does that mean? Real giving means, when you have nothing and yet you still give. Like, having a piece of bread but someone else is hungrier than you are. Then you give that one and only piece of bread that you have. When you give because that's something extra, then that's not really giving. You just have something extra and may not have any use for it anymore, hence you give it away. But when you give something that you have even though you will not have anything in return, then that for me is real giving. But what the heck, you don't have to believe me. I aint no moral guardian nor will I pretend to be.

So, exchange gifts? Hmmm...so lame! Lol. It's either you give something or you don't. And that's that.

Lacoste and Pinoys

Recently, Leila and I went to Valley Fair / Westfield to do some shopping. Leila wanted to check out some stores and I wanted to go to Roxy to find some shirts to give as a gift.

We had lunch at McDonald's, their mini-meal is one of my favorite, simply because I can actually consume it and it's cheaper too. Afterwards, we went around the mall. Checking the stores and lo and behold, we saw my favorite shoe place, Payless. I wasn't thinking of buying another pair of boots but I just had to. I got a nice pair of gold heels (my very first pair with heels up to here...hehehe) and good old boots for SD weather. I also wanted to buy a new puffer coat for SD weather as well. I knew I was going to freeze when I go there. California winter is nowhere near SD winter...just thinking about makes me shiver...burr...burr...

As usual, we hit Old Navy (which is personally, one of my favorite places to shop) because of their sale and I just wanted to see what they had. Luckily, their puffer coat was 50% off so I got a small white outerwear, plus thermal  tops, again for SD weather and a bag which was on sale as well.

There I was, lugging around 2 bags (and believe me, they were quite heavy) and we went to find an ATM as well as the Lacoste store. Leila wanted to buy and check out possible gifts for her nephews. So in we went to the store when we found it. There were suprisingly a lot of people there. So I just stayed near the entrance. I didn't want to have to push and shove people around with my bags. I looked around and funnily enough (well, not so funny in away), I noticed that most of the people inside were Asians and not only that, they were Pinoys. How did I know, well I heard most of them talking and they just looked Pinoy and not Chinese or other kinds of Asians. There was even this one lady who looked at me and smiled. I guess she knew I was Pinoy too. The other guy standing near the door was Pinoy as well. There was this Pinoy dad too talking to his son, saying something like, "It's hot here. Go play der..." Yeah, the kid went running out the store and he followed suit. Just with that accent, I knew he was Pinoy. Then this Pinoy couple came in. How did I know? The woman was talking to her hubby in Tagalog, talking about taking a picture.

So I continued to observe the people around the store. They were all busy looking at shirts and things that the store had to offer. I guess there is something about Lacoste and Pinoys. What is it? Is it something like, now you're here abroad, then you can buy it and show how your status has changed? Hmmm...it's probably more of a status symbol more than anything. Just like Pinoys and their Nokias. Any other phone doesn't seem good enough, unless its the latest Nokia phone. Oh well.

It's sad though. They seem more concerned with outside appearances, your clothes, how you look like and the brand that you're brandishing about. Whatever happened to inner beauty? Oh well, I guess that's just %$#! Hehehehe...That is so pathetic but that's how it is here, I suppose.

Oh well. For the life of me, I can never imagine buying a $117 dollar shirt. Come on, gimme a break. But then again, what do I know? I aint a trendsetter nor a snob...lol. Well, thank goodness!

And nope, I don't have Lacoste in my closet and nope, I'm not jealous. I'm quite happy with ON or other brands from Target or something from Goodwill. Things, are just a means to an end. They don't make me what I am.