Christmas Vacay. Almost like the Vegas Christmas Vacation.

I had a conversation with my roommate the other night, Erin. She told me “You have to tell the world the truth Alex. Tell them what its really like.” I promised I would. So here it goes.

God, I hate Asia. And when I say Asia, I really mean China. I dislike the cheesy Christmas decorations, because, can we be honest? Christmas should always be tasteful, not tacky. Don’t get me wrong, I think I like Christmas more than the average person, I wore a blue sequined Santa hat the day I was leaving for goodness sake. But the Chinese take it to a whole new level.

I dislike travelling in Asia because of instances like going to sit in my seat on my second flight, been up since 430am and seeing a couple already sitting there. Politely gesturing towards my seat. MY seat. They feign ignorance. I say with a tight, but polite smile (knowing how this will continue), “I’m 14G. That’s my seat.” More signs of ignorance. Sigh. Fish for boarding pass, I already know where I’m SUPPOSED to be sitting. Retrieve said boarding pass. Gesture towards seat number. “14G. (gesture towards me) Mine.” We have established that their English is limited by this point. No problem, been here before. More talking amongst themselves. Finally, begrudgingly, moving over. Me: “thank you, so much for your cooperation.” 10 minutes later, the man, who is cold because he cannot properly cover himself with the blanket he’s been provided, turns my fan off. Even though I vocalize, “Um, excuse me.” Pays no attention. Fine. I’ll turn it back on myself. And I do. I need a drink and we haven’t even pushed back from the gate at Tokyo on what will be a 10.5 hour flight. Joy. About 3 hours after take off, I go to the restroom and when I return, the woman sitting next to me has placed her head on my head rest and appears to be sleeping. I say to myself, “Well, aren’t we cozy.” She "wakes up" and moves over. And there are still six hours to go. Plane rides, particularly Trans-Oceanic flights, are not for me. So then I got accidentally drunk. After I had to flag down the steward with my dinner (special meals - the way to GO.) because my seat had been changed at the gate. Last minute, no audio in my old seat. The stewardess admonishes me for not letting them know about my seat change. Oh lady, I’m doing the best I can.

Erin and I spent the past week baking and staying up late and trying to get ready for Christmas and travelling over Christmas. We were very productive and quite successful. One of the better months leading up to Christmas I’ve ever had. Certainly better than last year. I mean, it’s just more fun when there’s someone around to share in the seasonal cheer. I have to admit, our Christmas tree looked VERY festive with all of the presents underneath it. I even got ClaraCamille, my chameleon, a present. I set her up with a new cage, much more jungle like. I even got her 250 MOP worth of new plants and put them in the cage. She loves it. I hope the plants can survive til I get back. When I transferred her to the new cage, she didn’t hiss at me even once. She wasn’t happy to be on my arm, but she didn’t hiss at or even try to bite me. I think my baby’s growing up. SO PROUD.

PS Erin: When I drink, I think my hearing goes. That movie is getting SUPER quiet or I’m getting SUPER deaf. Also, watched some awesome hangover movies. Crazy, Stupid, Love. And Something Borrowed. Something good to watch in a flannel shirt and sweatpants. Because we, as Uncle and Grandpa, are SORT OF hip to what the kids are wearing these days, but sort of … well, not.

I’m so tired I’m delirious. My eyes are burning with tired. No sleep til Brooklyn. That’s going to make for a lovely layover/connection in LA. Just LET them tell me I missed my flight. I will go Colombiana on their ass. Which, coincidentally, I also watched this journey. Decent movie. Love Zoe Saldana. LOVE Michael Vartan. Since Alias. Call me already. Damn.

After that rant about travelling I wrote some Christmas cards, only slightly inebriated, and got reacquainted with my Christmas spirit. This leads me to remember how lovely Japan was to travel through. And I never set foot out of the airport. They were everything the Chinese are not: friendly, helpful, smiling, polite, clean, earth-concious, organized, efficient. I CANNOT WAIT to travel Japan. Maybe April with Quentin? ERIN… Get on board people: sake, Mt. Fuji, cherry blossoms, hot springs, origami, culture, sushi…! Who does NOT want in on this???

Also, everyone needs a roommate like Erin Roderick. She bakes with me, cooks with me (and sometimes for me), drinks with me, parties with me, helps me do my laundry, drinks with me, agrees with me, travels with me, and most importantly, waxes her legs with me… We took vacation an evening early and spent the night in Hong Kong last night because Lord knows I wasn’t going to make an 8am flight coming from Macau, so it was entirely better to get to HK the night before. We were on the same elevator out of work, on the same bus to our apt, made the 8pm ferry and were checked into the hotel by 10, drinking a celebratory Christmas Vacation beer by 1015. We had dinner and conversation and were in bed by 12. I wish everyone an Erin this Christmas. She completes me.

People have GOT to learn to sleep sitting up. Especially when you don’t know the person in the aisle seat next to you. Can we just discuss how awkward it is to have a complete and total stranger sleeping on your shoulder? And we all know how much I value my personal space.

Wow. Can’t sleep for shit and then the man next to the woman sleeping in my personal space vomits into his water cup. This truly is the flight that NEVER ends.

He only retched once more after that. Rubbish. NO SLEEP TIL BROOKLYN.

No seriously, I think I only slept for one hour on that flight. It is now…407 in the morning Macau time, going on 24 hours with only 4.5 of sleep. Maybe ten hours in the past two days. Gonna sleep goooooood tonight. Even if it is on the air mattress. Mom.

Let me start this section of my entry by noting that I avoid LAX at all costs. I will fly through anywhere but there if I can help it at all. Tragically, on this journey, all the tickets were booked and I had no other options. BOOK YOUR TICKETS WELL IN ADVANCE. We got into LAX right on time, then sat on the tarmac for 20-30 minutes. Of course, I was having heart palpitations the entire time about being late for my 1020 flight. I finally collected my bag and rechecked it, only to discover that at 940 the security line was 10 times as long as I would have liked it to be. Why do we even have to go through security again? They should really work on a secure way to get international travelers to their domestic connections without having to go through security again. So I’m panicking and several people helped me get through the security line. They kept finding people for me to slide in front of and I am so grateful to each and every one of them because I sincerely believe I would not have made that flight without them. I made it to the gate at 10 and they were boarding Zone 3. Not a moment too soon. I hate LAX, but their travelers were lovely. Thanks to all involved in getting me through that atrocious line. Merry Christmas, you made mine!

Now, I am almost home. I am tired. Exhausted. I want to stay awake until tonight, but knowing how last time went, 8pm will roll around and I’ll go to bed only to wake up at 3am. Considering my lack of sleep on this trip and the week leading up to it, however, I miiiiiight be Ok. I’m pretty sure I would be Ok sleeping on the floor or in the carport at this point. I mean I am THAT tired. Did I mention no sleep till Brooklyn? God, are we at Brooklyn yet? Maybe if I just close my eyes for a minute to rest them…

House Hunting = New Favorite Way to Spend an Evening.

When you stop going to the bar after work, it leaves a big hole in how you wind down from the day at 10pm.

I can spend hours looking at houses online. I always search in the New Orleans area. The only requirements I put in are 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, and a fireplace. After that, the sky's the limit. No financial restraints, because honestly. That would take all the fun out of it. Sometimes I do spend hours doing this. There are some simply amazing houses out there, especially in New Orleans. The old Arts and Crafts cottages that people have loved into glory. The classic Victorians with their huge porches and dormer windows and turrets.

But rich people have very bad taste when it comes to decorating.

There's one house in the French Quarter area that has fake animal skin rugs in every room and the master bedroom's headboard has a tiny deer skull with antlers sticking out it. WHO MADE THIS TRENDY??? It is so tacky and so terrible a thing to do to an amazing old house that it makes me cringe. I take it personally. There's another that is nicely restored except for the pink satin master bedroom. Oh heavens. That is just NOT ok.

And while I think baby grand pianos are a lovely decorating tool, it is just pretentious to have them in your main foyer. Also, I don't play and that just makes it uppity beyond words to have a baby grand.

Owning an old home means you decorate in an old school way. And by that I mean antique, classic. This modern crap does not go well in an old home and when I see stuff like that, it makes me want to rescue the house and beat the owners. "Modernism" is definitely not my fav and it has no place in classic architecture. If you have modern tastes, buy a modern house.

More of the world according to Alex. If more people lived by my rules, we might live in a classier, more tasteful society.

Catching up to Speed...

During my hiatus from blogging, some things happened. Let's just skip August because I can't remember anything special happening, aside from Kate visiting and celebrating Sally and Erin's birthdays. That was super fun, but not blog material. Well, for Sally's birthday we went on a charter boat that cruised the waters around Macau for a few hours. It was a beautiful day and we ended up having a super lovely time with a bunch of our friends. Erin's birthday we spent in Hong Kong with a bit of live jazz and some awesome food.

During August and September, some of us took a lead climbing course in Hong Kong. I am now a certified Lead Climber with all the gear to prove it. It was nice to get out and do something different for a change and rock climbing carries a certain challenge and satisfaction that I don't get out of my job. We had a great group of people participate as well and from all different departments of the theater. I definitely made some friendships that would not have been made otherwise.

In September, we celebrated ONE YEAR of our opening. In other words, our one year anniversary. Sometimes words escape me and I end up writing stupid things like that. We were treated to a visit by The Man himself, who thanked us for making him look good before jetting off to Beijing to sign a contract on his next project. We also were "invited" to watch a presentation of the past, present, and future projects of the company. One of them being in Wuhan, which is mainland China. Whoever does The Man's story boards and marketing presentations is a genius because it almost made me want to work on that project. And then I remembered it's on the mainland. Cross that one off the to do list. Kung Fu Panda the Tour is going to be pretty cool and I would consider working on that for sure. But it only debuts in Shanghai. It doesn't stay there. Bonus. It is also scheduled to tour North America and Europe and there is some AMAZING technology involved, but this is what happens when The Man partners with DreamWorks and there is a lot of money and crazy ideas floating around. We got some decent swag too. A pretty nice all-weather jacket WITH zip-out fleece lining and it's even got the company logo embroidered on the pocket. Fancy stuff.

Our anniversary party was pretty swank too. We celebrated like three or four times, all of which I would love to show you pictures of, unfortunately, they were on my camera that got stolen at the Atlanta Aquarium. Rubbish. They had food and drink stations everywhere. Slip n Slide, giant pool, water slide, hot tub, band, photo station. They fed us shots when we walked in the door and picked up our party hats. It was all downhill from there. But the best part was, we were all together away from work. We get along really well when there's no work involved. Not to mention free food and free drinks. There was an after party as well, but I didn't quite make it out to that. Good beer and the water slide pretty much ended my night. But I am OK with that.

October was quiet except for the dark. Those are never quiet. We were super super busy for two weeks. We planned and strategerized for at least two or three weeks and then everything went to hell in a hand basket. Like anything else would happen. I think I worked overtime every day. That pay check is going to be sweeeeeeeeeet. My bruise collection was pretty impressive by the end of the two weeks. I love the dark, it's the only time I actually feel like I am working. Most of the rest of the time I feel like I'm just "working".

In the meantime, if anyone knows of a super amazing, old, in good condition house with a lovely/sizeable backyard, a working fireplace, and at least one bathtub in New Orleans, holler at your girl. I'm in the market and I want a house with personality in The City of Personality.

Birthdays happen whether you're near or far.

I will continue to attempt - desperately - to make up for my 2.5 month absence through my blogs. I celebrated my birthday five times this year. Once with my mother's side of the family (minus my brother and favorite only aunt), once with my father's parents, once by myself (on my actual birthday with jet lag and sushi and wine), once at my pub here - the OTT - where they let me pour my drinks and run my tab because its "my home too" - yes, they actually say that, and once with some close friends at my favorite restaurant. It made me think back on memorable birthdays.

When I turned 10, LSU played homecoming on my birthday. Dad and I went to the game and Lee Greenwood sang "God Bless the USA" at the halftime show. I thought that was pretty spectacular. My own personal concert for my birthday.

One of my most memorable birthdays was my sixteenth. We played games at my house, had brownies for dessert, and I got a car. Not just any car, my aunt's Mustang Convertible. Cherry red, tan top. That was a great birthday.

On my eighteenth birthday, my friend Lane and I had a picnic. We celebrated together because her birthday is the day before mine. (I forgot her birthday this year because I am a terrible friend. She is one of my closest friends and in the chaos of travelling back from the States on that day, I forgot. Happy birthday Lane, I love you!) It was a BEAUTIFUL day, so we got po-boys, drove to a state park covered in old oak trees, spread out a blanket, played football and frisbee. That was a GREAT birthday.

On my 22nd birthday, it was an LSU game day. We went to the game, my friend Brooke and I almost got into a fight with some guys who were rude and dogging on the Tigers - ON MY BIRTHDAY and in MY STADIUM. And then, because I was having a tough time turning 22 and not really being young anymore, my friends Jennifer, Brooke, Kathleen, and I, along with my brother, went and rolled down the Indian Mounds on LSU's campus. They are a couple huge hills and they were covered in dew because it was the early morning. They were probably covered in more than dew being game day and all, but regardless. Memorable.

Every year on my birthday, my mom would wake me up for school and tell me "Ten years ago today..." "Twelve years ago today..." et al. Now, for old time's sake, I make her tell me the story. "Twenty-six years ago today, I went into labor and they sent me home from the hospital because I wasn't in enough pain yet..." It's a good story, you should hear it sometime. SPOILER ALERT: It ends with me being born.

But it only gets told once a year. On my birthday.

Wow. Neglect.

So, not much has changed... Still in a follow spot chair... But I am hopeful there is an end in sight, we're hiring people and while not fully staffed YET, we are soooooooo close...

BUT. I am a PADI SCUBA diver now. WHAT IS UP. Pretty stoked about that and now I just have to figure out when and where to go get my open water certification, which is two more dives, and then I'm official and can start working towards my advanced certification. Holler. A new, expensive hobby to look forward to.

Also, in an effort to better prepare myself for moving home and to stop hemorrhaging money, I have started paying my smaller purchases and bills in coins. It's so easy to let it all just collect in a corner somewhere, but that is useful money. I'm already going to the ATM heaps less than I used to. That may also have something to do with the fact that I am going home at night instead of to the pub and I have started drinking coffee in the mornings at home instead of buying one on my coffee break at work and bringing lunch from home instead of buying a sandwich from the coffee shop at work and I don't take a taxi to work, I walk or ride the bus. Who knew such small things daily can really add up? I mean, I hear it all the time, so clearly someone knew, but inputting those small changed into your daily life can really make a difference. That being said, when I found myself without bread this morning for toast because mine had molded overnight, paying for my loaf of bread and a chocolate croissant at my corner bakery in 1 MOP coins (17MOP for the purchase) did not seem to be appreciated by the cashier.

My mind has long been conflicted about how long to stay in Macau, but I went home two weeks ago for a friend's wedding. I was able to spend two days with my family and then flew to Atlanta to spend 4 with them for the wedding. What an amazing week it was. It started out less than stellar, but it ended up being an awesome week full of fresh mountain air, real, clean grocery stores, real shopping, therapeutic driving, and an AQUARIUM. My camera got stolen at the aquarium, but I'm trying to move on from the devastation of that moment. Moral: don't leave your camera on the hook in the bathroom, even if only for 10 minutes. Other moral: take pictures off your camera regularly. Really, all this rambling about the fresh air and lost cameras amounts to one thing: I think I'm ready to come home. No dates yet, I still need to do some travelling whilst I remain out here and I want to have at least one spectacular diving/beach vacation before coming home, but I miss home so much it hurts.

I will miss semi-quiet mornings like this one, where I get up early and watch the city wake up with a cup of coffee and breakfast and my chameleon and her breakfast. I mean, the view from 34 floors up is one you will not get in an Arts and Craft cottage in New Orleans. But then I look back out my huge picture window and the smog obscures everything but the immediate view anyway, and the noise pollution kind of ruins the quiet effect.

Since I have not posted since they moved in, the new roommates are working out splendidly and funny enough, we NEVER see each other. Even with four of us in the house, we see each other more at work than at home. You have to love that in a group of roommates. It leaves little room for conflict. Brilliant.

Now, time to complete my morning routine before heading off into the mines again. Well, not to belittle miners because their jobs are much more dangerous than mine, but you know. It feels dangerous to my sanity/mental health... Maybe I need a canary to take to work to warn me of impending threats...

SCUBA Classes Have Commenced.

Yes, you read that correctly ladies and gentlemen. Your's truly, one year after she arrived here, has started the PADI course to make me a SCUBA diver. I am not able to get open water certified in our pool, but as our entire Aquatics staff is comprised of dive instructors, it is one of the perks for us as technicians. I, for one, am stoked.

We had our swim test Tuesday. I finished first out of my six classmates (the rest are boys) and even though it wasn't a race, with my highly competitive nature, it was for me. So I was pleased. We also had to tread water/float for ten minutes. I thought that would be super hard, but it was easy peasy. That was all followed by getting fitted with wetsuits (no pink... Sad.) and three hours of class instruction. Finally, I'm learning again. I was even excited about having homework. I know: nerd. Tomorrow we get in the water and have our first lesson with all the gear. SUPER PSYCHED.

On another note, we're getting two new roommates this weekend. Effectively doubling the population of the house. Cleaning out the kitchen cupboards and extra rooms was a daunting task, but we took care of it like champs on Tuesday. Sean and I discovered that somewhere along the way between the 5 persons that have lived in this apartment, we accumulated 4 whisks, 3 potato mashers, 2 can openers, 3 wine keys, 4 vegetable peelers, and a wicked new food processor that took us 10 minutes to figure out how all the pieces work. No lie. But we are excited about it and felt super smart. We are also not allowed to buy spaghetti, oil, spices, sauces, mustard, or basil from now until eternity.

Today I got the real estate agent to do his job and fix the broken things in the apartment. Finally. It only took forever. AND. We get to keep the apartment for a minimal increase in rent for another year starting in October. Whew. No moving for this crew, because that would have been a major bummer. Especially since we have no clue when we're moving on from Macoma. I can also get the deposit back after nine months if we give them one month notice that we're moving out. See boys and girls, it does pay to be a good tenant.

I miss home though. Kinda wish this apartment and this job was in New Orleans. Sigh...

Losing Friends is Never Easy.

I need to take this opportunity to write a post about someone who was amazing.

For four summers of my life I worked in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania in the woods of Caledonia State Park. Judy Houser was our executive director.

Judy Houser was a friend.

She took care of me when I was a little lost girl in the woods of Pennsylvania all by myself. She looked after me and Cadi when we were hanging out past our expiration date at Totem Pole. While she was fighting the ultimate battle of her life, she let me sit in her office and rage to her and Sue about whatever I was feeling at the moment. Happy or sad, she heard it with words of wisdom and love. She laughed at me when it snowed and (as a Southerner) I had no clue how to walk on the icy walkway to her office. She gave me work when I needed it and support when I needed that and while those few months in the woods were lonely for me, knowing Judy and Sue and Kathy were there helped. More than she may ever know.

I hope she rests easy. But I lost a friend. And nine thousand miles away from where my heart is at this given time, I am sad.

So Judy, this post is for you. It's not much, but from a scared, sad little girl to a woman who will always be remembered as one of the strongest women I know, thank you. You are and will be missed but never forgotten.