The Misadventures of Blondie

I have been traveling for nearly a month straight. First home to the F-port, then Sin City, and then Motown. I have already blogged (I can't believe I used the word "blogged") about my time home. Las Vegas, as always, was a shit show. It was the annual Chrysler Announcement Show, where corporate meets with all the dealers to inform them of what is in store for the upcoming year. Of course, the field organization gets to go! Yay!

I got off the plane from New York sick...puking, using the air sickness bag like a little kid....it was bad. And had to turn around and get on a plane the next day. I was not happy. But, because I have an asshole for a boss, I went into the office before hand. And instead of partying it up when I got to Vegas, I was a good girl and worked in my room.

Let me just say, this company does not do anything half-assed. They put us up in the Venetian! I had a whole suite to myself! Sunken living room, two queen-sized beds, two flat screen TVs, whirlpool bathtub...the works! And on top of that, we were wined and dined to no extent. After working my ass off the first night, we had training the second day. There was a big Q&A with the new upper management team and a team-building/community outreach event. We were told that we would be put in teams and would be competing against each other to build something. That something was a children's bike! After we finished, they brought in a bunch of little kids...ewwwww. For those of you who don't know me well, I hate kids. I never want my own (although my mom and dad think if I "met that special someone" I might change my mind...who knows. I'll let you know when I've met him). And my group's kid was sick with a cold and did not speak English! I was really nice to him (and not just nice for me, but nice for a normal person). It did feel good to give a child a bike and make a positive impression on him that he will never forget...and maybe he'll buy one of our products some day!

That night was a corporate reception. Lots of alcohol, lots of food, and LOTS of dirty old men. (Dirty old men + alcohol = many inappropriate comments and invitations.) Then we went to dinner at Social House at Treasure Island (too many Long Island Iced Teas). The next day was the actually show itself, followed by a Q&A. That night after a reception with INCREDIBLE wine and food, Lifehouse and Jay Leno performed, but not together. They each did their own thing. Then there was ANOTHER reception, this time with crappy wine. Afterwards, we all hit the hotel bar. (Too many Coronas.)

So, I was not about to pay $35 a day to use the hotel gym, and expensing that sort of thing might get me fired. I decided I would run on the strip instead. So I am running along and trip on the curb and fall forward! I skinned my knee, severed by iPod headphones, and caught myself with the palms of my hands. My elbow for some reason was really hurting me even though I didn't land on it. A few days later, it turned black and blue and yellow on either side!!! Not good.

I think I was propositioned, hit on, invited to more hotel rooms, etc., in those few days than in my entire life! And they were all dirty old married men...ewwww. (No guys my own age like me.)

When in Vegas, I got to meet Tiny Tim's new wife. Yikes! That's all I have to say.

The next week was a fun-filled training session in Detroit. I am still not a huge fan of a lot of the new hires, but others I absolutely love (like my twin). Uncle Bill kept hounding me, so ever spare second I had was spent working. I never was able to go to my favorite place in Detroit- the Somerset Collection, which is a wonderful cathedral of consumption that rivals any SoCal mall. But we did get to spend some time on Chrysler's test track! So much fun to drive the hell out of some cars!

My flight was canceled due to bad weather (there were tornadoes) and I had to rebook at the last minute. As it turns out, if you book a flight at the last minute, you are red-flagged. So me and the Arab dude in line behind got the "special treatment" from the TSA. I got to go through the high risk security line, had all my belongings search, and got up close and personal with security. When I got back home, I discovered a little "love note" from the TSA informing me my bad had been searched. My once perfectly folded clothes were a mess and my toothpaste had exploded over my uber-expensive suits. I was pissed!

And of course, I got off the plane in Cali sick...again. Instead of taking it easy all weekend, I decide it is a good idea to go drinking in Laguna Beach with a girlfriend. And, of course, I did not fail to attract all the crazies! Some random massage therapist would not leave me an followed us from bar to bar. The married band members hit on us between sets. Some strange short man wanted to dance with us all night. But at least we got a lot of free drinks!!! I had a great time, but this did nothing to help recover from being sick.

Then the fires came. Malibu and my poor Pepperdine campus are burning. It breaks my heart to see someplace so special to me go up in flames. The fire in Irvine forced us out of the building early, and we were not allowed back into today. When I was in Detroit there were tornadoes, in Cali there are fires, in Denver it is snowing (that's where I am headed to next). The great weather just loves me!

You Can Take Me Out of New York, but You Can't Take the New York Out of Me!

My trip home to Fairport was wonderful. I was able to spend time with my parents and get away from the insanity of my life in California for a bit. There was not much time to relax between appointments and working (yes, I worked on my vacation...what a good girl I am!) and parental bonding time. I realized that I missed those little things in life, like grocery shopping with my mom and then cooking dinner, and washing the "fleet" of vehicles with my dad. It was such a wonderful feeling to wake up on a Sunday morning to the smell of coffee brewing and the newspaper waiting for me.

For the first time in the history of the world, the weather in upstate New York was PERFECT during the month of October. It was sunny and 85 everyday, without a cloud in the sky. The leafs on the trees just started to turn colors. I did not think I would ever miss fall, but it was a nice change after two years of living in yearlong summer in SoCal. I was able to enjoy the beautiful change of seasons with the great weather. My mom and I sat outside to sip our Starbucks. I hopped on the back of my dad's Harley and went on a long ride to Lake Ontario with him, after a morning bicycle ride down the Erie Canal. The three of us even went to the pumpkin patch in a quest for the perfect jack-o-lantern!

Every night after the gym, my parents and I would get drunk off of expensive bottles of wine, and talk and laugh together for hours. By the end of the trip home, I was ready to get back to California and detox my poor liver...but the business trip to Sin City the day after my return made that a bit impossible. And what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!

Why?

There are so many things I do not understand in life. And I am dedicating this entry to those things. Any comments you have would be greatly appreciated!

1. Why do we care so much about celebrities?

Glenn Beck (yes, I listen to/watch him because I am an old lady) thinks the reason is because we are bored with our own lives. Personally, I think it is because we want to see that those that we put up on a pedestal are normal people and just like you and me. We want to see that seemingly famous people with perfect lives have everyday problems. It humanized then to some degree. Britney Spears has trouble holding on to her kids. Lindsay Lohan has addiction and eating issues. And every single couple in the spotlight is having problems. I think it is because we want to think these seemingly perfect people are just like you and me. At the surface, it appears as if they have perfect lives. But in reality, they have issues. And those issues are usually worse than the "normal person" issues. We concentrate on the bad because we are jealous of those we idolize. It makes us feel better to see they have bigger problems to deal with than we do. Yes, I will say it makes me feel great to say that I have a better body than Britney Spears. It makes me feel feel great to say that I have a better career than Lindsay Lohan. But at the same time, I pitty these girls. They are my age and have so much potential, yet they have ruined their lives. But I am still fascinated by them and addicted to wwtdd.com.

2. Why is there a Hollywood Double Standard?

It is okay for a celebrity to fall from grace and pick him/herself up. But in real life, it does not happen like that. You fuck up in you job, and it is over. But in Hollywood, it is almost as if you need to fall from grace in order to earn some form of legitimacy. Keith Urban can go to rehab and be hailed. Nicole Riche can drive the wrong down a freeway and still be seen as a potential role model mother. Models can have severe eating disorders and still be seen as the ideal body. If any normal person fucked up like this, he/she would be screwed! I do not understand this. We say there is a set level of acceptance for normal behavior, but we exempt from people from this because they are famous. When I was at the height of my eating disorder problem, I was not viewed in the same way as those in Hollywood. People thought I wanted attention. I was seen as vein and self-centered. When in actuality, I was just trying to exert control over some aspect of my life.

3. Why don't people listen to me?

Do I seem stupid? Blonde haired, blue eyed white females can be intelligent.