Flaming

Pink Floyd, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn 1967

Weekend before last, I went to Indianapolis to say goodbye to my friend.  Jeepers,  It was a weird trip of epic proportions.  It involved my flight out there being delayed by 2 hours and an arrival at my hotel at 1am.  It involved a trip for Arun to Urgent Care and a frantic trip for ME to a far, far away Kinko's store to scan insurance cards because of COURSE, the single time I do not leave the cards, is the one instance where Manoj really, really needed them. It involved my cell phone dying in the middle of all of this and I went 8+ hours kickin' it Old School without a phone (Note: this is where I appreciate my husband so very much because I knew he had it covered and that Arun would be fine.)  I had to kick it Old School yet again because all of my carefully plotted Google Maps were WORTHLESS in the face of crazy Indianapolis road construction and I found myself peering at a teeny, tiny rental car agency map while navigating broken down interstate highway after highway after highway.  After the memorial service Saturday evening,  I then returned my rental car so that I could take the hotel shuttle back to the hotel that evening so that the next morning, I wouldn't have to deal with the rental car return.  I thought I would avoid some headache Sunday morning and it seemed like a good plan at the time. Sigh. Except while at the airport, I missed the first hotel shuttle back to the hotel.  And had to wait 1.5 hours for the next shuttle.

While waiting for the hotel shuttle, I had an interesting encounter.  Since I was just returning the rental car and not catching a flight, I suspect I looked odd just walking around with a dying rose and my high heels looped on my fingers (I wore comfortable sandals to walk around the airport in).  Apparently, this caught the attention of two guys sitting nearby waiting for their own shuttles.  One of the guys claimed he had bit parts in Seinfeld and Cheers.

Call me a Suspicious Sally, but do you recognize the guy on the left?  I sure don't.

Guy on the left claims to have had bit parts on Seinfeld (a plot where he was helping Kramer with his golf game) and Cheers (he played some part of a volleyball player).  Guy on the right said he was in stand-up comedy, but that I wouldn't know him.  Guy in the middle was the hotel shuttle driver.  I definitely didn't know him!

The last bit of Bizarro Weekend in Indianapolis happened when I found out I had to take one of the earliest hotel shuttles back to the airport Sunday morning since the later ones were already full.  Which meant that just before 5am on Sunday, I was back at the airport with over 2 hours until my flight.

Did you get any of that?

So, last week was spent catching up on life and rectifying my piss poor attitude.  I think I have worked myself out of the funk now and I plan to back to my regularly scheduled Ranting and Raving.

You really missed me, didn't you?

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 I mentioned awhile back that the sands of my social horizons have been shifting - I've joined a Mom's group and a few of us did the Lenexa Freedom Run 5K (we walked, which was fine by me because I've been out of my workout routine the past month!) Week before last, I randomly met a mom at McDonald's Playplace - we were both escaping the heat and were hiding in the same corner from some overzealous sports moms (shudder!) We got to chatting because I had forgotten my Kindle and was forced to interact with my fellow humans (the horrors!  I'm a Kindle Mom!)  Anyway!  Turns out, our kids are in the same Kindergarten class and now, I have another meetup scheduled with Elizabeth this week.  . Also, last week,  I had a fun Blogger/Twitter meetup with Sarah last week - not only did our kids get along great, but it was so relaxing to hang out with another mom who likes to talk about things other than kids, who also blogs/uses social media, who watches TV and the best part!  A mom who is equally unapologetic about her Excessive E-Reader Use. I mean, you can only watch your kid go down the same slide so many times, right?  Right.

Last week, I finished up The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Hat Tip, Zoot!) which was sweet and sensitive and heartbreaking all at once.  It is going to be a movie and features two of my favorite actresses - Mae Whitman and Emma Watson.  Furthermore, if the producers can secure all the rights, it is going to have a kickass soundtrack.  If you are a Young Adult fiction fan, I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

I'm currently reading Before I Go To Sleep (Hat Tip, Jennifer and Sarah!)  I'm almost finished and the suspense is killing me.  I think I have it figured it out, but then again, do I? DO I?    This read is a Clicker (Old School Term: "page-turner")  click....click....click....

Last weekend was nice, Arun and I played a crap-ton of boardgames (another post forthcoming because it deserves a spot of its own) and then like much of the country, we enjoyed celebrating our country's birthday yesterday.

Yes, we have a "no fireworks" ordinance in our city.  That no one but our neighbors actually follow.

In related news, our neighbors hate us.

Lucy and Pearson joined forces in their silent protest of our fireworks use.