Girl(In Quotation Marks)

I heard this said the other day on the Oprah show and it hit home and made so much sense:

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different”

 

I thought it was beautifully tragic.

Girl Vs. William Shatner

My father does not live in the same state as I do and I do not get to see him very often. For Spring Break this year I felt that it would be fun to venture to my hometown and visit with my dad and friends. He also lives in a warm climate state and I live in a freezing cold state. I started searching about a month ago for tickets. They were not looking promising. Most of them ranged in the $400 category and that was just not possible for my budget. I was discouraged but I kept looking. I put out a whole slew of ticket alerts that would tell you if a ticket dropped in price and I waited…and waited…and..well you get the point. They were not dropping. So I decided to use Priceline.com’s “Name Your Own Price”. I used a few different prices and they kept turning me down. I tried on a Tuesday evening (told my many researchers that this was the night to buy) and put in my price, $270. I thought that this was not an outrageous request. I waited and waited and a message popped up: “We are sorry but we cannot grant your request BUT we have found these other two tickets that fit your price range but fly from a different airport, would you like to consider this?” I thought to myself, “Sure! I can fly out of one of the dinky airports in my city! No Problem!!!” I became super excited and read over the ticket and it seemed right. The dates I wanted, both cities were there….PERFECT! I hurriedly bought the ticket and got so excited that I called my dad even though it was late! He was excited and we both started to plan my trip.

2 days later….I receive a call from my dad as I am walking up my icy sidewalk in six layers of clothing. He informs me that my plane ticket is wrong. I insist that it could not be wrong. I looked over it 5 times! He reads it to me directly off of the screen: March 14th (ok that is right)…Flying from Phoenix, Az to Minneapolis, MN…..wait, what!? Noooo..can’t be. I tell my dad he is wrong and that I will call him back once checked on my own computer. I finally get home and log onto my account…..March 14th…Phoenix to Minnesota! NO! It is supposed to be Minnesota to Phoenix…COLD state to WARM state!!! When Priceline explained that you would be flying from a different airport they pretty much mean any airport anywhere in the country..or they will just flip-flop the states that you are in and the one you are flying to…no problem. I had read the ticket over and saw that AZ and MN were both on there. It just did not connect in my brain that they were going the WRONG way. I try to stay calm but I lose it.

10 minutes later….I had stopped crying (I do that a lot) and calmed myself down enough to call my dad back. He told me to call the airline and figure it out. I call the lovely non-english speaking people at Priceline and tell them my situation. I stay on the phone for about 15 minutes as he taps away and every 30 seconds tells me  in his heavy middle eastern accent that “he is sorry for the wait and is pulling up my information..”I am singing the jeopardy song in my head as he finally finishes and asks me if I had confirmed the reservation myself. I had. “Well ma’am, I am sorry. The “Name Your Own Price” tickets are non-refundable, non-changeable and non-transferable. There is nothing more we can do for you.”…..I didn’t even say anything as I hung up the phone. I realize that it is not his fault and he did not make the rules…But I am pissed at him non the less.

I cry some more (Thank God the roomies were not home to hear me) and then decided to call back. This time I am mad. I yell and curse and tell them that it is bullshit what they did. I have a ticket that is not able to be used. He does the same thing as the last guy and taps away telling me that he is seeing what he is able to do….Tap.tap.tap.tap.Jeopardy jingle. “Ma’am, we are able to cancel your flight (Halleluj…) all we need a $150 cancellation fee.” I am about ready to stick my hand through the receiver and punch the daylights out of him. I argue a bit more and he explains that they are doing ME a favor. I think I am doing Priceline a favor by not hunting them down and slashing all of their tires. But I surrender and take half my money back. I sit here now…no plane ticket…$150 poorer and possibly a little wiser.

Lesson Learned. I will read fully and completely what I am signing and I will NEVER give Priceline my money EVER again. Bastards.

William Shatner can shove it.

A Girl with a Black Eye

I was on my way to work today as the beautiful snow was falling from the sky. I was admiring the beautiful white fluffiness that was, once again, covering the ground as I walked up to my Jeep, Olive. She was weathering the storm and had around 3 inches of snow on top of her that needed to be scraped off. I got into my Jeep to grab my handy little ice scraper that I keep in my Jeep. I jump in as I always do and reach back to grab my handy dandy scraper. As I grab it I underestimate how far the scraper is and I hit myself very hard right in the eye. Water streamed from my eyes as I could feel the swelling almost instantly. I even screamed out loud as it hit me in the eye. I went into work after that and had strange looks while my eye puffed out and turned black and blue. When I got home I had a nice shiner on my eye. Maybe I will be able to tell people that I got into a bar fight or something of the sort. Just another random adventure in the life of this girl.

Not So Much a Skiing Girl

Skiing. I grew up in a climate that did not allow for skiing. I moved to a place where I now have skiing at my fingertips. I had yet to do this after being here for 2 years. So I took the chance and signed up for a free skiing day. They gave us free rentals and free lessons. I was able to convince my roomie to join me. It was -6 degrees when we got there. Our first struggle…the boots. I thought that my ankles were going to break in half trying to get those suckers on! After stomping, groaning and pushing the boots were on! Our first victory! We started off getting used to the boots, then we would try on one ski and ski in a circle. Then we put them both on and BANG! I was skiing…sort of. I was doing really well for the first hour. I made it down the bunny hill a few times. I learned to stop, turn and scoot. I was gaining confidence and having fun regardless of the below zero temperatures.

That changed quickly. I was riding the “lift” back up. The lift consisted of a carpeted conveyor belt that was covered in ice due to the temps that day. I went up it a few times sliding back but being able to catch myself. The fourth time I traveled up that piece of S*** I was sliding back too fast. I moved my ski to catch myself but the ski caught snow and twisted my knee around. My knee then made lovely ‘pop’ sound as I fell to the ground in pain. I was screaming as they hit the emergency stop. Men in blue jackets came running from all directions and surrounded me asking what they could do. I yelled to get my skis off of me NOW!!! I laid there yelling profanity like crazy. After laying there for about five minutes with a group of people surrounding me I was able to stand. It seemed as though the pop had not done as much damage as I had though. I look now and feel that it was the adrenaline and cold that numbed my body from feeling. After I calmed down a bit I felt it. the next day I felt it more. Stairs were horrible. I dreaded them and I had to walk up two flights just to get to the bathroom in my house. It has been five days now and I am walking better and strengthening up. Stairs are still hard but getting easier.

Needless to say, I will not be skiing anymore. The bunny hill kicked my ass and I know not to mess with something that does not like me.

I’m an Onion Girl

I have started to cook recently. I do not mean opening a box of mac and cheese and making it in a pot instead of the microwave. I mean actually using fresh ingredients and figuring out how to put them together to make something delicious. I am learning and there have been a lot of small fires (we took the smoke detector out of the kitchen) burnt food, bad tasting mush ect. One thing that I have discovered is the onion. The beautiful little onion. It makes everything taste better. It is a natural spice. It adds a kick to anything that you are going to eat without adding more sodium or extra calories. Today I made a wrap with hummus, green peppers, mushrooms and the onion. The onion did made the wrap!Along with this onion I wrapped it in a “Flat Out”. This delicious bread wrap that I had bought. They also double an amazing pizza crust! It was a good food day And I still have all my fingers and no fires! I am learning!

Laughing Girl

I am writing to share with the world my bad misfortune. I find that every day something new happens to me that would not happen to any normal person. I find that things that happen to me are out of the ordinary and sometime hilarious and sometimes depressing…but after a few days are hilarious. So here it goes. My blog. A blog about my misfortune. A blog about my diet. A blog about me last semester of school. A blog about entering the real world. A blog about being lonely, happy, excited, depressed, accepted and rejected. This is me. The Laughing Girl.