Farewell 2016

It seems to be globally accepted that 2016 has been a pretty terrible year. Since I originally created this blog as a place to gripe about things, it seems natural to me to write a long post about how terrible this year was for me. However, I feel a little beaten down by the year and am exhausted from thinking and talking about the negatives. So, in an effort to step away from my own experience with terrible 2016, I decided to look back through my calendar for the year with a specific focus:

I was looking for evidence of fun stuff I did this year, the good things, the laughs. The good news is that I found some! I traveled more this year than ever before and the vast majority of that travel was work-related so it's easy for me to just think of the year in terms of numbers: the number of flights, trains, hotels, etc. However, before I get into those numbers, I want to highlight some of the good things I found in my calendar for this year:

I saw whales! Lots of whales. I went whale watching twice this year. Once off the coast of California with one of my dearest, oldest friends from childhood and his entire family. On that trip, I got to experience the fairly rare joy of seeing not one but two blue whales. The other whale watching experience was of the coast of Iceland, which, I mean.... Iceland! So there's that! I spent my birthday on a boat in the North Atlantic watching so many minke whales (or "minky whales" as my Icelandic guide called them) play and feed. I also saw humpback whales, dolphins, porpoises, sea lions, puffin, and any number of other sea life.

I had visitors from all over the world this year. I love introducing people I care about to my neighborhood, my life. Showing dear ones the beauty, diversity, and vibrancy of Oakland always gives me a chance to dig in an appreciate this place I call home. In life we tend to take the things we see and experience regularly for granted and this year I had several opportunities to take a deep breath and fall in love with my home again and again.

I got to experience things I've never experienced before. I went to Iceland. I went to China. Both places I've never seen before and both of which deserve their own blog post at another time. I went on a Thelma & Louise road trip across a good portion of the U.S. where I accidentally mooned some unsuspecting Utahans, explored a national park, survived "the loneliest highway" in America, and ordered entirely too much food from room service. Our Thelma & Louise road trip eventually culminated in an alternate ending you don't get to see in the movie: when they drive off of that cliff in Utah, they land on a beach in Mexico in case you didn't know.

I got to spend time with so many people I care about deeply, people I've known for decades and am so thrilled to have in my life, people I don't see often enough. I got to spend time with family. I got to help celebrate milestone birthdays: my grandfather's 90th birthday, my mother's 65th, my childhood best friend's 40th.  I got to spend time with my sister and my nieces and nephew. I learned new things and taught old things to new people.  I made new friends, and reconnected with old ones.

I didn't take much time to take care of myself this year but I've decided that's perfectly okay sometimes too because I still learned a lot about myself. I learned that sometimes putting my own needs first is the right thing to do. I learned that I am strong and confident and even when I'm not, I can fake it until I make it most days. I learned that I am proud of myself, my integrity, who I am, and how I treat others. I learned that I have a lot to learn and I found renewed clarity on where I want to focus that learning, or some of it anyway.

I traveled. So much. The vast majority of my travel was work-related this year. Some people think that traveling for work is glamorous and fun but mostly it's just work. I did, however, get to do some travel that was not for work this year. I experienced, Iceland. I experienced a tiny piece of China, which means I've now been to an additional continent. I went on a road trip, and I visited friends and family.

I mentioned numbers earlier and since I'm a numbers kind of girl, here they are:

This year I boarded 83 planes and 21 trains. I stayed in 27 hotels. I went to 3 continents, 5 countries, and 9 U.S. states. I explored at least 1 national part, several state parks, went on 2 whale watching boat trips.

Anyway, even though the overwhelming feeling is that 2016 sucked, I'm glad I took a look back at the year with an eye toward the positive.

Lets see what 2017 brings. I'm ready, I think.

Sometimes you just have crappy days.

Most days, people easily refer to me as Suzy Sunshine. That's because I'm generally a fairly optimistic, look-on-the-bright-side-of-things kind of girl. But sometimes it's a different story.

Here's how things went down today:

I woke up early today. I had to fly to Southern California for a work thing and wanted enough time to have a relaxed morning. That part of the day went okay but once I got to the airport, things started going downhill. It wasn't the abnormally long security line - I get to bypass most of that - it was that the scanner wouldn't stop beeping every time I tried to go through it. They couldn't find anything on me (I'm guessing that was because I had nothing on me that should cause any machine make any noise unless fabric is a problem now) so after multiple pat-downs I went happily, albeit slightly annoyed, to my gate.

The flight itself was also mostly uneventful. I was flying into an airport where they deplane from both the front and the back of the plane. This means that if you sit in the very last row, you will be first to get off the plane so that's what I always do when I fly to this airport. Sitting in the last row also means you're close to the bathroom which is a good thing on days like today because I had more coffee and more water than usual. 

And this is where the day goes south...

I did indeed have to go to the bathroom but every time I tried, there were at least 2 people in line. So I waited. It's a short enough flight that I figured if nothing else, I'll just go once we land and I'm off the plane. No biggie. 

Yeah, until we landed and then had to sit on the tarmac for what seemed like FOREVER because I had to pee while we waited for a departing plane to leave the gate we were trying to go to. And you know, you can't get up at that point. The seat belt sign is illuminated as I was so nicely reminded when someone else tried to get up.

Finally, we got to the gate and I basically sprinted off that plane and down the stairs into the terminal and to the bathroom. Aaahhhhh........

Ok, next stop rental car. This is always a quick and easy thing. I do this nearly twice a week. I always use the same rental car company so I know their system. I'm an express member and I reserved a car so all I have to do is go to the little kiosk where all the cars are, bypassing the counter and the lines. Easy peasy and I'm on my way.

Except, not today.

Today, the lady at the express counter says I have to go to the counter inside because they're low on cars and only express members with reserved cars will get one. Fantastic! I fit that category! Too bad, still have to go to the regular counter today. 

Alright. Fine. 

I went to that counter. I waited. There were only 2 couples ahead of me in line but somehow it took 30 minutes to help them. Once I finally got to the counter - at this point I was pretty miffed since I wanted to get where I was going - the lady behind the counter, who looked pretty exhausted at this point, said to me, "sorry, we don't have any more cars." 

Wait, WHAT? 

But I reserved one. Sorry.

Also, I've been here for nearly 45 minutes at this point, you couldn't just let me know so I could try one of the other companies?!? oh, sorry.

ARGH!! Ok, trying desperately not to yell at this lady - I know it's not her fault - I asked what her solution might be. She said she thought they might have a mini van in a back lot somewhere. 

No. Forget that. I'm going to a different company.

The next counter took care of me easily and quickly. Finally in a car an hour after I should have been, I got on the road.

At this point, I was so hungry, I would have been angry even if I wasn't already fuming from the car rental situation. I finally got to where I was going, found the one non-fast-food option that was still open for lunch that late and ordered a sandwich and a soda water. 

I found a lovely table outside where I could get work done before my scheduled meeting - I am SO glad I took the earlier flight down today! - and the server came over with my beverage and my sandwich. Finally I thought this day might be returning to normal!

Nope. 

I have no idea how he did this but my sweet little 16-year-old boy of a server somehow managed to dump a full glass of icy soda water on me instead of setting it on the table. AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!! 

Ice and water down your shirt, although refreshing, is not an entirely pleasant experience, by the way. It's very surprising. And very cold. And very wet. 

Well, at least it was just water.

After lunch I went to meet my first scheduled meeting of the afternoon. Found the spot, found a good table, even got there a few minutes early. Only to get a call that my meeting was going to have to be rescheduled. Hrmmmpfff. Fine. At this point, who cares anymore, right?

I settled in to do some more work - seriously questioning my decision to fly down so early now - when I got a message that my flight home later tonight was already delayed. I booked myself on the last flight home today because I didn't want to miss the last flight home in case I was late getting to the airport. I can always jump on an earlier flight. So at this point it was looking like I wouldn't be home until about midnight. Ugh. Alright, so the plan now definitely had to be to get to the airport early.

I had one more scheduled thing and it was the primary reason for this trip. I was doing a presentation for a great group of people. I got there, got set up, ready to go! And then they told me they were running late. Ok, that's not that big of a deal. 

I figured this was a great opportunity to run to the restroom again since the new plan was to haul ass to the airport after my presentation. Ah, but no. I was at a school. Those buildings close fairly early. The presentation was to be in a side building with no restrooms and the proper building was, of course, locked. 

Of course. 

Alright, fine. Holding it. Again. In the meantime, I was seriously beginning to rethink the idea that I wanted to start hydrating properly. Screw that. 

I did find another open restroom. Thankfully there were still some people working in another building and they let me in. Woohoo! Here's to the kindness of strangers!

Did the presentation, hauled ass to the airport. Got gas for the rental (so as not to pay $10 per gallon!! WHAT?!). Got to the rental return area and of course their remote technology wasn't working. Had to go in to that damn counter again to get properly returned and get a receipt.

Ran from the rental car return into the airport (I am SO thankful for small airports!), got through security fairly quickly and ran to the gate from which the next flight home was scheduled to leave in 15 minutes. 

Normally, this would be perfect! No problem! And if I couldn't get on that one, there's one more before mine! 

No. Not today. 

The next flight after this one was cancelled so all of those people were trying to get on this one. The standby list was already 16 deep by the time I screeched to a halt at the gate - shoes in my hand, hair flying, sweat dripping...

Needless to say, I did not make that earlier flight. I obviously didn't make the next one either since it was cancelled. So, new plan: I wait for my late flight home. 

The silver lining here is that I now have time to have some dinner before I get home at or around midnight. This airport thankfully has a decent food selection. 

Nope. All of those people who were on that cancelled flight? All of the people from other delayed and cancelled flights? Yeah, they all had the same idea. And they got there before I did.

OK, fine. I give up. Clearly this day is not my friend. Suzy Sunshine has left the freaking building.

All I can hope for now is to get home safely. Oh, and also I'd like for that to happen today please. 

An exercise in patience

If someone were to ask me if I am a patient person, I would say I am, generally. And I think that's a fair assessment of myself. It's entirely possible, of course, that I am completely off my rocker here but in my own brain at least I'm fairly patient so lets assume I'm right and go with the basic premise that I'm generally a patient person. 

Now, even a patient person has moments of impatience or experiences situations that cause all semblance of patience to flee the vicinity. 

And I most definitely have those moments. What happens to me then is that I first get antsy and annoyed, then anxious, and then super angry. But because I know that voicing that frustration or anger won't actually make the situation better - or faster/more efficient - I don't say anything. I keep it inside. Often when the cause is something like another driver just driving badly - or very slowly - there's not anyone to yell at anyway (although I do yell at them. Loudly. Colorfully. They just can't hear me.) Usually these situations are just a suck-it-up-and-deal-with-it kind of situations. 

Well, this evening I experienced a whole string of these.

I was at an event for one of my clients. I knew that I needed to leave at a specific time in order to drive to the airport, drop off the rental car, and make it to the terminal in time to grab a bite before all of the very limited food options close and still make my flight - the last flight out of the evening. 

I know this airport, it's tiny. It's quick. I fly in and out of this airport all the time. I am like a well-oiled machine when it comes to traveling so I've got this! 

That's what I started with anyway.

So, I'm getting ready to leave my event on time. You know those moments when you know you just can't leave the room because, well, first of all everybody would notice and second, it would be incredibly rude to leave at that moment? Yeah, that. So, I stay. No biggie. I have a little cushion.

Finally, about 10 minutes late, I get out of there. No sweat! It's ok. I get on the road and although there's a little more traffic than there should be for this time of night, I manage to get to the rental car return place in decent time with a fully manageable anxiety level. 

I pull into the rental car return area. Typically a return takes less than 5 minutes even if there are a couple of others waiting, especially at this tiny airport.

Nope. there's only one person working and there are multiple people waiting to return their cars ahead of me. Deep breath. It's ok. This shouldn't take that long. But it does. 

By the time it's finally my turn, there's a line of people waiting to pick up cars so the attendant goes and deals with a couple of them. I'm definitely in a hurry now and my anxiety level is increasing. Somehow, in these situations, I often feel like if I scream loudly enough inside my own head, and say over and over again, "hurry up! I'm in a hurry!!" that somehow others will hear me or magically understand that I am, indeed, in a hurry.

I feel bad for the guy. He's working all alone and has a bunch of waiting people who, for all I know, are in a hurry too. So I breathe, check the time, and convince myself I'm ok. It only takes about 3 minutes to get to the terminal from here.

Finally - I think he heard my internal screams - he comes over to help me and it really does only take a couple of minutes. 

But then the receipt won't print.

REALLY??? 

Ok, I need the receipt but just email it to me! And I take off for the shuttle bus.

Thankfully, the bus pulls up right as I get to the stop and I jump on. But then we have to wait for other people to get on the bus, of course. Breathe more. It's ok. And it doesn't take that long so I'm ok. 

But then the shuttle driver turns out to be the slowest driver in the whole entire world. It's like his job is to drive as slowly as humanly possible while still actually moving. What usually takes 3 minutes ends up taking nearly 10! AAAARGHH!!!! STEP ON IT!! I HAVE A PLANE TO CATCH!

At this point, the thought of actually getting food before the limited options all close turns into a mere glimmer of hope which is waning quickly. More frustration. I try to calm myself with the knowledge that, at this tiny little airport, there's never a line to get through security. Plus, I'm a fancy frequent traveler so I get to go through the quick line anyway. 

I FINALLY get to the terminal and jump off the shuttle bus, run into the terminal, up the stairs to security, and there is the longest line I've ever seen at this airport. Also, the quicker line - the fancy pants frequent flyer special super speedy line - is closed. By now I'm screaming bloody murder in my head. How is this possible? How can everything, EVERYTHING, take longer on the same night? 

I know there is absolutely nothing I can do to make this line go faster. I know there is absolutely nothing I can do to make the restaurants (if you can call them that) stay open longer so I can have dinner before I get home at way-too-late-to-eat-anything o'clock. I know that I just have to deal with it and wait it out.

-----

I did, of course. I said nothing, I just moved along in the line, got through security (the people in front of me didn't know how to do airport security - argh), and made it to the last restaurant to close as they were just about to shut it down. I got the very last piece of pizza, which was of highly questionable freshness & edibility but I got food. Just before my flight started boarding. Phew!

While I was boarding the plane, I thought how silly it is to get so worked up about these things. There was really nothing I could do so why get so frustrated and angry? I made it. I got food. Nothing terrible happened. I didn't miss the last flight home of the evening. Everything was fine. And the anger and frustration started to melt away again.

Whew! What a day!!

And then, as I was settling into my seat, I hear the most amazingly wonderful words from the flight attendant. "Hey folks, we've got everyone on board. Does anyone mind if we leave early?"