Feliz Navidad, Sorta

As fun as vacations are, I always like the part where you get home, unpack, and get to sleep in your own bed once more. First thing this morning at 2:00 a.m. when I made it through my door, I warmed up my computer and downloaded my photos. 453, my friends, that's how many I had. I must have taken at least 475, too, since I deleted some while reviewing them on the island. Digital cameras are neat.

Some Highlights:
-Getting sat next to an aggressively friendly guy on the plane who kept trying to make conversation despite my best attempts to ignore him, and who downed two Dos Equis and chewed multiple wads of tobacco on the way from Denver to Cancun. It was amazing. It was just like I was working at the bar, but without any possibility of walking away. I claimed the window seat after that.

-Riding the ferry to Isla Mujeres at 11:00 p.m. with a full moon shining, music playing, and a local woman singing along to her cute grandaughter beside me.

-Getting to know the stray dogs.

-Beach combing and finding a good 1-2 pounds of beach glass that will be perfect for jewelry, as soon as I figure out how to make it usable.

-Walking through the turtle farm and seeing all the itty bitty turtles that were about the size of my palm.

-Remembering some of my Spanish from 6th grade and hearing my brother, who took two years of IB Spanish, constantly ask people, "Do you speak English?"

-Lime flavored ice cream.

-Gorgeous architecture and decorative details.

-Seeing the skate before I stepped on him while I was wading in the ocean.

-Bumming around the hotel's open-air bar and beach, writing to Camii, taking pictures, and reading a book.

-Hearing Christmas carols and seeing Christmas decorations while walking around in shorts and a tank top.

-Having everybody (drivers, hotel staff, etc.) defer to Casey, even though all of the reservations were in my name and I was the one with all the info.
Driver: Do you have your reservation, Senor?
Casey: Uh...
Me: Here's our reservation slip.

Waiter at the hotel: Here, Senor. (Hands Casey the slip to sign for dinner)
Casey: (Slides it over to me)

And so forth. I mean, come on. Casey is obviously not an Alexandra, and yet... Feminism has not completely arrived in Mexico, it seems. Made for comedic relief though, when everybody was directing questions to him and he was giving them blank stares back.

Anyhow, when you go to Isla Mujeres, get a taxi to take you places, eat some ice cream at Cool's, skip Hacienda Mundaca, but make sure to stop by the turtle farm.

Checking In From the D/FW USO

I'm still alive and almost home. I have much less money with me now than when I headed off to Mexico, but I've traded it in for a sunburn, over-priced tourist goods, and a ton of pictures.

USOs are awesome. I guess there are some advantages to traveling with my Air Force cadet sibling. Free food, a comfy place to hang out, and incredibly friendly volunteers who are all smiles as soon as you walk in. Nice.

More later, there's a chocolate bar calling my name.

Clue #12

"It means 'Island of Women'."
-Mom

A quick google search later and we've got Isla Mujeres which seems to be right off of Cancun - looks like Casey was almost right after all. Though, the time zone clue was wrong, it seems. Oh well, I'm not complaining.

Clue #11

"¿Dónde está su pasaporte?"
-Dad

Clue #10

"Here are suggested items to pack:
sunscreen, swimsuit, hat, sunglasses, beach towel, shorts, sandals, $100 cash."
-Mom

At this point I'm really confident that it's an island in Mexico. The trick will be figuring out which one. In any event, we're almost through the 12 clues and mom and dad said we get to know before Christmas, so it's not going to be a mystery too much longer.

Bonus Clue

Today I went over to mom & dad's to drop off some leftover elk rouladen and try and figure out what the heck to get my sibling for Christmas. While I was there we talked about the mystery trip a bit and I asked them if they'd been telling people where they're sending Casey and me.

Dad joked that he hadn't told many people 'cause he couldn't pronounce the name of the place. Then he followed that comment by, "Whups, shouldn'a said that."

Clue #9

"Temperatures range from 69° to 83°---local time is 1 hour later than we are."
-Mom

Clue #8

"You can only get there by Ferry boat."
-Dad

Well, Jenny. I'd say this rules out Mesa Verde.

Clue #7

"Have you ever seen beads made from turtle shells?"
-Dad

Is it just me or is it kind of wrong that they have turtle shell beads at a turtle sanctuary?

I mentioned to mom and dad that I'm making these clues a matter of public record. They said it's cheating. :)

Clue #6

"You can explore a cave."
-Mom & Dad

Check Please!

Yesterday, approximately twenty minutes after I got to the bar, a couple comes in. They tell me, "There'll be a lot of us." At about the same time a group of five walks in, sits down at one table, stares at each other with that look on their faces like nobody wants to make a decision, then they get up and move, making sure to tell me "Hey, we're sitting here now," as if I wouldn't have noticed.

Then, in the next ten minutes the bar goes from having just a few people in it to having closer to thirty. All of these people are impatient, all are at tables. It's Wednesday, so I'm the only server on the floor. These people are split up into three groups, one of which has the bulk of the people, including In-Charge-Man.

In-Charge-Man informs me to put everything on his tab (ok, no problem) and that I should bring three pints of Smithwicks. At this point, I realize that he wants my job. The only problem is, he's not as good at it as I am. A couple more people wander in to join the group.
While I am standing right there at the table, ready to take the newcomers' orders, ICM says to them, "What do you want?"
They say to him, "I want a Bloody Mary" and "I want a rum and Coke."
ICM says to me, "She'll have a Bloody Mary and he'll have a rum and Coke."
I say to them, "What kind of vodka do you want in that Bloody Mary? What kind of rum do you want in that rum and Coke?"
-You get the idea. Just imagine this scene repeated for two hours. To make matters worse, a few of the times he took it upon himself to walk over to me and give orders for his friends, he forgot one or two of them. Maybe I should've offered him my pad so he could write everything down.

Meanwhile, the ICM's doppleganger, ICL is sitting at a nearby table with a couple of her gal pals. I walk over to check on ICM's big group and, while I'm asking those folks how they're doing, ICL is saying "Excuse me." One of the ladies is ready for another beer, fine. Then ICL decides she is too, and does her other friend want another? Good grief. If you're so eager for me to come over that you have to interrupt while I'm talking with other patrons, at least have your order straight by the time I get to you.

Then there's the mortician's convention (or, so Dave hypothesized given their dark colored business attire) with Oblivious-Guys 1-3 doing the, "Oh, you brought him a drink? Go back and get me one too" game.

Right. Now that I've painted this picture for you, here's the clincher:
ICL and her gal pals are ready to leave. A guy has since joined them, and he's handed me a credit card to pay the bill. They've got dinner reservations, so they're putting on their coats and ready to head out. I take the card over to the computer, swipe it, and get an error message. I re-swipe. Same message.

Luckily, Bob and Marianne have recently wandered in so I head for Bob, "Hey, I've got a problem." Bob tries to fix it. No luck. ICM is ready to close out. He hands me a credit card. After hanging out with his pals for two hours, ICM is eager to leave. Great.

So, here I am, in the midst of thirty people all wanting to leave right now. The credit cards aren't working because our internet service has glitched and won't be working again until, presumably, the next day. I confer with Bob and Marianne, then head over to the two guys who are impatient to pay their bills and get the heck out of Dodge. I went up to them fully expecting a hissy fit from one or both and ready to yank an owner over to sort it out, but in the end, both were delightfully reasonable about it and traded their credit cards for either cash or a personal check. Thank George. The mortician's convention also opted for a personal check, and also forewent the hissy fit.

By the end of the night I had four checks (we never take checks) which will hopefully all clear, and a handful of oh-so-original people who, when told about the lack of credit card service, remarked "I guess it's free then, ha ha."

Some nights are worth it less than others. Last night, despite the fact that I did pretty well in tips, just wasn't quite worth it. I gotta say, the Mystery Adventure Vacation (and the resulting week off) can't get here fast enough.

Clue #5

"You can visit a nearby National Park, a turtle sanctuary"
-Dad

Clue #4 and A Bit of Family Trivia

"Mark & Nancy would like to meet you there."
-Mom

Mark and Nancy are my uncle and aunt on my mom's side.

When I was ten, my folks sent me back east to visit with relatives for two weeks (my whole extended family is pretty much in Ohio). One of those weeks was spent with my aunt Nancy, who is my godmother. During that time I called Mark "uncle Mark" and, in an impulsively wise ass moment, he explained to me that he was not, in fact, my "uncle" because we had no blood relation. Instead, he was just my aunt's husband.

Ever since, any birthday cards, etc. are always addressed to/signed by my uncle(usually underlined at least three times) Mark and aunt Nancy.

Got Stuck

In preparation for the MAV I got a couple of vaccines today. Since mom was concerned that I was up-to-date on tetanus, I'm taking that as another clue. One doesn't typically need shots to stay in the country, and the timing can't be coincidental.

Let me just say, I loathe needles. While I consider myself an otherwise tough gal, when it comes to shots I turn into a big wimp. I think it has to do with the whole concept of seeking out pain, because while you accidentally stub your toe, you don't accidentally get a tetanus shot.

Thank George the gal who gave me my shots believes in a philosophy which she described as, "Just stick 'em quick." After sitting in the waiting area, psyching myself out about getting punctured, the shots were over fast and didn't actually hurt. *Whew* Now my arm's a bit sore, which will be great for when I go into the bar in a couple hours and commence with a night of carrying stuff. At least I have Bugs Bunny bandaids.

Ironically enough, when I walked over to the bookstore on campus for an SCWP errand, what's sitting by the front door but a Bonfils van and a sign advertising a blood drive today.

Clue #3

"There are some ancient Indian ruins near by that you can check out."
-Dad

Hrm... I'm thinking it might be Mexico. I'm down with that.

The Balancing Act

Thanksgiving break was wonderful. So much so that I'm already counting down the days until Christmas break. Usually, during a whole week of nothing to do but the bar, I find myself wrestling with boredom. Not so this time. While I credit part of that to being sick, I can't write it all off. My lack of boredom is a bad sign which serves to emphasize my need to make some changes.

First and foremost, I need to get away from the bar more. This three nights a week stuff is silly. We got a new person for a reason, and if she can't work both weekend nights (thanks to her other job) then it's time to push the owners to hire another newbie. Come spring semester, my goal is 1-2 nights at most.

At this point in the semester, housework has piled up from neglecting it for weeks on end. Over break I made a concerted effort to clean up and put all my beads in one place (versus scattered all over the living room). Since I put up Christmas decorations at the same time, it worked pretty well. My living room and bedroom got put to rights. Next comes the kitchen, office, and bathroom (which is half-way there already). I'm not the tidiest housekeeper, but once I hit a certain degree of clutter, I start feeling it in a feng shui kind of fashion. De-cluttering is a good start to my personal balancing project, and it's a nice way to see tangible progress.

Another step is having my Christmas party. This also doubles as an incentive to do other things, like clean the house, which are on my list.

Related, though indirectly, to the balancing project is the Mystery Adventure Vacation. Last year my parents thought it'd be fun for the family to go on a trip. Casey and I even got passports. The trip fell through, though. This year, my parents have revisited that idea and have decided to send the brother and I off on a trip to a destination unknown to us.

If you suspect a bit of trepidation on my part, you're right. Somehow a vacation that's out of my control makes me a bit uneasy. Knowing it's my mother's brainchild doesn't entirely quell that. This is the same mother who once bought me glittery jeans for Christmas because she thought it'd be funny. If you haven't noticed yet, I'm not the glitter type. At least it'll be my brother and I, sans our parents. Given the similarity in our temperments (as opposed to the lack thereof with our mother), I have faith that once we get to wherever it is we're going, we'll be able to do the metaphorical driving.

Working up to this vacation, my parents have decided it'd be fun to give us clues to figure out where we're going.
Clue #1: My parents want to go here themselves.
Clue #2: It somehow involves driving a golf cart. (That one makes me nervous)
There will be twelve clues in all and they'll be given to us at random intervals. Some of these clues will be red herrings. My mom is getting such a kick out of this, it's not even funny.

Whew, there's a long post. To sum up, these first steps across the stones feel right. Progress is progress, even if it's slow.