Swiss Bliss

My parents were kind enough to grant me some of their frequent flier miles so that I could begin this jaunt in business class on the newly relogoed Swiss (in their newfound grooviness, they have dropped the "Air," I believe) and all I can say is Holy Jesus. It's sort of like going on a date with someone who you plan on sleeping with, yet they are pulling out all the stops regardless. There's a cheese plate and then the chic atttendants seem displeased if you refuse another dessert. Then they come around with a tray of Lindt chocolates and keep making you take them. Okay, they don't make you, but they definitely look at you severely.

I got about three hours of sleep and now I'm taking advantage of the free internet in their posh lounge and trying to use the rearranged keyboard and deleting all the unnecessary umlaüts. I have no idea if I spelled that correctly, but that ü just came out of nowhere.

This is sört of addictive.

Here's What Happens

I come late to the blogging party and am already rewarded with a shout-out from my amazing friend Melissa, who refers to me as "brilliant and brave" in this post and for that I love her.

Freak Scene

Procrastination is my bag. Like in an almost scary, this-girl-has-a-real-problem sort of way. If such a thing as PA (Procrastinator's Anonymous) existed, I'd be the charter member. This unfortunate habit of mine makes anything involving preparation a real drag. Take packing. I have, traditionally, packed at the last possible minute just about every time I've gone out of town.

And right now, it's the night before I leave, and I am totally packed. I'm panicking regardless: malaria! enters my mind and won't leave. Then malaria! is joined by the fear that I will be totally friendless and lonely in India and all the other people attending KYM will hate me. Not totally crazy enough?

I am convinced I will arrive sans toothbrush.

I'm nostalgic for conversations I had yesterday.

A recent trip to my local record store was supposed to net two copies of the Neptunes CD only, but somehow my sister and I walked out of there with several CD's apiece, partially because we are codependent when it comes to enlarging our music collections, and partially because I stumbled across a whole spell of stuff that I'd been meaning to buy but hadn't--fill-in's, if you will.

A KC radio station does a '90s lunch hour that I am convinced exists solely to make me feel really old. "All I Want" was played a few weeks ago and it had been stuck in my head since. So when I spied "PS: A Toad Retrospective" in the racks, I figured I had to own it, especially since all of my Toad CD's are long gone, probably replaced by the early Teenbeat catalog in 1993.

I didn't listen to the CD until today as I was driving into town. Traffic had slowed on State Line Road because the Leawood Police were a few cars ahead, so everyone was going 35 like good responsible citizens, even though the hill near Rockhurst is perfect for whooshing by at 50. The chorus of "I will not take these things for granted" hit me as I was inching along, and suddenly, I'm sixteen, "borrowing" my mom's license so I can get into The Bottleneck, and singing along at the top of my lungs in my first car, the much-loved ancient Audi. The cop makes a left, and people resume speeding, and I arrive at my destination: my gym, located across the street from where I attended high school, and I can see it so clearly: stopping at the Uncle Tupelo/Superchunk shrine-cum-locker I shared with Anna, heading out for lunch with Mark blasting Beloved, planning how to get into the Dinosaur Jr. show...

I've had several transcendental music experiences before and since, but the early '90s will always hold a special place in my music-loving heart.

I'm a late bloomer.

Why Bravermundo? Why now?

Well, it's like this: I'm going to India for six weeks, and so that I'm not sending stupid form letters (not that I'd ever do that to you), I figured I'd put things into your hands. Wondering what my day-to-day life is like? How I'm feeling about Parivrtta Trikonasana? Come on down to Bravermundo! Want to continue one of our Very Important Discussions of Very Important Topics like the California recall, the drought in the KC area or the budding Cameron Diaz/Justin Timberlake relationship? Just email me. Don't worry, a webcam isn't just around the corner.

Promise.