Hola de Buenos Aires

I am here, crazy no. The flight went well. The Chief Flight Attendant, who must have previously been a 1-900 operator, lulled us all to sleep with descriptions of safety procedures, video choices, and the dinner selection. I did sleep quite a bit. Got through customs, into town, and into a hostel with little problem. This city is enormous. I can´t believe it ... I think I read about 13 million in the greater area. A little daunting. Have met some fellow hostel goers and have tentative dinner plans. The agenda for the next couple of days is to find a school, a homestay, and a phone. Doesn´t sound too vacation-esque yet.

Classic Story I

I know it is a bit early for classic stories, but I had a good one in NYC. I went out to Soho on Monday night to walk around. My first intention was to stop by a bar, have a drink or two and then head back to Chris & Ellen´s. I slightly misjudged my energy level when I got on the Subway and instead decided to walk around ... Chinatown, Tribeca, Greenwich Village, and SoHo. Needless to say, a bit tired after that walking and decided just to get back and crash. I got back to the apartment at 11:45. Chris and Ellen, having to get up at 5:30 had already gone to bed. I unlocked the door and discovered I was having some difficulty. I attempted for about 20 minutes to unlock the door, to no avail. Embarrassed by my inablitily to unlock the door and not wanting to cause a raucous in their new apartment building I soo realized that I was locked out, to no fault of Chris or Ellen. Knowing that this city never sleeps I headed to the nearest bar for some entertainment, Third and Long. When I got there about 12:30 I was the only sober one there. One couple was too drunk to stand and the bar was taking bets on whether they would go home together. The other couple to my other side were in the middle of describing how much money they had. I thought, ooo this could be a long night. The bar closed at 2am so I headed to the next that was open until 4, the Joshua Tree. This bar was considerably more lively. I talked with drunk couple number 2 who had followed me from the previous bar. They eventually left around 3. Shortly thereafter, two women came into the bar and we started talking. One was a musical producer and the other a yoga instructor who had recently moved back to NY from Hawaii. We talked about all sorts of things and eventually the fact that I got locked out came up. The yoga instructor lived only a couple blocks away and offered me a place to crash. When they finally kicked us out Maris and I walked to her local food mart where we were served by two hilarious Koreans, 54 and 72 years old. We finally went to bed around 4:30. I got up at 6:30 to make my way back to Chris and Ellen´s, where Ellen graciously let me in.

DC/ NYC

I decided to do a little of an East Coast tour. I spent last weekend in DC with some friends. It was great to see everyone. Skipped most of the "tourist" stuff to hang out with people. Though I might try to squeeze into the newly opened National Portrait gallery at the Smithsonian. Had some great company, food, and drinks.
I ended up taking the chinatown bus to NYC on Sunday night and spent Monday doing some last minute chores and visiting all my favorite places in the city. The bus had some high quality Earth, Wind, and Fire in concert videos. Made the trip such more memorable. Being here always reminds me of how much I miss it. The holiday spirit is definitely in the air. Chris and Ellen have been phenomenal, hooking me up with pretty much everything. Tomorrow night I leave DC to Buenos Aires. My big decision right now is do I stay at the hostel that has Polo lessons or the one with free massages? Hmmm.

Hasta Seattle

I am outta there! The last week was pretty hectic between getting most things organized before I left and trying to visit everyone. My brother Joel flew down last Sunday as a surprise and stayed for a few days. What a sibling. We took the town by storm, but I don't think the town noticed too much ... we were pretty low key. It was great to connect with everyone and will miss everyone terribly. Thanks for making life back in Seattle such a blast. I will post pictures when able. I landed in DC last night to catch some phenomenal downpours today. I spent all day veggin on Luke's couch recovering from the previous week. Reese is heading up from Norfolk tomorrow and it sounds like the local work crowd is in need of a happy hour tomorrow. Watch out DC, here we come!

Well, things are winding down and the semi-final Chubby Bunny contest has concluded. I am happy to note that Joelle and I tied for first. At this moment, I am reminded of this quote:
"A week before the pagent I was practicing my talent, finishing my costume, and running about 14 miles a day on about 400 calories. I was ready."