(no subject)
Well on the heels of my last post I should jot down what's been going on the last 2 months.
San Diego:
I spent exactly 12 hours in San Diego my first day back in the states after Italy. I grabbed a cab to a hotel then spent some time chatting with some local friends on the phone and just general shouting from a mountain top how much I missed San Diego and that I was back in the states. Then I took a train the next morning up to see my sister and mom before hopping on a quick flight to Las Vegas.
The train ride was gorgeous and I can't believe I never took it before. I remember seeing this drawn out report of how the States needs more high speed trains. The California Coast is definitely a good place as any for them. The early morning train was very quick, I would say it was maybe half an hour or so longer than if I drove up. The track was right above the beach for most of the journey and from the window the view was just the beach and waves sliding along. We got up past Pendleton and there were two navy ships on the horizon. I got extremely nostalgic and wanted to run over and point them out to everyone. When I was on an amphib we spent days and weeks anchored in the same spots. The crew called it "Cell Phone Liberty". You can imagine why.
So the train pulled into LA and I was convinced that my mom wouldn't be able to find the train station. It was just a bus/train station in the middle of nowhere and she has a terrible track record of finding things. I don't have much faith in people in general and I'm sure she's partially responsible for that. Surprisingly she showed up and I actually got mad at her because she called me saying she was here while I accused her of being at the wrong station when I realized I needed to cross the track to see the parking lot she was sitting in. She did the typical mother thing and acted like she hadn't seen me in years and as always I had to block the slight pang of sadness by pursing my lips while holding back some tears because it always feels too long when I get back home.
Home... It's a strange concept for me. I always claim that its Seattle only because that's the largest congregation of family and my brothers are there. I identify with the people there the most etc etc etc. The truth though is I never feel at ease until I'm with my Mom. Until I have my own family I'm sure it'll always be that way.
So I threw all my bags in the trunk and we went to pick my sister, my brother-in-law and my niece and I forced my fat-ass agenda onto them by demanding some IHOP. I really enjoy my Brother-in-law's company because we have the same retarded sense of humor and are loud bastards. One example is when we got to IHOP there was a group of Army guys walking out and he(a marine) yelled at them that they "Joined the wrong branch" and I told him that they probably couldn't hear him because they were still shaking off the concussion of the last IED. After that mini-bonding moment we all went in and shoveled in silver dollar pancakes while we watched my niece make a mess of her plate while babbling on in baby speak. There was another 1 year old a few tables away and he just sat there for a good 10 minutes staring at her rearrange her eggs while she seemed to barely notice having his undivided attention. She's already driving the boys wild, I hope I never have a daughter.
Then we parted ways, my mom took me up to LAX to grab a quick flight to Las Vegas and my sister and Drew (Brother-in-law) started to drive up because a flight from LA to Las Vegas was like 400$ for them.
More later!
San Diego:
I spent exactly 12 hours in San Diego my first day back in the states after Italy. I grabbed a cab to a hotel then spent some time chatting with some local friends on the phone and just general shouting from a mountain top how much I missed San Diego and that I was back in the states. Then I took a train the next morning up to see my sister and mom before hopping on a quick flight to Las Vegas.
The train ride was gorgeous and I can't believe I never took it before. I remember seeing this drawn out report of how the States needs more high speed trains. The California Coast is definitely a good place as any for them. The early morning train was very quick, I would say it was maybe half an hour or so longer than if I drove up. The track was right above the beach for most of the journey and from the window the view was just the beach and waves sliding along. We got up past Pendleton and there were two navy ships on the horizon. I got extremely nostalgic and wanted to run over and point them out to everyone. When I was on an amphib we spent days and weeks anchored in the same spots. The crew called it "Cell Phone Liberty". You can imagine why.
So the train pulled into LA and I was convinced that my mom wouldn't be able to find the train station. It was just a bus/train station in the middle of nowhere and she has a terrible track record of finding things. I don't have much faith in people in general and I'm sure she's partially responsible for that. Surprisingly she showed up and I actually got mad at her because she called me saying she was here while I accused her of being at the wrong station when I realized I needed to cross the track to see the parking lot she was sitting in. She did the typical mother thing and acted like she hadn't seen me in years and as always I had to block the slight pang of sadness by pursing my lips while holding back some tears because it always feels too long when I get back home.
Home... It's a strange concept for me. I always claim that its Seattle only because that's the largest congregation of family and my brothers are there. I identify with the people there the most etc etc etc. The truth though is I never feel at ease until I'm with my Mom. Until I have my own family I'm sure it'll always be that way.
So I threw all my bags in the trunk and we went to pick my sister, my brother-in-law and my niece and I forced my fat-ass agenda onto them by demanding some IHOP. I really enjoy my Brother-in-law's company because we have the same retarded sense of humor and are loud bastards. One example is when we got to IHOP there was a group of Army guys walking out and he(a marine) yelled at them that they "Joined the wrong branch" and I told him that they probably couldn't hear him because they were still shaking off the concussion of the last IED. After that mini-bonding moment we all went in and shoveled in silver dollar pancakes while we watched my niece make a mess of her plate while babbling on in baby speak. There was another 1 year old a few tables away and he just sat there for a good 10 minutes staring at her rearrange her eggs while she seemed to barely notice having his undivided attention. She's already driving the boys wild, I hope I never have a daughter.
Then we parted ways, my mom took me up to LAX to grab a quick flight to Las Vegas and my sister and Drew (Brother-in-law) started to drive up because a flight from LA to Las Vegas was like 400$ for them.
More later!