going to disney&uni again! Sep 2011

[kaoden39]

That's too bad about the wedding. I have never been only for adults only weddings and such. Kids are people too and their feelings get hurt over things like this. Yes, they are more understanding than we as adults are but it still stinks.


Yes, that is sad about Amy Winehouse. I think anytime someone who is young like that what a waste it is when they die. I can think of far too many creative people that have died from drug overdoses, accidental or not. It is a great tragedy because there is help out there for them.

 

[bumbershoot]

Before this, I thought I was cool with "it's your wedding, invite or don't invite as you wish", but I'm really smacked in the face with how bad it feels. I know she's trying to lower her numbers, and at her (and her brother in law's shared) birthday party there was some rowdiness, and I'm sure she doesn't want to obviously exclude the kids that started the rowdiness...but gosh.

I'm simply glad we tried our hardest to be inclusive at our wedding, inviting all children (by name!) and all partners and we "and guest"ed anyone we knew was dating someone (which was most of our single friends) whose name we didn't know. I'm just glad, that with all the mis-steps I'm sure I made, I didn't hurt anyone like this.


But that's not to say that I don't understand why people do this. I do, and I support their rights to do it.

Ack, I hate when philosophy runs into the reality of a situation. Bah.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh it makes sense and I understand it. But, I understand why it would hurt.


Also I didn't mention it early but thank goodness they found R's co-worker.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh man....Robert trusted his TA, I didn't read his flight info thoroughly enough, and the TA messed up something at the end that confused the beginning, and...he got to the airport a couple hours ago (for a 12:44am his time flight) only to find out his flight was 24 hours before.

The part at the end is what messed it up...the TA managed to give him a 26 hour layover, so he was supposed to leave at that time early morning the 23rd (how could we be so stupid? but it gets complicated when you're getting to the airport on the day before your flight know what I mean?) but then his flight to his next destination didn't leave its airport until evening of the 24th. The TA didn't notice this problem, nor did she TELL HIM about it, so it was obvious that she simply messed up.

Together, it just clustered up on him.

I got that rotten feeling in the pit of my stomach...I can't even imagine how HE felt.

Thankfully I'm here to help him out, and his travel agency has an emergency number, and they were able to talk to me, and we got it worked out, all while I was talking him down off the ceiling via g-chat. And at relatively minimal cost to the company.


Now I'm working on his hotel.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh that is crazy. The poor guy. That has got to be an awful feeling.

 

[bumbershoot]

Most definitely.

Lesson learned, one of many...if you're booking a flight that leaves in the just-past-midnight hours, be very very VERY careful!

Turns out the TA had the last portion of the flight correct, as he needed to be at his destination on the day she had it. But then she changed the first two flights, and messed it up. So that was the first mess-up.

His was the second, because he believed what she SAID over what was on the email confirmation.

And mine was the third, because I actually wrote it all out on 3x5 cards, and still didn't catch the problem. Because it was a problem. Even if he had figured out that just before 1am on the 23rd meant the morning of the 23rd not the evening of the 23rd, even if he'd made that flight...he still would have had over 24 hours in an airport, which isn't what was supposed to happen.

It's just his rotten luck that the last flight to his destination is a once-a-day flight. That leaves 20 minutes after he's getting into that airport, so he has to wait a full day to get out.

With any luck, at the 24 hour airport, we can get a friend to pick him up so he can stay at their place overnight...hope hope hope. Would be far better than a hotel.

 

[bumbershoot]

Went ahead and changed that title, since I'm a couple minutes under 50 FULL days.

 

[kaoden39]

I think that it must be hard to travel like that for work. I mean for a while it might be exciting but it's not like you are there for fun.


I forgot to tell you. I finally saw HP on Friday. I cried, I knew I would but I really felt silly at the amount of tears.

 

[bumbershoot]

I was crying just reading the spoiler thread on the community board. Hearing how they barely touched on Fred (and thank goodness or people might die of grief) and how they showed Tonks and Lupin OMG I'm tearing up just thinking about what I read. Of course their story is tremendously tragic even in writing...



His trip is looking up. We were able to get the next hotel stay simply moved over by a day, our friend at his next airport has room for him to stay overnight, and he's currently about to take off while in 1st class, as they had no coach seats and because of his FF status. Whew!

 

[kaoden39]

I kind of felt that they cut up the Fred scene quite a bit. I saw Daniel Radcliffe interviewed about what was the hardest scene to film for him and he said it was Fred's death. He was saying that it was very obvious that the scene was rough on the twin that played George. They all went and hugged him when the scene was done. That the twins had looked at one another and said "I love you".

I love Alan Rickman and have for most of the movie series have felt he was probably the best actor among them. He was spectacular in this movie too. He made me ball so much. For the pure sexiness I have always loved Lucius Malfoy, but the last two movies have not served him quite so well. They definitely took the sexiness away.


I am glad you were able to solve Robert's problem. Poor guy.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh I'm sure Rickman is spectacular in the movie. The only sour note with Snape, in my opinion, has been his hair. To me it's worked against him.

I read an article that stated that quite a lot of the scenes with the adult bad-guys in the last 2 movies were cut out. And they didn't know it until the premiere of 7 part 1. Of course they are all seasoned actors and they know it happens...but just seeing the bits and pieces of them in part 1 I could *tell* that there was SO much more, and I for one would LOVE to see it. Bonham Carter is finally, after decades, starting to grow on me, I mean she was MADE for this role no doubt about it (or vice versa, only Rowling knows), and I would love to see more of her, and more more MORE of Isaacs (please), and even of Narcissa. They are such a wreck just at the beginning of part 1, and I want to see how they got there.



Just before boarding his flight, Robert scrambled around the airport and bought our friends some duty-free liquor and a stuffed Minnie Mouse for their daughter.

Often the travel is just fine. But this trip has been bleah. He's getting mixed messages (each one all written and firm sounding) about his priorities, the hotel he was in in the first place was almost like an apartment for rent and hadn't been vacuumed in he doesn't know how long, they refused to do housekeeping on his room for a day, and the internet (vital to his job) kept going out. After all that, to find out that we'd completely screwed up with his flight time (and may I just say that United needs to get some appropriate error messages, because if you're trying to check in 24 hours before your flight but it's actually flight TIME, there should be some appropriate wording on the site!!!! (but even if he had made that flight, he would still have wound up with 24+ hours where he'll be soon, because of the TA mucking it up)), well it just about sent him to the bar. And he barely drinks normally, but has agreed to not drink at all until he's off the stuff for his prolactinoma (it can amp up addictive behaviours b/c it changes your dopamine levels).

We were all so stupid.

 

[bumbershoot]

What should I be doing trip-wise? Anything? Food is basically done with. OH, I couldn't get the stupid Landry's giftcertificates from mypoints dot com; so annoyed, they ran out JUST as I got to the $50 mark. Decided to go with OldNavy instead, but if they get here at the end of the possible time period, I'll be out of time to buy anything for the trip. So...all that saving up on mypoints for the trip was pretty much for nothing! We didn't really need to hit RFC or TRex on this trip anyway, right? thhhppptht, mypoints.



OK gotta dye one of the Goodwill shirts to a tan color. Then rip off a sleeve. E wants to be Indy from movie #2, which he can describe perfectly thanks ot the Lego games and a show about the archaeology of Indy movies. I'm sure I'll be back later.

 

[kaoden39]

I would love to see more on the grown ups in the series. I love Bonham Carter, she marches to her own drum for sure. I think it was the Golden Globes where she wore two different shoes. This is a woman I can relate to. One character that I wanted a grown up resolve for was Neville and there wasn't one. Boo. He definitely grew up nicely.

Your trip is getting so darn close. It seems like time has flown on it.

 

[bumbershoot]

I've always known that there's fan fiction for HP, but I've never looked at any of it (beyond the occasional glimpse of amusing naughty stuff, back when I worked at amazon and had customers telling me about funny things all the time). But from the spoilers thread, I learned about this story. I've only read the first couple paragraphs, but from the way it was described and those first paragraphs, it looks interesting! It's about the year in book 7, at Hogwarts.

Turns out I like that sort of "fill in the gaps" writing, having become a reluctant fan of the extraneous Star Wars books that talk about the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. so I'm really looking forward to reading that story!



Just gotta brag on my sis in law. She got her final call, and as of the end of the year, she WILL be partner in her law firm. Not the kind of partner where you put money in and get your name put on the sign, it's a sort of modern type of partnership, but it's most excellent all the same! I'm so proud of her, and looking back on all of her hard work it's not hard to tear up a bit, thinking of all that has changed...all our family has lost and gained...in the years since she started Law School...this whole time, no matter what, she's just been plugging along, and here we are, with this fabulous news.

And of course it wouldln't have been possible with my brother. He kept his awesome job that whole time so she wouldn't graduate with debt, they had a house (which made her very popular with study groups), he has been infinitely patient while she's been gone so much just working her rear off...that sort of thing can't be done with a reluctant spouse, and in her group of associates almost everyone has already quit, to go to a less demanding firm.

I suppose, then, that I'm proud of both of them. My brother can be introverted, and he hates our paternal parent, but he braved my wedding *alone* because that weekend was his wife's first BIG associate weekend at the law firm. And she's just worked SO hard (helps that she seems to be rather brilliant).

Yay for them!

 

[kaoden39]

I will have to check that out later.


That is wonderful news!! Congratulations to her and to your brother. He earned it as much as he has. How great.

 

[Brady's Mom]

My good friend who is getting married in October (not the proposal I was on the outskirts of last week) just told me that she's having an adult's only wedding. It's not that I can't go anywhere without Eamon, it's that...he loves her too. And he wanted to see her get married. He took it far better than I did (nothing was said to her of course), frankly. I'm still tearing up now just typing it.

He was at her sister's wedding, he helped out with her niece's wedding (they do DIY weddings in their family, and it was FINE that we were asked to help with her niece's wedding without being invited TO the wedding, we knew we were appreciated)...I just figured he'd be at her wedding, too.

Kids are people too, and while I'm sure there are plenty of kids who would just be insane...he could have been calm and peaceful and just happy to see her get married. Just like the ones who are older than him.

Adults only weddings kind of make my blood boil! Alex (my oldest) and Elizabeth were considering an adults only wedding (mostly Elizabeth) and it just made me so angry. I mean, I have a 9 and 6 yr old and my sisters have children (youngest is 5) and it just made me realize how selfish it is to have only adults invited - it would have really hurt my children's feelings and my nieces and nephews. It was resolved to be a "normal" guest list - including children, but for a while I was dreading the confrontation. For Elizabeth it would have been fine - she's an only child and the youngest of all of her cousins - so she didn't see how it could matter. Alex is the oldest of all of his cousins - and they are all pretty close and really like to hang around with each other. Oy, I hope it works out and E is okay with it.

On a happier note - Congrats on the exercise 4 days in a row!

 

[Brady's Mom]

Hehe, my previous post ended up in a weird place. I guess it's what I get for not checking my email or this thread for several days. I'm always a little behind in the convo!

Congrats to your sister in law - and to your brother. Any time you go into something like that it really takes a partnership, or just to be single and single minded. Lucky for them they have each other and have been sooooo supportive of one another. Those kind of success stories make my heart smile.

I couldn't have done it - mostly because I wanted kids and love being a stay at home mom. I just use my drive and ambition in other ways. I started out in pre-law, but quickly decided that it was not the correct path for me. I've thought about it again recently (because I didn't finish my degree) since Nathan is starting school full-time in the fall, but I have started into business with my brother (that I can do at home) and have a whole bunch of other stuff going on. Some other time, maybe!

 

[bumbershoot]

I will have to check that out later.

I was skimming the story, copying it into a text doohickey, and it seems there's some smoochy smoochy, and even a pregnancy...so I guess it's a bit naughty. But it's nothing like the "slash" fanfic I've seen, LOL. Didn't you say that your daughter writes it? If so, you should know what I'm talking about.

I couldn't have done it - mostly because I wanted kids and love being a stay at home mom. I just use my drive and ambition in other ways. I started out in pre-law, but quickly decided that it was not the correct path for me. I've thought about it again recently (because I didn't finish my degree) since Nathan is starting school full-time in the fall, but I have started into business with my brother (that I can do at home) and have a whole bunch of other stuff going on. Some other time, maybe!

Yes they definitely couldn't have done it and had other things going on in their lives, that's for sure! But when they met, in college, my brother was extremely clear, from the very beginning, that kids were not an option in his life, and that going forward meant that she was cool with it. She was on the fence about kids anyway, she always had a clear vision of becoming a lawyer in the future and I think knew that they wouldn't be compatible, so it all worked out.

I told my aunt last night...she asked "so does this mean that they truly won't be having kids?"...omg yes. This wasn't clear before? It's almost like when a sibling is gay...you tend to just KNOW, even before you're told (that's how it was with Robert and his brother). I've always known that I would not be an aunt from my brother...but I guess others still wonder about it! I was shocked at the question. My brother used to HIDE when a random neighborhood kid would come to the door to play...if they were any younger than he was, he was NOT dealing with those kids.


I know a woman from the Y, Shannon, she has a law degree and practiced for many years. Then they started having kids and now she's at home, but she writes/proofs briefs for other lawyers. So she's still bringing in money, still using her lawyer brain, but is at home (though she really has to carve out that time, since their try for a third child yielded twins). It's definitely a neat idea!

 

[kaoden39]

Yes, um yes I do. She embarrasses me. I don't read hers because I have a pretty good idea what she writes. Wait until she gets a real idea of what these things are about. Oh boy!!

 

[bumbershoot]

It's probably best you don't read her stuff.

Augh our downstairs neighbors have been on their balcony smoking ALL day...so we either get to swelter with windows closed, or deal with their carcinogens. Neither choice is fun.

Robert's in his next place to work...probably in a taxi heading to the hotel now!