The guy I sit next to at work just told me the bags under my eyes make me look like a panda... im getting out of here...

Don't Cry For Me...

ARGENTIIINAA!!!

Im sort of sleep deprived and have a million things going on in my mind, so this will be a bunch of rambling... so here goes..

First of all: Buenos Aires fucking rocks!!

Everyone, some time in the near future do the following things:

1) Learn Spanish.
2) Go to Argentina.

I highly recommend learning spanish first. I tried to do it without properly completing step 1 and my inability to communicate with people was the thing that prevented a really great trip from being an amazing trip.

I got back this morning. I was originally supposed to be back yesterday morning, but as we all know, it sucks to fly on Thanksgiving weekend. The flight was oversold. After standing in line for check-in, immigration, airport tax and security, I was very bluntly informed that there was no space on the flight, and that I would not be flying.

Man, people were pissed!.. and rightfully so. We were all getting fucked.
There was screaming and hollering and threats were being made. Most of the people who were in my situation were given the choice of taking a $600 voucher and a free hotel stay for giving up their seat. I was a little pissed because they never asked me. I probably would have taken it.
Ultimately, I didnt really have a choice. So I was shuttled back downtown with 7 other people who became my best friends for the next 24 hours.

We tried to figure out if there was any kind of pattern to understand why we were the ones getting screwed. We couldnt come up with anything. It had nothing to do with how or when we bought our tickets or what time we checked in. We also considered what would have happened if we were the ones making all the noise at the ticket counter since most of the loud people seemed to have found a way to get on the plane. It was seemed pretty random.

But really not terribly bad when you think of everything that could possibly go wrong. I mean, at the end of it I was getting another night in Argentina, in a 5 star hotel, with dinner, breakfast, lunch, a ride to the airport and a $600 travel voucher. It was just the uncertainty part that I wasnt thrilled about. We all knew for a fact that the next day's flight was oversold as well. but they pretty much guaranteed that we would be seated on that flight - they were just going to fuck-over 8 other poor bastards.

Im sort of happy to be back. Firstly, just happy that I got onto the flight back. and while I dont consider this city or state to be my home, I do consider my apartment to be, so in that aspect it was nice to come home.

But on the other hand coming back to the same ol' shit has been a little depressing. My apartment is a disaster from my last minute packing and not cleaning up. and while watching the sunrise over Dulles airport while the plane taxied to the gate was quite pleasant, the suburbs remain extremely bland and uninspiring.


I have a ton of pictures to sift through and tell stories about so the pictures may take a little while before they get posted.

rainy days always remind me that some day, i should buy an umbrella...

i took a couple of hours off work this morning to go to the Argentine consulate in DC to drop off my application for a tourist visa. i dont know if you need a visa if you have an american passport, but you do if you have an indian one.

i parked at the vienna metro and took the train in to the city. i didnt realize how much i miss riding the train in the morning (or even in general). ive gotten so used to the humdrum routine of getting in my car and driving to work and everywhere else. so it was such a refreshing change to sit back and look out of the window and at the people getting on and off the train and leave the driving to someone else.

i just wish the metro stayed open later. i know i would ride it a whole lot more if it did.

Decisions...

so after all that anticipation, the decision has finally been made. and im kind of glad that its all over and done with:

we finalized a date and venue for our end-of-the-year office party!

oh right, and then there's the election. to quote pico, "really, i think we will persevere".

while there may not be any future wardrobe malfunctions, fear-not, there will still be a Super Bowl. the Donald and the whatever-the-fuck-that-is on his head will still be firing arrogant bastards. and we're still going to celebrate family dysfunction and the sanctity of tv-marriages every way we can. tv will continue to uneducate people.

and if you needed an even brighter side, the daily show has 4 more years of good material coming it's way.