crazy - in one week

last thursday, i was getting ready to leave the apt for LAX to catch my flight home. susan suggested i check my flight online to make sure it was on time. i looked up the flight info and nothing came up. not good. after some more frantic searching with zero results, we started to suspect that it was cancelled. stinkin' united. and as i start calling customer service, they call me and leave me a message that my flight is cancelled - less than 2 hours before. i was super mad. more so when the lady on the phone told me that the next flight to portland was the next night. she offered to get me to medford. i had to explain to her that medford is not at all close to portland - that it is about 5 hours away by car. i explained that flying to seattle would make more sense than flying to medford. she replies by putting me on hold and finding a flight to seattle early the next morning. i explained to her that getting to seattle wasn't the point - i needed to fly to portland.

as i checked other airlines, i found out that alaska was still planning on flying out, so i made united refund my ticket and i bought a last minute ticket through alaska. by then, it was just a little past 8 and the flight was at 9pm. tim and jessica helped me get my bags stashed in susan's car while i tried to print out my boarding pass. susan got me through 405 traffic to LAX 20 minutes before take-off. i ran in and luckily found out that the flight had been delayed by 20 minutes. i had enough time to cross through security and my bag would definitely make the flight. did i mention that my checked bag exceeded the 50lb limit? boo. i had to pay $25 extra for the 8.8lb overage. i blame my mom and dad's request for 2 all-region dvd players from focus plaza in alhambra. anyway, the flight was really turbulent, or so i gathered by the clapping and cheering from passangers upon landing in portland. i slept through everything. what can i say? i was exhausted from a full day of teaching plus the hassle of a cancelled flight. i guess portland had 40mph winds. my dad picked me up past midnight and i had to go with him to the restaurant before i could go home. most of the area around the restaurant had lost power. my dad had promised that it wouldn't take too long, but it did. i was so hungry that i started to eat the fortune cookies. so sad. i finally got home around 2am and had real food. this is the craziest travel ordeal i've ever had. i hope i have no more like it.

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i drove up to seattle on friday afternoon and on the way up, it was snowing - somewhat blizzard-like, from jantzen beach to a little past vancouver. seriously...snow had gathered on my hood. it was really weird. and, in seattle, they had 80+mph winds, and most of the areas had lost power. actually...half of mercer island is still without power as of today. it was insanely cold for many people. i got to have dinner near the u-district and we stopped by capitol hill for dilletante's desserts before crashing at pam's house - where power, and more importantly, heat - returned just after 10pm friday night. sadly for chris and david, their power returned...and then went back out. but it did come back for real the next night.

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saturday morning was getting together with the bridal party and having manicures and pedicures. and then it was getting ready to attend dennis's memorial service. saturday was a day of such contrasting events and emotions.

the memorial service was wonderful. from the shared reflections from friends and family, it was so obvious that dennis was loved in abundance and that he had had such influence and impact in so many people's lives. he has given so much joy and fun to so many of us. he's greatly missed.

the evening was occupied by the wedding rehearsal and dinner. a pretty straight-forward and quick rehearsal. after dinner, most of the bridal party headed to the hotel where the reception was being held. shiv + gar and company (out of town fam/friends) had rooms there. we played ticket to ride, a fun game of strategy and building your own cross-country railway. somehow, i think the exodus would enjoy it - even if there isn't an aspect of trading ore for sheep. :) i got to crash with shiv in her really nice suite.

the next morning was all about getting ready for the wedding. we commandeered the bathroom to do hair and make-up. mama and papa wong brought us sustenance in the form of deli meat, cheese, bread, cherry tomatoes, clementines, and grapes. we were not starved. our first stop was pictures at seattle u. it was freezing. the fountain on campus had a layer of frozen ice. we were told to think thoughts of hawaii and look warm. :| it was FREEZING. after awhile, we lost all sense of feeling, so it was ok.

the wedding was beautiful. i teared up when shiv and garrett exchanged their own personal vows and when they hugged the parents. actually, even in the beginning when shiv's dad "gives her away." the reception was super fab too. they had a photo booth - a la amelie - and great food. it was so nice to see a bunch of friends all in one place. my favorite quote of the day came from one of the photographers in reference to shiv and gar - "they're weird...but they work." hahaha...probably because garrett makes crazy faces and expressions all the time and shiv's got a couple of her own as well.

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the last couple of days were just spent catching up with people. having dinner with melissa and crashing the boxwave christmas party at the westin, having my eyes checked, being offered my old job back during my school breaks, dinner with pam, che, jason, and kristie, hanging out at chris and david's very cool townhouse. very fun.

during this time, i am called several times on tuesday. i call back to find out that my mom had to go to the ER monday night/early tuesday morning for abdominal pain. turns out that it was just acid reflux/heartburn/indigestion. so...really, not a big deal at all. but, being the crazy people that they are, they call me to find out when i'm coming home and to have me drive back sooner because my mom needs someone to "take care of her." i'm still not quite sure how it makes sense in their crazy minds, but apparently it makes more sense for me to drive 3 hours to get my mom a glass of water than to ask my brother, who is upstairs...less than 30 feet away. and, she got mad at me when i asked her to clarify and explain what had happened. yea...i don't get it either.

i've decided that the only way i can feasibly move back to the northwest is when my mom drops the crazy. this probably means that i'll never be able to move back. bummer. i love my parents...really, but they are C-R-A-Z-Y. i'm hoping it is not passed on.