La Jolla

So we made it to the northernmost part of San Diego. Its pronounced La
Hoya. La Holla back girl. La Ho Yeah!

We had a fabulous lunch, and a bit of a freak out when we realized that
Maddy had left the keys to Wayne's rented convertable in the public
bathroom at the beach. Luckily a friendly lifeguard had them. The girl
at the tshirt stand was no help because it was her first day.

There are only 12 people in the world.

So Maddy and I have decided to start writing a screenplay about us, and
our wierd coincidences.

Here's a list of just some of the randomness in the past 24 hours:

1. The rental car guy picked out a white Hundai Elantra for me, and
asked me if it was ok. I'm not a fan of white cars, but I was tired so
I was like yeah whatever. So I met up with Maddy at Mel's diner and the
first thing she said to me was, "I was just standing here and thinking
hey that girl is driving my car... Holy crap, its Megan!" Sure enough,
same make, model, and color. We were thinking they were twins separated
from the assembly line at birth. Reunited by fate!

2. I get her keys and go back to her apartment to take a nap and crawl
into her loft bed and shut my eyes. Suddenly I sit up (narrowly
escaping a bump on the head) and yell "this is The Ikea "Tromso" queen
size loft bed with matching pull out futon!" How would I know this?
Because I have a printout of this bed from the Ikea website at home.
I've been saving up for the exact same bed!

3. I've met her aunt's friend before. When Laurie and Wayne showed
up Laurie and I hugged because she happened to be visiting from
Fredricksburg, Va last time I was here in June. Wayne hugged me as a
joke saying stuff like, I haven't seen you in forever! Etc. So this
morning at breakfast Wayne and I were making small talk about where
we're from and it turns out he used to lay carpet in Alexandria. Ok,
he's lived in my hood. Now he owns a couple gyms in Fredricksburg.
Yeah. I was like I went to highschool at Bishop Ireton, college at
GMU. And he was like, I'm very familiar with Mason, I run a fitness
expo there every year. I was like, Body Rock? He said, yeah are you
familiar with it? I said, I worked at it. I worked at the Center For
the Arts Box Office for three years. He was like, see? I knew we hadn't
seen eachother in a while. We totally met at GMU like 3 years ago. I'm
pretty sure we had a conversation.

So at this moment I'm on a roadtrip to San Diego with Maddy, her aunt,
and the Body Rock guy.

L.A. Version 2.0 or Meegs and Maddy Chapter 4

So it begins. Its 6:30am (7:30 Eastern, 4:30 Pacific)on a Saturday and
I'm waiting for the train to Midway. Freeeeeezing. Sarah was super
nice and drove me to the Orange line train halfway across town. It was
her birthday yesterday and I had no idea until I came home to find a
crapload of baloons and Thai leftovers everywhere.
As usual, Lois didn't speak to me.

Last night sucked. I got on the purple line by accident and ended up in
Evanston. It took me an extra hour to get home. It was a simple
mistake. Purple and brown share a track, I was tired. For the D.C.
people reading, its like accidentally getting in the express lanes on
395 north and not being able to get off. You keep looking over to the
other lanes yelling, "I want to be over THERE!" But you can't get off
until you reach the city. And the only way to get home is to get back
on 395 south in evening traffic.

6:58 a man behind me on the train is talking very loudly on his phone in
Russian... I think its Russian. But whatever, its rude. I'm having
trouble hearing Maggie tell me about her hair.

7:35 boarding Southwest. I'm an A! But I see a crying baby in the B
line. Maybe I should hang back and see where they sit... and ask to be
reseated on another flight.

7:44 Crap Crap Crap. Baby is right behind me!
7:46 Crap Crap Crap Crap! Another baby!
7:49 this does not bode well

So I'm going to try not to spend too much money this week. If I can
keep my personal expenses on this trip below $200 then I will treat
myself to a cab ride home when I get back to Chicago. So far I'm up to
$6 for batteries for my CD player. I'll try to keep a running tally if
I have time to check in with the blog. I'm proud of myself for resisting
the McDonalds breakfast in the airport terminal. I wasn't really hungry
and I know I want some In-N-Out when I get there. But now that the
Mexican family of 20 sitting around me boarded laiden with sausage
mcmuffins and orange juice I'm rethinking my plan.

10:28am (1:28 Eastern, 12:28 Central)
Ok the flight was not so bad. The baby only kicked my chair a few dozen
times. Views were awesome!. I highly recommend flying over The Rockies
and The Grand Canyon in the daytime.

I saw palm trees and swimming pools as we landed... and an In-N-Out
Burger. Hmmmm...Its lunchtime in Chicago.

...to be continued...

Go Patriots!

So last Saturday, Leena and I met up at the ESPN Zone to cheer on our
alma mater (with a little help from Zach). It was super exciting. We
won by a single basket in the last minute of the game!

http://gomason.collegesports.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022006aaa.html

Happy Valentines Day from Lois

Costume design by Sarah

Sunlight!

Its 5:30pm and I saw the last few minutes of sunset leaving work today!
Oh dearest sunlight I have missed you so! Soon I will be frolicking in
your rays!
- Megan

For those of you who use public transportation regularly...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/09/bus.passenger.tossed.ap/index.html

I think I've met that lady.

Snow

Snow

Today the snow is going sideways and upside-down like a snowglobe. Its
beautiful. I'm so glad I'm secretly wearing hot pink legwarmers under
my nice pants.

That reminds me ...17 days to L.A.!

Bono for President


Bono Pushes U.S. to Increase Aid to Poor
By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer
Published February 2, 2006, 5:59 PM CST

WASHINGTON -- Quoting from Islamic, Jewish and Christian texts, rock star Bono called Thursday for the U.S. government to give an additional 1 percent of the federal budget to the world's poor. Speaking to President Bush and members of Congress at the National Prayer Breakfast, the U2 front man said it's unjust to keep poor people from selling their goods while singing the virtues of the free market, to hold children to ransom for the debts of their grandparents and to withhold medicines that would save lives. "God will not accept that," he said. "Mine won't. Will yours?" Bono's speech riveted the ballroom audience that included the president and first lady and leaders from Congress, the Cabinet, the military, the clergy and countries from around the world. At every table, Bono had distributed white plastic bracelets from The ONE Campaign to fight AIDS and poverty, and Sen. Hillary Clinton was among those who wrapped it around her fingers while she listened. Bono thanked the president for helping to fight the spread of malaria and AIDS. Bush, in markedly lighter remarks than the singer, praised him as "a doer" but didn't comment on his proposal. "The thing about this good citizen of the world is he's used his position to get things done," Bush said. "You're an amazing guy, Bono. God bless you." Bono said the United States spends less than 1 percent of its budget on the world's poor. One percent of last year's budget would have been about $26 billion.

-------
It's too bad that this George Bush guy is in such a lowly position that he's not able to help out... if only he was a rock star, he could maybe have some influence on how the government budgets our tax money.

...and for those of you who say we should take care of our own first... that would be great too. There are so many starving children, under-educated youth, and people without healthcare in our own country. If only this Bush guy, whoever he is, could be in a position to be a "doer" like Bono. So sad, so many good intentions.

February

I greet the month of February, a notoriously depressing month with an
intense wave of homesickness. Last weekend was one of the worst
weekends of improv I've had in a while. And it makes me wonder... Why
would I leave behind everything I love and move halfway across the
country to study this bizarre artform that no sane person understands?

Things are going well at work. I'm bonding with coworkers and even got
a tiny little bonus for being part of the team or something like that.

But I could be stuffing envelopes and sucking at Improv closer to my
family. But then I wonder, what is home? There's this building I slept
in every night for the first 19 years of my life and frequently returned
to for several years after that. But that hasn't really felt like home
in a long time. I remember being under the covers in my bed in the
house I grew up in and hearing the fighter planes circling Fort Belvior
those first few weeks after 911 and saying out loud, "I want to go
home."

I wish I had been a happier child. I wish I had gotten medicated or
something when we got the pictures back from our first trip to
Disneyworld. There's got to be something wrong with a kid who hates
Disneyworld!

If I had only appreciated home more...maybe it wouldn't have
dissappeared so quickly.

It my fault! Its my fault for mistreating home. I was mean to it. I
left it. I talked bad about it. I didn't take care of it. I didn't
realise how much I loved it. It got sick. Home was neglected and
malnourished. I pushed home away and now I'd do anything to get it
back. Whatever it is. Wherever it is. By any means necessary.

Its supposed to be cold and snowy here again this weekend. But... 22
days to L.A.! I think I like it there because at least 9 out of 10
people in L.A. Are homesick for something too.

Blagojevich (pronounced BLOG-oyavich)

So this is what the governor of Illinois looks like through the camera
phone of a drunk girl.

- Megan