Alright so back to the game of "Where in the world is Taryn (Sandiego)"....
I'm back in freaking Texas!! Why do they keep sending me here? Yesterday we flew to Dallas and then to Springfield, MO and back and now i'm on my 17 hour layover in San Angleo. Despite the fact that its Texas and that my phone has absolutely no singal here, its actually really nice. There's this street near my hotel called like Rancho or Concho or something and its kinda like Front St in Natchitoches (except without the bricks and Steel Magnolias pictures.) Its all these little antique shops and stuff. There's a cafe called Jabberwocky and they actually have a theatre company called Looking Glass. There's a general store with just about everthing you can imagine and i even bought a little pink and black accent pillow with the eiffel tower and some lady walking her dog on it.
I have the next two days off....so speaking of Natchitoches, that's where i'm gonna go. I am so excited. I never thought i'd miss that damn place but living like a gypsy for a few weeks will make you really miss even the people you never thought you would.

So i've decided to abort my mission. My roomates are selfish bitches, let them rot. I on the other hand am not going to waste away a college degree serving pretzels. I think i should teach "Acting for Flight Attendants". Some of them are so monotone and even the ones who vary their voices some, all inflect at the same points...its annoying. (That's a joke incidently for those of you who might have thought that was something i'd actually do- i'm not that psycotic.) Its bad, though. I actually volunteered for a trip this morning. See i live with four "ladies" over the age of 40 and three girls under 25, well last night was me and three of the older ones. They went to bed at like 9 o'clock and so come 7 am or so they were up and talking away and had the TV on and stuff....i layed there for like two hours and finally couldn't take it anymore- i got up, threw on clothes and just left. They only place within walking distance of the hotel i 'live' in is this little convience store so i went and bought a coke and baked lays (for breakfast) and sat out front for a while. I looked like a homeless person...but i didn't care. Anyway i'm now in Greenville, SC. Some of my friends are getting to go to Niagra Falls and San Diego and fun places like that....me, i've been to Iowa City; Champagne, IL; and Green Bay, WI. On the plus side some of these places have pretty nice airports. I tried to collect postcards from all the places i went but the ones i remember to buy i forget to send, so instead i've started a hotel pen collection. On that note, i'm gonna go to bed (in my king size bed at the Crown Plaza--now you know why plane tickets cost so much...)

Tom Hanks is coming out with a new movie called "The Terminal." His character is stuck for whatever reason in an airport for a long period of time (hmm...sounds like me) he meets a flight attendant played by Catherine Zeta-Jones (no real flight attendants look like that)....I have to go check out that movie.
I also have to get another job. This flight attendant thing is bullshit. Last night i sat at the airport from 7-9 pm (they never called so i just sat in the crew lounge and watched Must See TV.) That was kinda cool but today i got called to fly...
My first flight by myself went alright concidering we changed gates three times, changed aircrafts once and then had an hour delay because we had to wait on a pilot. The passengers were nice concidering, but you could tell they were frustrated since they all then missed their connecting flights. Its funny because in training they teach us how to evacuate an aircraft in an emergency and other important things like that. Today i spent fifteen minutes searching for trash bags on the plane (the need to start teaching more useful things.)
Yesterday i ventured into the city alone. Since i didn't have to be at the airport til late i decided to go check out the theatre bookshop that i had heard about from an actor i met at Navy Pier the other day. It was nice. I got a couple of books on "Getting Started in theatre in Chicago." I always think its funny when people buy how-to books like that but I'm at a point to where anything that might help, i'm willing to take. When i start buying self-help books though, please someone shoot me (i don't understand how people buy SELF help books written by someone else.)
There are alot of beggars in Chicago. More than in most big cities i find, i don't know why.
I think i'm just tired of settling and being "second rate". When people ask where i went to college i say "Northwestern" well around here they all think i went to the one in town. I then have to throw in the "State University in Natchitoches, La." Explaining where the hell Natchitoches is starts a good conversation piece though. And when they ask what airline i work for, i say "American" but then have to add on the "Eagle" part.
My roomates all think i'm snobby because i act like i'm too good to be a flight attendant. Its not that i'm too good to do this, i just think we all are. No one dreams of being this, i'm sorry. So my new mission, to help all my roomates and maybe even all the other FAs i meet realize their true potentials.

So i really think its fate that i'm here in Chicago. Not because i'm destined to be a fucking sky waitress, but because it is here that i will "make it" in the theatre. Last night i went to Second City. It was amazing!! (For those of you who don't know, Second City is a comedy school/theatre- all the great Saturday Night Live actors came out of there: Jim Belushi, Steve Martin, Bill Murry, Chris Farley, Mike Myers...) They have sketch comedy type shows that they do and i saw one last night called "Doors Open on the Right"- it was phenomenal and then afterwards they do improv- i was in awe. I don't think i'm cut out for that sort of thing (i'm not quick on my feet or funny enough) but there's so much else around the city. There's a trade paper called PerformInk that lists auditions and stuff. First one that i happen to have a day off of, i'm going and if i get a role, good bye airline stewardess. Its not that i hate my job- i've barely even worked yet (unlike some of my poor roomates who are getting jerked around in every direction) but this is not what i want to do and the more i concider the possibility of getting stuck doing it longterm, the more depressing it sounds. I am not depressed though, i have a renewed spirit. I don't have a plan persay, but it'll come...it always does.

So i feel like i'm in the witness protection program or something. Being on reserve is CRAZY. I finished my trip in Dallas yesterday afternoon and had i known that i would have the next three days off, i would have flew home. But they can't tell you stuff apparently. Everything goes through "crew scheduling" and you have to call them after 5 o'clock everyday to get your assignment for the next day (sometimes they don't have a trip lined up so they just tell you that you're on call from a certain time til a certain time). Well today when i called i got lucky and they said i'm off the next two days. I thought about just hopping on a flight to New York or something (i can do it for like $20) but i don't know where i'd stay and i'm not gonna go by myself. So now i'm just kinda hanging out. Living in hotels isn't so bad, its the living out of a suitcase thing that's weird. I don't feel organized this way, all my stuff is just kinda shoved in a corner. I dunno....stuff.... (sorry, i'm starting to get tired and thinking up a creative ending takes way too much energy.)

Life is a journey not a destination. There's a La Quinta Inn somewhere in Alexandria, La that has that as their slogan on the sign outside. We had stayed there for a speech tournament in high school and i always thought that was kinda cheesy to have on a lodging sign. It totally relates to my job, though. All i do is fly back and forth, where i'm going doesn't matter.
Yesterday i went to Fort Smith, AK. The airport is nice. They have nice highback chairs and plush carpet in their waiting area. The Dallas airport sucks though....its so damned big (Chicago's is bigger but my airline only opperates out of one terminal there so it doesn't seem as bad.) Today i got to go to San Angelo, TX (the airport looks like the one on the sitcom "Wings"--except they have these really awesome flat screen TVs in this tiny little airport.) Tonite my overnight is in Waco, though. Its actually not as bad as it sounds. We're staying at the Hilton and there's a Viking Festival going on right across the street (not like Warren Moon Viking, like Dark Ages Vikings.) They had all these people dressed up in clothes they had made themselves and playing with swords that were replecas of ones they had back then. It was cool- i even got invited to some kind of after party by a cute Polish Viking guy (but a)that just seems sketchy and b)i have to be at the airport at 6 am tomorrow) It would have been interesting to see. This Viking Festival thing is supposedly the first one of its kind in America- so i can say that i was there.....lol, wow. Otherwise Waco boasts a suspension bridge that is supposedly what the Brooklyn Bridge was modeled after (try to supress your oooohs and ahhhhs.)
Anyway....stay tuned for more adventures in flight attending....

And so it begins...
I deadheaded from Chicago to Dallas and Colin Machaie (from Whos Line is it Anyway) was sitting behind me...how cool is that
In Dallas i started working flights (with another FA). Its crazy being an air waitress. At the academy we practiced using the beverage cart a little but in a cabin trainer- that was stationary, its completely different when the damned aircraft is moving. I almost took a couple of people's elbows off. And what is it about being an airline stewardess that makes people think you're a prostitute? I actually got hit on more today than i did when i was delivering pizza (and that's a bad porn waiting to happen)
Anyway from Dallas we did a turn to Lubbock, TX (farm land as far as the eye can see) So now i'm in Corpus Cristi on my overnight. Its really pretty here. I think i like flying at night better too...the lights and stuff are real pretty. Its gonna be weird living out of hotels but it might be kinda fun for a while. Hopefully...

I don't think we're in Natchitoches anymore, Toto...
Finally something to get excited about, though. Downtown Chicago is awesome. I finally got to see something worthwhile here. There is a place called Navy Pier--if you ever get to go, it is awesome. Its right on Lake Michigan and there's a lighthouse and Chicago Shakespeare Theatre is there, a ferris wheel and all kinds off cool stuff plus the view is amazing. Its like a cross between New Orleans' Riverwalk, LA's Santa Monica Pier, and the riverfront area in Newport, KY (except this place is much cooler.) We didn't stay very long though so i really want to go back. After that we went to the Magnificent Mile (its this long strip of like the tallest buildings you've ever seen in your life) and they have shopping centers and stuff- i found the absolute best store in the whole world. Its called ChiaroScuro (it means light dark in Italian) but its like an art decor type place (think pottery barn meets betsy johnson). Chicago pizza rocks and the subway train thing isn't that bad when you can figure out where you're going.
Suddenly i'm humming the Mary Tyler Moore themesong in my head...

Murphy's Laws:
If anything can go wrong, it will
At the most inopportune time
If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong
If anything just cannot go wrong, it will anyway
If you perceive that there are four possible ways in which something can go wrong, and circumvent these, then a fifth way, unprepared for, will promptly develop
Left to themselves, things tend to go from bad to worse
If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something
Nature always sides with the hidden flaw
Mother nature is a bitch.

So, this fabulous plan i had of getting an apartment with two of my classmates from the academy sorta fell through. The guy is going to get his own one bedroom apartment (apparently he had like a lot of money saved up or something), the girl is gonna live in some kind of commune thing, and i am going to get a crashpad. A crashpad means that i am living with a million other people in a tiny little space for the sake of convienence/saving money. I will live at the Quality Inn with seven other women. Rent is dirt cheap but i can't have visitors. Therefore until i get my own place (which hopefully will be in a couple of months) i temporarily renig my previous offer for people to come up and visit me. (sorry!)
Its so freaking cold anyway! I dunno, I'm still confused about EVERYTHING but at least i'm not homeless anymore (even if things kinda suck)

Ok so here i am in the windy city....well it is windy.

Fact: New Orleans is approx 6 feet below sea level
That's kinda like being buried alive.

Chicago seems like the kind of place that if you were in the actual city (instead of on the outskirts like i am), and it was summer (and not 35 degrees like it is now in the middle of April) and you either had a car or else knew how to get around on the train system- which is infinatly more complicated than Disney's monorail (which i don't) then it would be pretty cool.
So far though, i am homeless. My hotel room is good until Thurs morn and then i am sleeping on the streets...ah, c'est la vie.
No, its really o.k. The people from my training class are all kinda looking out for each other and i don't think any of us are going to be really put out or anything.
Anyway that's it for now....stay tuned....