On fire, reading

2004-06-18 - 10:39 p.m.

I'm in Houston now, on the third floor of my brother's house on the pull out bed. I brought my computer and it's hooked up to his wireless network. He has something set up so that I can play music from my computer on whole-house speakers. It's really awesome. But anyway, I also remembered to bring my camera and the cable that connects it to my computer, so just to prove it, I took a picture. Are you excited? Here it is, the view from right here where I'm sitting. Hello there, toes.

Our flight today didn't leave Sacramento until noon. It was rather like torture, having to wait so long to leave the house. We were all ready to go way early. My brother bought the tickets for us to come out to visit him and when he did it, he used his frequent flyer account or something to get some frequent flyer miles. I don't really know how all that works, but my brother lives in Houston and works in Minneapolis so he's very familiar with airports and airlines and all that. Anyway, because he bought our tickets using his stuff, one of our tickets ended up being upgraded to first class. I really thought one of my parents should go, but they insisted that I go. So I flew to Houston first class. I've never flown first class before. Woah, it was a whole nother world than normal flying. For starters, after a three-plus hour flight, my butt didn't hurt. My butt usually starts to hurt after an hour on a plane or in a car or in a movie theater. I apparently have a really pansy butt. I also had plenty of leg room. I could stretch out my legs or cross my legs or do basically whatever I wanted without disturbing a soul. Before serving the meal they came around with hot towels. I didn't know they actually did that in America. The only time I've had that done before was on my flights to and from Japan. Then when the snack came, it was mixed nuts in a warm ceramic bowl and none of the nuts were peanuts. There were cashews, pistachios, almonds and walnuts. I've recently developed a fondness for nuts, especially cashews. Next came lunch. I had a reuben sandwich and bowl of lobster bisque. With a cloth napkin. And as much wine as I wanted (which, of course, wasn't much). Later they came around with warm chocolate chip cookies and glasses of milk. I felt really guilty afterwards when my parents were complaining about how dried up the bun was on their chicken patty sandwich they had back in the regular seating.

During the flight I finished reading Richard Bach's book called "Illusions: the Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah." I loved this book. When I got to the end, the first thing I did was to flip to the beginning and start reading it again. I didn't go all the way through it a second time, but I think I will soon. It's a short book. I think after I reread it, I'll send it to Tigger. Tigger doesn't actually like to read, but this really is a small book and think she might enjoy it. I like this quote from the book about love, I think you might've heard it before, I know I had but I never knew where it came from:

The bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in each other's life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.

Anyway, after arriving in Houston, my brother and sister-in-law took us out to a restaurant called Ruggles, which is most famous for its desserts. Obviously I don't actually need desserts, but I had one anyway. And since everyone else was eating dinner, I had a cup of soup, too, even though I actually wasn't hungry. The soup was really good and the dessert was awesome. So I didn't do too well in the "behaving myself" department today. My sister-in-law, though, looks great. As long as I've known her she's been quite a bit overweight. When I saw her today I was immediately struck by how much weight she had lost since I saw her last. Last time I saw her was in Hawaii where she told me she had lost around 20 pounds since I had seen her at Christmas, but I honestly couldn't really tell to look at her. Today she told me that now she has lost 30 pounds since Christmas. And now it shows. It's kind of depressing though since I had lost 28 pounds at Hawaii and since then I've gained 9 back.

This evening I discussed Seattle stuff with my brother and sister-in-law. A week or two ago they were up there for a radiology conference where my sister-in-law was presenting a poster. While they were there they scoped out some apartments for me and some stuff for them too. My sister-in-law found some land that's for sale on the shore of Lake Samamish. It's 12 acres and she thinks we should buy it and then build three houses on it and they would get one house, my parents would get one house, and I would get one and we could all live together, more or less. Of course at the moment we can't afford the $900,000 price tag of the land, let alone the cost of building houses. But I guess it's fun to dream. Also the apartments they scoped out for me were pretty upscale. The one they liked the best for me costs $900 a month for a 500-square-foot studio. I just don't think I want to spend that kind of money. Plus they recommended that I not get a studio but get a 1-bedroom apartment instead. That would up the price to $1200 a month. They also totally bashed Tacoma. They straight up said "Don't live there, Tacoma's the armpit." So, uh, most likely Tacoma's out. But who knows? Anyway, they got me a whole apartment guide and a really nice map to Seattle so now I can do some more looking.