LaQuinta is spanish for "blog update"

Mutchie cold lampin in the Florida sun

I'm feeling creative and right now I can't wait to go to work because it's fun. Oh god, I just said work is fun? ahem.

I'm working on an illustration of a busty wench for a restaurant in Terra Verde and the caption is "Floggings will continue until morale improves". Funny that it's one of my first jobs...those six words were pretty much my mantra in Youngstown.

It's been hetic here and there but mostly the move went off without any huge dilemmas. Compared to a champion Bass fishing tournament the drive was timely to say the least.

It was the trip down here from Ohio to find a place to live that almost had me convinced I was going to loose (if not dump on the side of I-65) any decision making ablities I thought I may have possessed. I'm not sure if it was the realization that "LaQuinta" pretty much means everything that is associated with staying comfortably in a hotel right down to " FREE WIRELESS INTERNET" or the continuing rental car dilemmas (which made me waste two days here). It was a fight for first.

So I didn't want to spend my cash for a cab back to the hotel from the airport (sans rental car) and jumping on the public bus for $1.50 sounded better than sitting at the airport for another 40 minutes to wait for the Holiday Inn's shuttle that I could then hitch & walk a half block to my hotel. LaQuinta is NOT spanish for SHUTTLE TO AND FROM AIRPORT.

The bus driver told me "yeah, you can get to the the LaQuinta from here" only to realize TWO bus rides later there were actually three busses.
"Ok. Here's your transfer, go over there and wait for bus 42." the woman said as she pointed to a bench across a four lane highway in the part of town with bars attached to the windows of the stores. This is the spot I am to get on bus number three.
I looked at her. I looked at the bench. I took a deep breath.
"ok. when does that bus come?" I asked. "fifty minutes" she replied.
"FIFFFFFTYeeee MINUTES?!" and I got off that bus. Crying. Laptop, purse, important bag in tow and proceeded to crawl under that bench and made a phone call to someone who knows how to deal with me freaking out in an old school way.

You might think that there was no reason to handle things so bad at that time but I haven't even begun to tell of the events leading up to that point. Did I mention to you the trouble you will have if you go to rent a car without a credit card in YOUR name because for some reason YOUR credit card payment had not posted yet?

I had a car. That's the reason I was stuck at the airport. I returned the car I had that was rented for me by an angel. Trying to be considerate I returned the car the next day, I thought my payment would have posted by that time and I could re-rent on my card. It didn't, and I could have kept the car but I checked it in outside in the parking garage. So anyway, when I had the car I went to look at a few places...one was a huge 5 bedroom house in a upper middle class neighborhood. It had a built in pool and big yard. The ad was a college girl looking for more roomates. It was really nice but can you say "party house"? not a good situation.

I found an ad online for another place and from the photos it looked like my dream house. Like a converted garage with high ceilings and windows everywhere. The man that owned the place was very nice and creative himself. I was willing to overlook (no pun intended) the fact that he "took a shower and hot tub" outside. He wasn't even talking about putting up a curtain either. Not even a CLEAR curtain. He just kept emphasizing about the "taking" going on outside. Ok, it was still alright with me, I'm hippywhatever.

The only part that held me back was the whole thing where he would come into to the upstairs area where my bedroom and main living space would be - to get a book. A certain PAPERBACK book off of a huge shelf that he would need at the drop of a dime. A book that when he wanted it, he would go into my living quarters to get. When I asked him about this, he said that he would not want to wait until I got home to retrieve it for him because "sometimes I want things NOW" and furthermore told me that it made him question my integrity. Even though he reconsidered after I informed him that was not an option and being a 34 year old SINGLE woman I have to lookout for myself. I mean WTF? I would have taken the place had he said RIGHT away that my privacy was not a problem. He was nice though, I'm sure he meant no harm.
My phone was ringing like crazy with call backs and I was slubbin this slub with notes written on my hands for god's sake because I've already used all the random places to write things on any piece of paper I had. Good thing the new episode of LOST was on when I got back to the hotel. GOOD thing. I told Summer that it was probably a very good thing we didn't get on The mazing Race because after all this, I might-could SUCK at it.
My motivation was not hindered.
I got a car the next day and that's when I really made some progress. I found this little place I am living in now. I have a little coffee pot that has a timer on it and that makes me happy. So does the sunshine.

Now. where do all those hot Navy boys hang out?