Calendar

Not that I am counting down the days until vacation... but I am definitely counting down the days until vacation. (Work days: four.)

The Price is Right

In the Before Times -- all the way back at the end of February -- I went to Los Angeles for a wedding. It's a long flight from Atlanta, so I stayed a couple days. And one of the things I did while I was there was go to a taping of The Price is Right.

It's a ridiculous experience -- the whole thing took four hours? Six hours? -- but it was so neat to see everything up close, to hear the background banter, to see them pause everything after a light bulb exploded. (A light bulb exploded! You wouldn't know that from TV.)

The episode aired today, and I got to watch myself high five someone in my row who got called down, and scream and cheer (and also look insufficiently enthusiastic when I didn't know the camera was there). I wasn't a contestant, but I was there, and it was such a thrilling thing to see myself enjoying it.

That same day, I went to a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live. That aired immediately and I could only see myself if I knew I was there. On The Price is Right, if you know me, you can definitely see me. It was a cool vestige of Then. My last one, probably, though maybe something else will float down. In any event -- it was great to see.

It's a game!

It's so nice to see old friends, and I was so glad to get some quality time with one friend over the weekend. It's been too many years (years!) since we've seen each other. And while time alone is enough to make me smile, this made me grin even bigger:

That's right. It's a Kinder Egg board game. I'm thrilled that it exists, and that I know people well enough that they will see weird things and thing of me and save them for a year until they can hand them to me in person.

(For the record: The word game is a bit of an exaggeration, but it was still super.)

Because it's time

I've been meaning to write something for a while, but work and life and general bumminess have meant that instead, I haven't taken the time to pull out the marvelous and share it with you.

But it's the last day of January. And I got an email from a friend -- one who means a lot to me, and one whom I always mean to talk to more than I do -- imploring me to update more often. She's right.

I still don't have a lot of time or energy tonight (so that e-mail I've owed for several months -- and the newest one -- will be yet delayed).

But I can share this, from a trip I took earlier this month to a land of snow. It was a friend's first snowman and (hopefully to the delight of the aforementioned friend who wants me to update more often), his name is Nigel.

Enjoy him. We did.

In Mother Russia.....

Flight to Moscow, Russia, from JFK: $373 (inc. all taxes/fees!!). (That price alone is enough to warrant its own blog entry.)
Tourist visa: $100(??).
Hostel for 6 nights: $100.
Impulsively booking a spring break/birthday vacation to a country you've always wanted to visit: priceless.