So I just got back from Minnesota and it's got me thinking about three things: ibuprofen, being a tall blonde, and embarrassment.
First let me give you a quick run-down of my trip. Left San Diego on Friday around 1:15pm PST, connected in St. Louis to Minnesota and arrived in Minneapolis around 9:40pm CST. Stayed at the Minneapolis City Center Marriott. Assisted with the 2.5 day Admin 101 training class at a health center outside of downtown Minneapolis. Flew back from Minneapolis around 3:15pm CST (connecting in Dallas) and arrived home around 8:40pm PST.
I have a Costco sized bottle of ibuprofen at home and I neglected to pack any of it on my trip, or any of my trips this year for that matter. Fortunately, I didn't need it in New York or Ohio, but on this trip I would have killed for just 20mg, let alone 200. Since I was meeting up with our main trainer Ian, I flew from SD to St Louis and then prepared for the second leg of the flight to Minneapolis. I immediately got a migraine as soon as I got on the second plane. After suffering miserably for what seemed like forever, I asked the flight attendant for some ibuprofen when she came around for the beverage service. They didn't have any on the plane, but the flight attendant walked around asking anyone who was awake and finally got a hit. Lesson learned and I'll be packing extra on my next trip. Thank goodness for generous people.
Something I noticed while I was in Minnesota, is that they don't have a whole lot of tall blondes, well not many where I went anyway. One night at dinner Ian and I were waiting to be seated, and I was looking over a group of people for the hostess. One of the guys in the group walked up to me and said "Are you looking for me?" I just laughed at him and said "Not unless you are the hostess." Also, I guess Ian and I looked more like a casual traveling couple than co-workers on a business trip, the casual traveler is the only part I agree with. One homeless guy on the skyway turned to Ian and said "Man, you're really lucky..." I looked at the homeless guy an immediately knew what he meant by the way he was looking at me, but I didn't feel it necessary to go into details about exactly what Ian and I were, so I just looked away and pretended to blush. I think Ian felt the same way so he just laughed and said, "oh, yeah," as in "Oh! I get it. Yeah, sure, whatever." The homeless guy helped us find the Irish pub we were looking for and ended up being really nice even though he wouldn't not stop telling us about how much he wanted to pee. On the last full day at lunch, I came out of the cafeteria to find a table of men in scrubs staring at me. After a quick inventory to make sure I didn't have any crazy hair or toilet paper stuck to my shoe, I realized they were looking for a different reason. After that, I wondered just how much I could get away with in Minnesota. Thanks goodness for good genes.
Speaking of getting what you want, every once in a while I run across a girl who is used to getting just that. She acts like she is the queen of the territory and rarely hears the word "no." She isn't necessarily a person you should worry about angering, just someone who knows exactly what to say or do in order to get her way. I met one such girl on this trip and it immediately made my face turn red. I think I am used to getting my way and something just out of my reach only makes me want it more. I wonder if people who meet me for the first time get the impression and I feel entitled to EVERYTHING and think I might throw a hissy fit if they tell me no. After thinking about it for a while, I realized that stuff that I do rarely embarrasses me in the moment, only when I see someone else do the same or similar action do I feel disconcerted. Maybe it's because I feel sorry for someone who just doesn't know that they have no rhythm or coordination or common sense or whatever, that I immediately recoil and think "Ohmigosh, am I like THAT?" Sometimes the answer is obvious, but most times I have to rely on asking a close friend for a more (but not completely) unbiased opinion. Thank goodness for honest friends.
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