That's What Jenni Said

So I got a new haircut today:        

Just when I think I might be moving past some of my family hurts (I grew up in a pretty dysfunctional family) someone manages to let out a little more "truth" that devastates.     Last week on a visit to my parents apartment, my mother acknowledged to my older sister that yes, she knew my brother was abusing me when I was just a helpless 5 year old (having me stand next to the target while he shot at it with a 22 so I could report to him where it went in which lasted until I got hit with a ricocheting bullet once, slamming my fingers in the door, and all sorts of other crazy mean stuff that goes beyond standard big brother jerkyness). When Suzie asked her why she didn't do anything about a boy 10 years senior to her little girl tormenting her and do you know what my mother said? She said she didn't want to cause any trouble that would upset my father and cause him to leave her. (My brother doing the jerkyness was his son from first marriage.) So there you go - a lit...

I'm a bit behind on my photo and blog documentaries of my latest trips, but I did manage to get the Dublin pictures posted finally. You can find them here:     Album 1 of 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111502&id=603259739&l=9a34a921c0     Album 2 of 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111504&id=603259739&l=40558a671e     I'd love to get your comments on them. (The blog post describing the Dublin trip is just below this one here on songsofgratitude.blogspot.com in case you missed it.)     Also, I've added the pictures from the Hotel de Glace (Ice Hotel) taken on the Weekend in Quebec that was documented in the post here on songsofgratitude.blogspot.com titled "January Happenings" (about 5 posts before this one). The Hotel de Glace pictures are here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111490&id=603259739&l=0b8e3fa86c    

I'm caught up for the most part with work projects. This is a good thing. I really need to squeeze more time out of my schedule to pick up some more consulting clients but right now I'm just not motivated. We shall see what summer brings.     Recap for March/early April travels:     Jon and I went to Dublin, Ireland the last weekend in March with a few members of my travel meetup. Overall it was a lovely time, although I did have some personality conflicts with one of the attendees who was a bit subversive. Ireland is so very green and beautiful, even in winter. We spent two days touring Dublin proper and one day in the country seaside town of Howthe. I think we managed to see almost every key point of interest in Dublin sparing the Goal (prison) and Guinness Factory. We did try a pint of Guinness at one of the pubs and the stuff is rubbish. Sort of tastes like bitter water with cigarette droppings inside. Absolutely hideous. We managed to make it to a flyertalk dinner for mi...

The more contact with my siblings I have, the more rumors I hear bandied about and I am sick of it. According to the rumor mill, I've just found out that allegedly Jonathan and I forced my father to liquidate all his assets, including his car, and kept all the profits ourselves to fund our travels and happy lifestyle. Keep in mind I have little to no contact with my siblings so none of their ideas on my parents' circumstances is based on any sort of actual facts but all pieced together in their minds like some conspiracy theory based on bits of information they obtain when talking to Dad on the phone.     First, I really have no understanding why my siblings think our father has or had major assets to be liquidated in the first place. My parents had next to nothing (a little bit of savings) and in fact were at such a low income and asset ratio that they qualified for income sensitive housing here in VA. Second, my father sold his car long before they moved here to VA and it ha...

March has sped by like a hot wheeling testosterone laden teenage boy. Zoom!         The first weekend in March Jonathan accompanied me for our first official mileage run. We have a new hobby! Some people pick up golf, some try their hand at ballroom dancing. We've taken up random travel for the sake of accumulating miles and status with our airline. There is quite a group of people from all over the world who participate in this. Most of them converge on www.flyertalk.com . Here we share cheap fare finds, chat about our upcoming itineraries, plan parties and get-togethers across continents and reach out to strangers who share our love of flying. Jon and I are finding that outside of the core group on Flyertalk most people who find out about mile running think we are all crazy. Jetting all over the place on purpose? For short weekends and same day turnarounds? Our friends and coworkers can't see the fun or sense in it. I'm just glad Jonathan and I found something we both lo...

It would be nice to reach a state of organization whereby I am no longer a month behind on my blog posts. To dream…to dream….     February was dominated by continued recovery from pneumonia, with a dash of fine dining thrown in. I spent the first two weeks of the month slowly regaining my health and strength, grateful that the run to Quebec had not set me back at all. I worked my way back to 4 days a week at the gym for an hour of cardio each session plus strength training. I felt on top of the world again.     I spent the first weekend in February in NYC with friends for our annual Broadway getaway. This year we stayed at the very cozy and posh 76 Park Avenue Hotel. Just our luck many guests at the hotel were in town for the Westminster Dog Show with cute little toy dogs in tow. They were everywhere and adorable! Our chosen play was Mamma Mia and I loved it. The music (all ABBA of course) was fun and at the end of the show the whole audience was up off our seats belting out Dancing Q...