Joyeux Noël

"Excuse me, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

The man in 32D looked a bit nervous. If this weren't an airplane full of a few hundred people, and he weren't about to have to sit next to me for six-and-a-half hours, I'd think he was about to ask something pervy.

"Yeah?" I tried not to look too suspicious, though of course I was completely suspicious. Why didn't he just ask? What could be so delicate?

"Do you like the middle seat?" I laughed out loud at him now.

"No. No one likes the middle seat." I had the aisle seat and he had the middle.

"Well, some people like to sleep."

"Maybe babies like the middle seat," I informed him. "No one else."

He sheepishly backed off. I felt a little guilty as he was much taller than I am. But I couldn't bear the thought of volunteering to suffer even more. I already had to fly across the Atlantic, sit in Paris airport for six hours, then fly to Bangkok, then connect to Burma. I'm flying on a free frequent flyer ticket and no other routing had been available. Why would I want to increase my suffering? And hadn't I stalked the online seating charts for weeks to get this aisle seat? Where had he been during all that?

I ignored him after that, and then once we were airborne, I pulled out my iPad.

"Can you please turn off your wi-fi on your iPad?" I glared at him now. "It's off."

Seriously. We're on a plane. Not the kind that offers wi-fi. We just took off. I won't see a power source again until Paris. Why the hell would I have my wi-fi on?

Every Girl's Dream

Aunt Peggy gave me finger sporks. A great stocking stuffer!

Sculpture by Sandy Storm

I spotted this over by the J.C. post office today. I guess it was easiest to just leave it and saw away the rest.

Circuit Breaking

I wasn't expecting this at the place I was staying in Barcelona.

It's a nice place, really great. I've stayed there at least four times over the years and never had a problem.

So it scared me when I got back from my day of wandering and the lights wouldn't turn on. And there was a funny smell.

I used my phone as a flashlight and investigated. I followed the smell and stopped dead when I saw what had happened.

Hmm. That's not good.

I thought about fleeing to the nearest available hostel, but packing in the dark seemed impractical. Plus, I'd paid for two nights and didn't really want to pay again elsewhere.

I found the information sheet on the apartment and tried calling the office. But it was Sunday night. I heard the phone ringing upstairs.

I texted the cell number on the form.

Ten or so minutes later, I got a text that explained to me where the circuit breakers were. I flipped two and the lights came back on.

I flipped the other two, got a small explosion, and all the lights went off again.

I waited a minute, then flipped the first two. Maybe I'd just ignore the others.

The guy who'd checked me in showed up then. "Can I see the problem?"

I showed it to him and he was pretty stunned too. We decided the electric radiator had overloaded the circuit. I couldn't remember if I'd left it on or not, but anyway, if it hadn't happened today, it would have happened the next time the weather got cold.

I didn't sleep well that night. I kept waking up, thinking "What if there's a fire?"

There wasn't. And in the morning, I left the keys on the table, pulled the door shut behind me, and rolled my bag down to the metro, to head up to the aerobus stop.

And was off to JFK.

Under Construction

I have been to Barcelona at least a dozen times, including a three-month stay in 2004. But I had never been inside La Sagrada Famillia. Why? It's expensive. Much of the amazing stuff is on the outside. And there are always really long lines.

This time around, I bought a ticket online in advance for 10 AM on a Sunday morning. I didn't have to wait at all.

I went up one of the towers, which was fine, but I think it would be awful during high season. You go single-file down the stairs (or take the elevator), and you go as slow as the slowest dawdler. So this could be aggravating when a lot of people were there.

I was amazed, as most people are when they visit. But also, I couldn't help but wonder why, and who had all this money, and was it worth it?

Churros y xocolata

These are a few of my favorite things.

Caganer Season

Christmas-time is caganer season in Catalonia! You know caganers, the little squatting-shitting figurines that I collect.

They started as shepherds that squat on the edge of Catalonian nativity scenes. I already own Castro, Obama, Prince Charles, and Tintin caganers.

But I've never been to Barcelona during caganer season, so I was pretty excited that I would finally get the chance to go to the holiday market in front of the cathedral. That's where they sell the most, varied caganers.

The original:

And here is an example of--wow--how many they sell at Christmas:

How to choose!!?

I finally picked these four, Dalai Lama, Hillary, Bruce, and Kate.

And here's a closer look. I have to say...the other ones I've purchased have been sculpted better. These look a bit mass produced. But hey, I'm still glad to have them.

Brain Burp

"Merci," I said to the Barcelona passport officer. I need to reset my default foreign language. I'm still stuck on Tahiti and West Africa from last year.

A Quick Stopover

The Sights

Came across some goofy stuff in London. The first is odd and unsettling, the second downright unethical.