ADD and DVD battles

(To warn you, I have no idea how to get the ridiculous underlining to go away... there is no underline button even availabe, but it seems Blogger has a life of its own. Kind of like my hair in the mornings.)

Okay so first of all, I have blog ADD where I have about fifteen things to tell you about and yet somehow only manage to explain half of each thing. It would be better to just pick six things, and actually explain them.

I ranted about how much I love patatas bravas in my last post, without actually explaining to you what they are. COOL Michelle. So here you go:

patatas bravas fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce fried potatoes with spicy tomato sauce

that is the "official" definition according to my best friend spanishdict.com (try saying that outloud and imagine the strange looks I get when telling people I like that site.) If you want my definition, here you go: they are these chopped up potatoes that are really lightly fried and then depending on where you go you get a variation of this semi-spicey tomato ish sauce and sometimes they add mayo which is weird but good, but it isn't at all like ketchup. The patatas bravas I was raving about were homemade... some places like La Rana Verde have this standard pre-made but still delicious sauce, but really you shouldn't even compare them because the homeade sauce is completely different and better.

I was super motivated on the plane, and bored, so I wrote you a nice little message, so here it is.

Running has never been my strong suit, but I am proud to announce that I successfully ran my way through the mMilan airport and made it to my flight on time, with approximately two minutes to spare. My flight form Madrid to Milan was an hour late, thus pitching me into a fit of freaking out and calling my mom at one am her time to figure out what to if I missed my flight to Sweden. Not to sound like a baby but after my night in the Milan airport in October, I really had no intention of waiting for the next flight to Sweden tomorrow evening. About fifteen minutes before landing, when the pilot announced that if we hurried we might make our flight, I pretty much decided that I would bawl or beg my way onto that plane. Due to my obviously fantastic running abilities, I didn’t have to cry. However, once I boarded the plane I kind of wanted too. In nearly every seat, aside from the ones with wrinkley old men, sat Heidi Klum’s more attractive twins. The problem with Sweden is that everyone looks like they stepped out of a beauty product ad, all the time. Even the boys are beautiful, in this “we are clean and blonde and blue eyed and look perfect” kind of way. And then there was me, panting from my run, wearing my clothes from when I got on the bus last night, and completely sleep deprived due to spending the past 16 hours in random stages of moving between buses, terminals, gates, etc. Let’s just say that it is enough to make any one of the Victoria’s Secret models want to go re-check her hair and makeup.

I felt like a genius yesterday, having found a free dvd compatable thingy (obvious work of a genius since I totally know what it was that I downloaded…) and got the DVD laptop player to work with my Dell mini. The only problem is that now I am on the plane and it has decided that, ohhh ps. It doesn’t really work. Neat. So now I am trying to decide if I should read Harry Potter (yes, I realize it would be the third time since getting here.) or if I should try to nap again. Napping sounds kind of good, except for the guy sitting next to me who is a tad bit on the strange side; maybe this is just me, but I don’t find wearing tight, tight leather gloves to be necessary at all times. Perhaps if I was going to ride a motorcycle or impersonate someone like Michael Jackson, but for daily enjoyment, not so much. I just found some random de-coder thingy (and THEY JUST WALKED BY WITH THE FOOD CART. I am sorry but I maybe in love with Lufthansa. I can honestly say that my food on their flights has been better than any food I had in Italy. On the flight to Italy a few summers ago, I had the best pasta and chicken that I had the entire trip. And no my last hour and a half flight they just gave me a Panini with cheese and turkey, and I almost kissed the woman out of happiness. When’s the last time an airline didn’t charge you eight bucks for a snack pack of four crackers and cheddar? I think that the eating part of flights is possibly my favorite, and am probably going to try to fly Lufthansa whenever I have the option. Not only do they feed you like you are eating for two and nine months in, but they give you constant Toblerone and wine… not suggesting that nine month pregnant women need to be drinking excessively. What more could I ever need? I could probably be perfectly happy just flying around on Lufthansa and never actually getting out to look at the places I flew too if it meant so much good food.)

Right now we are flying over what I think are the Alps. Judging by the freezing appearance and massive mountains with absolutely no sign of life, I think I am right. I also think my geography skills might be just good enough to remember that when I was going to Milan we wanted to go up to Switzerland into the Alps, which would mean I am right. I always try to take pictures out of the plane windows to show my mom, but there’s something totally different about actually being thousands of feet above mountains that you know are huge but look small. I want to drop a small bomb out of the plane (OUT OF IT, not on it) and see how many avalanches I could set off when it landed. I kind of doubt that anyone would give me the opportunity to do that, but perhaps I will suggest it to Al-Queda as a birthday present to me. Since we are so friendly and everything.

After opening that de-coder thingy, my Windows Media player won’t work. I probably jinxed it by telling my mom I was smarter than my computer. It is a very moody little thing. We aren’t really on the best of terms. I have a love-hate relationship with it: I love how precious and little it is and how it is almost as cute as a puppy, but hate it because regardless of how much I love it, it refuses to cooperate, also like a puppy. Speaking of which, I keep having dreams that I get a dog, or that I am babysitting Roo, and I lose them. I’ve dreamt this in various variations for about six airplane naps and two nights in a row. The sad thing is that it is probably a true prediction of how I would do owning a dog. In one dream I lost it in the elevator of a hotel when I went to buy it McDonalds because I forgot dog food. So I will have to hope that Lizzy gets a dog so that next year I can live with her/her puppy but not have to feel bad if we lose it. Unless I lose it, which would be worse.

I seriously want to punch the Mini right now. So I am going to fight with it and will update you on how fantastic my food is in a bit. Oh and also, I just wish that Mac and Dell would have a baby. And it would be a Mac but would have the Dell programs. Not the stupid Mac versions, but a Mac with exactly Vista and everything, minus how bad Dells suck.

On today’s menu: Salmon with veggies and rice or potatoe dumplings with cheese and mushroom sauce, served with an apple cheese cake and bread, along with two beverages. Oh, and don’t forget the chocolate cone of hazelnut goodness for an extra dessert. And also, hand glove guy and I just had a conversation about how horrible the education financial aid system is and about how ridiculous it is that airports freak out when it snows. If only he was a few years younger and didn’t have a leather obsession, he could have had potential as my future Swedish husband.

At the moment I am flying over what appears to be a large blob of clouds, but according to the pilot is somewhere near Berlin. I’m not sure where that puts me in relation to Sweden, I exhausted my geography abilities telling you about the Alps. And, of course, the DVD player is malfunctioning. At least my four am to six am stretch of airport sitting was aided by the functioning that occurred for those two hours before the DVD player decided to commit suicide again. What a surprise.

I realized the two things I forgot: my tooth brush, as always, and the scarves that we got Linnea and Lena for Christmas. I was halfway to Madrid on the bus last night when I realized that I forgot those presents… I had sat in my room staring at my closet for hours trying to figure out what it was I was forgetting, and even brushed my teeth right before getting on the bus yet somehow managed to forget my toothbrush. I also went through all the presents doing a mental inventory yet never remembered the scarves sitting my other suit case. Turns out the mass of clouds is actually the ocean, goes to show how bad I am at listening. When the flight attendant asked if I wanted potatoe dumpings or salmon I told her I wanted chicken dumplings please… to which she said “You mean potato right? I want to make sure you know what you want.” She either thought I was challenged, or that I was under the impression that she is a short order chef (like my mom.)

HA I got it to play again! I am watching the five hour version of Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy might possibly be my favorite fictional character ever, both in P&P and in Bridget Jones’ Diary. (glove guy has the gloves back on… perhaps he has bad circulation in his hands.) So anyway, now I am off to fantasize that glove guy will be Mark Darcy when I wake up from the nap I told him I was going to take (following our random discussion about the education in America and that I find it pathetic that students who are failing classes and do poorly in school get aid because of their parent's financial issues, but I don't get anything regardless of being a good student... basically ended up with me informing him education was a privilege for people who care and not a right for stupid students. Am sure that he is fairly terrified of strangers now, and will no longer talk to girls on planes, and might even start wearing a full body leather suit so he doesn't catch my diseases like being opinionated and loud.)

Let's just hope he isn't observant enough to realize that my DVD player is now working and that I am not napping, but drooling over Darcy. Then again, he might drool too, who wouldn't?