Tuesday, September 09, 2008

holy crap it's been so long blogger even looks different.

warning: i wrote like 75% of this post weeks ago. then i got lazy and forgot all about it. today i decided i might as well publish it and so i dug it out and did this hurried two minute ending. sorry but thanks for being all patient and adoring. sniff. okay here.


i've been a lazy blogger these last couple of weeks partly because i was on vacation and then i was exhausted from all the vacationing. it wasn't your traditional vacation. i had to drive my new car down from la to houston. it took three days. i was by myself. it was fun but tiring. i only got lost twice which is shocking if you know me because i get lost easy. i dropped my uncle and his family at the airport and got on to the highway. i had been told that it would be one straight road the whole way so i was like sure why not, any fool can do this. forty minutes later i found I-10 closed due to road construction. it was way too early to be lost. i had to randomly select from the remaining two open roads and i picked one and kept driving in the hopes that eventually it would meet up with I-10. ten minutes later i was driving to nowhere so i took an exit. i stopped for breakfast at a mcdonalds where no one could speak english. i was handed splenda, sweet and low and ketchup before i finally got the sugar i asked for. then i drove around on the street looking for a hair place. i saw two. both were closed. i was mad because according to their door sign they were supposed to be open at this hour. it was only much later that i realized it was sunday. anyway having woken up at 4 in the morning to drop family at the airport i hadn't had the time to wash my hair so it was all flat and oily. i wanted happy bouncy hair for this trip because damn it i was in la. or at least i was driving through la. what if i bumped into seacrast at a signal? anyway this kind man at the gas station gave me good directions and i was back on i 10. i drove through la and out of california and into arizona which wasnt very pretty. mostly desert. i passed mountains, cacti, the occasional fly. it wasn't very fascinating but it was cool. just me, my music and some 18 cups of coffee.

i stopped in phoenix arizona. some place called baseline. and now this makes no sense but since baseline was a big road in boulder i figured it should be a decent road in arizona and of course i turn the corner and see a hair place that was open. i was stoked. the lady inside looked at me all strange. you just want me to wash your hair? mm hmm. and she did and she blow dried it too and it was all happy and bouncy again. 3 bucks totally well spent. i asked her if there was a starbucks close by and she said yeah in the mall. i had heard enough. i proceeded to find this mall which was just down the street. i ended up spending over an hour at the neiman marcus outlet store. see this was precisely why i had decided to do this drive thing by myself. this freedom to stop wherever for however long i wanted. i drove a couple more hours and stayed the night at a best western motel. it looked decent. plus they had free wireless and breakfast. i called mother and gave her all the information she requested. the physical address and exact location of said motel. what direction my room was facing, the dude at the counter's name. my room number, the hotel telephone number. any bit of information i could give her she would take. the poor lady has watched way too many lifetime movies. she probably didn't sleep very well that first night. i did. i made it just in time for the breakfast buffet. i was not going to miss a free buffet. you know the thing about these free breakfasts is when they say between 6 and 9 they're not kidding. if you show up at 8:55 like i did they've already started clearing stuff up. this lady was like hi honey, let me know if you want anything more from this platter before i clear it up. i was like um how bout you just leave everything here until i'm done. i didn't actually say that. i was like um ill have a muffin. i also ate the eggs and some bread and butter and coffee and some other sweet honey bun or something. then i set off. i stopped only to fill gas and pee. i had been advised not to use the rest area restrooms in arizona. something about giant scorpions.

the second day was not as fun. driving in 105 degree weather isnt much fun even with the a/c on full blast. i drove through new mexico and into texas which psychologically felt like i was getting closer to my destination but really texas is a huge ass place and i was maybe half done. that evening i planned to break around 8:30 but two things happened. one we were into central time zone so just like that i lost two hours. and two i was driving and driving and i could not see civilization. also it was getting super dark. at one point i finally saw a sign that said lodging next exit so i took the exit. right at the corner there was a car parked and a man was standing around looking very lost. he came up to my car and was trying to say something to me. i couldn't hear him because my window was up and i was not going to lower it for him. then the fool tried to open my door. i was like okay this is creepy and sped off. poor man, i'm pretty sure he was just lost. oh well. then i continued driving looking for some type of motel and i passed a cemetery and of course that's always reassuring. i finally saw a couple of lodges but they looked shady. they werent the standardized motels you see everywhere so i turned around and got back on the highway, i had to drive another couple of hours until i came to a city. i was a little freaked out after passing the cemetery so i started to imagine things. at one point i swore i saw something in my rear-view mirror. something, not some one. like a ghost type thing. and then i heard a noise so i was totally freaked out. i quickly reached into my bag for my rosary. the good catholic girl that i am, i always carry one of those around for exactly this type of scenario. anyway the noise turned out to be the a/c blowing on my bag of chips. and the ghost type thing we'll never know. eventually i reached a normal looking town. i called mother and went straight to bed. it was way past ten by the time i checked out the next morning.

day three wasn't as terrible as day two mostly because i was determined it would be my last day of driving. it was pretty uneventful. i stopped every couple of hours. got coffee, washed my face, did some local sight seeing by which i mean i went searching for this nail place that was lovely and all but sadly couldn't accommodate me for another 5 hours. apparently this lady was the only manicurist in the entire town. she told me to come back at 6 o'clock that evening. i was like um ill be in san antonio by 6 o'clock. anyway i got to drink some really good coffee at this one small restaurant. the lady even warmed up milk for me. then i drove some more wishing i owned more music. i had already listened to everything i owned. just when i was about to doze off i realized there were signs instructing all traffic to exit the highway. it was border patrol. they were stopping people and checking stuff. just like in the movies. mostly cars were driving by real slow. when it came to my turn the guy instructed me to stop. he stared at the insides of my car. to be fair it looked like i was running away from my country. i had suitcases and towels and food thrown around the back seat. that and apparently i appear hispanic. the guy was like where are you going and where are you coming from and are you a citizen of the united states. i was giggling at this point and he looked confused. eventually he let me go when he realized i was indian and not hispanic. he was like oh india. well okay then, drive safe. so i drove some more and then i saw this beautiful sunset and then i was home. to my bed and my couch and my shoes.

p.s. i am officially taking randeep hooda off my to do list. for one something tragic has happened to his face. he doesn't look like my rahul idiot from monsoon wedding anymore. also i saw this interview with him on mtv with anoushka and that girl from 'rock on' who i adore by the way and the whole time he was just being so incredibly annoying and interruptive and unfunny. he wouldn't let anyone else talk.

p.p.s. in other news i'm so over these damn hurricanes. the next one headed to houston is called ike. what kind of name is that? i refuse to be afraid of something named ike. now gustav i get. i was terrified of gustav. that and cnn kept saying how it could be the worst thing in the history of the universe. if there really were an order to evacuate i don't know how i'd pack. i couldn't not take all my stuff. i love all my stuff equally. okay some more than others but i dont have the time to seperate them into order of importance. sure i could probably fit most of my personal items in my car but then i'd have to leave my family behind. i feel bad for the people with the kids and the pets. oh well.

p.p.p.s. apparently interruptive isn't a real word. i think it sounds just fine.

24 comments:

shub said...

Whoa! And she's back. I'd given up, almost. Belated budday wishes. How was it?

Unknown said...

I was gonna ask for disco.

glad you're back. LOL @ giving your mom all details about motel. my parents want all my flight itineraries when I travel. seriously!

3 bucks for hairwash and blow dry is a steal! This road trip sounds totally liberating. good you got a significant amount of sight-seeing done also. :p

welcome back!

Anonymous said...

welcome back, pri!
driving alone from la to houseton, woah! so independent en al. That's something new about you. keep it up!

Narendra shenoy said...

My mom's like that too. And I'm 43 years old, male, terrible looking and completely lacking in any kind of initiative unless you count the time I stole a packet of cigarettes from our Maths professor. But she still insists on me filing regular reports, terrified that
1. I might be captured by women who would then force themselves on me
2. Drug addict might capture me and force me to do dope

The missus is very realistic. "If women capture him and force themselves on him, it will be easy to tell"
Mom "How?"
Missus "He won't be able to stop grinning"

Anonymous said...

You're baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

Thank goodness. Everybody was getting all serious and boring. Including me. See how much we need you?

But you deserved break - all that genius is not easy to sustain. We understand. No more breaks for another year, though, ok? Yes.

She's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.

The Bride said...

OMG how could you keep this post from us for that long... Hilarious. And totally disruptive at work but mini-breaks are fine.

Ten points to you and JK tyres for getting your mom to let you do this on your own.

J. Alfred Prufrock said...

Comparing your road post to Dilip D'Souza's. You lost out only because of the hair wash - no emotive connect for me, no?

You should so have vamped the border patrol instead of giggling. Think of the posts you could have got out of it!

J.A.P.

Dee said...

YAY!! pri is back with her amazing escapades and adventures... :)

KC said...

Hey Pri! How was ur b'day?
Hope you had a good one!!

Nice to see you back after the blog hiatus :-)

Anonymous said...

please to be never going away for so long again. ever.

Zeppelin said...

dude... one word.. GPS. you can get the tiny garmin nuvi 200 for less than $150.

not that its a big deal, but getting lost will be more fun then... :D

The Bride said...

And for updating, you get a Brilliant Weblog award from moi.

Mosilager said...

Ike is defnitely more of a teddy bear-ish name. Gustav sounds vampiric (if that's not a word then it should be).

Anonymous said...

Ah! you are back!

You were missed!

You had me worried!

Next time helbittu hogi pliss.

The Nebulous One said...

Hey Pri,

What with all the restrictions in Bangalore now, i do more bloghopping than i do pubhopping, and that's how i came across your blog. I've been glued to it for close to a month now, and am as glad to read that you are back, as the people who know you. :)

Anonymous said...

only $3? damn! I paid a $/minute for blowdrying this one time in west LA.

Evacuated? Harris county was being evacuated was the last i heard.

. said...

Theorem: Pri is white.

Proof:
1. Barack Obama
2. Coffee
3. David Sedaris
4. Jon Stewart/ Keith Olbermann/right wing bashing comedian.
5. Roadtrips
....

Stuff white people like.

QED

frissko said...

ha...belcome back...and such trips will seem even more interesting on hind sight (the hinder the better)..

bout mom behaviours, when i told my mom i'd be goin to Munnar or Ooty and would be back in 2 or 5 days, she said 'Ok'. when i told her i'd be going to Kashmir or Ladakh, and would be back in a week or 15 days, she said 'Ok'. she's either way too cool, or couldn't care less :)...

manu said...

he was like oh india. well okay then

dude! that so totally happens to me as well! i have no idea what we indians have done, or not done, to be considered as such can-do-no-bad people.. not complaining though.

nice erm post... yet to read rest of blog

Priyanka said...

she's back!!!
that trip sounds so damn cool and free-spirited, that am almost tempted now!!!
great to have you back.. hope you recover pretty soon from the vacationing ;)

La vida Loca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Meeeowwww.. said...

I have a tag waiting for you, please do it if you dont mind doing some real ramdom tags. :)

Anonymous said...

IKE was the nickname of a former american president Dwight D. Eisenhower, We dont know if the hurrikane was named after him.

OMG imagine a Hurricane Laloo or a Devegowda cyclone hitting india.
woohoo.

umm said...

thank you! that you are back!!