Today is National Awkward Moments Day. Whew! That is a tough one. I imagine that we have all done things we later regret. In fact, it happened to me last night. My ex came over for a glass of wine. Eventually, the conversation moved to housing values in San Diego County. She has a very nice and large home less than a mile from where I live. I said that in my opinion, a million dollars for the average house in the city of San Diego is unsustainable. She assumed I was telling her that her house will collapse in value. She does not live in the city of San Diego, by the way. Today, I mentioned that the average single family house in the city has 1,500 square feet of space. Her house is quite a bit larger. The houses in the city also tend to be squished together on small lots. In her neighborhood, each house has a quarter or third of an acre for property around the house. I am hopeful this unfortunate event is now over. We will see.
A second awkward moment happened several years ago when I was returning from business in Europe. I changed planes in Boston onto a 757. There were two seats on the left side of the aisle and three on the right side. I had the aisle seat on the right side. My row mates were too rather large people, a couple I believe. My neighbor was using the armrest and part of him overhung it. I twisted to my left and put my right hand on my left upper arm to make myself smaller. A male flight attendant asked if I was okay. I think he thought I might be having a heart attack. I was a bit embarrassed, but assured him I was okay. Needless to say, the six hour flight from Boston to San Diego was quite uncomfortable.
In the current chapter of my life, I feel no need to travel. If you have traveled for business, you know it is not fun. My boss and I once traveled to Paris for a budget review (scheduled for one hour) with the CEO and CFO. When meeting time came (the next morning), the CEO was out sick and the CFO was very late. The review was very top level, and I later wondered why we made that trip. Well, my boss was COO of the company and he flew business or first class. I was in coach most of the time. The only business trips I always enjoyed were to Brazil even though the flights seemed never to end. Life has a different rhythm there. Travel lanes on the street were merely informative, and the beer and food were always present. Someday I must tell you how to make a Caipirinha cocktail. They are truly mind-blowing, and not at all awkward.
I am certain that I have had MANY more awkward experiences, but this has been a good start. Please take a few minutes to check out the blog posts by my fellow Rave Reviews Book Club 30-Day Blogging Challenge competitors. Click the link below for the bullet train to everyone’s posts. I wish you all the best. A bien tot!
Karl I can understand if you never board another plane again, unless it’s first class and even that might have to be thought out carefully.
Thanks for sharing your adventures on life.
Shirley,
Who knows? Right now, I have no desire to fly. Frankly, there isn’t any place I am itching to go. That could change. I have been reading International Living magazine for years. Some places sound great, like Costa Rica, Portugal, and Greece. Moving that far away has its own rewards and pain. Politics change everywhere all the time. Today’s paradise might be tomorrow’s dungeon.
Hi, Karl. What is a Caipirinha cocktail?
Karen,
A Caipirinha is similar to a margarita but with lots of lemons, sugar, mint (sometimes), and Cachasa, which is the Brazilian rum. Alone, it is nasty. The other ingredients help the flavor. I haven’t had one in years, but I dearly loved them when I traveled south. I used to buy Cachasa from the local BevMo location, but I haven’t been there for years. You can find recipes online too. Enjoy!
I always get the seats with extra leg room. It’s well worth the money for me and my long legs. Lol! I prefer road trips, but I’ll travel by plane if I have to. Great post, Karl!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
Yvette, most of my flights were for business, and the flights were generally quite full. Seating was catch as catch can. I rarely got an exit row seat. On my trips to Brazil, I usually went with a man who ran a plant making SCBAs. He was well over six feet tall. I felt bad seeing him wedging himself into his seat. The long flight from Dallas to Sao Paulo was ten hours long.
Hi Karl,
I love drinking a Caipirinha cocktail, but can only have one.
Have a lovely day.
Shalom shalom
Hi, Karl!
You handled your awkward moments with grace. I doubt anyone gets through life without having those times we wish we could forget. I try to get the window seat on flights and my husband likes the aisle. It often leaves the middle seat filled by someone else. I prefer my space and often just sleep or read, but Bill, our extrovert, engages them in conversation. We’ve met some great people on airplanes!
Blessings!
Patty, flying was never a fun event for me. Being where I was going was always great, when you consider places like Hawaii, Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Vienna, and Australia. I have always preferred aisle seats, unless I get an upgrade to business or first class (rarely). Most of the time I have no problem with my row neighbors, but now I have a strong dislike for the 757. Even without those two people, that plane never really felt right, if you know what I mean. As I mentioned, I have no itch to fly again, but we shall see.
Hi Karl–I don’t really like flying, either. My husband is the son of a (now deceased) airline pilot, and he loves airplanes. He flew all over the world for free when he was under 22. He’s seen places where Americans can’t travel anymore, due to the political situations in those countries. He’s been to parts of Africa, all over Europe, Greece, Taiwan, etc. He’s seen it all. My only travel aspirations were to go to Ireland and Scotland. I’ve done that. I want to go once more to those two places before I hit the big 8-0 in four years. I had always wanted to go to Paris (my French speaking is pretty good, although it’s deteriorated a bit from lack of use), but I’ll settle for one more trip each to Ireland and Scotland.
I prefer road trips now. I don’t mind driving long distances. That’s how I preview new music for my radio show. It’s too hard to keep up with all the new stuff that comes in every week otherwise.