belt broke

Im on the flight to Detroit for my 2008 holiday trip. I will be arriving in detroit at 2pm. I have made it through six hours so far, and it wasn’t too bad. There is always some people that insist on leaving the window shade up even though the light coming in is often blinding, and there isn’t really anything to see anyway. I tried to sleep for a bit, but I couldn’t due to the cries of screaming babes and the blinding light. Plus my seat wont recline more than a couple of degrees. Sucky. At least everything went quickly and easily once I arrived at the airport. Getting there was a bit of a problem. Helmi picked me up a couple of minutes later than planned because of heavy traffic, which was good for me because I am always late anyway. We got about two-thirds of the way to the airport on the autobahn and then helmi’s car started to sputter and almost stall. Luckily there was a rest area in another 500 meters. We stopped and he then checked under the hood and found that the two week old fan belt had disintegrated. We were going nowhere fast. He rattled off a number of a mobile phone information service that I called for the number of a taxi service. Stupid me, I didn’t realize that we were past Langen, and I asked for a taxi from Darmstadt. In the end the taxi picked me up within ten minutes and dropped me at the airport within another ten minutes, and it cost 50 euro. Shit.

I got to the terminal to check my baggage with an hour and twenty minutes till takeoff. I checked in online yesterday and therefore was hoping that the airlines had finally set up a separate baggage drop off for those who have been checked in online. I was just complaining to Helmi before we broke down that they didn’t have such a counter in Ffm. They actually had a counter for the baggage drop off and all I had to do is switch my makeup bag from my carry-on to my suitcase and drop the suitcase on the belt. It was so quick and easy that I was a bit dazed and wondering if I was dreaming. It was reality alright, which was really nice for a change. The line was really long to do the normal check-in and I would have been cutting it very close had I had to wait in that line. I then proceeded to roll a couple of smokes and then went outside to smoke and call helmi to tell him everything was going to be ok.

At Fraport in the past they have had double layered security, which was an incredible pain in the ass, having to remove shoes and belts not once, but twice. In Amsterdam Schiphol they had three checkpoints. That really sucked. But today it was very easy, no security after the customs, and only then once at the gate. I stopped at the swarosky crystal store on the way to the gate to pick up a little something for Allison, since she always puts me up at her place and I feel bad because I usually don’t get her anything to show my appreciation. This time I did. I got her a nice purple crystal butterfly with sparkling stones pendant. I got the cherry earrings and necklace for myself. I couldn’t resist.

I was lucky enough to get on the flight on time and also to sit near a nice young woman. I was a bit worried as I was walking to my seat because there are usually lots of male soldiers flying home and I was hoping not to have to sit with one. Not because they are soldiers, but because I don’t think that many men would be very sympathetic towards me, not as many as women anyway. My legs are starting to feel a bit sore and I think I might get up to go pee in a few minutes. Two hours to go.

I have been on the fence lately about purchasing a new laptop. I am not so happy with the portability of the thinkpad R61i that I bought last year around this time. It is way too heavy and bulky and I actually wanted something that I can throw in my handbag and take with me very easily. I have also been thinking more about having the hair transplants performed in Nuremberg to fix my hairline. I would recoup some of my money if I sell my current thinkpad on ebay or something. But I tend not to bring my laptop anywhere unless I absolutely need it, because it is so unwieldy. I need to wait a couple of days to see how much money I will be getting from work this month before I decide what to do. I am supposed to be getting reimbursed for this flight and also for my tax preparation fees. The flight is taxable as income, but the tax preparation fees are not. I also need to think about possibly moving soon and whether I will have to pay for the transport of my storage from michigan to massachusetts, and also general moving expenses. There are some uncertainties about the next few months. I am concentrating on looking for a job again, and am planning on beginning a more aggressive search after the new year.

I had an interview in Luebeck in the north of germany last week. It went extremely well I felt, and the man that I interviewed with seemed enthusiastic about meeting with me for the next round in Amsterdam. The company designs dredges and the ships that operate them. They have an office in Luebeck and in Amsterdam. The interviewer promised that he would contact me this week to set up another interview, as we had discussed possibly meeting again on the fifth of January in Amsterdam because I will be there anyway. It seems as though it would be an interesting job, depending on what they would have me doing of course. He told me that they have an excess of work and not enough people. So we will see.

In the days before going on the interview I planned on finishing making the wool trench coat that I had started when I was in the hospital for my SRS. I finally finished it on Saturday night just before the tranny meeting in Neu Isenburg. I wore it with a new black satin high waisted pencil skirt that I had made before I went in the hospital. I had a plan for what exactly I wanted to wear to the interview, and it was just a question of producing the pieces. The burgundy red pumps and the black waist belt I had already. I just needed to make the matching pencil skirt and blouse. I started working on the pencil skirt on sunday morning and I finished it on monday in the morning. Then I started immediately on the blouse. The blouse has flounces on either side of the collar and front band, and also a tie collar. I will post a couple of photos taken by helmi of me on the evening after the interview. I finished the blouse in time to get on the train in the afternoon on the day before the interview. I had to only sew the buttons on the sleeve cuffs and the front band, which I was able to complete on the train between Frankfurt and Hamburg.

I was very proud of myself that I was able to achieve my goals for my presentation at the interview. As a result, I felt very confident, relaxed, and powerful. I both felt and looked good. I was expressing myself as I had always dreamed I could. I know it more or less comes down to clothing, but clothing and fashion is a very big part of who I am as a person. I am very visually driven, and for me it is really in the details. I kinda looked like a seventies secretary, but with an up to date and perhaps also a fashion-forward look. I ended up making it back home in time to meet with helmi for a few minutes before I went to the company Christmas party at a restaurant similar to Mongolian barbecue. I felt like a star at the dinner, even though I noticed some strangers clocking me and whispering and really obviously turning to look at me. I stared right at the girl that had to clue in her male friends at the table with her of my presence. I don’t care if people clock me, I am not hiding anything, but please don’t act like a child, and as if I wouldn’t notice such blatancy. Woteva, I know I looked better than she did, and she has been a girl probably all her life.

I am becoming a fiend for pumps. Ever since I have found that I can fit into Clarks shoes in a size 8, I have been buying them all up. I now am the happy owner of five pairs. I have learned a lot about buying and wearing pumps over the past several months. I am actually able to walk easier and more naturally with an 8cm (3.5 inch) heel than with a shorter 5cm (2 inch) heel. It is strange, but I tested it a couple of times and it seems to hold true. Also the pumps seem to fit differently at different times of the month. I assume it has something to do with my hormone cycle and more specifically with the water retention. I am so happy that I have taught myself how to walk naturally in heels. It was a goal that I thought I could never achieve, but after some practice at home in the evenings, I have it down now. I want to get some stilletto heels eventually to wear with the little black dress too. I am becoming super femme, or maybe at least high femme and I like it. I look at it this way, if I am going to be stared at, I may as well give them really something to stare at. I must admit it does somewhat clash with my feminist values.