January 20, 2004

I need to relax
It's going to be a very stressful day. I was gone for 3 days and now I have tons of stuff that I need to complete by end of the week. The fact that yesterday was a holiday didn't help either. Of course, one might argue that I could have worked on stuff yesterday even though it was a holiday. Who are you kidding? I tried my very best to do some work but it was haaaaard. My mind is tired. My body is tired. My spirit is tired. I'm tired to the marrow.

So let me try and relax a bit before I jump into this call that is part of the reason why I'm stressed. Let's recap my past few days.

Arizona was awesome. It was hot and dry - perfect for lounging at the pool. And lounge at the pool I did. Left the cold 11 degrees weather in Westchester before 1 PM, and arrived in sunny, warm, 78 degrees weather in Phoenix at about 5 PM. The sunset was beautiful. The drive from Phoenix airport to Scottsdale where I stayed was serene. Behind houses and buildings were sillhouettes of mountains and rocks and cacti - I never thought of the desert so beautiful.

I didn't go out Wednesday night. With book in hand (John Grisham's 'King of Torts') I had a quiet dinner at the bar/restaurant in the hotel and a couple of drinks after that. Met a couple of interesting people (interesting coz they were drunk??? Probably.). When I had enough, I turned in looking forward to a nice, warm day.

Thursday was great. I spent the morning doing some 'catch up' work then headed to the resort where the conference was held where I met my MC crew. We set up our booth which took a good half hour to do. After all the hard work (yeah right), we went for some grub - Mexican this time. Satisfying enough.

After lunch, I went back to my hotel where the lounging at the pool came in. I had a good 4 hours sunbathing while enjoying my book and frozen margarita which I later switched to a mojito. At 5 PM I dragged myself out of the pool area and into my hotel room to get ready for the cocktail reception for the conference attendees. And so began the night of wining and dining (and wining and dining and wining and dining...).

As if there wasn't enough food and drinks at the reception, my group proceeded to have 'dinner' at Ruth's Chris. Apparently a very good steakhouse but since I'm not a big steak fan, I couldn't relate. I started with a lobster bisque and ended with a seared Ahi Tuna and a few drinks in between (sadly, I didn't leave room for dessert!). The SVP of sales is a wine connoisseur so naturally, we had a bottle of Spanish red wine and I'm not even going to pretend that I know the name of it because to be honest, I can't remember. In retrospect, I should have remembered because it was damn good wine. Damn expensive too. But anyway, I had a couple of martinis (Finlandia straight up with olives and a Jazz-tini with lots of stuff in it) as well which made me pretty haaapppppyyyy!!! =).

Friday was all work. The plus side of it was that lunch was right outside. By the pool. Of course I took advantage. Had lunch, mingled and then excused myself. And for 30 minutes, I was basking under the sun again.

We had some free time in the afternoon so this other girl and I went around to see some sites and do a bit of shopping. Didn't buy much but I very much enjoyed looking around. They have citrus trees growing next to cactuses. They are like weeds! The landscaping on people's yards are pretty interesting as well. Instead of grass they have stones. Instead of bushes, they have cactuses. And I loved it.

After looking around the town of Scottsdale, we drove back to our hotels and got ready for dinner. We decided to skip out on the conference dinner and go somewhere else more relaxed. So we had Thai food at this restaurant called 'Thai Thai' ('do you think they serve Thai food?'). It was nothing fancy. Casual compared to Ruth's Chris. But definitely more complicated (more complicated than 'Should I have beef, beef or beef? Ahhh.. I'll have tuna!'). We had tons of food, and sampled a couple of beer items on their menu yet our bill didn't even come half as close to the one at Ruth's! Anyway, we had fun and we were stuffed. And back to our hotels we went.

Oooppsss.. brb - call time!!! Wish me luck!

Ok back - said call wasn't that bad. It actually went great!

Anyway, going back to Arizona... When I got back to the hotel, I grabbed my book and just lounged at the bar. They had some live music going which was perfect for reading. I got a couple of calls from some people I met at the conference, with an invitation to join them to an after-dinner party at this place called 'sugar daddy'. I declined both invitations, kicking myself both times. How often do I get to go out in AZ? How often do I watch CEOs and Presidents and prestigious people make a fool of themselves because they were soooo drunk and soooo not knowing what they were doing/saying? The next day, a few of the people that went to said party told me how much fun they had. Oh welps. Bygones.

Not going to the after-party meant I had a clear mind the next day. I can't say the same for the rest of the attendees. A lot of them were walking like zombies. Tired, hung over, and sleepless. I think that sums up how most of them were. Saturday was a breeze. By 10 AM we were all packed and ready to head out to the airport. Well, I wasn't mentally ready to head back but I didn't have a choice. A lot of us who were attending the conference are from the northeast. So to a lot of us it meant heading back to the cold, cold, coooold weather of the northeast. Secretly I was hoping that I'd get stranded in Phoenix even for just a day. But it didn't happen.

Stepping out of the plane in Hartford brought me back to reality. Actually, it was the cold, rigid air that greeted me as I stepped off the plane that brought me back to reality. But with the cold breeze came the longing to see Tiny. Expecting her to jump on me as I open the door - it has been awhile since I've seen her.

And jump on me she did.

I must have stayed up until 2:30 AM, just playing with her. I was exhausted by the time I hit the sack. Sunday was rather sucky. It snowed all through the night and into the afternoon. There was a wedding at 4:30 PM which is why I left AZ when I did (otherwise I would have stayed a day or two longer). I was cursing the weather because I was still at home at 4:30 PM. I soooo wanted to go so when it seemed like the snow calmed down a bit, I jumped in a suit (skipped the gown - not in that kind of weather!), and drove to Long Island. It took us 3.5 hrs to get there but we got there nonetheless. My friend Jen, the bride, was so happy to see me. And I was happy to see her and the rest of my friends from college. I see these people once a year, maybe, so it was definitely worth the 3.5 hrs drive (to get there and 2.5 to get home).

I'm still contemplating if its worth leaving AZ. But to make myself feel better, we'll say 'Hell yeah it was worth it'.

Ok. I'm a bit more relaxed than when I started writing this entry. I'm ready to face the day. I think.

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