Procrastination... such a waste of time!

Okay.

Here it is.



That "a-little-over-a-week-while-the-studio-is-closed-so-I'm-going-to-get-everything-done-that-I've-been-wishing-for-time-off-to-do" time of year.

Yup.

It's here, alright.

But, before I get into that... I'd like to explain why I think I somehow ended up as THE travel agent who rarely travels.

(Yes. This is a tangent. But I should be able to bring it all together. Well, that is if the phone doesn't ring or I feel an urgent need to check my friends' status on facebook.)



Let's say you have a whole week off. AWESOME! You decide you want to go to London... and maybe even Paris. (This is assuming money, hotels, meals and cars are not to be worried about). Being a corporate travel agent for about 20 years now I know this is sooooo do-able because I send people to London and Paris all the time! And, sometimes all within 3 days!

This is how I see it for me...

The flight from Los Angeles to London is about 11 hours. The flights depart in the late afternoon/early evening and arrive London the following afternoon. So here's how I imagine it (and, keep in mind... this is my profession!).

DAY #1
Spend all day getting ready for the flight; checking 17 times that my passport is in a place where I will remember it; checking the weather; making sure my mom has all my travel info (even tho she lives in Buffalo, NY... 3,000 miles away from where I live. Hey... she's my mom! Besides, who else am I going to tell?); worrying about getting to the airport on time...etc! I start to calm down about an hour into the flight.



DAY #2
Arrive London a little after noon. Have to go through customs, then baggage claim. I'm usually on my own, so there's a bit of that "I'm-really-nervous-about-this-but-need-to-look-like-I-know-what-I'm-doing" inner freaking out going on. Then, jumping into a cab to the hotel. I am exhausted because I have a hard time sleeping on the plane. Get into my room. Immediately turn on the TV (have to check out Sky TV... only because one of my clients would only stay at a hotel that offered Sky TV. I had to call several hotels to see if they offered it and, if so, how many channels they offered. I think I need to experience the hoopla myself!); deal with jet-lag, so the rest o the day is shot.



DAY #3 and #4
I've figured out it takes me (my body and mind) approx 3 days to adjust to a different time zone (this is true with me and NYC as well). These 2 days are kind of wasted because I'm tired, nervous, cranky and usually don't feel the "vibe" of the city until day 5. If I'm with others it's not so bad. By myself, I'm second guessing. Maybe Sky TV is a good idea after all!

DAY #5
This is THE day! I'm all at ease. I feel at one with the city/my surroundings. I'm adventurous and ready to explore everything! I have a wonderful time meeting and connecting with the locals. I've even been invited to dinner and drinks with a small group of people to discuss world events (ok... this really did happen to me in Toronto when I went up, by myself, to a Jane Siberry concert). I'm loving the city and not wanting to ever leave!



DAY #6
You may wonder why I leave on day 6 rather than day 7. The flights depart in the morning and get back to LA in the afternoon. Then there's all the customs/baggage/getting home crap to deal with. Maybe one last breakfast before heading for Heathrow.

DAY #7
This is my "do-laundry-before-going-back-to-work" and "go-to-the-grocery-store" day. The get get back into the swing of things. At this point realizing I never got over to Paris. So, this "one week in Europe" ends up being one day of BEING and 6 days of thinking too much!

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Okay... the above was started on Dec 29, 2008. It is now Jan 1, 2009!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!!!!!!!

But, see... I went on my little tangent, got distracted and... this entry was never finished!
(This is sooo not the blog I was planning on for the first o the year! Oh, well!)

My name is Kat.

I am (amongst other things) a procrastinator.

Currently, three quarters of my kitchen cupboards are lined. I will finish this task today! I also have a pretty good idea of the set up for my kitchen... I want everything to have a "place". I will do laundry; empty more boxes; clean my bathrooms; vacuum and dust; take a walk (as my exercise studio is closed today. Oh... since I'm only walking in the neighborhood, you don't have to worry... Starbucks will be in there at some point!).

Had I just jumped in, tackled the original task, from beginning to end, I would've been DONE with it! Probably even before I finished "plotting" it all out!

JUST DO IT! (oh... that reminds me... I should get new cross trainers soon).

SEE????? I just keep distracting myself! LOL! Maybe this post should be about ADD as opposed to procrastination!

When I write, it's stream of conciseness and may not make a lot of sense. But, getting it down and releasing it to the universe is very freeing.

Sometimes I write well. Sometimes, not so well. And that is OK! :-)

Testing... 1... 2... Testing!

Hello? Is this thing on?

First of all, I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is Kathy. ("Hi Kathy!")

However, I've somehow managed to end up with quite a few nick-names:

• Kat
• Katrina
• Katrinc-a
• Katrinc
• Kasha
• Kashka
• Kaye Ellis
• Lady K
• Shocka la Teapot (which has nick names, too: Shockala; Shocks; and Shocka Kahn!)
• The Muffin Mistress
• Herman (my dad had an interesting sense of humor!).

Normally on-line I go by Shockala, but here... just call me Kat.

I'm just in that kind of mood!

So, I've been wanting to close my MySpace account but wanted to still have a place to blog (if/when needed!) and didn't want to lose my blogs.

Since a few people I know have come on over to Blogger, I thought I'd give it a go!

I don't blog consistently. I'd love to, but y'all know that excuse called "I just don't have enough time"!

That's me.

Well, at least right now. At this moment.

I look forward to getting back into blogging once I'm settled in my new apartment.

It's been a pleasure and I hope to see you again... soon! :-)

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PS - We have a new President Elect this morning!