Who Else But ME?

Who else, I ask you, could attend a farewell party where there were Secret Service agents to be found (who for obvious reasons shouldn't be found)?

Yes, yours truly!

Z and I went to a farewell dinner party at this GORGEOUS restaurant/contemporary art gallery set in a huge old... traditionally styled estate property in the heart of the city with huge courtyards. It was just like something out of an old movie like Ali Baba and the 40 thieves or Aladdin or something. Absolutely gorgeous. In the middle of one of them was one of the largest single centerpiece fountains I've ever seen. I could have stayed at this place forever. I could not help but wonder where the 'harem' or ladies quarters used to be!

But, as usual, I digress.

So, Z and I walk in, greet our darling hosts, and they direct us to the bar. Yaaay. (Pay attention Wenchie!) I sashay up to the bar, I notice everyone else is having wine, but I'm just not in the mood for wine... and then I spy rum! La la... I order some grog... erm, I mean a rum drink, and then I scan around to see if there is anyone I know.

Well, there isn't anyone, but I noticed a guy off in the corner near a window overlooking the other room where the guests are.... so he smiles at me,I smile in greeting (I always get a little nervous initially when I dont know anyone at a party.. then I make the rounds) and he smiles back, then gets a "Oh shit!" look on his face and ducks his head down.....

and that's when I realize I was making nice and friendly to the Secret Service agent assigned to watch over the Admiral of the 5th Fleet who was in attendance and who probably wasn't supposed to be making friendly with the other guests, I presume. I turned back to face Z and muttered "Shit, shit, secret service, shit!" to which he replied "huh??". I whispered very quietly making motions behind me with my eyes to indicate the guy at my back.

But I couldn't help thinking to myself... I'm at a party and there's Secret Service agents! Cool!

Ok, the party was crawling with Americans and boy was I loving it! I went around introducing myself, rum in hand, and, as it was 'open seating', picked a table with Z in tow, made friendly with the other people at the table, Z realized the lovely lady from South Carolina was a former client of his, and we had a nice time.

Dinner was served, made more acquaintences in the buffet line, mostly Navy personnell, and later, after a few more rum drinks when dessert was served and I had just placed a particulary luscious sliver of dark chocolate cake on my plate was I yanked over by an acquaintance of Z's ,Cleo, a lady from the US Base, to meet the Admiral. Literally dragged by the arm (she is a lovely funny lady and the Admirals secretary) by this petite 4' 11 lady with a 6'5 personality.

And honeys? He is the youngest Admiral I've ever seen. Early 40's would be my guess and such a lovely, funny gentleman. So, somehow, cake abandoned, the Admiral of the Largest fleet in the US Navy and I had a lovely chat with Cleo about oh so many things for a good 45 minutes. And all the time, I could feel the eyes of the S. S. boring into my back. Well, with him and the head of PR for the base, who, ladies? Was freaking GORGEOUS.

I mean, that was a yummy piece of man. Did I get a good pre-Independence Day gift of what? Maybe I didn't get fireworks, but I got SAILORS and senior officers with impeccable manners! If there is one thing I really love, it's great conversation. It was a nice bit of home, and it never fails to make me homesick. I was in my element and extremely comfortable. I come from a family of military men. My father and brother were both in the Navy. As was one of my maternal uncles, who was, at the time, the youngest EVER Lt. Cmdr in the US Navy. Others in my family were in the Air Force or Army. Dad tried to get me to join the Navy in fact. (If that isn't hilarious, I don't know what is! Me? In the navy? Uh, no.)

Before I knew it, the party wound down, and people began saying their goodbyes. The Admiral was bundled out from some alternate secret exit just like in the movies by his 'keepers'.

All in all, a very lovely evening that I hated to see end.

Two Questions

Hi everyone!

Monster in Law is gone. Whooooooooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooo!!!I have a question or two for you....

1) WHERE'S MY DRINK?? I thought it was a party!

2) Has anyone got any more questions for me this week?

3) I saw the movie Monster In Law last night. Anyone curious as to my reaction? (ok, so asked 3. It IS MY blog, after all!)

Bre?? Pirate Wench? Cheryl?

Man I hate drinking alone!

Oh wait a tic! I'm not alone! Garfield, say hello to the nice people! Good BOY!

I Just Wanted To Say

Daddy, I TOLD YOU SO! (how many times in my life have I ever been able to say that?)

Further proof that my reasoning as a child under the age of 8 was flawless and frighteningly accurate found on CNN.com today:

There were 12 shark attacks on Florida beaches in 2004, down sharply from 30 in 2003. Experts credit the busy hurricane season in 2004 for the lower numbers.

Hah! "Sharks don't come this close to shore", my ass!

You know that you’re tired when…

As you may have probably guessed….I overslept this morning. Then, thanks to the Ministry of Works (whom I assume are responsible for the morass that are the Kingdom’s crap infrastructure) and the Ministry of Transportation (read: police) I was even later to work, along with half the country who encountered more than one closed or heavily under construction (read: torn up less than single lane-yes, it’s possible) road on a main artery into town from the ‘suburbs’. For those that would say it’s just ‘Growing Pains’ of a country that is ever increasing and growing, I say bullshit and it shows a complete lack of forethought.

But that is neither here, nor there… much like me in the car this morning! Back to the oversleeping part.

Because, well, advances in technology continue to amaze me. At the rate we’re going, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are robots and civilization much like in the movie I Robot within my lifetime.

Why, you may ask?

Because this morning I hit the snooze button on my mobile phone (cell) so many times that finally, I got a note pop up on the screen that said: “CHECK ALARM TIME”.

Heh. That’s funny. Wise-ass Nokia. I, even in my comatose-like sleep was amused by that message.

But you know what is even funnier?

I shut the damn thing OFF after that. I was having such a good, deep sleep… and SUCH wonderful dreams – no, I’m NOT gonna tell you!- that I just didn’t want to get out of bed.

Guess what woke me up, finally?

My husband? Nope.

Arianna? Nope.

Siony pounding on my door? Nuh-uh.

It was Angel. ONE of my cats. (Homeland Security, remember?) The one that usually wakes me up if Garfield doesn’t. But I guess she was as frustrated as the damn phone alarm was… she tried nudging my shoulder with her head. I pushed her away sleepily. She nudged my cheek with hers, (and she has the longest, thickest whiskers I’ve ever seen on any cat ever so you can imagine the tickling sensation!) She then tried meooowing loudly in my face as I vaguely recall. NOPE. Nada.

Next thing I know, she is standing with her front paws on my cheek, claws carefully in (I was sleeping curled up on my side), and pushing down with all her strength.

She is a goddamn huge animal, people! She is a supermodel of cats, big, long legged and strong and beautiful.

Did you catch that ‘strong’ part?

Needless to say, I’m awake now. She bitched at me, following me around the house as I got ready in a constant stream of chatter until I walked out the door.

Great. One of my damn cats is lecturing me. How do I know she was lecturing me? Because of the looks of pity on the faces of the other cats that could understand her, sitting there looking from her to me, that’s why!

Sheesh! Hope you guys had a better start to your day than I did!