Road Warrior Princess

Stomach Stalker

I am being cyberstalked.

Not really by a person per se, but part of a person - it's awful.  Every time I log on to Facebook, there she is!  Taunting me, ridiculing me.  Looking at me.  Well, not really.  She really can't look at me because I am not sure that she has eyes.  You see, I'm being stalked by a stomach.

Sure, the shoes at iLike and the FreeCreditReport.com guy are also lurking there in the shadows, but they are not NEARLY as agressive as this stomach - well, THESE stomachs, because I think there is more than one.   

The good, the bad, and the ugly about technology comes down to targeted marketing.  Companies can put the right information in front of the consumer, based on their true interests, on perceived interests (passive, based on behavior the user exhibits), and even based on expected interests (those that you should have, based on details about you).  This last bit is why I think I'm being haunted.

I am female, and twenty-something.  CLEARLY I could stand to lose a few pounds.  Or...at least I should think I could.  As much as I want to look that stomach in the eye (*ahem* navel??) and tell it that my stomach is flat enough, thank you...I am starting to believe the stomach.   

The hardest thing about traveling is keeping in shape.  Gyms are often sub-par, it is nearly impossible to eat healthfully, and booze is everywhere.  Then, this darn stomach, appears, taunting me, telling me to forego that cheeseburger.  Curses!!

However, the point is that this targeted marketing is working - even on someone who should know better (since I peddle this stuff, natch).  But the strategy isn't perfect.  You see, I may be the target demographic for self-loathing and feelings of physical inferiority, but one glance at my group membership will tell you that I'm an active athlete.  So, although that stomach haunts me, I'm still not going to buy what it's selling!  It makes me feel a little more inadequate, but I'm the girl who will push herself harder in the gym (since I'll be there in the morning anyway). 

Bottom line: I hope they don't pay by the view, because the advertiser didn't filter the results carefully enough.  I am going to continue to defy that stomach (but not until after my workout). 

Survival of the...

I spend a lot of time alone at bars.  It's a job hazard.  No, I'm not a "lady of the night"...I just find myself traveling alone quite a bit, and I look like less of a loser (albeit more of a drunk) if I sit at the bar to grab a bite or to self-medicate.

However, I am currently not traveling, and yet found myself at the bar alone yet again last night.  Of course, I was waiting on friends who were running late, but I found myself feeling uncomfortable in my solitude for the first time since that incident at the Buffalo Wild Wings in South Dakota (Waitress: "Waiting on someone?" Me: "Nope, just here to watch the game."  Waitress: "Awwww...are you single?  Poor thing.").  People were looking at me.

I suppose I am the perfect prey for predatorial people (hey...alliteration!) at the bar.  People who see me there, alone, probably are just staring to figure out why I am there, alone.  ("What's that girl doing there alone?  Doesn't she have ANY friends?!?")  I realized this morning that I've inherited a set of survival skills from the 'rents that have equipped me for dealing with those people, and with life on the road.

From my father, I inherited my love of and patience during travel (even when it sucks), and the sense to detect predators in the area even before they approach.  From my mother, I received my sense of humor, and the innate ability to ruin any polite conversation with the sharp knife of sarcasm.  However, I also blame those people for my blonde hair and big lips - two of the reasons I have to continue to hone these survival skills.

All of this dawned on me this morning after last night's festivities, when I realized that I, and probably other traveling women, have to be specially armed for these sorts of things.  Why did I feel so strange about it last night?  I deal with this all the time, although not usually in my neck of the woods, so I think that's the key.  Traveling alone has made me cautious, suspicious, and cynical, but it's also given me a confidence to do things that a lot of people wouldn't do(and let's be honest, probably shouldn't do). 

Geez, I'm getting wistful.  What a wimp!  Time to get back on the road...

The List

After boarding a plane from Los Angeles at 6:45 am yesterday, I promptly fell asleep.  About an hour and a half later, I woke to a terrible realization.  It's 8:15 am, we still haven't left the gate, and I am sitting in the middle seat between two 40-year-old men, and thus without armrests.

This is what 400,000 miles on an airline will get you.  Four hours, three timezones, and 245 silent wishes for booze later, I still wasn't home and go to thinking: what happened to my resolution?

You see, late in 2006, I promised myself that 2007 was going to be the year.  The year that I started doing things the way I wanted to do them, the year that I made every trip a little about pleasure, the year that I started getting to all those places I haven't yet been.  Of course, I've made a little headway on that, but I still haven't made the commitment to get to those last few states (Utah, Montana, Delaware) or the big five international destinations I desperately want to visit.

Travel has always been a large part of who I am, but I keep getting weighted down by what I am "supposed" to do or what other people think I "should" do.  I've got to stop this.  Many who know me wonder why I can't be in the office more than a week without attempting to fling myself off of the 4th floor - it's just who I am, baybee.

So - halfway through this year, I am having a moment of clarity.  I've done my big trip for the year (China, natch) but I am going to actually commit to hitting at least one travel goal per year.   That means - get to one of the places on the list:

1. The 13 damn states I STILL haven't been to (Unfortunately, I've already hit AK, HI, CA, OR, NM, NY, etc., mostly the middle north-western states are left.  Good thing I like corn-fed white boys.)
2. Dubai (I don't care if I have to wear a scarf, I'm going)
3. Japan (Wrap me in a kimono and give me some sake.  Kampai!)
4. Yukon (I like moose.  And elk.)
5. Ireland (Guiness does a body goooood....BRILLIANT!)

My list will keep growing, and unfortunately Vegas has gotten in the way of me executing on much for this quarter, but stay tuned.  You know I'm good for it.