State Farm fini

So, he called me this morning, not, as promised, yesterday. The long and short of it was that he couldn't/wouldn't change anything. We canceled effective the 8th. He was unsympathetic and incredibly rude. I won't go with state farm ever again in my life, and I'll tell anyone who asks to avoid them like the plague. They lost a customer of over 14 years. Some highlights of the conversation:

EIA (evil insurance agent): "I don't know why you wanted to talk to me"

I wanted to talk to him because he's the head of the agency and his name's on the front door, and his picture on the envelopes.

EIA: "well, he married someone with an accident"

In response to why he lost his good driver discount.

He hung up on me when I said cancel, and then called right back. I saw who it was and I gave the phone to Jason. He said he needed to get Jason's authority to cancel, because, get this:

I WASN'T ON THE POLICY. I promise you all that's what he said. So the rate increased for someone who "wasn't on the policy".

We're going with progressive for both of us, and it's a lot lot lot cheaper.

State Farm

You all know I was in an accident earlier this year. What you may not know, is that my husband, car enthusiast, has a perfect driving record. Not one speeding ticket, never an accident (okay, a woman rear ended him once, but it wasn't his fault) and the only claim he's ever filed is for a windshield.

Me, not so much. I'm a reformed speeder, and I've been in accidents. I think I may have expressed my extreme pleasure with my insurance company, Progressive. They not only took great care of me after the accident, they gave me more for my car than I was expecting, and they didn't raise my rate one penny. This is because (I guess) I've been a customer for a measly six years. I am very happy with them.

So, can anyone explain to me, within reason, why Jason's insurance rates went up? He's been charged a surcharge and lost his good driver discount for MY accident. I know they want me on there just to make sure it's all good. But this is ridiculous. He's been a customer of theirs for longer than I have been with Progressive. I dont' think he's EVER had insurance elsewhere. I called to discuss this with them on Thursday, and very nicely, they informed me that they were taking my risk into account. I'm expecting a call back from the head agent, but I'm not holding my breath.

There's no word for what they're doing. It's immoral, it's not fair, and it's making me really angry.

Plus, we've suffered through at least 3 letters a week from that office that are thinly veiled insults. Bumper stickers that say "please don't hit me, I'm not sure about my coverage". Not to mention the trees they waste sending Jason a billion statements each month. You know what? State Farm? I'm more sure of my coverage with Progressive now than I ever have been before.

Christmas Present

That one sanctuary? For me, it's books. Look over there to the left. I'm a librarian by profession and I love it. I think one reason I love it so, is that I know the wonder of books. When I'm reading, I can be completely transported to somewhere else.

When I started writing that last entry, I was feeling down about losing a child-like aspect of myself. I never really thought I'd grow up, and I guess it snuck up on me. I think what I still miss is being so easily pleased. The feeling of utter joy in those $1 surprise bags that really held some junk and a yo-yo.

I think that much of this IS in fact something that's it's appropriate to let go of. I don't need those things to make me happy anymore, I have more important things, like my husband, that make me even happier.

And those books, well, they'll never let me down.

Christmas Past

Do you know what I miss? Probably not, unless you're inside my head. It's something that I never thought I'd be parted from. It's something that we've all had. It's something that you may be able to fuzzily guess from the title of this post. I miss.....

Toys. I don't really miss particular toys, though, I'd like to still have some of my My Little Ponies, or the kitchen set. I don't miss having toys to play with, if I wanted to, I could go out and get anything I really wanted. What I miss is the concept of toys. I miss seeing a commercial for something simple (say, a water gun, or a new doll) and seeing in that moment the potential for fun. Thinking, WOW! I miss playtime. Getting so lost in a fantasy about something so minor that you don't hear your parents calling you for dinner, or see the street lights go on.

You see, I miss the promise of toys more than I do the actuality of them. There was a time in each of our lives that some piece of plastic, or metal, or wood, something simple held so much. They were to be sought after, shown off, and shared. These real, physical, easily attainable things were goals for us. They were huge parts of our lives. They were what we wanted instead of a house, or a new car, or an iphone. As we grew, so did the costs of our desires.

I guess what it really gets down to, is that I miss pretending. I miss the time when my imagination was rich enough to turn a sneaker into a car. The water from a garden hose into a river, or my crossed ankles into a mermaid's tail. I think that the real shame is that adults don't pretend as much. We're not allowed to. It's childish. Some adults turn to things like drugs and alcohol to achieve this kind of escape. I want it back. I want to pretend, but somehow, now it seems difficult. Like I'm trapped now in the real world, and my way out shrank to a hole that I can't fit through anymore. It seems life is so complicated now that nothing comes without strings. If you want that new house, there's maintainance. iPhone? Contract. Huge TV? Satellite. Even our hobbies carry strings like that. If I want to take up knitting, I have to buy all of these supplies. If I decided to play golf? Clubs, green fees, etc. Maybe this is something only temporarily gone. Maybe this is nothing that I should mourn the loss of, maybe it's simple materialism.

I want a toy. One, simple thing that I can make into a thousand complicated ones. I want to be able to turn the cubby under the stairs into a castle again, and the swings into airplanes. I want to be the childlike empress with a pearl necklace around my head, and it to be fun, not hard. I want to toboggan.

p.s.
I've decided something while I've been writing this. There is one sanctuary of pretend left for us adults. Know what it is? Post it in a comment, and I'll let slip soon.

Offended

Should I be offended? Probably not. But, it drives me crazy, the things people say to you when they find out that you are recently married. It's usually in one of three categories:

1. Babies
2. Stereotypes
3. "lessons"

I'll start with #1. On our wedding day, I totally expected that people would tease us and ask how soon we were having kids. Not fun, but expected. We'll have kids in our own sweet time, when we decide it is the right time. You all know I love kids, so that's not the issue, it's just that we would like a little time for US, I know we're selfish. But, back to the point. Now I have people asking if we got married because I was "knocked up" or wanting to pat my stomach. I'm just fat, folks, nothing to see here, move along.

#2. People always seem to have some stereotypical joke about one of us dominating the other. There's the jump/how high joke, there's the remote control jokes, and let's not forget referring to me as an appliance. All of these are in good fun, I think. Some of the people really seem to think that one of us has to be "the boss". I'm not going to tell him what to do, or prevent him from doing as he likes, and he's not going to do that to me either. You want to know why we're together? We LIKE to be. No-one is making anyone do anything.

#3. Lessons. While I appreciate the advice of people who have gone before me, most of it starts with stuff from the category above. Think "you've gotta make him" or "don't let her". Also, divorced and bitter people seem to have the most advice. Now, I know plenty of people who are divorced, and they aren't all like that. Just some seem to think any meting of a man and woman is doom and gloom. Also, lessons on how to be a wife for me. I can do it! I haven't poisoned myself with my cooking nor had the health board come in to the house yet, I don't really need to know how to fold napkins for dinner, and if I decide that I do, I can look it up. Now, all that being said, I don't mind a little practical advice, as long as it's not given in a condescending tone.

To my newlywed friends, does this drive you mad too, or was it this weekend's assumptionfest that set me off?

Honeymoon Day 7 and 8!

Wow! Two days in one post! Only because there isn't too much to say about our last day on the cruise. We were at sea, Jason was in pain, and we had honeymoon package stuff to do! We attended a "cake party" and had some cake with a couple from Scotland whose clothes had been lost by their airline. We received some gross canapes in our room, and for dinner, we were off to the fanciest restaurant on the boat: Le Bistro. It was French. If you know Jason and I, our taste runs more to the barbecue than the haute. But, it was part of our honeymoon package so we went for it. I wore a black dress and when we were seated, I was asked for the first time ever in my life if a white napkin was okay, or if I would prefer to have a black one. Ummm, white was fine, I didn't need to match my dress... So we looked at the menu. There was NOTHING on there that looked good. So, we just went for it. I ordered escargot. You all know what that is, right? Then I also chose duck al'orange, because it sounded palatable. Jason got some cheese thing and a stuffed chicken with those mushrooms that creep me out. The shape and sponginess are repellent. I know people like them but eeeeeeeew. The part I was looking forward to was dessert. I had ordered freedom pudding. Remember when they were re-naming french fries in the capital's cafeteria? At that point Jason's step-mother wanted a torch for Christmas to make creme brulee. Jason thought that was too French and that it should be called freedom pudding. Thus, a legend was born.

So we are sitting there drinking our free wine and waiting for our free escargot and stuff. Here's a summation:

Escargot are kinda good if you can stop thinking about what you are eating
yuck
yuck
yuck
yuck
HOLY MOLEY It's on fire! (the set the duck aflame at a nearby table)
yuck
yuck
yuck
yuck
Creme Brulee is great!

The end. Overall, I'm sure tons of people enjoy French food. I just happen to know two who don't. It was edible, sure, but it wasn't anything I'd ask for again. Except the creme brulee. Yum.

The next morning we were set to get off of the ship. We had chosen the "express" option, to take our own luggage. It was quick and easy. Customs was a cinch. By 8:45 we were in the car and on our way to: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS!

We arrived there and parked in a huge garage that had ET to help us remember where we parked. As we got out of the car, we realized that the overhead speakers were playing the ET music. That was genius. There were a million moving sidewalks that took us to the "City Walk" a place with restaurants, and a big movie theater, and a sunglasses stand that for some reason I now needed (oops). Then we headed for the part of the park we wanted to see most, Islands of Adventure. Before I go any farther, I want to explain that we had tickets for the Blue Man Group show that evening, and therefore a severely limited time in the park. We would really like to go back for a longer time, like a week. Islands of adventure consists of a bunch of smaller areas that are themed. The first one we went to and my obvious favorite was:


Marvel island.



We got there and the first thing we saw was a gift shop. I got a squished penny with Rogue on it. I am such a dork. We wandered around taking pictures of everything and decided to go on the spiderman ride. The wait was short, and then we got some 3D glasses and got on the ride. It was really cool. I'm pretty sure that the actual real space for the ride was small, but it felt big. Plus, there were effects like water spraying on us, and fire heating up our burnt faces. It was superfun. We looked a little while longer around Marvel Island and since the only other rides were an Incredible Hulk coaster with a long line, and a Storm teacups ride, we moved on through a cartoon island to Jurassic Park.


Talk about cool. There were jeeps and all kinds of props and stuff everywhere. We decided to go on a river ride, and this next part is going to get kinda depressing and soapboxy, so watch out.

So, there we were, standing in line, and Jason and I saw a little lizard. Nothing scary or poisonous, just a little anole or skink, or whatever. We were looking at it, but in front of us in line were this bunch of terrible, low class loud people. You know the type, loud, scantily clad, and annoying. Well, they see the lizard, and they are scared of it. A tiny harmless lizard. One of them tries to kick it with their shoe, and another one "accidentally" stepped on it and killed it. I was really upset. That poor little lizard, just walking along when these unreasonable people kill it. I was almost ready to get out f line, but there was really no way out unless we fought our way through a huge line. So, we stay on, and I'm really upset. The mean people go, and we get on the ride. As we sit down, we see another lizard and another person behind us sees it too. What is their choice? They spit on it. Never have I more wanted to excuse myself from the human race in general. I know I've killed my fair share of bugs etc, but they were so callous. It was awful. As the boat pulled away, I decided to get over it and enjoy the ride. I was able to for a minute, but I'm still upset by those people to this day.

So, soapbox put away. The ride was fun. I knew it was a log flume like ride, but I sure didn't expect it to drop when it did. It was fun. After that, we walked on through the rest of the islands and since we were short on time, we moved on to the actual universal studios park. There we walked through a nickelodeoney area, and made our way to a cool fake street, where there were blues brothers, and singers. A lot of the store fronts were from movies and stuff. It was really cool. There was a guy fake playing the saxophone and a woman who was really singing. Charlotte had told us not to miss The Mummy ride, so we made a beeline.

Even the line for the Mummy was cool. All of the rides we ad gone on had interesting things in the lines, like models of the cars, or other interactive stuff. The ride itself was AWESOME. It went all around and the best part was when we stopped and the ceiling was ON FIRE. It was really good. Then it was time for Blue Man.


The show was different than the ones we had seen previously, I'll write a full review later, but it was really fun, especially the paper part! We tried to go to hard rock cafe for dinner, got terrible service and decided to leave. We made our way to the house we were borrowing and crashed. Whew!