Day 1 in Italy - Get a Number

Roma. The Spanish Steps.
We're staying near the Spanish Steps. We headed out for a private tour of the Vatican Observatory but took a moment to snap photos of the Steps while it wasn't swarming with tourists.

 

We actually missed our first connection and ended spending some time at the train station trying to figure stuff out.  Go to customer service and wait in line.  You get to the front and they tell you to get a number.  You go to the person out front to get a number and they ask you what you need. You tell them you need a number and they ask you again what you need.  They won't give you a number until you ask the question you're going to ask the Customer Service Rep behind the counter. Then, instead of answering you get a number.

 

Italian countryside

 

Waiting for a pick-up

 

We eventually got there. It's all about enjoying the journey.  Right?

Night One in Italy

I did pretty well figuring out how to adjust to the time change: the moment you're on the plane get on Italian time and sleep. Then when it's 7:30 or 8 AM Italian time head stay up watching videos until you land.

After landing and taking a shower a group of us took a walk to a nearby restaurant. On the way we passed a Plaza with some cool statues etc.

 

At the restaurant our server, Yuri, saw the shirt and jackets of two of our members who had just finished attending meetings for the day.  He got really excited and started asking about the Cassini Space Probe and how long they'd been working on the project.

 

Earl & his family

 

Scott with me

 

We made sure to get a photo with Yuri in the middle of Earl & Scott who both work on the project and continue to close it out the year after the probe's crash.

 

The food was really good by-the-way.  Scott made sure Yuri got some NASA stickers and a Cassini pin.

Hotel

I'm so glad a driver was arranged to pick me up. The trains are, indeed, on strike and I guess the taxis were supposed to be too but the driver told me that they were asked not to strike on the same day as the trains because the poor tourists coming would have no way to get around.

My hotel room is two stories!!! I know, right?!? I've never seen a two story hotel room. It has a small toilet upstairs with the bed and the bathroom and sitting area is downstairs. Lofty.

 

Cool, and at the same time
Lugging my luggage up the stairs was a bit hard on the narrow stairs.
 

 

I want to lay down so bad and sleep.  But I'm not giving into temptation because I don't want jet lag to get the better of me.

*sigh*. It looks so comfy though...

S'No Board, Just Travel

In Roma and before I do anything I just have to do a minor rave about this snowboard jacket I got for the trip. Forecast in Rome was rain and cold. Colder than what we usually get living in Southern California.

Most of my heavier coats are long felt or suede. So I needed a practical in-between and decided on a snowboard jacket that was AMAZING for the 12 hour plane ride.

Everything I normally would put in my backpack I was able to put in the many zippered pockets on the sleeve at the wrist, and chest and in the inside and outside pockets. It was nice not to have to bend down and hit my head to grab something from my backpack.

It is THE perfect travel companion.  Okay.  Enough said.  Moving on...

Old School

The plane is old school with a phone and no chargers. What to do? Read a book and sleep. Yes, I brought a paperback. 😊

The others around me are a little upset though.  You'd think we never lived without smart phones!

A delay delays the day

The plane, the plane, where is the plane? My plane is delayed one and half hours. Rumors of an Air Traffic Controller strike in Italy abound. No one is saying anything. I just hope we can land safely.

For now, I'll enjoy the view...

The Perks of Aiming Low

"You know what else they need to invent?"my friend Jenn asked, "a place for you to put your purse in the car!  I put my purse on the seat next to me but when other people are in the car with me there's no place to put your purse!"

Flashback to all the times I put my bag between me and the door and squish it so I can make room for my friends and the handles won't allow me to hang it over the headrest.

This conversation came after a discussion of my need for someone to invent a tote that has a zip on purse on the outside of it so you can attach it and detach it and it doesn't take up room on the inside of the work tote that is stuffed silly as it is.

So many times we hear ideas.  "What we need is..." But what pushes someone over the edge to actually take action on their idea?  I think skill level and energy have a lot to do with it. ...and trauma...

Flashback to my class at JoAnn Fabrics where we got held up at gunpoint at the beginning of the last sewing class so I never really learned how to finish things like hems and waists etc.  I never went back.

If I knew how to sew, I think it would be a lot easier to create what I wanted. If I had the energy.  If I had the money.  If, if, if.  Or, it may just be knowing that you'll have to deal with failure.  One after the other of mock ups, and test totes, and trying to do new things that don't work before you figure out what does.

Sometimes fear of dealing with the possibility of failure causes us to not even try.  To be paralyzed as our conscious mind runs kicking and screaming to the bed to hide under the covers yelling, "I don't wanna!"

A friend of mine has been on a roll lately and she talked to a group of us about reading this article on 100 rejections.  It has changed her attitude and the way she approaches things.  The basic idea being, throughout the year to make a goal of collecting 100 rejections.

What does this do?  Well, for those jobs that you'd be applying for where you'd go, "I'd like this job but I'm not qualified so I'm not going to try," you'd instead go, "Okay, applying so I can make my goal of 100 rejections."  In trying for so many things that she'd normally not even go for, she ends up getting some of the things and so, to us, it seems like she's on a roll and successful.

In aiming to fail, to be rejected, she ends up winning and succeeding some of the time.  More than she would have if she hadn't tried in the first place.  And instead of moping and being sad about it whenever she gets a rejection, she dusts off her hands and does a mini-celebration chalking it up to another rejection toward making her goal.

It reminds me of The Kaizen Way.  Taking small steps to keep yourself from self-sabotage into paralyzation.  It's one of the perks of aiming low.  You get more done.

Now you'll have to excuse me.  I'm going to start with my small step of doing a search of free sewing lessons on YouTube.