I’m sitting in the Tampa International Airport awaiting my return flight to DC. I wish I could be here longer. The weather has been beautiful! It was 75 degrees on Christmas day! The temperatures all week have been amazing. I wish I could say I got a tan but I didn’t go anywhere to make that possible. I really wanted to go to the beach but my best friend had to work so we couldn’t fit in the hour and a half drive.

Unfortunately, I had to draw some serious lines with someone while here, which is never fun to do. She’s a good friend of my best friend and she’s great to be around, but apparently thought some “other” fun with her was going to be incorporated into my visit. She said beforehand that she wasn’t looking for anything to happen, but it seemed as soon as I arrived she went into ultra flirt mode. Ugh. Ok, so I’m an incorrigible flirt… when I like someone, but when I’m afraid the wrong message may be conveyed - like I was with her due to past incidents - I pull back and become a little standoffish and my abruptness becomes more pronounced. I have no doubt she got the hint, but that was after she spent two nights sharing the same bed as me and making little comments she obviously hoped would change my mind. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep all that well those nights.

I haven’t made any new year’s resolutions, really. I hardly ever do. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink too much, and trying to make weight loss resolutions never worked for me. The next four months at my job are going to be crucial for me, though. That’s what is left in my six month probationary period, then they’ll decide if they want to keep me. I’ve got some difficult tasks ahead of me there, too.

I was just asked by a foreign couple with a baby to watch their luggage so they could go to the restroom. Is it wrong that I said I didn’t feel comfortable? I feel a little bad for telling them no because I’m sure they just didn’t want to lose their seats. But with all the crazy stuff happening at airports nowadays, I don’t want to take that responsibility. They already left their bags unattended for several minutes earlier, which we all know is a no-no. I’m kind of surprised they asked me this time. Of course their empty seats were taken almost immediately as soon as they left. That makes me feel even worse.

I’ve recently discovered a popular saying here in DC.

“If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute.”

I’ve been here going on two winters and those words are definitely proving to be true. I just posted last week about it being too cold to walk and yet I’ve been able to walk to work everyday this week. The main subject for this post centers around my walking and thus encountering more people outside, which means - more smokers. I think smokers in close proximity to others shouldn’t light up. Period. You want to smoke, step aside and out of the way from people walking behind you that will inevitably inhale the poison you’re exhaling.

I know, I know. It’s an unrealistic desire, but still! Smokers themselves may be really nice people in any other instance, but it seems whenever they light up their cancer sticks, they completely disregard where they spew the 900+ toxins rolled with the tobacco. It’s rare, but I’ve seen a few smokers raise their heads to exhale upwards instead of letting the breeze carry the secondhand smoke wherever it decides to. All smokers should do this at the very very least.

There’s an incident that sticks with me to this day: years ago, when I first started smoking clove cigarettes, I was standing outside in a line to see a movie. It was a long line, so I decided to light up while standing there. I was tilting my head back to exhale upwards in an effort to be considerate of those around me, but not paying attention to where the string of smoke coming from the burning cigarette was going. A man came up to me and politely asked me to step aside because the smell was bothering he and his friends several throngs behind me. Chagrined was I. Even though he was very polite, I felt bad. I had friends with me, it wasn’t like I’d have lost my place in the line. I could have stepped the 25 or so feet to the curb and smoked more out of the way. I’m normally a very considerate person, but those few minutes I was oblivious to those around me. Hence my point.

I’m glad I’m not a smoker anymore.

I’ll end with a happy little segue: On the same walk to work, I saw two men holding hands…fingers interlaced as only couples do. Seeing them comfortably walking down the street this way made me smile. There are tons of gay people in this city, but I haven’t noticed a couple in a while, I guess.

I need a surplus of umbrellas.

Of the two in my possession, I left one in a friend’s car the other day and another here at my office yesterday. I should have just taken the Metro to work this morning, but it wasn’t actually raining just wet and dreary with what I would call a barely noticeable mist. The majority of the trek was fine, save for the drop in barometric pressure giving me one helluva headache.

But, of course, when I was about ten minutes away from my office the skies decided to open. Just enough to mat my hair to my head and sprinkle my glasses to where I couldn’t really see, but thankfully not a torrential downpour.

If you would like to donate your gently used but fully functional umbrella to me, please let me know.