Staying in a hotel all weekend with a boy is still funny to me, even though I'm actually married to this one. Maybe because most of my memories of hotels and/or hotel etiquette were from my childhood stays at Best Westerns and Holiday Inns. You know how sometimes you see traces of your parents in your words or actions? Mine become more pronounced when in a hotel room. I can also distinguish between dad and mom traits.
For example, I am constantly going around and around the room moving and/or organizing all of our stuff. It's like I need housekeeping to know that I am a very.neat.person and that they shouldn't expend too much effort cleaning my room. I organize, then reorganize. I move the laundry from one bag to another. I make sure I put the glasses back next to the ice bucket when I am done with them. I place all my toiletries back into my bag each morning after doing a quick inventory. I BASICALLY BECOME MY MOM.
I also get kind of OCD and worry that we are going to leave something behind. Throughout our stay I check and recheck all the drawers and closets to make sure I am keeping tabs on all our belongings. Then it takes me freaking forever to check out because I go around and around the room fretting over where each item is, which would be easier if I hadn't moved all of it around constantly throughout our stay (see paragraph above). In other words, I BASICALLY BECOME MY DAD.
This sort of freakish cleanliness was not my norm growing up. I merely observed my family doing it. But when all 4 of us were in a confined space, without the comfort of my own personal sanctuary of messiness (my room), it's like their craziness rubbed off on me. AND I STILL DO IT. Poor Aneil.
I also remember the first few times I stayed in a hotel without parents for school trips. How weird and fun were those times? The ones I really remember were the band trip to D.C. and the Rotary/Interact convention. Staying overnight with people who weren't my family was so strange. Seeing people leave messes and throw their towels on the floor, or order room service, or any non-Ewing activity totally weirded me out. There were fun things about it too though. Like how one room was always where the "cool" kids (I use this term loosely since I was on band/Rotary trips) would hang out. And how we would spend so much time calling each others' rooms, then calling the boys' rooms, then arranging to hang out in some random hallway. And how 4 girls getting ready for a mixer in one room is like a crazy cloud of Cover Girl pressed powder, hairspray, and sparkly tank tops.
There was also one trip where I discovered that the hotel cable tv included VH1 (which was not available in Lake Charles), so I refused to go to some co-ed social event so that I could stay in the room and watch "Pop-up Video" (WHY LORD WHY DID THEY CANCEL THAT?) and "Behind the Music". It was so glorious! I miss the days of awesome VH1 programming (Pop-up, Bands on the Run, Bands Reunited, endless blocks of vintage videos).
Ha, I just re-read that paragraph and realized that this anecdote basically describes my entire personality/lack of social interactions in high school. Or now. Who's to say if late 1990's VH1 was playing on the hotel tv last weekend if I would have ever left the room?
Surely I'm not the only kid with funny hotel memories/habits...comment below and make me feel less alone in the world!
And someone please give me a thoughtful reason why I shouldn't just stop watching "The Wire" after 3 episodes. I HATE IT. I like comedies, y'all.
This week I love: spending time with best friends, peeling the wax off those Mini Babybel cheeses, the fact that we bought a jigsaw puzzle of the Sistine Chapel as a way of "preparing for our Italy trip", and "Parks and Recreation" for inventing DJ Roomba.
For example, I am constantly going around and around the room moving and/or organizing all of our stuff. It's like I need housekeeping to know that I am a very.neat.person and that they shouldn't expend too much effort cleaning my room. I organize, then reorganize. I move the laundry from one bag to another. I make sure I put the glasses back next to the ice bucket when I am done with them. I place all my toiletries back into my bag each morning after doing a quick inventory. I BASICALLY BECOME MY MOM.
I also get kind of OCD and worry that we are going to leave something behind. Throughout our stay I check and recheck all the drawers and closets to make sure I am keeping tabs on all our belongings. Then it takes me freaking forever to check out because I go around and around the room fretting over where each item is, which would be easier if I hadn't moved all of it around constantly throughout our stay (see paragraph above). In other words, I BASICALLY BECOME MY DAD.
This sort of freakish cleanliness was not my norm growing up. I merely observed my family doing it. But when all 4 of us were in a confined space, without the comfort of my own personal sanctuary of messiness (my room), it's like their craziness rubbed off on me. AND I STILL DO IT. Poor Aneil.
I also remember the first few times I stayed in a hotel without parents for school trips. How weird and fun were those times? The ones I really remember were the band trip to D.C. and the Rotary/Interact convention. Staying overnight with people who weren't my family was so strange. Seeing people leave messes and throw their towels on the floor, or order room service, or any non-Ewing activity totally weirded me out. There were fun things about it too though. Like how one room was always where the "cool" kids (I use this term loosely since I was on band/Rotary trips) would hang out. And how we would spend so much time calling each others' rooms, then calling the boys' rooms, then arranging to hang out in some random hallway. And how 4 girls getting ready for a mixer in one room is like a crazy cloud of Cover Girl pressed powder, hairspray, and sparkly tank tops.
There was also one trip where I discovered that the hotel cable tv included VH1 (which was not available in Lake Charles), so I refused to go to some co-ed social event so that I could stay in the room and watch "Pop-up Video" (WHY LORD WHY DID THEY CANCEL THAT?) and "Behind the Music". It was so glorious! I miss the days of awesome VH1 programming (Pop-up, Bands on the Run, Bands Reunited, endless blocks of vintage videos).
Ha, I just re-read that paragraph and realized that this anecdote basically describes my entire personality/lack of social interactions in high school. Or now. Who's to say if late 1990's VH1 was playing on the hotel tv last weekend if I would have ever left the room?
Surely I'm not the only kid with funny hotel memories/habits...comment below and make me feel less alone in the world!
And someone please give me a thoughtful reason why I shouldn't just stop watching "The Wire" after 3 episodes. I HATE IT. I like comedies, y'all.
This week I love: spending time with best friends, peeling the wax off those Mini Babybel cheeses, the fact that we bought a jigsaw puzzle of the Sistine Chapel as a way of "preparing for our Italy trip", and "Parks and Recreation" for inventing DJ Roomba.
I just watched the first season of The Wire last week. I was less than impressed after the first three episodes, too. Give it the whole season if you can. I thought it got much better.
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