Cancun

I'm back! My trip went well - there were a few wacky moments, some drama, but on the whole, it was a pretty good trip.

But our flights ... insanity.

Our flight to Miami, where we made the connecting flight to Cancun, was at 6 am. We had to get to the airport two hours in advance for check in which basically meant no sleep for the night. I met up with a friend to go together and we spent the night chatting and painting my nails with one of her nail polish.

Except her nail polish is lacquer and needs like a month to dry because even several hours later, the paint didn't really settle in and by the time we reached the airport, one of my toe nails had a chip in it already.

Of course, I couldn't stop staring at it - which was dorky because I would be walking and peering at my toes at the same time. So genius me decided that maybe I could fill in the chipped part with some color so it wouldn't be as apparent. Unfortunately, only one other girl brought nail polish and it was a light pink color - completely different from my dark brown red.

Still. Stubborn idiot as I am, I forged on in hopes that the light pink could somehow build up at the chipped part while being sheer enough to keep the rest of the red color.

So yup, I got what I deserved: something that looked, in the words of a guy friend, "like a diseased toe".



Lesson learned.

But that wasn't the end of mishaps for my feet.

When we arrived in Cancun, we stood around in a circle - a group of 8 or so - waiting for our transportation shuttle. All of a sudden, the guy next to me backed away swiftly and muttered something almost underneath his breath at our other friend, V, across from me. "Hey, hey, you might want to move away because there's a bird ..."

A gust of wind wafted through, messing up our hair. And splat! Something plopped down on my right foot.

It was red.

At first glance, it looked like tomato paste and I was like "WHAT CLUMSY FOOL IS EATING PIZZA OVER MY HEAD??"

Then we all looked up, saw this black bird perched on the roof, and EVERYONE around me took a few steps back in unison and went "EWWW!"

I realized there is no loyalty in this world.

For some reason, the bird's shit was red - maybe it was menstruating, TMI? - and while I desperately searched for napkins, I turned my fury to the guy next to me. "WHY DIDN'T YOU PULL ME BACK WHEN YOU MADE YOUR ESCAPE!"

The guy spluttered: "The bird was over V! I didn't think it was going to crap on you!"

The others started to double over, laughing. V grinned like a fool. "The wind blew it to you!" he chortled. "It saved me."

I had no words. I was too busy hobbling on one foot, trying to clean up the mess while my friend poured water from a bottle trying to help rinse it out.

Indeed, my feet are cursed.

Those birds are everywhere though. I was always ducking and peering up around me.

I See You, Evil One.

So from the very start of our vacation, I was thus dubbed "Shitfoot" by another guy there for our Cancun "nicknames". Yay.

But otherwise, the trip was fun. We went jet-skiing, snorkeling, exploring. The hotel exceeded my expectations. I had read thousands of awful reviews for Oasis Cancun so I arrived in a dark mood, expecting theft and cockroaches and rude staff. But everyone was really polite and the man who cleaned our room didn't even take the tip I left out for him. He was so sweet and we had to track him down face to face to hand him our tips.

Plus, the Mexican restaurant where we ate at a lot - the waiter was hilarious and on our last day, he just set down a cup of lime slices in the center of our table without a word. We were like OHHHH! when he came over, waving a bottle of tequila. Haha, he usually liked to take my order before the others because I guess over there, it's always ladies first so when he headed over to me to fill my cup, he just kept pouring and pouring into a regular plastic cup and somehow, I ended up with the most alcohol compared to everyone else, including the five huge guys at our table. Way too much for your normal tequila shot and lord knows I can't handle my alcohol. So guy to my left swapped with me, wisely nodding "I know this little Asian girl will die if she guzzled this down."

Still. One shot and I was soon silently weaving through the hotel resort. Followed by laughing. Followed by laughing+crying. Sighs. Also, I learned what bad friends I really have especially when one of them kept encouraging me to skip while a camera was locked to her hand.

Anyway, the ocean was gorgeous.

Except the beach was really more like a strip and the tide came in so close to us, we didn't have to get into the water to get wet. We even saw one girl get swept into the ocean, beach chair and all like a makeshift raft.

Ocean to the left, pool to the right. Hotel grounds were amazing.

Too bad our flights home were horrific. Dallas weather was icky so they kept delaying our flights until it was five hours past our original departure time and we wound up missing our connecting flights back. Much drama ensued and us girls got angry at the guys and we all ended up staying overnight in the Dallas airport, girls fuming in a separate corner while the guys rolled luggage carts around tentatively, and we all got home a day later. We were hungry, cranky, and wanted to punch someone out. But everything's fine and dandy now.

Alrighty, that's it for now. Unfortunately, I have to go back to studying. Again. This course is a killer this time. We have exams every single week from now. I'm not even joking. Weekends are no longer breathers - they're cram sessions.

As for writing ... um, no. What is funny though is that I was recently approached in real life by a classmate for an autograph because he read one of my short stories in last year's school literary magazine. Haha, he even pulled out the issue from this tiny sealed ziploc bag. That was flattering ... and mildly awkward. Especially since I think my so-called autograph is more boring than Evil Bird Splatterings.

For the next chapter of Through Me, I have ... like a page and a half. Which is nothing. Because I want to change them. When I have time.

There truly is never enough time in this world.

Thank you so much for your reviews and adding me and my stories to your favorites list. I'm sorry for not being able to keep up with my responses. I seriously have PMs backed up to January. Ouch. Sorry for the wait and I appreciate your patience and support!