Up, Up, Away!
Time: 10:45 Pacific. Day: Sunday. Place: Somewhere above 10,000 feet near Sin City. It has been a busy morning. Apparently LAS is busiest during Sundays and Mondays, as my cabbie informed me earlier. And he wasn't kidding. I stood in line for 20 minutes at the security check point, after wasting 10 minutes waiting in line for the wrong terminal. Although my flight was to leave at 10:15, I decided breakfast and coffee was in order to start the day off right. I stood in line for the lone Starbucks café in Terminal C, with just 20 minutes till my flight was to depart. And I waited for a cool 15 minutes to get my cup of Joe and a croissant as about thirty other customers shared my same thought. And I also got a bottle of OJ. And a pound cake. But I made it through the long line and managed to get on my flight, before waiting on the taxi way due to air traffic congestion on ground.
One good thing about flying in and out of Las Vegas is that you hardly have any screaming babies on the plane.* Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against babies who scream. For today's flight, there were only two little girls and their parents. I'm sitting next to the mom. Of course they couldn't sit still, and the worn-out parents are trying to catch some shut eye. And the girls are excited.
The constant low hum of the engines suddenly roared to life. We were cleared for takeoff. The girls started yelling, "Faster! Faster!" And so it went for the next few seconds or so. The mom tried to hush them, but it was hopeless. I started chuckling. Then we started to tilt back, and voila! Airborne. "Blast off!" I didn't think I could contain my laughter anymore. Before long, the girls started chanting, "Up, Up, Awaaay!" How cute. At least it was entertaining, and a change of the norm I go through every time I fly.
You would think after flying at least twice a week for the last five years, I have nailed down all the tips and tricks associated with flying. But today was different. First, I went to the wrong wing of the airport, even though I knew I had to go to Terminal C, and waited in line for Terminal A. Doh! Next, I sat down on the wrong side of the plane. I so totally missed out on the great view of the LV Strip as we took off parallel next to it. And finally, the captain came on, "Folks, if you look out the windows, you'll see the Grand Canyons." Awesome. I looked out, but could only see flat lands with tiny canyons, if that. The captain came back on, "Sorry, I should have said for those who can look out the left side of the plane." Double doh! Ha ha ha.
But it's still pretty out nonetheless. And I'm in a good mood. The girls definitely provided some comic relief. And I'm sure the cup of Joe, butter croissant and sugar-laden slice of pound cake helped too. I'm afraid to open up the bottle of OJ, for fear I may go into a sugar overdose. I'm already on a sugar high right now. Note to self: Start using Splenda on my coffee next time.
As I looked out my window and admire the natural beauty out there, deep thoughts came to mind. Wow! My dad is 70 years old now. This is the first time in over five years the family has been together, all four of us. And now, it is five, with Steve, my brother-in-law. I can only assume that my parents were extremely delighted in seeing both their kids together, and out vacationing. Cool.
It just kind of sucked that I chose to live in Chicago, almost a coast away from SoCal. Whenever my parents come in for a visit, they always go to the City of Angels. Although I really feel like there are hardly any angels there; just a bunch pretty girls with lips filled with their ass cheek fat, bouncy boobies stuffed with saline or silicone packets, and Botox'ed faces. Sigh. And people wonder why I love the Midwest! But that's all beside the point. So while my parents are here in the country for a whole month, my sister gets to hog my parents' time, whereas I only got to spend a little over two weekends with them. I had to perform some kind of miracle to even get them to come to Chicago last weekend! And it definitely provided for some sort of envy, as the plans for the rest of their stay here includes a trip to Hawaii next weekend, and a trip to Mexico the following weekend. If only I didn't join I B M recently, I could have used my 146 hours of vacation rolled over from the years.
But my time with the family also reminded me why I chose to be far away from the rest of my extended family. Being away definitely helped foster a closer relationship with them. Being in their presence 24 hours a day for days on end definitely raised my cholesterol levels. And when Katie once said that family is pure stress and hell, I now can relate. Isn't it funny how family has that effect on you? You love them, yet they can be extremely trying. Worse than a girlfriend from hell. =)
So here I am, with barely five hours of sleep in me, on a sugar and caffeine high, sitting on a plane with two little girls chatting away in pig Latin. Or whatever you call them kiddy languages. Up, up, and away. Back to my home, which I miss dearly. The last two weeks have definitely renewed my appreciation for, and reminded me the reason why I moved to, Chicago. I'm definitely looking forward to some personal downtime at home for the next week or so. And to make it all the more sweeter, our captain has been feeding us score updates. Looks like the Bears are on their way to a 5-0 lead!
*Sometimes you do get a bunch of rowdy, older ladies who left their husbands home to have a girls weekend away in Vegas. But they're fun, when you are sitting next to them and drinking along with them.
One good thing about flying in and out of Las Vegas is that you hardly have any screaming babies on the plane.* Don't get me wrong; I have nothing against babies who scream. For today's flight, there were only two little girls and their parents. I'm sitting next to the mom. Of course they couldn't sit still, and the worn-out parents are trying to catch some shut eye. And the girls are excited.
The constant low hum of the engines suddenly roared to life. We were cleared for takeoff. The girls started yelling, "Faster! Faster!" And so it went for the next few seconds or so. The mom tried to hush them, but it was hopeless. I started chuckling. Then we started to tilt back, and voila! Airborne. "Blast off!" I didn't think I could contain my laughter anymore. Before long, the girls started chanting, "Up, Up, Awaaay!" How cute. At least it was entertaining, and a change of the norm I go through every time I fly.
You would think after flying at least twice a week for the last five years, I have nailed down all the tips and tricks associated with flying. But today was different. First, I went to the wrong wing of the airport, even though I knew I had to go to Terminal C, and waited in line for Terminal A. Doh! Next, I sat down on the wrong side of the plane. I so totally missed out on the great view of the LV Strip as we took off parallel next to it. And finally, the captain came on, "Folks, if you look out the windows, you'll see the Grand Canyons." Awesome. I looked out, but could only see flat lands with tiny canyons, if that. The captain came back on, "Sorry, I should have said for those who can look out the left side of the plane." Double doh! Ha ha ha.
But it's still pretty out nonetheless. And I'm in a good mood. The girls definitely provided some comic relief. And I'm sure the cup of Joe, butter croissant and sugar-laden slice of pound cake helped too. I'm afraid to open up the bottle of OJ, for fear I may go into a sugar overdose. I'm already on a sugar high right now. Note to self: Start using Splenda on my coffee next time.
As I looked out my window and admire the natural beauty out there, deep thoughts came to mind. Wow! My dad is 70 years old now. This is the first time in over five years the family has been together, all four of us. And now, it is five, with Steve, my brother-in-law. I can only assume that my parents were extremely delighted in seeing both their kids together, and out vacationing. Cool.
It just kind of sucked that I chose to live in Chicago, almost a coast away from SoCal. Whenever my parents come in for a visit, they always go to the City of Angels. Although I really feel like there are hardly any angels there; just a bunch pretty girls with lips filled with their ass cheek fat, bouncy boobies stuffed with saline or silicone packets, and Botox'ed faces. Sigh. And people wonder why I love the Midwest! But that's all beside the point. So while my parents are here in the country for a whole month, my sister gets to hog my parents' time, whereas I only got to spend a little over two weekends with them. I had to perform some kind of miracle to even get them to come to Chicago last weekend! And it definitely provided for some sort of envy, as the plans for the rest of their stay here includes a trip to Hawaii next weekend, and a trip to Mexico the following weekend. If only I didn't join I B M recently, I could have used my 146 hours of vacation rolled over from the years.
But my time with the family also reminded me why I chose to be far away from the rest of my extended family. Being away definitely helped foster a closer relationship with them. Being in their presence 24 hours a day for days on end definitely raised my cholesterol levels. And when Katie once said that family is pure stress and hell, I now can relate. Isn't it funny how family has that effect on you? You love them, yet they can be extremely trying. Worse than a girlfriend from hell. =)
So here I am, with barely five hours of sleep in me, on a sugar and caffeine high, sitting on a plane with two little girls chatting away in pig Latin. Or whatever you call them kiddy languages. Up, up, and away. Back to my home, which I miss dearly. The last two weeks have definitely renewed my appreciation for, and reminded me the reason why I moved to, Chicago. I'm definitely looking forward to some personal downtime at home for the next week or so. And to make it all the more sweeter, our captain has been feeding us score updates. Looks like the Bears are on their way to a 5-0 lead!
*Sometimes you do get a bunch of rowdy, older ladies who left their husbands home to have a girls weekend away in Vegas. But they're fun, when you are sitting next to them and drinking along with them.
posted by StHalcyon at
17:44
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