My alarm got me up at 3:20, and for a few moments, I sleepily thought, it's too early for whatever it is, I'm so tired, I'll just sleep in. But then reality kicked in and I jumped out of bed to throw on some clothes and get out the door. I kissed sleeping Saori goodbye and called the taxi company. It was there by the time I got down the stairs, and we sped off through the night/morning. I was at my gate an hour before boarding.
Flew first to Amsterdam, cleared EU customs, and then had to jump in line immediately for the US flight, even though it wasn't scheduled to depart for another two hours. Because my destination is in the US, we have to go through a few special extra checks. They have to take you aside, one at a time to small portable lecterns, and go through the security theater catechism:
Does your bag belong to you?
Did you pack it through and through?
Did strangers give you something new?
Do you have something wet?
Or something sharp did you forget?
yes of course the bag is mine,
why else would I have it in this line?
The only thing a stranger gave to me
was coffee that cost too much money.
Why waste my time with silly spam?
I do not like it, Uncle Sam.
Anyway, my interrogator was quite concerned and had to go back and forth to the main counter a few times. Apparently I raised a few red flags, probably because I didn't check any bags and because I bought the ticket within 24 hours of the flight. Also, because she was confused about my overall trip, coming to the US and leaving it again. Anyway, that took a short while to get sorted.
Sat at the back in the middle of a giant 747 with the 3-4-3 seating configuration. Got a little sleep on the 8 hour flight, but most of that was the hour we sat on the tarmac waiting for the rain to clear. It's a long flight. But at least its Delta, which has a really good selection of movies and they finally figured out that people need to drink lots of water the super dehydrated airframe environment. I watched the latest Godzilla movie and Groundhog Day which I had never seen before. The former was surprisingly unenjoyable. Everyone in this movie was completely stupid. I realize that monster crises make you do stupid things, but this is a deep, entrenched stupidity. From Dr. Samurai who thought the best plan of action was to feed a 30 meter tall monster radioactivity, to the military forces who kept shooting the damn thing with bullets despite bullets having at no time any noticeable effect, to the protagonist, and aptly named, Ford, a character whose main characteristic is coincidentally being in precisely the right place at the right time and trained in plot-advancing skills. Also, the military idea of bringing the nukes to the water to lure the monsters in was a good one, but the rail line with all the nukes on board, unshielded, across the very place where the monsters are known to be rampaging was not such a good execution. Groundhog Day was really good though.
Anyway, cleared customs in Detroit, hung around their bright, airy, and entirely anonymous airport before catching this tiny flight to Oklahoma City.
Flew first to Amsterdam, cleared EU customs, and then had to jump in line immediately for the US flight, even though it wasn't scheduled to depart for another two hours. Because my destination is in the US, we have to go through a few special extra checks. They have to take you aside, one at a time to small portable lecterns, and go through the security theater catechism:
Does your bag belong to you?
Did you pack it through and through?
Did strangers give you something new?
Do you have something wet?
Or something sharp did you forget?
yes of course the bag is mine,
why else would I have it in this line?
The only thing a stranger gave to me
was coffee that cost too much money.
Why waste my time with silly spam?
I do not like it, Uncle Sam.
Anyway, my interrogator was quite concerned and had to go back and forth to the main counter a few times. Apparently I raised a few red flags, probably because I didn't check any bags and because I bought the ticket within 24 hours of the flight. Also, because she was confused about my overall trip, coming to the US and leaving it again. Anyway, that took a short while to get sorted.
Sat at the back in the middle of a giant 747 with the 3-4-3 seating configuration. Got a little sleep on the 8 hour flight, but most of that was the hour we sat on the tarmac waiting for the rain to clear. It's a long flight. But at least its Delta, which has a really good selection of movies and they finally figured out that people need to drink lots of water the super dehydrated airframe environment. I watched the latest Godzilla movie and Groundhog Day which I had never seen before. The former was surprisingly unenjoyable. Everyone in this movie was completely stupid. I realize that monster crises make you do stupid things, but this is a deep, entrenched stupidity. From Dr. Samurai who thought the best plan of action was to feed a 30 meter tall monster radioactivity, to the military forces who kept shooting the damn thing with bullets despite bullets having at no time any noticeable effect, to the protagonist, and aptly named, Ford, a character whose main characteristic is coincidentally being in precisely the right place at the right time and trained in plot-advancing skills. Also, the military idea of bringing the nukes to the water to lure the monsters in was a good one, but the rail line with all the nukes on board, unshielded, across the very place where the monsters are known to be rampaging was not such a good execution. Groundhog Day was really good though.
Anyway, cleared customs in Detroit, hung around their bright, airy, and entirely anonymous airport before catching this tiny flight to Oklahoma City.
No comments:
Post a Comment