Archive for October, 2008

Oct 25

Thoughts from Seat 7C

I just finished my “snack pack” that included 6 pretzels, 5 mini, spicy cheese covered “toasts,” and 4 surprise-seasoned, crunchy worms and I’m regretting my decision to read some blogs instead of grab lunch before boarding the plane. It was a classic moment of 8 year old logic – “I wasn’t hungry then…” Well, I’m hungry now and I’m scolding myself using the classic mom line “You should have eaten before we left. I told you to eat something because you would be hungry later.” I appreciate that my Mom, like all good moms, attempted to install that good sense in my little brain, but I’m afraid her efforts have not been 100% successful. 

My regret is only intensified by the smells wafting back from first class. I’m sitting 2 rows back from the iron curtain that separates the uppity ups from us regular folk and I watched with a little smirk on my face as the flight attendant snapped it shut. The only problem with this particular iron curtain is that it is not iron at all It is, in fact, made from fish net… I think (this is an Alaska flight) The problem with fish net is that you can see through it. The problem with seeing through it is that I just watched the butler flight attendant serve what looked like Thai chicken satay on a bed of safron infused wild rice with steamed asparagus and fresh picked Washington berries. 

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Ok, so maybe I didn’t see all that detail, but that sure sounds good, doesn’t it? To make matters worse, he was serving the delicious looking entree on real plates with real flatware and real stemware. None of that spork and 3 ounce plastic cup non-sense for the folks in rows 1-5. 

Meanwhile my neighbor is engaging in some sort of airborne yoga and drinking tomato juice (I cannot stand tomato juice) and I just popped in another piece of gum and tried to pretend it’s a delicious Washington berry. It’s not. Maybe I should have brought my new lipstick that for some reason smells like chicken stew. Or maybe I should have eaten some lunch before boarding the plane….

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Oct 25

Thoughts from the terminal

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I’m sitting in the Alaska/Horizon terminal at LAX right now. It’s almost 10:30 am and I’ve been here for about an hour. Why am I sitting in this terminal? Good question. Generally, I make it my policy to avoid this airport as if it were a rabid, plague-ridden rat. Normally, I only enter the LAX zone when picking up/dropping off passengers or when flying to an international destination. 

You see, LAX is not a friendly place. But I can handle unfriendly. I do live in LA, after all. LAX is not efficient. But I can handle inefficiency. I did take the 405 to get here. LAX is big and overcrowded. But I can handle big and overcrowded. I am a member of a rather large church.
Do you know what the problem with LAX is? It is the perfect storm of all of those things in combination. 

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Besides that, I live within 15 minutes of the wonderful, the relaxing, the friendly Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. So, why did I drive an hour into the heart of LA to fly out of the worst airport known to man? Because the stars aligned and decided to torture me. 

Ok, that’s a slight exaggeration. But things did work out just right. This time it made sense for me to fly out of LAX and I’m flying for a very good reason. J just happened to be attending an orchestration seminar near the airport and there just happened to be a perfectly timed flight for which I could use my miles. But more importantly, I’m flying up to Seattle for my Grandma’s 84th birthday party! 

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(Williams Family Reunion 2006) 

I don’t see my Grandma nearly as often as I’d like so I am very excited to be going to her birthday party. I plan to get lots of pictures and write a post about my wonderful Grandma after tomorrow night. Stay tuned. This should be a great, classic Williams event – which means lots of food and lots of pictures of people eating food. Happy 

Alright, back to waiting for my flight, but before I sign-off, I have to tell you one more story. I’ve just moved to a new seating area for the 4th time since starting this post. Why? Well, this time I moved because I was sitting on my suitcase at one of the “power poles” (I don’t think that’s what they’re called, but they are poles with several outlets on them for charging computers, cell phones, ipods, etc.) continuing to write this post while charging my lappy, when I felt someone staring. You know that feeling, right? I look over my shoulder and sure enough. A small Japanese man, who shall henceforth be known as Mr. Miyagi…. 

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…was standing about a foot away from me, reading my post. Hm. I made eye contact with him, with a “can I help you?” expression. Mr. Miyagi looked back at my computer and then at the power pole and then back at me. I closed my computer and began the process of gathering my things to move, yet again. In hindsight, I should have written this paragraph while he was still standing there. After all, if you’re going to readsdrop, you should expect to be blogged about. Maybe that was his plan all along…

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Oct 23

The Pumpkin Artist 2

Some of you may remember last year’s pumpkin creation post. You may also remember The Pumpkin Artist’s 2007 pumpkin creation: 

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“Matt’s Molar” 

And now…. 
(drumroll please)
…I present the 2008 Pumpkin Creation from The Pumpkin Artist: 

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“Stan” 

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The Artist, himself.

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