/travel/usa/Two Bad Flights and a Haircut
Watched Flightplan; it wasn't superb, but it was better than I expected. I wish the preview hadn't given away a major plot turn, but it did. Flight attendants the world over are outraged.
There were lots of silly unnecessary technical errors, like having the lights dimmed during boarding, having flight crew wandering around during take-off, and de-icing a plan in Berlin (which barely goes below zero), and that sort of thing. But it was alright.
In other news, I shaved my head, at long last, after lots of dabbling nearer and nearer. I got it done at the hairavan that comes to work twice a week for 10USD, and then biced (well, gilletted) it when I got home after an evening at the pub. That didn't turn out as badly as you might expect. I have a more angular head than I thought. My favourite part is just above where a fatter person would have a roll...the skin is all woobly.
Time's been flying here..working a lot, and going out a fair bit. Went to SF last weekend with Seth and his wife and Keith-also-from-Dublin. Had disappointing clam chowder...if all these famous foods are that bad, I'd hate to see what normal meatatarian food is like.
I saw Carlos Olmeda at a house concert. He was pretty good, good stories and a sharp wit. Met some fun people and went out karaokeing by accident, since the only fun-looking bar in downtown Sunnyvale ("Making downtown Mountain View look positivily cosmopolitan for 20 years") happened to be having karaoke night. We sang Mr. Jones. Screamed, really.
And, finally, in reverse-chronological order, my flight here was...Murphy-esque. I got dropped off by Ian's parents (thanks much!) after they took me in on short notice for Thanksgiving dinner (thanks more!) and had their bums whupped by yours truly at Scrabble (ended the game with a 7-letter triple-score word..couldn't have planned it better).
I'm always a little nervous before I fly, but that time I was a bit more than usual. I guess I felt ill-prepared. For the first time in my life, the automatic checkin thingies seemed to work. But they flashed up where to take luggage for just a second, and I was putting things away at the time. I started wandering, and eventually asked some random Air Canada employee, and they said to go ahead through customs. I did so, but then it was clear I shouldn't have, so I had to wait in the stupid people line to get luggage stickers. I walked away, and left behind my flight/hotel info. The nice lady quickly caught up to me and handed it to me. So I put my luggage on the conveyor belt and went through to security.
I proceed to break a long, long, long streak of never setting off the metal detectors. I just completely forgot to empty my pockets. I always laugh at the people who have to be reminded. So I walked back through, and started emptying my pockets..money, camera, wallet, swiss army knife, etc. Yes, that's right, swiss army knife. Didn't even notice as I dumped it in there, but the security people did. $15 to have them hold it, or I could check another bag, or I could just leave it. I just got this knife back from my parents, though it wasn't the one that I lost, but rather a different one that my dad had lying around. Not too big of a deal, so I left it.
Then I went through, and grabbed some food, and proceeded to Gate P. Which turned out to be lounge P, serving several gates. Eventually our flight was announced, but I wasn't paying that much attention. There were two doors marked P, but I assumed they wouldn't be so stupid as to board two flights simultaneously through one logical gate. They were. I went through the wrong door. The flight attendants laughed at me as I crossed back in front of them.
Just as I was boarding -- nearly the last passenger, as is my habit, I heard them saying my name. I said "I'm Rob Ewaschuk", and they showed me a little piece of paper. "I think you might want this." It was my visa letter for getting back in to Dublin.
Finally, I sat down on the plane, and started talking to the guy beside me. He was reading a book in Hebrew, which I recognized a such, and asked him about. I proceeded to imply (accidentally) that little was written directly in Hebrew, and that he must be reading something translated from English. He didn't talk to me for the rest of the flight.
So yeah, bad flight. And I didn't solve my Sudoku, either.
