and actually, the day started last night. for reasons too long to explain, i had a hotel room for last night. this is despite the fact that we had a condo until tomorrow (tues) because there were 4 of us. the room was pre-paid for (i know, that doesn't happen often, but it did) and so i was intending to go stay there. i love nice, clean hotel rooms. and my own big bed. and a clean bathroom (i've been sharing with my uncle which isn't the worst thing in the world, but having your own is clearly better). i also wanted internet so i could download things and there is one main benefit to being in a hotel last night: i would be alone. its a fact. i like to be alone. i'm an introvert. i can't be around people 100% of the time. i need ME time. and lots of it. i haven't had much lately, which is fine, i don't get to see my parents often, BUT i also felt like i was doing a lot of things that i wouldn't normally do - going to restaurants i didn't like, compromising on things to do, spending a lot of time in gyms, etc. i don't do stuff like this. so i wanted to be alone.
of course, my father whined, and i ended up staying at the condo. he didn't want to have to take me to the hotel at night and said he'd take me to the airport at 5:30am. this had a benefit of not having to lug my luggage on to a hotel shuttle and get up extra early to make sure i got the right shuttle. so i relented and stayed in the condo.
and now i remember. i know this much is true: i do not like being around people when i have to wake up early. i want to be alone. and with music and go at my own pace whether that be fast or slow. in the future, when i have a pre-paid hotel room, i think i will take it.
a few things that contributed to my lack of mood this morning. 1) i thought the trip to the airport would be 15-20 minutes. not a half hour. this was certainly my fault for not leaving more time, but i have learned another thing. when going to the airport - i need to drive myself. there is nothing more frustrating than being in a rush and depending on other people. i emailed my friend about this and she agreed. she said that when she is in a rush to get to the airport, she doesn't talk to anyone until she is at the gate getting ready to board. thats how serious i become when i am anxious to get to the airport. i dont know if i have ever missed a flight (i can't remember) but i dont want to. i also dont like to wait a long time, so i am often pushing myself and thats fine. as long as i dont have to push anyone else who gets annoyed with me. this is why i need to drive going forward.
2) not all airports have priority screening. i got to the airport in a stressed state - an hour before my flight, but not 1.5 hrs like i had anticipated (i recognized there would be a lot of travelers). normally this wouldn't make me nervous, but today there are THOUSANDS of people at mco. ugh. so i get in the "expert traveler" line only to realize that is WINDS around the room MORE and therefore is actually a longer line. i'm not sure that it goes faster. i get to the front and, just like in up in the air, i zoom through and get all my stuff out quickly. i'm an expert screen go-througher. there is no body scanner, so i think "nice, no need to worry." i go through security and set off the metal detector. she has me go through again. i dont set it off the 2nd time, so i must've hit it the first time. despite not going off the 2nd time, she made me go stand in this plastic mini room. this guy comes up to me and wipes a cloth on my hands. it tests positive in their fancy machine. i'm not sure why - i haven't handled any explosives lately (to my knowledge). they had to find a woman screen me, so that took some time. its easily 20 min before my flight, so i'm not super worried anymore. the woman brings me over to a different area and gives me the "pat down."
now let me just say a few things about the much-hyped pat down... it's pretty frickin invasive. there is definitely someones hands up your crotch. and don't get me wrong - it doesn't bother me: 1) i'm pretty effin open and liberal and have no issues with people groping between my legs (although i'd prefer they bought me a drink first) and 2) i completely understand that tsa has no idea if i've stuffed some sort of thing inside my thing and am planning to blow up a plane. so i UNDERSTAND the pat downs, and for me, personally, it doesnt bother me. BUT if i were a sexual assault survivor, i might freak out. i understand its an issue. and i think i handled it fine. BUT it doens't help add to my mood at 7am on a monday morning when you're trying to get back to work.
so i go to my flight - no upgrade, but i had an exit row, so that was nice. we board and i fell asleep. i do this often and usually have no idea how long we've been in the air when i wake up. this time, turns out we weren't in the air at all. we never took off. some electrical problem in atlanta (my layover) closed 18 gates and so delta had problems - they couldn't accept flights or let flights leave. so our flight was grounded. we head back to the gate and they tell people that you MAY deplane if you'd like, but you dont have to. since i have a nice exit row seat, i was perfectly comfortable. and this didn't even make my mood worse. i typically have no issues flying and was actually trying to decide if i should even go to work because my flight would be late.
only about 10% of the plane stayed on, of which i was 1. BUT i'm smart. so i call delta while sitting on the plane. i'm on hold for 15 min, no doubtedly because atlanta is a major hub and causing tons of issues. when i finally get to someone, she says that they have automatically booked me on a direct flight to boston. SCORE! so i get up and grab my stuff and am heading out the plane when the lead flight attendant says "you're leaving? we're reboarding the plane." and i said "they rebooked me on a direct flight!" so i go out to the gate agent to get my ticket for my next flight. my mood is changing.
i ask the gate agent for an exit row seat and he says to me, "well, actually, they've booked you in first class." double score! so i get my ticket and actually feel i'm able to HELP people - many people were on the atlanta flight after mine and wanted to get on my flight, so now some lucky person got to. AND in an exit row seat!
so the 2nd thing that changed my mood: i am sitting patiently at my gate for my direct flight to boston (2 hours later) and my little brother, player, tweets something about checking in at mco. ?! of course! so i call him and sure enough, he's checking in to delta. he asked me if i saw a bunch of tall guys in black and blue (his team). i didn't because they were checking in and i was at the gate, but he said he'd call once he was through security. he calls back and turns out he was leaving from gate 73 and i was sitting at gate 74! so he comes to meet me. i was like "where's your team?" because he was the only black and blue person i saw. turns out he left them in the dust! he went through security and got on the first tram to come see me. awww. so we only got to hang for like 15 min, but he showed me his pictures from his trip, which was awesome and we had a good time. here is a picture of the two of us.
as you can see, my mood has improved. i'm on the internet on the flight and since i have to take a vacation day at work since my flight was late, i'm going home (instead of lugging my luggage to work, etc). i'll unpack and ... dum dum dum... start xmas decorating!! i can't wait! oh crap. i have open toed shoes. do we have snow in boston? that might actually IMPROVE my mood even more! i love snow. miss it. i just hope its not cold.[song because its by the moody blues and i was moody today AND i'm in the sky!!]
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first! (joke)
ReplyDeletei'm glad your day got turned right-side-up.