Oh, by the way

Aug. 4th, 2005 at 8:20 PM

I'm baaaaack. I left Monday night (well, Tuesday morning at 12:05 AM, but I had to get to Jorge Chavez by 9:30 PM in order to get through $%&^()# Immigration in time) and arrived at home 2:00 PM Tuesday afternoon. That's a lot of plane/airport time. The plane trip from Lima to Atlanta would have been fine, but I only got about an hour and a half of sleep because apparently the Peruvian Barbershop Coughing Quartet was practicing for the International Coughing Competition right behind me. For two soles I'd have beaten them to death with my complementary airline dinner sandwich. So it goes.

I was so exhausted and hungry by the time I got to Dulles that when Chris was a little late picking me up, I quickly and logically decided that he had 1) died in a fiery car crash, or 2) forgotten the incredibly complicated procedure involved in picking someone up from Dulles* and was at that moment orbiting Tyson's Corner.

When I got home I took a four-hour nap, went to bed early and slept half of yesterday away. Even so, I'm still not caught up on sleep. I'll post pics and trip highlights this weekend, IF YOU'RE NICE TO ME. ;)

Oh, and working all day? I was right. It really does suck.

*Follow enormous "Arrivals" signs, clearly visible to all but the legally blind. Drive slowly past Arrivals exits, squinting at every face as you go. Repeat as necessary until you find either your party, or someone cuter who also needs a ride.

Link

Comments

( 11 comments — Leave a comment )

joanarkham wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 12:26 pm (UTC)

Welcome back!

Link | Reply | Thread

pastor_saturn wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 01:27 pm (UTC)

Danke! It's kinda sorta pretty good to be back. I guess. ;)

Link | Reply | Parent | Thread

kalligraphy wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 03:21 pm (UTC)

Apparently you missed the memo. Noise canceling headphones! They are the greatest invention to come along in the age of air travel. You can buy them at Best Buy for like $20 and they even come with an adaptor for use with the in plane sound system. Put on headphones, turn on the noise filter and sit back. No more drone of the engines and most importantly, no crying, screaming, carying on terrorist children making my flight miserable. This would also apply for coughing. The first time I used my noise canceling headphones, I was flying from DC to Pheonix via Charlotte. In Charlotte I was "blessed" with a seat directly in front of a child that was approximately 1 year old. Said child was not happy to be flying and voiced his opinion on the matter quite vociferously while at the gate in Charlotte. He cried continuously during wait, taxi and take off. Shortly after which I put on my headphones and turned on my portable DVD player. About half way through the flight I swapped DVD's and during the lull I heard said child still complaining of the indignity of being in a child seat on an airplane. About an hour later I had to turn off my DVD player to swap in a new battery and sure enough my little rear passenger was still crying. Eventually we arrived in Pheonix and all electronic equipment had to be turned off. Our little bundle of tears was still crying. One could tell by the complete lack of energy this poor child had, that he had been crying non-stop for the entire non-stop flight, which somehow seems appropriate. I can gladly say that my noise canceling headphones made that flight considerably more pleasant than it could have been. I can not recommend them enough and will never willing fly without them again.

Link | Reply | Thread

pastor_saturn wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 03:46 pm (UTC)

Thanks for the tip! I guess I don't fly enough to be clued in on these miraculous little goodies. I'll definitely keep an eye out next time. I am eternally grateful that I just had to deal with coughers, not criers. (Or, worse yet, poopers. To my knowledge, they have not developed diaper-smell-canceling technology!)

Link | Reply | Parent | Thread

cweaselle wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 05:23 pm (UTC)

I'm glad you had a good trip. What does being nice to you entail exactly?

Link | Reply | Thread

pastor_saturn wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 08:13 pm (UTC)

Thanks! Hey, use your imagination!

Link | Reply | Parent | Thread

cweaselle wrote:

Aug. 5th, 2005 08:44 pm (UTC)

Does it include pulling your pigtails and taking your milk money?