Notes from Flight VX29

Here are a subset of thoughts that happened as my flight was delayed, until the current moment, where I have about four remaining hours until we touch down in San Francisco. Bring back the Live Blog, I say!

• Can't keep my purse under my seat. Had to stow it three aisles away. Anxiety hums around 10%.
• "Free Web Features" section promotes a marine rescue short. YES. I watch, in silence. Marine mammal rescues do not need sound. And we all know the ending, and we all hear Free Willy with it.
  
  
• Guy next to me pulls up Girl with a Dragon Tattoo to watch. YIPES. Now it's just a countdown to the horrific rape scene. Is it uncouth to ask our flight attendant to turn off this movie because it makes me uncomfortable? 
  
  
•  Takeoff is delayed. No information. I am patient.
  
  
•  I lose two games of Mah Jong.
  
  
•  I miss my book in my purse. It's a Carson McCullers book called "Clock without Hands". Her last novel was so deep I had to read a few upbeat and impersonal books for a while. Dove into this one and it's about cancer and racism. Would be better than being close to GWTDT.
  
  
• I win a game of Mah Jong.  It's tougher than Sudoku.  Some games cannot be beat, you guys.
  
  
• TAKEOFF! 
  
  
•  I watch the seal rescue video again on mute. 
  
  This is not the seal from the video, but one very similar.  Note the shark bite wound.  Can you imagine you're just walking down 6th Avenue one day, or whatever habitat YOU live in, and somebody comes and takes a bite out of your ribcage?  We have no predators at all.
  
  
• I think about the patrons walking out of the Park Slope Food Coop, and how they were so fired up about Palestine. If we all felt so strongly that our purchasing decisions should reflect our political beliefs, why not boycott Texas? Or Arizona? 
  
  
• Seatbelt sign is on, but people are getting up to pee. I get up to pee.
  
  
• There is a line to pee. Flight attendant says I need to sit in my seat while the light is on. She's right; there are rules, and I enjoy following them, like French parents insist that children like to do. I sit in an abandoned row.
  
  
• Flight attendant informs me that there was a mess in my abandoned row, and that I might want to move. My feet rest on top of a pile of dry smell-absorbing powder. Underneath that is probably barf. I move to the seat across the aisle. Bathroom opens up, I go in, get my purse from row 2000, return to my seat. 
  
  
• Hungry. I think about the sandwich I had at Bierkraft. Tasty sandwich and a beer is heaven every time. But they had a "Paleo" option on the menu: jerk chicken. What is Paleo? Is it an eating practice with ethical guidelines, like veganism and vegetarianism? If they're eating delicious, flavorful meals like jerk chicken, there must be some vector of inconvenience and cost I'm not aware of. Doing the right thing is never the yummy or cheap option.
  
  
• Get some work done on my laptop. 
  
  
• Ugh, Daniel Craig & Rooney Mara sex scene. I so strongly prefer Noomi Rapace. She wasn't the demented, ghostly victimized savant. Noomi was a warrior. 
  
  
• Check out my lady-coder meetups for WWDC. FOUND ONE!! RSVP'd lightning fast. 
  
  
•  Virgin took away VH1 and MTV and lady-trash channels! My hopes of watching 5 hours of 16 & Pregnant, Bridezillas, and Tabitha Takes Over plummet. I rethink my no-cable-tv-unless-youre-flying rule.
  
  
• Miss my plus one already. Ever used the Pair app? Really, really fun. Recommended.
  
  
• LIVE BLOG!!
  
  
•  Take a break and watch a movie I know will be bad involving time, Justin Timberlake, and that pretty actress from Mamma Mia with large eyes.

The End.  I'm sorry I don't have any WWDC predictions.  Just that everyone will be excited, and there's a chance I'll become a convert to the fandom.  I just hope I fill my newly purchased lime-green spiral notebook with lots of things I didn't know before.

Comments

[Ezra]

You can't boycott Texas. It's not trying to sell you anything.

[Ezra]

Or . . . Is it . . . ?

[Adam Rice]

Paleo means eating foods a hunter-gatherer would recognize, and eschewing the products of agriculture. It's very yummy, not very cheap, and as ethical as rain.