Homedy Home Home

I am now officially home, in my very own bed. The house, thanks to my father, is now wireless. Yay! He says he did it just for me. What a guy.

I seem to be in my very own, very confused, time zone. It involves lots of sleep, though currently I find this highly enjoyable.

With my willful disregard and apathy for the news the past couple of weeks, I was unaware that terrorism had taken over some Mumbai train lines. The last news I had had of Mumbai was it flooding, trains stopping, people not getting to work, and people drowning. With the bomb attacks, a number of people became concerned for me and I contacted almost no one while in Hong Kong. I think everyone knows now, either through this blog or other means, though I can't be sure. Anyhow, I just looked impressively silly when I returned and they asked if I was glad I got away in time etc etc. Depending on my willingness to be embarrassed in front of each person, my response ranged from "Huh?" to "Uh.. yeah," until someone told me what was up.

For some more details of my flights - I arrived at the Hong Kong airport in plenty of time, seen off safely by Matt. (*FYI - for those of you interested, I've linked to his blog on the right side of this page and you can read his crazy China exploits.*) Got my bags rummaged through and then sealed, checked in, and sent off to a faraway gate. I dawdled here and there, so when I finally reached the gate I didn't have to wait for very long before the boarding began. 14 hour flight without incident. The flight was completely full, every seat occupied, and I felt a bit sorry for the flight attendants (the grand majority of which were male - odd). Next to me was a woman who didn't do anything but read the Bible, in two different languages, and fill out as many immigration forms as were available - I'm still unsure as to whether she had a visa or not, because she filled out the one for being without one and also the one for having one. Maybe she didn't understand the instrustions, but at least she was prepared. I watched all four movies on the flight - Firewall, Failure to Launch, Cinderella Man, and Walk the Line. I don't have much to say about these movies... Firewall was not impressive, nor was Failure to Launch (though more entertaining at least), I still dislike boxing, perhaps even more after watching more of it, nice try Russell Crowe, but you'll always be a superior asshole in my mind - at least if they keep type-casting you, I'll feel less and less oblidged to watch your movies. Walk the Line was good. I believe Reese Witherspoon made the movie what it is, and no doubt she'll stay America's sweetheart actress for years to come. And if you were unaware, Ring of Fire is really easy to get stuck in your head.

Chicaago. Arrival at O'Hare airport. Through Immigration - actually relieved to be in a society that knows what queing up is all about. Picked up my bags, filled out the customs form, they let me keep my bread - yay! - and then handed my bags back over to my airline counter. There was a repeating announcement about Hoof and Mouth Disease, and anyone who had been around livestock should go to such-and-such a place. Wellll, I had been around livestock, there are cows and pigs, goats and sheep, water buffallo and camels, all in the streets of India. Unfortunately for your safety I decided nay on the agricultural check - we'll see how it works out. :) My father actually has me under a slight quarantine (ie. he won't drink after me right now, he's giving me an incubation period). Plus because of my trip to India, I won't be able to give blood for three years because of Malaria. I'd like to take this time to note that I did not get sick in India despite my lack of vaccines and sad misplacement and therefore non-use of mosquito repellent, plus drinking some fairly questionable water. Woot!
So I waited around for my gate number to be listed, good times. It finally was and I made my way over. I met a guy who had the ridiculous story of spending the last 36 hours trying to get from San Fransico to Austin. He'd had a bundle of bad luck and told me some stories about United and Chicago that made me a little concerned for my flight. They changed the gate we were in but thankfully we noticed it quickly. I don't know if it's Chicago or just United, but chaos seems to reign and the employees look fairly stressed to be redirecting people constantly and announcing cancellations so often. Boarded the plane, I was 17 C and was in the very last row of the plane - yep, one of those planes. Short flight, uneventful, touched down to home. Russ was there waiting. :D
Lovely.
I smell fresh bread coming from my kitchen, so this is when I leave more blogging for later.
Ta-ta!