Tripped out
Today has been one of those days. You know. The kind of days that exist for the sole purpose of making you think and question existence and the elements that make up your life experiences. And it all started yesterday after my trip.
Last night was Jamie's birthday. During the day I was on the west coast on my thrid trip of the month (LAME! I should've had 5 by now). Since this trip required me to wake up early (before noon) I hadn't had any sleep. What's crazy was that this flight was supposed to be early, but for an unknown reason, we circled the airport around a bunch of times before we landed. (NOTE: this was not a holding position. I think the pilots were just awed at the sunset we were landing over, which was cool, but seriously... let's land already. But I digress...)
It was still early enough where I had time to go home, shower, get dressed, and meet up with Jamie and all the others. Not so. During our ride on the airtrain, something exceptionally odd happened. We had to get off at Federal Circle (one stop before I needed to) and take a shuttle to Jamaica cuz the airtrain was gonna go to Howard Beach instead. WTF??? I asked another FA if this happens often. She said it had never happened to her. She has like 20 years seniority and she's never seen this. What are the odds??? Anywho, we wait FOREVER for this shuttle bus and the stupid thing decided to take the "scenic" route to Jamaica. Because of this I miss my bus and have to wait another 20 minutes for the next one.
By the time I get home Jamie had already gone to the Kew Club so I had to figure out how to get there. I call her. A million times. She finally calls me back and I get the directions. Takes FOREVER. Had to take the Q44 over to the E train and from there get off at Union Turnpike and take the Q10 over to the club. O_o So I waited an eternity for the Q44 to take me all the way back down to Jamaica for the E. The E isn't too late, but it finds a way for me to be upset. when it gets to my stop, it doesn't let us off. WTF??? I had to get off at a further stop and go back. Grrr... I finally get there and the Q10 takes another milion years to show up. Thankfully my stop wasn't too far. Once I got to the Kew Club I was so on edge I go straight for the liquor. This is where the madness ensues.....
So I see Jamie, Clayton and Patrick (my FA training buddies) and they're there with a bunch of other FAs. some United, some Delta, all crazy. We were taking shots left and right. We made fun of the karaoke singers. We were going nuts. As the night persisted, I got smashed. Apparently, (according to Clay and Jamie) I was a huge flirt. I made out with a gay guy, I had 3 different guys buy me shots, and I danced my mind out. The dancing makes sense to me, but me getting guys to buy me shots is soooooo out of my element. But hey! Free shots. Good times ;D
At some point we finally leave. I had planned to crash with Jamie so we went walking. We stopped by a little store cuz Jamie was hungry. While there, I check out the ice cream cuz I always do and they had Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream!!! I had been looking for it, so at my highly inebriated state, I stole it. Easily. (Oh Karma is a cruel cruel bitch for what I get coming to me) Jamie lets me in to her place but doesn't come in with me cuz she was meeting a "beau" so she took off. I didn't care either way. For whatever reason, instead of going to her room, I go and sit in the living room. I stop by the kitchen to grab a spoon, and start going to town with my stolen goods.
Next thing I remember I wake up on the couch, ice cream melting everywhere and I'm cold as fuck. I'm still drunk, so I make feeble attempts at composing myself to make my way home. I put my ice cream in the freezer and head for the train. From Jamie's it's easier (J train to Jamaica then Q44 home) so I get home at a decent time. However, once I get home I decided to call my mom and let her know I was gonna head down to FL (I had decided this a week ago) when I realized I didn't have my phone. FUCK. I was too tired and hungover to really care so I just head on home. I go online and make the usual annoucements of my phone disppearance (not like it's the first time) and eventually pass out like at 10am. At around 1:30 I wake up and shower and get myself together. I call my mom and told her I lost my phone. She flips out. She tells me I shouldn't head down till I find it and to let her know what happens. DAMMIT. I had already booked the last flight at 8:35 and it was already like 3:30 at this point. I told her it'll take too long and I just wanted to go but she insisted. Boo.
So I'm forced to head back down to Jamie's. I don't get there till about 5pm and decided to just not go to FL so I sit and chill there for a bit. I was in no hurry to hit the trains and buses again. I call my mom to let her know I got my phone and that I was just gonna figure something out tomorrow. She tells me she had cooked my favorite meal and that she would have it ready for me tonight. I can't argue with that so I (reluctantly) headed back home to get my stuff ready and head for the airport. I miss the train (of course) and wait forever. Once in Jamaica, I wait forever for the bus. Once home it was already after 6 so I am not eager to rush through packing and running out again. Tio Luis was there so I thought he would offer a ride. He didn't. Soccer was on. Tia Carmen was running some where with Barbie (she wouldn't have taken me anyways) So I almost called it all off. But my mom's food was calling to me. As well as my mom actually calling me to head over.
*This is where the elements really fight against me*
I try to get my stuff together and get on my uniform. Almost everything I needed had to be searched for. ID badge, my personal survival kit, keys, EVERYTHING. I finally get done just after 7 and think "Tio Luis will have to give me ride. It's getting late and he knows my flight time." Nope. I felt guilty to even ask. Whatev. I sucked it up and headed for the bus AGAIN. I waited a while but not too long. But the bus was PACKED. Grrr... It wasn't even the limited so we stopped at every single rinky dink stop. We finally get to Jamaica and I'm sprinting (with my luggage) to the airtrain. It was working (thankfully) so I get out my airtrain pass to go through. NO GO. I grabbed the wrong card!!! So I missed the airtrain that was there to buy another fucking card. As I wait for the next train I debate about going through with it. I call JetBlue to find out if the flight's delayed cuz it had always been delayed when I've taken it before. ON TIME. I asked if it was too late to check in (it's 7:45 at this point) It was, but because I was jumpseating, I could go straight to the gate without checking in and I was assured I had plenty of time to make the flight. Awesome. Or so I thought.
The thing that sucks about JetBlue is that there terminal is right in the middle of the airtrain track. There's no shortcut so you have to sit it out. When I finally get there I race for security. I get the elevator out of the airtrain and head through the way I always go. Once inside it was the escalator up and into security on the side closest to the gate I needed to get to. PROBLEM. The escalator wasn't working. O_o I ask some JetBlue CS agents where the elevator was and they said it wasn't working either and I had to go to the other side furthest from my gate. DAMMIT. So I rush over to the other side. One of the guys recognized me from another time at the Kew Club a few weeks ago. I look at him and instantly recognize him. I wanted to be cordial, but I was cutting my time close so I said hi/bye and went on my way. The lady ahead of me let me pass her which was great but I (being totally flustered and b'duh) messed up with my cell and didn't put it on the belt. Once I took care of that, I got my stuff and raced all the way back to the other side where my gate was. I still had 12 minutes!!! I'm good!!! Right? WRONG. I get to the gate and told them I was supposed to jumpseat but didn't check in yet. Because I hadn't checked in they didn't wait for me and CLOSED the FLIGHT. They tried to call to see if they could open it for me but it was too late. I had been rejected even though I still technically had time. they closed 12 fucking minutes early. DEVASTATION.
There were no more flights to South Florida for the night so I was livid. Ikept thinking to myself that I didn't even really want to take this flight. I wasted the whole night trying to make this flight and I'm not even going. I was hungry, thristy, and physically (and mentally) exhausted. You know how I usually say I never cry? This was the closest I came to all-out balling in YEARS. I was just spent. I called my mom and told her I'd get the first flight out tomorrow. She made me feel worse just cuz she sounded so sorry for me. I forced her to hang up with me so I could get a ride home. And now I have to take ANOTHER journey back home on mass transit. Hell fuck no. I call the house. No answer. I call Tio Luis's phone. No answer. Tia Carmen's phone. No answer. I call the house again. And again. And again. No FUCKIN way I was taking the airtrain with no pass card and the bus with no change again.
I kept calling for a good fifteen minutes before Tio Luis FINALLY calls me from his cell. I ask him to come pick me up cuz I missed the flight and had no money to take the bus back. He usually would say, "Ok I'll be there in 20 minutes." This time it was, "Tu tia no esta aqui y necesito esperarla para recojerte. Te llamo cuando me voy." Translation: "Your aunt isn't here and I have to wait for her to pick you up (since when?) I'll call you when I head out." What he really meant was, "I'm still watching my game and I really don't want to get away from it." This was at about 8:45ish. I had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't calling me back.
I had hit a new low. I was in uniform at the airport not going anywhere. It was chilly outside and kind of nice since my face was so hot from being upset. And then it hit me. Karma. This was my Karma for stealing ice cream. But then I thought, this is pretty extreme for just some ice cream. Here I am at the airport totally abandoned with no way out and all for some god damn Ben and Jerry's?? No way. I think losing my phone was enough for that. There was a bigger force driving this chain of events. Why were the elements so against me??? It was one thing after another after another and once I had overcome them all there was no just reward. Is it possible that there was a greater scheme behind all this?? Maybe the events that would have arised from me taking that flight would have been utterly devastating?? Maybe I was meant to find out something else?? What could it be?? I really thought about it for a while. The elements were definitely giving me some kind of set up that was beyond human understanding...
I started listening to my iPod to calm me and began to wander the terminal a bit. I got changed cuz after a while I felt retarded in my uniform. I bought some candy bars and enjoyed the refined sugar. I gave Damian a call cuz apparently I had drunk dialed him last night. I flipped through some magazines and kept checking my phone. I don't know why I thought Tio would call me back. I guess I thought highly of him. I was wrong. After a while I thought I should just suck it up and head back. I had calmed down and had some chill time to myself so I should be good, right? Eh... fuck it.
Instead, I took the aitrain all around the terminals. I watched people get on and off while I just sat with my earphones on. After a while I wanted to check out terminal 4 which is the main terminal in JFK. I wandered it for a bit and it is huge. I assume that they used that terminal to film Steven Speilberg's little movie with Tom Hanks. Sweet. It was boring though since it was getting late and everything was closing so I headed out on the airtrain again. This time, I took my spot right in front and enjoyed the view of the tracks. It was pretty cool since there's no conductor on board like the subway trains. I thought about visiting all the terminals but since it was late and there wouldn't be much to see since they were closing everything down.
Tia Carmen finally calls me after 10pm and asks where I am. Duh, I'm still at the airport. She tells me to get a cab and come home. I didn't want to. I told her I was gonna stay at the airport since I was taking the first flight out. I decided this right then and there. And here I am now. Down in the domicile at terminal 7. I don't plan to sleep mostly because I don't want to ask what the door code for the lounge is. I'm sure it looks as lame as the one in LaGuardia. Ah well. I'm sure the internet can keep me occupied for a long long time. This is the kind of shit I have to write about I guess. All the things that lead up to me pondering my existence and my purpose and what the elements want with me regardless of how much I challenge them. I doubt anyone will reach the end of this so I'm just gonna say NAMBLA. =P
Whoa. It turned out a hell of a lot longer than I thought. DAMN. I think this is a new record for me. Sweet...