A long long long day...

So.. It's been very hectic for me... I'll start where it all started.

Sunday morning.. 5 a.m. I arrive at the airport and start check in for my 6 a.m. flight. I clear through security relativly quickly without any issues. Not a bad start. The plane is next to full when I ask at the counter, so I talk my way into a free upgrade to first class. Not a bad way to spend the next 4 hours in the air. It seems all is well, no trouble, no hassle. We take off and land on-time.. maybe just a couple of minutes off from schedule, but no big deal.

Then it happens... I step off the plane, start walking up the ramp into the airport at Fort Worth, TX. My phone rings... I thought it was slightly odd as I just had turned it on less then several minutes ago. I pick it up to find an automated voice on the other end of the line... Not a telemarketer... something worse... far far worse. American Airlines.. "This is an automated message.. blah blah blah... Your flight from Fort Worth, TX to Little Rock, Arkansas.. Has been cancled. You have been booked for a flight tommorow at 10:30 am."

Now.. If I weren't in a big rush this wouldn't have been bad. But as the fates decreed, I was in a rush. I had to be to Little Rock tonight. So I find my way to an agent and get on the wait list for a flight.. Not bad.. Number 4 on the list. So now I sit around for the next 2 hours as I wait to find out if I made it onto the flight.... I didn't... So I get onto another wait list... This one not so promising. By the time I even made it onto the wait list I had been at the airport over 6 hours... stressed. The next bad news comes.. The wait list for this flight is over 60 people long. Almost enough to fill another jet.

I give up...

Three other people standing there were in the same situation as I was.. We all had to be there tonight, and there was no way this was going to happen if we waited around. So we rent a car and drive the 5 hours to Little Rock. By the time we pull in it's after 10 p.m. local time. I'm stressed, worn out, agrivated.. and I still had to check in. I get to my room, it's about 10:3o. I'm starving.. My favorite chinese food place is closed already... So in desperation I call Papa Johns, which for some unknown reason was still open, and order a med pie with green peppers. It got there about 11:15.. I proceeded to scarf it down.. I inhaled it... Satisfied now, I went to sleep... didn't even unpack.

I wake up the next morning at about 6:30 a.m., about an hour after my alarm was set for. So I rushed to get up when I eventually dragged my tierd body out of bed. Jumped in the shower... and stood there. This was what I needed... exactly this. Scalding hot water pouring over me and relaxing me... I just wish I had more time to stand there. By the time I get out of the shower it's about 7:20. I scramble through my luggage for a full set of uniforms. Throw them on, and rush out to class, first day, 7:45 start time.

Class... More fun... paperwork. Nothing exciting, nothing at all. I did everything I could to not fall asleep. It was difficult. Class lets out finally at 4:30. I go back to my room, and did what I couldn't do this morning. I turned the shower up to scalding again, and stood there for the next 30 minutes. After drying myself off, I decided it's time to rent a car. So I call the rental place, for no one to pick up the phone after 5 minutes of constant ringing. So I take the shuttle to the airport. They're out of cars. I finally found one I liked at AVIS, a Pontiac G6. Still worn out from the night before, and the class today, I found my way out to dinner.

I ordered.. The food came.. I found out that I wasn't hungry after just a couple of bites. So I get some very light desert, a half of a slice of key-lime pie. Very slowly I found myself eating that. When I finished I sat there staring out the window for several minutes... what turned into probably about 30 minutes. Paid the bill, and left.

Now I find myself sitting here, looking at the suitcases that I haven't unpacked, and writing this... Stress relief... that's what this is for me tonight. A way to whine about my day without that high pitched voice that even I can't stand...

Now... I think I'm going to unpack part of the suitcase, and pass out.

Good night world, May the gods watch over me and you as we sleep tonight...