My friend texted me today to tell me he felt like me when he was standing on a corner of a bus stop waiting for his ride that never came.
Bad luck?
Bad Kharma?
I dunno.
"everything is a test"
that's what we told ourselves every day in Delta training.
I'm almost one month into flying and I'm not sure how many more tests I can take.
Anything that could happen to you... well, it probably already happened to me... twice.
I'm wearing 2 different socks because I lost the other pairs of both socks along the way.
Hi. My name is Julie... and here is my violin.
Can I play it for you?
It's 2:30am at the Newark International Airport in New Jersey. This has been one of my new homes. I am learning all the secret corridors in these places. Again... here I am eating my overpriced ramen noodles for dinner and waiting for my 6am flight.
I get to go home tomorrow! I'm pretty excited. I think that most of my... let's call it a mini depression... is coming from being home sick... not having a steady schedule... being malnutritioned and dehydrated (that's all according to my wise friend as well).
The rest of my reason for my "depression" is money. It's the biggest portion.
Did you know flight attendants don't make any money?
Did you know that I qualify for FOOD STAMPS?!
Did you know that there are flight attendants who are already on these food stamps?
holy crap.
I get paid every two weeks... now granted my whole time in training we got paid minimum wage... that's $5.85 an hour I believe... so my last check was part training and part flying... I think... I hope that it never looks like that again... Let's just say... It didnt even cover my cell phone bill. So without getting technical on my money problems, let me tell you that the $300 check went towards transportation and food... for 2 weeks... cause its expensive in New York. So... who wants to pay my rent, cell phone, car, car insurance, water, cable, electric, and buy me new luggage? I'm pretty sure no one does... I don't even want to.
Now here's the irony... the part where the situation actually has my bad luck sealed in my name...
I have $15 in my account. You can't pull $15 out of an account unless you are at a bank. I have $5 in my pocket. Tomorrow I get into Nashville and to get from the airport to my house is a $15 cab ride. What the crap?! So I'm either hitchhiking or walking. It's probably only 15 miles away anyways... Then I know that there is a check in my mailbox waiting for me... everything is fine after that. But to get from point A to point C you need point B. My life always misses out on point B.
Another example of my irony.
I needed to get from the LaGuardia aiport to Jersey City, New Jersey at 1am. There are 3 trains involved. I actually had the money this time... so where is the irony in this point B? My wheel fell off of my suitcase. I had to catch the M60 bus to get to the N train to go to 34th street. Walk to 33rd street and catch the path train and walk about 6 blocks to my friends house dragging a suitcase minus a wheel that sounded like I was being followed by a freight train.
Do you think that this gets me down? Nope.
I'm laughing right now... on the inside of course because I have to be quiet cause everyone around me is sleeping...
but I laugh because I know it will all work out in some weird way that is my life...
I will somehow get a ride home tomorrow and have a crazy story to tell you... like how I hitchhiked on a motorcycle and towed my wheel-less luggage behind me... or how I just parachuted from the plane a few minutes early to land on my front porch... shoot. I dunno... but that's my life!
I tell all my friends... I cannot offer you much in life... but I can promise you this... if you hang with me... there will be adventure. I make that an oath... There will never be a dull day with me.
If you have ever driven in a car with me... or gone to the grocery store... or even parked my car with me... it won't be boring. Thats for sure!
One day I will write a book about all my missing Point B's... or all the adventures that you didnt expect to have with me... like the time I actually did hitchhike on a motorcycle with 2 other friends and 2 other motorcycles... or the day where I was supposed to drive Kevin Max to a show and I couldnt parallel park so we had to get out and trade seats so he could park my car at his own show in front of the line of fans waiting to get in... or the time when I slept at an airport but didnt really sleep... oh wait... that's right now.
Well... wish me luck on my travels home... and if my cell phone is shut off between now and who knows when... well... send me an e-mail. :)
xxoo
JulieKristine
Monday, April 28, 2008
Friday, April 25, 2008
Airport Diaries- The glamour of it all
Current mood: relaxed
*I wrote this last night with no internet access at the airport...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
So yesterday morning I woke up in Tampa after a 24 hour layover. It was fabulous! The hotel was nice, the pool was amazing, the weather beautiful and sunny! I sat by the pool for 2 hours and loved my life... I walked over to the mall and just walked around and got a free milkshake. It was a really nice day! I had a great night sleep in a real bed... it was almost normal... almost glamorous... except the part that I skipped out where I washed all my underwear and socks and shirts in the sink by hand and laid them on the balcony in the sun and in the bathroom... when my last shirt didn't dry before I had to leave, I laid it on a towel and pinned it down with some heavy cups and rigged the blow dryer to blow it just right so that I didn't have to hold it and it would move the shirt until it dried the whole thing. It was pretty funny and I promise you that I almost video blogged it.
My crew and I hopped on the shuttle and head over to the airport to start our long day. 9:45 am until 9:30 pm. Whew! So we went from Tampa to La Guardia. The little shuttle driver started our day off with a bang when he got in a screaming match with the security gate and refused to show him his ID. As soon as we got our coffees we got the paperwork and the day was starting off JUST right... the paperwork informed us we would be having one prisoner on board escorted by 2 armed undercover officers, one airborne peanut allergy, one dead person in cargo w/ the family of the deceased on board, one unaccompanied minor and 12 wheelchairs. DUDE! Everything we learned in training was on that paperwork. HA! The airborne peanut allergy was the most irritating because we cannot serve peanuts at all on the flight... even our food for sale had peanuts... the trailmix, the m&ms, the cliff bars, etc. How stupid! The prisoner was handcuffed with a sweatshirt over the cuffs to prevent passenger freak out. Any flights to and from Florida always have a million old people who they let pre-board cause it takes them eternity to get on the flippin plane. I'm not a big fan of decrepit people cause they smell weird, they aren't very nice and they are kinda demanding and slow. So anyways... the flight was fine... just slooow. Then we get to La Guardia and head back down to Florida... West Palm Beach to be exact... and then back to La Guardia... I was just pretty tired and not sure where I was gonna sleep... And we got into NY at 9:30ish... I had checked for Atlanta flights so I could see my friends since I had one day off before I had to be back in NY to be on call... and the last atlanta flight was at 9pm. boo. So when I got off the plane at 9:30 I asked the gate agent if there were any flights going anywhere... cause who knows... maybe I'd know someone there and I could sleep in a different state on a couch or something... it was better than the airport again... so she said that there was one delayed flight to Atlanta. I was like WOAH! The boarding door was closed and we ran and they let us on! Heckya! So I called my friends while I'm walking down the aisle of the plane and told them to pick me up in an hour and a half. Suweet success! So I got a good night sleep, some good food, good company and came BACK to NY to get here before midnight. Now I'm in La Guardia... There is no wi-fi. The crew lounge is locked (of course) and the other crew office is cold and bright and there are old ladies in there that snore. I bought an over-priced ramen noodles from the vending machine and haggled in spanish with the cleaning crew on break for a fork and now I'm sitting in the ground transportations lounge with my phone plugged in because its almost dead.
I have 3 options.
1) Sleep here.
2) Go pick up a key to my friends house from his work downtown and then go to the bronx and have a comfy place to sleep. That's kinda far and I have no idea what trains to take... and the bronx at night... umm...
3) Go to Jersey on the public transportation that I have been on and I am familiar with and have a comfy place to sleep. um yes.
So I'm going to Jersey.
P.S. It took me 3 hours to get to Jersey...
I have a 5am check in at Newark tomorrow so Im gonna sleep there tonight at the airport... The cool thing is I have a day layover in LA so I get to see a friend so randomly and then to Atlanta to sleep... and theeeeeen I get to Newark at night so I sleep there again and catch a 6am flight to Atlanta then to NASHVILLE!!! for 6 days off! ... well technically off but I have a heckalot of things to catch up on...
*I wrote this last night with no internet access at the airport...
Thursday, April 24, 2008
So yesterday morning I woke up in Tampa after a 24 hour layover. It was fabulous! The hotel was nice, the pool was amazing, the weather beautiful and sunny! I sat by the pool for 2 hours and loved my life... I walked over to the mall and just walked around and got a free milkshake. It was a really nice day! I had a great night sleep in a real bed... it was almost normal... almost glamorous... except the part that I skipped out where I washed all my underwear and socks and shirts in the sink by hand and laid them on the balcony in the sun and in the bathroom... when my last shirt didn't dry before I had to leave, I laid it on a towel and pinned it down with some heavy cups and rigged the blow dryer to blow it just right so that I didn't have to hold it and it would move the shirt until it dried the whole thing. It was pretty funny and I promise you that I almost video blogged it.
My crew and I hopped on the shuttle and head over to the airport to start our long day. 9:45 am until 9:30 pm. Whew! So we went from Tampa to La Guardia. The little shuttle driver started our day off with a bang when he got in a screaming match with the security gate and refused to show him his ID. As soon as we got our coffees we got the paperwork and the day was starting off JUST right... the paperwork informed us we would be having one prisoner on board escorted by 2 armed undercover officers, one airborne peanut allergy, one dead person in cargo w/ the family of the deceased on board, one unaccompanied minor and 12 wheelchairs. DUDE! Everything we learned in training was on that paperwork. HA! The airborne peanut allergy was the most irritating because we cannot serve peanuts at all on the flight... even our food for sale had peanuts... the trailmix, the m&ms, the cliff bars, etc. How stupid! The prisoner was handcuffed with a sweatshirt over the cuffs to prevent passenger freak out. Any flights to and from Florida always have a million old people who they let pre-board cause it takes them eternity to get on the flippin plane. I'm not a big fan of decrepit people cause they smell weird, they aren't very nice and they are kinda demanding and slow. So anyways... the flight was fine... just slooow. Then we get to La Guardia and head back down to Florida... West Palm Beach to be exact... and then back to La Guardia... I was just pretty tired and not sure where I was gonna sleep... And we got into NY at 9:30ish... I had checked for Atlanta flights so I could see my friends since I had one day off before I had to be back in NY to be on call... and the last atlanta flight was at 9pm. boo. So when I got off the plane at 9:30 I asked the gate agent if there were any flights going anywhere... cause who knows... maybe I'd know someone there and I could sleep in a different state on a couch or something... it was better than the airport again... so she said that there was one delayed flight to Atlanta. I was like WOAH! The boarding door was closed and we ran and they let us on! Heckya! So I called my friends while I'm walking down the aisle of the plane and told them to pick me up in an hour and a half. Suweet success! So I got a good night sleep, some good food, good company and came BACK to NY to get here before midnight. Now I'm in La Guardia... There is no wi-fi. The crew lounge is locked (of course) and the other crew office is cold and bright and there are old ladies in there that snore. I bought an over-priced ramen noodles from the vending machine and haggled in spanish with the cleaning crew on break for a fork and now I'm sitting in the ground transportations lounge with my phone plugged in because its almost dead.
I have 3 options.
1) Sleep here.
2) Go pick up a key to my friends house from his work downtown and then go to the bronx and have a comfy place to sleep. That's kinda far and I have no idea what trains to take... and the bronx at night... umm...
3) Go to Jersey on the public transportation that I have been on and I am familiar with and have a comfy place to sleep. um yes.
So I'm going to Jersey.
P.S. It took me 3 hours to get to Jersey...
I have a 5am check in at Newark tomorrow so Im gonna sleep there tonight at the airport... The cool thing is I have a day layover in LA so I get to see a friend so randomly and then to Atlanta to sleep... and theeeeeen I get to Newark at night so I sleep there again and catch a 6am flight to Atlanta then to NASHVILLE!!! for 6 days off! ... well technically off but I have a heckalot of things to catch up on...
Monday, April 21, 2008
"...that's the story of my life."
Current mood: argumentative
so I had the JFK to Atlanta, Atlanta to Orlando, Orlando to Atlanta flights on the 19th. It was pretty decent and I was so exhausted by the end of the 3rd leg since I hadn't slept but an hour in the lounge. We had trainees on that last leg so I didn't have to do a thing. AH yes! I love the trainees. :)
So I had a 22 hour layover in Atlanta. I feel asleep at 7pm and woke up at 8:30am. Happy Day.
Then I flew Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta and Atlanta to JFK. The first flight was fine. The SECOND flight we hit an airpocket so hard while I was walking down the aisle that my feet lifted off the ground and I grabbed on to two passengers seats and braced my butt down on the third passengers seat. As I look down the aisle towards the aft galley on the 757 I see one of my crew members had flown up in the air, fell on her butt in the red dress and hit herself on the cart. She stayed on the ground, pinned between the cart and the galley until there was stable air... she tried so hard to be lady like since she was in a skirt, and I tried to keep a smile on my face like it was a normal occurance in my job description... I don't like for the passengers and other flight attendants to know that I am new... so I smiled away with my "delta face" and held on for dear life while people screamed. nice. My crew member is ok. She bumped her arm and side and leg really hard and hurt her neck. They asked her if she needed to stay and not continue but she sucked it up and stayed on for the last leg. So the LAST flight. ugh. It was a 767. none of us had ever flown one of those either. The flight leader was brand new. It was her first trip as a flight leader. So we had all of our red books out in the first 30 minutes of the very first leg. As we are boarding, we are on this stupid plane where the seat numbers don't match with the seats so a number is in between 2 seats and everyone (including us) were confused... so much so that the new yorkers started a screaming match as to which seat was 25e and which one was 26e. hell. THEN... as they are all situated we have one lady standing in the aisle and tells us that the little lady on the aisle row will not let her sit in the middle seat. The little lady doesnt speak english... of course she speaks spanish. So I ask her why she wont let the lady standing sit. She tells me that her daughter is supposed to sit there and she had the boarding pass in the seat. Well the boarding pass said it was for 25d... and she was in 31d. um... so I tried to explain it to her. She "spoke" spanish... she did not "comprehend" spanish. She just kept telling me that her daughter was coming... and that she was standing in the aisle talking to her husband... well NO ONE was in the aisle (except for the very patient lady waiting to be seated) and NO ONE was in the bathroom. So we had to raise our voices to the old lady... We asked her finally to get up and find her daughter. Well of course her daughter was seated in the right seat... 25D. The daughter and son-in-law have to physically get up and tell the old lady to sit down and to let the other lady sit as well... why do senile people fly?
When we get in the air... we realize that there is no potable water... which means, no coffee, no tea and no washing your hands in the bathroom. ew. so we put wipes in the bathroom and prepared to disappoint all the people.
We had down the method of how to serve all 250 people...we were all new hires in the crew, so me and the 2 previous flight attendants took care of the beverages. I do snacks and then jump on the back of the beverage cart cause I'm fast... usually. WELL. apparently atlanta to jfk people don't eat anywhere else but the airplane because everyone wanted 3 snacks a piece. umm. whatever. So I FINALLY get through the snack service and hop on the beverage cart and the very first guy I wait on asks me for fruit juice. I tell him we dont have it... we only have apple and cranapple... he keeps pointing at the cart and asking for fruit juice. I tell him VERY slowly that there is NO fruit juice... so he asks for a whole can of apple. whatever. by the time I get to wait on the next person he had flippin chugged the can of apple and asked me for another! holy crap! so I give him another just so he will leave me alone. his wife asks for a can of apple juice. I only have 5 cans of apple juice total to serve to everyone. why does the 767 hate me?
by the time I wait on the third person the man grabs at me and asks me for a sprite. SERIOUSLY?! so I friggin gave him a sprite... and as I could here him shouting for me down the aisle I just ignored him and kept walking... forget that. it's only a 2 hour flight. good grief. every time we walked past a seat someone would ring the call button... I was JUST there... what could you possibly need now that you didnt need 3 minutes ago? I got asked for pepsi, coffee and tea... the entire time. um... 1)we only have coke products... we told you that in the announcement. 2)no coffee or tea... we also told you that in the announcement.
I was just BLAH by the time the flight landed. this rotation kicked my butt. I had today off and I stayed with a friend and tomorrow morning I'm just too lazy to figure out public transportation... so I'm taking a $45 cab to LAguardia.. I only have 1 leg tmorrow... straight to Tampa and I get in at 10am... and have a 24 hour layover. I can't wait for the pool.
No offense... I won't be answering my phone tomorrow... I love you... but...
anyways... I got my schedule for may. blah!
I posted it all to be picked up so it should be changing... what I DO know is that I get 5 days in Nashville.. I can't WAIT! I need to do laundry... I need to drop off a ton of things from my suitcase. I need to wear different clothes. I need to run errands. I need to sell my car... etc etc etc. I haven't been to my house since April 8th I think... so it will have been 20 days away by the time I get home. I miss my cats. I can't wait to move and have a little more stability. (I can't believe I just said I want more stability) =)
I also can't believe I found a job that actually keeps me entertained and challenged physically, mentally & emotionally. I'm off to sleep because I hve to wake up at 3:30am.
peace out babies.
so I had the JFK to Atlanta, Atlanta to Orlando, Orlando to Atlanta flights on the 19th. It was pretty decent and I was so exhausted by the end of the 3rd leg since I hadn't slept but an hour in the lounge. We had trainees on that last leg so I didn't have to do a thing. AH yes! I love the trainees. :)
So I had a 22 hour layover in Atlanta. I feel asleep at 7pm and woke up at 8:30am. Happy Day.
Then I flew Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta and Atlanta to JFK. The first flight was fine. The SECOND flight we hit an airpocket so hard while I was walking down the aisle that my feet lifted off the ground and I grabbed on to two passengers seats and braced my butt down on the third passengers seat. As I look down the aisle towards the aft galley on the 757 I see one of my crew members had flown up in the air, fell on her butt in the red dress and hit herself on the cart. She stayed on the ground, pinned between the cart and the galley until there was stable air... she tried so hard to be lady like since she was in a skirt, and I tried to keep a smile on my face like it was a normal occurance in my job description... I don't like for the passengers and other flight attendants to know that I am new... so I smiled away with my "delta face" and held on for dear life while people screamed. nice. My crew member is ok. She bumped her arm and side and leg really hard and hurt her neck. They asked her if she needed to stay and not continue but she sucked it up and stayed on for the last leg. So the LAST flight. ugh. It was a 767. none of us had ever flown one of those either. The flight leader was brand new. It was her first trip as a flight leader. So we had all of our red books out in the first 30 minutes of the very first leg. As we are boarding, we are on this stupid plane where the seat numbers don't match with the seats so a number is in between 2 seats and everyone (including us) were confused... so much so that the new yorkers started a screaming match as to which seat was 25e and which one was 26e. hell. THEN... as they are all situated we have one lady standing in the aisle and tells us that the little lady on the aisle row will not let her sit in the middle seat. The little lady doesnt speak english... of course she speaks spanish. So I ask her why she wont let the lady standing sit. She tells me that her daughter is supposed to sit there and she had the boarding pass in the seat. Well the boarding pass said it was for 25d... and she was in 31d. um... so I tried to explain it to her. She "spoke" spanish... she did not "comprehend" spanish. She just kept telling me that her daughter was coming... and that she was standing in the aisle talking to her husband... well NO ONE was in the aisle (except for the very patient lady waiting to be seated) and NO ONE was in the bathroom. So we had to raise our voices to the old lady... We asked her finally to get up and find her daughter. Well of course her daughter was seated in the right seat... 25D. The daughter and son-in-law have to physically get up and tell the old lady to sit down and to let the other lady sit as well... why do senile people fly?
When we get in the air... we realize that there is no potable water... which means, no coffee, no tea and no washing your hands in the bathroom. ew. so we put wipes in the bathroom and prepared to disappoint all the people.
We had down the method of how to serve all 250 people...we were all new hires in the crew, so me and the 2 previous flight attendants took care of the beverages. I do snacks and then jump on the back of the beverage cart cause I'm fast... usually. WELL. apparently atlanta to jfk people don't eat anywhere else but the airplane because everyone wanted 3 snacks a piece. umm. whatever. So I FINALLY get through the snack service and hop on the beverage cart and the very first guy I wait on asks me for fruit juice. I tell him we dont have it... we only have apple and cranapple... he keeps pointing at the cart and asking for fruit juice. I tell him VERY slowly that there is NO fruit juice... so he asks for a whole can of apple. whatever. by the time I get to wait on the next person he had flippin chugged the can of apple and asked me for another! holy crap! so I give him another just so he will leave me alone. his wife asks for a can of apple juice. I only have 5 cans of apple juice total to serve to everyone. why does the 767 hate me?
by the time I wait on the third person the man grabs at me and asks me for a sprite. SERIOUSLY?! so I friggin gave him a sprite... and as I could here him shouting for me down the aisle I just ignored him and kept walking... forget that. it's only a 2 hour flight. good grief. every time we walked past a seat someone would ring the call button... I was JUST there... what could you possibly need now that you didnt need 3 minutes ago? I got asked for pepsi, coffee and tea... the entire time. um... 1)we only have coke products... we told you that in the announcement. 2)no coffee or tea... we also told you that in the announcement.
I was just BLAH by the time the flight landed. this rotation kicked my butt. I had today off and I stayed with a friend and tomorrow morning I'm just too lazy to figure out public transportation... so I'm taking a $45 cab to LAguardia.. I only have 1 leg tmorrow... straight to Tampa and I get in at 10am... and have a 24 hour layover. I can't wait for the pool.
No offense... I won't be answering my phone tomorrow... I love you... but...
anyways... I got my schedule for may. blah!
I posted it all to be picked up so it should be changing... what I DO know is that I get 5 days in Nashville.. I can't WAIT! I need to do laundry... I need to drop off a ton of things from my suitcase. I need to wear different clothes. I need to run errands. I need to sell my car... etc etc etc. I haven't been to my house since April 8th I think... so it will have been 20 days away by the time I get home. I miss my cats. I can't wait to move and have a little more stability. (I can't believe I just said I want more stability) =)
I also can't believe I found a job that actually keeps me entertained and challenged physically, mentally & emotionally. I'm off to sleep because I hve to wake up at 3:30am.
peace out babies.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
mice or men?
ok. so internet access is rare...
so I'm typing this in a notepad and then gonna post it tomorrow when I finally have internet.
The last few days. WHEW!
I don't even know what day it is... hold on lemme check my calendar. I will start with today and work backwards... then go forwards. can you keep up?
ok. So it is SATURDAY the 19th. you think i didn't just check my calendar? I totally did.
I just flew in from San Antonio to JFK. Well SAT to ATL to JFK.
I hadnt been to san antonio in over a year! can you believe that?
maybe I will start from my layover in atlanta on the 15th... this is hard.
ok. I had an amazing layover in atlanta. 24 hours in a huge hotel. I saw all my friends and had a mini reunion at malones... its kinda like family now.
so I flew the next day from atlanta to new orleans to altanta and back to newark airport in jersey at around midnight. I slept in the crew lounge under the airport until 5am and hopped on the 6am flight back to atlanta and visited friends. SLEPT. went to the lake and hopped on a jetski and played... made dinner for my friends (yum manicotti) and went to the airport the next day to hop on a jumpseat to go to san antonio. i made a friend in the airport... the flight was FULL so I was stuck in the back jumpseat in between 2 bathrooms. Smell and blah. so my new friend met me and my friends at where else but chachos (video blog to follow). i have only met my sister's fiancee once so I got to hang out with him more. I was only there for less than 24 hours though... people wouldnt let me eat at chachos more than once. so not fair. i got to see my best friends ever. so then i get to my sisters house, crash on her couch at 1 am... wake up constantly and then wake up when bethany and jeremiah A got up at 6am to go to work... fall back asleep... and wake up again at like 8am when jeremiah B comes to get his computer and eat. so I wake up finally, shower, clean the house a little, and head to get coffee with the long lost joshua boren. JUBO baby! and then lunch, and a clusterness of errands before heading to the airport to jumpseat to atlanta and luckily i got 3 chairs to myself... THEN get to my atl to jfk flight and one of my classmates is workin that flight... so THEN I get on the plane and they told me that there were only 3 first classers... so I get a first class seat. heckya! So I relaxd in first class.
I get to JFK and plan to sleep here in the airport because i have an early morning checkin. Well the main JFK lounge hates lounge rats (that's me) so they locked the doors with the chairs. boo. So there is ANOTHER lounge... and its passed TSA and I walked over here and lo and behold there are more lounge rats... that term gets even funnier in a second. So currently there are 10 of us sitting in here waiting for morning flights.
ok. my story is not over. we are just sitting here and a flipping MOUSE runs by! so they set up traps with trashcans and peanut butter... and moved all the chairs and stabbed at the mouse and we dont know where it is... i do have a video of it. (of course) and it will be posted soon cause its SO friggin funny. It is now 1:40 am and I have to wake up in a few hours. I fly to Orlando tomorrow and a 22 hour layover in atlanta.. then for lauderdale... then one day off then tampa with a 24 hour layover, then on call for 3 days and i pray they dont call me. anyways... im gonna try and crash... but its gonna be hard to sleep when the girl just told me that mice jump straight up 7 feet in the air. whew.
so I'm typing this in a notepad and then gonna post it tomorrow when I finally have internet.
The last few days. WHEW!
I don't even know what day it is... hold on lemme check my calendar. I will start with today and work backwards... then go forwards. can you keep up?
ok. So it is SATURDAY the 19th. you think i didn't just check my calendar? I totally did.
I just flew in from San Antonio to JFK. Well SAT to ATL to JFK.
I hadnt been to san antonio in over a year! can you believe that?
maybe I will start from my layover in atlanta on the 15th... this is hard.
ok. I had an amazing layover in atlanta. 24 hours in a huge hotel. I saw all my friends and had a mini reunion at malones... its kinda like family now.
so I flew the next day from atlanta to new orleans to altanta and back to newark airport in jersey at around midnight. I slept in the crew lounge under the airport until 5am and hopped on the 6am flight back to atlanta and visited friends. SLEPT. went to the lake and hopped on a jetski and played... made dinner for my friends (yum manicotti) and went to the airport the next day to hop on a jumpseat to go to san antonio. i made a friend in the airport... the flight was FULL so I was stuck in the back jumpseat in between 2 bathrooms. Smell and blah. so my new friend met me and my friends at where else but chachos (video blog to follow). i have only met my sister's fiancee once so I got to hang out with him more. I was only there for less than 24 hours though... people wouldnt let me eat at chachos more than once. so not fair. i got to see my best friends ever. so then i get to my sisters house, crash on her couch at 1 am... wake up constantly and then wake up when bethany and jeremiah A got up at 6am to go to work... fall back asleep... and wake up again at like 8am when jeremiah B comes to get his computer and eat. so I wake up finally, shower, clean the house a little, and head to get coffee with the long lost joshua boren. JUBO baby! and then lunch, and a clusterness of errands before heading to the airport to jumpseat to atlanta and luckily i got 3 chairs to myself... THEN get to my atl to jfk flight and one of my classmates is workin that flight... so THEN I get on the plane and they told me that there were only 3 first classers... so I get a first class seat. heckya! So I relaxd in first class.
I get to JFK and plan to sleep here in the airport because i have an early morning checkin. Well the main JFK lounge hates lounge rats (that's me) so they locked the doors with the chairs. boo. So there is ANOTHER lounge... and its passed TSA and I walked over here and lo and behold there are more lounge rats... that term gets even funnier in a second. So currently there are 10 of us sitting in here waiting for morning flights.
ok. my story is not over. we are just sitting here and a flipping MOUSE runs by! so they set up traps with trashcans and peanut butter... and moved all the chairs and stabbed at the mouse and we dont know where it is... i do have a video of it. (of course) and it will be posted soon cause its SO friggin funny. It is now 1:40 am and I have to wake up in a few hours. I fly to Orlando tomorrow and a 22 hour layover in atlanta.. then for lauderdale... then one day off then tampa with a 24 hour layover, then on call for 3 days and i pray they dont call me. anyways... im gonna try and crash... but its gonna be hard to sleep when the girl just told me that mice jump straight up 7 feet in the air. whew.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
airport pasttimes
let's discuss why i am sitting at an airport 5 and a half hours before I actually need to be here... I was gonna say lets discuss why i am crazy, but we will all be here all day and maybe years... and since you dont have that kinda time and i dont have that kinda patience... lets just stick with why i am here.
I have a 5am check-in in Jersey. yes, I said FIVE AM! ew. And after my LAST 5am check-in, i refuse to wake up at 2am and go through jersey alone in the transit system. SO I thought I might beat the system and get here tnight and maybe get more sleep this way... maybe... maybe not...
It all makes sense in my head... or sorta... i'm in denial more than anything... i think.
So.
What's to do in the airport?
Everything is closed. who knew that everything really closes in an airport?!
even security. which is why im sittin in the food court.
i am curious what time security opens again because i'd love to get to the crew lounge where i believe there are beds and comfortable chairs for me to sleep in so i dont have to sleep on a food greased encrusted table with one eye open to worry about people runnin off with my bags. i'd tie the bags to my legs but im afraid i might get recognized and get a reputation for being that crazy wierd new hire flight attendant.
which i am... but what's new?
so i have my own way of doing things that's not normal.
so i shoulda gotten a crash pad and slept on a bunk bed with 25 other people with travel provisions...
ok. im poor... that's the real truth why im sleepin on couches and friends houses. and i like a little adventure. AND... no offense to my amazing and not so amazing fellow graduating classmates... i wasn't quite ready to see yall again so fast. i love you all dearly... but i needed out for a minute. no more dorm life for a second... just crazy, unpredictable homeless life...
what i really need is an assistant.
that would be great.
or an iphone... and a sugar daddy, while we are dreaming.
with those 2 things my life would be WAY easier.
SO. back to the beginning.
what is there to do in an airport besides sleeping:
1) my nails. [check.]
2) work. [halfway check.]
3) add new music to my ipod. [next.]
4) catch up with what everyone is doing on myspace and facebook.
5) figure out how the heck my work schedule is and where i will sleep in between.
5) figure out how to work the bidding site... i will not be defeated by scheduling.
6) get familiar with the newark airport. :)
7) im gonna make a point to make some friends and invite them to races down the hallways.
(you think im kidding... ever old job ive had we used to make a point to race in hallways. to stay awake and for entertainment.)
8) chat on aim and msn with old friends that i havent talkd to in forever
9) return emails that are old.
10) find the nearest vending machine... my new diet. *sigh*
so... here's what i sit here and wonder at 12:22am in the morning.
1) how in the WORLD do i sit in an airport in Jersey and STILL find good looking boys within arms reach just sitting there bored all alone? I always find trouble... somehow. which gives me a number eleven on my previous list... 11)make new friends. ;)
2) why are airports so cold?
3) who are all these people sitting around and what are they waiting for? are they crazy flight attendants too? or are they just homeless?
4) if im tired now... how will i feel in a few hours?
5) i kinda feel like what's his name in that movie, "the terminal"... im gonna break out my slippers and robe... if i had some...
well... i'll be up tonight... and if you feel like chattin... hit me up on myspace... i'll be here.
exciting. :)
peace out homies!
I have a 5am check-in in Jersey. yes, I said FIVE AM! ew. And after my LAST 5am check-in, i refuse to wake up at 2am and go through jersey alone in the transit system. SO I thought I might beat the system and get here tnight and maybe get more sleep this way... maybe... maybe not...
It all makes sense in my head... or sorta... i'm in denial more than anything... i think.
So.
What's to do in the airport?
Everything is closed. who knew that everything really closes in an airport?!
even security. which is why im sittin in the food court.
i am curious what time security opens again because i'd love to get to the crew lounge where i believe there are beds and comfortable chairs for me to sleep in so i dont have to sleep on a food greased encrusted table with one eye open to worry about people runnin off with my bags. i'd tie the bags to my legs but im afraid i might get recognized and get a reputation for being that crazy wierd new hire flight attendant.
which i am... but what's new?
so i have my own way of doing things that's not normal.
so i shoulda gotten a crash pad and slept on a bunk bed with 25 other people with travel provisions...
ok. im poor... that's the real truth why im sleepin on couches and friends houses. and i like a little adventure. AND... no offense to my amazing and not so amazing fellow graduating classmates... i wasn't quite ready to see yall again so fast. i love you all dearly... but i needed out for a minute. no more dorm life for a second... just crazy, unpredictable homeless life...
what i really need is an assistant.
that would be great.
or an iphone... and a sugar daddy, while we are dreaming.
with those 2 things my life would be WAY easier.
SO. back to the beginning.
what is there to do in an airport besides sleeping:
1) my nails. [check.]
2) work. [halfway check.]
3) add new music to my ipod. [next.]
4) catch up with what everyone is doing on myspace and facebook.
5) figure out how the heck my work schedule is and where i will sleep in between.
5) figure out how to work the bidding site... i will not be defeated by scheduling.
6) get familiar with the newark airport. :)
7) im gonna make a point to make some friends and invite them to races down the hallways.
(you think im kidding... ever old job ive had we used to make a point to race in hallways. to stay awake and for entertainment.)
8) chat on aim and msn with old friends that i havent talkd to in forever
9) return emails that are old.
10) find the nearest vending machine... my new diet. *sigh*
so... here's what i sit here and wonder at 12:22am in the morning.
1) how in the WORLD do i sit in an airport in Jersey and STILL find good looking boys within arms reach just sitting there bored all alone? I always find trouble... somehow. which gives me a number eleven on my previous list... 11)make new friends. ;)
2) why are airports so cold?
3) who are all these people sitting around and what are they waiting for? are they crazy flight attendants too? or are they just homeless?
4) if im tired now... how will i feel in a few hours?
5) i kinda feel like what's his name in that movie, "the terminal"... im gonna break out my slippers and robe... if i had some...
well... i'll be up tonight... and if you feel like chattin... hit me up on myspace... i'll be here.
exciting. :)
peace out homies!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
day two of new job: conquering the subway
ok. SO. I went to bed early last night like i needed. I was soo sick. I couldnt even eat pizza if that tells you anything. I estimate that I fell asleep from like 7-10 and then 11 to 8am this morning when I got called in to work. i LOVE bein on call (totally sarcastic if you didnt catch the caps).
LUCKILY they gave me 4 and a half hours to wake up, shower, and get to the airport... they only HAVE to give me 3... technically. Well it takes me 3 to go anywhere... not including hair, shower and make up.
So I hurried up and my angel friend gave me detailed transportation directions to the LaGuardia airport from Jersey. SO. I showered, changed and packed and was out the door in an hour and off to conquer the NJ & NY transit system on my own (kinda)...
So I did real good at first. I took the PATH train to 33rd and I remembered being in that same station yesterday so I remembered that the subways station is also down there so I just followed signs and found it and new that I had to take either the N or the W subway to Astoria Blvd. Cool.
Found it. i get on it. It sucks to be so smart sometimes... or arrogant.. cause when I started feeling like I shoulda been there by now and recognized some subway stops from last week in new york... I kinda thought maybe I should get up and look at the map... but no... i would feel foolish... so I stay on the friggin subway until they yell last stop... and im almost in coney island. TOTALLY opposite of where i needed to be. but NO worries because I still have 2 hours to get to the airport. cool. so I get off kinda confused of what I did... go up the stairs and realize that DANG I went downtown instead of uptown. DUH. I didnt even think of that before. So I got on the right W train and went uptown and got off on the Astoria Blvd exit and then took the M-60 to LaGuardia...
you think my day ended there? no.
So the bus lady says Delta so I get off the bus... but somehow im in the American Airlines terminal and feel like an imposter or a spy cause im in full Delta uniform. (im sure i made all this up in my head but i swear I could feel peoples wonderings about why i was there)... so THEN I ask a TSA lady and she was so nice and helped me get to the Delta terminal by telling me to get on the B bus... so I did. I went passed security and went to where my little ny book told me to go. I get there. I dont have the password to get in. EFF! So I call the inflight service people and they send someone up to get me. So the lady comes to get me. I go downstairs and find where i go and then ask a lady where i should sign in. Well she was rude and grunted at the computers across the wall. So I try to sign in and it tells me im in the wrong terminal. SERIOUSLY? It's not even noon at this point and my day sucks.... but honestly I was ok... cause I still had like 15 minutes to sign in and I felt like I conquered the whole city. but im not gonna lie... when the computer said i was at the wrong terminal i almost cried and laughed at the irony at the same time.
So.
I asked the rude flight attendant where the crap i was supposed to go to get on this Boston bound shuttle... and she grunted at me to find a manager. BiAtch.
so the very nice manager signs me in over the phone gets me directions to the Marina terminal on the A bus. cool.
So I meet another flight attendant on the A train who I just decide to follow since I assume she knows where she is goin and that is much faster than tryin to discover LaGuardia blindly. So I follow her without tellin her im new. cause I feel like a dummy for not knowin anything.
she sees me lookin around everywhere and finds out on her own that im a new hire. but she was sooo nice. I get all the way down to the Marina Terminal's crew lounge and my crew had apparently already briefed. So I trek BACK upstairs with a heavy bag (why there are no elevators when they know we carry heavy bags, I will never know) .... I get to the gate and introduce myself to my crew. they have no idea who i am or why i am there.
awesome.
so my flight leader says they are over staffed so I will unofficially be deadheading... which means I get to sit down for the flight and get paid to do my nails. HECKyes! THIS is what I signed up for!
So after finally 5 hours of New York I was Boston bound.
I made some new friends and then got to Boston, grabbed some fruit and found my gate and waited for my West Palm Beach crew.
They were AWESOME!
Senior mammas to say the LEAST! They were in the top 60 senior flight attendants... lemme tell you... that means she had been flyin since the 60's... since it was mandatory for weigh in's... mandatory for green eyeshadow and false eyelashes... dang.
So they were great and I was the rule follower... (that doesnt happen often.. i know) so a guy asks me for a crown and coke before we take off and since he's not in first class i wasnt gonna give him one... but she said it was ok... so he gave me a $20 tip. i LOVE this job! he got snockered on the flight but I got like $5 more in tips... cool.
I love cash.
So I flew to west palm beach and then back to boston... uneventful really... i collected all kinds of great magazines so i will never have to buy another new magazine again. heckyes.
So no I am in Boston in a hotel with two of my favorite classmates from the H class and I ordered in pizza and we are watchin starsky and hutch while i work.
tomorrow is one flight from boston to Laguardia and then I get to see my new favorite band in new york tmorrow.. SCRATCHTRACK, check'em.
LUCKILY they gave me 4 and a half hours to wake up, shower, and get to the airport... they only HAVE to give me 3... technically. Well it takes me 3 to go anywhere... not including hair, shower and make up.
So I hurried up and my angel friend gave me detailed transportation directions to the LaGuardia airport from Jersey. SO. I showered, changed and packed and was out the door in an hour and off to conquer the NJ & NY transit system on my own (kinda)...
So I did real good at first. I took the PATH train to 33rd and I remembered being in that same station yesterday so I remembered that the subways station is also down there so I just followed signs and found it and new that I had to take either the N or the W subway to Astoria Blvd. Cool.
Found it. i get on it. It sucks to be so smart sometimes... or arrogant.. cause when I started feeling like I shoulda been there by now and recognized some subway stops from last week in new york... I kinda thought maybe I should get up and look at the map... but no... i would feel foolish... so I stay on the friggin subway until they yell last stop... and im almost in coney island. TOTALLY opposite of where i needed to be. but NO worries because I still have 2 hours to get to the airport. cool. so I get off kinda confused of what I did... go up the stairs and realize that DANG I went downtown instead of uptown. DUH. I didnt even think of that before. So I got on the right W train and went uptown and got off on the Astoria Blvd exit and then took the M-60 to LaGuardia...
you think my day ended there? no.
So the bus lady says Delta so I get off the bus... but somehow im in the American Airlines terminal and feel like an imposter or a spy cause im in full Delta uniform. (im sure i made all this up in my head but i swear I could feel peoples wonderings about why i was there)... so THEN I ask a TSA lady and she was so nice and helped me get to the Delta terminal by telling me to get on the B bus... so I did. I went passed security and went to where my little ny book told me to go. I get there. I dont have the password to get in. EFF! So I call the inflight service people and they send someone up to get me. So the lady comes to get me. I go downstairs and find where i go and then ask a lady where i should sign in. Well she was rude and grunted at the computers across the wall. So I try to sign in and it tells me im in the wrong terminal. SERIOUSLY? It's not even noon at this point and my day sucks.... but honestly I was ok... cause I still had like 15 minutes to sign in and I felt like I conquered the whole city. but im not gonna lie... when the computer said i was at the wrong terminal i almost cried and laughed at the irony at the same time.
So.
I asked the rude flight attendant where the crap i was supposed to go to get on this Boston bound shuttle... and she grunted at me to find a manager. BiAtch.
so the very nice manager signs me in over the phone gets me directions to the Marina terminal on the A bus. cool.
So I meet another flight attendant on the A train who I just decide to follow since I assume she knows where she is goin and that is much faster than tryin to discover LaGuardia blindly. So I follow her without tellin her im new. cause I feel like a dummy for not knowin anything.
she sees me lookin around everywhere and finds out on her own that im a new hire. but she was sooo nice. I get all the way down to the Marina Terminal's crew lounge and my crew had apparently already briefed. So I trek BACK upstairs with a heavy bag (why there are no elevators when they know we carry heavy bags, I will never know) .... I get to the gate and introduce myself to my crew. they have no idea who i am or why i am there.
awesome.
so my flight leader says they are over staffed so I will unofficially be deadheading... which means I get to sit down for the flight and get paid to do my nails. HECKyes! THIS is what I signed up for!
So after finally 5 hours of New York I was Boston bound.
I made some new friends and then got to Boston, grabbed some fruit and found my gate and waited for my West Palm Beach crew.
They were AWESOME!
Senior mammas to say the LEAST! They were in the top 60 senior flight attendants... lemme tell you... that means she had been flyin since the 60's... since it was mandatory for weigh in's... mandatory for green eyeshadow and false eyelashes... dang.
So they were great and I was the rule follower... (that doesnt happen often.. i know) so a guy asks me for a crown and coke before we take off and since he's not in first class i wasnt gonna give him one... but she said it was ok... so he gave me a $20 tip. i LOVE this job! he got snockered on the flight but I got like $5 more in tips... cool.
I love cash.
So I flew to west palm beach and then back to boston... uneventful really... i collected all kinds of great magazines so i will never have to buy another new magazine again. heckyes.
So no I am in Boston in a hotel with two of my favorite classmates from the H class and I ordered in pizza and we are watchin starsky and hutch while i work.
tomorrow is one flight from boston to Laguardia and then I get to see my new favorite band in new york tmorrow.. SCRATCHTRACK, check'em.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Welcome to your new job!
let’s talk about my last 2 days...
Tuesday night... 4 hours of sleep.
Wednesday morning I woke up at 6am... took a cab to the airport in Nashville...
where the driver was from ghana and invited me and my friends to come stay with his family in accra whenever we fly there. :)
then waited with a terrible cold to fly non-rev with continental which is a sky team alliance member so i can fly with them for free... and it was the only direct flight from nashville to newark.
ANYWAYS... you know those days when you wake up and you just KNOW that it was gonna be a bad day?
So the gate agents at continental call me over like 5 minutes to boarding and ask me for these documents that i didn’t know i was supposed to have..
and told me that i needed to go back through security and get them and come back. so there was no making that flight. I had choice words for them.
i went back to the delta concourse and the lady was as confused as i was about these mystery documents... so she booked me on a jumpseat from nashville to atlanta and atlanta to newark... nicest lady ever.
so i go to atlanta and the flight attendant on that flight was one of my fellow classmates... his very first flight. ironic. i slept like 5 minutes.
then i run to make my next flight and made some new friends on the flight and slept some more and had some crackers which was the first thing i had eaten in 24 hours cause all i had was $25 in my pocket and that was gonna be for transporting to the airport and to my friends house in jersey... well...
my sister is amazing and wired me money to the newark airport ... so i could eat and get around. nice.
SO. I get to Newark, change clothes, get the money, im now sweating and tired and irritable cause i havnt eaten or had a good sleep and only half the challenge is complete because now i have to get to my friends house in jersey...
ive never been to jersey.
ive never ridden a train.
check. check.
i got a little lost and had to turn around and finally got to my friends house at around 8 or 9 and got some delicious chinese food.
at this point all i knew is that i was on call starting at midnight and that i needed to check my schedule at 8pm. so I got to the house and checked and low and behold delta hates me because they scheduled me to be on standby at JFK at 5:30am in the morning until 10:30am... which means i just sit there until they decide to use me. So the next hour or so my friend calls and makes a route for me which means we have to leave his house at 2:45 am to catch the train to catch the shuttle.
at about 10pm i shower, get everything ready and finally get to sleep at 11 with alarms set for 2am.
Meanwhile my little angel friend steamed my uniform and shined my shoes, brought me cough medicine cause i couldnt sleep and even took me on the train at 3am and dropped me all the way to the shuttle. i seriously dont know what i would have done without him.
so 2 subway rats and a hot chocolate late i barely make it to the sign it at 5:30am. NO one was there... it was like the rapture happened and I didnt get the memo.
but as long as i was signed in i was in the clear. so i just sat in a chair and waited and fell asleep in my chair. people came in and out to sleep and snorers and talkers and then came the shushers.. but i just waited... 10:30am and i didnt get called out... so I signed out and got clearance to leave and made my trek back to jersey with detailed step by step instructions from my friend and i made it. with food in my belly and myspace work almost done... i’m gonna take a nap until 8pm and check my little schedule again and then pray there is nothing on it so i can sleep some more.
so! my body hurts and im tired but i have had quite some adventures.
naptime. see you around. xxoo
Tuesday night... 4 hours of sleep.
Wednesday morning I woke up at 6am... took a cab to the airport in Nashville...
where the driver was from ghana and invited me and my friends to come stay with his family in accra whenever we fly there. :)
then waited with a terrible cold to fly non-rev with continental which is a sky team alliance member so i can fly with them for free... and it was the only direct flight from nashville to newark.
ANYWAYS... you know those days when you wake up and you just KNOW that it was gonna be a bad day?
So the gate agents at continental call me over like 5 minutes to boarding and ask me for these documents that i didn’t know i was supposed to have..
and told me that i needed to go back through security and get them and come back. so there was no making that flight. I had choice words for them.
i went back to the delta concourse and the lady was as confused as i was about these mystery documents... so she booked me on a jumpseat from nashville to atlanta and atlanta to newark... nicest lady ever.
so i go to atlanta and the flight attendant on that flight was one of my fellow classmates... his very first flight. ironic. i slept like 5 minutes.
then i run to make my next flight and made some new friends on the flight and slept some more and had some crackers which was the first thing i had eaten in 24 hours cause all i had was $25 in my pocket and that was gonna be for transporting to the airport and to my friends house in jersey... well...
my sister is amazing and wired me money to the newark airport ... so i could eat and get around. nice.
SO. I get to Newark, change clothes, get the money, im now sweating and tired and irritable cause i havnt eaten or had a good sleep and only half the challenge is complete because now i have to get to my friends house in jersey...
ive never been to jersey.
ive never ridden a train.
check. check.
i got a little lost and had to turn around and finally got to my friends house at around 8 or 9 and got some delicious chinese food.
at this point all i knew is that i was on call starting at midnight and that i needed to check my schedule at 8pm. so I got to the house and checked and low and behold delta hates me because they scheduled me to be on standby at JFK at 5:30am in the morning until 10:30am... which means i just sit there until they decide to use me. So the next hour or so my friend calls and makes a route for me which means we have to leave his house at 2:45 am to catch the train to catch the shuttle.
at about 10pm i shower, get everything ready and finally get to sleep at 11 with alarms set for 2am.
Meanwhile my little angel friend steamed my uniform and shined my shoes, brought me cough medicine cause i couldnt sleep and even took me on the train at 3am and dropped me all the way to the shuttle. i seriously dont know what i would have done without him.
so 2 subway rats and a hot chocolate late i barely make it to the sign it at 5:30am. NO one was there... it was like the rapture happened and I didnt get the memo.
but as long as i was signed in i was in the clear. so i just sat in a chair and waited and fell asleep in my chair. people came in and out to sleep and snorers and talkers and then came the shushers.. but i just waited... 10:30am and i didnt get called out... so I signed out and got clearance to leave and made my trek back to jersey with detailed step by step instructions from my friend and i made it. with food in my belly and myspace work almost done... i’m gonna take a nap until 8pm and check my little schedule again and then pray there is nothing on it so i can sleep some more.
so! my body hurts and im tired but i have had quite some adventures.
naptime. see you around. xxoo
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