The Journey to O'Hare

December 12, 2006. Evanston, IL.

6:45am: Woke up.
7:00am: Got up. Told self that plan to leave by 7:15am is null.
7:10am: “What should I have for breakfast?”
7:15am: Finished breakfast and packing.
7:18am: Emptied trashcan.
7:20am: Left apartment.
7:31am: Got onto El. Calculated time it would take to get to O’Hare. Slightly worried.
7:50am: Arrived at Belmont stop. Got off to change to bus. Told self that it was a dumb plan. It’s raining outside and bus station is not covered. Should have just taken the El all the way in. But this was supposed to be faster. Hmm.
7:57am: Got on bus to head towards Belmont stop. (the blue line one.)
8:20am: Arrived at Belmont stop.
8:25am: Two Els went by in the other direction.
8:27am: Another one.
8:30am: One more.
8:33am: OMG, another one?!
8:35am: FINALLY! Got on El.
8:55am: More worried. Flight was at 11am. Can remember whether international check-ins must be at least 2 hours ahead of time. “How strict are the airlines?”
9:05am: Arrived at airport. Speed walked to the terminal.
9:10am: Checked in at the machine. Machine scanned passport. Passport not scan-able. Been scanned too many times. And dropped in water. Flight teller comes by. Reads all the directions slowly, word for word before giving me approval. Doesn’t matter, I was checked in.
9:15am: In line for baggage check. Darn it, no special line for status. Wait, the machine did not give me my day-pass to the AA’s Admiral’s Club. Grrrrrrr.
9:25am: Wow. Took no time to get through security. No questions asked about the many little bottles of liquid I carried. Guess they don’t care if I blew up a plane that was leaving U.S. soil.
9:45am: Turned on computer, tried to get online. Couldn’t get online.
9:48am: Called hotline to get help. Guy was helpless. Gave up and decided not to get online. Time apart from the internet is good for the soul.
10:15am: Sitting on the plane. Wrapped myself in the throw. Book out. Counted the number of kids who passed by. Noticed that there were 2 babies 2 rows ahead of me.
10:20am: Overheard mother of babies apologizing to her neighbors “just want to give you some warning. My kids are very active.” Uh oh. Please tell me that no fat stinky man is sitting next to me. Please!
10:25am: Noticed that there were no good movies on the flight. What was the use of having my own TV screen if there weren’t anything good to watch?
10:45am: Asleep.. next to a skinny girl.