I got up at around 11AM. It was difficult, since I was up until 4AM talking on the phone with a friend of mine. I started to iron a bunch of shirts that I had washed the day before. Then I started to pack my suitcase. At some point I decided that I better head out soon not to miss my plane. I got the cab right outside my apartment door as it was letting off the previous passengers. The traffic in midtown was terrible. It took 20 minutes just to get to 2nd avenue from 8th across via 52nd street. On the highway the traffic was slow too. So all in all it took me more than an hour to get to JFK.
I arrived to JFK at 1:30 pm - an hour before the flight departure. I went through the e-ticket check in. I tried to switch my seat to the one with more leg room, but the flight was full and the reception person could not switch it for me. Oh well, I ended up keeping a window seat that I had originally reserved. After I checked in my suitcase, I headed towards the food court for some food. This would be my first meal of the day and I was starving. I walked by various counters and a person at a Chinese food place offered me a sample of their chicken. That marketing trick worked because after I savored the delicious taste of the piece of chicken I decided to go back to them and order a meal. After my Chinese breakfast, I headed over to the gate.
When I approached the gate waiting area I was fascinated to see so many people all over the place. It looked like some flights were cancelled because of a natural disaster or something. All seats were occupied, but one next to some lady. I went straight ahead and sat on it without asking her if I could sit there. I was "inspired" do to so after my incident in the DMV while I was waiting for my license. (There'll be a separate blog entry for this later). Then her friend came and told her that she should have put her bag on that seat. I pretended that I did not hear their conversation :-). Finally the other lady came up with something smart. She pointed me to a seat on another bench and asked me if I could sit there. That seat had some piece of luggage lying against it, but there was enough room to sit. After she repeated her request with the word "please" I obliged and took that other seat. Then a lady sitting next to that seat told me that it had been taken by some other girl and that I would have to fight with her when she comes back. Ok, I just decided to sit there and wait until she comes. After some time some a woman came but she did not demand her seat. She just talked to her friend who was sitting next to me. Again they were hinting that I took the seat that had been occupied. They mentioned the piece of luggage next to it as the sign that it had been taken. This time I decided to go ahead and yield the seat thinking that I sit too much on my job already.
I walked into the next room and actually found that there were more seats there and a lot of them were free. So I started to look for a seat next to the wall power outlet so I could use my laptop. I found one next to a man who was sleeping on the floor. The wall outlet was far enough from him that I was able to plug in my power supply there without waking him up. I settled down on the seat and then was subjected the sound of the man's snoring which was quite similar to the sound of a jet engine.
Ok, by the time I am typing this, my plane is already 45 minutes late, which contradicts their original announcement of 20-minute delay. I guess the plane maintenance takes longer than they expected. I had talked to my dance partner Mihoko on the cell phone before I started to write this and she was already in Miami about to head out to the pool and take a nap on the deck. She had told me to let the plane crew know to deliver me in one piece for the competition.
Well let's see what else can I say? Hmm, well my seat is next to the window and I have a view of the plane that I am about to board (hopefully soon). It's nice to see that it's still there and I have not missed the boarding announcements. I guess I'll ask someone if there is an internet wireless hot spot somewhere here so I can try to upload this to my blog Well just ask someone and they said that they took everything out since 911. Oh well. I guess I'll take a look at some photos stored on the laptop now .
Phew.. finally the plain is taking off at 4:50, which is more than two hours late. When they originally announced the 20 minute delay, they forget to say "April Fools"!
