Vegas, Baby~

Greetings from the Las Vegas airport, where I wait, and wait...and wait looking at our plane to Seattle, alas a plane with no PILOT. Apparently, he/she is stuck in the fog in Phoenix, so I'm likely to end up leaving Sin City at the time I was suppOSED to arrive in Seattle. Ginapalooza is due in this evening too, also experiencing delays, and "A" is picking us up, so thankfully she's been celling it up getting updates as to our whereabouts and will wait for us at our perspective baggage claims. There, we will reconnoiter to then whisk right off to a family Christmas get-together. Better late than...not at all, I suppose. Frickity frack!

It's been a super long travel day, starting with a 3:30 AM wakeup. I'm pretty darn tired right now but local time is 4PM so to me now, it's 4PM. Starting out: State College, where the super-surly TSA wanker was complaining about having to "...check so many bags by hand, at the bigger airports they just put it all into the x-ray thing" and "...people are really complaining today..." At this I had to CHORTLE (maybe it was more of a guffaw?) because here he was, a guy who, by nature of his JOB, has to touch bags, and who was, in effect, complaining to a customer about complainers, all while being a complainer himself. In times like these I remind myself, and feel free to find me a TOTAL snob whilst I say this, "This is why HE is a TSA guy and I am an international women of mystery with way more opportunities." Ick.

Next, generally, large delays in Philly (quelle suprise...) which meant loads of irritated passengers missing connecting flights. This irritation however was only surpassed in surliness by the less-than-cheerful 'tudes of all flight staff I encountered today. I shall withhold the name of the airline/s for their protections. But biznatches, please: it's called a customer service job, look into it.

I thought I'd get lucky since I would have had a four-hour layover in Vegas; as it turns out I got there comfortably on time to make my flight to Seattle, without fretting, maybe even a few minutes to get in some quality slot machine time. But then the announcement came that everything was ready except for this little not-having-a-pilot issue. So again, I wait. I admire the people travelling with kids, everyone seems to be holding it together, but I imagine that this kind of situation with little ones is most sucky.

Still, highlights include (but are not limited to): flying over the Grand Canyon at relatively low altitude, seeing every nook 'n cranny, as it was a crystal clear, cloud-free sky today. Absolutely awe-inspiring and boy am I glad I ended up snagging that window seat; my $1.20 net profit on the slot machines here at the Vegas airport (hey, if you can't will away that annoying slot machine ding-dongy bells noise, might as well join 'em...). First I stuck a fiver in a penny slot. Spin wheel, spin. Nothing. All gone. Then a fiver in the nickel slots. Zilch. Robbed. Slowly, I figured, yeah, like these airport slots are not total coin suckers. But I remained steadfast: last chance, third machine, another nickel one, a third fiver. Down to the end. Hit triple credit, and get a '5 times pay' bonanza, all the bells 'n whistles go off and I get $16.20. Now, it's my general practice not to leave a casino in the negative figures, so I took my win (hey, a plus is a plus is a plus) as a sign and...quit. Another highlight is of course this free WiFi--I approve! I'm really too tired to read and I just don't FEEL like looking at vocabulary learning strategies and/or vocab acquisition material. Although I can recommend in this month's Marie Claire the article on 'Alpha Female / Beta Male', which includes the side articles "Why I Love My Alpha Wife", followed on the next page by "Why I Left My Beta Husband". CLASSIC!

Ummkay. So tootles for now, hope we do make it to SEA on time, don't want to keep dinner waiting TOO long. I'm sure I'll arrive all fresh as a daisy (not). Aw well, I haven't been home in a YEAR so I really don't care: I'm totes excited! Christmas here I come...must do much work over break but not without some holiday-ness and a scamper up to Vancouver BC for New Years malfeasance...what are your holiday plans?

DO tell.