June 30, 2016

 I got six hours of sleep last night which didn't feel like nearly enough. I got up and ate a breakfast of leftover pizza and breadsticks before getting ready. Then I finished packing up the last of my stuff. With all the books and extra crap I had I needed to do a little rearranging. I ended up using the bag I bought last night for my laptop, 3DS, phone, and three books. I had a bunch of random papers, my giant conference program, a book, hoodie, laptop charger, water bottle, and other miscellaneous things in my backpack. And then everything else was neatly crammed into my suitcase.

My shuttle picked me up on time but only because I was lucky. She had four stops all scheduled at the same time and by the luck of the draw, she picked me first. I believe the last person was picked up thirty minutes later. Had that been me, I would have been a little worried if my shuttle was thirty minutes late. I probably would have gotten an Uber at that point, now that I'm all in the know about Uber.

We got dropped off at the airport shortly before ten o'clock after about an hour on the hour. They had curbside check-in and I kind of did that. They also had another version of curbside set up right next to curbside, even had the same line, but it was somehow different. I can't remember what they called it. The difference was that they worked on tips, or at least that's what the guy told me. I didn't really care though because it was super quick, the guy gave me really clear directions to get me where I needed to go, and I avoided the long check-in line inside. Worth a tip.

I apparently looked a little confused when I got to the security area because a guy working there came up to me and said I looked confused. Or maybe I just looked suspicious. Either way he helped me out. There was a wait at security but the line went pretty quickly. After I got through I went and sat at a bench next to a boy eating pancakes, so I could more easily put on my shoes. The pancakes and syrup smelled really good. I got my shoes on just in time to catch the tram over to my terminal.

Then it was just a hurry up and wait situation because I had an hour before boarding started for my flight. I took that time to read the Benjamin Button graphic novel. I would say that was a good use of my time.

It was really nice being in the 'A' boarding group, even if I was second to last. It felt like the plane was practically empty when I got on and I was able to get a window seat. Not long after sitting down a mom with two small girls sat down in front of me. One of them was two years old and she was the one that randomly cried and screamed throughout the flight. It was mildly annoying but the noise in the cabin was great enough that it cut off a lot of the screaming. I had almost sat in that row, which would have probably caused them to sit behind me, which would have been way worse because the sound would be coming right at me.

On the flight I finished reading the information about F. Scott Fitzgerald in the back of the Benjamin Button book, took pictures out of the plane window, read a little bit about library security, and played Ocarina of Time on my 3DS. It has been so long since I”ve played that game that I really had no clue what the hell I was supposed to be doing. I ended up just running around and accomplishing nothing. I went to the one place that has been hinted at but I have no idea what I'm supposed to do once I'm there. Oh well.

The coolest thing about the flight was the tracker that you could access on your phone over the plane wireless. You were able to see a map with the plan flying over it so you could see the general location of the plane. You could also see: flight time remaining, estimated arrival time, distance remaining in miles, altitude, heading, and ground speed. Very cool.

My mom and sister met me at the airport and after waiting forever to get my bag at baggage claim, we headed to the car and then home. We stopped and had a late lunch on the way back and it was the first time I've ever eaten at a Cracker Barrel. I don't know how I've managed to avoid that but it should changed because the food was really good. Namely, the pancakes, which were way better than Village Inn. I also got a blueberry muffin but didn't have any room for it after the pancakes so I took it home for later. I had lemonade to drink and I think it was the real deal, homemade and all that. I had almost two glasses and I could have had more but then we would have had to make twenty pit stops on the last leg of our journey. Right as we were about to leave there was a downpour so we ended up wandering around the small store in the front of Cracker Barrel while we waited for the rain to pass. That didn't take too long and then we were back on our way.

When we got home I showed my mom all the stuff I got and then I started doing laundry. I only managed to get two loads done and still have one to go. I also watched YouTube videos and tried to stay awake long enough for the second load to finish. Which it has. So I'm going to go to bed now. After I find the email that mentions when I'm supposed to be at work tomorrow. I'm remembering nine o'clock but I can't find the email. Fake out. I just found the email, and my memory was correct, I go in at nine o'clock. Noon would have been nice so I could have slept in, but would have also meant working until nine o'clock at night, which would have sucked. So I'll try and power through waking up early, yet again. I am glad to be home but it also means I can no longer ignore all the crap I need to get done in my real life. Being so busy and out of my element for the past week was a nice distraction but now I need to get back to the stress that is my life this summer. I can already start to feel it overwhelm me.