6/29/10, disappearing 6/30/10, and some 7/1/10

6/29/10 LAX //my Last day in america

I write this sitting in LAX, unable to get a wireless signal (without paying 7.99 for a t-mobile day pass)

this morning I repacked my things in preparation for my flight. I was concerned that my bags would surpass the weight limit; we weighed them at home and they just barely cut it, after I removed a few items that I “didn't need to take to new zealand, but want for the road trip.” of course, I forgot what those items were by now. but my bags passed. I passed security. all that stands between me and my flight to Sydney is an hour before boarding begins (and Anything could happen in that hour, Knowing Me.)

we saw a classier part of hollywood today. the northeastern bit, Las Feliz was it called? my parents recognized a restaurant where a state farm insurance commercial was shot, (though they thought it was an AT&T commercial and couldn't remember Luke Wilson's name) so we stopped there. it was lovely. a little french place. as we sat outside I watched hipsters go by (or at least, the closest things to hipsters I've seen in LA) – this must be the Cool side of hollywood.
we saw some Frank Lloyd Wright houses, from the outside, anyway, and stopped in a museum that was actually closed but looked at the exhibit anyway. I enjoyed it. I wrote down the names of the artists-
Fumiko Amano, Linda Arreola, Sean Duffy, Sam Erenberg, Mary Beth Heffeman, Jesse Lemer, Brian Moss, Michael Pierzynski, Rebecca Ripple, Tran T. Kim-Tran, Fernando D. Castro, Maria Elena Bodmann, Ken Roht. maybe I'll look in to them later.

we finally got to Venice. it's beautiful. houses I'd love to live in. attractive men. we ate at an amazing wine bar, I can't remember the name of it now, but it was happy hour and we got little appetizers and shared and kept getting different things, the way I really like to eat. it was all amazing food. we had oysters that were the Best I've Ever Had. as a last meal in America, it was tops. we finished it off with some Humbolt Fog cheese. if you haven't had that and you get a chance to, take it. it's world class, top notch, amazing. we'd had it before, thanks to our friends in Humbolt (and as I'm sure many of you know, things that come from Humbolt are generally good..)

V Australia is the airline I'm flying on. it's part of virgin airlines. very hip, their check in counter had colored lights and Lady Gaga playing. I hope their attention to detail extends to their airplanes.

I already miss my cell phone. three times between leaving it in my dad's truck and now I thought of texting various people. not being able to connect to the internet (something I expected to be easy at an airport this large) is also putting a damper on things … but I'll survive, and perhaps there will be internet in Sydney. I hope there's internet in Sydney. I've got a three and

– I was just interrupted by someone, a twenty something guy I noticed checking me out earlier. sat down next to me and said “excuse me, I'd like to ask you a few questions.” “okay.” “first of all, what's your name?” “Lydia” “Leah, okay” “no, Lydia” “oh, Lydia. Where are you headed?” “New Zealand” “New Zealand! wow. what are you doing there?” “going to school.” “wow” “study abroad” “wow, okay. well, never mind then, I just wanted to see where you were headed.” and away he went.
the woman across from me raised an eyebrow and I caught her eye. we both shook our heads and laughed.

three hours and ten minutes at the Sydney airport. I don't know if I'm allowed to leave. I'd like to step outside and say I went to Sydney, but I think it's unlikely. for that, I would pay 7.99 to go online.

I wish that guy had stayed to talk to me, even though I had no interest in him and he was seemingly looking for someone headed the same direction as him for reasons I can only assume. I want someone to talk to. I feel actually alone now. I'm leaving my home for six months. am I crazy? no, of course not. well, yes, but no.
the woman who gave me my boarding pass said “you're not coming back until December? wow, that's a long time.” “yeah, I'm going to school there.”

I know I won't be alone when I get there. Alex will be there. and my new friends who I haven't met yet, Angela and Mishca and Emily and my four other housemates, all those people will be there. but I am going to a foreign country, a strange place, when I've never lived outside of Kansas City before, when I've never been away from it for more than a month (and I complained about homesickness a lot in that month, too... I was eleven, but still.)

“uh, Las Vegas was very hot. it was a hundred and eight degrees when we left. yeah, yeah. yeah, we're at Los Angeles airport now.” he's got an Australian accent, I think. or maybe not- “we go straight to Sydney, then we have to get another flight.” doesn't sound Kiwi to me, but could be I suppose... nah, sounds Australian. (Las Vegas WAS very hot.) Australian: “we'll be getting back to Brisbane late thursday or early friday.”

thirty-eight minutes til my flight begins boarding.

I think I'll find a place to buy a Coke or go to the bathroom or something to fill up the time.




//flight. -somewhere over the pacific ocean //(turbulence apparently does not equal crashing on the Island)

the kid sitting next to me did turn out to be friendly. he's on this flight with the rest of his college choir. they're staying in australia, touring and performing. he's an architecture major. it's nice getting to know someone I'll never see again.

most people are asleep right now. it's 5am in kansas city, 3am in LA, but about 8pm in sydney, I believe. a little over nine hours before we land. I didn't want to go to sleep until the time I plan on going to sleep every night, local time. that way i'll sleep at that time tomorrow. I don't know, it made sense to me. if I went to sleep now it'd only be an hour later than I went to sleep the last two nights. pretty much everyone is asleep. the perfect time to take my daily lydia shot... assuming the flash doesn't wake my friend. which it might. i've already been the girl in the motel bar taking a picture of herself, why not be the girl on the flight taking a picture of herself? I'm still so self conscious sometimes. only when I'm alone. maybe I'll wait until morning, and explain to my new friend what I'm doing. I don't even know his name.

self consciousness wins. I'm going to sleep.



6/30/10 in America, 7/1/10 in Australia //the Longest day ever/Sydney\\

I never took a photo of myself on the airplane. that's okay. but both 6/29 and now 6/30 have gone undocumented, as today is 7/1/10 for me. time travel is exhausting. because everyone went to sleep when they would have in America on the flight they also woke up around the same time they would in America, which was about two hours after that last post. people started talking, kids were loud (one child in particular had a cough, poor dear, though I'm hardly sympathetic with someone who coughs every two minutes for an hour straight when I'm trying to sleep), lights even came back on. I gave up on sleep. those complimentary eye masks don't blog sound, and I can't do ear plugs.

my friend's name was Steven. I first discovered this as I was trying to sleep and one of his friends came over to talk to him. “stee-VEN, stee-VEN” -that's how she always said his name. and she said it a lot.
V Australia flights have games on their little “entertainment systems” stuck to the back of every seat. Steven and I played each other in battleship, tetris, and yahtzee. this is how we Officially learned each other's names. he handed me an earbud and played me Paramore and Thrice. I handed him one and played him Fleet Foxes and Iron & Wine. oh, V Australia's planes are quite hip – mood lighting that changes colors (blue during sleepy time, soft orange during food and landing, and purple the rest of the time) and music in the bathrooms (they were also playing Fleet Foxes. what a coincidence.)

we arrived in Sydney later than we were scheduled to, around 6:30AM. I am not allowed to leave the airport. security was much simpler than in LA. I spent ten dollars on a ham & cheese croissant and a bottle of water – ten Australian dollars, however much that is. seemed over priced to me. plus using my credit card means the bank will charge me an additional 3%.

(((the rest of this entry is crap and i will not post it at this time)))