Home Again

Well, here I am once again, writing from my home in the rainy old Pacific Northwest. It's really nice to be back here for Christmas break. I've already seen a lot of friends at Mass this morning, and will continue to get together with more people over the course of the next three weeks. My younger brothers are actually happy to see me, which is really funny, since they teased me about being glad that I was going away. Oh well, I sort of expected it to happen. My youngest brother, who's 5, was really bashful at first when I met my family in the airport yesterday, but today he has been virtually unable to detach himself from me for the whole day. It's really cute. :)

So yesterday was a really interesting day, all told. I got up in the morning and hung out on campus for a few hours, saying goodbye to various and sundry people before leaving with my courier and two other friends at 11:45 a.m. We got down to Oxnard airport at around 12:20, and then had to wait until 1:15 for our shuttle to LAX. What was supposed to happen was this: Beth and I (who live close to each other and so booked the same flight home) arranged for a shuttle that would get us to the airport at 2:45, so that we could arrive in a fairly good amount of time for our 4:00 flight to Sea-Tac. What actually happened was this: we ran into bad traffic on the commute to LAX on the shuttle, and so were dropped off at the United terminal at more like 3:15. Well, by that time we had missed the 45 minute cut-off for check-ins for our flight, and so were told that we'd have to re-schedule. *sigh* So we dragged our enormous and heavy luggage down to another desk and talked to a lady there, who was very nice about everything and got us all arranged for a 5 p.m. flight, which would stop in San Francisco shortly after 6, leave there shortly after 7, and get us to Sea-Tac at around 9. So we got our new boarding passes, went through security, and finally found ourselves in a McDonald's by our gate, eating cheeseburgers for dinner. I tried to call my parents to tell them my new arrival time, but no one was picking up at home, on my Mom's cell, or on my brother's cell (I later found out that it was a due to a power outage that took out all the phones, including the cells). So I finally got a hold of my grandma, who said that she would keep calling them and try to tell them for me (since cell phones aren't allowed to be used on the plane), and if worst came to worst, she would come and get me from the airport. Eventually we boarded and took off. It was my first time flying since I'd been a baby, so for me it was an entirely new experience. I have to say that I enjoyed it, even the turbulence. It was like riding in a big van over a really bouncy road. :) Not much worth mentioning happened the rest of the way home; our layover was relatively short, still couldn't get a hold of my family, took off again, and got to Sea-Tac on time. As soon as we were allowed to use phones again, I called my bro's cell and finally he picked it up. They were still at the airport, so I told them not to go anywhere; I'd be there in a few minutes. Which I was. They were very glad to finally see me. They'd been there at 6:30, which was when the first flight got in, and when I hadn't shown by 7:15, they went and asked United what was up, and were told that I was on the next flight, and so had to wait around that much longer for me. Ack. Oh well, at least I eventually got home, and that was the important part. :)

Well, I'm probably going to go to bed soon. I'm rather tired, given all of yesterday's hubbub, and also given that today we went and got our Christmas tree and decorated it. So yeah. I've had quite enough activity for one weekend. I probably won't post again before Christmas, so God Bless, and have a Merry Christmas!