Riding High

Well everyone, I can safely say that my apprehension regarding flying on an airplane have been reduced dramatically. This morning, I caught two planes to land me in Huntsville, Alabama. Of course, with my acrophobia (fear of heights for those not in the know), I was a little worried about the concept of flying in mid-air and not having anywhere to run off to in case of a mid-flight debacle. My dad dropped me off and I got my boarding pass. I went to the security checkpoint and expected the worse, because this was my first flight since 9-11, and I hadn't witnessed the new security measures. I was checked like I was trying to get into Kenny's Key West (my N.O. folk know about it). I had to take off shoes, jackets, chains, everything. I got through without incident (though later on, I found out that I accidentally left 2 screwdrivers, a pair of scissors, and a jagged letter opener in my bag). I called some of my people and asked for their prayers, as I was fatigued and jelly-legged. They assured me that all would be well, and I said a prayer. When it was time, I got settled in on my first flight from New Orleans to Houston in my cozy aisle seat and got ready to head out when I found out that the woman with the window seat was claustrophobic and we had to switch seats. Once everything was a go and we began the takeoff procedures, I wasn't as worried as I thought. Of course, I would be by a window with the window cover stuck in the open position, so I had no choice but to look out at the heights that gave me the heebie jeebies. As soon as was allowed, I reached for my mp3 player and listened to several old school tunes as well as I could (ugh, Olympus m:robe's volume settings are WAY too low!!), while looking out as we soared above the clouds. Before I knew it, we were landing in Houston at George Bush Intercontinental (bah, humbug!). I looked at my boarding pass and realized that the 2nd plane was already boarding by the time we landed, so I had to hustle and catch a tram to the other side of the airport to board the 2nd plane. This was a smaller affair with the nicest (oh, was she nice!) flight attendant in recent memory. When the peanut and beverage run came, I asked for a hot tea with lemon and sugar to soothe my aching throat. I'm nursing what I believe to be the early stages of a cold and my throat was raw. As the tea brought me to a stage of nirvana, we were cruising into Huntsville, and that's when it happened. The ear popping. My ears popped, but no matter what I did, I couldn't pop them back. I chewed gum, I swallowed, I stretched, tried to yawn, everything. Nothing worked. My ears were causing a significant amount of discomfort, but I just decided to bear with it. Sure enough, the closer we got to the ground, the better my ears began to feel. So now, I'm here in Huntsville. It's a pretty nice town, but then again, I haven't seen much. What I DO know is that I have a significant amount of work ahead of me tomorrow. In time, I plan to give you all (those that read my blog) a special name (gang sounds so cliche'). I had a chicken and fish dinner from a restaurant called Captain D's Seafood. It was pretty good, but a tad on the greasy side. I'm still fatigued and think I'll close this blog entry off on that note. I've had a rather adventurous day so far. Stay blessed.

-B