I'm here, I'm alive, happy mother's day, mom!

The ridiculous amounts of traipsing through four different airports today (and I employ the term "today" loosely) was, I think I'm somewhat saddened to admit, rather uneventful. Usually flying is more fun if there's some weirdo trying to pass his golf clubs off as a carry-on, or some older woman in neon clothes and a fanny sack screaming at the gate attendants, or some little kid making unabashed comments about the coolness of jets every 15 minutes during the flight (dude, I totally agree with you).

But nothing really happened. Which is good...I guess. There are only four events I really remember:

Event 1. In which I blurt something out that should've stayed in my head.

Location: O'Hare airport
Time: 14:45:03 Central

Waiting to board my first flight of the "day" I sit down next to a mid-30s-ish business man, who's engaged in an intense examination of a very tiny Sudoku book.

I stare at him for a while, somewhat quizzically, and then blurt out (so that everyone in the area turns to look):
"Wow, are you doing those with just your brain?"

He laughs. No, he's reading the instructions; he shows me.

Darn. It would have been so much more interesting if he was just solving them with his brain. I mean, that's some kind of impressive. And at least I could have then challenge him to play brain tic-tac-toe with me. You know, given his affinity for doing things with just his brain.

Event 2. In which I get annoyed at Murphy's Law once again.

Location: Somewhere over Chicago's western suburbs (Hi, Brett and Julie! "I waved but you didn't look)
Time: Heck if I know

As soon as we're in the air, the guy in front of ME, and ONLY me, decides to tilt his chair back to the max. Thank you, Mr. Inconsiderate of the Tall Person Directly Behind You. It slays me that the other two people in his row, whose seats were in front of two relatively petite women, left their seats straight up for the entire flight.

At least I had a window seat.

Event 3. In which I fall asleep on the plane with the window shade open, and wake up with the window shade closed.

Location: Somewhere over Nebraska. I could tell because even the atmosphere felt like it was bored.
Time: Later than Event 2

This event remains somewhat mysterious to me. Did I close it with my face whilst sleeping? Or did the person next to me feel compelled to reach across my awkwardly cramped, lanky person deep into a dream about unicorns and Werner Heisenberg, to shut the window right next to my head? Or did the steward come down the aisle, notice my window shade pen, decide that this was not appropriate given the brightness of the outside and the fact that everyone around me was trying to watch a re-run of The Office on glaring screens 12 rows away...and reach awkwardly across all three of us to shut my window?

I guess I'll never know. But it brings up all sorts of serious and troubling issues about airplane window etiquette that I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with (I have window seats on all my flights. Because let's face it-- my inner child (which is perhaps somewhat less inner than most people's) would rather be a little cramped for leg room and get to watch the jet do its ridiculously cool thing, than sit in the aisle and fall asleep with my elbow jutting out into the path of those pointy, mean beverage carts).

I reopened the window shade. The Office was over by then, anyway.

Event 4. In which I start to feel somewhat nervous about this trip.

Location: Somewhere still over Nebraska
Time: After I am awakened by Event 3 and immediately become bored (see "location")

16:42:24 [Beginning of pseudo-existential crisis]. Internal monologue: "What the heck am I doing, going to a continent by myself? Holy crap, I'm not going to know anyone and I don't know what these people will expect from me I'm just a twinkie grad student I can't do this ahhhhhhh too much pressure!!!!"

16:42:25 I notice something shiny out the window
16:42:32 I ask the girl seated next to me if she'd like to play brain tic-tac-toe. She doesn't respond. She must not speak English.

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The remainder of the trip went relatively smoothly-- I got an entire row to myself on the 747 flight from San Francisco to Sydney. And at one point I woke up, and the flight attendants had left two (two!) meals for me. Sweetness. I'll post more tomorrow, from the "Uni". (Only geeks call it "The University". I learned this the hard way). I'll also try to post pics of the home I'm staying in. Lovely. 110 years old. The family-- also lovely. More later.