Pic from Jennifer from Austin Glitterati at our al fresco dinner.
Don't we just look like PRETTY GIRLS...
UGH!
Sunday, August 13, 2006
Uncommon Threads Shoot, Day 1, 8-7-06
OK - so here we go! There was no way I could possibly have worked on my step-outs any more - they were as good as they were going to get. No going back!
My Dad had custom made a wood frame for the Starry Night image and of course, it wouldn;t fit in any luggage, so I wrapped it in bubble wrap, added a rope handle and would bring it with me as a carry on. I packed a big bag with all my essential carry-ons and a small knitting bag, along with the mannequin for the CC Lowell contest and some beads.
Dharia arrived here about 9:15 and we dug through some clothes that she could potentially wear. We jammed them all in the luggage and were ready to go.
My Mom came over to watch Ethan who was bouncing off the walls due to all the activity. I sadly said goodbye to him, but he was more interested in playing with Grandma! Off we went to Providence. It was a quick ride and before we knew it were there, mighty early, I might add - 11:00am for a 1:30 flight. But better to be safe than sorry!
Our luggage was checked curbside and the whole process to get to our gate took no longer than 15 minutes. Being the first ones there we stretched out and started crafting; Dharia knitting a sweater and me beading on the mannequin.
Dayna came about 45 minutes later and we relaxed, knitting, etc.
They announced the flight would be late and we were super concerned we would miss the connection in Newark. D & D went to look for some food and I sat with the bags. We boarded the little plane and ate strange buritos as we took off.
2 hours later we were in Newark, although REALLY far away from the gate we needed to get to...ugh! SO we BOOKED to our gate and got there with a few minutes to spare. Our seats were together and after the stress of getting there with all our stuff, we settled in for a long 5 + hour flight.
I had the window for the end of the flight so I was able to see the bizarre dessert and then the mountains as we approached LA.
Dharia's sinuses were really bothering her and at one point she was howling in pain during the decent.
As we landed I called Dan who told me there was some kind of brown out at LAX and he was suprised we were able to land as they diverted lots of flights.
We found our luggage and looked for a taxi to Burbank to the Holiday Inn, about 45 minutes away.
This is D&D right outside LAX while we were waiting for a taxi. Notice the happy anticipatory smiles...oh, so innocent!
We got into a minivan taxi with a middle-aged middle-eastern-ish driver and were on our way. Nichelle called my cell but the battery died as we were talking.
The taki driver put on some mood music...musac versions of "Smooth Operator" and other bizarre tunes, silly enough to make us laugh out loud!!!
45+ minutes later we pulled into the Holiday Inn Burbank, a slightly outdated 18 floor hotel. Immediately something was up as the front desk said they only had smoking rooms. Let me just say our experiences with the front desk staff could be a novel alone, so I will just give you the basics...they were 2 very unapologetic people who can't read a computer monitor and after a quick threatening phone call from Nichelle (the travel coordinator for Uncommon Threads) suddenly our reservation was found, 3 non-smoking rooms, together and all for 3 nights. Miraculous. And one of the staffers had the nerve to ask Dharia to fill out a positive comment card for his good work. AHHHHHHHHH!!
So the rooms were fine - clean - the view was beautiful:
After settling in for awhile, we took a walk through "Downtown Burbank" and found a street with all kinds of shops and restaurants. We chose an Indian restaurant and ate dinner at about 9pm. It was super spicy but we were so hungry it didn't matter to me.
We returned and tried to do our nails and choose outfits. I tried to iron some clothes but we came to the conclusion the wardrobe person would iron our stuff for us. About 11:30-ish we finally decided to get some sleep.
After all the activity of the day, it was quiet and I started missing Ethan. I cried myself to sleep which drew day 1 to a close.
My Dad had custom made a wood frame for the Starry Night image and of course, it wouldn;t fit in any luggage, so I wrapped it in bubble wrap, added a rope handle and would bring it with me as a carry on. I packed a big bag with all my essential carry-ons and a small knitting bag, along with the mannequin for the CC Lowell contest and some beads.
Dharia arrived here about 9:15 and we dug through some clothes that she could potentially wear. We jammed them all in the luggage and were ready to go.
My Mom came over to watch Ethan who was bouncing off the walls due to all the activity. I sadly said goodbye to him, but he was more interested in playing with Grandma! Off we went to Providence. It was a quick ride and before we knew it were there, mighty early, I might add - 11:00am for a 1:30 flight. But better to be safe than sorry!
Our luggage was checked curbside and the whole process to get to our gate took no longer than 15 minutes. Being the first ones there we stretched out and started crafting; Dharia knitting a sweater and me beading on the mannequin.
Dayna came about 45 minutes later and we relaxed, knitting, etc.
They announced the flight would be late and we were super concerned we would miss the connection in Newark. D & D went to look for some food and I sat with the bags. We boarded the little plane and ate strange buritos as we took off.
2 hours later we were in Newark, although REALLY far away from the gate we needed to get to...ugh! SO we BOOKED to our gate and got there with a few minutes to spare. Our seats were together and after the stress of getting there with all our stuff, we settled in for a long 5 + hour flight.
I had the window for the end of the flight so I was able to see the bizarre dessert and then the mountains as we approached LA.
Dharia's sinuses were really bothering her and at one point she was howling in pain during the decent.
As we landed I called Dan who told me there was some kind of brown out at LAX and he was suprised we were able to land as they diverted lots of flights.
We found our luggage and looked for a taxi to Burbank to the Holiday Inn, about 45 minutes away.
This is D&D right outside LAX while we were waiting for a taxi. Notice the happy anticipatory smiles...oh, so innocent!
We got into a minivan taxi with a middle-aged middle-eastern-ish driver and were on our way. Nichelle called my cell but the battery died as we were talking.
The taki driver put on some mood music...musac versions of "Smooth Operator" and other bizarre tunes, silly enough to make us laugh out loud!!!
45+ minutes later we pulled into the Holiday Inn Burbank, a slightly outdated 18 floor hotel. Immediately something was up as the front desk said they only had smoking rooms. Let me just say our experiences with the front desk staff could be a novel alone, so I will just give you the basics...they were 2 very unapologetic people who can't read a computer monitor and after a quick threatening phone call from Nichelle (the travel coordinator for Uncommon Threads) suddenly our reservation was found, 3 non-smoking rooms, together and all for 3 nights. Miraculous. And one of the staffers had the nerve to ask Dharia to fill out a positive comment card for his good work. AHHHHHHHHH!!
So the rooms were fine - clean - the view was beautiful:
After settling in for awhile, we took a walk through "Downtown Burbank" and found a street with all kinds of shops and restaurants. We chose an Indian restaurant and ate dinner at about 9pm. It was super spicy but we were so hungry it didn't matter to me.
We returned and tried to do our nails and choose outfits. I tried to iron some clothes but we came to the conclusion the wardrobe person would iron our stuff for us. About 11:30-ish we finally decided to get some sleep.
After all the activity of the day, it was quiet and I started missing Ethan. I cried myself to sleep which drew day 1 to a close.
Uncommon Threads Shoot, Day 2, 8-8-06
So we had no idea what we were about to get into...
I woke up before the alarm at about 4:55am. I jumped in the shower immediately, making sure I had ample time to get ready. We were supposed to arrive to the set all ready and the car would be there at 7:15.
After the shower I loaded up on the makeup, styled my hair and threw on some clothes. I went to Dharia's and checked on her progress. I gave her a little extra makup on her eyes and ironed her hair a little straight.
We had to bring projects AND clothes to the studio so we looked like were moving out.
Vince the production assistant picked us up and we jammed all our stuff in the car.
We relaxed for probably the last time on our 3 mile trip to the studio.
We pulled into what looked like a loading dock or a distribution center; a one story warehouse type of building.
We walked into the building which was just a big garage, essentially.
We met Nichelle, who was super nice and she showed us to our changing room, a throwback to the late 80's, early 90's.
So we moved into the dressing room and tried to relax. There was a group already on the set shooting - LOOM WEAVING of all difficult things!!! Lorelei came and sat with us, trying to get us acclimated and comfortable. We were being filmed right at the beginning of the shooting schedule, so there were some changes happening already. Evidently the prop guy quit and I believe one or 2 other staff. I had no idea what that meant to the production, but she was just giving us a heads up if things seemed awry.
We missed online friends, MonsterCrochet and Briana and their shoot, as they are local to CA and left Monday night. Lorelei said their shoot ran perfectly, which meant to me the only way to go for us would be down...lol! (little did I know).
We practiced a run-through of Starry Night which went OK - I think Lorelei would have liked it to run smoother. After that we were allowed to sit in on the weaving episode taping. Dharia remembers their group name - check her blog in the next few days and I'm sure she'll mention the name of the group. There were 4 of them from San Fran and were filming 4 episodes...UGH!
Here's a pic of their set:
So we watched the taping for awhile trying to be as quiet as possible (Dharia survivied a coughing fit). It was time for us to get dressed and gather all our stuff for the shoot.
Dharia hung out in the sitting room - note the monitor that showed the 3 cameras and what they were shooting.
Dharia trying to eek out a smile - more like a look of being stunned. I felt a little responsible for getting her into this in the first place...lol!
So it was time to go - we were wired with microphones, primped by the wardrobe lady, Allesandra, and dusted with powder by the make-up lady.
We met Allison Whitlock, who was really nice and has the most gorgeous skin and teeth! AND the biggest smile.
We arranged ourselves around the living room set and the rest is a blur to me. I tried to remember to not slouch and keep smiling, but I wish someone had told me NOT to wear that green shirt that made me look rather vast...
Again - the rest is kind of a blur, so I will post some pics and a basic outline.
From the intro, Dharia's segment was dyeing the wool, which was a concept no one could grasp AT ALL.
The man in the grey shirt is Gordon, the director. He was very polite in directing - no one ever said we were doing anything "wrong", just gentle direction to get us to do it they way they wanted. Again - it wasn't easy that no one really understoon crafting principles.
They had to buy a microwave so Dharia could demo putting the wool in the micro to "cook" and when the segment was done, the micro went back in the box and back to Target! Funny!
All the props and items to be used for each segment are laid out on these huge trays and brought out for hooting. Here is the tray for Segment 3 of Starry Night:
This segment was filmed over at the Dining Room set:
Because our project only filled 3 segments, Allison made a project that was related: a small handbag made from a canvas panel that she couched in the Starry Night pattern. Unbelieveable, she is expected to create about 2 or 3 new projects every week, having to develop an idea, come up with all the instructions AND make all the step outs. She is definately calm, cool, collected AND able to ad-lib the entire episode.
Here we are "riveted" to Allison, a common word from the Director..."Allison is sewing...act like you are riveted to her..." Dharia's Mom came to visit and after watching us watch Allison she commented that we looked like Allison INVENTED sewing and we were just taken aback...
I can't even explain how comical the whole thing is...there is usually a few minutes between takes so all of us would chit chat. Allison would run through what she was going to say and who/what she was going to direct questions to. In the 15-20 seconds or so leading up to the directing telling us to go ahead, there was TONS of eye contact, over the top smiling and head tilting and the funniest of all, the pretend talking. When filming the opening scenes from each commercial break, we would pretend to have an enthralling conversation, which usually consisted of Allison saying, "and we are smiling and laughing, chatting...and...(turn to camera) Hi, I'm Alllisonn Wittlawke here with the Arrrrrtisenn Weeeemennn of Wusssstarrrrr" in the cutest Australian accent. So funny!!!
I can't explain enough how she basically IS the show...yes, there are lots of crafters who demo their cool projects, but she is kind of the go-between for the crafters and the crew. And on top of that she is a genuinely nice and gracious person.
So thank goodness we got through our filming unscathed.
After changing, it was time to run through the next day's projects. It was about 5:30 and we had to clear out by 7pm.
Now we had planned to demo two projects on day 2 - the felted, chalkboard messenger bag and Dayna's recycled messenger bag. It took awhile to get through my wet-felting segment and when I was done Dharia and Dayna were to run through their segments. I ran around getting my things ready on the segment board. I kind of sensed there was some tension with Lorelei and it was about how much time the whole project would take to film. When Dayna started to take out her step outs, Lorelei saw they weren't exactly identical and made the decision that there would be no time to film the recycled bag segment. It sucked that that's how it worked out, but I couldn't see the episode getting filmed in less than 4 hours (when it is only scheduled for 2 and a half).
It was a difficult decision but when the dust settled, we rearranged the script to have Dayna demo the 4th segment.
Disaster averted.
So Vince drove us home and we went to the brew pub restaurant with Dharia's Mom. It was a good dinner - I think were all kind of in a state of shock.
Back at the hotel we all had trouble sleeping - I watched TV until about 11:30 and finally passed out.
I woke up before the alarm at about 4:55am. I jumped in the shower immediately, making sure I had ample time to get ready. We were supposed to arrive to the set all ready and the car would be there at 7:15.
After the shower I loaded up on the makeup, styled my hair and threw on some clothes. I went to Dharia's and checked on her progress. I gave her a little extra makup on her eyes and ironed her hair a little straight.
We had to bring projects AND clothes to the studio so we looked like were moving out.
Vince the production assistant picked us up and we jammed all our stuff in the car.
We relaxed for probably the last time on our 3 mile trip to the studio.
We pulled into what looked like a loading dock or a distribution center; a one story warehouse type of building.
We walked into the building which was just a big garage, essentially.
We met Nichelle, who was super nice and she showed us to our changing room, a throwback to the late 80's, early 90's.
So we moved into the dressing room and tried to relax. There was a group already on the set shooting - LOOM WEAVING of all difficult things!!! Lorelei came and sat with us, trying to get us acclimated and comfortable. We were being filmed right at the beginning of the shooting schedule, so there were some changes happening already. Evidently the prop guy quit and I believe one or 2 other staff. I had no idea what that meant to the production, but she was just giving us a heads up if things seemed awry.
We missed online friends, MonsterCrochet and Briana and their shoot, as they are local to CA and left Monday night. Lorelei said their shoot ran perfectly, which meant to me the only way to go for us would be down...lol! (little did I know).
We practiced a run-through of Starry Night which went OK - I think Lorelei would have liked it to run smoother. After that we were allowed to sit in on the weaving episode taping. Dharia remembers their group name - check her blog in the next few days and I'm sure she'll mention the name of the group. There were 4 of them from San Fran and were filming 4 episodes...UGH!
Here's a pic of their set:
So we watched the taping for awhile trying to be as quiet as possible (Dharia survivied a coughing fit). It was time for us to get dressed and gather all our stuff for the shoot.
Dharia hung out in the sitting room - note the monitor that showed the 3 cameras and what they were shooting.
Dharia trying to eek out a smile - more like a look of being stunned. I felt a little responsible for getting her into this in the first place...lol!
So it was time to go - we were wired with microphones, primped by the wardrobe lady, Allesandra, and dusted with powder by the make-up lady.
We met Allison Whitlock, who was really nice and has the most gorgeous skin and teeth! AND the biggest smile.
We arranged ourselves around the living room set and the rest is a blur to me. I tried to remember to not slouch and keep smiling, but I wish someone had told me NOT to wear that green shirt that made me look rather vast...
Again - the rest is kind of a blur, so I will post some pics and a basic outline.
From the intro, Dharia's segment was dyeing the wool, which was a concept no one could grasp AT ALL.
The man in the grey shirt is Gordon, the director. He was very polite in directing - no one ever said we were doing anything "wrong", just gentle direction to get us to do it they way they wanted. Again - it wasn't easy that no one really understoon crafting principles.
They had to buy a microwave so Dharia could demo putting the wool in the micro to "cook" and when the segment was done, the micro went back in the box and back to Target! Funny!
All the props and items to be used for each segment are laid out on these huge trays and brought out for hooting. Here is the tray for Segment 3 of Starry Night:
This segment was filmed over at the Dining Room set:
Because our project only filled 3 segments, Allison made a project that was related: a small handbag made from a canvas panel that she couched in the Starry Night pattern. Unbelieveable, she is expected to create about 2 or 3 new projects every week, having to develop an idea, come up with all the instructions AND make all the step outs. She is definately calm, cool, collected AND able to ad-lib the entire episode.
Here we are "riveted" to Allison, a common word from the Director..."Allison is sewing...act like you are riveted to her..." Dharia's Mom came to visit and after watching us watch Allison she commented that we looked like Allison INVENTED sewing and we were just taken aback...
I can't even explain how comical the whole thing is...there is usually a few minutes between takes so all of us would chit chat. Allison would run through what she was going to say and who/what she was going to direct questions to. In the 15-20 seconds or so leading up to the directing telling us to go ahead, there was TONS of eye contact, over the top smiling and head tilting and the funniest of all, the pretend talking. When filming the opening scenes from each commercial break, we would pretend to have an enthralling conversation, which usually consisted of Allison saying, "and we are smiling and laughing, chatting...and...(turn to camera) Hi, I'm Alllisonn Wittlawke here with the Arrrrrtisenn Weeeemennn of Wusssstarrrrr" in the cutest Australian accent. So funny!!!
I can't explain enough how she basically IS the show...yes, there are lots of crafters who demo their cool projects, but she is kind of the go-between for the crafters and the crew. And on top of that she is a genuinely nice and gracious person.
So thank goodness we got through our filming unscathed.
After changing, it was time to run through the next day's projects. It was about 5:30 and we had to clear out by 7pm.
Now we had planned to demo two projects on day 2 - the felted, chalkboard messenger bag and Dayna's recycled messenger bag. It took awhile to get through my wet-felting segment and when I was done Dharia and Dayna were to run through their segments. I ran around getting my things ready on the segment board. I kind of sensed there was some tension with Lorelei and it was about how much time the whole project would take to film. When Dayna started to take out her step outs, Lorelei saw they weren't exactly identical and made the decision that there would be no time to film the recycled bag segment. It sucked that that's how it worked out, but I couldn't see the episode getting filmed in less than 4 hours (when it is only scheduled for 2 and a half).
It was a difficult decision but when the dust settled, we rearranged the script to have Dayna demo the 4th segment.
Disaster averted.
So Vince drove us home and we went to the brew pub restaurant with Dharia's Mom. It was a good dinner - I think were all kind of in a state of shock.
Back at the hotel we all had trouble sleeping - I watched TV until about 11:30 and finally passed out.
Uncommon Threads Shoot, Day 4, 8-10-06
Alarm was set for 4:10am, grrrrrrrrrrr!!! Of course, with my 'fear of not hearing the alarm' psychosis, I woke up at 3:55, turned on the coffee maker I set up for myself the night before and shuffled to the bathroom. Alarm went off so I shut if off. Coffee maker was on but not producing coffee. Jiggled the basket ever so just slightly and 8 oz of hot coffee splashed all over the table and my flying clothes carefully laid out. Towelled up coffee, not sure why as housekeeping could have done it...
Dayna knocked on the door - she said there was a terrorist threat in London, something about liquid explosives. A press conference on CNN from London didn't give any more info so I sent her to wake up Dharia and set about getting myself ready ASAP.
We headed downstairs at about 4:25 and checked out - the front desk staff had no idea there was an elevated security risk, even though there was a TV about 5 feet away...
At 4:35 I realized, hey, the shuttle we ordered to LAX was late. At 4:40 we were getting nervous. Dharia called the dispatcher and said someone better be here in 5 minutes.
At 4:55 and older Lebanese, Middle Eastern-ish man in a (non-livery) Toyota SUV pulled up mumbling something about the driver not answering his phone and we hustled into his stinky, ass + cologne smelling vehicle. Whatever. I loudly voiced to him how we paid a deposit, etc. and how we were PISSED. The rest of the 40 minute ride was quiet. Before we got to the terminal, he asked us to pay in the car and I said we shouldn't pay at all as we were supposed to be picked up at 4:30. He argued that he did get us there before the 7am flight (it was 5:30am). Dayna got out of the truck and gave him some money - no tip. Dharia later clued me in that he might have been screwed, accepting money with no taxi license, if it had been a normal security day. But it wasn't.
On the curb we immediately could see what kind of day this was going to be - hastily printed signs were posted everywhere stating we would not be able to bring lotion, toothpaste, shampoo, water, coffee, cream, perfume or any liquid toiletries in the terminal. We hurridly picked through our bags and packed stuff in the checked luggage or threw away any banned items. We said goodbye to our checked pieces and got in another line to go up to the security area. Most of the employees weren't really aware of what the London situation was about...it was relatively orderly although we all looked a bit dazed.
Dharia had to be wanded and padded down through security as she had spine surgery in the past and set off the machines. No probs, though.
We found the gate and settled in, eating our bagels we bought the day before and chatting about being inspired by our crafty TV experience.
At 6:50 it was announced that our flight had been cancelled and that all passengers with a connection shoud get in line to re-book. The new flight was at noon. Five hours away. F-I-V-E H-O-U-R-S.
We got in The Line. Behind us came a harried woman, distraught that she had to throw away her toiletries. We were very supportive and explained that we all had to do it...etc. Let's call her Extrememely Annoying Lady. In front of us were 2 young people, a dark haired boy/man wearing a wool hat, scarf and jacket (I thought, he must be hot), he will be called Mini Jack Black. Like the real Jack Black, only not animated or funny and a wee bit shorter. And he was with a girl. Let's call her The Girl.
Now, Extremely Annoying Lady was very talkative and chatty. Which was fine. For awhile. She was going to Albany, connecting in Newark (as we all were) to her brothers', I believe in Vermont. It turns out her husband is a scientist and is pimping his new book in Boston. I think it is a text book and probably isn't really pimping it...you get it... Dharia worked at the same publishing company...blah blah blah. I was starting to tune out EAL's whiney voice so I didn't catch all the details.
After I came to the realization that we would be in The Line for a very long time I went to knit in some seats across the terminal...far away from EAL. I was probably gone for about 45 minutes and I am not exaggerating, The Line did not move. By then D&D were sitting on the floor knitting and a nice lady from NJ had come over chatting about knitting. Let's call her OT, as she is an Occupational Therapist. Her and her family were travelling from Hawaii on vacation, trying to get back home. EAL was being loud, trying to get through to a Continental agent on the phone, calling and leaving messages for her kids ("Hi, this is Mommie..." her kids must be at least in their 30's), complaining out loud that this is unbelievable, etc. You get it...you have come across people like this. You want to strangle them after 5 minutes. My Dad would not have made it more than one minute.
OT lady brought over her knitting or rather, busy work, as she was not very proficient but was just passing time, which is admirable. She was a very nice lady and we all chatted about Early Intervention and other things. EAL was laying it on thick, bitching and moaning. We all kind of shifted away from her but she would get right in your face and complain about awful this was for her. AHHHHHHHH!
Mini Jack Black and The Girl were going to Edinburgh, and were very calm - a little too calm as they were definately going to miss their connection. Meanwhile EAL was freaking that she'd ever get to Albany. Mind you, she could just have GONE HOME as she lives in LA.
Mini JB and The Girl were pretty quiet and we all chatted about the DIY taping, etc.
Dharia chatted with a new character, we will call CatwomanGiraffe (she wore a tee with a cool Julie Newmar Catwoman and had a cool Giraffe tattoo on her leg). She was an art student in Montreal visiting a friend in LA. Dharia taught her to knit a little and we all calmly chatted. What else were we supposed to do??
As we struggled up to the desk, EAL had drifted ahead of us, as well as another lady loudly complaining into a cell phone. I asked the cell phone lady is she was in line (which meant, "If you think you are going to cut into this line we will stab you repeatedly with dull knitting needles") and she removed herself. EAL had also shifted in front of us and I kindly said , "I don't mean to be rude but we WERE before you in line". Which she apologized and got back in her place.
Trying to keep a positive attitude while sitting on the floor of a terminal isn't easy. Knitting helped. Our newly forged TV smiling skills came in handy. But Extremely Annoying Lady was like the frantic woman who needed to be bitch-slapped to re-gain her composure. I eventually stood up, pulled her aside and told her that no one here wants to listed to her complaining, that we are all in the same boat and are trying to make the best of a bad situation. She nodded and from then on tried to make polite conversation. Phew.
It turns out that CatwomanGiraffe is the ex-boyfriend of a boy in the gaming industry that Darius and Dharia had luch with in LA not 2 months earlier. BIZARRE!
Not long after that we got to the front of the line to Continental employee Tim, who tried to help us get home. Of course I lost my boarding pass for the connection but he quickly told us to get to gate 60 to a flight leaving shortly for Cleveland. I heard the words "3 first class seats" pass his lips and I was excited to be maybe be rewarded for all this stress by the Karma police. We literally RAN to another gate 200 yards away to find out we had about 15 minutes to spare. We were assigned 8D, 9D and 14C. Fine, whatever. No first class. We boarded the plane with no idea if we even were booked on a flight into New England...anywhere. Whatever. Forget about the luggage.
I sat next to a man and his son. They were quiet, thankfully.
There were all kinds of problems with having to take stanby passengers off the plane after they had been given seats because the actual owners of the seats had been stuck in security for hours. That was scary.
We finally took off at about 11:30-ish.
The flight was sucky - cramped, stressful, whatever. I had a stomach ache and my head was killing.
We landed at Cleveland and immediately had to RUN to what seemed like the FURTHEST gate from where we landed. There was a flight leaving in 15 minutes for Providence and we could try to make it. When I say run, I am not embellishing. There was running on moving sidewalks, up and down escalators, through the entire terminal. No shuttles, no handicapped golf-cart-thingie, just plain old, running. And I wasn't wearing my sports bra. Dharia lead the way to the gate where another very unhappy Continental employee tried to book us and the other 3 passengers from the LA flight. She couldn't find me as having a connecting flight and eventually just threw the boarding passes at us and said "it's up to the flight attendant if you can get on" and that was that. We got on a tiny plane with no tickets, and I plopped down next to the thinnest person I could find. After about 20 minutes, my breathing returned to normal and I chatted with the man next to me (we didn't even exchange names) about flying, etc. He was from Randolph, a rep for a company that makes printing plates for packaging, etc. Pretty interesting. We talked about the Red Sox, planes, LA, etc. I felt like a total slob, as most of the people on the flight were business and we looked pretty beat - I had no make-up, dirty pants, bad hair but by then I didn't care.
The 2+ hour flight went really quickly. There were thunderstorms all over New England and Providence was about to have downpours. The landing was a bit bizarre; we circled, a really tight circle around Warwick and the guy next to me said,"watch this...". The guy behind us said "this is going to be cool...". We got really close to the ground and I could see the runway perpendicular to the plane. We suddenly sharply turned right and almost immediately the wheels touched down, pretty hard. UGH.
We were thrilled to be on the ground - lightning all around. Dan was stuck in downpours coming to get us but we needed to claim our luggage as lost anyway, which took 5 minutes. Dharia and I said goodbye to Dayna and we jumped in the Element as soon as the sky opened up.
Poor Dan didn't know who to listen to first - we were both relaying the entire trip as quickly as we could (and he just wanted to hear the Red Sox score on the radio).
A quick ride to Worcester and a stop at Moe's for Buritos and we were home. My Mom stayed with Ethan who had just fallen asleep. He barely woke up when I told him I was home but he smiled in his sleep so that was good enough.
Darius came to get Dharia and we blurted out as much as we could to my Mom and the guys while we scarfed down the only decent food of the day.
Wow - finally back home. What a trip.
Dayna knocked on the door - she said there was a terrorist threat in London, something about liquid explosives. A press conference on CNN from London didn't give any more info so I sent her to wake up Dharia and set about getting myself ready ASAP.
We headed downstairs at about 4:25 and checked out - the front desk staff had no idea there was an elevated security risk, even though there was a TV about 5 feet away...
At 4:35 I realized, hey, the shuttle we ordered to LAX was late. At 4:40 we were getting nervous. Dharia called the dispatcher and said someone better be here in 5 minutes.
At 4:55 and older Lebanese, Middle Eastern-ish man in a (non-livery) Toyota SUV pulled up mumbling something about the driver not answering his phone and we hustled into his stinky, ass + cologne smelling vehicle. Whatever. I loudly voiced to him how we paid a deposit, etc. and how we were PISSED. The rest of the 40 minute ride was quiet. Before we got to the terminal, he asked us to pay in the car and I said we shouldn't pay at all as we were supposed to be picked up at 4:30. He argued that he did get us there before the 7am flight (it was 5:30am). Dayna got out of the truck and gave him some money - no tip. Dharia later clued me in that he might have been screwed, accepting money with no taxi license, if it had been a normal security day. But it wasn't.
On the curb we immediately could see what kind of day this was going to be - hastily printed signs were posted everywhere stating we would not be able to bring lotion, toothpaste, shampoo, water, coffee, cream, perfume or any liquid toiletries in the terminal. We hurridly picked through our bags and packed stuff in the checked luggage or threw away any banned items. We said goodbye to our checked pieces and got in another line to go up to the security area. Most of the employees weren't really aware of what the London situation was about...it was relatively orderly although we all looked a bit dazed.
Dharia had to be wanded and padded down through security as she had spine surgery in the past and set off the machines. No probs, though.
We found the gate and settled in, eating our bagels we bought the day before and chatting about being inspired by our crafty TV experience.
At 6:50 it was announced that our flight had been cancelled and that all passengers with a connection shoud get in line to re-book. The new flight was at noon. Five hours away. F-I-V-E H-O-U-R-S.
We got in The Line. Behind us came a harried woman, distraught that she had to throw away her toiletries. We were very supportive and explained that we all had to do it...etc. Let's call her Extrememely Annoying Lady. In front of us were 2 young people, a dark haired boy/man wearing a wool hat, scarf and jacket (I thought, he must be hot), he will be called Mini Jack Black. Like the real Jack Black, only not animated or funny and a wee bit shorter. And he was with a girl. Let's call her The Girl.
Now, Extremely Annoying Lady was very talkative and chatty. Which was fine. For awhile. She was going to Albany, connecting in Newark (as we all were) to her brothers', I believe in Vermont. It turns out her husband is a scientist and is pimping his new book in Boston. I think it is a text book and probably isn't really pimping it...you get it... Dharia worked at the same publishing company...blah blah blah. I was starting to tune out EAL's whiney voice so I didn't catch all the details.
After I came to the realization that we would be in The Line for a very long time I went to knit in some seats across the terminal...far away from EAL. I was probably gone for about 45 minutes and I am not exaggerating, The Line did not move. By then D&D were sitting on the floor knitting and a nice lady from NJ had come over chatting about knitting. Let's call her OT, as she is an Occupational Therapist. Her and her family were travelling from Hawaii on vacation, trying to get back home. EAL was being loud, trying to get through to a Continental agent on the phone, calling and leaving messages for her kids ("Hi, this is Mommie..." her kids must be at least in their 30's), complaining out loud that this is unbelievable, etc. You get it...you have come across people like this. You want to strangle them after 5 minutes. My Dad would not have made it more than one minute.
OT lady brought over her knitting or rather, busy work, as she was not very proficient but was just passing time, which is admirable. She was a very nice lady and we all chatted about Early Intervention and other things. EAL was laying it on thick, bitching and moaning. We all kind of shifted away from her but she would get right in your face and complain about awful this was for her. AHHHHHHHH!
Mini Jack Black and The Girl were going to Edinburgh, and were very calm - a little too calm as they were definately going to miss their connection. Meanwhile EAL was freaking that she'd ever get to Albany. Mind you, she could just have GONE HOME as she lives in LA.
Mini JB and The Girl were pretty quiet and we all chatted about the DIY taping, etc.
Dharia chatted with a new character, we will call CatwomanGiraffe (she wore a tee with a cool Julie Newmar Catwoman and had a cool Giraffe tattoo on her leg). She was an art student in Montreal visiting a friend in LA. Dharia taught her to knit a little and we all calmly chatted. What else were we supposed to do??
As we struggled up to the desk, EAL had drifted ahead of us, as well as another lady loudly complaining into a cell phone. I asked the cell phone lady is she was in line (which meant, "If you think you are going to cut into this line we will stab you repeatedly with dull knitting needles") and she removed herself. EAL had also shifted in front of us and I kindly said , "I don't mean to be rude but we WERE before you in line". Which she apologized and got back in her place.
Trying to keep a positive attitude while sitting on the floor of a terminal isn't easy. Knitting helped. Our newly forged TV smiling skills came in handy. But Extremely Annoying Lady was like the frantic woman who needed to be bitch-slapped to re-gain her composure. I eventually stood up, pulled her aside and told her that no one here wants to listed to her complaining, that we are all in the same boat and are trying to make the best of a bad situation. She nodded and from then on tried to make polite conversation. Phew.
It turns out that CatwomanGiraffe is the ex-boyfriend of a boy in the gaming industry that Darius and Dharia had luch with in LA not 2 months earlier. BIZARRE!
Not long after that we got to the front of the line to Continental employee Tim, who tried to help us get home. Of course I lost my boarding pass for the connection but he quickly told us to get to gate 60 to a flight leaving shortly for Cleveland. I heard the words "3 first class seats" pass his lips and I was excited to be maybe be rewarded for all this stress by the Karma police. We literally RAN to another gate 200 yards away to find out we had about 15 minutes to spare. We were assigned 8D, 9D and 14C. Fine, whatever. No first class. We boarded the plane with no idea if we even were booked on a flight into New England...anywhere. Whatever. Forget about the luggage.
I sat next to a man and his son. They were quiet, thankfully.
There were all kinds of problems with having to take stanby passengers off the plane after they had been given seats because the actual owners of the seats had been stuck in security for hours. That was scary.
We finally took off at about 11:30-ish.
The flight was sucky - cramped, stressful, whatever. I had a stomach ache and my head was killing.
We landed at Cleveland and immediately had to RUN to what seemed like the FURTHEST gate from where we landed. There was a flight leaving in 15 minutes for Providence and we could try to make it. When I say run, I am not embellishing. There was running on moving sidewalks, up and down escalators, through the entire terminal. No shuttles, no handicapped golf-cart-thingie, just plain old, running. And I wasn't wearing my sports bra. Dharia lead the way to the gate where another very unhappy Continental employee tried to book us and the other 3 passengers from the LA flight. She couldn't find me as having a connecting flight and eventually just threw the boarding passes at us and said "it's up to the flight attendant if you can get on" and that was that. We got on a tiny plane with no tickets, and I plopped down next to the thinnest person I could find. After about 20 minutes, my breathing returned to normal and I chatted with the man next to me (we didn't even exchange names) about flying, etc. He was from Randolph, a rep for a company that makes printing plates for packaging, etc. Pretty interesting. We talked about the Red Sox, planes, LA, etc. I felt like a total slob, as most of the people on the flight were business and we looked pretty beat - I had no make-up, dirty pants, bad hair but by then I didn't care.
The 2+ hour flight went really quickly. There were thunderstorms all over New England and Providence was about to have downpours. The landing was a bit bizarre; we circled, a really tight circle around Warwick and the guy next to me said,"watch this...". The guy behind us said "this is going to be cool...". We got really close to the ground and I could see the runway perpendicular to the plane. We suddenly sharply turned right and almost immediately the wheels touched down, pretty hard. UGH.
We were thrilled to be on the ground - lightning all around. Dan was stuck in downpours coming to get us but we needed to claim our luggage as lost anyway, which took 5 minutes. Dharia and I said goodbye to Dayna and we jumped in the Element as soon as the sky opened up.
Poor Dan didn't know who to listen to first - we were both relaying the entire trip as quickly as we could (and he just wanted to hear the Red Sox score on the radio).
A quick ride to Worcester and a stop at Moe's for Buritos and we were home. My Mom stayed with Ethan who had just fallen asleep. He barely woke up when I told him I was home but he smiled in his sleep so that was good enough.
Darius came to get Dharia and we blurted out as much as we could to my Mom and the guys while we scarfed down the only decent food of the day.
Wow - finally back home. What a trip.
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