posting from the future

[jinian]

At the airport and checked in with plenty of time. Seen off at security by Wim and M-pig, after some constructive criticism of the Hudson News outlet. Got soup and a bagel, got my documents checked again, got on a plane. Guys, the monk with the bag that matched his outfit is my row-mate. :) The middle seat is empty, which is so nice.

The plane took us over the Olympic Peninsula on the way out, which was such a treat: dramatic mountains, mostly without snow because it's the end of summer, but the tallest had sculpted glaciers. And mountain lakes, one of which had a tiny bit of water compared to its sandy-looking, oxbowed bed, and one of which was steep-edged and deep royal blue, practically next to each other but I guess that couple of ridges makes a big difference. We went by Cape Flattery on the way out, too, and it was somewhat cloudy but I could see a few of the stone pillars there.

Then reading, puzzles, etc. FOR TEN HOURS. I succumbed to the seemingly universal urge for darkness on long flights and watched three movies -- they have a huge selection on this flight, apparently. Drop Dead Gorgeous was too mean-spirited to be fun, but I stuck with the "high school girls are evil to each other" theme with Jawbreaker, which was better and had other layers of meaning beyond "LOL people". Still it was kinda gross, so I closed on Mean Girls, which I actually really like, as it is funny, pro-nerddom, and socially interesting.

I continue not to be sleepy, though I woke up at fuckin' 5:30 and will no doubt crash like a very crashing thing when I get there. Assuming I do get to Nagoya today, that is. The typhoon could be doing a lot in these hours I'm out of contact.

...

Apparently what it did was go away. Nice! Nonetheless my immigration picture this time looks very put-upon indeed.

Sadly there is no wi-fi in the domestic departures terminal at Narita.

Waiting for my next plane (three hours) I experienced a gradual decline in mental faculties: first I became unable to do logic puzzles, then I realized there was no way I could read that next story as it was by Gene Wolfe, then I stopped being able to parse Emma readily. By the time I got on the plane I was just as happy with the in-flight magazine being only in Japanese, because there were still pictures of adorable tanuki and that's what I could comprehend.

But before I got on the plane, we had to take a bus from the gate to where the planes were! There's a tendency in Japan for things to be allclusteredontopofeachother and then there's a long way to go to the next thing. Having to take a bus to reach one's plane seems like an extreme, though. Luckily, as one of the later people to get on the bus, I got on the plane really early and didn't have to climb over people to get to my window seat, though I did have to oust a standing flight attendant from my row. (This kind of defeats the purpose of preboarding people with disabilities and infants, though. They had good seats on the bus.) As the plane was pulling out, all its attendants on the ground bowed and then waved until I couldn't see them any more. I'm not sure if it's correct, but I waved back.

We taxied so long that I wondered if we were driving to Nagoya. Then we had to wait for a runway. Finally we flew briefly with speed beverage service and landed. Baggage claim took ages -- sure, it's only 4am my time, why make my life easier -- but Masa picked me up and brought me to the guest house where I am now. I should probably try to stay up later so I don't wake up ridiculously early, but my motivation on the front is waning rapidly. I will at least have a shower. Now.