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Nov. 27th, 2008 03:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reipanI should be writing my NaNo, but I am writing this instead, thanks to the offline mode on my LJ client. (I'm not actually sure how it works; I'm wondering what will happen when my space on this area of screen runs out.) I'm eight hours into a twelve-hour flight, I've spoken to nobody (beyond small talk with staff of various breeds) since I left my mother at the airport at half past eleven this morning - in your English hours - and I am going crazy. (Someone tell me I'm not a bad person? I've been seriously mean to me over the past eight hours. Sometimes I am not sure that leaving me alone with myself is a good idea.)
Actually, before this bit of it I was having rather a good flight. Not because there's anything particularly special about it (unless Virgin Atlantic have, unbeknownst to me, brought out their finest in food, wine and entertainment for my benefit) but because I've never flown long-haul before and everything is fascinating. For the first few hours it was like being a kid all over again. I've had so much complimentary orange juice that I think my cold has been cured over the course of the flight; I've watched Doctor Who and Blackadder, and marvelled at the little phone thing set in the back of my seat with which I could, if I wanted to, text or call home. (I don't know how much it'd cost me, so I won't be taking advantage of this service, but it's tempting.) I've had green tea - they give out green tea - with refills - and a glass of wine. My lunch was a beef cobbler, notable only for the fact that I've never had a cobbler of any kind before and I'm still not quite sure where the name comes from. And did you know they give you blankets? Freshly laundered blankets! How cool is that?
...shut up, I've never been outside Europe before.
There was a lady sitting next to me when I got on the plane, but as the flight is half-empty she promptly abandoned me after take-off to go find somewhere less occupied by Reis. Can't say I mind; I have an extra seat to spread out over, and she left her blanket and pillow behind. It's been like sleeping in a fort.
Another awesome thing about this flight? It's the first I've ever been on that warned me before take-off to get off if I did not want to end up in Tokyo. That was an amazing thing to experience. I'm not sure if they'd been alerted to some mistaken passengers or something, but hearing an announcement that said "This flight is going to Narita. If you do not want to go to Narita, please disembark immediately" made my day that little bit brighter.
Occasionally it crosses my mind that I may have deep vein thrombosis. Now, don't get me wrong - I think it rather unlikely that I do, in fact, have deep vein thrombosis. It's just that I refused my dad's anti-deep-vein-thrombosis socks and I haven't moved around much over the course of this flight, and although I've had no problems other than the occasional cramp, I don't know what deep vein thrombosis feels like, so I don't know what that means. Does it sneak up on you? Am I going to stand up and...oh, God, I don't even know what deep vein thrombosis does to you. YOU GUYS, I MAY HAVE CRIPPLED MYSELF FOR LIFE AND IT IS ALL MY OWN FAULT.
So. Where am I now? According to my handy little interactive map thingy (the back of my seat is so freaking awesome), I'm currently somewhere over...over...well, the nearest city to the little picture of the plane which, I assume, represents us is called Ulan-Ude. We're flying via Siberia, which I mention only because a surprising number of people kept asking me which route I'd be taking there; I'd have told them if I'd known, but I'm not a pilot and my geography leaves much to be desired; I'm not sure why anybody thought I'd be able to answer.
(I just clicked the "Where am I?" button on my iMap again. Apparently I am now flying across an expanse of land. This is gripping, fast-paced commentary I am giving to you here.)
So far? All a lot more manageable than I was expecting. My mood has swung from dizzingly excited to panicked to incredibly low over the past couple of weeks - especially over the past few days, what with packing and trying to get to see people and the fact that I was Actually Pretty Ill and also the fact that my mother probably did most of my packing for me so I feel absurdly guilty. (Well. Strictly speaking, I was packed a fortnight or so ago; I emptied my drawers into my suitcase, so it was only last-minute odds and ends that I had to add. That still means I did not spend this weekend doing a lot of packing. Whatever the reasoning behind this, I nevertheless feel terrible.)
In any case, a big part of my being scared about leaving was the fact that so much of this is new, and to be experienced alone - so about as far as I could think was getting to the airport this morning. After that - well. I've never yet been in a position where I actually had no idea what was going to happen to me, but this is the closest I've ever come. After that was just one big blank.
The only way to get past that, of course, was to get on the plane, which I have done (as you might have noticed), and hence discovered that transatlantic flying is not, in fact, one big blank. Stuff Happens. Although not a lot of stuff. And once I get to Japan there will be things to do, life to carry on with, things to sort out. And maybe some of those people will talk to me oh dear God I am dying to have a conversation with somebody. I will relearn my lost Japanese in five seconds flat. I don't care what it takes. I don't care what they say to me. I just want to talk to someone.
Anyway. Four hours of flying time left; I'm going to read over some old RP files, maybe have a nap, watch a film (they have Wall-E, Neesan!), do some writing. Maybe not necessarily NaNo. I think NaNo may have to be given up this year; I made a valiant effort (I think) but I haven't written anything for a good few days and it's coming up to the end. I'll keep trying, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. In any case, I'll feel better if I can write something. Depending on how much time I have between getting to the airport and getting on the bus to Shibuya, I'll either post this from Narita or...well, I won't.
Hope London hasn't vanished in my absence. Ja ne!
Note before posting: Now safely in Tokyo, rested, and feeling pretty okay. I actually wrote this entry two days ago, but it seems a nice little piece of time-capsuling, so here you go anyway.
Actually, before this bit of it I was having rather a good flight. Not because there's anything particularly special about it (unless Virgin Atlantic have, unbeknownst to me, brought out their finest in food, wine and entertainment for my benefit) but because I've never flown long-haul before and everything is fascinating. For the first few hours it was like being a kid all over again. I've had so much complimentary orange juice that I think my cold has been cured over the course of the flight; I've watched Doctor Who and Blackadder, and marvelled at the little phone thing set in the back of my seat with which I could, if I wanted to, text or call home. (I don't know how much it'd cost me, so I won't be taking advantage of this service, but it's tempting.) I've had green tea - they give out green tea - with refills - and a glass of wine. My lunch was a beef cobbler, notable only for the fact that I've never had a cobbler of any kind before and I'm still not quite sure where the name comes from. And did you know they give you blankets? Freshly laundered blankets! How cool is that?
...shut up, I've never been outside Europe before.
There was a lady sitting next to me when I got on the plane, but as the flight is half-empty she promptly abandoned me after take-off to go find somewhere less occupied by Reis. Can't say I mind; I have an extra seat to spread out over, and she left her blanket and pillow behind. It's been like sleeping in a fort.
Another awesome thing about this flight? It's the first I've ever been on that warned me before take-off to get off if I did not want to end up in Tokyo. That was an amazing thing to experience. I'm not sure if they'd been alerted to some mistaken passengers or something, but hearing an announcement that said "This flight is going to Narita. If you do not want to go to Narita, please disembark immediately" made my day that little bit brighter.
Occasionally it crosses my mind that I may have deep vein thrombosis. Now, don't get me wrong - I think it rather unlikely that I do, in fact, have deep vein thrombosis. It's just that I refused my dad's anti-deep-vein-thrombosis socks and I haven't moved around much over the course of this flight, and although I've had no problems other than the occasional cramp, I don't know what deep vein thrombosis feels like, so I don't know what that means. Does it sneak up on you? Am I going to stand up and...oh, God, I don't even know what deep vein thrombosis does to you. YOU GUYS, I MAY HAVE CRIPPLED MYSELF FOR LIFE AND IT IS ALL MY OWN FAULT.
So. Where am I now? According to my handy little interactive map thingy (the back of my seat is so freaking awesome), I'm currently somewhere over...over...well, the nearest city to the little picture of the plane which, I assume, represents us is called Ulan-Ude. We're flying via Siberia, which I mention only because a surprising number of people kept asking me which route I'd be taking there; I'd have told them if I'd known, but I'm not a pilot and my geography leaves much to be desired; I'm not sure why anybody thought I'd be able to answer.
(I just clicked the "Where am I?" button on my iMap again. Apparently I am now flying across an expanse of land. This is gripping, fast-paced commentary I am giving to you here.)
So far? All a lot more manageable than I was expecting. My mood has swung from dizzingly excited to panicked to incredibly low over the past couple of weeks - especially over the past few days, what with packing and trying to get to see people and the fact that I was Actually Pretty Ill and also the fact that my mother probably did most of my packing for me so I feel absurdly guilty. (Well. Strictly speaking, I was packed a fortnight or so ago; I emptied my drawers into my suitcase, so it was only last-minute odds and ends that I had to add. That still means I did not spend this weekend doing a lot of packing. Whatever the reasoning behind this, I nevertheless feel terrible.)
In any case, a big part of my being scared about leaving was the fact that so much of this is new, and to be experienced alone - so about as far as I could think was getting to the airport this morning. After that - well. I've never yet been in a position where I actually had no idea what was going to happen to me, but this is the closest I've ever come. After that was just one big blank.
The only way to get past that, of course, was to get on the plane, which I have done (as you might have noticed), and hence discovered that transatlantic flying is not, in fact, one big blank. Stuff Happens. Although not a lot of stuff. And once I get to Japan there will be things to do, life to carry on with, things to sort out. And maybe some of those people will talk to me oh dear God I am dying to have a conversation with somebody. I will relearn my lost Japanese in five seconds flat. I don't care what it takes. I don't care what they say to me. I just want to talk to someone.
Anyway. Four hours of flying time left; I'm going to read over some old RP files, maybe have a nap, watch a film (they have Wall-E, Neesan!), do some writing. Maybe not necessarily NaNo. I think NaNo may have to be given up this year; I made a valiant effort (I think) but I haven't written anything for a good few days and it's coming up to the end. I'll keep trying, but I'm not sure it's going to happen. In any case, I'll feel better if I can write something. Depending on how much time I have between getting to the airport and getting on the bus to Shibuya, I'll either post this from Narita or...well, I won't.
Hope London hasn't vanished in my absence. Ja ne!
Note before posting: Now safely in Tokyo, rested, and feeling pretty okay. I actually wrote this entry two days ago, but it seems a nice little piece of time-capsuling, so here you go anyway.
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Here, have a FonzieRadiohead (tm)
Date: 2008-11-27 09:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 10:48 am (UTC)Also...I was on the phone to npower at the time of reading "I've had so much complimentary orange juice that I think my cold has been cured over the course of the flight". Mr Customer Service sounded offended that I was laughing. Haha. Win. =D Glad everything's going well ^_^ <333333
no subject
Date: 2008-11-27 02:41 pm (UTC)*hugs* Huzzah for you. :D