Bye Bye!

Bye Bye!

Ah man. Oof. That plane ride was a curb stomp to my physical wellbeing. Now, it really wasn't all to terrible, but in the future I wouldn't mind taking some precautions to ensure my sleep comes easily (nyquil, getting plastered and throwing up in the bathroom to fall asleep on the toilet, having someone clock me one, or depriving myself of an extreme amount of sleep beforehand).

At the airport I managed to get my bags checked, say goodbye to mama, and get through customs with ease, except for the part where I left my shoes on the other side of the scanning machine. It was actually kind of a funny exchange:

* Taking all of my things out of the plastic bin on the opposite side *

Me: Uhm, excuse me. Did you take my shoes out to inspect them or something?

TSA: No, you didn't have any shoes.

Me: I had shoes.

Passing Person: I think I saw them on the other side...

Me: * facepalm *

TSA: * rolls eyes *

Passing Person: * rolls eyes *

Everyone still on line on the other side when I go back to get shoes: * rolls eyes *

Life: * roll eyes *

So, ignoring that minor embarrassment, everything was smooth sailing. The plane itself was delayed a bit due to a monstrous typhoon occurring in the vicinity of Japan, but eventually we all walked on the plane and plopped into our seats.

Entertainment for this flight consisted of a 14 hour playlist I made for myself, the surprisingly decent selection of inflight movies, counting the amount of people sleeping with their mouths hanging open and joking about this with the obaa-chan sitting next to me, talking to the obaa-chan next to me, and reading the newest Tucker Max book I found at the store prior to the flight.

GRAHAM'S RATINGS OF INFLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT (1-5 stars)

Obaa-Chan: Obaa-Chans seem to be universally awesome. This particular obaa-chan put up with my turrible Japanese and we managed to get through a somewhat cohesive conversation. She's 65 and has lived by Nara for the last 40 years, has two children who have their own families that also live nearby, learned English in high school but didn't pursue anything because she didn't feel she was that good at it, and visited Macchu Picchu. She wants to visit the Grand Canyon but doesn't know when she'll have time for it. She also laughs like a slice of watermelon, all wide and toothy, filled with a simple sweetness that makes anyone feel like her grandchild.

(4.5) Stars! (would've been more if I could have understood/appreciated better what she was saying)

Inflight Movies: The selection was large and diverse enough to cover all the bases: latest action flicks, past box office hits, middle aged romantic comedy, teenage drama, obscure foreign production, and of course the visually stunning documentaries about cultural happenings around the world (crabs in Japan, temples in China). The three movies I watched were MIB 3, The Social Network, and Brave. I hadn't seen MIB 3 in theaters yet I had heard good things about. And, in accordance with those good things, I enjoyed the film even though I watched it on a screen tiny enough that a baby's head could fully block out. The Social Network I had seen in theaters so I knew what to expect. I wasn't sure why watching it a second time would be a good idea. It was fine to see it the first time on the big screen, but didn't deserve a second viewing. Brave was a curious film. The trailers for it had led me to believe the story would take a much different route than it did. I'm still happy with how it ended up, but at the same time I felt it could have pulled through better.

4 Stars

Tucker Max Book

Funny, but don't buy it. With all these awesome sequels coming out in the film world I was hoping that some of the magic would rub off onto this tired looking book, but alas t'was not so.

A meager 3 stars. (Which, according to XKCD's Amazon rating chart analysis, means it's complete shit)

And then I landed in Japan. Life's good.