Day One: A flight, A nap, and A night full of dancing. Pt. 1

(Note: Haven't been able to update as frequently as I'd like since my computer died and I need an adapter for it, the electrical sockets here are crazy!)


(2nd Note: To all my friends waiting to chat with me on Skype, once I get the adapter we can chat!)

Ok,

As for first days, this shit ROCKED.

Getting prepped in the morning, it was slowly hitting me, the 'realness' of the whole situation. I have literally been working to get to this point the minute I got my job at Cold Stone. And now within a few short hours, I was to be on my way to the one place I've wanted to visit for the last 10 freaking years.

I'm going to be candid, the one thing I typically don't do on blogs, but I told myself if I start this, I'm going to be honest. Things in T-Town, for lack of a better word, have sucked. Sucked really bad. There are definitely good moments, no doubt about it, but the shittyness of 2010, combined with some of the introductory moments of 2011 have been a heavy strain on a lot of people I care about, and the person I should probably be taking more care of, myself.

And honestly, I'm really FUCKING tired at how much the 'suck' has overwhelmed the 'awesome'. I know life's tough but I sure as shit know it's not supposed to be like this either. So what happens when one finds feeling increasingly frustrated, stuck, stagnant even?

You make a change. A very big dramatic change.

This trip represents a lot for me. In most ways, I look at it basically as a midpoint. The rising action before the climax so to say. I am at an apex, a turning point where a young adult starts to make the decisions that leads them to becoming, dare I say, a real adult.

So maybe that makes my first adult decision: Leave the nest and see the world.

And even though I was feeling really nervous and scared. When I got into that car to go the airport, I felt something I wasn't sure I was ever going to feel, ready. I don't say it often, but I worked my ass off to do this. I've been serving ice cream to bros, sorority girls, stoners, crotchety old folks, and annoying ass people who love shakes way to damn much, so I could finally get to this point. I haven't just earned this trip, I FUCKING DESERVE IT. And honestly it's pretty exhilarating to finally say, because I usually don't feel I deserve anything, but I can say in confidence, on this occasion I really do.

So enough of the deep-thought speak, I'm finally getting to what you really want to read, trip deets!! (That's 'details' for people who don't understand my cool speak, which is funny because everything I say is usually pretty cool, but neither here nor there.) None the less, I started early, unfortunately waaaaay earlier than I anticipated. My mom got me up at 7:20 which means I got four hours of sleep and additionally means I looked and felt like a troll. Not one of the tiny, cutsey-ones with the rainbow colored Super-Sajyin hair, I'm taking about this bastard below...

(See troll here)

Nose picking aside, a nice shower woke me up rather quickly. Nick soon after gave me a ride to the comic shop, so I could say 'bye' to Matt and pick up 'Takio' (P.S. It was purty sweet, just way to short) We quickly got back home and Nick gave me best wishes and once my mom finished at the bank, I was on the road.

Movin' Right Along...

My mom and I took a detour to Target to get some sweet sweet snacks for the plane ride. The deliciousness included:

- Fruit Roll-Ups

- Chocolate Chip Chewie Bars

- Fruit Snacks

- Gummi Jolly Ranchers

- And of course the mother of all crackers…GOLDFISH.

(Deliciousness incarnate)

Word of advice, a trip is never completely complete without the goldfish, TRUST ME. 

The real nice thing about the Target trip was that  everything I wanted to eat was pretty much waiting for us at the front entrance, I took that as a good sign. Afterwards, we picked up a secret money necklace satchel-thing that made me feel like a medicine man…you can create a picture. 

Both fashionable and a big F.U. to pickpocketers, suck on it Oliver Twist.

(The Twist man loses this game)

At the register an Indian man came up behind us that was almost dressed exactly like I was, glasses and all. To all my racist friends, I'm sure you could have appreciated the value in that. For some reason, I saw that as a good sign as well. On our way to the airport, Prince and George Benson played, music my mom and I both enjoy. And as we entered the parking lot, The Gap Band's 'Party Train' came on, I thought of it as the last good sign before I headed out.

(Dance to this)

Everybody all aboard...

Everything at the Tucson Airport flew rather quickly (pun intended peeps!) Goodbyes with my ma went well and Chris even called to wish me safe travels while I was waiting for the plane. I listened to some tunes and changed the background of my computer to a sweet image of Marcos Martin's 'Batgirl: Year One'. for reals it's pretty kick ass. Pretty soon after that we were ready to go.

(Sidenote: The man behind me on the plane was a musician who somewhat resembled Nathan Fillion but slightly. I'll call him homely Nathan Fillion, funny enough I didn't run into a single celebrity on this trip, but I did see a lot of people who resembled celebrities, more on this as we continue)

The entire flight to LA, I didn't read or listen to music, I just stared out the window and looked at everything. I haven't flown in a lil while, so seeing the all the mountains and terrain, grooves, and cracks, mines and desert details of Arizona impressed the heck out of me.

When we reached LA, I let Dave know I was there and told me to wait at Area 5. Being that I didn't know where that was I found a security guard and asked him for directions. They sounded a lot like this:

I nodded my head in agreement and walked away with a smile that soon left because I had no idea what the hell he was talking about. Luck was on my side though because all I did was walk to the baggage claim and Dave was waiting for me with his 'American Son' trade in hand. It was very good to see him. 

We tried to find places to eat at LAX but they had nothing available for people not boarding a plane. After trekking for a good 20 min. we discovered the only open food court was at the international wing of the airport. When we got there we closely weighed our options for food and ended up choosing the most gosh-darn American food possible, the land of the Golden Arches and Justin Timberlake jingles…McDonalds. 

I can't say it was because of American pride, but I can say it was because I was really really hungry and everything else was way to damn expensive. 

So Dave and I had a good meal, we chatted a bit about the trip, business, and of course comic books. And when the time came around we walked back to my terminal only to quickly realize…it wasn't the terminal we were supposed to go to. *Cue dramatic music* In all actually it wasn't that bad, we still had a good hour and a half to find the place, but isn't it more interesting when it's dramatic?

When we did find the terminal it took us a good 15-20 walk and a few Bill Cosby impression to get there. We chilled for a bit more, then around 3 p.m. I decided to head to my terminal. I gave the little guy a big hug and went quickly on my way.

Security was kind of a pain since everybody and there mother seemed to be at the checkpoint, but when it was done it was just a straight shot to the other end of the building. My terminal was packed, and like I mentioned earlier I didn't see any celebrities but several people who were pretty damn close. This included!

Indian Peter Sellers:

and Middle Eastern Tina Fey (with a cute lil baby too boot!):

The wait was no more than an hour and wasn't bad at all, except for the fact that Indian Peter Sellers kept twirling his mustache and staring me…*shudders*. And then the dude, literally stole my seat when they called my name to give me my boarding pass!!

Finally, when they opened the gate I got to see our plane and it was HUGE. I have a pic but need to get a card reader to post the pics. Finding my seat was easy, and I noticed that one of the flight attendance was the Little Sister of Helen Mirren (not really but she looked like it). 

The passenger lady next to me was alright, but I had to keep getting out of my seat so she could put her belongings in the cabinet above. We watched the weirdest video introducing us to the flight, which included the passengers and crew mingling with this creature (maybe a wombat?). And giving him information about what to do incase of an emergency…not gonna lie, it was kinda funny haha.

Wombat guy being inappropriate...

When it finished all we did was wait a few moments for the runway to clear, and once it was, this giant mechanical tank of the skies I found myself in was about to take me on a 9-hour journey across the world and to my long awaited destination.

The story continues tomorrow, check in for Pt. 2!