Sighting

I am back (and not dead)! I got caught up in studying like the good student I usually am not. Now, though, no more summer school! After the final, I said my goodbyes to the supervisor, HPD, the rest of the lab, and my genetics buddy and headed to the apartment to finish packing. There was a lot of, "Oh! This! I want to take this to India! Crap...there isn't any more room...well, maybe if I took all my makeup out...I could buy new makeup when I get there. It'll be cheap..." and even more "I hope this bag is under 50 pounds."


My roommates sent me off from the bus stop with a goodbye that rivaled 12 of my relatives coming to drop us off one time on the way back from India. There were only 3 of them. So, taking the bus takes approximately 2 hours (horrid, I know) and involves changing buses twice. During that time, I watched a lot of people out of the corner of my eye (and some of the creepier ones, lacking my adept peripheral skills, not-so-subtly watched me back) as Something Corporate blasted loudly enough for everyone within 3 feet of me to hear. My observations were such:

1. The incidence of heels in downtown is significantly higher than elsewhere around the city. None of the women wearing them looked happy. Not one. Most were frowning.
2. Strange Indian people will stare at you openly when they can't tell by your skin color whether you are also Indian or by your dress whether you're a fob.
3. Sometimes, small children will try to climb out of the open windows in moving buses when their parents aren't looking.
4. Airport staff deal with a lot of awful terrible shit from idiot travelers. I tried to be extra extra nice to the poor man who checked my bags in because the guy before me was an Axe-clouded, hair-spiking, fake tanned bag of douche.
5. Homeless people get away with smoking weed straight up on the street while police officers walk by without a second glance.
6. People exist who cannot figure out how to access airport Wi-Fi (by opening your browser). These people will ask you really nicely for help though, so you can't even be amused by their ineptitude without feeling like you just lost a lot of karma points. Which you probably did.
   

Overall, this all was enlightening. And though the airport check-in man was the bearer of bad news (2-hour flight delay), he gets the prize for "favorite person I met today". As he changed my flight to an earlier one so I could get home before 1 am, he told me I reminded him of his daughter, who had just come home to visit, and with whom he was looking forward to spending his weekend. How sweet, right?

And now, back to one of the best movies of all time, The Emperor's New Groove, as I hope to the good lord this flight boards on time, though it's looking unlikely.