Let me start off by saying I really really miss writing in my LiveJournal. I haven't done this in forever, and I keep thinking to myself "I really want to update my journal." I re-started journaling on paper, and I haven't even done that for about two weeks. That has to be the reason for the weird fog I've been in today – I suddenly realize something I need in my life, meaning writing down my thoughts.

And I really hate Daylight Savings Time. Yet another reason I've been in this bizarre fog all day – I'm so tired. I always feel like I've lost an hour of my life. But then maybe I just broke even since I'm now on East Coast time instead of Central time.

So I'm going to start with my own personal travel hell story. I flew up to PA at the end of winter break so I could take the bus from Jane's over to NY. This is normally a very simple event, except this time I happened to fly up on Friday the 13th. Now, I'm not superstitious or anything like that, but... Well, it was beautiful in Pensacola, and my mom and dad both drove me to the airport. And I only had one suitcase to check and my purse. I travel light. Plane takes off, no delays no problems. We land in Charlotte, NC. It's late afternoon, and I have a two hour layover. And I'm starving. So I find out which gate my next plane takes off at (which always changes) and then I head over to an Applebee's. It's packed, but I get a table fast because I sit in the smoking section. And I have my salad and my burger, no problems. Well now its early evening, I head over to the gate, and find out the plane has been delayed by half an hour. Well, that's no big deal. I call my cousin Adam and ask how the weather is, and he tells me it's really foggy in Allentown. Perfect.

So I sit down in one of those horrible blue plastic chairs and do a couple Sudoku puzzles. Sitting across from me are a young man and a young woman, both in late 20s, both stockbrokers, both who live in Allentown. I know this because they were incredibly loud in their discussion. And the whole time they talked about money. "My husband and I bought our house two years ago and now it's worth blah blah blah." "Yeah, I just sold my condo for such-and-such profit." Yawn. And the guy sitting next to me, who is a pretty big guy by the way, is talking on the phone at a very high volume about how the flight's been delayed and how the airline is going to cancel it because there aren't that many people and he just goes on and on and I just wanted to grab his stupid little baseball cap and pull it over his face and tell him not to jinx our flight because I really really wanted to get out of there. But I didn't of course. I just did another Sudoku.

Then I look up and notice the flight is delayed another hour. Yikes. Now I'd be landing in Allentown well after midnight. Perfect. Finally, the lady at the desk makes an announcement telling everyone to line up at another gate to get tickets for another flight the next morning because unfortunately they were going to have to cancel this flight and thank you for your cooperation. Luckily I'm young and fast so I was second in line. I managed to snag a ticket for the early flight at 9:00 am. Thank God. I then asked for a hotel voucher because I wasn't about to spend the night in the airport. She said to me that the airline doesn't pay for your hotel room because of weather. What? I don't think so lady. But, she did give me a coupon for a reduced rate at the cheapest hotel in the area, Quality Inn.

So I went to the main terminal and found an ad for Quality so I could call them and get a room. First, I could barely find their ad it was so small. This should have been my first clue. I called and the guy told me he would send their shuttle van and it would be there in about 15-20 minutes. So I waited patiently outside for about half an hour, and I was about to just go to another hotel when the shuttle showed up. The driver looked at the huge crowd of people lined up to get on this van and remarked how he was only supposed to come to the airport to pick up one lady who called. Well, I'm certainly glad I called then. We packed that van full, and a couple people had to either sit on the luggage in the back or crouch on the floor because we ran out of seats. But no matter.

So finally we're on our way. We're going pretty good on the highway until suddenly the driver slams on his breaks. I look up and notice there were two cars in front of us who also stopped suddenly. Well, one of those cars in front of us hit a deer. Yup, a deer. And of course now the deer is sprawled out in the middle of the road across both lanes. So a few minutes go by and the driver is pretty freaked out. People are beeping behind us. The deer lifts its head and finally stands up. But it doesn't actually move out of the road. It just looks at the cars. And another few minutes go by. Finally the deer zigzags off back into the woods. Luckily we make it back to the hotel in one piece, though the driver is very freaked out by this point.

Once I'm in the lobby of the hotel, I figure now everything is gonna be alright, Loggins and Messina style. Behind the desk there is this one Asian kid trying to answer about five phone lines and deal with a vanful of people who need rooms. But he was actually very efficient, and I ended up with my own room and a king-size bed. Yes. I then asked him if he had any toothpaste and a toothbrush. Well, he was fresh out of toothbrushes but at least I did get a pea-sized amount of toothpaste. Lovely. So I went up to my room. Now, mind you, I have absolutely nothing. I have my purse and a Sudoku book. No glasses. No change of underwear. No nothing. And I've been traveling all day. I'm pretty grungy, so I decide to take a quick shower. I end up using about half of the ultra-small bar of soap. I have no idea what to do about my contacts. I didn't want to sleep in them, so I got two plastic cups with water in the bottom and put my contacts in those cups.

So I decide to watch some TV. Alas, the remote control is missing. I tear the room apart looking for it, but to no avail. I call the front desk, first asking if the TVs even come with remote controls. I was in a very cheap hotel, and I didn't want to assume. He assured me they did, and he'd bring one up to me later. Good. So I got my remote control about an hour later, and then I watched TV for about a minute before going to bed.

In the morning I took another shower. Then I put my contacts back in. Wow, that was intense. They stung like crazy, but I managed it. I had to get on a 6:30 shuttle because that was the only one that would get me to the airport an hour before the flight. I found out from some men in the van on the way over that everything on the East Coast and in the midwest was cancelled because of the fog or the monster thunderstorms. So that's why the Quality Inn was so crowded. I get to the airport and make it through security quickly since I already have a boarding pass. Now I've got over an hour to kill. So I buy a paper and find a rocking chair and finally get to relax.

I finally get on the plane, and unfortunately I have to sit by the loud stockbroker lady from last night. She kept asking me questions about the hotel I stayed at and how much it cost and what I did in New York (because I happened to mention that I live there). I kept giving her one word answers, but she didn't get the hint. Finally I took my paper and unfolded it nice and big so she would stop talking to me.

The plane didn't crash, and the airport didn't lose my luggage, so overall it could have been worse. Thank God for that.

So there's my story. I'm actually quite proud of it.

As for everything else, I'll write more tomorrow. I have got to work on my ConWest paper.

Quote for the day is actually going to come from Misers Loggins and Messina. I heart this song:
"And even though we ain't got money/I'm so in love with you honey/And everything will bring a chain of love/And in the morning when I rise/You bring a tear of joy to my eyes/And tell me everything is gonna be alright"