![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
You ever been in a cockpit before?
I rode from Phoenix to Austin with a woman who hadn't been on a plane since 1968. She has 10 grandchildren and many dogs, horses, motorcycles, a trailer, and a husband with one leg who will not use a wheelchair or prosthetic or go to the doctor to see about anything for the last 20 years. She worked driving a carriage with her Belgian draft horses somewhere in Minnesota for 10 years and has worked doing some sort of engine fixing and cooking at kids' camps and goes horse camping all the time with her friends. She's ridden her motorcycles all over the country...
Anyway, she was shaking with fear whenever the plane did anything bumpy or noisy or someone would talk over the airplane intercom. To take her mind off it, she talked to me non stop! I had been really grumpy feeling because of being tired, people being a bit horrible and condescending and feeling dehumanized, racing through Phoenix airport, being PATTED by a flight attendant, and then finding there was no jetway, going down an elevator, having it explained to me that they had a special ramp up to the airplane just for me, then finding the ramp was 1 foot wide and extremely steep. I had to edge up it sideways hanging on for dear life. The stairs would have been easier but they could not change it. I was a little delirious by that time. Another flight attendant patted me (I was in my seat bending over to get something out of my backpack and he thought maybe I needed Help... )
Anyway when the scared-of-planes lady sat down next to me and started to talk I cheered up. I had been just about to try to move further up in the plane but then realized I didn't want to leave her there by herself, or for her to feel like I had snottily moved to get away from her. Since she turned out to be fascinating (and unstoppable) it all worked out well. She had two very squashed ham and corned beef sandwiches she had bought the night before at a deli, because she wasn't sure if they give you food on the plane or if you could buy food in the airport and if it would be expensive and it is what she would do for a road trip. She offered me a sandwich.... At first I tried to talk about myself back to her but that didn't work, so I just remarked on her horses, dogs, friends, and adventures and explained what drinks they were going to bring us on the plane and where the bathroom was.
Austin airport is very glitzy these days. Everything is granite. The shops are very fancy and screamingly faux-Texan. There was live country music in an airport cafe.
Conference hilton is skin crawlingly eerie because everyone looks familiar and like my species of arty nerd. A couple of people recognized me and came up to me to talk and then I met S. who is plotting to create a giant geek political lobbyist thing and this year is not wearing a cowgirl hat but a sort of ... vintage tea hat. And I talked with a German guy who is working for the BBC and the k-m foundation doing political apps for ipads and has to deal with ie6 as well somehow and feels bitter about it in an accent I couldn't quite parse because he was 6 feet high and mumbly and I am sitting at half that height.
I got my conference badge and then went a couple of blocks to eat (ceviche and chile soup). When I came out it was pouring rain. Hurrah for leather pants. I went to the drugstore to get ice packs but they were out so I got ziplock bags and will make do with hotel ice. The affable guy ringing up my stuff remarked that I was from out of town and was going to have a nice time tonight with my fine selection of cookies and lotion. He was correct! I nearly got run over in the horrible rain on the way back.
On the way back I was enthusiastically greeted by three somewhat non neurotypical people; one in front of the drugstore yelling angrily about invaders, one inside the drugstore (who shook my hand and is named Juan) and one surprised & happy guy as I hauled ass down a slope and through an overhang from a parking garage who yelled "I can't believe it! You're acting like you're in a wheelchair!" As I shot by at top speed I yelled cheerfully, "I'm acting REALLY WELL."
My glamorous cosmopolitan jet set conference goer plan: hotel sauna, ice packs on ankles, cookies, reading, and going to sleep at 9pm. I am so tired of being in pain. Everything is still interesting and amusing, but I'm so very tired. I miss d. who has been sending me fascinating emails from Mexico about journalists and politicians and seems to be eating endless steaks. He promises some deep analysis of gender politics when he gets here. Can't wait.
Anyway, she was shaking with fear whenever the plane did anything bumpy or noisy or someone would talk over the airplane intercom. To take her mind off it, she talked to me non stop! I had been really grumpy feeling because of being tired, people being a bit horrible and condescending and feeling dehumanized, racing through Phoenix airport, being PATTED by a flight attendant, and then finding there was no jetway, going down an elevator, having it explained to me that they had a special ramp up to the airplane just for me, then finding the ramp was 1 foot wide and extremely steep. I had to edge up it sideways hanging on for dear life. The stairs would have been easier but they could not change it. I was a little delirious by that time. Another flight attendant patted me (I was in my seat bending over to get something out of my backpack and he thought maybe I needed Help... )
Anyway when the scared-of-planes lady sat down next to me and started to talk I cheered up. I had been just about to try to move further up in the plane but then realized I didn't want to leave her there by herself, or for her to feel like I had snottily moved to get away from her. Since she turned out to be fascinating (and unstoppable) it all worked out well. She had two very squashed ham and corned beef sandwiches she had bought the night before at a deli, because she wasn't sure if they give you food on the plane or if you could buy food in the airport and if it would be expensive and it is what she would do for a road trip. She offered me a sandwich.... At first I tried to talk about myself back to her but that didn't work, so I just remarked on her horses, dogs, friends, and adventures and explained what drinks they were going to bring us on the plane and where the bathroom was.
Austin airport is very glitzy these days. Everything is granite. The shops are very fancy and screamingly faux-Texan. There was live country music in an airport cafe.
Conference hilton is skin crawlingly eerie because everyone looks familiar and like my species of arty nerd. A couple of people recognized me and came up to me to talk and then I met S. who is plotting to create a giant geek political lobbyist thing and this year is not wearing a cowgirl hat but a sort of ... vintage tea hat. And I talked with a German guy who is working for the BBC and the k-m foundation doing political apps for ipads and has to deal with ie6 as well somehow and feels bitter about it in an accent I couldn't quite parse because he was 6 feet high and mumbly and I am sitting at half that height.
I got my conference badge and then went a couple of blocks to eat (ceviche and chile soup). When I came out it was pouring rain. Hurrah for leather pants. I went to the drugstore to get ice packs but they were out so I got ziplock bags and will make do with hotel ice. The affable guy ringing up my stuff remarked that I was from out of town and was going to have a nice time tonight with my fine selection of cookies and lotion. He was correct! I nearly got run over in the horrible rain on the way back.
On the way back I was enthusiastically greeted by three somewhat non neurotypical people; one in front of the drugstore yelling angrily about invaders, one inside the drugstore (who shook my hand and is named Juan) and one surprised & happy guy as I hauled ass down a slope and through an overhang from a parking garage who yelled "I can't believe it! You're acting like you're in a wheelchair!" As I shot by at top speed I yelled cheerfully, "I'm acting REALLY WELL."
My glamorous cosmopolitan jet set conference goer plan: hotel sauna, ice packs on ankles, cookies, reading, and going to sleep at 9pm. I am so tired of being in pain. Everything is still interesting and amusing, but I'm so very tired. I miss d. who has been sending me fascinating emails from Mexico about journalists and politicians and seems to be eating endless steaks. He promises some deep analysis of gender politics when he gets here. Can't wait.