September 16th, 2005-
I don’t know if I am hungry or my stomach is churning in nervous anticipation. I have no clue as to where I will be stationed and what I will be doing. Whatever it is, I am willing to bet that the work will be worth it. I’m partly relieved to have some company from the Chicago office, some familiar faces heading down to the Gulf Coast with me to help in the Katrina relief efforts. Jessica and Matt are really cool people whom I have never really interacted with in the past other than the occasional nod in the hallway. But they look cool…Jessica with her long blonde hair and pretty face. Matt also with blonde hair and ermm..pretty face. It’s Friday morning; we run amok getting our tetanus shots, filling our timesheets, setting up the out-of-office message, transitioning our work, answering million questions from the rest of the people who seem to be awed and had no clue we were leaving (nor did we 12 hours ago). My office set up a little send off party for the three of us complete with a cake. It feels great to get the support, encouragement and opportunity to do this from my company. Lara, my colleague-cum-acting mom threatens Mike to take care of us girls and never leave us out of his sight or else! Matt nods dismissively.
Arrive at the airport on time, grab something to eat and head towards the gate. Matt says he needs to get a book. We say we will wait for him at the gate and we do. Not many people at the gate, but we are not surprised. Of course, we are early. I tell Jess I need to go to the bathroom and she says she will come too. We finish our job and go to the gate to find out that the flight took off without us. Dammit! Can’t believe it! I can’t believe that I goofed up the first day itself. I have 30 more days to go!! Lord Help! Anyways, we couldn’t get hold of Matt as we never bothered to exchange our numbers. We just assume he made it in the flight somehow. So much for keeping an eye on us. Wait till Lara hears about his abandonment.
The two of us get ourselves booked in the next flight. The lady from the flight staff asks us the reason for missing the flight… and we are in splits, clutching our stomachs and laughing hysterically. Such responsible individuals. Next flight to Houston, 5 hours from now. Thoughts of going back to office and getting some work done occurs but is dismissed owing to embarrassment. We wait it out in the airport. Almost lost my laptop and after some shocking moments, found it. Very close call, it was. I pray to the Memory Goddess to restore my senses at least for a month.
Matt calls frantically from Houston. ‘Where are you guys? For a long time I thought I was in the wrong flight.’More giddy laughter from our side. Matt realizes to his horror that the rental car and the hotel is on my name. To top it, Jess and Matt got their luggage exchanged in Chicago due to some confusion. Bottom line, Matt has to while away time in the Houston airport. He would have been better off being in the bathroom and missing the flight. He took it in his stride. He had no choice, as we didn’t seem genuinely apologetic. I’m sure he is negotiating with someone to be on a different group now.
Me and Jess get to know each other in the airport. She is a real smart kid, 22 years old and is full of genuine gusto. She is Australian by birth and has lived in Alabama and hence she feels even more strongly to be there. She has volunteered for many things in the past and she made me feel like a baby compared to her.We talk about the books we brought with us and decide to exchange when we are done. She also brought a swimsuit and I say ‘That’s a good idea!’ We will come to realize that we wouldn't have time to even think of reading a book.
We reach at 10 pm (after some minor rental car fiasco, like me driving into ghetto areas with the headlights turned off) and people who are already there have formed certain opinions about me, which is mostly right. I am introduced to this 6’6” monstority called Lars from our Spokane office in Washington State. With his boyish charms and loud personality, I am sure he gets away with a lot of things.
Hisham and Roger still to reach Houston. They missed their flights too (apparently had valid reasons). We’ll find out tomorrow. I’m off to catch some sleep. This day is probably the least adventurous of the days to come.
I don’t know if I am hungry or my stomach is churning in nervous anticipation. I have no clue as to where I will be stationed and what I will be doing. Whatever it is, I am willing to bet that the work will be worth it. I’m partly relieved to have some company from the Chicago office, some familiar faces heading down to the Gulf Coast with me to help in the Katrina relief efforts. Jessica and Matt are really cool people whom I have never really interacted with in the past other than the occasional nod in the hallway. But they look cool…Jessica with her long blonde hair and pretty face. Matt also with blonde hair and ermm..pretty face. It’s Friday morning; we run amok getting our tetanus shots, filling our timesheets, setting up the out-of-office message, transitioning our work, answering million questions from the rest of the people who seem to be awed and had no clue we were leaving (nor did we 12 hours ago). My office set up a little send off party for the three of us complete with a cake. It feels great to get the support, encouragement and opportunity to do this from my company. Lara, my colleague-cum-acting mom threatens Mike to take care of us girls and never leave us out of his sight or else! Matt nods dismissively.
Arrive at the airport on time, grab something to eat and head towards the gate. Matt says he needs to get a book. We say we will wait for him at the gate and we do. Not many people at the gate, but we are not surprised. Of course, we are early. I tell Jess I need to go to the bathroom and she says she will come too. We finish our job and go to the gate to find out that the flight took off without us. Dammit! Can’t believe it! I can’t believe that I goofed up the first day itself. I have 30 more days to go!! Lord Help! Anyways, we couldn’t get hold of Matt as we never bothered to exchange our numbers. We just assume he made it in the flight somehow. So much for keeping an eye on us. Wait till Lara hears about his abandonment.
The two of us get ourselves booked in the next flight. The lady from the flight staff asks us the reason for missing the flight… and we are in splits, clutching our stomachs and laughing hysterically. Such responsible individuals. Next flight to Houston, 5 hours from now. Thoughts of going back to office and getting some work done occurs but is dismissed owing to embarrassment. We wait it out in the airport. Almost lost my laptop and after some shocking moments, found it. Very close call, it was. I pray to the Memory Goddess to restore my senses at least for a month.
Matt calls frantically from Houston. ‘Where are you guys? For a long time I thought I was in the wrong flight.’More giddy laughter from our side. Matt realizes to his horror that the rental car and the hotel is on my name. To top it, Jess and Matt got their luggage exchanged in Chicago due to some confusion. Bottom line, Matt has to while away time in the Houston airport. He would have been better off being in the bathroom and missing the flight. He took it in his stride. He had no choice, as we didn’t seem genuinely apologetic. I’m sure he is negotiating with someone to be on a different group now.
Me and Jess get to know each other in the airport. She is a real smart kid, 22 years old and is full of genuine gusto. She is Australian by birth and has lived in Alabama and hence she feels even more strongly to be there. She has volunteered for many things in the past and she made me feel like a baby compared to her.We talk about the books we brought with us and decide to exchange when we are done. She also brought a swimsuit and I say ‘That’s a good idea!’ We will come to realize that we wouldn't have time to even think of reading a book.
We reach at 10 pm (after some minor rental car fiasco, like me driving into ghetto areas with the headlights turned off) and people who are already there have formed certain opinions about me, which is mostly right. I am introduced to this 6’6” monstority called Lars from our Spokane office in Washington State. With his boyish charms and loud personality, I am sure he gets away with a lot of things.
Hisham and Roger still to reach Houston. They missed their flights too (apparently had valid reasons). We’ll find out tomorrow. I’m off to catch some sleep. This day is probably the least adventurous of the days to come.
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