Flying the Nasty Skies

We just got back from a trip to North Carolina to visit my in-laws. It was a nice, low key trip, as it usually is. They live in the country, so time is spent in the house, in the garden, and out on the river fishing.

If only we didn't have to fly to get there. Flying just gets worse and worse. Not only are they charging for checked bags, not only do they want to charge you extra for a crappy pillow, not only do they charge you for a soda or water on shorter flights, not only does the airport security personnel treat you like a recalcitrant prisoner----They haven't CLEANED the insides of the planes at ALL! FOR MONTHS!

My older son was at the window seat on one of our flights, and the window was thick with greasy and dusty jeri-curl. Or maybe it was what he thought it was--hairy pus. Regardless, it was disgusting. We brought it up to the attendant and she offhandedly said, "Yeah, I have been complaining about that for about a month now."

Don't even get me started on the "magazine" pouch. The in-flight magazines (from September) were torn and full of spit out gum and ripped pages. Small trash from countless passengers was still stuck in each pouch on each leg of my flights, and I was not about to stick my hand in there to explore to expound on it.

The tray tables were grimy, the seats were dirty, the ceilings were visibly dirty. Who knows what we were inhaling, we all know that the air is recycled and has to be dirty.

And to top it off, they lost our luggage on the way back. It would be great to get our $15 back, but it ain't gonna happen.

Now I have a scratchy throat. Guess from where.

Next time I go on a flight, I will make sure I bring loads of wet wipes, small amounts of antibacterial fluid and wear a mask.

Maybe I can negotiate cleaning and sterilizing my seating area if they will waive the fee for losing my luggage again.

What other stuff I do...

For the past month, I have been hyperventilating about the election, and now I am successfully able to move on with my thoughts. Since I have never exposed much of my non-blog life on this blog, I thought I would do some of that today.

Here is a trailer for a low budget indy feature length film that I am in. It premiered at the Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago 2008.


The film is called, "The Opposite of Life." It was written and directed by David Muhammad. The theme involves several couples dealing with unplanned pregnancies and the decisions they make. I play a really far-right conservative mom whose daughter has been raped and is pregnant. Just to add insult to injury, she finds out her daughter's boyfriend is, horror of horrors, black. Only one scene, but it is not a good day for this character. And part of it is in this trailer! John Vinopal, my indy film husband in several short films, is my intolerant husband. Good times. I haven't seen it yet, but I have heard it came out pretty well for a low budget feature.

I can't get the Modern Woodman commercial I did to load, so here is the link to their site:

http://www.modern-woodmen.org/The%20Card%20-%20Corporate.wvx

I am not as fat as I look like in this commercial, at least, not any more. It was filmed in March, actually. It was a hard winter. I am thinner now and I dress better, honest.

Other stuff I have been involved in for the past month but have no pictures of include doing a web/auto show promotion for GMC/Chrysler/Pontiac, and a brochure for GE Healthcare. I also did a comedic short with Kilamajaro Films. You can also look at my young friends at www.lookatrubbish.com and I am in several of their shorts, with varying degrees of success.

And let's not forget the knitting. I am going nuts for knitting lately. Here is my favorite thing so far:

It's an alien scarf, nearly invisible straight on, visible from the side.

So that gives you an idea of what else I have been doing while obsessing about the election and the economy.

You're welcome.

Random Stuff, it's a come down week

I spent most of last week in an extremely good mood.

Not only did Obama win, which made me smile goofily or tear up from time to time for days, but I also had a kick a$$ print job on voting day that makes me less of a financial drag than usual.

I also have spent the past week coming down from my election obsession. I don't have to be on the computer or have the TV on, and I seem to be able to get more done now.

My speech team started off the season well, and it was fun to see some of the kids break into finals and not be the first ones off the awards stage in 6th place or even 5th place.

Of course, I have peeked in to spy on the crazy ant farm at teamsarah.org, and they are angry and fearful and whiny and making up atrocious things to scare themselves. Obama has declared that he is king! Obama will force everyone to have an abortion! The financial situation is all his doing! He is STILL a muslim and will kill us all in our beds! Boycott Fox News they said something mean about Sarah! The conversation really didn't change, but now it bores me pretty fast. They are floundering, and most of them are not very bright. Still, I hope somebody besides me is keeping an eye on them. Crazy people for sure.

All is peaceful here. Sunny the cockatiel is perched on my shoulder with his head tucked under his wing. If he didn't poop so much, he would be welcome there all the time.

Now Neffy the cat has decided to perch on the back of the chair and Sunny awoke and started huffing at her. Neffy is not impressed or interested.

The kids are doing their homework, and when they are done we will have dinner and go work out at the Y.

I made pumpkin pies from scratch yesterday, and it was actually better than the pie one gets is stores. More work, but a better, fresher tasting pie.


Life is good. Breathe deep.


.

Whew. I say, whew.

I am so very pleased that Obama won.

I feel like I can have faith in America in general again, and the majority of Americans are not motivated by fear and smear tactics. It's a huge task to undo some of the damage of the past 8 years, and we have a huge job ahead of us, so celebration time is short. So today, I will have a little party going on in my heart.

I know I am not alone in feeling that the outcome of this election was keeping me awake at night for months.

John McCain is a great and honorable man, and he's one of my favorite politicians in Washington. However, his party had been taken over by some genuinely evil people, and there was no way for him to make it as his party's candidate without using them. I wonder if McCain had any choice about choosing Sarah Palin as his running mate, or if that was the final deal with the devil. I still think that he wouldn't have lived long had he taken office with her--he will have better and longer life because of this defeat. And we will need him.

They talked about "exciting the base"-- but what's left of the republican base after eight Bush years is truly some of the worst and most ignorant people in the country. Everyone else fled. It made a loud noise, but it wasn't a big enough group. Thank goodness.

Probably the best thing last night was the long faces and shaky voices at Fox News. They have been the perpetrators of the worst demagoguery and invective for the republican party, and now they can see that it was an epic FAIL.

I told my husband this morning that I feel like a big weight has been lifted from my shoulders, and he joked, yeah, we were all counting on you for this.

But perhaps all of us who voted so convincingly and overwhelmingly for Obama should feel that way. A new beginning can happen because the People spoke over the shouting.

I voted! Have you? It matters.

I was excited to vote today, and was pleased that I hit the voting area during a lull. I thought about getting there at 6:00am, but just couldn't make myself get up. Just as well, the election judges said it was a mad house then.


I would really like to get rid of the electoral college once and for all, but I hope that all will turn out well today.

Crossing fingers.

Palin hasn't apparently read the Constitution--still!

Palin expressed that the press criticizing her is against her first amendment rights.

Actually, she has it backwards. She can still say anything she wants, and the freedom of the press gives them the right to criticize it. Especially when it is deeply dumb and once again showing off how ignorant she is:

Check it out here.