On Friday I was getting ready to leave the office for the weekend, going back to Columbus for drill and my bday! I asked my boss if I could leave a little early so I could catch an earlier train to Islip, and have plenty of time to catch my plane (and browse their bookstore because they always have the best "used" book section). So I'm trying to finish this approval letter with this guy in Thailand, and he sends me the information I need so I can leave. He's in the mountains and can't get to a computer all of the time, so I don't need to get the letter back to him until Monday. So I'm rushing, and I get it done, and its perfect, and I need to leave... 10 minutes ago, and I ask to leave, and there's this awkward pause. "Hey, I'm gonna get out of here so I can catch my train. Okay?" No answer. Then my boss goes and stands in the doorway of Sgt. Yancey's office. All I am thinking is "HELLO! I'm gonna miss my train. I need to leave." Magically everyone else in the office appears, and so do a box of my FAVORITE cupcakes. Buttercup. Yum! And I'm looking at my co-workers singing me happy birthday, and the box of delicious frosted cupcakes, and my watch. I am totally going to miss my train. And I did. So I ate a cupcake. How nice is that though. I totally didn't expect it, and they made me feel really special on my b-day in a city where I know no one! So nice.
(On a side note: About not having friends yet... My roommates and I went out on Wednesday for my birthday, and the "party" consisted of them (they have to be my friends because they live with me) and Tommmy, the guy who owns the pizza shop below our apartment. Yes, I am up-and-coming. I may not have as many friends as I did in Ohio.)
Okay so back to Friday. So Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me... cupcake eating... running to the train... missing the train... Okay we are caught up. I run into the LIRR office, and ask the lady what time the 3:07 train is going to get to Islip. She tells me its an hour and twenty minute ride. Which means I would get there at 4:27, and my flight is at 4:40. That is obviously not going to work. So she pretty much reroutes my whole train trip on another train, and gets me there a little bit earlier, but not by much, and I'm going to have to take a taxi. (Many thanks to the LIRR lady)
When I get the station, I see only one cab. I wave it down, and they pick me up even though there is already someone else in it. We drop off this lady, and by the time we get the airport, I am RUNNING to the security check point. I look like a mad woman, ditching a family of four and a very upset woman with a red hat and matching Christmas sweater (She ended up going in front of me). They let me through,and I frantically put all my stuff in a bin pulling off my coat, scarf, hat etc. etc. I'm dancing in place waiting for Christmas sweater lady who is taking her time doing whatever the heck she was doing. All of a sudden I hear "tink...tink...tink". I look down, and my seed-bead necklace is unraveling right before my eyes. Its like slow motion. The security lady is frantically trying to catch and gather all of these beads falling all over her metal counter. Not knowing how to react, and just wanting to cry/get on this damn plane, I rip off the rest of the necklace and hand it to her. "O honey let me put in a bag for you," she says. I tell her no, just throw it away, and run through the metal detector.
Then it happen. I lost my mind. "Please report to gate A4, your plane is boarded and ready for departure". O crap. The lady on the other side of the metal detector said, "ma'am you've been selected for a random bag search." At this point I had two choices. Do I a) freak out on this lady and tell her I'm going to miss my plane. End up getting arrested for disorderly security checkpoint behavior, and miss my flight. or b) let this lady search my bag, go through all my stuff just to find nothing, and miss my flight? I went with b. So while she's doing so I am literally about to break down because I am about to miss the last flight of the day, when she finally finishes, and I am on my way. And I'm RUNNING again. Shaking, I hand my ticket to the attendant, and I am finally on the plane, where I treat myself to a glass of wine and a nap. I hate New York... Okay maybe just flying out of New York.
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