Clumsy Ol’ Me

It's been a while since I've been online. I spent the last few weeks enjoying my last holiday break as a graduate student. Next year, I will be faced with the harsh realities of work, less vacation time, etc. On the flip side, I will finally be making some real money. Anyway, this is not the point of this post.

In the past week, I had a series of funny, clumsy, and forgetful events occur. It all seems a bit out of character for me, but here goes. Last Friday, I was on a wonderful hike with Diane and some other family members. We were climbing the "Sleeping Giant" on the island of Kauai. Diane was in front of me and I just followed her lead. I didn't bother to look up too often because I wanted to make sure that I didn't step in mud holes (since I had a brand-new pairs of running shoes on—bad idea, I know). Well, maybe because she is shorter than me or maybe because I was just a clutz, I totally walked into a tree branch. We're not talking a thin, little branch that gives if you walk into it, but something more sizeable (3-4" diameter). Needless to say, the tree branch didn't budge; instead it lacerated my forehead.

Fortunately, that's the only story that involves me getting injured. The rest occurred on the flight home from Kauai to Salt Lake City. I had Diane take home my big piece of luggage because I didn't have enough time in Honolulu to get my luggage and check-in to my Continental flight. We shuffled things around; unfortunately, my bag now weighed 54 pounds. Fortunately, the Hawaiian Airlines person didn't seem to care; he just slapped a "heavy" sticker on it and let it through. I was relieved and totally forgot about it. Diane caught her flight and I was sitting in the terminal waiting to catch my commuter flight. The time finally arrived for me to board the plane. While in line, a lady noticed a laptop lying on the ground. She made a little commotion about it, which grabbed my attention. I looked down and wondered, "Hey, somebody has the same laptop cover as me—weird." Then I checked my own bag and realized that it was my laptop! Somehow, it had slipped out of my carry-on!

With all of my items now with me, I boarded the plane. I went to put Diane's carry-on in the overhead compartment and it didn't fit! This is a 2 x 2 commuter jet that has really small compartments. What was I to do?! I didn't want to check the bag because I didn't have time to wait at the baggage claim. Instead, I put my big carry-on underneath my seat and I put her bag on top of mine. I knew that this was against airline rules, but I needed to keep the two bags close to me. I used my hoodie to cover up the two bags and I proceeded to read the airline magazine. This was so the flight attendant couldn't see the unnatural shape of my hoodie. It worked! I made it to Honolulu without any problems (other than the fact that I had no leg room and I was seated next to a large individual).

What a rough start to a red-eye flight. The story continues... Diane and I briefly met up in Honolulu and we had a quick dinner. We were both a little stressed because of the short layover (and problem finding a ride home). I hurriedly left to catch my next flight. I still didn't have my boarding pass when they were announcing "final boarding," so I proceeded to the counter. The lady was a bit confused about me not having a boarding pass (after all, I was already past security). Anyway, she printed one up for me and I took off. As I was about to board the plane, she yelled "Fernando!" Apparently, she had forgotten to give me back my driver's license! I almost boarded the plane without it! Once aboard the plane, I struggled to get to my seat since I had two carry-ons (one which was too wide for the aisle since it was stacked length-wise on top of the roller carry-on) and my Burger King dinner (half eaten). As I reached my seat, there was a gentlemen sitting there. He wanted to trade seats with me; I asked him where his seat was and it was in the middle. I told him no because I was not going to suffer all night in the middle seat on a red-eye. Talk about torture.

Fortunately, after that, I didn't have any more problems with my flight (well, that were my fault, at least). I had two more layovers and I was exhausted by the time I got back to SLC, but I was happy to have finally arrived home. On the flip side, I was a little sad to have left 70+ degree weather for 32-degree snow.