the pacific ocean is like big and stuff

how do you prepare for a 13.5-hour non-stop direct flight? we are on one of those double decker planes and i'm in seat 53-A. it's cramped on china airlines -- people in china are very small, but the plane is all new and clean and decorated in a lovely shade of mauvish-orchid, and the stewardesses are little porcelain dolls! since i am window seat devotee, my strategy for pee breaks is to wait for the middle person to go, then i just follow so we only bother the aisle person once. and since my aisle person is the professor, i need to be as little of a burden as possible!

the middle person is david wright, a stranger whose name i know only because i snuck a peek at his boarding pass he was using as a bookmark in his anthony keidis autobiography -- the only item he brought on board. meanwhile i have my cosmetics case, snack assortment, stationary store, beverage service, reading materials, blankets, pillows and music library stored in my area. i try to be a light traveller -- i really do!

anyway, david wright never had to pee the entire flight, so consequently, neither did i. after awhile it got to be a contest with myself. how long could i go? could i really do it? would i end up with a horrendous kidney infection? would caron scold and disown me? luckily i had the best distraction/time occupier in the whole wide world ..... "the sound of music" on my personal entertainment center!!! i watched it seven times. i love the baroness! she has the best lines by far! "i should have brought my harmonica" gets me every time.

so how do you solve a problem like maria? or rather, how do you solve a problem like the blood clots forming in my legs? 13 hours is a really long time. i am just glad the von trapp family singers were there to help me get through it. i really think they should do a sequel about the von trapp family dancers, as kurt suggested ....