Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Notes From the Field: Los Angeles Airport

LAX, Sunday night, 7:36 PM


i'm miserable and freezing. my flight to abq has been delayed 3 hours, until 10:45 p.m. PST, which means i won't get into abq until 1 a.m., which wouldn't be so bad except it's a school night, and i can't function so good on 5 hours of sleep like i used to back in the day. why is this terminal so cold? is it to combat the hordes of ppl crawling all over each other? 14 gates in a space that feels smaller than a football field, servicing three airlines, and i can't seem to find an empty corner to plop myself down in. i finally find a narrow corridor between a jarring display of giant plants in a 9 sq. ft. square, and the wall. i can't even tell if the plants are real, but there's a broken wooden sign on the ground that says, "don't feed the birds". is that a joke? i open my bag and put on every layer i can find, including arm warmers, scarf, and hat- all the clothes i'd brought in anticipation of SF's fog. suddenly a chunk of wall next to me swings open, and even more ppl start pouring into the terminal, as if someone had hacked into a rotting, termite-infested log. i'm sitting on the floor and i don't have time to get out of the way, so i scootch forward and press myself into the wall as they swarm around me and onwards. i check my phone- it's 7:54. lord have mercy.

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