took one of those red-eye flights to nashville for the sewanee writers conference, worse: a red-eye divided in two, with three hours on a plane, two in houston airport, another two on another plane. safe to say ive been moving as if swaddled in a puff of cotton candy. the thoughts that follow, accordingly:

– walking by the united business class cabin to my seat at the back of the plane i wonder whose chaotic idea it was to have half the seats in united biz face.. backwards? I wish i thought to take a photo because it was truly deranged. like, nobody chooses to sit in those train seats that face opposite from the direction the train moves in, so i dont know who would import the idea to the sky. though with all that said and done if i were upgraded at the gate (my dream!) i’d shut up about it forever
– one time on a half-empty cathay pacific flight from sg to nyc i drifted mid-flight to the business class cabin and took a nap there, woke to a very perplexed stewardess shaking me gently and explaining that i couldnt just… sleep there… i was 18
– i was possibly the only person wearing a mask on my flight. i have dodged covid for 3 years and if this flight is what undoes that i’ll be so annoyed.
– how much faith do we put in airport water fountain water filters?
– on the houston to nashville flight i was put beside a middle-seated man who immediately claimed both arm rests so i elbowed him off and went to sleep immediately. who does the armrest belong to and why cant it be me, is what im saying.
– in a possibly related/unrelated??? turn of events, when we landed in nashville a woman who was in the seat behind me stood up and pet my head.
– thank god for the laneige lip mask for flights (this thought is definitely unrelated to the above)
– had a mediocre peanut butter cookie at the airport. i had one amazing peanut butter cookie from levain upper west side back in feb 2020 and i feel like every cookie ive had since then is just an attempt to approach a similar transcendence. i dont even like cookies that much.
– not a single place in the 3 airports i passed through in the last 8 hours sold bug spray, target did not sell bug spray either, and my online order of bug spray was delayed two weeks due to, what, i dont know. im going to be devoured in nashville, DEVOURED i say
– im convinced my teeth are moving around in my mouth while im not paying attention

alright my babies it is writer camp time

x J