Somehow, when I wasn't paying attention, I accrued a bunch of vacation time that I need to use by the end of the year. So, I decided to take a trip to New York City to help remedy that situation. The catch is that I still have a project that I'm busily working on, so I can't take a full-blown vacation. Instead, I get to take shorter trips until the end of the year, when my project will be finished. So, New York City for 5 days and 4 nights.
I left Thursday night on a red-eye flight, so that I could maximize my vacation time (if I'm going to use vacation time, I might as well get the most out of that time). Also, I tend to get bored on airplanes, so I usually remedy that problem by falling asleep. All in all, it seemed like a reasonable plan - if I slept for the entire flight, that would have given me about 7 hours of sleep. I usually like to work off of more sleep than that, but that's more than enough to function properly.
Of course, things don't always work out the way I plan them. In this case, the plan was foiled by a trio of teenagers sitting in the row in front of me. These kids were loud, and annoying as hell. In fact, they were so annoying that no less than four people told them, in various terms, to shut up. It actually might have been five people, but I was half asleep so I might have that wrong. Needless to say, they kept me from sleeping like I had originally planned.
Now, the fact that I couldn't sleep was irritating. What was funny about the whole thing, though, was their particular brand of annoyance. They had somehow managed to get seats that were separate from each other, so they went to a ton of trouble to talk someone into switching seats with them. In that time, though, the one who had been separated had managed to develop a bit of a grudge. Hence, the following exchange:
Annoying kid #1: "You're selfish, you wasn't going to check on me."
Annoying kid #2: "Whatever"
Annoying kid #1: "Wasn't going to check if I was hungry or nothing. Blah blah selfish, yada yada selfish"
Annoying kid #2: (gets fed up) "You're dumb, you can't even buy food without a credit card" (apparently neither of them had one)
Annoying kid #1: "Whatever, still selfish"
This went on for a good 5 minutes or so. If I hadn't been trying to sleep, I would've started laughing at this point. It's hard to convey just how much pouting was in #1's voice, but it made things comical. The next part was actually even funnier, for all the wrong reasons:
Annoying kid #2: "Don't talk to me. Say five more words, and I'll slap the crap out of you"
Annoying kid #1: "Try, watch what happens"
Annoying kid #2: "Is that a weapon?" (#1 had apparently reached into his pocket)
Annoying kid #2: "Is that your weapon? Tell me that's your weapon, cuz you're going to need it."
Annoying kid #1: "Don't need no weapon."
Annoying kid #2: "I'll give you the first punch, go ahead. Blah blah weapon blah blah"
Annoying kid #1: "No weapon, blah blah, no weapon"
The exchange about weapons went on for a few minutes. Since this was an airplane and everyone had already been through security, I half suspect that the "weapon" was actually a paper clip. The posturing and chest-beating just sounded wrong, though, and also would've made me laugh had I not been trying to sleep.
Eventually, a flight attendant came over and served them a drink. Shortly thereafter, they shut up, and everyone around them went to sleep. I would later overhear that the flight attendant had made their drinks alcoholic, to help speed up the shutting-up process. I'm not sure if that's what actually happened, but I choose to believe that it did. It makes the story that much better.
Anyhow, my trip was off to an inauspicious start, and I hadn't even hit the ground yet. Luckily, things would get a lot better starting that next morning, the morning of Day 1. That, however, will have to be a post for another day (hopefully tomorrow).
I left Thursday night on a red-eye flight, so that I could maximize my vacation time (if I'm going to use vacation time, I might as well get the most out of that time). Also, I tend to get bored on airplanes, so I usually remedy that problem by falling asleep. All in all, it seemed like a reasonable plan - if I slept for the entire flight, that would have given me about 7 hours of sleep. I usually like to work off of more sleep than that, but that's more than enough to function properly.
Of course, things don't always work out the way I plan them. In this case, the plan was foiled by a trio of teenagers sitting in the row in front of me. These kids were loud, and annoying as hell. In fact, they were so annoying that no less than four people told them, in various terms, to shut up. It actually might have been five people, but I was half asleep so I might have that wrong. Needless to say, they kept me from sleeping like I had originally planned.
Now, the fact that I couldn't sleep was irritating. What was funny about the whole thing, though, was their particular brand of annoyance. They had somehow managed to get seats that were separate from each other, so they went to a ton of trouble to talk someone into switching seats with them. In that time, though, the one who had been separated had managed to develop a bit of a grudge. Hence, the following exchange:
Annoying kid #1: "You're selfish, you wasn't going to check on me."
Annoying kid #2: "Whatever"
Annoying kid #1: "Wasn't going to check if I was hungry or nothing. Blah blah selfish, yada yada selfish"
Annoying kid #2: (gets fed up) "You're dumb, you can't even buy food without a credit card" (apparently neither of them had one)
Annoying kid #1: "Whatever, still selfish"
This went on for a good 5 minutes or so. If I hadn't been trying to sleep, I would've started laughing at this point. It's hard to convey just how much pouting was in #1's voice, but it made things comical. The next part was actually even funnier, for all the wrong reasons:
Annoying kid #2: "Don't talk to me. Say five more words, and I'll slap the crap out of you"
Annoying kid #1: "Try, watch what happens"
Annoying kid #2: "Is that a weapon?" (#1 had apparently reached into his pocket)
Annoying kid #2: "Is that your weapon? Tell me that's your weapon, cuz you're going to need it."
Annoying kid #1: "Don't need no weapon."
Annoying kid #2: "I'll give you the first punch, go ahead. Blah blah weapon blah blah"
Annoying kid #1: "No weapon, blah blah, no weapon"
The exchange about weapons went on for a few minutes. Since this was an airplane and everyone had already been through security, I half suspect that the "weapon" was actually a paper clip. The posturing and chest-beating just sounded wrong, though, and also would've made me laugh had I not been trying to sleep.
Eventually, a flight attendant came over and served them a drink. Shortly thereafter, they shut up, and everyone around them went to sleep. I would later overhear that the flight attendant had made their drinks alcoholic, to help speed up the shutting-up process. I'm not sure if that's what actually happened, but I choose to believe that it did. It makes the story that much better.
Anyhow, my trip was off to an inauspicious start, and I hadn't even hit the ground yet. Luckily, things would get a lot better starting that next morning, the morning of Day 1. That, however, will have to be a post for another day (hopefully tomorrow).
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