Has anyone ever ridden on Space Mountain at DisneyWorld?! For you poor,poor souls who haven’t, it is a rollercoaster in the dark. You can’t see where it turns and dips, which makes the ride so much fun… and scary.

This is the closest comparison to flying thru turbulence. It may not be in the dark but you definitely have no idea when the dips and dives are gonna hit! And the passengers don’t quite know how to react. Our first few shakes and bumps are just endured with nervous glances and half-smiles to fellow passengers. “This is normal. Always a little bumpy thru clouds,” everyone assures themselves. Then you hit some serious ups and downs. The kind of stuff that makes your stomach drop. Even the occasional, “whoa,” from some folks in the back.

My flight today endured the craziest turbulence I’ve ever flown thru. I was trying to nap thru this but my feet came off the floor, which woke me up. Several “whoas” and lots of nervous faces. Personally, I have a sick enjoyment of these things. Kinda fun and I’m too optimistic to think I’m going to die in a plane crash. I find amusement in the way adults act when situations get a little tense. Its ok for kids to freak out, but we “mature” adults (yes, we) should not fear such inconsequentials as turbulence. Perhaps it was the fact that we sat on the ground for 2 ½ hours before leaving b/c something wasn’t “plugged up” right, according to the pilot, that caused so much panic and concern.

To be fair, the turbulence was persistent and intense but eventually subsided. Recovery tactics were classic. Some people immediately put their heads back on the headrests and cranked the AC to calm down. Other panic faces relaxed into smiles and began chatting it up with their neighbor about what had just happened. Phew, we survived. People are funny.

Now, in the airport in Atlanta. I thought for sure I had missed my connecting flight to NY, but thanks to Mother Nature, LaGuardia Airport is grounded. I surrender this whole day to Mother Nature... and global warming. She is mad and taking it out on the airline industry! Maybe we should give Al Gore another Nobel Peace Prize for stating the obvious. The earth wasn’t meant for all these fuel-burning machines. Ok, I’m coming down off my soapbox. Sometimes my Southwestern education goes into overdrive and I ramble.

So now I sit. It costs $8 to connect to the internet, so this will be posted later if and when I arrive to NY. The latest news from the counter: they will update us at 11 p.m. Not board us, just update us. Awesome. Burger King is even starting to look appealing, but I must remember I’m a full-time struggling actress now. I’m only allowed one meal a day. Ha! I gotta save my cash for the cab anyway.

Note to folks with rolly-bags… keep those suckers in line behind you and not dragging four feet. Its as though some people are pulling a sled. Forget trying to get around them. No way. You go left, all the have to do to block you is move their arm slightly to the left and the thing shifts to block your path! I had to do a little hippity-hop to prevent my toes from a painful rollover. I’m not sure if its necessity or instinct, but I find myself walking very quickly and purposefully in the airport. No slow saunter. You must be focused and alert. Lots of cross traffic. Travellers with bags you don’t even see until you nearly trip over them, children lagging behind (unless of course the parents have invested in the human leash… totally opposed to that), and then you’ve gotta watch out for the cart people who just repeatedly yell, “Cart!” What an amazing place to observe human behavior. This is where people are truly themselves. I consider myself to be a sociologist or is it anthropologist… amateur of course. Maybe we’ve got some updates at the gate. I’m being hopeful now. That is what the airport tries to take from us… hope. I will not surrender. I will get to NY!

p.s. I finally got in at 2:30 a.m. Thanks Beth for staying up to help me and the cab driver find the place.