Oh hey look there I am

Mr. Hollywood part two

Hello once again, I hope to not bore you this time around, and sorry for the delay, work calls and I hope to post a bit more frequently.

So, the stands are packed, I am packed and wired at 3:30am even after going to bed at 11:30pm. Mind you my flight is for 6:00am I have a one stop over. I should mention that I am leaving not one woman in my apartment but two that will be mope-y till I return. One being, of course my girlfriend. Hope and the woman my cat Nubbins. Hope might say the ‘other woman’ is my computer but I am not that bad…*Note: peanut gallery please keep it down I can hear you mostly chuckling and one groan from over there.*

So I arrive at the airport with my father driving me in. I make my way to the ticket counter, there is hardly any lines this early in the morning. I pop my Credit Card in and get my bag onto the scale, its overweight. I figured this would be an issue since I have tools, props and of course clothing in there. The gentleman behind the counter says there is a $100 fee for the bag being over 70lbs. He politely says, “if you can put anything in any other bag that would cut the weight down below 70 the price drops to $50. I quickly open up my massive orange case and pull out a stack of underwear (yes they are clean since Hope did all the laundry). I put it them into my carry-on suitcase and make it close. Another airlines employee walks up and makes comments on my cases (they are matching hard shell cases that are bright orange). She mentions to the gentleman behind the counter that I am riding First Class and that the luggage fees are waived for the cases (except the weight issue). *Note: I was figuring on having some sort of issue with my tools and what not going through security of my checked luggage thankfully there was no issue.” I pay the man $50 so that i can get a ‘heavy’ tag put onto the larger of the two, I get my receipt and head on up to the security queue.  I quickly fly though security since I’ve been flying since I was 5, I might have been younger I don’t remember, I was also on a plane shortly after 9/11 when I went to visit my parents on Thanksgiving.

I am now waiting in the sitting area near the door which will lead me on my big trip out to the farthest west I have ever been. Before I get too comfortable I go and grab a popular science magazine and a sprite. I sit back down and read for a bit, I hear some noise up near the desk near the door to go to the jet way. I slowly peer up from my magazine and find that its somebody from my working past. (He/She will remain nameless to protect myself and them, I think.) Funnily enough he/she was one of the people who fired me from my only two jobs that I've been “let go from.” They don’t pay any acknowledgment to my presence (but then again I was hiding behind a pillar in the waiting area.). Apparently he/she wasn’t flying first class, and they tried to get themselves bumped up to it. I giggle, because if it wasn’t for them letting me go I would never have been able to fly first class out to L.A. nor have worked on a full length feature. I quickly text both my girlfriend and my mother who had just gotten her new iPhone 3gs. they are both giggling with excitement and is probing me with questions until I board the plane.

I get queued to board the plane for first class, I am 2nd in line, I grab my seat in the plane (it is odd to go back to assigned seating since I have been on Southwest for such a long time{their seating plans are based on how soon you get checked in online and then you are corralled, it is then only at that point you are able to grab any seat on the plane (except the pilot and co-pilot’s seats)}). As I sit I pull out my magazine and soda and put it in the seatback in front of me. I never have sat in first class for such a long flight.

I did sit in first class only once before when I had a snafu, I was flying from Pittsburgh, PA back to Manchester, NH. the pilots couldn’t land in NH since it was “too stormy” and the plane had to divert back to Pittsburgh. Some people had decided to drive from New York where we landed up to NH. I jumped back onto the plane and flew back to Pitt, and waited for another flight to NH in about 2hrs.

As I get comfortable in first class I look and open all the armrests and what not near me, I play with everything till I get a sour look from one of the flight attendants I quickly put everything back. At that time I see him/her enter the plane and sit across the isle from me, they still pay no heed to my presence. I think the only reason why they did not recognize me is there was a larger gentleman sitting in the seat that blocked me directly from the isle.

I nap on the plane. (sorry for not having it be exciting)

As I deplane, he/she is in front of me and heads quickly to another section of the airport we land at. I pull out my ticket and see that I need to get to the other wing of the airport to get to my final leg out to L.A.

As I wait in the area for my flight I make phone calls and send out text messages. I have news that the stands can make it out to L.A. just in time for comic con and what not.

I board the plane and sit down for a long quite flight, I settle in I grab the dvd player, headphones and dvd case and include them in with my magazine and soda in the seatback. I fall asleep once we takeoff and zone out. I awaken when there is a flight attendant asking people what they want to eat. I am a bit perplexed its been a long time since I’ve had a meal on a flight. I order a chicken breast sandwich, it also comes with a fruit cup. I eat on real china with real metal utensils, the wonders of first class!

I watch Wall-E and enjoy it once again. All while watching it I begin to get jealous since the Derrick guys had gotten the chance to head to Pixar studios and screen Mystery Team for them. After the film and food, I sleep my way across the country. try not to put the second half of that sentence in its own context. I get interrupted about halfway through the country there is a kid bouncing in and out of the seats behind me. I thought it was just one, sadly I was mistaken, it was a brother and sister duo. We all know how they can act in a confined space.

We land, it was a good flight, pretty good food and I took some photos.

Well I need to get ready for the day after playing security guard for the film equipment at the motel we are filming at I guess I need to continue this into more than just two blogs. So Have fun and keep waiting!

posted by Nick L. @ 8:57 AM