Ohio

Ah, home. You know, actually, I'm trying to change my lingo there. I'm trying to get myself to say "I'm going back to visit my parents" instead of "I'm going home for a visit" when I return to Ohio for a visit. Boston is becoming a home for me, it's where I'm really the most comfortable now.

But that in no way means I don't enjoy going back to Ohio for a visit. I love to visit because it means time with the family, peace and quiet away from a big city, trees, grass, flowers, lots of cats, and eating a lot of excellent food.

I had a great time during my visit this past weekend. Mom made me a belated chocolate birthday cake (which was excellent, as usual), along with lots of other good food. We went to look at farm equipment at this big farm science review at an Ohio State University Campus. I got to go shopping, play miniature golf (I actually won for once!), see some movies, go to my old church, watch cable TV.

I even got to see my pal Jil from college for the first time in years. We sat eating ice cream and drinking a fru-fru slushie drink at Friendly's. Oh yeah, only the high class for me and my friends. ;) Jil even let me drive her new car. Hell, she even let other members of my family drive her new car. Jil is very trusting. Heehee. We'll see if she finds what I left in the tiny trunk. Heehee.

And then the flight home was dumb. I hate Detroit (there are no direct flights from Boston to Dayton). Have I mentioned that? I don't think so. Detroit sucks. I almost always get stuck there because of Northwest Airlines. I had been through there several times recently with no trouble, so I knew last night was going to be good.

First off, my plane out of Dayton left late, so we got into Detroit late. And of couse, the gate where we land is 80 miles from the gate where I need to go. I had to run past 78 gates (no kidding there) to get to my flight on time. And when I show up at the gate sweaty and panting, I find out it's been delayed for over two hours. The new schedule had us leaving at the exact time I was supposed to be getting into Boston. Wonderful. My favorite part was not only the running, but also the part where all the TV screens along the way showed my flight out of Detroit as leaving on time.

By the time I get into Boston, grab my luggage, take the subway, and get back into my apartment, it's midnight. Ah, Detroit.

Oh, here's something that's never happened to me while on a plane before. If you've ever flown into Boston before, you've noticed that you fly almost right over the big downtown area, then out over the bay, and then you turn around and flight back toward the airport and land almost on the water. So it's already a somewhat nerve-wracking feeling when the landing gears are 3 feet from the water until the landing strip suddenly appears and the plane touches down immediately. Last night we were about to touch down on the runway when suddenly the engines revved up and we took off again.

It was a bit freaky, we didn't know what was happening for a second. Then the pilot came on and said we'd gotten stuck in some of the turbulent wind from the plane that landed right before us, so he decided right then to take another turn around the city to come in for another landing. I normally don't mind flying at all, but that scared me just a bit.

And now it's nice to be home.