I Need to Stop Quoting Robert Burns's "To a Mouse"
But it really is appropriate.
So Christmas was kind of anti-climactic this year, which is always a little sad and regrettable, but there are just years like that sometimes. I can remember even being a kid and as much as I adore the season, there were just some Christmases that can be summed up with "meh."
It was definitely good though, don't get me wrong. As usual, Mom outdid herself and gave me way more than I really deserved--in addition to the router and money for my trip, I got several shirts, some calligraphy pens, nice erasers, a cool iron on decal, and a sketchbook more like the ones I love but they no longer make.
Uncle George and Aunt Madeline's was great as always, though I spent any time I wasn't using to eat talking to Bob about Japan. It's always really nice to have someone who's just as into something as you are, especially if they don't know as much as you do and will let you talk about what you know. Also, food was awesome as usual.
We came home early, which was nice because I feel like I've been running a marathon (or it's during the semester). Friday night Chris had a holiday party and Meg and I headed over to hang out with him, his cool girlfriend Ashlyn, Mike, Sara, and the one and only Erin Tustin. It was so fabulous seeing them and their families again after so long an absence, and because we were playing The Game of Things which is pretty much Loaded Questions with slightly different rules, I ended up staying till almost 2.
This morning I got up at 6, showered and got ready to go, while my parents were talking about how there was a blizzard warning for New York City and we shouldn't go up and we may get snowed in up there and I might miss my flight tomorrow and so on. Linh and her dad picked me up and took us to 30th street, where we met Eunji and caught the bus.
The ride up was fun, with us all talking about Soka and our memories and the mutual people we know. When we arrived the snow was already starting to lay, but despite the cold it wasn't too bad. The bus driver told us that our bus would most likely be canceled, so we decided instead to get train tickets. Throughout the day Linh and I made repeated attempts to call the bus customer service to see if our money would be refunded in the event of a cancellation (it was) but to no avail.
Anyway, we met up with Seulah and her boyfriend and we went to get Korean soup for lunch, followed by a trip to the Met. Walking around the perimeter of the park in the snow was absolutely lovely, and the falling, new snow made the city extremely pretty and almost Dickensian looking (i.e. like that version of London they push every year for Christmas). I adore snow even when it's make my life hell, so that was nice.
The Met was fun, especially the Egyptian exhibit, where we got stuck in parts of a tomb and surreptitiously touched exhibits. We couldn't be there too long though since we had to make the train, and we left Seulah with tears.
Annoyingly it took an hour to get back to Penn Station, and our train ended up being delayed until 5, though after that we had little issue getting to Trenton and then 30th Street again. Eunji offered to drive us back to my parents' house, where Linh's brother Tien would pick her up and Eunji would head down to New Castle.
So we pulled out of the parking lot and headed to get some gas, the roads not particularly well plowed, but not unusual for Philly. In fact, the snow seemed to have stopped, and everything in the air appeared to be blown off from surrounding roofs.
Then we got into 76, where nothing had been salted or plowed. "Strange," we said, "this is normally a lot better handled than this."
Since it was Eunji's first time driving in snow we had her take it really slow and stay toward the middle when no one else was around to avoid getting stuck in snowbanks on the side of the road. We almost got blocked in by some plows on 95, though what they were doing is anyone's guess since even that was a ridiculous mess. I've never seen I-95 so bad before.
It was after 9 by the time we reached my parents' house and Linh's brother was slowly making his way up from suburban Wilmington. Eunji was pretty much stranded here, and even after an attempt in Dad's four wheel drive car to take her home, we had to abandon it and come back. Mom made some dinner for us and then we talked for a bit while I finished up packing (I still think that I'm missing stuff, though Mom disagrees).
When I got back I found that my flight to Chicago was canceled, though the one to Narita from O'Hare is still set to go. I've tried calling United customer service, but the woman on the phone didn't know much since she told me that the next flight to Chicago from Philly was on Wednesday, even though I could see right on their website that there is one at noon tomorrow. She told me that my booking agent would help me figure out the rerouting and see if I need to reschedule my ANA flight too, but I was on hold for a good half hour at STA and I eventually had to hang up because my phone was overheating.
Though the snow has greatly slacked off in the past couple hours and I think it may even have stopped, the website still keeps saying that the flights aren't going out and ANA's customer service doesn't open until 5:30.
Best case scenario, I hope I can get a slightly later flight that will still have me make my 10:45 ANA one from O'Hare, but I think I may need to get one that leaves later in the day (meaning I won't get to Japan until REALLY late Tuesday night). Then I have to let Hachioji Plaza know too, which is a pain in the rear as well. Couldn't this damn blizzard have taken place starting Tuesday? Or even one day later? Or hell, a day earlier, giving us a white Christmas and settling its shit down by the time I'd have to leave?
I'm just disgusted at Philly Int'l once again fucking me over. Again and again and again with them. If I had flown out of JFK it'd be easier even, since I could have a flight that was later in the day after all the stupid shit is cleared off. And it would be direct.
Though I know I'll still get there, it pisses me off, as I spent a lot of money on this trip and a great deal of time anticipating it, and I really dislike the idea of having to spend even 1 extra hour in this horrid place.
I'll tell you what though; I'd be mighty pissed if I missed out on seeing Seulah only for my damn flight to be canceled anyway.
Maybe I'll catch some sleep and wake up at 5 to try STA again before I call ANA.
So Christmas was kind of anti-climactic this year, which is always a little sad and regrettable, but there are just years like that sometimes. I can remember even being a kid and as much as I adore the season, there were just some Christmases that can be summed up with "meh."
It was definitely good though, don't get me wrong. As usual, Mom outdid herself and gave me way more than I really deserved--in addition to the router and money for my trip, I got several shirts, some calligraphy pens, nice erasers, a cool iron on decal, and a sketchbook more like the ones I love but they no longer make.
Uncle George and Aunt Madeline's was great as always, though I spent any time I wasn't using to eat talking to Bob about Japan. It's always really nice to have someone who's just as into something as you are, especially if they don't know as much as you do and will let you talk about what you know. Also, food was awesome as usual.
We came home early, which was nice because I feel like I've been running a marathon (or it's during the semester). Friday night Chris had a holiday party and Meg and I headed over to hang out with him, his cool girlfriend Ashlyn, Mike, Sara, and the one and only Erin Tustin. It was so fabulous seeing them and their families again after so long an absence, and because we were playing The Game of Things which is pretty much Loaded Questions with slightly different rules, I ended up staying till almost 2.
This morning I got up at 6, showered and got ready to go, while my parents were talking about how there was a blizzard warning for New York City and we shouldn't go up and we may get snowed in up there and I might miss my flight tomorrow and so on. Linh and her dad picked me up and took us to 30th street, where we met Eunji and caught the bus.
The ride up was fun, with us all talking about Soka and our memories and the mutual people we know. When we arrived the snow was already starting to lay, but despite the cold it wasn't too bad. The bus driver told us that our bus would most likely be canceled, so we decided instead to get train tickets. Throughout the day Linh and I made repeated attempts to call the bus customer service to see if our money would be refunded in the event of a cancellation (it was) but to no avail.
Anyway, we met up with Seulah and her boyfriend and we went to get Korean soup for lunch, followed by a trip to the Met. Walking around the perimeter of the park in the snow was absolutely lovely, and the falling, new snow made the city extremely pretty and almost Dickensian looking (i.e. like that version of London they push every year for Christmas). I adore snow even when it's make my life hell, so that was nice.
The Met was fun, especially the Egyptian exhibit, where we got stuck in parts of a tomb and surreptitiously touched exhibits. We couldn't be there too long though since we had to make the train, and we left Seulah with tears.
Annoyingly it took an hour to get back to Penn Station, and our train ended up being delayed until 5, though after that we had little issue getting to Trenton and then 30th Street again. Eunji offered to drive us back to my parents' house, where Linh's brother Tien would pick her up and Eunji would head down to New Castle.
So we pulled out of the parking lot and headed to get some gas, the roads not particularly well plowed, but not unusual for Philly. In fact, the snow seemed to have stopped, and everything in the air appeared to be blown off from surrounding roofs.
Then we got into 76, where nothing had been salted or plowed. "Strange," we said, "this is normally a lot better handled than this."
Since it was Eunji's first time driving in snow we had her take it really slow and stay toward the middle when no one else was around to avoid getting stuck in snowbanks on the side of the road. We almost got blocked in by some plows on 95, though what they were doing is anyone's guess since even that was a ridiculous mess. I've never seen I-95 so bad before.
It was after 9 by the time we reached my parents' house and Linh's brother was slowly making his way up from suburban Wilmington. Eunji was pretty much stranded here, and even after an attempt in Dad's four wheel drive car to take her home, we had to abandon it and come back. Mom made some dinner for us and then we talked for a bit while I finished up packing (I still think that I'm missing stuff, though Mom disagrees).
When I got back I found that my flight to Chicago was canceled, though the one to Narita from O'Hare is still set to go. I've tried calling United customer service, but the woman on the phone didn't know much since she told me that the next flight to Chicago from Philly was on Wednesday, even though I could see right on their website that there is one at noon tomorrow. She told me that my booking agent would help me figure out the rerouting and see if I need to reschedule my ANA flight too, but I was on hold for a good half hour at STA and I eventually had to hang up because my phone was overheating.
Though the snow has greatly slacked off in the past couple hours and I think it may even have stopped, the website still keeps saying that the flights aren't going out and ANA's customer service doesn't open until 5:30.
Best case scenario, I hope I can get a slightly later flight that will still have me make my 10:45 ANA one from O'Hare, but I think I may need to get one that leaves later in the day (meaning I won't get to Japan until REALLY late Tuesday night). Then I have to let Hachioji Plaza know too, which is a pain in the rear as well. Couldn't this damn blizzard have taken place starting Tuesday? Or even one day later? Or hell, a day earlier, giving us a white Christmas and settling its shit down by the time I'd have to leave?
I'm just disgusted at Philly Int'l once again fucking me over. Again and again and again with them. If I had flown out of JFK it'd be easier even, since I could have a flight that was later in the day after all the stupid shit is cleared off. And it would be direct.
Though I know I'll still get there, it pisses me off, as I spent a lot of money on this trip and a great deal of time anticipating it, and I really dislike the idea of having to spend even 1 extra hour in this horrid place.
I'll tell you what though; I'd be mighty pissed if I missed out on seeing Seulah only for my damn flight to be canceled anyway.
Maybe I'll catch some sleep and wake up at 5 to try STA again before I call ANA.