Chapter 4: The Golden Ticket
Continued from Chapter 3, part 2:
(... 5AM in the morning. Asami finally slept for 30 minutes by then. By the end of the night we’ve learned a few things about each other, and I have progressed at most two pages with my paper.)
Sunday, March 5AM
Leaving our post to go to the counter, I see on the way two people I saw the night before. I walk up to them and ask if they’re also waiting for the flight. One was also a student from USC named Pratt, the other was a woman who graduated from UCLA named Ailan a.k.a. Irene. I guess my instinct was that the more people we have the more support for our predicament, so I get myself and Asami to join them to form our now team of four.
When the time came at 6AM, I go wait in line to check with the counter. In front of me was the Brazilian guy who sat beside me on the flight. We started talking about our night at the airport and whether everyone in line was going to ask the counter the same questions. In the midst of our conversation I noticed that this old woman standing to our left was listening to us.
“Were you also stuck here last night?” I ask her.
Not surprisingly, she was. I start our conversation with the coffee in her hand.
“Is that coffee any good?”
“It’s alright. Not great.”
“Dang, I was hoping to go there later.”
As we start talking, I learn that some passengers were actually offered accommodations in a hotel. The catch was that by the time they got to the hotel it was around midnight because there were so many people in line and by the time they had to get up at four AM to catch the ride to the airport they had barely any sleep. Speaking of sleep,. note that I have a combined nine hours of sleep since Thursday.
As we get closer to the counter I gesture to Asami to join me in case they issue us tickets. The old woman saw the green passport I was holding and the red passport Asami was holding.
“What passport is that?” she asks me.
“It's a Taiwanese passport.”
“And yours?”
“Japan,” Asami replied.
“So what are you guys doing here?
“Well, I’m here for college and she’s here for language school.”
Things started to get interesting from here…
She asks me which school I attend and tells me that USC' her alma mater when she studied sociology. Now this woman, whose name was Enid, was what I would guess around sixty if not seventy-years old, and I learn that her husband, Gary, was enrolled in the cinema school.
“And what do you study?”
“Architecture.”
“Ha. We like that. I’m in the board of the Gamble House.”
Gamble House is an architectural masterpiece in Pasadena owned by the USC School of Architecture. As the name points out, it was built for the Gamble from the company Proctor and Gamble, aka P&G. Architecture students from USC can apply to live there free for a year - with managerial responsibilities attached.
“Ha. Really?! You know what’s funny? I actually applied for it last week!”
“Well, my husband’s also on the board. Why don’t you drop by later?”
As there was only one person in front of us in line for the counter, she tells me this:
“Hey why don’t you try asking them if they could move you to the earlier flight to New York?”
“Yeah sure, I’ll give it a try.”
Keep in mind that we did not even know if we had a flight, less even knowing a time for a flight - so her suggestion, which did not come across my mind - offered a miniscule but promising light at the end of the tunnel. The moment of truth came to me, and I walk up to the counter with Enid close behind.
“Hey uhh, I was wondering if you could transfer us to flight 2936 to New York?”
The woman at the counter responds, “Well, we can’t move any luggages out of the plane so-“
“We only have carry-on luggages.”
“Well, let me take a look then. Do you have your ticket?”
“Yeah, can you also take a look for her?” I ask Asami to hand over her ticket.
Enid unfortunately had checked-in luggage, so she walks away. Five minutes pass by and the counter woman was still staring below at her screen, shuffling her fingers behind the counter.
“Is everything alright”?
“Mm hmm.” She continues to carry out her motion.
Judging by her expression and the time she was taking, I told myself that this was going to work. The next thing I know - she hands us two golden tickets to flight 2936 bound for New York. Moments like this were beyond delight. It came closer to perhaps salvation. There was a smile on my face, but in my heart I was yelling “YES WE DID IT WE GOTS THE TICKETS WOOT YEAH!!!”
Afterwards I went to find Enid to thank her for her suggestion but also to talk about my Gamble House application… I found her sitting with her husband at a table drinking coffee.
Her husband offers me his handshake.
“Hi, I heard you’re applying for the Gamble House?” he asked.
To be continued...
(... 5AM in the morning. Asami finally slept for 30 minutes by then. By the end of the night we’ve learned a few things about each other, and I have progressed at most two pages with my paper.)
Sunday, March 5AM
Leaving our post to go to the counter, I see on the way two people I saw the night before. I walk up to them and ask if they’re also waiting for the flight. One was also a student from USC named Pratt, the other was a woman who graduated from UCLA named Ailan a.k.a. Irene. I guess my instinct was that the more people we have the more support for our predicament, so I get myself and Asami to join them to form our now team of four.
When the time came at 6AM, I go wait in line to check with the counter. In front of me was the Brazilian guy who sat beside me on the flight. We started talking about our night at the airport and whether everyone in line was going to ask the counter the same questions. In the midst of our conversation I noticed that this old woman standing to our left was listening to us.
“Were you also stuck here last night?” I ask her.
Not surprisingly, she was. I start our conversation with the coffee in her hand.
“Is that coffee any good?”
“It’s alright. Not great.”
“Dang, I was hoping to go there later.”
As we start talking, I learn that some passengers were actually offered accommodations in a hotel. The catch was that by the time they got to the hotel it was around midnight because there were so many people in line and by the time they had to get up at four AM to catch the ride to the airport they had barely any sleep. Speaking of sleep,. note that I have a combined nine hours of sleep since Thursday.
As we get closer to the counter I gesture to Asami to join me in case they issue us tickets. The old woman saw the green passport I was holding and the red passport Asami was holding.
“What passport is that?” she asks me.
“It's a Taiwanese passport.”
“And yours?”
“Japan,” Asami replied.
“So what are you guys doing here?
“Well, I’m here for college and she’s here for language school.”
Things started to get interesting from here…
She asks me which school I attend and tells me that USC' her alma mater when she studied sociology. Now this woman, whose name was Enid, was what I would guess around sixty if not seventy-years old, and I learn that her husband, Gary, was enrolled in the cinema school.
“And what do you study?”
“Architecture.”
“Ha. We like that. I’m in the board of the Gamble House.”
Gamble House is an architectural masterpiece in Pasadena owned by the USC School of Architecture. As the name points out, it was built for the Gamble from the company Proctor and Gamble, aka P&G. Architecture students from USC can apply to live there free for a year - with managerial responsibilities attached.
“Ha. Really?! You know what’s funny? I actually applied for it last week!”
“Well, my husband’s also on the board. Why don’t you drop by later?”
As there was only one person in front of us in line for the counter, she tells me this:
“Hey why don’t you try asking them if they could move you to the earlier flight to New York?”
“Yeah sure, I’ll give it a try.”
Keep in mind that we did not even know if we had a flight, less even knowing a time for a flight - so her suggestion, which did not come across my mind - offered a miniscule but promising light at the end of the tunnel. The moment of truth came to me, and I walk up to the counter with Enid close behind.
“Hey uhh, I was wondering if you could transfer us to flight 2936 to New York?”
The woman at the counter responds, “Well, we can’t move any luggages out of the plane so-“
“We only have carry-on luggages.”
“Well, let me take a look then. Do you have your ticket?”
“Yeah, can you also take a look for her?” I ask Asami to hand over her ticket.
Enid unfortunately had checked-in luggage, so she walks away. Five minutes pass by and the counter woman was still staring below at her screen, shuffling her fingers behind the counter.
“Is everything alright”?
“Mm hmm.” She continues to carry out her motion.
Judging by her expression and the time she was taking, I told myself that this was going to work. The next thing I know - she hands us two golden tickets to flight 2936 bound for New York. Moments like this were beyond delight. It came closer to perhaps salvation. There was a smile on my face, but in my heart I was yelling “YES WE DID IT WE GOTS THE TICKETS WOOT YEAH!!!”
Afterwards I went to find Enid to thank her for her suggestion but also to talk about my Gamble House application… I found her sitting with her husband at a table drinking coffee.
Her husband offers me his handshake.
“Hi, I heard you’re applying for the Gamble House?” he asked.
To be continued...