Flight Delay

20 September 2008

Guess where I am right now? While I'm writing this, I'm sitting at a nice comfortable chair on the Malaysia Airlines First Class lounge. First time I'm ever here. No, I am not doing this to make you jealous or something. The other way, actually. I think you'd be glad you're not where I am right now. Long story.

Right now it's just a few minutes past 4pm. Buka puasa is in an hour and 45 minutes. My flight was supposed to be at 2.20pm. That was almost 2 hours ago. OK. Story begins.

Today was a tiring day. A loooong day. Woke up later than I should. Too tired. I shouldn't have slept at all last night, but well, I just couldn't resist the bed. So with wet hair after getting out of the shower, I slept.

Let's talk about yesterday first.

It was Macquarie University's Conception Day yesterday. I went at around 1pm. Stayed in the blazing sun for hours. Me and Fatin. And we were fasting! So it was a day with a lot of 'dugaan'. We buka puasa in the Conception Day area. Enjoying Butterfingers and Grinspoon performing. Mostly we were sitting aournd talking, watching other people get drunk. Trust me, they start drinking at 9am! They were chugging plenty of glasses of beer. I have never (Or should I say nevah) saw that many drunk people before in my life. That was a first.

And they were handing out free cans of Coke Zero to everyone. In the hot hot hot sun, and we were parched, with dry throats. That was a hard fasting day. Surrounded by people carrying around drinks. And eating. One guy was eating a kebab next to me. That was... painful. So me and Fatin endured the whole fiasco thing.

After breaking fast or buka puasa, we started partying. We watched Butterfingers for awhile. Then we went inside to join the clubbing crowd. We started to try to enjoy ourselves. A really good looking guy tried to dance with me. Then, I felt Fatin pulling me away. A fight broke out right there on the dance floor, and when I moved away, I just saw a guy collapsed on the floor, unconcious. Adrenaline rush. We got scared. Stayed far away. Then when we walked past the scene to get out of the building, I saw paramedics putting oxygen mask on the guy and pools of blood on the floor, from the impact of his head hitting the floor. Rumours heard. Fatin knew him. It was said that the guy was...

An announcement. They didn't have any information yet. I'm going to be stuck here all day. *Sigh. OK, back to the story.

Right. It was said the unconcious guy on the floor was actually trying to stop the fight going on. But he got punched by someone. Hard. While he was unaware. So he collapsed. It was rumoured the guy who punched him got away.

So the image of an unconcious guy on the floor lying in a pool of blood totally shook us. We got out, sorted ourselves, then got into the crowd enjoying Grinspoon. The mosh. We were repeatedly splashed with beer and God only knows what. The drunk people were jumping into us. And Fatin seemed to not enjoy herself too much in the crowd. So we got out after 2 songs.

Got on the big huge slide. Not a really good idea since we were both weraing skirts, but we figued, what the hell. The drunk people were fooling themselves worse than we ever could anyway. That was cool. We got out of Conception Day 10 minutes past 8pm, after Grinspoon's encore, which was cool. There were buses for people who wanted to continue partying at The Ranch. We decided to retire (Well, it was more of Fatin's decision since I thought the night was too young. But partying alone would not be fun either) and head home. Made coffee. Started packing for the flight.

Followed Fatin home to see her newly decorated wall. Stayed there until 1.30am. Got home. Continued packing. Fatin IM'd. “Zue, I just got out of the shower. You should shower too. Remember we were splashed with beer and all.” So I got into the shower, shampooing my hair. Got out of the shower. Bed looked too inviting. Couldn't resist. With wet hair, I collapsed, sleeping until morning. Zzzzzzzz....

OK, so that was yesterday. This is today's story.

So. Morning came. Set my alarm for 7am. Couldn't get up. Went back to sleep. Woke up again at 8. Still can't get my butt out of bed. Then at 9 something I got up. RUSHED!!! I was planning to go to Macquarie Centre to do some last minute shopping. Didn't get to go.

So my baby and I went straight to the city. Pitt St Mall. Peter Alexander. Bought something for the people back home. Wanted to buy something for my mum. The pants I wanted doesn't have size available. The salesgirl said they have the pants on George St, Near Matrin's Pl. So we walked there. Almost 12 noon (My flight's at 2.20 remember?). Got there. They didn't have the size I wanted. I was fuming. The other girl said they had two. She suggested David Jones. Are you kidding??? No time. Bought the next nicest thing they have available in the size I need. Walked back to the car. 12.15pm. Shit. We're late.

Next destination: Bligh. Not airport yet. Why? To get my camera. Left it there 3 weeks ago. Mum will kill me if I went home without my camera. So my baby drove me to Bligh. 12.30pm. Yani and Ririn was there.

“What time's your flight?” “2.20. I have to be at the airport now.” “You're crazy.”

“OK, selamat hari raya!” “Selamat hari raya, guys.”

Drove to the airport. Someone called. Nasty words exchanged. Got off the phone devastated. Don't want to go home. Don't want to get on the flight. Got to the airport. 1pm.

Checked in. Cried. That was emotional. Said goodbye to my baby. It was either going to be my worst raya ever, or definitely the best in a long time. Don't want to go home. Hugged my baby. It might just be the last time. Felt so down. So so so down.

Walked in. Cried all the way to the gate. Cried at the waiting area. Boarding. Went in. Good seat. Read the newspaper, magazine, cry some more, and ordered my buka puasa food from the stewardess. Thought crossing my mind: Is it me or there's something wrong with this plane? Something doesn't seem right. Oh well, it's probably just me and my bad state of mine. Don't wanna go home! I hope the plane crashes. I hope something goes wrong. I hope I don't have to go home. I hope the plane doesn't crash. Don't wanna die. Wait, not that bad. Just hope something goes wrong and parents get worried. Bla bla bla bla bla....

My Way came on the stereo. Cried some more. This is so movie like dramaticness. Plane moves. Pilot announcement: Something wrong with plane. We're going back to the gate. Plane moves. Thought it's OK. Cried myself to sleep. Plane stop moving. Steward: You have to get of the plane. Me: Why? Steward: There are fumes from the Business Class area. Engineers have to check.

Waited in the hot hot hot plane for thenm to open the gate. Smelled the fumes. Bad. Got out of the plane. 3.30pm. Walked to the lounge. Toilet. Phone call to parents. Phone call to my baby. 3.50pm. Back to lounge. Open laptop. 4pm. Logged in to the internet. Internet doesn't work. Write blog post on Open Office writer. Announcement.

Now: 5pm. Buka puasa: 45 minutes. Still no news of flight.

So that's the story of how I got here today, right now, in this big comfortable seat in the First Class lounge, writing my blog. Waiting for buka puasa. What the hell am I going to eat later? No idea.

I'll post this on my blog much later. Once I get internet connection. Till then, wish me luck!

LoVe~

MzP<3