Layover

Well, I'm in Cleveland, so I'm pretty set on going on my vacation now. It's currently 7 in the morning (which is 4 in the morning for me) and my red eye flight arrived early, about 45 minutes ago. I'm now sitting in Concourse D here at the Cleveland Airport, waiting for my 9 AM flight to Syracuse. And if that's not enough exposition for you, it was also snowing as we were landing and it looks like it's going to be a crisp winter day here in Ohio.

I'm feeling a bit out  of sorts at the moment, given that, a scant eight hours ago or so, I was sitting in 72-degree weather at home, and now I'm in the middle of snow and cold and it's 4 o'clock in the morning. What the fuck. Maybe next time I go on a vacation, it'll be somewhere comfortable and/or hospitable. Actually, I'm quite enjoying seeing snow again. I can't remember the last time I was amidst snow. It didn't snow when I was in New York for New Year's last year...well, it's been years. So it's a welcome sight, as long as it doesn't delay my flight or keep me from driving to see Jim and Jennie.

It's weird, though: I thought I would be more tired right now. As I've said, it's still the middle of the night for me, and although I got a decent nap yesterday afternoon, I only slept on and off for about two hours on the flight itself (for which I am actually incredibly grateful...I usually can't sleep on planes). Yet here I am, pretty awake and alert...I don't think it's all due to the coffee I just ingested, either. My body is so weird when it comes to sleep and rest and the like: even if I'm exhausted, when it's light out, my body wants to be awake, but when it gets dark, I sprint for my bed and detest it when anything gets in my way. I have issues.

But it's easy to be awake now...I don't really have a choice. It's later today that I have to wonder about. I mean, the current plan is to get a cab to my aunt and uncle's house in Syracuse when I arrive and take a nap for a few hours, then shower and take my uncle's car to Auburn to see Jim and Jennie, probably arriving around 5 or 6 PM. But the way I'm feeling now, I feel like I could get to my aunt and uncle's house, shower and be on my way without the nap. But that's probably a terrible idea...and it's also still about four hours until I get to their house, so I'll see how I'm feeling then (probably not so good). Plus, Jim and Jennie have their kids, so the only "adult time" we'll have (you know, to curse and get naked and stuff) is after they go to sleep...so it just wouldn't do if I fell asleep at the same time as the kids.

Anyway, although I still have the "tiny airplane" flight into Syracuse left to go, I'm actually pretty grateful that the red eye/lengthy portion of my trip to the northeast is complete. As I think I've said before, I hate the "travel" part of traveling, and it's frustrating to have to go on long flights to see my friends and family on the east coast. So I'm glad that I've already made it to Eastern Time and have but a hop, skip and a jump into my first destination. And indeed, like I said, I'm very glad that the awful red eye portion is done...I hate red eye flights. But this one was okay...especially when this really attractive girl (and her stupid boyfriend) sat next to me. The best part was when she fell asleep and curled up on my leg for a few minutes...it was awkward, as I was drifting in and out of sleep, but was awake when she moved to my leg. I kept my eyes shut, though, because it would have been uncomfortable to let her boyfriend know that I was awake but wasn't doing anything to move his girlfriend from my leg. Good times.

Wow, the sun sure has come up through the early morning clouds, and is now shining directly on my computer screen. I guess I'll go for now...I still have about an hour until they board my flight, but I guess I can walk around and learn about...Cleveland? It seems nice, I guess...maybe I'll buy a Cleveland snowglobe for one of my lucky friends....