In transit...

5 July

It’s about 8:30am in California, 5:30pm here in Munich. I have some 2 hours before I board my flight to Delhi. Good thing, rest is welcome after walking the distance of the international terminal – some 2 ½ football fields. Not to mention the knot in my back, courtesy of napping while sitting upright. I napped in two batches; the post-dinner and beer was a general sleepy try. In the end, it was just too hard to accomplish with toddlers screaming and plane noise. I probably managed less than an hour before turning on a film. There is nothing like dozing off to a visual presentation, the heavy eyelids accompanied by blurry vision. I slept but was unable to adequately stretch my legs, feet, and back. In addition, the airplane food I had just ingested faced constricted movement due to my posture (i.e. trouble brewing in my belly). I was just as groggy, nodding off several times, as I woke up. Hard to be productive when you’re strapped into a seat with little freedom of movement and lined up like cattle – force-fed visual images, calming them before the slaughter.

I’ve joined the public iPod generation on this trip. Lost in my aural experience, I sit in Munich. Sia, Zero 7, and Porno for Pyros color my auditory experience. Compared to California, the majority of people here are without iPods or other devices requiring headphones. I really cannot understand how people, usually young people, can go throughout the majority of their day plugged into an iPod. I prefer having music playing in the background, allowing me to multitask with all my senses.

Lost in my iPod-induced psychosis, I found myself staring at the shiny floors of the airport terminal. As people approached, the floor reflected their gait. Sleep deprived, I began to imagine myself in a real-life surrealist painting. I closed my eyes and saw Nosmo; he had just turned rapidly after cleaning his shoulder blades, pausing as if pondering his grocery list. I opened my eyes to see a woman walking quickly, her hands full. Her body moving forward, her head turned to look at me; perfection in motion.

*Life was so simple when I wrote this. If only I knew what was to come…