Thoughts on Delta Flight DL812

I was excited when I walked onto the plane in Atlanta to head to London. I was excited when I filled out international contact information to get to London. I was excited when I realized I was on my first overnight, international flight… to London.

What I forgot to get excited about was the seven-hour duration of the flight. I swear, I think I’ve developed restless leg syndrome, I was so antsy. The first part of the flight had to be sit-down-only, anyway, but then we flew into some turbulence, so we were told to stay seated for even longer. I thought, “I’m sitting down. I’m gonna be in this plane for seven hours, and I have to sit down. Gah!”

Fortunately, there was one more thing to get excited about: movies.

Much to my exuberance, there was a little TV screen in the headrest of the seat in front of me. …Okay, everyone had such a screen, but when faced with staying in my seat for indefinite forevertude, I could only focus on my own screen and the handset that came with it. I scrolled through the options, and I found PREPOSTEROUS AMOUNTS OF MOVIES, most of them I had really wanted to see. There was Slumdog Millionaire, Caddyshack (which I’ve seen but have never tired of), Yes Man, Gran Torino (also one I would never tire of), Milk, Bienvenue Chez Les Ch’tis (kidding! It was there, but not in Spanish, so I respectfully declined), The Reader, Peter Pan, The Jungle Book, Hairspray (all of which I didn’t consider watching but included to make sure you knew what you were missing!), The Notebook (that one belongs in the former category), and tons upon tons of other flicks.

Out of this plethora, I chose two recent releases that I wanted to see more than any other new movies: Frost/Nixon and Doubt. Both of them appealed to the heart of me with their journalistic and Catholic subject matters, and in my opinion did better than anything else I’ve seen in showing nuance and all sides of a situation.

Because of that nuance (and, in line with the title of the second movie, doubt over which side is right), I feel ready for London.

…

::raised eyebrow:: “What??” you wonder. “That doesn’t even make sense! Increased doubt makes you ready for a new kind of experience?”

Why, yes, it does. I’ve thought more in these two movies than in any other movie besides Contact, because of the moral uncertainty. (And because I didn’t have much else to do.) My mind feels much sharper now, more in tune to nuance and the particulars of my surroundings. As such, I feel like I can read a new situation and see exactly, or at least very nearly, what I need to do. I wasn’t ready to do that before because I was mentally resting, which as I alluded to in the Prologue is what I normally do during the summer. Now that I’m on my toes, I know I won’t go into my time in London on autopilot, which would be disastrous for such a new situation.

…Okay, mentally I’m on my toes. But it’s 11:54 p.m. at home and 4:54 a.m. in London, and since I didn’t get much sleep last night, I’m starting to feel not quite physically animated. …

And so closes the first entry of the blog. (Excepting the Prologue, of course.) Hopefully, when I wake up I’ll be in a new country for a new kind of summer.


…Ha. I’m reading this back, and I’m thinking, “This is so corny, it belongs at the Indiana State Fair.” Better to get it out now, I guess, before I butter up anything meaningful. I’d hate to talk about my first day at the Centre with words like “I feel ready” and “I’ll be in a new country for a new kind of summer.” Although I’ll keep the internal monologue. I’ve always liked talking to myself.

…Did I admit that?