Am I weird? I actually like plane trips.
I hate the waiting and the shuffling in and out and the turbulence makes me batty. Everyone’s in such a tense bad mood and it rubs off on me. So in those respects, I’m sure I’m like everyone else. But I like the block of time that’s carved out for my personal use. I can’t get online and there’s a temporary bubble where I can ignore the outside world and read or write or play Spider Solitaire for an hour straight if I want to.
Flying internationally gave me an opportunity to actually see a bunch of movies I’ve wanted to see, but haven’t had a chance to. This in itself was a huge treat for me. (I do need to get out more often)
My movie playlist from my honeymoon flights between Chicago and London:
Slumdog Millionaire – I love watching foreign and independent films sometimes because you don’t get the same Hollywood formula. You don’t know where the movie is going to take you and it breaks your narrow bands of expectation. I know everyone else was raving about this movie and I can see why. It’s raw and painful and yet somehow, so innocently hopeful.
Revolutionary Road – This movie tore my heart out because it gnaws at that sense of disquiet inside that you can’t put your finger on. When Leo says, “I can make you happy here” — oh, the desperation of it. Not a movie to watch on your honeymoon, but it was amazing.
The Reader – I told my husband I would try to watch happier movies on the way home, but I couldn’t pass this up. This story was so quiet and subtle and awful (I don’t mean that in a bad way). I have to read literary fiction more often.
Memento – I loved this movie when I saw it the first two times. Again, I so appreciate unexpected storytelling. After my husband caught me tearing up yet again, he reminded me that I had said I’d watch happier movies.
Bolt – This movie was — AWESOME! I’m not a cat and dog movie person, but this was so delightful. I loved all the characters and have developed a special yen for Rhino and his inspirational speech. 🙂
And between movies, I was reading “The Years of Rice and Salt“. 700 pages of brain food looking at a world where the Black Death ends up killing off most of Europe and Buddhism and Islam develop as the dominant religions and world powers. Still not done, but now I’m back in the real world and my bubble of time has gone away. 🙁
July/August has really been putting me through the wringer. The Real Life job has been ramping up and I’ve been resorting to junk food to get through my day. I need someone to wag their finger at me and tell me that nachos are not a delicious, nutritious meal to be had twice a week. 🙁