Back

I'm back. Not liking it much so far.

The moment the plane touched down and I looked out the window, everything looked dreary. It had looked sunny from above, but it was quickly turning grey. This is what I've come home to - a place where it's muggy and sweltering when it's sunny, muggy and gloomy when it's cloudy. A dreary, unfriendly place. After the paradise that Santa Cruz is, this feels like hell on soup day. Stepping out of the airport felt like walking into a steamer. I'm very familiar with that feeling but it never gets easier.

Neither does parting with my sis. At first, we just hugged and she said that it's not so bad this time because we had a total of three months. I held and nuzzled baby girl, carried and swung Sean about before coaxing a goodbye kiss out of him. Gave Tom (sis's hubby) a hug-ish pat. I turned to go, but it felt strangely incomplete.

"Daffy, wait."

I turned around. My sister was in tears.

"It never gets any easier."

And so it never does. We hugged long and hard, and I was never more reluctant to go than at that moment.

The queue for the @#$%& customs was slow-moving after I went in, so I kept turning to wave at the four of them who were still standing there behind the glass. I was mopping my eyes with my sleeve, which prompted the Asian dude behind me to ask, "Going to be parted for a long period?" and proceed with some small talk. I was rather incredulous for a moment. Why would you ask a crying chick stuff that would, oh, make her more upset? And if she answered you with a shaky voice, tact might dictate that you back off. And if she was still tearing while continuously turning to wave at her family, shouldn't you just shut the fug up? And this dude went on to attempt small talk.

"Are you still studying or working?"

I changed queues.

After I cleared customs, it took some effort to tear myself away after waving for the last time. I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't see their faces. Last I saw walking away was Sean enthusiastically waving while sitting atop daddy's shoulders.

I walked on a bit, paused for a second when I passed the duty free shop. I regarded the "Perfumes and Cosmetics" sign for a second...then make a beeline for the nearest bathroom. I locked myself in and bawled for a good 15 minutes. I spent the rest of the next 2 hours doing sudoku in the airline lounge.

The plane ride was nice though. I was pleasantly surprised to note that the seat next to mine was a no-show. Even more surprising was the unexpected huge amount of room in front of my bulkhead seat - the minus point of that was that the screen was so far that I had to wear my glasses to watch movies. Another surprise was the fact that I managed to get some sleep, albeit just a little, during the flight. Probably thanks to the lack of sleep and continuous busy-ness of the previous two days.

The best part was when I spotted the stars through the window. The Big Dipper was almost perfectly framed in the window, so I leaned over as far as I could to see more. Knowing that there are a few overlapping meteor showers during this period, I waited. Sure enough, I caught a few meteors - my first meteor sightings from a plane!

Since I landed, I've been crazy exhausted, so tired that attempts to talk quickly degenerate to slurring. I'm aching all over and still lacking sleep/rest. And in her typical understanding way, you-know-who has been a pain in the rear and kept bugging bugging bugging me about this and that and everything else. And, for added fun, my dad sporadically joined it.

Yes, I know my bags are heavy. Yes, I KNOW this one was overweight. NO, they do not contain gold bars. Yes, I KNOW I brought a lotta stuff. YES, I heard you fine the first few times. Yes, I know your enemas didn't cause the bag to be overweight.

Yup. I carried her goddammed enemas back over the Pacific Ocean, same ones she carried over. And I hand-carried her cashew nuts and bubble wrap because they wouldn't fit in the check-in bags. I didn't tell her, but I left her half-used packet cotton wool behind (she'd put them in my to-carry-back pile).

Don't understand why she wanted me to carry all that shit back. Bubble wrap! Cotton wool!! LIQUID ENEMAS!!!

Anyway...she was bugging me so much in the afternoon that I was reduced to literally whining, "I'm very tired! I'm very tired! I'm VERY TIRED!!!" I think she got the message then, left me alone for an hour or so till dinner. Thank goodness her own jet lag set in and she turned in early.

Which is what I'm doing up now even though my brain functions are switching off department by department, and my physical functions are following suit. I just want to enjoy the peace.

But I must away with me now. Climb into my bed. Must. Sleep. Must...

Zzzzzzzzz.