Thanksgiving Trip 2005 - Part 1

Everything started out perfect. I drank a cup of decaf tea. I did stretches for 30 minutes. We boarded early. Emergency Exit row seat. Two pillows, two blankets and three seats for two people.

Insomnia...the more I tried not to think about it, I thought about it. Why is it when I try to sleep, I stay awake, and when I try to stay awake , I fall asleep?

Solution #1 : Eye mask and ear plugs. Insomnia in a dark room. Eyes wide open.

Solution #2 : Music. Sarah McLachlan usually can sing me to sleep. Nope. Not this plane ride.

Solution #3 : Bad Airplane Movie. Hillary Duff = Bad Movie. All that was accomplished , I sat zombie like and watched the whole mind numbing movie...to the ending credits.

I was left with one final option. The answer was right in front of me the whole time.


Solution #4 : Whisky. Dewer's on the rocks. Step and repeat until desired effect is achieved.

Pan will wake up to either a sleeping Rob or a drunk Rob. It is a Win Win situation for me. At least in theory, in my sleep deprived state of mind, this was the plan to end all plans.


Bottle #1 : "Walking With a Ghost", by Tegan & Sara, came on the iPod as the first Dewer's was served. "Ouch"...Single Malt this was not. I did start to feel a bit more relaxed, less tense. Nothing like some whisky to take the edge off a bad situation.

I was still not tired. Not getting any sleep is not a good way to start a holiday, but at least now I was going to crash and burn my way.


Bottle #2 : When the Flight Attendant came with round 2, I was floating. Instead of saying "Whisky" when ordering, I blurted out "Precious". Hmmm...my inner Golem was taking over. Fortunately, she understood drunken sign language (pointing at empty bottle).

"Beauty", by Tegan & Sara, off Red Demo came on. What an awesome song. I was still not tired. I was also no longer feeling guilty about it. I was not starting a new adventure. Suddenly, insomnia was not such a bad thing. I made up my mind that I will keep going and going and going...

*Bing* "The fasten seatblet light is on. Flight attendants, please prepare for arrival" *Bing* *Bing*

"Noooooo" I screamed in my head. like Golem falling into the molten lava, I drank the last of my "Precious" as my adventure comes to a end.