May: Past, Present, Vacation and Sleep

This May was not nearly as exciting as the past two flying Mays have been. My first May as a flight attendant I was in the domestic base, but they used me for four international trips - two LGW (oh Gatwick! how I heart thee!), a Manchester, and Copenhagen. I told everyone I just got home from Copenhagen for months after that; phenomenal. May 2008 was Glasgow, two Heathrows, a COLOGNE, Dublin and Manchester, for a grand total of 92 flight hours. Even at my measly $20/hour I still made bank. This May? I had vacation, so I ended up with 16 days off. Even with so many days off I had room for 4 1/2 trips (the last one goes into the next bid month). I currently have three - Glasgow, Heathrow, and Dublin at 65 flight hours, 21 of which are vacation. Bitches.

In my two weeks at home, I managed to substitute teach four times. It is not my favorite. I'm there for what feels like hours on end and when the day's over, I'm still in Twp... I feel like I should be in Europe! Its not a difficult job and actually, many people are trying to talk me into it but I don't have the passion nor desire to be trapped in school all day. I already went to school and have the degrees to prove it. School also starts really early; I have to be up at 5:30 to get to school on time and that's just too early. My international sleep schedule says sleep at one, up at ten (this past week I've been hitting 11! Hoarding sleep like whoa). The conflicting time on my body is rough. I have today off but the district in my town didn't call, nor did I find anything cool on the computer. And now that I've been getting up at 11 this past week the idea of forcing myself up early tomorrow to babysit small children, well, its not a priority. I've started working out (walking, crunches, push ups), cooking (baked fried chicken, chili), and I even did some laundry. All the while, I wish I was flying.

High School

Today, I went to high school and was the sub for freshmen English. While the job itself was easy, it made me long for LHR! I was fortunate to be in a really nice school that fosters a great sense of community and commitment to education; it just made me appreciate my career that much more. I'm trying to find another assignment for tomorrow but I have yet to find anything exciting. I guess I'm hoping to sub these next two days and a few next week...

Oh to live in the magical land of holding a line!

International Flying V. East Coast Time

I haven't flown too much this year; in a good month, I'm lucky to do four trips. I just got all of my substitute teaching things together to assist with the current poverty condition but here's the problem: school's during the day.

I came in from LHR on Sunday and took a two and half hour nap. I got up at 7 and picked at whatever it was we had for dinner and went to bed around one (had I forgone aforementioned nap, I would have been in bed by 8 or 9). This morning I was up at 9:30, and lived in a state of fog til the late afternoon. Finally at 5 the fog lifts and I'm ready to go! Right now its 10:30 and I'm wide awake and slightly hungry even though I hit my three squares a day today. I'll be up til one again and it will be the same fog tomorrow. I guess I'm going to have to work harder to combat it and find new coping mechanisms... Like coming home JJ gave me a Crystal Light energy powder to add to my water! It was way better than Red Bull, it did not give me wings, and no vodka necessary. A vitamin B regiment is in my future, for sure. Perhaps if I try harder to work out and exercise that will assist in getting synapses firing and waking up without creating the dreaded caffeine addiction. Its almost easier to fly all the time and not worry about living life on east coast time. But now I have these next two weeks off, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself. My original goal was to sub both weeks... I'll keep you posted in this battle between flying and normal people time.

Someday, in the magical land of holding a line, I can just go to work like a normal person (100 hours! mainland Europe! back galley! first class aisle! piggy back trips!) and do my job and have a real life that doesn't revolve around someone calling me into the office. Someday, when I'm on fifth year pay making real money, I won't need a second job during the winter months. Someday when I meet Fictitious, and I'll get to fly because I want to and not because I have to. These somedays aren't wishes for better times to indicate a distaste for today, just hopes and dreams for a brighter tomorrow. Well, except for that one about Fictitious - you got me.

And as for tomorrow, I'll be five squared!