Gerald Ford International Airport
tuesday 25 october 2005
6something pm
i just sat down at a round table in the rear of Gerald Ford International Airport's atrium lounge. i have no idea how this airport can be classified as an international airport. not only is it ridiculously small but the only international flights departing here are headed to the Netherlands, right? behind my table is a window decorated with a cartoon jet, a sun peaking out from behind a puffy, white cartoon cloud, and three purple and white hot air balloons floating at much higher altitudes than the jet. above the decorated window reads "Kids Port" and behind the window are three toddler-aged children making this visit to the Gerald Ford International Airport feel "just like home" to every person within earshot (which is pretty much the entire Gerald Ford International Airport, as we've already discussed). "good choice of location, kristin. way to use that brain of yours to find the most obnoxiously located round table in the entire international airport."
there's a balding man to my left reading the paper and listening to his ipod on those ear-tampon headphones. i'm reminded that i wanted to stop on my way here to pick up my some of these tampon headphones. instead i reach into my pink EmileHenry LeMeilleur dela Terre "Oven-to-table ware" cotton bag for my outdated fold-up headphones. now i'm styling. if that balding guy only knew i was scheming to knock him cold and steal his ear-tampon headphones... then i could more effectively block out the screaming children in Kids Port.
it's good to be on the road again. i know it's good for me to psychologically reset every few months. it's like my imagination can only travel so far without the help of my body. i mean, i can talk with friends half way across the globe in just seconds and i can transmit information to the most remote locations in the world in nanoseconds. but my body is still restricted to exponentially slower means of travel. i should invent teleportation. anyway, there's something for me that is absolutely sacred about traveling alone. my body moves and so my soul starts leaking out through a pinhole in my psyche.
the sun is getting low in the sky and tinting the fall landscape just so. up to the observation deck to absorb some of this tinted light. up to the observation deck to let my soul absorb this tinted light.
9:38pm
flight 250 out of Gerald Ford International Airport was delayed 40 minutes. any longer and i might have missed my connection. forty minutes of travel-related stress is now manifesting itself in the form of pressure at the top of my spinal cord and in my forehead. at least i think it's travel-related stress. it could also be my reading of nils bohr's refutation of the EPR paper which asserted that the quantum mechanical theory is incomplete on the basis of "spooky action at a distance." ...it struck me that the quantum mechanics is still quite familiar to me. i though i'd have forgotten by now, or at least repressed memories of 25-hour long quantum mechanics exams (no joke). i guess i really am a physicist. sometimes i forget (maybe there is some repression afterall). one thing i don't forget though is the conundrum physics has left me in. i mean, this is my degree and my mind is a fine-tuned mathematical machine. rah, rah, rah!!! but i'm too impatient to do physics everyday. and too relational. and too physical. and too creative. ah! i'm not one of any of these things. i'm a hybrid. so. right. i should write a book called "250 career options for mathematically-minded, highly-relational, results-oriented, creative types." or perhaps i should write one called "how to become a filmmaker in 90 days or less: a guide to career changes for physicists." anyway, my point is that i connect with something in what i'm reading in einstein and bohr and d. mermin ("is the moon there when nobody looks?"). maybe i should take the next two years to review my physics and go to grad school for atomic physics. or i could follow my friend elise to notre dame for the philosophy of physics. or i could follow my passion for the church into seminary. or for working collaboratively to create art into film. i can tell i've made my conundrum worse by problem-solving continuously for the past several months. this trip i will empty myself of all problem-solving and simply pray and wait.
2.46am
i should be in bed but i had to see if i could download itunes for my amtrack trip tomorrow morning. the media player that came installed on my new computer doesn't even allow me to skip tracks. how annoying. anyway, there is a voicebox woman telling me to restart my computer so itunes can finish installing. best be on my way.
6something pm
i just sat down at a round table in the rear of Gerald Ford International Airport's atrium lounge. i have no idea how this airport can be classified as an international airport. not only is it ridiculously small but the only international flights departing here are headed to the Netherlands, right? behind my table is a window decorated with a cartoon jet, a sun peaking out from behind a puffy, white cartoon cloud, and three purple and white hot air balloons floating at much higher altitudes than the jet. above the decorated window reads "Kids Port" and behind the window are three toddler-aged children making this visit to the Gerald Ford International Airport feel "just like home" to every person within earshot (which is pretty much the entire Gerald Ford International Airport, as we've already discussed). "good choice of location, kristin. way to use that brain of yours to find the most obnoxiously located round table in the entire international airport."
there's a balding man to my left reading the paper and listening to his ipod on those ear-tampon headphones. i'm reminded that i wanted to stop on my way here to pick up my some of these tampon headphones. instead i reach into my pink EmileHenry LeMeilleur dela Terre "Oven-to-table ware" cotton bag for my outdated fold-up headphones. now i'm styling. if that balding guy only knew i was scheming to knock him cold and steal his ear-tampon headphones... then i could more effectively block out the screaming children in Kids Port.
it's good to be on the road again. i know it's good for me to psychologically reset every few months. it's like my imagination can only travel so far without the help of my body. i mean, i can talk with friends half way across the globe in just seconds and i can transmit information to the most remote locations in the world in nanoseconds. but my body is still restricted to exponentially slower means of travel. i should invent teleportation. anyway, there's something for me that is absolutely sacred about traveling alone. my body moves and so my soul starts leaking out through a pinhole in my psyche.
the sun is getting low in the sky and tinting the fall landscape just so. up to the observation deck to absorb some of this tinted light. up to the observation deck to let my soul absorb this tinted light.
9:38pm
flight 250 out of Gerald Ford International Airport was delayed 40 minutes. any longer and i might have missed my connection. forty minutes of travel-related stress is now manifesting itself in the form of pressure at the top of my spinal cord and in my forehead. at least i think it's travel-related stress. it could also be my reading of nils bohr's refutation of the EPR paper which asserted that the quantum mechanical theory is incomplete on the basis of "spooky action at a distance." ...it struck me that the quantum mechanics is still quite familiar to me. i though i'd have forgotten by now, or at least repressed memories of 25-hour long quantum mechanics exams (no joke). i guess i really am a physicist. sometimes i forget (maybe there is some repression afterall). one thing i don't forget though is the conundrum physics has left me in. i mean, this is my degree and my mind is a fine-tuned mathematical machine. rah, rah, rah!!! but i'm too impatient to do physics everyday. and too relational. and too physical. and too creative. ah! i'm not one of any of these things. i'm a hybrid. so. right. i should write a book called "250 career options for mathematically-minded, highly-relational, results-oriented, creative types." or perhaps i should write one called "how to become a filmmaker in 90 days or less: a guide to career changes for physicists." anyway, my point is that i connect with something in what i'm reading in einstein and bohr and d. mermin ("is the moon there when nobody looks?"). maybe i should take the next two years to review my physics and go to grad school for atomic physics. or i could follow my friend elise to notre dame for the philosophy of physics. or i could follow my passion for the church into seminary. or for working collaboratively to create art into film. i can tell i've made my conundrum worse by problem-solving continuously for the past several months. this trip i will empty myself of all problem-solving and simply pray and wait.
2.46am
i should be in bed but i had to see if i could download itunes for my amtrack trip tomorrow morning. the media player that came installed on my new computer doesn't even allow me to skip tracks. how annoying. anyway, there is a voicebox woman telling me to restart my computer so itunes can finish installing. best be on my way.
1 Comments:
hey kristen--
e-mail me... i don't know your e-mail but mine is jennifer@g-rad.org
i want to talk to you about 'dear francis'... you've been on my mind all day but things were crazy in the office so i could call. talk to you soon. good seeing you in NC!
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