I was running late for my flight to Manila, and I knew it. The gate had opened forty minutes before boarding, and I was still stuck in security, watching the minutes burn away. Then the security officer looked at me and said, “Can I grab my jacket now? ” She didn’t even answer.
She just let me take it, which was unusual, because normally you can’t touch your stuff while you go through security. But she was nice about it, and I thought maybe I’d make it after all. I got through and hurried to the gate, and sure enough, they were waiting for me. “Are you going to Manila?
” the attendant asked. I said yes, and she said, “You’re the last passenger. ” They whisked me away on one of those little airport scooters, the kind that moves at about one mile per hour. It was ridiculous, like a race against time in slow motion.
I was laughing the whole way, but I was also panicking because my luggage was already on the plane, and I didn’t want to miss it. I made it, barely. I boarded and settled in, and I thought about how different Japan is from the Philippines. Japan is always on time.
The Philippines, not so much. I’d been in Japan for a while, streaming with friends, and the time difference had wrecked my sleep. I was streaming from nine at night until one or two in the morning, then again the next day at five or six in the morning. I was only getting about four hours of sleep a night, and it caught up to me.
I slept for four days straight after I got back. Now I was back home, at the gym, trying to stretch and warm up before leg day. I was talking to my stream, telling them about the airport scooter and the security check, and about my dad. I showed them a photo of him getting a salt bath, which is supposed to help with a lot of things, but I’m not sure how much it really helps.
He was in a wheelchair in the photo, and I didn’t say much more about it. I just moved on. I was trying to find the video of me on the scooter, but it wasn’t loading. My iPad wasn’t syncing, and my phone was overheating because I was standing in the sun.
I was melting, honestly. But I kept talking, because that’s what I do. I told them about my horses, Aries and Hera, and about my dog, Apollo, named after the Apollo missions. We talked about the Artemis launch, which took off two hours late, and I joked that I wasn’t the only one who starts late.
I mentioned my friend Rich, who streams too, and he’s going to Tokyo. I said he should go to Japan, because it’s always on time there. And I talked about how I wanted a PS5, but I couldn’t justify buying something I wouldn’t be able to use much, because I travel too much. I wanted to play the Miles Morales game, but I bought it on PC instead.
I told them about this Easter egg in the game, where Miles is fighting a bad guy in a mall, and a stroller rolls into the middle of the fight. If you don’t save the baby, Peter Parker shows up and says, “I got you,” and he grabs the stroller and pushes it aside. And then he says, “With great power comes great responsibility. ” I thought that was cool.
I kept stretching, trying to get ready for my workout, but I was tired. I’d been up since four in the morning, and I was running on caffeine and adrenaline. I thanked the people in my chat for the support, for the daily carrots and the bitties, and I welcomed the new followers. I said hi to my friend Big, who was watching from the US, and I told him I was just getting ready to work out.
I was still trying to find that scooter video, but it just wouldn’t load. I said, “Pics or it didn’t happen,” and I laughed, because I knew I had the video somewhere. I just couldn’t show it. I was burning through my jacket, the sun was beating down on me, and I was ready to get inside and start my leg day.
I said goodbye to my chat, told them to check out my friend Bert, who’s also a streamer from the Philippines, and I got back to stretching. It was a normal day, really. Just me, my stream, and the gym. But I couldn’t stop thinking about that scooter ride, and how close I came to missing my flight.
And I couldn’t stop thinking about my dad, and the salt bath, and the wheelchair. I didn’t say much about it, but it was there, in the back of my mind, while I stretched and talked and laughed with my chat.
