{"id":19394,"date":"2017-11-19T23:44:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T04:44:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=19394"},"modified":"2017-11-19T23:44:03","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T04:44:03","slug":"november-18-2017-sgt-schultz-meet-jon-snow-jon-snow-meet-sgt-schultz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=19394","title":{"rendered":"November 18, 2017 \u2013 Sgt. Schultz, Meet Jon Snow. Jon Snow, Meet Sgt. Schultz"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know nothing.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Upon checking in at Tom Bradley for my flight, it\u2019s unclear whether or not I have a transit hotel like they offered en route to Bali.\u00a0 It\u2019s also unclear how my visa situation as a transit passenger in the People\u2019s Republic of China will shake out.\u00a0 I do have a valid Visa from my Great Wall of China Marathon days, but it\u2019s in my expired passport.\u00a0 Will that be sufficient if they tell me I need a visa to get on my domestic connection from Shanghai to Kunming so I can board a flight for Yangon\/Rangoon many, many hours later?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

From Los Angeles to Shanghai, my flight time is supposedly 13 hours and 47 minutes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And over the course of that 13 hours, 47 minutes, with the aforementioned looming issues upon arrival, I\u2019m also dealing with tragedies onboard.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is no Diet Coke on this plane.<\/p>\n

No Coke Zero.<\/p>\n

The only caffeinated beverage option for me then is coffee or Coca Cola Classic, a fully loaded soda with too-sweet a taste and far too many calories.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t tell if my headache is from withdrawal or a lingering malady of my still-not-gone head cold.\u00a0 Three days coming, three days here, three days going.\u00a0 I should be in the going segment\u2026 and yet I\u2019m not feeling like the wheel has turned.\u00a0 The wheel?\u00a0 The worm?\u00a0 What would turn to me advantage?\u00a0 Difficult to say.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, I had this for lunch:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m didn\u2019t snap a shot of a connecting flight\u2019s \u201csnack\u201d consisting of a large roll with three slices of salami and more mayonnaise than any human being should consume in a year, let alone on a sandwich.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Turbulence.\u00a0 Solar radiation heats the earth\u2019s crust.\u00a0 Warm air rises, cold air descends.\u00a0 Turbulence.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like that.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 \u2013 The Hunt For Red October (1990).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There\u2019s a lot of turbulence on this 13 hour+ flight to Shanghai.\u00a0 I\u2019m a pretty good flier but there\u2019s something about this turbulence that has me a bit rattled.\u00a0 Maybe it\u2019s because I\u2019m flying through southeast Asia, and I\u2019m ever mindful of just how close we are to the Korean peninsula.\u00a0 With all the saber rattling of late, I\u2019m the one who\u2019s rattled.<\/p>\n

Whenever I see the cabin crew not only suspend service and take their seats due to turbulence, I\u2019m even more nervous when they appear shaken.\u00a0 It\u2019s at these times that I\u2019m reminded of a moment long, long ago.\u00a0 A girl I was dating had flown to RDU to see me.\u00a0 I picked her up at the gate as this was when you could do such things and she was literally shaking \u2013 not from excitement to see me but from the hair raising flight that she described as white knuckle.\u00a0 I being the typically poor boyfriend I have always been with any girl I\u2019ve dated, pooh-pooh\u2019d it as her being overly dramatic.\u00a0 But then the flight crew came off the jetbridge and they were all pale as sheets, the blood drained from their faces \u2013 they weren\u2019t white knuckle, they were ghostly shadows of their professional selves.\u00a0 I always regret not being more understanding and supportive in that moment.\u00a0 Instead as I recall I think I took her to Waffle House.\u00a0 Because after confronting one\u2019s own mortality at 30,000 feet, isn\u2019t a waffle exactly what you want?\u00a0 Or maybe it\u2019s just what I wanted at that point.<\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019m still single \u2013 hard to believe, right?<\/p>\n

Anyhoo, this trip was nothing akin to the stories she told me of that puddle jumper journey.\u00a0 But there were more than a few rattling and rapid ascents\/descents.\u00a0 Had we not been so near North Korea I\u2019m not sure it would have bothered me as much.<\/p>\n

Or if I had had a Diet Coke to calm my nerves \u2013 that might have helped too.<\/p>\n

Who doesn\u2019t have a diet soda offering?\u00a0 Are the Chinese so sure it\u2019s carcinogenic?\u00a0 That the Diet option is so likely to cause problems they prefer peddling the fully loaded Coke Classic?<\/p>\n

I should\u2019ve just had wine.\u00a0 It would have gone lovely with my whine.\u00a0 And the engine\u2019s whine.\u00a0 And the\u2026 um, whine… whine… nope.\u00a0 I\u2019m out.<\/p>\n

Man, I could really go for a waffle right about now….<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

I often use lines from this song on this blog but sometimes the full lyrics are\u00a0the best way to convey the time zone shuffle:<\/p>\n

“I’m So Tired”<\/b><\/p>\n

I’m so tired, I haven’t slept a wink
\nI’m so tired, my mind is on the blink
\nI wonder should I get up and fix myself a drink
\nNo, no, noI’m so tired I don’t know what to do
\nI’m so tired my mind is set on you
\nI wonder should I call you but I know what you would doYou’d say I’m putting you on
\nBut it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm
\nYou know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain
\nYou know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane
\nYou know I’d give you everything I’ve got
\nFor a little peace of mindI’m so tired, I’m feeling so upset
\nAlthough I’m so tired I’ll have another cigarette
\nAnd curse Sir Walter Raleigh
\nHe was such a stupid git<\/p>\n

You’d say I’m putting you on
\nBut it’s no joke, it’s doing me harm
\nYou know I can’t sleep, I can’t stop my brain
\nYou know it’s three weeks, I’m going insane
\nYou know I’d give you everything I’ve got
\nFor a little peace of mind
\nI’d give you everything I’ve got
\nFor a little peace of mind
\nI’d give you everything I’ve got
\nFor a little peace of mind<\/p>\n

(Monsieur, Monsieur, Monsieur, how about another one?)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I know nothing.\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Upon checking in at Tom Bradley for my flight, it\u2019s unclear whether or not I have a transit hotel like they offered en route to Bali.\u00a0 It\u2019s also unclear how my visa situation as a transit passenger in the People\u2019s Republic of China will shake out.\u00a0 I do have a valid […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19394\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}