dehydrated

I have arrived in India, and I have checked into a hotel that is so new that they apparently haven't turned the water on to my wing yet. So, even though it's 3:25am Sunday here, and I've been travelling for an unknown amount of time (actually, it is known, but I'm too tired to figure it out), I can't go to bed yet because the maintenance guys are coming back. Predictably, the maintenance guys consist of one guy who turns the tap on, and another guy who carries a walkie-talkie and supervises. I've really missed India!

Among other amusing things, I'm watching the news (on a nice flatscreen tv), and the Indian version of CNN was showing footage of security guards checking luggage at the airport. The best piece of footage involved four men standing around while one guard picked up a small duffel and tossed it five feet. I couldn't tell what they were checking for--if they were checking for bombs, they would have been blown up, and if they were checking for drugs, they wouldn't have found them without opening the bag. Perhaps they were stress-testing the seams on the bag? In any respect, I feel much safer than I have in ages.

The flight was uneventful, although I stink something terrible since I wasn't able to bring deoderant, toothpaste, perfume, etc. I was, however, able to bring Ambien, and we all bought these amazing neck pillows in the airport. I always scoffed at people who lugged around neck pillows before, since I thought they were for chumps--but, after the blissful sleep that I had on my SF-Frankfurt flight (aided by an Ambien, a face mask, and my noise-cancelling headphones), I'm fully converted to chumpdom.

My sleep on the airplane didn't start as early as I would have liked, since Lauren did my Q2 review on the plane--I'd been joking that it would happen all week, since it was due to happen on Thursday and we were both v. busy in the lead-up to our trip. But, the joking apparently put the idea in her head, and as usually happens with me, joking turned into destiny. So, after the fasten-seatbelt sign turned off, Lauren came back to my row (where I luckily had an extra seat beside me), and we spent an hour talking about my performance at work. It was actually quite productive--we had a good chat, and flight attendants periodically brought us drinks and refreshingly-moist washcloths. I think that my company should introduce the moist-towelette tradition in all reviews, as it was lovely! Happily, my review was great, since it would have been rather awkward to be stuck on a plane with my manager for 24 hours if the review had been difficult.

Okay, the water is now on, which means I can shower and go to bed. Goodnight everyone!