I'm not much of a believer and celebrator of Halloween but watching people get dressed for this pagan holiday is fun. When others were putting on their make-up or trying to find a last minute costume, I was having a pampered chef party with my dearest and closest friends and family. Taco bar, nachos, lemon drop martinis and loaded potato chowder. Amazing!
As a Filipino-American, I stay with tradition as most Filipinos would. You load up on the food and whatever is leftover, you give away, it's always better to have more food than not. They say it's bad luck to run out of food at a party. Did you ever come to realize though that as much food as you prepare and put out, and as much people show up to your party, the food seems to stretch even further when you thought there wasn't enough? By the time the party is over, you maybe have a few more bites left of a few items that can either be refridgerated or given away. That's always a blessing in disguise.
I thought of how cute Ethan would have looked in a little costume today. Just for kicks. I would have put him in a Charlie Brown, Snoopy or Woodstock outfit. I probably wouldn't have taken it off. He would have been so cute.
Some may say that it's not healthy for me to dwell on the would have beens but this is what is happening to me right now. This is what I am feeling at this very moment. I'm not going to shut it off because of some psychological technicality. Screw that. Some may have forgetten that I am still mourning because I always put up a brave front. I'm moving on, at my own pace. I'm owning up to my pain, I'm in therapy. It's sad that there are some that have swept this painful tragedy under the rug. Let's not deal with it and pretend it didn't happen. It will go away eventually. Let's keep it in and not discuss it. Therapy people, therapy! It's a healthy way to deal with lifes painful issues.
We miss our son, we miss our life that we could have had with him. Forever we are his parents that will miss him, infinity times infinity.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Icing on the cake!
Old man comes to counter, it's 340pm. Slams his paper on the counter and tells me that his wife isn't here. I look at him knowing that the words coming out of his mouth is going to be, this is your airlines fault. He says his wife didn't make the flight out of PHX. I tell him that it's possible that her flight got into PHX a little late where she missed her connection. I look at her reservation and it's true, her flight came into their gate 25 minutes before our PHX to SBP flight was scheduled to push out of the gate. Mind you, 25 minutes is still considered a legal connection. Man is upset, that it's was our airlines fault that she didn't make it on her flight. I tell him, my airline is the express carrier. The ones at fault here is the mainline carrier. He demands a free ticket. On what grounds? That his wife was late he says. I tell him no, I'm not authorized to give you a free ticket because your wife's flight was late getting into PHX. I told him that if he wanted a free ticket, his wife can ask US Airways in PHX for a free ticket, mostly likely, they won't give her one. I told him that it wasn't my fault that his wife's flight was late. I've been here in CA since 5a and don't have time to go to Charlotte, NC to cause a delay on his wife's flight so that she will be late getting into PHX.
Really? Yes, really. This is what I and my co-workers go through on a daily basis. These kind of people are the ones that keep making my job interesting. They have no idea that they are the laughs of our parties. This one is for the books. The fact that Ryan had to deal with him as well is just more funnier than what I went through. He gave me an attitude, I dished it back. If you can't travel as a flying passenger, maybe you should take the train, a car, bus, a hover-round. Once again, not acceptable!
These are the rules.......these are your options......
8 years ago, September 11 was a tragic day. September 12, heighten in security started. Airlines, FAA required passengers traveling to get to airports all over the world early because of new security measures. These security measures we adhere to everyday, i'm not an exception and passengers are not an exception either.
90 minutes before departure, that's when passengers are suppose to be at an airport. That's for domestic travel. When you are traveling from an internation airport, 3 hours before departure. Earlier the better. Check-in closes 30 minutes prior to departure. Boarding starts right at 30 to 25 minutes to departure time. We have rules, we follow them. If you don't want to miss your flight, show up on time, all the time. That's all. We may have a small airport but we have big rules. There are at times exceptions to the rules but they don't come frequently.
You didn't know where to park your rental car, you walk a little slow with a cane and a dog in tow, you show up right after check-in is closed, you aren't getting on the flight. Not my fault that you didn't know where to park the car or the fact that you can't move fast enough. Should've started out early. If I can be here on time, maybe you should too.
Lady is talking to me near security, I have boarding passes to count, make sure that everyone and everything is secured and ready to go, give out counts to ramp agents at the plane and this lady is wondering if I will make an exception to let her on. It's 06:15am. Boarding doors close 10 minutes prior to departure. She pleads. She has a carry on, I say no. There are 2 other people that miss their flight and they are both bellyaching about why they can't get on the flight. You're late, that's why you aren't getting on the flight.
Gave lady with the dog options of how to get to final destination. Talks to another agent, agent tells her the same thing. Poor dog, so cute. I would have let the dog go without her. Anyways, if you are late for a flight, don't fight anymore. Get to an airport early that's all there is to it. I can be a compassionate person but if you know it's your fault that you are late, don't expect me to feel bad for you.
90 minutes before departure, that's when passengers are suppose to be at an airport. That's for domestic travel. When you are traveling from an internation airport, 3 hours before departure. Earlier the better. Check-in closes 30 minutes prior to departure. Boarding starts right at 30 to 25 minutes to departure time. We have rules, we follow them. If you don't want to miss your flight, show up on time, all the time. That's all. We may have a small airport but we have big rules. There are at times exceptions to the rules but they don't come frequently.
You didn't know where to park your rental car, you walk a little slow with a cane and a dog in tow, you show up right after check-in is closed, you aren't getting on the flight. Not my fault that you didn't know where to park the car or the fact that you can't move fast enough. Should've started out early. If I can be here on time, maybe you should too.
Lady is talking to me near security, I have boarding passes to count, make sure that everyone and everything is secured and ready to go, give out counts to ramp agents at the plane and this lady is wondering if I will make an exception to let her on. It's 06:15am. Boarding doors close 10 minutes prior to departure. She pleads. She has a carry on, I say no. There are 2 other people that miss their flight and they are both bellyaching about why they can't get on the flight. You're late, that's why you aren't getting on the flight.
Gave lady with the dog options of how to get to final destination. Talks to another agent, agent tells her the same thing. Poor dog, so cute. I would have let the dog go without her. Anyways, if you are late for a flight, don't fight anymore. Get to an airport early that's all there is to it. I can be a compassionate person but if you know it's your fault that you are late, don't expect me to feel bad for you.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
I feel sorry those people........
Parents that send their children to colleges so well known but their kids are a bunch of dumbshits when they come to an airport. Come on now! There is a reason why airline employees, TSA, ask passengers to go through security when you are told to.
1. The line gets too long, you might miss your flight!
2. The flight will start boarding and if you aren't there, you might not get on your flight!
3. When you miss your flight, you get mad at us as if it was our fault, not acceptable!
This is not meant to be funny. It's reality! It's life. If you can't follow the rules, you got some issues.
1. The line gets too long, you might miss your flight!
2. The flight will start boarding and if you aren't there, you might not get on your flight!
3. When you miss your flight, you get mad at us as if it was our fault, not acceptable!
This is not meant to be funny. It's reality! It's life. If you can't follow the rules, you got some issues.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Welcome to my day!
Really now people. What is going on with this day? I get back to work and for some odd reason, some people must have had a cup of stupid and no common sense today. I take that back, this happens everyday but for some odd reason, today is most significant.
I get to the counter @ 945am. A man is standing right in the middle of the terminal where American Eagle use to be. He scoots himself over in the middle of my counter and ask me, "Are you the check-in lady?" I look @ him with a blank stare and ask him what airline is he flying on. He says US Airways. I look @ him and say yes. What I really wanted to say was, "Yes I am your check-in lady, are you our passenger man? (josh suggested it) Really people?
Random stuff that have happen today.
1. someone comes to the counter and ask me if I speak spanish. I said no. He says too bad and walks out toward the wrong door almost knocking himself out because someone walks through the door marked ENTER.
2. passenger enters to the counter where it says EXIT ONLY! wow!
Until the next blog........watch out for that cup of stupid, it's coming to a cafe near you!
It's 7:07pm and I'm still here at work. Dust storm in Phoenix has caused most flight to have delays. I won't have to be here till 11am tomorrow morning at least. I ready for those darn Lemon Drop Martinis.........Saturday, can't you come any sooner?!
I get to the counter @ 945am. A man is standing right in the middle of the terminal where American Eagle use to be. He scoots himself over in the middle of my counter and ask me, "Are you the check-in lady?" I look @ him with a blank stare and ask him what airline is he flying on. He says US Airways. I look @ him and say yes. What I really wanted to say was, "Yes I am your check-in lady, are you our passenger man? (josh suggested it) Really people?
Random stuff that have happen today.
1. someone comes to the counter and ask me if I speak spanish. I said no. He says too bad and walks out toward the wrong door almost knocking himself out because someone walks through the door marked ENTER.
2. passenger enters to the counter where it says EXIT ONLY! wow!
Until the next blog........watch out for that cup of stupid, it's coming to a cafe near you!
It's 7:07pm and I'm still here at work. Dust storm in Phoenix has caused most flight to have delays. I won't have to be here till 11am tomorrow morning at least. I ready for those darn Lemon Drop Martinis.........Saturday, can't you come any sooner?!
Thursday, October 22, 2009
A day of insanity......
I get up @ 330am, get ready for the morning and stop to pick up breakfast hoping that my day is going to be swell. I clock in on time, Josh and I are ready to go and like clock work, everything works out, all passengers are checked in, bags are ready to load. I pre-board, then I get a call from Garrett. Stop boarding because we have a maintenance issue. Ok. Then, I have a passenger who checks in online, goes through security late and has an oversize carryon. Are you for real? I ripped him a new one and tell him his bag is being checked to his final destination. Don't touch your bag. Seriously people. You don't want to encounter me on a flight that is not only delayed because of maintenance, but to bring an oversize carryon. Go home people! Garrett comes up takes the bag. I make an announcement that boarding is delayed due to this maintenance issue. Passengers are quiet because this other passenger just pissed me off so they are pretty mellow at this point. Time? 06:15am. I do what I do, rebook passengers. It's the part of my job that I hate because I know it's inconviniencing people. We send passengers to Monterey, Santa Barbara and the farthest was San Jose just so that they can make it to their final destinations. Some people have called customer service and rebooked themselves on different airline carriers. We've offered some passengers brunch @ the local restaurant. Except for one passenger whose friend was yelling @ her to get to Newark, NJ (passenger hands her cellphone to my co-worker Josh, starts yelling @ him, he tells friend that she needs to stop yelling, put the phone down for a few minutes and gets back on the phone and ask her, are you done yelling yet? he explains what is going on and everything is fine.) Yes, this is what we deal with everyday. The special people.
I go downstairs to check up on what is going on. Tired of standing at the balcony with all these eyes on me waiting for me to get word from my radio that we are clear to board. I talk to the flight attendants, talk to my co-workers. Then the bad news. We couldn't leave because the plane is broken. I go back up stairs, Josh and Nicole are heading up to help rebook. All the passengers on board are deplaned and headed back through security. We are talking about 86 people here with destinations that range from Phoenix to Cancun, one man was going to London, Ontario, Canada. I didn't know that place even existed. Thinking that his flight may cancel, we think ahead and start rebooking out of different airports. I'm stuck @ the gate, with about 15 to 20 people looking me and probably saying I'm next. I started going down a list but when the ticket counter opened, most people went out of security. It was a long drawn out 4 hours of rebooking. Josh and I are drinking Monster energy drinks for some added boost and by the time I got there, Josh was on his second one. Our breakfast is in the breakroom. No one has touched it. Rebooking passengers, retagging bags, 2 planes on the ground and 5-6 people working this show with about 110 passengers needing to still get to a destination. Why hasn't this been recorded yet. No, not like Airline, or whatever that show was. Just raw video footage of employees in action like this. This doesn't happen everyday. I hope I didn't jinx this one. It's the story of our life @ the airport. There are probably more extreme stories that have been told. To all of US, at the end of the day, we laugh about it. It's stored in the memory and revisted when we start talking about random airline chargin.
I go downstairs to check up on what is going on. Tired of standing at the balcony with all these eyes on me waiting for me to get word from my radio that we are clear to board. I talk to the flight attendants, talk to my co-workers. Then the bad news. We couldn't leave because the plane is broken. I go back up stairs, Josh and Nicole are heading up to help rebook. All the passengers on board are deplaned and headed back through security. We are talking about 86 people here with destinations that range from Phoenix to Cancun, one man was going to London, Ontario, Canada. I didn't know that place even existed. Thinking that his flight may cancel, we think ahead and start rebooking out of different airports. I'm stuck @ the gate, with about 15 to 20 people looking me and probably saying I'm next. I started going down a list but when the ticket counter opened, most people went out of security. It was a long drawn out 4 hours of rebooking. Josh and I are drinking Monster energy drinks for some added boost and by the time I got there, Josh was on his second one. Our breakfast is in the breakroom. No one has touched it. Rebooking passengers, retagging bags, 2 planes on the ground and 5-6 people working this show with about 110 passengers needing to still get to a destination. Why hasn't this been recorded yet. No, not like Airline, or whatever that show was. Just raw video footage of employees in action like this. This doesn't happen everyday. I hope I didn't jinx this one. It's the story of our life @ the airport. There are probably more extreme stories that have been told. To all of US, at the end of the day, we laugh about it. It's stored in the memory and revisted when we start talking about random airline chargin.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Days gone by...
Days go by in ones life and events can be forthcoming. Sometimes you expect them, sometimes you don't. When things happen unexpectedly, one tends to wonder. What happened? Things were great and then they are not. People don't realize that one is effected, there are others that are effected too.
I'm sad, i'm angry. How can this be happening? I lost my son. Now, I'm losing them? I feel a little abandoned. Things may never be the same again, some may not come back again. All I can do is live my best life and in order for me to do this, I need to have my job in order to have a life.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Just One More Day.
Probably about 30 minutes ago I passed the cemetary and saw that there was a funeral happening and there was quite a few people and the cemetary was packed with a lot of cars and from a distance I can see the casket and the family and how many people have come to pay their respects and say their goodbyes. And so I came to the cemetary to see Ethan or to visit him at least and realized that I have not cried for him for a little while. And, I see all of these children lined up in a row and I feel terrible, just terrible, for what I and all the other parents have lost, and how I feel so badly for these children gone so soon, that, some didn't even get a chance to see another day. Ethan's gravesite has fall colored flowers that Wendy from TSA was so nice to get for us, she had given us a $20 gift card to Michael's because she knew about the story about someone taking Ethan's flower pot and light that was here. Till this day I'm still mad about that and have yet to call the cemetary about it.
I'm torn, so very torn, about my loss. I miss him so very much. I wish he was here, because I know my life would be so different. Tomorrow is October 10, it's been 4 months since he's been gone, but everytime I think about him, it feels like I just had him, yesterday. It's amazing how I've been able to move on the way that I have. Going to work, having a life, spending time with my friends, doing the things that I love to do, but everyday, I hurt. Everyday, I ache for him.
There is this song, pretty old school. It's called One More Day. Although this song is based on a love story, the words can have different meaning but one more day, just one more day, to enjoy the love, happiness that one person can bring you, from the day that Ethan passed, all I keep thinking is that there was one more day, one more day to spend with my son, one more day where I can love him a little more, just one more day.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
6th day on the job....
The work week has been long and draining. All I want to do is go home and be with Aaron and the boys. I have the next 2 days off so I'm really looking forward to that. Cramps and the general womanhood issues are going to keep me home this weekend. I had plans to go and see a roller derby bout in Paso with friends but I'm tired, in pain and all I want to do is lay down.
I've seen myself short with people lately. Maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's the events of this past week that has just got me all up in a tizzy. Finding out that some people have lied to me about certain things has made me angry and bitter. Although there isn't really much I can do about it now, I still harbor some of these ill feelings because it's just not right. I posted a new comment on my status wall on Facebook. For some reason, my friends feel the same way. It says, "People need to own up to the mistakes that they make in life and stop finding words of wisdom to cover it up!" It's true, right? We all make decisions that we deem are the right decisions at that moment in time. In the long run, decisions that were made eventually work out or they don't. Whether they work out or don't, we make those decisions. We are at fault for everything that we do whether good or bad. There isn't a way around it all. Life is what we make of it. The feeling of freedom is essential in our life. Admitting to fault is freeing. If we can be true to ourselves, that's all that matters. It's what makes us a better human race.
My weekend starts @ 1pm after our afternoon flight. I'm going home to my hubby and boys, possibly stay home today and tomorrow and Monday and relax and start a new schedule on Tuesday. Stopping by @ the cemetary on Sunday and bringing my lil superhero some pretty flowers. I've missed him so much!
I've seen myself short with people lately. Maybe it's the hormones. Maybe it's the events of this past week that has just got me all up in a tizzy. Finding out that some people have lied to me about certain things has made me angry and bitter. Although there isn't really much I can do about it now, I still harbor some of these ill feelings because it's just not right. I posted a new comment on my status wall on Facebook. For some reason, my friends feel the same way. It says, "People need to own up to the mistakes that they make in life and stop finding words of wisdom to cover it up!" It's true, right? We all make decisions that we deem are the right decisions at that moment in time. In the long run, decisions that were made eventually work out or they don't. Whether they work out or don't, we make those decisions. We are at fault for everything that we do whether good or bad. There isn't a way around it all. Life is what we make of it. The feeling of freedom is essential in our life. Admitting to fault is freeing. If we can be true to ourselves, that's all that matters. It's what makes us a better human race.
My weekend starts @ 1pm after our afternoon flight. I'm going home to my hubby and boys, possibly stay home today and tomorrow and Monday and relax and start a new schedule on Tuesday. Stopping by @ the cemetary on Sunday and bringing my lil superhero some pretty flowers. I've missed him so much!
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