Play ditzy for me

Hello Tuesday! Here I am, ready to embark on the marvelous thing that is the four-day work week. Obviously I'm a big fan of those, but they still pose a little problem for me. You see, I keep thinking that they make a bigger difference than they do. I just know that by tomorrow I'll feel like it should already be Friday. Losing 20% of the work week is fantastic, don't get me wrong, but it's not as big of a deal as I always first think it is. Or something like that.

In any case, it's Tuesday and I'm here to write a little more about our vacation. Today I'm going to focus on one part in particular: getting there. No matter what kind of trip one takes, getting there plays a roll. Man, I'm so deep sometimes.

While waiting to board our plane, my lovely wife and I both noticed things about the woman sitting in the seat behind us in the terminal. My wife noticed that her ticket showed that she'd be the third person in our row of three. I noticed that she sounded very stupid.

When the time came for us to get on the plane, the young lady and a male friend that she had run into were already aboard. More precisely, she was in the window seat and he was sitting in my wife's seat in the middle. Here's how the first of several fun conversations went:

Amber: Excuse me, but that's my seat.
Young Lady: (slightly pouting) Oh, can he have your seat and trade you?
Amber: No, I'm sorry.
Young Lady: (perking up a little) But he has a window seat!
Amber: But I'd like to sit with my husband.

The guy got up, knowing that if pulling the "window seat card" didn't work, nothing would. We sat down and half-heartedly apologized for turning down the request. Well, more like quarter-heartedly or even one-eighth-heartedly. Half is too much, but we're not given too many options on those things...until now.

We chatted a little with the young lady. We helped her get the flight attendant's attention for something to drink before take off because she was feeling a little ill. She thanked us and said that she didn't want to get sick and die on the plane. I told her that our goals were very similar. She asked if we were staying in Cancun, because she was actually going to Playa del Carmen. We told her that we were going a little further south to Akumal. That led to this conversation:

Young Lady: (naturally bewildered) Wow, Mexico has a lot of places I've never heard of. The place you're staying, one that my friend went to, and I hadn't heard of Playa del Carmen before this either.

Me: Well, it's a big country. There are all of the cities in Baja and then it extends all the way to its east coast.
Young Lady: (with more than normal levels of bewilderment) Mexico has an east coast?
Me: Well yeah, that's where we're flying to right now.

Yes, I was able to say that with a straight face. I don't know how, since mocking people is one of my favorite things. That and brown paper packages tied up with string. The conversation progressed the way one might expect it to. I asked how long she was staying, but that wasn't as easy a question as I would've guessed. Her friends booked the hotels but didn't get one for the last night yet. She didn't have much faith in them finding something while they were there, but her friends didnt think it would be a problem. She also didn't know how she was getting from the Cancun airport to their hotel in Playa del Carmen or when and where to meet her friends. So basically, the exact opposite of us.

As we got close to our stop in Mexico city, the following (glorious) conversation took place:

Young Lady: Wow, that looks like a big city.
Amber: Well it's one of the most populated in the world.
Young Lady: Really? Most popular?
Amber: No, most populated; highest pop-u-lat-ion.
Young Lady: Oh, I thought you said popular.
Me: (deadpan) Yeah, that too, they took a vote and everything.
Amber: (ignoring my comment) No, there are almost 9 million people here.
Young Lady: Oh, that's probably because it's so big.

I nodded. To her, it looked like I was agreeing with her statement. In actuality though, I was nodding that she really was as stupid as I had first guessed.

She talked a little more, and Amber and I refrained from making eye contact so that we would be able to keep our laughter in until later. Although at one point she did lean over to me and ask, "Are you going to remember all of this for a blog entry?" "I may need a little help, but I think I'll remember this one." The young lady continued a conversation she'd been having with herself: "And there are all of these airlines I'd never heard of. Like this one we're on, Air-ee-o Mexico. Didn't know about that one!"

And then something happened that sealed the deal on the whole experience. She started fumbling through her bag until she pulled out a business card. As she mumbled something about travelling, I noticed two things on the card. First, her name was Misty. That was perfect. Second...how can I put this? Um, SHE'S A FUCKING TRAVEL AGENT! In a scene much like the end of "The Usual Suspects," all of the pertinent scenes flashed before my eyes. "Mexico has an east coast?" "Most popular?" "All of these airlines I've never heard of." I used a super-human amount of restraint and didn't ask the question screaming to be released: "Are you shitting me?" No, gentle readers, I held it in and made more mental notes to share with you instead. Oh, lest I forget: Misty's card told us that she's also a model and a spokesmodel too, of course.

Overall, Misty was the most interesting part of the trip there. After all, we mocked her consistently throughout the trip, and that's always enjoyable. A close second was the flight attendant asking Amber how old she was when she ordered a drink on the flight. I'm pretty sure the Mexican drinking age is 18, and she's going to be 30 in a week. Therefore, she's much closer to 17 x 2 than she is to 17. I didn't order alcohol so I'll never know if she thought I was young too or if I was her dad.

Sorry for the lateness of the post, but I'm having major computer issues. Have a good one and hopefully everything will be easier tomorrow. At least it's already Tuesday.