Mute Articulations

A most unfortunate, yet interesting ailment has recently befallen me, and I have had no choice but to reflect upon its consequences (and of course, solicit the attention of my dear readers).

Inevitably this time of year, on long trips across the country trapped in a steel tube filled with
germ decimators  passengers, we flight attendants tend to pick up what is known as "the crud."

This consists from a varying list of symptoms, including but not limited to: cough, runny nose, fever, chest congestion and sinus discomfort. However, this time another symptom has cropped up which I literally cannot explain.

To put it more plainly, I cannot speak. That is not to say I have been struck dumb like the story of the disciple Paul on the road to Damascus, but rather my voicebox has become afflicted with laryngitis.

If you can imagine the sound of a bagpipe left out in the rain and played by a goat, this is very similar to the noise created when I try to converse. Out of pity and respect for the ears of my friends and colleagues, I am left with no other alternative than to respond with hand gestures, nodding, winking and interpretive dance rather than utter an offensive note.

The resulting silence has given me ample opportunity to reflect on what it means to be mute in a profession which requires an incredibly amount of communication.

• Darcy asks me questions, only to remember after a long awkward pause (to my great vexation) that I can't answer.
• A flight attendant assumed I was painfully taciturn when she asked, on my flight to Charlotte, whether this was my final destination or not.
• A police officer in the employee parking lot thought I was terrified when he asked me how my evening was, and I just gaped at him.
• A very annoyed traveler in the Charlotte airport blustered past me after inquiring which was the fastest way to get to concourse C.
• I would be completely unable to play a competitive game of "Marco Polo"
• I've seriously considered learning sign language, and have a much deeper empathy for Helen Keller's lot in life. The woman was a saint.

We really don't know just how much we rely on our vocal chords to relate with other humans more than when we can't utter a sound. It calls into question our intelligence, empathy, and even our self esteem when we can't communicate verbally. If it weren't for my ability to read and write, I would be completely trapped in a silent, white-washed world where I was a second-class citizen; capable of watching but not interacting, influencing.

If I got called on a trip tomorrow, I would be powerless to do my job; much of which requires me to greet, answer questions, brief passengers, and issue instruction.

I ponder the fate of early humanoids who first formed language to share with each other. How painful it must have been until actual words were shared and understood!

I plan on going to the doctor first thing in the morning and getting some blessed antibiotics to end my silent misery. Thanks for listening....with your eyeballs.

To see the original location for this post, click here

Winged Whimsy Weekly

Well, its that time again where I share with you my favorite snapshots from the week. I confess, some weeks I dont have too much of a camera bug, but I think I still got a few good ones.

But first, I'm going to whine a little about Christmas. One of the unfortunate side effects of my job is if I don't fly very much, I still get paid a salaried amount, but without any of the nice per diem pay for overnights on trips. In addition, I don't have any opportunities to get money from crew cash (the credit card applications we get paid $50 each for on acceptance). So, my upcoming paycheck looks pretty pathetic to say the least. What's worse is normally the check on the 15th is our big boy, which we rely on for financial legroom (read: Christmas presents for others).

I realize I'm complaining when I get to sit around, do practically nothing all month and still get paid a salary, but there definitely is a trade-off you know? I'd rather be working my butt off and making a decent check than sitting bored out of my mind in Charlotte and getting bupkis.

*sigh*

With all that aside, I had a fabulous week (and by week I mean month) of doing next to nothing.

Darcy got a Twinkie making machine. He mixed all the secret ingredients (for the Twinkie and the filling) and made some delicious treats which we took to a holiday party. We're doing the same thing for another party we're going to tonight and it should be just as fabulous!

The results of our toils: fresh, homemade Twinkies. Believe me, they're even tastier than the manufactured kind!

On a shopping trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond, Darcy became acquainted with the likes of a massaging chair. I was afraid he'd never move again.

Can you see what those clever BB&B employees spelled out? Made me giggle.

On one of the miraculous days that I actually flew to Philly, I saw real live snow on the ground. As a bonafide Southern girl, this is practically a phenomenon. Exclamations were made. Unfortunately I couldn't jump out of the plane and go make a snow angel.

Holiday dinner and gift exchange at Mt. Vernon Restaurant with old friends

Sky Snippets: Medical Emergencies On A Plane

image courtesy of MSN.com

Before I begin, I'd like to clarify that I am not medically trained and have very little knowledge of how to save a life beyond the standard CPR course we were given in initial training. A great deal of responding to an isolated emergency effectively is being at the right place at the right time with a pinch of luck and some quick thinking. There are people far better suited to help folks who need immediate medical attention than I, but at 35,000 feet in the air sometimes the flight attendant is a passenger's best hope. In other words, I don't want to take more credit than is due.

With that said, I've had 2 serious medical emergencies on my flights. On the first, I was working the flight, but on the second I was just a passenger commuting back to my base in Charlotte.

The first time, an elderly gentleman had a heart attack. His wife frantically pushed the call button on the overhead panel. I was not the first flight attendant to respond. The first one immediately called the Captain to notify him of the emergency situation incase an emergency landing may be necessary. The Captain calls Medlink (the doctor service providing advice and remote care to flights), and the second flight attendant besides myself decides to station himself outside the door near the flight deck incase the old man is faking us out in order to create "a distraction from a terrorist attempt." I still think this was kind of silly (this was an old white guy who joked with me as he got on the plane about how to make a "pine soda" with a toothpick and water), but they thought it was necessary.

Once I figured out what had happened (the first flight attendant, in her anxiety, forgot to do an ALL-CALL and let me know at the back what was going on) I grabbed the AED, and asked the first flight attendant to help me carry the gentleman to the back galley so he could lay flat (there was NO way I could carry him by myself and yes, normally I would not lay someone on a probably-not-terribly-sanitary galley floor but let's remember this was an emergency).

After we got the gentleman on the floor, I ascertained that he did not have a pulse and was not breathing. I told the other flight attendant that I was going to begin chest compressions before removing his shirt/chest hair and using the AED. She protested, because at his age, she thought I might break a rib. I was kind of confused at her response, because I felt it was safe to assume he'd rather have a broken rib than be, you know, dead.

I began chest compressions. We're taught to do 2 rounds of 30 chest compressions, with mouth-to-mouth breaths in between. The gentleman "came back" in the middle of the 2nd round of compressions. It was the most surreal feeling...to realize I had made a difference in this man's life....perhaps even the difference of whether or not his wife would have left the plane a widow.  He seemed confused and very exhausted. We alerted the captain that the gentleman had come back to consciousness, and we landed as soon as possible to hand him off to paramedics.

The second time, I was practically asleep, about 30 minutes from landing in Charlotte. Its a short flight, and I usually try to either read or take a nap (sometimes a combination of both) on the way back. On the little CRJ's that take me to and from my beloved home, there is only 1 flight attendant on board, and usually I'll introduce myself as a fellow FA when I board. This girl on our flight couldn't have been older than 18 or 19, and she looked brand new.
Suddenly I see someone pressing the FA call button frantically, and I see our FA run to the row of passengers where the commotion is coming from. She looks very worried, and runs to the back and grabs the AED and PSK (passenger service kit).

She takes a look at a passenger (who I cannot see) and motions for me to come up. At this point I'm thinking....uh oh. Either a passenger is really angry and she needs some backup in diffusing it or someone is in trouble.
"This lady isn't breathing," she says, "I'm going to notify the captain and see if we can land in Knoxville."

"Did you check her pulse? " I ask, almost like a robot.

She had not. I do so, and the lady most definitely has a pulse. However, it's true that she isn't breathing and her face is almost a purpleish color. The flight attendant didn't want to touch the lady; too afraid to do something wrong and make it worse. However, I was of the opinion (given the fact that she was blue in the face and gurgling ominously) that if we waited much longer she probably would pass out and/or die from lack of oxygen. It was around that time that I noticed she had the kind of chain around her neck that dog tags are held on, and I remembered from training that sometimes people with specific medical needs or allergies wear identification. Sure enough, she had notification that she had a severe nut allergy. While I didn't see anything of the nut variety in the vicinity, I did notice a half eaten bag of Chex mix. To this day, I'm not sure if this was the culprit, but it was enough for me to ask the flight attendant to grab the lady's purse and see if there was an EPI pen.

Yep. She had one. I told the flight attendant to take the epi pen and use it on her inner thigh, but she wasn't sure how to use the epi pen. Neither was I, but I had a basic idea of how it worked, and I removed the cap and stabbed her. Within a few minutes, the lady's natural color returned to her face and she relaxed. We were able to make it to Charlotte and get some immediate medical attention to her after that.

Here are a few tips I came up with in retrospect if you ever run into an emergency aboard a plane. Again, I'm no professional, but some of these tips definitely helped me in a pinch and the rest are things I WISH I'd thought of.

• You can't be afraid to do your job. Communicate the problem to the Captain and the other flight attendants, but trust your training. If no one else is helping, do something. It may be the difference between a passenger's life or death.
• Trust your instincts. If you a passenger and your neck hairs bristle and you get an ominous premonition that something is wrong, check it out. A lot of times the passenger may not be able to let you know they are not ok.
• See if there are any medical personnel aboard to help out. In both my cases, there were not any to be had, but in most cases there will be a doctor, nurse, paramedic or even medical assistant available.
• A lot of times, people are nervous when they travel and will bring medications, EPI pens, identification tags, etc. Look for these if there is a problem. It may give you a valuable (and time saving) insight into the emergency situation.
• Refer to the manual under emergency situations if something is happening that you can't immediately identify. They have good descriptions of different medical conditions/reactions and clues to figure out which one it might be.

As always, good luck, keep your wits about you and you just might make a difference!

This post can be found at its original location here

An Unexpected Roadtrip

Grandmother and I this Thanksgiving

In a job with infinite (read: free)  logistical possibilities, one would think it would be easy to get home for the holidays.

Wrong.

Maybe if you’ve worked for your airline for 25+ years you can rest assured that time with loved ones won’t be impeded, but as a new hire flight attendant you’re told not to make plans. As I’ve mentioned before, everything is rewarded based on seniority and this most definitely includes times off. Since my airline has been hiring like the dickens this year, my seniority as a reserve has skyrocketed and I’m pretty much able to get the time off I want every time.

But November and December are a different kind of animal.

Not only does everything want Christmas off, they want New Years Eve and Day too. And let’s not forget Thanksgiving.

I decided to be “smart” and not even bid Thanksgiving off. Why set myself up for disappointment, you know? I told myself it would be best to let people with kids and husbands get successful bids for holidays off and I’d just be the bigger person and celebrate it at some other point in time but not actually on date(s) that the Hallmark cards and Seasonal Sales tell us.

I managed to keep this cavalier, up-beat attitude until my mother casually mentioned that she and my father would be traveling to middle Tennessee to visit my 91 year old grandmother for Thanksgiving. (For those of you just tuning in, Darcy and I had a lovely visit with her in August, which I documentedin this post). 99.9% of the time, we spend Thanksgiving in Chattanooga and cook dinner around 2 and are done eating by 4. We then turn on a football game and drift in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day.

When I heard this news, I was really depressed. My little optimistic veneer of “oh it doesn’t matter” vanished and I realized how few Thanksgivings might be left to get to visit Grandma. In addition, when I found out I would be on a trip to Las Vegas for Turkey Day, a city entirely dedicated to superficial fanfare, I dreaded missing out on quality time with my family even more.

Then something amazing happened.

I was sitting in my hotel room in Orlando, bawling to Darcy about how much I missed everyone back home, and planning to meet up with an old college acquaintance who happened to be in Vegas on a business trip, when I got a call from Scheduling. Apparently some flight attendant who was also in Orlando had gotten sick and they needed someone to take their place on an early flight to Philly the next day. What this meant for me was I would not go to Vegas, but get paid for the rest of my trip (2 days worth) to fly to Philly and then go home.

Translation: I was given a PAID opportunity to go home and spend time with my family.

This turned out to be easier said than done, however. The closest airport to my grandmother’s home is Nashville, and I searched all possible flights from Philly to Nashville. As it turned out, the last flight to Nashville that day would leave 30 minutes before I even arrived in Philly. Big bummer.

A few quick searches showed me the last flight from Charlotte to Nashville would leave before I could get from Philly to Charlotte as well. I tried everything I could think of. Philly to Washington DC to Nashville? Nope. Philly to Charlotte to Chattanooga and then drive to Nashville? Too late. It began to seem like nothing would work out after all. I called my dad, with a heavy heart, and explained the situation to him.

“Why not check Philly to Knoxville?” he asked, after a moment’s thought.

It seemed like a long shot, but sure enough, there was exactly one flight from Philly to Knoxville that would leave about 40 minutes after I got there.

“But you’d have to drive to Knoxville and then drive all the way to Grandmas. That would be like 6 hours of driving for you instead of 2.5.”

I could hear my dad smiling on the other end of the phone.

“Honey, I would drive much farther than that if it meant getting to see you. I love you, you know that.”

I’m pretty sure what came out of my mouth next wasn’t English; mainly unintelligible sobs of joy and relief. I love my dad. He is seriously the best father I could ever ask for, and in that moment I savored the real meaning of giving thanks. A holiday like Thanksgiving was about the unpleasant sacrifice our ancestors made to be together in a new home. In recent months, my life has been a sort of pilgrim-like existence…..wandering hither and thither, trying to figure out where I belong in this big, goofy world.

That conversation with my dad taught me that I may be a vagabond right now, but my home is most definitely with them. It always has been and always will be. It doesn’t matter where I am. Like some invisible, unbreakable string, our hearts are linked together and the sacrifices we are willing to make to be with each other are both unconditional and extensive. I am so, so, so beyond grateful for this gift.

Dad and I had a fantastic roadtrip together, wherein we tried to get some T-Day vittles at every single Cracker Barrel from Knoxville to Dickson, TN. And every single time but the last attempt (at around 6 pm), there was no room for one more vehicle at any one of the restaurants. It was hilarious (and a very profitable day for anyone who happens to own a franchise!)

My time with grandmother was priceless. She’s still her spunky, wise, adorable self, and I got to spend hours talking and catching up. I also got to watch Dr. Who with my aunt Betty, and walk all around the 30 acres of property. Tennessee really is beautiful beyond compare (not that I’m biased or anything).

My advice to those constantly traveling this holiday season? Even if you can’t physically be with the people you love, take time to call them and let them know you care. Life is short, and even more so when most of it is spent commuting. Slow down for a minute and savor the people who remember you when you’re gone.

To see this post in its original source, click here.

Winged Whimsy Weekly

Another outrageously long  highly anticipated couple of weeks  month  amount of time has passed since my last smattering of photos from my flight attending life.

You'll have to forgive my tardiness, as I have to import the photos directly from my phone to my email, and sometimes even steal an especially good snapshot from friends. Then, sometimes wordpress takes issue with the size of the photo, so I have to carefully go back through and reduce them all to the same size and ensure they upload. Then, I make sure they're atleast somewhat in chronological order. It's a process and I'm working on it.

I hope the wait is worth it.

[caption id="attachment_782" align="alignnone" width="642"] Playing Pathfinder (a version of Dungeons and Dragons) at Darcy's house. While waiting my turn I got creative and stacked the dice.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_783" align="alignnone" width="642"] I made a new friend! Bryanna is an exceptionally cool lady! We connected instantly over our love of trivia, Sex and the City and bellydance.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_790" align="alignnone" width="642"] ZOINKS! Look at that incredibly handsome young man sporting a bow tie! A friend referred to this look as "Orville Redenbacher's love child".[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_784" align="alignnone" width="642"] layover in Orlando right before Thanksgiving. It was really nice to get away from the cold for awhile![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_787" align="alignnone" width="642"] I had my first experience at Denny's! I tried Bilbo's Breakfast from the Hobbit themed menu.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_785" align="alignnone" width="642"] I got to visit my grandmother in Lyles for Thanksgiving. The way I got the holiday weekend off was kind of a miracle. More on this later.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_791" align="alignnone" width="642"] Watching our friends The Molly Maguires play in Chattanooga at one of our favorite bar's: The Honest Pint. Gotta love having a Guiness and listening to good music![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_795" align="alignnone" width="642"] Belle and I volunteered at United Way for their Angel Tree event. Basically we helped sort toys for needy children. It was so much fun, and our group kept us laughing the entire time![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_796" align="alignnone" width="642"] Blast from the past![/caption]

 

Regional vs. Mainline: A Flight Attendant's Perspective

When I was applying to be a flight attendant last Fall, my approach was to leave no stone left unturned. I applied to obscure little airlines and all the big 'uns that would let me leave a copy of my resume. At the time, I didn't really know the difference. They all flew airplanes and served beverages and would allow me to get the heck out of Dodge and see the world, right?

Well, sort of.

Regional flights attendants have the same uniforms, travel benefits, safety equipment and more or less the same job contract, but everything else is different. Because they are regional, they fly to smaller airports in smaller planes. We're talking the Embraers, CRJs and even Dash 8's. Little 50 seat puddle jumpers, as one Jumbo Jet pilot to told me. I fly with our regional partners all the time as I commute between Charlotte and Chattanooga almost weekly. As a result, I've gotten to talk to our sisters (and brothers) in blue, and have learned a lot about just how different the jobs are. There are some serious benefits and some disadvantages.

Advantages:

• Being regional is a tough job. Because they fly to smaller airports, their flight times are much shorter, and scheduling gives them more legs (take offs and landings) than mainline flight attendants who go to, say, Phoenix, LA and back to Charlotte. Longer flights are better because the most stressful part of the job is boarding and deplaning. We are literal cowgirls of the sky, wrangling people and their children into their seat and making sure they're strapped in safely. Dong this 6 times a day, as opposed to once or twice, is tough. As a result, their turnover rate is much higher. This is good and bad. The bad I will discuss below in disadvantages. The good news is this means if you stick with the job, you will achieve seniority much more quickly, and as any flight attendant will tell you...seniority rules. I talked to a regional flight attendant who said most of them who have stuck around for 3 months were getting off reserve and holding a line.


• Smaller planes means less people. Less people means less bags to stow, less snot nosed children who scream for the entire 90 minute flight, and definitely less mess for the ground crew to clean up once they decide to avoid your 2 trash collection runs and stuff their cups/napkins/banana peels in the seatback pockets.


• Shorter flights mean you are not necessarily obligated to do a beverage service. This is a somewhat controversial topic among flight attendants because some believe there is no excuse for not getting your lazy ass off your jump-seat and popping cans for 20 minutes. I am one such flight attendant who holds this opinion. If I can get up and serve drinks (as quickly as possible) to 187 passengers on a 50 minute flight from Charlotte to Raleigh and be successful, then you can do the same for that 40 minute flight to Chattanooga. I definitely judge a flight attendant who chooses to sit and read her magazine the entire time rather than atleast try to leave the impression of a courteous customer service experience. However, it isn't mandatory. Especially if there is even the mildest "turbulence."


• For me, a huge advantage is that my airline has a regional base in Knoxville, which is only 2 hours away from my hometown. Call me crazy, but a 2 hour commute is totally do-able for me, as opposed to the 5.5 hour drive from Charlotte. I would be home more, with a vehicle, even if I was making less money. To me, this is the most important advantage, and for awhile I almost considered quitting mainline and applying to regional just to be closer to the city and people I love.


• You only have to be 18 instead of 21 to fly regional. I'm not sure why this is, because you serve alcohol on both types of airlines, but one flight attendant told me she was going to apply to mainline as soon as she turned 21.

Disadvantages:

• Less pay. I think regional flight attendants average about $17-19  an hour whereas I made $21.47 an hour starting out the day I graduated training. This makes the difference of a few hundred dollars per month.


• As I mentioned before, there is a very high turnover rate. Regional flight attendants are worked til they are bone tired. The planes are smaller and less powerful, so when you hit a patch of clouds or a wind shear, you sure feel it. This makes people try to get jobs with mainline and leave regional behind as much as possible.

Mainline flight attendants operate out of the largest bases (Charlotte, Philly, DC and Phoenix being my airline's hubs) and get to fly internationally as well as domestically. There are between 3-8 flight attendants working a flight at any given time, as opposed to 1 or 2 on a regional flight. It's unusual to fly more than 4 legs a day, at most. We stay in nicer hotels, and have longer layovers. We get paid more, and have the option to sell credit cards and get $50 per approval of an application.

In conclusion, I think I got the (slightly) better end of the deal by lucking out accidentally picking mainline, but I love the idea of the autonomy of just me, the pilots and a small cabin of passengers. Maybe if I held a line, I could pick all the Chattanooga flights and get to be with my friends more. Le sigh.

Sometimes traveling all the time makes you realize how much of a homebody you really are!

The Treacherous Twenties

When asked what was the most awkward time period of their lives, most people would probably tell you high school, or just their teenage years in general. Why? The sudden growth in height leading to excessive clumsiness as our balance adjusts, the onslaught of hormones, uncertainty of who we are and what we stand for, peer pressure, acne, insecurity. The list goes on and on. Here's the irony: high school wasn't remotely awkward for me. Sure, it had its moments, but they didn't crush my spirit and send me home to cry myself to sleep.

I used to wear crazy earrings every day, and I remember this one girl teasing me about a particularly "out there" pair. I think she went so far as to call them ugly. I recall smiling and responding to her comment by telling her that she looked lovely that day. Eons later at our 5 year class reunion she told me that there was no snarky or mean response that could have crushed her more and she admired me for taking the high road and being "better than her."

I was smart, had good grades, had a fun group of oddball nerd friends and a fantastic (or so I thought) boyfriend who was in college. Life was good. And then, I walked across the stage at Memorial Auditorium in May 2006, and was asked a very impertinent question at my college orientation:

"What do you want to do with your life?"

High school had been easy because I always knew, without a shred of doubt, what was next and exactly how I could meet or exceed a goal. My life was sequestered into a series of tests, class bells, deadlines and weekends. This college business was entirely new because all of a sudden the only real authority figure holding the reins on my destiny was me. Worse— I didn't fully realize this earth-shattering transition. I was still very much a woman-child, without any clue what weight the decision of picking a career would mean. I started out in Graphic Design, since I liked to doodle in the margins of my notebooks and I had gotten some compliments on my artistic ability. You heard me right: I was prepared to pursue a career in something because I liked to doodle. O_o

I quickly realized my classmates' talent for design and migraine-inducing amount of attention paid to detail far surpassed my own and decided to change my major to an avenue I knew I excelled at: writing. I threw myself into journalism headfirst and covered a lot of ground; I became an editor of the student newspapers, and successfully completed 5 professional internships before I was a junior.

Then, out of left field, the economy crashed in 2008 and the prospects of holding a job as a "whipped cream" major plummeted. I remember a Professional Writing teacher having us pretend we had just graduated and were looking for jobs, and I found absolutely nothing in Chattanooga that I was qualified for and paid more than minimum wage. It was definitely a sinking moment of truth; all that work, all that time was for naught unless I wanted to move away or go to grad school for a (only slightly better) shot at success. In retrospect, if I had sucked it up and taken a grueling midnight to 5 am position at a news station, and then parlayed that experience into a journalism position at the paper or a local magazine, I could have made it. But I didn't want "maybe if you work hard it will pay off. But maybe you just wasted 4 years of your life for a useless major".  I wanted my effort to yield plentiful fruit. I wanted security.

This is a central theme in the life of Beth Warren. Security vs. The Unknown. During the course of my treacherous twenties I have swayed between the two like a pendulum. When I found out the dismal prospects of my current major, I went to the local student counseling center and took a career placement test based on my personality and proficiencies. My results were surprising; among the "ideal career" for me was accounting, counseling, writing and nursing.

"Accounting?" I thought ,"really?"

Then I looked at the annual salary of an accountant, as well as the stability of the finance industry and decided it was definitely worth considering. It wasn't easy; in fact I recall a teacher in Intermediate Accounting saying that it was his goal to try to pass as few of us as possible because he wanted to weed out the students who didn't really plan to put in the effort to understand the tricky concepts. I loved it and thrived on the challenge. Unfortunately, as I got out into the working world as a staff accountant, I had a few unpleasant realizations:

a.) The lack of variety in my day to day tasks, unless of course I wanted to go back to school and get my Masters/CPA. At the time, the thought of going abck to school was about as appealing as getting beaten with a dead fish.
b.) After spending 6 years in college, I had never actually left Tennessee and seen the world. I ached for "the great wide yonder," and seeing what was outside of my familiar little bubble.

Security in a career path, while comforting, was not very appealing in lieu of my lack of world experience. Hence, the pendulum swung back again and I applied to the airline industry. The rest, as you know, is history.

Now, almost exactly a year later, I sit with much more experience. I have flown all over the world, seen amazing things, and had my comfort zone blasted into a thousand tiny bits with a combination of jet fuel and enthusiasm. Its been a crazy adventure, and I'm so glad I took the opportunity when it was there. However, I can sense in myself a need for....wait for it....more stability. The next chapter lies ahead and I'm very excited to get to share it with you all soon.
In the mean time, here are some fun throwback pictures from my not-so-awkward high school days and the beginning of my ever-so-awkward college days!

[caption id="attachment_757" align="alignnone" width="604"] Me in college, Fall of 2006 with my little brother, on the day I moved into my new dorms at UTC[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_758" align="alignnone" width="604"] My 2005 prom dress and my "glass slippers"[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_759" align="alignnone" width="604"] showing off the kitchen and entryway of the dorm[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_760" align="alignnone" width="604"] lounging on the couch[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_761" align="alignnone" width="604"] Me and some highschool friends at Coolidge park one weekend[/caption]

 

 

Winged Whimsy...Monthly?

Hello everyone,

I'm sorry  for pretty much falling off the radar this past month. Apparently spam bots have found my blog and I get several random comments every day. Usually in Chinese, or talking about some miracle drug. If any of my fellow bloggers know of any good Wordpress compatible spam filtering programs (and especially for my email subscription service MailChimp) please let me know.

In the mean time, I have been up to everything and nothing in my flight attendant gig. I'm currently working on a post about this 20-something inertia, but for now here are some pictures from my life's shenanigans.

[caption id="attachment_717" align="alignnone" width="642"] Darcy and I went camping in Kentucky with some outdoorsy friends. Here we are cooking a tasty stew from scratch.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_741" align="alignnone" width="642"] Cumberland Falls State Park in Corbin KY[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_734" align="alignnone" width="642"] I got a trip to the Mall of America in Minneapolis[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_743" align="alignnone" width="642"] The mall has its own underground aquarium. The tank has a tunnel that lets you experience the marine life 360 degrees around you![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_742" align="alignnone" width="642"] Poseidon was feeling a little....detached[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_739" align="alignnone" width="642"] "Hello, I'm a friendly turtle guy. Wassup?"[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_746" align="alignnone" width="642"] An amaaaazing sushi restaurant inside the Mall of America[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_723" align="alignnone" width="642"] there was an entire store dedicated to products made from llama fur. No joke.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_719" align="alignnone" width="642"] Darcy and I at the Hamilton County Fair car show. Good times (and beautiful rides!)
Thanks mom for the picture![/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_745" align="alignnone" width="642"] One of my best friends, Jennelle, had her engagement party at my family's house. Good times were had by all.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_728" align="alignnone" width="640"] Another one of my best friends, Hunter, met me in Charlotte as he was on his way to NYC. It was one of the first times that I saw one of my Chattanooga friends in NC.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_727" align="alignnone" width="642"] This was in Detroit; someone put the tampons next to the baby changing station in the ladies' room. I concluded that the janitors must have been men.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_726" align="alignnone" width="900"] Hanging out with my flight attendant friend Schyler in Cleveland, OH. It was the first time we ran into each other at the same time and place since we work for different airlines. Although we only got to see each other briefly, it was super wonderful getting to give her a hug.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_725" align="alignnone" width="480"] I got a cavity filled. At this point I was high on the happy gas and totally down with a photo-op.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_724" align="alignnone" width="642"] Delicious bar-b-q in Syracuse, NY. Who would have thought those yankees can cook Southern style so well?[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_729" align="alignnone" width="642"] Nomatter where I go, my favorite pub in Chattanooga is still the best venue.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_730" align="alignnone" width="642"] Halloween party at Darcy's house. I'm the German beer maid on the far left, and he's the handsome vampire.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_740" align="alignnone" width="642"] While I was overnighting in NYC, I was attacked by bed bugs. This almost deserves its own post, because it was one of the most terrifying (and itchy) experiences of my career.[/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_747" align="alignnone" width="642"] hanging out with my dad's cat Spook (aka bed kudzu)[/caption]

 

 

Probation & Prestige (Charlotte, NC)

Greetings, everybody! Sorry for the lack of posts here lately. I've had a great deal going on, and not just in the great blue yonder. Sometimes it takes a little while to breathe and reboot, and while I missed updating you on my wayfaring shenanigans, I definitely needed the break.

With that said, a great deal has happened since I last told you about the {Greek festival} Belle and I attended here in Charlotte. Rather than try to mash it all together in one post, I'll do several updates this week, in the order they transpired.

First off the list, Belle and I had recurrent training! As I mentioned previously, recurrent training is basically a day-long review of all the emergency procedures, drills, equipment operation, and medical training we completed {back in Phoenix}. Since we only graduated in March, we weren't terribly anxious about passing. What we didn't expect was to meet the lady who has not only been a flight attendant the longest with US Airways, but also of any other airline! Her name is Bette Nash, and she's {somewhat of a celebrity}. She started with Eastern airlines in 1961 and has been flying ever since. In other words, she is the senior mama of all the senior mamas! Back in her day, you were only hired as a flight attendant if you had a nursing degree, were stunningly beautiful, single and under the age of 28. After you were married, or got "old", you had to quit. How times change!

[caption id="attachment_704" align="alignnone" width="500"] Bette when she was my age, way back in the 60's. Picture courtesy of Post-Gazette.[/caption]

She was doing her recurrent training as well ( though she's been doing it so long its a wonder she doesn't just teach it herself!) Even though she's in her 70's (or maybe early 80's), she's still sharp as a whip, spirited and very funny. Belle and I asked to have our pictures taken with her, and she happily obliged. I was such a fan-girl! If I can manage to do anything for 50 years, I'll feel like I'm winning at life.

[caption id="attachment_706" align="alignnone" width="642"] Carmen SanDiego and the famous Ms. Bette Nash[/caption]

A whopping 5 days after our recurrent training was the end of our flight attendant 6 month probationary period. It's hard to imagine half a year has passed since that fateful graduation day, where we counted our lucky stars for making it through 4.5 weeks of training. Now we are finally full fledged, union represented flight attendants! As one senior mama whimsically told me one flight, now we'll basically have to murder someone to get fired. I don't know how true that is, but it was a comforting thought. What I do know is with this job, time flies like nobody's business and its still hard to believe I moved to Charlotte and am jetting all over the world. It's almost exactly a year since I applied to be a flight attendant, thinking it would be fun but I'd probably never hear back about my application.

[caption id="attachment_708" align="alignnone" width="642"] We made it![/caption]

At the probationary meeting, my supervisor let me read the letters from passengers over the months that I received in regard to the good job I was doing. One was from an elderly lady who took her first flight with us, and said I had taken good care of her and calmed her fears. Little things like this are so encouraging. I asked my supervisor for more information about commuting and getting a line, and he seems to think the proposed merger with American Airlines will help a lot with moving up in the ranks. We'll see whether that happens or not!  It was also really fun to see the other flight attendants from our class; we all were delighted to see each other make it to the 6 month mark and prove our mettle in the airline world.

Until next time, catch me if you can!

—Carmen

 

Winged Whimsy Weekly

Hello again, all!

I have another crop of winged whimsy to share today. Belle and I completed recurrent training yesterday, which is essentially a day-long review of all the emergency procedures, drills, equipment operation, and medical training we completed back in Phoenix. You can expect a post about this soon, as well as one about my upcoming Final Probationary Meeting on the 11th. After this final meeting with our supervisors, I will finally be a full-fledged, legit flight attendant with all the rights and privileges of our union and rank. During probation, we were under constant supervision over how well we had learned our job, as well as our general performance (on time, thorough, etc). I'm proud to say I have had no negative feedback in the last 7 months (whoa, has it really been that long?!) and I anticipate making it through to that final meeting with flying colors (fingers crossed).

In the mean time, here's what I've been up to this last week.

 

[caption id="attachment_683" align="alignnone" width="640"] Belle and I attended a Greek festival here in Charlotte[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_688" align="alignnone" width="704"] I hung out with some Greek soldiers....[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_694" align="alignnone" width="642"] and watched some traditional Greek dancing[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_692" align="alignnone" width="642"] We waited in line for around an hour to get these Gyro Pitas. They were absolutely worth it, but I didn't get to take a picture of our tasty food because I basically inhaled it when they handed it to me.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_691" align="alignnone" width="642"] There were these guys.....[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_693" align="alignnone" width="642"] We went inside the beautiful Greek Orthodox Cathedral and enjoyed looking at the candles.[/caption]

 

 

[caption id="attachment_684" align="alignnone" width="642"] It's the best time of the year! Starbucks pumpkin spice latte's are the first indication of Fall. Oh, how I've missed them![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_685" align="alignnone" width="642"] This was in one of my hotel rooms. I can't decide if its a swan, a duck, or some kind of snake.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_686" align="alignnone" width="642"] Rocket scientist barbie![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_687" align="alignnone" width="642"] some delicious fresh fruit and veggies at the Charlotte Farmers Market[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_697" align="alignnone" width="642"] I also scored some stylish jewelry at the local antique shop, Sleepy Poet.[/caption]