Screw Scheduling!
So it had been a while since i had had a four day sequence. I went back to work on Saturday and after doing a Buffalo turn, layed over in Indianapolis. The FO that i flew with was pretty cool and so we hung out and stuff. He left though after we got back to Chicago Sun morn and so the captain, a new first officer, and i went to Montreal. That was the closest i've ever been to leaving the country. We weren't allowed off the plane even though (because then we would have had to go through Customs.) I did get a chance to practice my French, though. I had taken French in high school and in college but didn't really learn that much. I couldn't figure out how to say cran apple juice in French so i just kept offering l'orange jus or la coca. Sunday night i changed crews again and went to Newburg-Stewart, NY with an eccentric captain (many of them are i'm finding) and this FO who looked exactly like Guy Peirce (from "Momento".) We didn't hang out at all though because we weren't there but like 9 hours or so. On Monday, i went with them back to Chicago and then on a turn (i don't even remember where now) and then...that's when i got pissed. The crew i was with was about to go on another overnight and for no apparent reason the jerks at crew scheduling pulled me off and re-assigned me to do a Springfield turn. By the time i got back, i couldn't go on an overnight so i got stuck going back to the orphanage. Then yesterday....they called me in for a Dubuque (Iowa) turn. Its only a 30 minute flight and i was scheduled to get back to Chicago at 6:00. There was a 6:25 flight to New Orleans (i was off today and tomorrow so i was gonna try and go home then) and i would have done it too...the captain i was with then was trying to commute somewhere too so we had this plan to get back early. Well we made it to Dubuque early but then we got a ground delay and couldn't leave. We sat on the runway for like an hour and a half. I only had 16 passengers. I was so pissed. I had gotten stuck at the orpahanage again. I ended up flying home first thing this morning. Several of my friends have quit recently (or are about to quit) but i am determined to stick it out two more months (i've made it this far.)
On the plus side...i got a parking permit for the New Orleans airport. I had been told that they weren't giving them to crew members anymore but when i went to the third floor today, i got issued one. See until now, either my dad would pick me up or i'd have to ask a friend or get a cab- now i can just leave my car in the parking lot when i'm gone. I just wish i would have seen about it myself sooner.
Also on a plus side kind of note for me, i talked to my friend Brian Sterling (from college) and he's going to a regional audition in February that i think i'm going to go with him to. Its called Midwest and its in Missouri i think. You audition for a bunch of different theatre companies in hopes of getting summer work. As much as i'm hating this living out of a suitcase thing, i wouldn't mind it if it was for like a touring group...so, we'll see...