October 28, 2005

• Back in Seattle. Got here just fine.

  I flew from Nashville to San Diego next to a huge latino man who spoke no English and couldn't relax. He wasn't nervous, just one of those people who can't sit still for long. He would bounce his leg unconsciously. Usually while it was pressed up against mine, and while his elbow was poking me in the side.

  The plane then went to San Jose and then to Seattle. A couple of near-misses; no collisions, though. No harm no foul, I guess. One was an F-16.

  Leaving San Jose, the air traffic controllers had us making a big loop. Immediately after liftoff the plane banked sharply up and to the right, then back south for a while, and then banked north again, directly over the runway. By this time, we'd reached 10,000 feet, however. Just as the pilot finished the second bank, I was watching a plane land on the runway directly below, and at that moment the flight attendant came over the P.A. and said, "We're now at 10,000 feet, so you can turn on your approved electronic devices."

  San Jose from 10,000 feet just after dusk is beautiful, by the way. The streetlights look like the veins of a leaf. I was thinking about how I'd take a picture of it... There's really no way unless you're in a commercial aircraft. The view from 10,000 feet above the San Jose runway is The Forbidden Picture.

  • 2:20 am
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