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Happy New Year, 2019!
7 years ago
First and foremost, Happy New Year to everyone! May 2019 shine brighter, and that we start to work on what brings us together more than what tears us apart!
So, yeah its been a long quiet drought from the Rat and that was mostly due to life getting the better of me, a situation on helping a friend out of a bad spot, and for the most part too much stress and time spent on work and life that a lot of things, including my artflow and page, kinda fell to the wayside. Not that art hasn't been made and soon to be posted, but I've been so busy, its hard to keep up sometimes.
Starting off, I've been spending the better half of a year roomed up with
ChaosCabbit and helping her out as her situation got dire in Washington State. Time and effort has been put in helping her get her back on her feet, find work, and finally get her own place come January, here in Texas, after the proverbial rug was pulled out from under her several times back in Washington. For the most part, it's taken up much of my time, but needed to be done for a close friend and someone in dire straights. Still, she's been a good friend and a helping hand around the apartment, small as it is.
Celebrating Christmas with the family is always a treat for me, but at the same time, it invited a lot of opportunities. One, a final chance to fly to Europe, as I had traveled often, but as my parents retiring at last, it was one last chance to check out the holidays in another country, and what a way to do it: Berlin. Outside of my curiosities to the museums and memorials, Germany sure knows Christmas, and it was quite an experience enjoying the Winter Villages in town and locally. And let me tell you, a bratwurst is just too damn good when its bitterly cold. Mind not all glamor and great cheer, jet lag was a persistent bastard on my part, nipping at me night after night that I wasn't drop dead exhausted, and discovering that Airlines now stuff Domestic Flight seats on to International Flights now was a less than pleasant experience. Still all worthwhile, and I tend to appreciate these times as much as I can.
TL;DR - Left Wednesday morning, Flight Rerouted, Delayed, Cancelled, then played hopscotch with gates in Dallas till I got home early Friday.
Trip home, though, was half the reason I was out of communication for the last two weeks. We've all seen them, those horror stories of holiday travels of people stuck in airports, trying to get home or to where they need to go, all stuck / delayed / cancelled flights in places they can't make it. You often think 'never happen to me' right? Well, fate had a sick sense of humor for me. I had left Germany around 11AM on a Wednesday. The flight from Heathrow to Dallas seemed swift enough (domestic seats till cramping me), but right up till we were an hour out before our flight was doing circles. A storm had hit Dallas and had shut down the airport and left a line of us waiting to land. An hour passes and we still can't land. Giving up, we fly to Austin as we can't wait longer. Outside of the unfun prospect of spending MORE time in that damn sardine can, and missing my connecting flight to Houston, we thought we were gonna stay on the tarmac, refuel, and go back to Dallas. However, our pilot and crew had gone over their legal work limit, federally enforced, and we needed to swap them out, so we were allowed to disembark (small mercies), and wait in customs till our flight could be restaffed. ETA, midnight. Lovely, I was supposed to be home by 11PM with all things considered. But as midnight rolled closer, we got told our replacement crew just cancelled, the storm was hitting the airport we were in and our flight has been cancelled, we're not going anywhere.
Top that off with the fact I had not slept the night before, I was already pushing past 24 hours, no sleep. With the flight cancelled, we clear custom in Dallas instead, and march our way to the ticketing counter to be rebooked. Except, we wern't the only ones, 3 other flights from our airline were redirected. Over 600+ people had to be rebooked in this tiny little airport in Austin. I managed to get in line at 2:45AM. I got to the ticket counter at 7:35AM. No sleep, marching in a mess of a line, bags in tow, small silver lining is I had a hard case, made for a decent seat between waits. But by the time I got rebooked, I was set to fly BACK to Dallas to go to Houston. Mind, Houston was only 2 hours away from here, I could have snagged a rental and gotten there faster, but all rentals were taken, the only hope to get home was to follow the path as the Airline wants, and it was still on their dime. So finally take off back to Dallas around 10AM, land around 11AM, and finding out my next flight wont happen till 6:30PM. Helluva layover, but whatever, going home. This was not to be, Dallas / Ft. Worth Airport was on a all-hands-on-deck situation, and they were pulling every pilot available, and that meant there was also a shortage. Sure enough, my 6:30PM flight is cancelled. No captain to fly. By now we're nearing the 48 hour mark on no sleep, and at this rate, I was ready to do what the airline couldn't. There were rental services nearby, I would just rent a one way vehicle, stop at a nearby motel, get some decent sleep, then drive home. But the airline wanted to give one more hail Mary. 10:30PM flight. We finally get to the gate, then the next gate, then the next, they were bouncing my departure gate several times, till finally the miracle was we were boarding. Another hour flight, and at last, I'm in Houston ... with an extra hour drive home. Gotta love landing in George Bush Intercon.
Suffice to say, I got home at 2AM Friday, and didn't leave my bed for a whole day, and had a horrible case of travel fatigue for longer. I was an utter wreck the whole time.
Anyways, the art is coming from what I got, and some is still in the pipe! Hope everyone starts off a better new year, and more good things come your way!
So, yeah its been a long quiet drought from the Rat and that was mostly due to life getting the better of me, a situation on helping a friend out of a bad spot, and for the most part too much stress and time spent on work and life that a lot of things, including my artflow and page, kinda fell to the wayside. Not that art hasn't been made and soon to be posted, but I've been so busy, its hard to keep up sometimes.
Starting off, I've been spending the better half of a year roomed up with
ChaosCabbit and helping her out as her situation got dire in Washington State. Time and effort has been put in helping her get her back on her feet, find work, and finally get her own place come January, here in Texas, after the proverbial rug was pulled out from under her several times back in Washington. For the most part, it's taken up much of my time, but needed to be done for a close friend and someone in dire straights. Still, she's been a good friend and a helping hand around the apartment, small as it is.Celebrating Christmas with the family is always a treat for me, but at the same time, it invited a lot of opportunities. One, a final chance to fly to Europe, as I had traveled often, but as my parents retiring at last, it was one last chance to check out the holidays in another country, and what a way to do it: Berlin. Outside of my curiosities to the museums and memorials, Germany sure knows Christmas, and it was quite an experience enjoying the Winter Villages in town and locally. And let me tell you, a bratwurst is just too damn good when its bitterly cold. Mind not all glamor and great cheer, jet lag was a persistent bastard on my part, nipping at me night after night that I wasn't drop dead exhausted, and discovering that Airlines now stuff Domestic Flight seats on to International Flights now was a less than pleasant experience. Still all worthwhile, and I tend to appreciate these times as much as I can.
TL;DR - Left Wednesday morning, Flight Rerouted, Delayed, Cancelled, then played hopscotch with gates in Dallas till I got home early Friday.
Trip home, though, was half the reason I was out of communication for the last two weeks. We've all seen them, those horror stories of holiday travels of people stuck in airports, trying to get home or to where they need to go, all stuck / delayed / cancelled flights in places they can't make it. You often think 'never happen to me' right? Well, fate had a sick sense of humor for me. I had left Germany around 11AM on a Wednesday. The flight from Heathrow to Dallas seemed swift enough (domestic seats till cramping me), but right up till we were an hour out before our flight was doing circles. A storm had hit Dallas and had shut down the airport and left a line of us waiting to land. An hour passes and we still can't land. Giving up, we fly to Austin as we can't wait longer. Outside of the unfun prospect of spending MORE time in that damn sardine can, and missing my connecting flight to Houston, we thought we were gonna stay on the tarmac, refuel, and go back to Dallas. However, our pilot and crew had gone over their legal work limit, federally enforced, and we needed to swap them out, so we were allowed to disembark (small mercies), and wait in customs till our flight could be restaffed. ETA, midnight. Lovely, I was supposed to be home by 11PM with all things considered. But as midnight rolled closer, we got told our replacement crew just cancelled, the storm was hitting the airport we were in and our flight has been cancelled, we're not going anywhere.
Top that off with the fact I had not slept the night before, I was already pushing past 24 hours, no sleep. With the flight cancelled, we clear custom in Dallas instead, and march our way to the ticketing counter to be rebooked. Except, we wern't the only ones, 3 other flights from our airline were redirected. Over 600+ people had to be rebooked in this tiny little airport in Austin. I managed to get in line at 2:45AM. I got to the ticket counter at 7:35AM. No sleep, marching in a mess of a line, bags in tow, small silver lining is I had a hard case, made for a decent seat between waits. But by the time I got rebooked, I was set to fly BACK to Dallas to go to Houston. Mind, Houston was only 2 hours away from here, I could have snagged a rental and gotten there faster, but all rentals were taken, the only hope to get home was to follow the path as the Airline wants, and it was still on their dime. So finally take off back to Dallas around 10AM, land around 11AM, and finding out my next flight wont happen till 6:30PM. Helluva layover, but whatever, going home. This was not to be, Dallas / Ft. Worth Airport was on a all-hands-on-deck situation, and they were pulling every pilot available, and that meant there was also a shortage. Sure enough, my 6:30PM flight is cancelled. No captain to fly. By now we're nearing the 48 hour mark on no sleep, and at this rate, I was ready to do what the airline couldn't. There were rental services nearby, I would just rent a one way vehicle, stop at a nearby motel, get some decent sleep, then drive home. But the airline wanted to give one more hail Mary. 10:30PM flight. We finally get to the gate, then the next gate, then the next, they were bouncing my departure gate several times, till finally the miracle was we were boarding. Another hour flight, and at last, I'm in Houston ... with an extra hour drive home. Gotta love landing in George Bush Intercon.
Suffice to say, I got home at 2AM Friday, and didn't leave my bed for a whole day, and had a horrible case of travel fatigue for longer. I was an utter wreck the whole time.
Anyways, the art is coming from what I got, and some is still in the pipe! Hope everyone starts off a better new year, and more good things come your way!
