No Spring Chicken


Procrastination - to put off the doing of something that should be done. When you look up the term in a dictionary, you should find my picture next to it. I have been knowing for two years that I was planning to go to the World Figure Skating Championships in Washington, D.C. I thought it had been one year, but I looked up my ticket order form, and it has been two years. At the time I ordered, I was excited to be going and had at that time an idea of things, from what I wanted to take to the skaters to how I wanted to wear my hair at the event. I had been making more active preparations since December 2002. So, how is it that on the night of Thursday, March 20, one evening before the morning I'm to board the plane, that not one item is packed in any suitcase? And, in fact, I have no idea what suitcase I own that can fit the items I have planned to take.

I thought I would have big hair for Worlds. Similar to Mariah Carey when she first came out in the early 90's or even Maria Petrova during the 2000-2001 season. I even had a tint of red added to it, so I feel like I'm really stepping out and being more bold than usual for the event. Surely I would be unforgettable and recognizable. It did cost me major for my time on the day before the eve of my big trip.

The whole day of Thursday didn't go as planned, and I had wound up at the office after 9 p.m. tying up any loose ends in preparation for my ten day vacation from work. A vacation I'm very happy to be taking, but I just don't want to be thinking about any potential problems while I'm away. So, I'm off to Walmart upon leaving work and thinking that it closes at 10 p.m., and there will be no way that I can get all the items on my list during that time as I don't know where half of them are in this multipurpose store. But, to my relief, once I started loading the cart, I learned that the store did not close until midnight. Which was a mixed blessing because now that I had more time to shop, it would take me longer to make my purchase decisions. Thus, cutting into my packing time once I got home.

And when I arrived home, what do you think I did? My packing? - no. I was on the computer printing out my well wishes and encouragements to skaters on a printer that had to be coaxed and supervised because I seldom use it. I had already in previous weeks taken the time to type everything up, but it was still on my hard drive. And, in between prints, I was writing up the banner for Maria Petrova and Alexei Tikhonov. It was a cream colored long satin scarf that I had pasted a mid sized Russian flag to and was writing the names of Maria & Alexei in my best penmanship. I had to make my best guess of how I would hang it seeing as how I had never hung a banner up at an arena or skating event.

I finally deferred to my packing and making decisions on necessities versus just desires in what I would take to Worlds. I knew I could only make it with two pieces of luggage that I could pull on wheels - 1 check in and 1 carry-on. Factor in what I knew needed to be in my carry-on versus what I would entrust to the no-locks system on a check in bag to put under the plane with the new airport system where you can't lock luggage.

As the night grew later and early morning hours crept on, decision making became more difficult and everything was less discernable. Attempting to do a last minute spell check of my prints at this hour proved futile. Focusing on words and struggling to keep eyes open is not a good combination. But, if I didn't stay awake, I would not be ready in time to get on the road to the airport before morning traffic started. I used to be able to pull all-nighters in school while studying for tests and during finals week. It was no problem if I could blast music in my ears, walk upright with a book periodically and the like. It must be that I am no spring chicken anymore. Somehow, I got it all together before the last possible second so that traffic was avoided.

So, I get on the train to the airport, and I'm starting to get butterflies about what my first live skating competition is going to be like. So, I'm thinking, Did I leave anything? Do I have my ticket? Will I meet any skaters? Not likely. I'm definitely making it to all the practices and competitions, right? I've got to seize the moment. Time passes so quickly that it's the shortest ride to the airport I've had yet, and when I arrive I'm wondering what the new security measures would be. Well, at the check in counter for the airline, they don't ask those questions anymore about Has your bag been in your possession since you packed it? and the like. After a short visit with the ticket agent, I just took my check in bag to the screening machine and luggage handlers ran it through. Then, I was off to boot camp to get to my boarding gate. We had to take off shoes and coats and put them on the conveyor belt with carry-on pieces and purses. I was just watching what other people were doing to figure out what I should do. I made sure to hand my film and camera to a security guard before I went through the detector because they said film of 800 speed or higher would be affected. They did look over each roll of film one by one and even opened it from the package as the package had not been opened. Then, the security guard told me my carry-on was being pulled to the side for a detailed search, and I should follow her to look but not touch. I had a hand can opener and silverware packed inside for my food plans in D.C., which had probably triggered the search in the carry-on. Well, the shoes got back on my feet, but as I was following the security guard to the table to watch her search my carry-on, I was forgetting something. A nice passenger that was two persons behind me in line for the conveyor belt held up my coat and yelled, 'Excuse me, miss, is this yours?' And, I am really indebted to her because I was freezing cold the whole time at the arena (more on that later), and don't know what I would have done without my coat. So, the guard picked over everything in my carry-on, and I had to mash the contents back in to get it to close, and I was off.

I don't really remember boarding the plane or how I found the numbered gates. I even had a layover where I had to get off the plane and board another plane. I went to eat and remember looking at my watch, but I don't think I had more than 40 minutes during the entire layover. I was so tired that I don't know how I read my watch or found the right gates to get on another the plane. I was sure I would be left behind. I had brought some articles about some of my favorite teams that I wanted to read, but I wound up dozing in flight.

Another security measure is that in flight from 30 minutes before landing at Washington National, no passenger is allowed to get up from their seat at all - not even to use the restroom. So, they advise everyone about this at the beginning of the flight and remind everyone prior to the beginning of the 30-minute window. When I got off the flight and found baggage claim, I left the airport, and no one was even stopping people to check to make sure the corresponding luggage was leaving with the right people.

I found the Metro station beside the airport very easily, and had planned to take it to my hotel. I realized that I had forgotten to print a map of the route I was supposed to take before I left. But, I remembered the name of the stop I needed to get off for the hotel. I was staring at the map in the station and trying to figure out how to buy a fare card to get in. I must have had a puzzled expression on my face. A station attendant came up to me and said I looked like I needed some help. So, he told me what color line train I should catch and from which side of the track. Another attendant spoke to me and was very friendly. I set off the alarm trying to go through the turnstile. For the train system at my city, you insert the fare and go. But, at the Metro, you put the fare card in, then take it out because you will need to insert that same fare card in order to exit at the destination station. So, when I put the card in but did not take it out and attempted to pass through, I set off the alert system. The attendants came to my rescue, and I was on my way again. Except, there was a level of construction that narrowed the platform and constricted my movement with my bags a bit.

I found my hotel with no problems. And, it was a little less than an hour before check in. So, I just tried to prepare my camera and look at the practice schedule to see what I would hit as soon as I could get settled and skip over to the MCI Center for my true adventure to begin.

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