transit

I wrote this a couple of weeks ago (18th June) while waiting in the Detroit airport. Idiots charge $6.50 for 24 hours' worth of wireless internet access. Cannot buy in smaller increments wan.

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Know what? I'm in an airport terminal, and because the magnificent Cassandra Claire just released Chapter 16 of her Harry Potter fanfic Draco Veritas, I keep thinking about Draco's sword Terminus Est. DV is the third of a trilogy, which I think in many ways is substantially better than Rowling's last book =P (Have I written about Claire before?) I just really really like having Draco as a real foil to Harry instead of being the stereotyped cardboard bully. Claire's Draco is a tortured kid abused by his own father who yet is as much a moral figure as Harry -- as much or more of a victim of Voldemort as Harry. Granted, Rowling IS writing for children, but given that she's given Snape a complex background, she might do a better job of fleshing out the other major 'mean' people as well.

Weeeelll...admittedly I am a sucker for tragic figures in fiction. Don't handle such real-life characters well. I know of a couple of students at my uni who have post-traumatic stress disorder, and sometimes I catch myself wondering, kaypoh-like, what happened to them, how they live with terrible pasts.

Anyway, the reason why I'm in Detroit instead of Minneapolis is that my flight out of town left at 9 am instead of 11 like it was originally supposed to...and I didn't think to call the airport to check last night when I was trying to figure out why it didn't show up on the online flight schedule. Fortunately, they got me on one that gets to Manila only half an hour after my original one did.

Don't know when I'm going to be able to post this, though, since I refuse to pay six and a half dollars (more than I make at my campus jobs!) for wireless internet access. Babi sial. Granted, that IS for 24 hours' worth of access, but I'm not staying that long. *sigh* Maybe the Japanese will be nicer and have free wireless.

My sister HE's best friend KA once ICQ'ed me saying "Am outside KLCC starbucks stealing wireless." I'm really looking forward to seeing how much connectivity there is back home (Malaysia) since I got a wireless card a few weeks back ^_^ although it'll be a bit impractical unless Pa can find a battery for my Gateway 450 while he's in New York and bring it back. Why do computer batteries have to be so damn ex?

There are several sparrows flying around in here, twittering cheerfully and picking up weary travellers' crumbs. It's so amusing to have these little aviators happily flouting the rules, making their home in this huge building, so much artificial effort put into flight, but they do it without a thought. Sparrows make me happy.