Keriosity

A few weeks ago, I was flying back to LA from NY - AND THERE WAS A BABY KANGAROO ON MY PLANE! He was sitting in first class. His name is Bloke. I love him. He was folded up in a big pouch-like bag, slung over the shoulder of a strapping young Aussie. (I love him too.) I wasn’t able to get a picture because the stupid flight attendant was talking to him when I walked by. The woman in the seat next to me said that they had loaded a bunch of strange animals into cargo. When we landed, she and I were glued to the window to see what animals would be unloaded. Another Kangaroo (bigger than Bloke), a koala, some sort of bird, and a mongoose-like animal. The ground crew looked uncomfortable and nervous.Cool, huh?  I want a baby kangaroo. I’d name him Springs.

Here is something you might not know about Kangaroos:  The joeys only gestate in the womb for about 38 days. When they are “born” as tiny pink hairless babies (less than 3cm in length!), they grasp onto the mom’s fur and crawl up her body into her pouch to complete their gestation cycle, which is another 8 months. Once they are able to bounce around on their own, they can still nurse for 6 months. Kangaroos can reproduce continuously, so she might have one in the womb, one in the pouch, and one out of the pouch but still nursing. She can produce different types of milk for each of the babies.

Meanwhile…I want to pass out hearing about the gestation cycle of humans, but I am fascinated by baby animals. (I had to pretend my sister was having a kitten the first time she got pregnant.)

In no particular order:

1. Yellowjackets!!!! (that one is in order)
2. Parents who think everyone loves their children and aren’t annoyed by them
3. Recycled airplane air because it means we all feel like we’re sitting next to The Farter
4. Stickiness
5. Cigarette butts being thrown out of car windows
6. Cigarette butts being thrown anywhere except in a garbage or ash tray
7. Uncomfortable shoes
8. Groups of 4 or more women
9. Pet owners who do not keep their dogs on leashes
10. Silverfish
11. Love Stories
12. Slow walkers
13. Close talkers
14. The lingering hand-shake
15. California drivers (this encompasses rubbernecking, not using turn signals, stopping in the middle of the street because they forgot they had to be in another lane, riding the brake, speeding up when I’ve signaled that I’m changing lanes, taking up more than 1 lane, broken brake-lights, the pointed finger out the window in lieu of a turn signal, honking at me to flirt with me, not knowing how to merge, and spilling items onto the freeway from their trucks.)
16. The phrases “I’m all”, “he’s all”, “she’s all”
17. Cell phones
18. Starbucks cups as an accessory
19. Overuse of the word “surreal”
20. That licking sound dogs make
21. Women who won’t date men who are “too short”
22. Men who won’t date women who are “too pudgy”
23. That at the airport, the line for Starbucks is longer than the security line
24. Repetitive noises
25. The smell of mildew
26. The first day after getting my hair colored when my hairline is still stained with color
27. 98% of anything having to do with children
28. Pregnant women who think that we think their naked belly is beautiful
29. The word “snickerdoodle”
30. The word “spleen”
31. Cooking shows
32. Medical surgery shows
33. Reality tv shows
34. Messy car interiors
35. People who talk for their pets
36. Menus and flyers shoved into the slats of my fence
37. Dry rot
38. The word “dry rot”
39. Mud
40. Humidity
41. Subway track sludge
42. Shopping
43. Hot chocolate mix that forms into small powdery clumps rather than dissolving
44. Scary movie commercials
45. Ovaltine radio commercials
46. Any stranger who has ever sat next to me on a plane
47. The word “trunk” when it refers to a torso
48. Slobber
49. People who use the word “I” or “me” in every single sentence
50. Running
51. Spiders
52. Personal trainers
53. Jennifer Love Hewitt
54. Beavis and Butthead
55. The sound of a baby crying
56. Being tickled
57. Magicians, clowns, or team mascots
58. Pet owners with no medical background who feel they can give veterinary advice to other pet owners
59. Talking to someone who has food stuck in their teeth, a crumb on their chin, eyelash on their cheek, chapped lips – anything that distracts me but that I can’t bring to their attention
60. Pushy sales people
61. In-flight announcements
62. People who are oblivious to their position relative to what’s going on around them – ie. Standing in the middle of a crowded walkway, abruptly stopping in the middle of a moving crowd, stopping at the top of subway steps to figure out which way to go. What is wrong with people – MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!
63. Smudging a nail 20 minutes after getting a manicure
64. Pauly Shore
65. How my ears ache after coming in from the cold
66. Stubbing my toe or other exercises in clumsiness
67. Bratty dogs
68. That the cat always chooses the newest thing in the house to vomit a hairball on
69. People calling me “Milhous’ mom”
70. Artificial peach smell
71. The mispronunciation of the word “breakfast”. It is NOT “brefext”
72. The mispronunciation of the word “espresso”. It is NOT “expresso”
73. The mispronunciation of the word “especially”. It is NOT “expecially”
74. Static electricity from packing peanuts
75. How dental x-rays dig into your gums
76. Campbell Brown’s inconsistent lisp
77. Breaking a yoke while making eggs over-easy
78. Eating the last thin mint (well that doesn’t drive me nuts as much as it makes me sad.)
79. Mystery dog poop on my sidewalk
80. The word “socket” when it’s used to describe where a tooth used to be
81. Poking myself in the eye (this happens a lot)
82. Having the hiccups (this happens a LOT)
83. The smell of cigarette smoke
84. That I constantly use it’s instead of its
85. The song “Mr. Sandman”
86. Earwigs
87. How I get a runny nose 5 minutes into a massage when my face is in that cradle and there is nothing I can do about it
88. Katie Couric conducting an interview
89. Bird poop on my newly washed car
90. That starchy smell from self-tanners
91. That the cat thinks we share meals
92. Papercuts
93. When a bee buzzes around my car while I’m driving, especially if I’m in a convertible
94. Workmen leaving fingerprints on or in my house
95. Sitting near someone who keeps sniffing or coughing or making other bodily noises
96. That Emil twists caps on bottles tighter than the manufacturer does
97. Those junk emails that start out with biblical quotes but are really just ads for Viagra - neither of which I’m interested in

We were in California for the weekend - 36 hour trip of which 12 hours are spent flying. But it’s worth it. Perfect weather, great friends, etc.

But then there was this:

“Good evening and welcome aboard American Airlines………….flight 256 with non-stop service from New York to………….Long Beach, California…………This is your pilot, Capt. Smith speaking……….Uuuuuh……We are anticipating a………..fairly smooth flight…….this evening. Uuuuuuhhhh…..the current…..uh, temperature…………in Long Beach at this time……is….uh……being reported at………… 68 degrees……….with partly cloudy skies………and…………………………………………….. a slight wind…………………..from the northwest…………..” blah blah blah.

Why all the pauses and “uh”s? Just spit it out! Don’t they know what they are going to say? Don’t they say the same exact thing at the beginning of every flight? Why all the suspense? Are they just NOW looking to see where they are flying to and what the temperature is?! Why don’t they just have a script in which they just plug in the variables?

“Good morning/afternoon/evening and welcome aboard AA flight #XXX. We are anticipating a smooth/rocky/vomitous flight with no/occasional/lots of/constant turbulence, and we should be arriving at our destination early/on time/late/eventually. The current temperature being reported at our destination is X degrees with no/light/heavy wind/rain/clouds/tsunamis. If you take a look out of the left/right side of the aircraft, you will see [name of a well-known city or natural geological formation]. ” etc, etc.

See? It’s easy. Personally, I don’t feel comforted when the pilot has to pause so often. Especially before naming the destination! “with non-stop service from New York to…..(hey - Mike, where are we flyin’ to again? Oh right!) Long Beach, California.”

Maybe the passengers should start doing the same thing and teach them a lesson. “Yeah….uh….I have a…..reservation…to, uuummm…Long Beach……………….California. My name is……….Keri………………….Rensing………………………I have…………..uuuhhhhhh……2………………..bags to………………check………….uuuuuuhhhhh………………….and I requested a………………vegetarian……uh…..meal.”

See how they like it.