Another Airport, Another LONG Wait

Flight delays, re-routes, and cancellations are a constant in my life. Understanding how airports work, when flights will or will not be delayed, peak travel times for business and personal travel, and common airport ettiquette are essential to successfully navigating this world of mass trasportation. I'm always trying to optimize my time so that I spend as little time as possible in an airport and airplane. I am strategic about my seat choice, have a defined MO for boarding adn departing planes (not to mention packing and security), and understand how to work around/with airline rules.

All of this is useless if you sleep late and miss your flight... which I did this morning. So my current wait is my own fault, which is a bit more frustrating. I had a 6 AM flight, which means I'd have had to wake up at 4:00 AM, left my house by 4:45 AM and arrived at the airport by 5:15-5:30 AM. My phone alarm did not go off (which is odd, need to figure out what is wrong with it) and I woke up at 6:30. Then I realized that I had left my purse at work... overnight. So, I had to drive 30 mins to get to my office, grabbed my purse, and then drove 20 mins to arrive at the airport at 8:00 AM. Of course, then I had to ride the little bus from the car park to the terminal. So in the end, I was at the airline counter around 8:20. That is 3 hours behind schedule. And then to make matters worse, the earliest flight to Boston on American leaves at 11:30 AM. Well, I got my new ticket and realized I had left my work badge in my car... so off I went, back to my car to grab my badge, and then back to the terminal. Somehow this flight will be impossible for even me to miss. Though I'm sure I can figure something out to make that happen.

I'm so sleepy... and have a cold. Last night I went to this ballroom dancing class and felt really bad b/c I didn't want someone holding my infected hands. Alas, what else could I do? It is so much fun to go to that class. I normally am fairly adept at learning dances and what not, but I really suck at this whole ballroom thing. I think there is an element of preciseness that I can't get my 'free-style', rule free experience to accept. You have to hold your frame a certain way, no slumping allowed, and your head has to angle and hold at a certain degree to look graceful. All in all, it's beautiful to watch... but quite a bit of hard work. I have a new respect for those who participate in "Dancing with the Stars". I can't imagine perfecting those routines in 1 week.

I've been cheating...

So, although it seems as if I haven't blogged in a while... it's not quite true. I've been journaling about a very specific topic, BOYS, on Live Journal as well as writing in a physical journal. Now, the simple thing would have been to just blog it on this one, but the whole idea was to keep it private. But, given the multiple blogs and journals I have, my writing consistency would have been better with one single writing venue. So my new goal is to consolidate. I have a feeling this may become a bit painful, but it will be worth it after it's all finished. After all, can you imagine the memories that are captured. I was reading some of the old, old posts and getting such a kick out of them, the things I thought were so important back then, and the decisions I thought I'd never have to make. It is refreshing to read how naive I was once upon a time. It also reminds me of all the hobbies I seem to have stopped and the 'likes' I have put aside. No matter what happens with my applications to MBA programs, I am determined to resuscitate the old Aarti and get back to being me.

So, I've applied to graduate school. Early April is when I will find out where I have been given admission. I keep having this irrational fear that I will be rejected from every school I have applied to. That would be very disheartening. I really want to go to Michigan, but it's a very competitive program and I just don't think my grades and GMAT score are good enough. Their good, but not as stellar as I'd like... ie perfect. ;) However, my experience is very competitive, not to mention my community involvement and interests outside of work. I'm taking the GMAT again, hopefully my score will improve the second time around to make my application more competitive. I guess everything works out the way it should in life, you just have to keep a positive attitude and make the best of each opportunity.