Yes, Chicago is far superior to Detroit in many ways. The flight cost something insane like $75 round trip. Not that that excuses the lifetime spent in the airport reading (and re-reading and then re-re-reading) the one David Sedaris book I'd brought and watching CNN discuss airline security and a possible strike by Northwest's employees. Greyhound-it's a dog of a way to get around. I went to Phoenix from Akron by Greyhound. And back. That was enough. More than enough, really. Trains should be more available. I love a train. I especially love a train song.

Did I ever tell you about the slightly crazy recovering alcoholic that got on at the Peoria stop in my trip from Waterloo, IA to New York? A fountain of wisdom, he was. Sat next to me until Pittsburg; filled me in on the meaning of life.

Now I'm all paranoid, We're flying with United to Europe in about a a week and a half, return flight is with Lufthansa. Last time when I came to the US, I got the full drugs check, I bet that was because I flew out of Amsterdam ;) When Mr GG visited me for the first time he flew from Cedar Rapids to Chicago, from Chicago to Dallas and from Dallas to Amsterdam, because that makes sense. not. I don't have any problems on O'Hare, I hear from a lot of people that they don't like it, but I don't mind it. Maybe that's because I'm used to big airports, Schiphol AMS is one of the biggest ones in the world.

How do you KNOW it's no reason?*shifty eyes* Because I already took the bottle of saki out :) Greyhound-it's a dog of a way to get around. HARRY!!! I was flying to Chicago from Nashville and had a 4 hour layover in Detroit. Even more crazy since in eight hours you can drive from Nashville to Chicago. or I can Last time when I came to the US, I got the full drugs check, I bet that was because I flew out of Amsterdam One day I will tell you about all the fun of trying to get out of Guam with gunpowder residue all over my camera equipment. I got everything except the strip search that day.

Greyhound-it's a dog of a way to get around. HARRY!!! TrooperCam--You instantly recognize obscure Harry Chapin quotes. That does makes me happy in my old folkie heart. And yes, the drive to Chicago would have shorter than that flight. Never again.

Greyhound-it's a dog of a way to get around. HARRY!!! TrooperCam--You instantly recognize obscure Harry Chapin quotes. That does makes me happy in my old folkie heart. I love Harry Chapin. I have all of the releases on CD and almost all of them on vinyl. I have been pricing a system to transfer Legends of the Lost and Found from vinyl to CD.

Last time when I came to the US, I got the full drugs check, I bet that was because I flew out of Amsterdam That is always the drill when you fly in from Amsterdam. Jamaica, too (at least in my experience. Silly, really.

Ok, I'm going to be incredibly rude and just interrupt any conversation to whine about RL. Feel free to ignore me (but do so at your own peril 0.o) AS Level results come out on Thursday. There's an incredibly good chance that I've failed them all. Particularly Maths - I never once passed a Maths mock test, I don't know why I should expect to pass the real thing. Well, ok, I actually revised for this one, but I have no faith in my memory and thus, this is not a comfort. Besides, Maths isn't about knowing and remembering facts - not at A Level anyway. It's more about the exam board asking you ridiculous questions that involve about 5 different, intensely difficult processes. Man, I used to be good at Maths - GCSE was a freaking walk in the park. Do you know my problem? I'm strongest at proof. Give me something to prove, something to work my way back from and I can do it. Give me a question and an answer and I can work out and explain each and every of the 10 stages it took to get there. However, when you give me the question without the answer, I kind of suck. Therefore, this ability is incredibly valuable in GCSE Level Maths, but essentially useless in AS Level. At GCSE level, all of the high-mark questions are 'Prove that...' or 'Show that...' At AS, there are hardly any proof questions. Blah. You know what questions we were asked instead? Name and instrument that wieghs over 80kg or something. Unfortunately, when I'm in exams, I focus so much on my knowledge of that particular subject that I block out all other knowledge. That's exactly why I failed Biology last year (well, I got a C, but only because my coursework was an A*) and that's exactly why I hated those Maths papers this year. I need every mark I can get and I lost one on a question about musical instruments. I had a brain freeze and couldn't think of anything. When I got out of the test, someone suggested a Piano. As a Piano player, I felt incredibly idiotic to not have thought of that. Enough rambling. Basically, I don't particularly want Thursday to come. I live by the screwy theory that ignorance is bliss. It's how I avoid going to hospitals/doctor's offices etc. and it's how I feel about my AS levels. I mean, finding out my GCSE results was just...incredible. But I did well then - classes were a breeze, I was acing most of the mock exams and the actual exams didn't bother me at all. This year, I've been failing mocks, worrying about the exams and ultimately had some sort of a minor breakdown. It's not quite the same situation. I know it's incredibly hard to get straight A's at A Level, but...uh, it would really suck if I didn't. Particularly since my GCSE results were so damn good (one year later and just the thought of them makes me feel incredible - 5 A*s, 4 A's and a C, baby). Well, this has all been very rambly and pointless. Sorry. Needed to vent. Back to your normal programming.

OH 407-I feel your pain! It'll be OK. The world doesn't end when you don't pass things. And it doesn't necessarily get better when you do. When I took my Comps (Master's-no need to address me as Dr. RSH) I spent a week pretending I hadn't taken the test. When I got the letter saying I'd passed I called Mumsy and freaked her out because I was sobbing with relief. FINALLY! Everything's going to be alright! Then, two weeks later, I got really sick and refused to go see a doctor and missed my graduation because I was hallucinating and had a 103 degree fever. So, yeah...That's why I'm not a motivational speaker. Good luck!

...Thanks, TLTW. Comforting. :D Ok, important announcement to the Hizzy! WE'VE DECIDED TO MOVE THIS THREAD TO THE NEW 'REAL LIFE' SECTION, SO IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHERE IT'S GONE...WELL, IT'S THERE.

Hee! Well, they wouldn't know that if they don't know where it is!

407, I'm sure you did well. Worst trip ever: London-Amsterdam-Detroit-Minneapolis-Miami. Return was Miami-Atlanta-Keflavik-Frankfurt-London. Well, London-Hamburg-Delhi ('whoops, sorry -- can't seem to find Delhi so we take Mumbai instead')...to Delhi by train-Guwahati comes a close second.

I feel your pain, 407. It is the hardest thing to take exams and wait for the results. In some of my classes they would post in the hallway the exam answers with rationale so you could see how you did immediately. I liked that. I just took my boards for nursing, and the stress between the computer shutting down and acutally getting the results days later was pretty harrowing. I am sure you did well. You are a smart cookie. :)

Why is the Hizzy a sticky?