Another post from my flight

Time: 10:40pm PDT
Location: 37,000 ft above Japan
Ground speed: 530 mph
Outside Temperature: -50 C

The in-flight movies are terrible. But the food is better than the movies - chicken curry for lunch, cup of noodle soup for snack, and, although I'm hungry now, a "light dinner" which will be served about an hour before we land in Hong Kong at 2am. Refusing the three movies shown so far has given me 9 hours to contemplate seat 56C. Let me share. It's on the aisle, so my legs have more room to move. Seat 56B is empty, except for the junk that the occupants of A and C have put there. A is filled by a high school teacher returning to Hong Kong after a 3 weeks of escorting his students around Los Angeles. He sleeps a lot, so conversation is limited.

With no movies and no blab-partner, I've had the honor to be entertained by myself. I've used the uniquely dull and boring airplane environment to pursue activities that would normally not hold my attention. I read 100 pages of "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. It follows a South American family through 6 generations - a family that continues to honor past generations by naming children in their honor, to the point that the author included a family tree at the beginning.

I've also watched Lawrence of Arabia up to the intermission. It is an excellent film for air travel. Lawrence's courage, quick adaptation to foreign ways, and charismatic leadership make him a worthy role model for anyone seeking to lead an army - not exactly what I'm doing, but the traits are still admirable. The desert of Arabia, with all the sun and sand, provides prospective to my plane ride. Would I prefer a camel to seat 56C? Perhaps. What about an impossible twenty day march across the waterless Nefu desert, cinematically climaxing with a jaunt across the Sun's Anvil? Should my companions speak with British accents, or Chinese?

The answer, oddly, will be both.