Today was my first day back to work in over two months, due to knee surgery. I was actually a little nervous but only for like two minutes. As soon as I walked in to the crew lounge, I saw a flight attendant that was in my recurrent ground class. He and a table of other flight attendants that I knee wanted to know if I could sew on a button. If only they knew my Mother! In other words, I better know how to sew on a button. It’s practically in my genes.

I got out to the plane and everything was as if I had never left. In fact, everything including the printer in the lounge not working, was just as I had left it.

This first day back includes one flight to Toronto with a completely unreasonable “0-dark-hundred-hours” report, which simply means really, really early in military time slang. The passengers were fantastic and had that great Canadian accent that I love. I was looking around for a Tim Hortons hat but didn’t see one.

Well, I have to get some sleep so I’ll chat with you some more later. Thank goodness tomorrow’s Cincinnati Women Bloggers meeting is at a coffee shop! make mine a dopio, please.

Due to the increase of fees for checking luggage and the amount of lost  luggage, more and more bags and personal items are being brought out to the aircraft and on board. Do you feel safe having all of the excess weight above your head? What do you consider “personal” items? Newspaper, purse, laptop? The kitchen sink?

Luckily, I work for Comair (a Delta subsidiary) where we have a valet system. You give the luggage that you carried to the aircraft to a ground handler. They in turn place the luggage in the cargo hold, which is a separate area on the 900 series Canadair Regional Jet, thus returning it to you as you deplane in the next city. Unfortunately with larger aircraft, these bags are allowed on board. While this may seem great to you as a passenger that wants to protect your clothes and such with your lives apparently, a survey found on Aero-news.com shows that such bags cause injury to not only the passengers but the flight attendants as well.

“According to the survey, over 80 percent of flight attendants sustained injuries over the past year due to dealing with carry-ons in overhead bins. The most common injury being strained and pulled muscles in the neck, arms and upper back. The survey was compiled from a representative sample of the 50,000 AFA-CWA members at 22 U.S. airlines.”

Currently, there is a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that offers to set one standard for all bags carried on board U.S. commercial aircraft. The Securing Carry-On Baggage Act, H.R. 2870, would create a universal size for carry-on bags, instead of allowing each carrier to determine its own size requirements and requires the Transportation Security Administration to enforce the rules. (also as reported on the site)

Since I am going back to work after yet another knee surgery (I think we got it right this time), I want to keep up the training. The problem is that the trips I noticed that are available these days can have really, really long breaks in between flights. What am I supposed to do then?

Well, I just ran across a site that shows you which airports have gyms, where they are located and how much it costs to use for the day. I’ve always wished that they would put in a gym but never really thought it would be possible.

Now, some of these gyms are in nearby hotels and some are down the street at an actually workout facility. I did not have the time to travel around the world (although they have) to look at them all but I checked my biggest airport for those “productivity breaks” *insert sarcastic tone here*, JFK!

Check it out for yourself and keep up those New Years Promises.

Yesterday, I was finally able to get back to watch a  rehearsal of the Cincinnati Ballet. The visit was not like usual though. New to the Cincinnati Ballet as resident choreographer Adam Hougland and I had the pleasure of finally meeting him. After attending Ballet and Beer tonight (Thursday March 18th,2010), I discovered that Adam is not completely new to the Cincinnati Ballet, having choreographed other New Works pieces. He is new as a resident choreographer. Welcome!

When I first entered the upstairs portion of the theater like rehearsal room, I was cheerfully greeted by others there to see the rehearsal. The one person that I did not recognize was Mr. David Herriman, who is one of the sponsors of the choreography for Mozart’s Requiem. Without hesitation, he reached out to shake my hand and then we were ready to watch the rehearsal.

While Adam placed the dancers in lines to begin, which at this point is a full rehearsal and not individual scenes like I’ve watched in the past, Devon Carney used red tape to mark spots on the floor. Although I knew what he was doing and why, it wasn’t until later that I saw just how important the markings were. As usual, some of the dancers were more excited than others which just shows me that it really is just like any other job.

What I didn’t expect to see were all of the dancers simply sitting in folding chairs in a row as if they were watching me. If only they were looking up. Then the music starts and slowly they come to life. The ballet ends the same way except for the fact that they are sitting on suitcases, not chairs. What does this mean? I’ll tell you that on March 26th.

One of the first scenes  danced by Sarah Hairston and Selahattin Erkan Zack Grubbs (sorry Zack), is a very dark, almost strange part. I cannot honestly tell you what is going on just yet but I can feel Sarah’s  anger and despair through her dancing. The emotion in her movements and facial expressions is gripping and real.The rest of the first act continues in this way although I am not sure quite as intense. Still, it is beautiful and honest in it’s own way.

Each year, the ballet’s spring season brings the more contemporary pieces to life. It’s a different side of the ballet world where the dancers can have fun and the public can see the pure strength and depth of these professional dancers. It shows the raw athleticism; power of a gymnast with grace and flexibility only a true artist can possess.

In another scene, Kristi Capps dances a part that showed me the unbelievable amount of trust that the dancers have in each other. Part of hers is a solo dance and part relies on some of the male dancers who lift her into the air while she twist her body as if moving through the sea. I later learned it’s actually called the Dolphin Lift. Go figure.

During a short break, I had the opportunity to speak with Victoria Morgan and Mr.  Herriman, who called the first act “Very Intense”. Such a kind man to interact with, he seemed genuinely impressed and  excited by what we had just witnessed to which I must agree. Victoria, who is the Artistic Director & CEO of the ballet, first introduced Mr. Herriman to Adam and the dancers. Of course we all applauded him for his generosity. Then, she introduced me as the one who blogs for them and gets the word out, to which they all greatly applauded as well. I was shocked to say the least and have to wonder what shade of red my face turned. I cannot thank this group enough for the joy that they have brought to my life.

While the first act is dark  and really deep with the intensity of the music from Mozart’s Requiem, showing different lives and the inevitable fear of going into the unknown, the second act is lighter with an idea of hope. Even the stage will turn from dark to light. Mozart’s music has a more luminescent playful feel to it as well. The stage props are turned upside down to signify change. Or, is it right side up?

Adam choreographs more typical ballet moves into the second act although the arms remain more stiff than you would usually see in a ballet.  Mr. Hougland tells me that the reason behind the dancer’s arm positions is to show the “tension and anticipation of the emotional journey”.

The end of the performance leaves us no longer discouraged and pained by the unknown as the dancers portray a light at the end of the tunnel with Adam Hougland at the helm. Nice job.

When I asked Adam what his inspiration was, he told me that he would picture different things that reminded him of certain dancers that he has come to know so well. There is a more indepth interview with Mr. Hougland on the Ballet’s website, cballet.org. This years New Works production Mozart’s Requiem is a ballet like nothing I have ever seen before. There is no Princess or her fairy godmother, no parties for the Prince and certainly no dolls. Pure inspiration that came from a talented choreographer based on music written by one our most famous musical geniuses.

I cannot wait until opening night [March 26th 8:00pm] to see if the performance once put together feels the same as the rehearsal, naked and unadorned by backdrop yet never lacking in passion.

This is my last week of physical therapy before I return to work (as a flight attendant). I am almost sad. For the last two months these have been my friends, my support and encouragement. Rick, my therapist says that he is impressed by my will power but really it comes from the fact that he doesn’t let me give up. When I go in, if he is busy, I immediately get on the exercise bike. instead of the 5 minutes with no resistance, I like to do the 7 minute warm up. Definitely more intensive that it even sounds. I have been switching it up over the last couple of weeks so that my thighs burn so bad I can barely walk over to the table. I am determined to have legs with some muscles on them for once in my life.

As I do my routine today, I am looking around and listening to everything going on around me. I find this to be so helpful because there are often others there that are dealing with the same things that I myself have dealt with over the last few years and it’s a great reminder. You can have a great conversation with someone and learn a lot or even teach them a thing or two based off of your own experiences if you only say “Hi”.

I look at the ceiling and picture how it was made. The new building is an amazing difference over the old one. The equipment although they still complain about it, is definitely much better. Yet even with how much larger the new place is, certain times of the day, like a Monday morning, are so busy it’s often a game of musical tables to even find one. You have to spread out your things to reserve a table. I first put my coat on the table with my bag next to it and went to the bike but when I returned, I found my coat under the table. So, I went to a different table. The problem is I needed to go to the bathroom. I left my shoes purposefully spread apart ON the table and my coffee too as to say, don’t even think about it. It was all still as it was left when I came back.

I will miss meeting new people where it’s okay to talk about what’s wrong without boring them or fear of the person rendering you pitiful and useless.

I think that I will have to go back at least one day a week when I am in town. I could use the encouragement to keep on working hard at my knee’s bending potential and keep up on the news of the twins my therapist’s and his wife are waiting to deliver.

Thanks Wellington for the impression that you have made and all that you have done. The therapy after the surgery is the most important part so I’ve learned the hard way and you provided that.

St Patrick’s Day

So, what exactly is St. Patrick’s Day and how did it all begin?

St. Patrick was born as Maewyn Succat in Britain, who was kidnapped, taken to Ireland and forced to be a slave. After he turned to God, he had a dream from heaven telling him to escape and go back to Britain. Once there, he had another dream telling him to go back to Ireland as a missionary and teach the Irish about Christianity, which he did. He served the Lord for 30 years before dying on March 17^th, 461 AD, using his Christian name Patrick.

A religious holiday was then adopted for named Saint. Each year a religious holiday was held on the day of his death with a feast. Eventually it gained in popularity and began as a day of reprieve during the lent season, which included drinking ale. It did not become a public holiday until 1903!

The color of this day used to be blue yet was changed to green due to the fact that St. Patrick used the green clover in his teachings to describe

The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

In the mid 1990’s, the Irish government began a campaign to use the holiday to showcase the Ireland and it’s culture by having a festival. It began as a daylong festival and immediately grew to five days including concerts and fireworks.

Here in the US, the Chicago River is died green each year along with many other things like beer and eggs to celebrate the day and people even wear as many green clothes as possible as well as hats and other Irish traditional wears. Be careful, if you do not wear green on St. Patty’s Day, you’re likely to get pinched! Where did that come from?

Cincinnati Ballet’s World Premier of

Mozart’s Requiem

March 26th, 27th, 2010

Mozart’s Requiem (Requiem Mass in D Minor) was composed during the last year of his life. His last compositions is also considered one of his most respected and well known, including not only orchestra but vocal in form of choir and vocal soloist.

The choir, Xavier University Concert Choir.

The soloists,  Lisa Ericksen (soprano soloist), Maria Ventura (alto soloist), Cameo Humes (tenor soloist), Thomas W. Sherwood (bass soloist).

Now, who is choreographing such a great undertaking of a master’s work? Resident choreographer, Adam Hougland of course.

Mr. Hougland, who graduated from The Julliard School and went on to dance with The Limon Dance Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, The Lar Lubvitch Dance Company before starting his career as a choreographer.

Adam quotes the Requiem score as having a “dark, mysterious, song bird quality” that he “fell in love with” after listening to it. One of the dancers tells me that she is excited to be dancing in this ballet even with the dark theme. I wasn’t sure what made it dark until I watched the video on the ballet’s website, where Adam says the ballet is “…as much about death as it is making the most out of the moments you have here on Earth”.

Sounds beautiful to me.

The stage, which has been collaborated with Marion Williams, costume and scenic designer based in New York working in theatre, opera and dance, is modern and unique to anything that I have ever seen in the ballet world. Ms. Williams has worked with Adam Hougland four times in Louisville and he says that he worked well with her on this ballet as well. Pictures of the stage show scaffolding and models of people and chairs, which may explain the use of suitcases during rehearsals. Mr. Hougland describes the ballet as different scenes in different lives that may not make sense at first yet mesh well at the end.

If you really think about it, aren’t all of our lives intertwined in some way. I meet people everyday that through some other person or place or thing, have something in common with myself.

Luckily, I only have two weeks left to wait and see what appears to be an amazing opportunity to see such a well known choreographer come to our Cincinnati Ballet.

Ballet & Beer Thursday March 18th at 5:00pm

Performances,  March 26th and 27th 8:00 pm

March 27th 2:00 pm matinee

I recently wrote a post about how to travel if you are a passenger but started thinking about the other side. What about the flight attendants who are caring for the passengers? This came out of a conversation I had with a co-worker yesterday and I dedicate this post to my coworkers and flight attendants around the world although it could apply to other workers as well.

I am frequently asked how I still smile and seem to love my job after 12 years as a flight attendant. I would think that these people are just being nice if I had not met some of the people they are talking about. Honestly, I can understand the side of the tainted ones even though I still believe it’s possible to change those thoughts.

There’s the compensation involved, both received, promised and taken away. There’s the rules that are constantly changing by what appears to be someone who hasn’t the slightest clue about being on-line (working in the plane). There are the bad hotels on poor overnights and being at our company’s whim at any time of the day or night. Definition: employee.

So, how do I still smile? I love my job and all of that above is the crap that you have to go through to get to said job. I come to work, check in and go. I come back in, check out and leave. I know it’s there and I pay attention to what I need to however, I do not let it run my life.

So, what about these passengers? We all know that the passengers are not always cherubs in flight and your co-workers are not always perfect. So what? The passengers will be gone and off on their way and the other employee, same thing. Do your job. Make sure that the passengers are safe and have what they need to be comfortable and if they are ornery, have a little fun with them. How great are you to be around when you are having a bad day? Sometimes all it takes is a little kindness. Perhaps the passenger is having a bad day. Perhaps they are just a jerk. I have even more fun with those.

Passengers have mentioned that they just want the flight attendant to smile and say hi. Plus, think about their journey before they even got to you. Picture the last time you went through security. Add on to that, dealing with customer service, lost baggage, misconnects, rude flight attendant on the last flight…I did have a passenger that was screaming at me because he was going to be late for his daughter’s wedding. We were 10 minutes to late making sure that a mechanical issue wasn’t dangerous. I told him if it were my daughter, I would have left at least by yesterday. Suddenly, he was a lot nicer and I did not actually word it that nicely. I did smile though.

Our jobs are not as glamorous or simple as some people may think but it’s really not that difficult. Say ‘hello’, read some safety briefings, serve some drinks and pick up the trash, then say ‘good bye’. If you pick up the trash during the flight (even if you have to be more aggressive) and there won’t be much if any after the flight. Fold the blankets for goodness sake. If you don’t care what the passengers think of you then do it for the next flight attendant. Fold in half, then half and half again. It takes like 10 seconds.

Remember: You are NOT hurting the company; you are giving your own co-worker more work. Are you really that lazy?

Please note that I am NOT saying that we are treated great and that there is no reason to ignore the way that we are treated. What I am saying is that you work for a company and they could care less if we are happy or not so we only make ourselves miserable when we let it get to us. I am not at work right now however; I have been there for many years and feel for the people that are being abused. While I do not think that it’s okay and I do feel bad for what other flight attendants are going through, I still believe that we make it worse when we allow the circumstance for which we have no control to run our lives, it only makes it worse. They do not pay me enough to not have a good time!

Waiting to find out if we are even getting on the aircraft is a bit nerve racking. What people do not understand is that it’s not always that easy when you are traveling standby. Sure, it’s great that I have the benefit of traveling however, it’s only if there is a set available and if my seniority is high enough to get the seat still. We lucked out!

Getting settled on the plane is only as easy as the people in front of you and how much stuff you brought yourself. Personally, I try to bring as little as possible.

TIP: Only bring what you are willing to carry. After you pick out what you think that you want to bring, put back something.

Also, remember that there are others on the plane and the faster that everyone is settled, the quicker you can leave. Please for all parties involved do not get every little thing out of your bag until everyone is seated. If you need your book for during the boarding process then get it out before boarding begins. If you insist on bringing a lot of luggage then may I suggest boarding as soon as your section is called.

Take your seat and then once everyone is on board, you can get something else out of your bag that you may have forgotten because the next time that you will be able to get that special something is in the air with the seatbelt sign turned off. If I didn’t already mention this, place your bags in the overhead right away or you may not be able to due to full compartments. We also ask that you are not an overhead compartment hog by placing once bag underneath the seat in front of you!

Funny story: now that it’s over anyway…there was a bag at my husbands feet that was not his on one of his flights. He simply thought it was the passenger next to him and was kind enough to let it stay only to find out later that it was the passenger behind and across from him that was too good to keep it at his feet yet wanted to have it within view! NEVER EVER do this as a passenger. As said above, if you don’t want to carry it, don’t bring it! Also, if it’s not your bag, do not be so nice and ask who’s bag it belongs to.

The rules on the different flights are obviously going to bring about variations in the rules. It doesn’t matter if you are flying on Comair or Delta, your electronic devices are to be turned off before the main cabin door is closed. The only actual difference is that mainline (Delta) is larger and therefore not as able to check every single passenger to make sure of compliance. Also, they have more flight attendants that can do the other duties while checking for said compliance. So, when I make the announcement to turn the items off, please do it. You will not die if you don’t get in that last 20 seconds, I promise. After over 12 years, I have not lost a single passenger. If after repeated attempt met with non compliance (or just one depending on my mood), you will either be met by someone with even more authority or I will personally confiscate the item until you are allowed to use it.

Sit back, relax, be respectful to the other passengers and the flight attendant(s) and enjoy the ride!

The only non-stop over seas flight from Cincinati, Ohio these days is to Paris, France.

When we decided to go visit some friends of ours in Switzerland, it seemed only natural to fly directly to France and then rent a car to drive down. I was on the other hand not too excited about flying into the Charles de Gaulle airport due the sheer size of the place. The issue is that unlike Cincinnati, where you can fly into concourse A and simply walk to concourse B or vice versa, if you fly into one terminal and are departing from another, you have to clear customs and security in order to go to the connecting flight.

Since we were not taking another flight this time, it all seemed so simple. Either that, or the airport has changed over the last few years. We walked off of the airplane, followed the signs where we quickly passed customs with a friendly agent and off to wait for the one bag we wound up checking. Even that, was not a big deal. The ramp agents were very efficient. The exits (sortie) are clearly marked and easy to find exiting immediately outside. After renting out car from Europcar, whom I highly recommend not only for courteousness but speed and efficiency, we picked up the car and were headed away from the airport within 20 minutes if that.

Overall, the experience with Charles de Gaulle this time was great and I no longer dread the thought. Hopefully the same can be said for the return flight!