Hello from the Pacific!

 

So I’m sitting in LAX, short for Los Angeles International Airport, although I’ve never heard it called that. I’ve spent a lot of time in this airport, on the way to visiting my grandparents or heading home from or back to college and graduate school. Neither the airport nor the city is the home of too many fond memories. Well, I guess memories of my grandparents and other relatives who have lived here are good but I never liked the city. I wonder if the smog is less severe now. In the past, flying into LAX meant descending through a layer of orange-yellow fog that made one sympathetically gasp for air even from the canned atmosphere of the plane.
The good news is I’m not staying. I’m merely waiting for my flight to Honolulu. No, Honolulu is not my favorite city in the world, far from it. But as winter begins to descend on Chicago, a few days in a tropical paradise don’t seem so bad. I’m attending a conference in the city and the warm weather and beaches make the very long flight worth while, or so I think at present. I will even have an extra day at the end of the conference at which time I hope to see a tiny bit more of the island.
Lest you think I’m lazing around, I will be putting in around 20-25 hours of lecture time (continuing medical education) over a five day interval. This exceeds the average weekly load of a college student although I won’t have homework or quizzes. I do know that by the end of one of these conferences, I have basically exceeded my ability to absorb new information. When my brain starts telling me that I cannot learn one more thing, that is when I start playing hooky and heading off to the beach.
I’d rather be on vacation with my family and I’d rather be on a different island, Kawaii would do in a pinch, but a conference in Honolulu is sort of like having one’s professional cake and eating it too.
I’ve had another day or two of internet exasperation so I have no idea when I will be able to post this or the pictures I plan on taking but at least I’ll have a post ready for whenever I am next on-line.
Think of me as the autumn leaves fall, or if anyone from the southern hemisphere swings by, as the spring birds get busy nesting.