at LA hostel

1 snowstorm -> 1 flight cancellation -> 1 overnight alone in the airport (hopefully the last time EVER) and 1 day - 3 take-offs and 3 landings - later, here I am in Santa Monica, LA! looking at 3 days through new year's alone.. what shall what shall what shall i do? ah time to sleep man, will figure life out tomorrow (maybe, perhaps, possibly).

people-watching to the max over the past couple of days. sitting in the airport meant that, aside from trying to get comfortable on the hard wiry seats and the nagging anxiety about being solo with all my bags which frankly if someone wanted to take away from me they could more than easily have done so, i caught real-life snippets of that line from the movie, that love actually is all around.

in La Guardia, a little girl ran across the terminal carrying a doll in one hand and running as fast as her tiny legs would let her (which wasn't very fast; her mom just walked alongside her) to shriek and hug another little girl (cousin? sister? half-sister?).

then there was the ~20 year old dude whose mom was sending him off like she wouldn't be seeing him for years (might be the case who knows), and the other mom giving her daughter multiple rounds of repeated hugs. moms have a way of sending their children off :/

in Charlotte, i overheard a phone convo. of someone informing the lady in the airport that her cancer was gone. the old lady was so happy for her, exclaiming about how that's such an awesome start to a new year.

in Phoenix, a little boy didn't wanna share daddy dearest with his older sister and wailed when daddy invited her to come along with them to the snack shop. the little boy still got a roll of candy for sis when he came back from the shop.

in LA, a woman gave me her smartcart (it costs $5 to rent and i was just gonna transfer my luggage bags onto the luggage storage van, so i didn't wanna get a cart) saying that i looked like i would break my back handling my 2 fat luggage bags.

now i am here, freshly showered sharing a room with 6-9 strangers for the next few nights. quite excited to go sightseeing tomorrow.. hope i don't get lost. meanwhile, it's 31 dec in singapore already... so happy new year's!