Guten tag.

Things have been hectic for this disgruntled flight attendant lately, folks. Right now I'm staying in a charming little Bavarian town outside of Ramstein air base in Germany, which is lovely. My three-day interlude here has been largely recuperative, though, as it followed some serious sleep deprivation forced on myself and my crew members by the lying bastards at my company.

It entirely too long of a story to painstakingly hammer out at the moment, so here are the highlights:

Due to the recent deaths of important figures in both Kuwait and Bahrain, some of our operations in the Middle East were compromised. In order not to lose copious quantities of cash, my company had to scramble to replace a crew that had been waylaid in Kuwait and stranded, as they'd closed the airport for visiting dignitaries, etc. We were the replacements, though in doing so, we were breaking the union contract as well as several pertinent FAA regulations, company policies, and so on. As should have been our right, we attempted to get out of what became a 32 hour workday, but had no such luck, as company tactics included threats of suspension, guilt trips (for the sake of the soldiers we were letting down), lies (that the Bahrain airport would also be closing and that we, too, would be stranded if we didn't take this flight), and so on.

All in all, it was a dirty piece of business and after all of that abuse, I relapsed and ended up with swollen glands and a fever.

So anyway.

In other news, I brought three books with me, thinking that would be enough for a 2 1/2 week trip, including: The Poisonwood Bible, A Million Little Pieces, and, The Kite Runner. After becoming a temporary insomniac for four days, though, I ran out of reading material and am now reduced to reading a western romance one of my crewmembers lent me. It is insipid, but juicy. Kind of like my life.