Stranded

Tomorrow spells the most grueling leg of our working trip. We were supposed to start our meetings in San Diego, stopping by UCLA and Caltech before finally arriving at Palo Alto for meetings with Oracle, Stanford and finally Berkeley. For those who aren't in the know, that means a total of more than 10 hours of being on the road.

However, right now, at 930pm, we are still stranded at Chicago O'Hare Airport. I'm thoroughly exhausted, having driven from Urbana-Champaign for 3+ hours and getting stuck in the Chicago traffic. I was looking forward to warmer weather in the west as well as a good rest before tomorrow's hectic schedule. However, this was not to be.

I guess it is hard to stay bright and positive, but I do know that there is no point in being sulky as well since there is nothing much to be done. My boss did mention that despite the very exhausting workload, I seemed to always crack a joke to thaw the sometimes-frosty environment within the group. Well, I guess this is my shot at staying positive. Even then, sometimes I think that endurance has its limits. It has been a looooong day, mentally and physically exhausting.

I can't wait for the weekend. Of course, I can't wait to meet up with Rebs and Ian at San Francisco after the end of it all. Rebs just excitedly replied to my email that she doesn't care if she had to go to work the next day, we can hang out till really late on Wednesday night before my flight on Thursday.

Home never seems further.