Hawaiian Airlines flight 36 landed right at the stroke of midnight at Sky Harbor International Airport. After the plane halted at the gate, I experienced another one of those moments that reminds me of my vertically challenged state when I stood on a seat to open and retrieve my carry on. I think I held back a line of people waiting to get out of the plane, which made it a bit more embarrassing but whatever.

I grabbed my checked bag downstairs and caught a cab. Mo, the driver, was super friendly. He moved from Iraq to Phoenix about 15 years ago. It was cute how curious he was about Hawai‘i. He asked me questions like how long the flight was (six hours), how many people live in Hawai‘i (1.2 million) and if people there still practice the art of traditional tattooing (yes).

I got to the hotel and checked in with the front desk. At first, the woman there looked really tired but after I broke the ice (!!) she opened up. =) She was also curious how long my flight took.

So now I’m here, laying on my stomach, typing out this blog with the TV tuned to ABC. I was hoping to catch Franz Ferdinand’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel even though I know well enough that I missed it. No biggie because I’m seeing them live tomorrow night! This weekend is actually happening, yes!

Time for me to go to bed. I’m gonna explore the neighborhood and meet up with some fellow Musers (Muse forum peeps) tomorrow.