Meditations in still time

Here I am, sitting in a plane that has been sitting on the tarmac for the last four hours. The captain has just announced that we've been given the take-off time of 5:20 p.m. -- 5 1/2 hours after the scheduled departure time of 11:50 a.m. This delay is due to weather conditions at our destination -- thunder and heavy rain. And our flight is only three hours.

So what have I been doing all this time? I read an English newspaper and two Chinese newspapers, the latest issues of TIME and NEWSWEEK (cover to cover), and FORTUNE and FORBES. I had my lunch. I wrote an article for our blog. And now I'm brainstorming.

What am I going to do when I return to my base and I can't access our blog? I've already lingered in the U.S.A. and Hong Kong for as long as I could. My husband might divorce me for desertion if I still don't return.

I've been praying for the last month, ever since google.blogspot was first blocked on May 15. I've been hoping that after June 4, the ban would be lifted. But June 4 has come and gone, and the ban is still in force. They say maybe after October 1. God! That's the end of our blog!

I've been working very hard for the past couple of weeks, saving enough drafts to last till my blog partner M returns from Alaska in early July. Good thing we can keep in touch by e-mail and, hopefully, SKYPE.

Why are we doing this? Why are we stressed out when M is on vacation and I'm supposed to have retired. Why do we have self-imposed deadlines and writer's block? Why am I writing this when most of my fellow passengers are sleeping?

A flight attendant just asks me if I'm a writer. Silly girl! A professional writer would be using a laptop and not be scribbling longhand. My answer? "Eh, freelance, sort of." Ha! Ha!

Yes, why are we keeping our blog going in the face of such difficulties? Not for fame or fortune. Maybe you can become famous hanging on the coattails of a star, but just as JHJ is so low-key, we prefer to remain anonymous. There are expenses but no income.

We hope we are providing a service to JHJ fans. We hope we are one step ahead of them with his news. We hope when they miss him, they can come to our blog and commune with like-minded people. We hope to keep his fans for him, or maybe even gain some new fans. Out of sight, out of mind. We want to keep him in sight of everybody.

And we love JHJ. He deserves our support. He's an "endangered species" in the entertainment industry. You don't find actors like him anymore -- professional, talented, conscientious, dedicated, hardworking, unassuming, modest, not to mention incredibly handsome (but not self-consciously so.) You don't find people like him anymore -- filial son, good brother, loyal friend, and great role model for the young. Someone like JHJ who gives us so much joy and inspiration is worthy of our respect and affection.

He's worth it.

P.S. The caucasian man sitting next to me has just disembarked. (I didn't know you could do that.) He's taking tomorrow's flight, since he's already missed his meeting. More people are getting off. I've called my husband six times -- every time the captain makes an announcement -- another delay. The burly man sitting in front of me is giving a pretty, young flight attendant a hard time. If he doesn't stop within ten seconds, I'm going to kick his a__ (the back of his seat, I mean.)

Our aircraft is being towed. Finally we'll be taking off! -- almost six hours after we first embarked and twice the flight time.

P.P.S. I left for the airport at 8:30 a.m. this morning. I arrived at my destination at 8:30 p.m. -- on a 3-hour flight. This is called 21st century travel. Marco Polo could have done better.

And we're not allowed to disembark till 9 p.m. because health officials came on board and checked everyone's temperature (thanks to H1N1.) If you display any flu symptons, you'll be quarrantined.

P.P.P.S. If M can post this, that means White Horse, Yukon has wifi. Thank God!