Istanbul, Turkey (Airport; July 4, 2014)

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

As right now, nothing too exciting had happened on my trip. I had gotten very little sleep, having left for the Dammam Airport at 10:30 PM. Too early to sleep beforehand, too late to not to be tired. I think I got around an hour's sleep throughout the flight (It was 4 hours). Awesomely enough, there wasn't anyone in the middle seat. Just the guy on the aisle and me at the window! Other than that the plane was pretty full. They fed us at 3 AM (our flight had left at 1:55 AM) due to Ramadan. That time was really too early to eat breakfast, but I was surprisingly hungry. Once I got off the airplane, it was super confusing. There were crowds of people, and no distinctive way to go. I did not have my boarding pass, and no one told me where to obtain it. So, greatly confused, I did the thing that any reasonable person would do. When in doubt, join the big line. Even if you don't know where it goes. It turned out that it was the security line (why would you need to go through a security line right off the plane, I have no idea. You just got through a security line!!!!) and in order to go through security you needed your boarding pass. So I asked a security advisor guy (as he seemed to know what was up) what to do, and as it turned out, I had to leave that line and go the Air Canada desk. So I thanked him and left the line. The thing about that desk is that it was not obvious that it was Air Canada. It was in combination with multiple airlines, and it looked like it was part of Turkish Airlines. You had to look a the tiny sign that had all the airlines on it. Anyway, after I go into the correct line (it was super short) I got to the airline desk. Getting the pass was no issue, and I was soon on my way back to the security line. When I got back in it is was shorter, and without any more ado, I got through security. Then I bought some turkish delight, (YUM!! Completely recommend buying some if you are passing through Turkey; nobody makes it like the Turkish!) and got some food. Once I settled down at the food court, I tried the internet. As it turned out, the internet is not free in the Istanbul airport, so just a heads up. I was a little astonished, as I thought it would be free, but no biggie. :D It was no trouble for me to enter the gate, but apparently, if you are not Canadian or American, and have a passport other than those two, they really put you through the twenty questions. I was a little shocked, because I thought you usually got questioned like that at customs, and not to enter the Air Canada gate in the Istanbul airport, who knew? I waited at the gate, got on the plane, and settled in for the longest leg of my journey, 11 hours. I was super ecstatic, because like the last flight, there was no one in the middle seat! I had no idea that I going to have any trouble, because as of that moment, everything had gone very smoothly. 

Flying is Fun (Not)

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

As a few of you may know, I have recently moved from Saudi Arabia to California. The trip I had to make was not one of fun and joy. I had to make several flights through a couple of different countries. Because it was a very exciting trip, I thought I would share it with you guys. So, over the next 3 or 4 days I will have a "mini-series" documenting my trip. I hope you enjoy it, and maybe learn something too! :D 

The Dark Side of the Moon

       Joe was very scared. All he had wanted to do was to go out quickly and fix the broken pipe. But it had not been that simple. There was more than one pipe busted, so it took him 3 hours instead of 1. He glanced down at the oxygen meter. It was rapidly going red. He had about 15 minutes to get back to the base, but was stuck between two boulders. His radio had gone out, and there was no way to get back to the base.

       Blaise was upset. He had not seen Joe since he left. He was Joe's partner, but Joe insisted that this particular project was only going to take an hour, so no help was necessary. But now that Joe had been gone for too long, he was cursing himself. Joe should never have gone by himself. Blaise paced the entrance to the airlock.

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

   

      Joe was now panicking. He was in no hurry to die, but it appeared it was going to happen sooner rather than later. He reconciled himself to his fate and sighed. This was life. As soon as you met a nice girl you would like to marry, you were handed your life back to you on a plate. Joe leaned against a boulder. Ah yes, the girl. He contemplated about her. Her name was Anna Marie. He had met her on the Underground while travelling back from work. She had not minded that he was wearing worker's clothes, and instead of snubbing him like everyone else, she smiled and chatted with him. That had lead to a nice dinner with coffee afterwards. He sighed and thought to himself, "That relationship had so much potential, but now there is nothing. But at least I was able to spend my last night on this moon happy as a... a... worker on break!" (Being from the Moon, Joe did not have a good comparison...)
       Meanwhile, Blaise had found an unused moon car and suit. He had established a weak signal from Joe’s radio. Even though it wasn’t working for Joe, the radio’s had a built in weak distress signal. Blaise followed it out to where Joe was. Or rather, where he should have been. Because the radio wasn’t working, Joe had left it near the pipe he originally was supposed to fix. Blaise snarled with anger. That was just like Joe, to forget that the radio had a built in distress signal. Blaise got out of the moon car and went over to the pipe. It had been fixed. Perplexed, Blaise glanced around. Nothing. He looked again, slower this time. Nothing… Oh wait! There was a flash of red coming between two rocks. Blaise quickly went over there. There was Joe!

       Blaise reached down to check if Joe was ok. He shook him a little bit. Joe did not move at all. Trembling a little, Blaise checked his life support system. The oxygen was yellow, there was hardly any left. Blaise lifted up Joe’s head. His face was tinged blue Restraining his tears, Blaise picked Joe up and put him in the car and hurried back to the base.

       In the hospital, Joe woke up to Anna Marie next to him.

Red's Troubles

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

Red, the woodpecker, was puzzled. It had been a hot summer’s day, and he was minding his own business, making a house, when an outrageous noise had come out of nowhere and drove him off.  He couldn’t understand. He hadn’t been bothering anyone. Still grumbling to himself, he landed on a tree in a park. He looked down on the paths. There were people jogging, walking their dogs, bicycling, etc.  It was busy, but he thought that because it was noisy nobody would notice if he drilled a hole in this tree for his family. So, he started drilling a hole in the tree. He was part way done when a park caretaker saw what was going on. Normally, it was okay for woodpeckers to build homes in the park trees. But that particular tree was rare and was having trouble growing in the environment. If it had too much damage it would die. So, the caretaker shooed Red away. This made Red even more upset. All he needed was a home for his family, but no one would let him build one! Squawking at the caretaker, he flew away and found a new tree in the yard of someone’s house. He started drilling incredibly quickly, so that he would be done before anyone noticed. Hearing the noise, a little boy came out of the house. He saw Red and ran back inside. He came out dragging his mother and pointing at the tree. She looked, and smiled. She and the boy went inside then came out with mealworms for Red to eat. Red watched them suspiciously as they placed them in a tray on the fence. They went back inside and watched through the window. Red completed the home for his family. He then flew down and took some of the worms to his nest to eat. He then left, and got his mate. She inspected the hole. Nodding agreeably, she went inside happy to find a gift of food. The next spring, there were three baby woodpeckers learning to fly in the yard.

The Tapping

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

The sun shone brightly above Popcorn’s house. Popcorn was a small, butter-colored terrier with a love for chasing pigeons. This particular afternoon was a slow one. It was a very hot summer’s day, and nothing had been going on. There had been no birds to chase, as it was too searing hot for them. As Popcorn lay in his doghouse, on the verge of napping, he heard a “tap,” “tap,” “tap.” His ears perked up and he lifted his head. What was it? The tapping continued. Popcorn was confused. He struggled to his feet and peeked around the corner of the doghouse. Nothing was there. He looked around the other corner. Nothing. Cautiously, as the tapping continued, he stole out of his house. He examined the tree next to him. He couldn’t see anything. He looked up, again nothing. By this time, Popcorn was perplexed. He could not see the thing that was making the noise. He barked, twice, and quite loudly. The tapping paused, then resumed again. Popcorn then started barking madly. This thing would not stop tapping, and it was driving him crazy! The woodpecker, the bird making all that noise on the other side of the tree, flew off. Popcorn watched it, bewildered. He hadn’t seen it, nor smelled it. But now that the tapping stopped, he was satisfied with himself and curled up in his house again, to resume his nap.

Linda the Dragon

         "Grandma, who is this a painting of?" "That, my dear, is a painting of your great grandmother. It was made before she married." "Oh. Can you tell me that story?" "Yes, I can, my child."

     

Made by Theta: Theta's Art

           Linda was very distressed. Today was the day she got her painting done for her betrothed. She had never seen him before and hoped that the painting the artist made was beautiful. She did not think she was particularly pretty, but many leaf dragons said she was. If her betrothed did not like the painting of her he could call off the wedding. Her family needed this, as they had many young ones to feed, and no room for her. The painter came. He looked her up and down. "Humph," he sniffed. "Let me see what I can do." Linda trembled. She had never had her picture done before. "Please, please, let it be good," she begged to the painter. He just looked at her and motioned where to go. She went in front of the background and hovered still.
           The painting took 3 days to complete. For Linda, they were the most boring days of her life. She went and hovered for long hours. Finally, it was ready to send. Her family sent it off and waited anxiously for a reply. Four weeks later, her betrothed family replied. "Looks good. The wedding shall be on the 14th of this month, yes? We will be there on the 12th." By the time they got this, it was already the 10th. Her mother panicked. "How will we be ready in time?" she wailed. Linda's father looked her right in the eyes and said, "We can do it. Have everyone help." The family started to prepare.
          When the 12th arrived, they were barely ready for Bob's, her betrothed, family. Bob's mother looked at the house. "Well, I suppose it could be worse," she sniffed. "Where's the girl?" Linda came out from behind her mother. "Hello new mother." "You can call me mother. Once you and Bob are wed I will be. You can have two mother's for the present." "Yes, Madame."
          The wedding quickly approached. As Linda came up the aisle, she looked at Bob. He looked handsome in his wedding bow tie. He did not look scared at all. However, Linda trembled. She thought, "This is the happiest day of my life, Bob is super sweet, but I'm going to be leaving everything behind!" The union between them seemed to take only a few minutes. Then, she and Bob sailed down the aisle. "We can go home now," he whispered; the longest senten
ce she had heard from him. "Yes, we can." And they went to the home Bob had built for them. "Our home."
       
            "And that is the story, Bob the third." "Grand'ma?" "Yes?" "I'm glad they married. Otherwise I wouldn't be here." "Yes, they truly did great things in their time."

Stories with Pictures??!!?!?!?

Thanks to my mother, http://thetasart.blogspot.com/, she has allowed me to use some of her pictures to base my stories off of. (YAY!) So, hopefully I will be able to make some with at least one picture per story. Also, I would like to note that I have not been the most consistent person so far with posting, but I hope to become better at it. :D