Last night I set my alarm clock for 3:15 AM. That was a tad early, I’d say. Now I’m sitting in PDX waitining for my flight to San Francisco, where I will be meeting up with the ad kids. Things are pretty strange at this time of day. Surreal is the word that comes to mind. Here are a few observances so far:

-People movers. Which came first, the people mover or the escalator? Did someone honestly look at the replacement to stairs and think “We can improve on walking too.” Also, how great would it be to have a huge people mover down the center of campus? Think how much homework you could get done while being slowly transported towards class. Your leg muscles might atrophy, though.

-Airports are creepity at night. This terminal is pretty much empty. For some reason, my airline has a special basement room rather than something that connects to the huge hall, and there’s only one other person in here….who just left. Am I the only one on this flight? Does this mean I get more peanuts?

-Coffee. So. Important. Once I got around security, this was foremost in my mind. There is something so primal, so right about that first jolt on a really groggy morning. It makes me feel happy and full of life, like everything will work out okay so long as I have a constant flow of this sweet, sweet nectar. This is hours before my caffeine crash, so stay tuned.

-Second oberservance about coffee. WHY oh God why would the airport cafe ever close?! How is it that they don’t open until 5:00, when CLEARLY people need coffee at all times of night???

Finally, I wanted to make a list of things I’m hoping to get out of this trip.

-Better understanding of advertising culture.

-Better understanding of agency culture/office/working spaces for my thesis

-a veritable BUTTLOAD of pictures and insights to sift through for inspiration later this year, and perhaps even long-gone nostalgia in my old age.

-Connections, plans, a better ability to envision my future steps into this field. At present I feel like bambi taking those initial awkward steps out on the ice. I hope to emerge from this a graceful stag of sorts. It’s early. I’m sleepy.