There's no turbulence Click and Clack can't handle

I was going to mention the dubious safety records of Indonesian airlines, but the truth is they aren't dubious at all. They definitively suck.

I just booked my ticket on one of the more reputable airlines, Lion Air, whose motto is "We Make People Fly." That's not the kind of motto that evokes a feeling of comfort in me. That's the kind of motto, when coupled with above mentioned dismal safety record, that evokes militant pilots herding frightened passengers onto airplanes that have been assembled with ticky-tack and a staple gun. There was, of course, that time I thought it was permissible to fly with these guys, but that was for love. This is for beaches, hiking, scuba diving, and perhaps a bit of booze. Today is the last day of work before the Idul Fitri holiday begins, and so I am off (with or without a passport, as remains to be seen) to Sulawesi for a couple weeks.

In non-Indonesian news: RIP Reading Rainbow. And while I'm on the subject, a quick shout-out to my orang tua for making both PBS and NPR (which brought me the news of Reading Rainbow's cancellation via podcast) regular features in my childhood. How grateful I am now for all the Sunday mornings I heard the maniacal laughter of Car Talk, all the evenings I was rebuffed in my efforts to tune into B97 over the ubiquitous droning of All Things Considered. Because now? Now I have a dual appreciation for NPR podcasts that I never thought possible, a sincere appreciation for the informative, the hilarious, yes, the maniacal laughter of Car Talk (especially that!), for the quality of programs in their own right, but also a nostalgia for the kitchen in which I spent week nights and Sunday mornings, listening to my parents chop vegetables, laugh, refuse my pleas for pop music.

Ibu, Bapak, you rock. (And don't drive like ibuku!)