Friday, December 17, 2010

Woes of the Traveler

It has now officially been seven hours since I arrived at SFO. My original flight was scheduled to depart at 10:55AM. After that flight was canceled, I was placed in the standby carousel. Round and round we go, from gate to gate, going this next flight is the one we'll finally get on.

I'm only going to LA. I could drive there in less time than it is taking me to fly there today. I've drained and recharged my cell phone twice. I've stood in line after line and somehow still managed to keep my "please" and "thank you" intact. I feel bad for the service workers who must endure the impatience and perhaps even some verbal abuse from the hundreds of people who have had their flights canceled today.

The airport is an alternate universe. You can sit in the same spot all day and hear five different languages spoken. There are no street fights or screaming matches. People typically don't randomly sit down in the seat right next to you and start breaking the ice with small talk. I feel much more connected to people when I'm at the airport. We don't speak much, but were all united by a common goal. We're all going somewhere. Being in transit isn't fun to me necessarily. I just like the people watching. If much rather be in my Hollywood hotel room than sitting in this damn airport. There's only one more flight to LA tonight after this one. Let's hope I don't find myself returning home tonight only to do it all over again tomorrow for a one-night excursion.
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Thursday, December 9, 2010

the shaving cream trick

Lumpy’s fan in his car doesn’t work, so there’s an issue with the windows fogging in the rain. When I returned from Sac on Sunday, after supporting Dimples for his first marathon, it was really bad. I looked up a solution on my fancy phone and found a convincing testimonial about shaving cream. I walked down to Walgreen’s while Lumpy went to do some maintenance on the sound system at the club and purchased a travel size Foamy. I used the same gym t-shirt I’d been using to remove the condensation and put a small dog poo sized dollop in the middle. I was worried for a bit because it just felt like foam on a t-shirt. I rubbed it around on the shirt until the foam almost disappeared. When I wiped the windshield again, it was like magic. Best of all, it’s still working and that was almost a week ago! I’ve thought about it since then. It’s such a small thing, but what a huge difference! I thought, “I can see!” No wonder men who get married live so much longer than single men. Seriously, how dangerous is it to be driving around in a nighttime storm with severely limited visibility? I feared for my own life.




The past few weeks have been a blur. I was knocked down by the flu for over a week following a brief stint with a stomach virus… goddamn germs. I haven’t been sick like that since the chicken pox. The first few days of the full-blown flu (I’d been dancing around it for weeks) I found it difficult to just live. Breathing was so painful. My throat and sinuses were swollen and on fire. There were days when I couldn’t talk, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t stay awake, couldn’t eat. It was truly miserable. Next year I’m getting a flu shot – the first I’ve ever had. I don’t ever want to go through that again.



I haven’t run in four weeks and haven’t ridden my bike in three. The endorphin withdrawals were overshadowed by my illness and I’m now a regular scrub again. Pathetic. Since I still struggle with the regular sore and scratchy throat, I’ve been taking it easy. This week since I’ve returned to work has been a series of ridiculously long workdays, leaving no time for me to get my moustache and armpits waxed, grocery shopping, a movie or even a happy hour beverage. I managed to play almost an hour of dance dance revolution on Tuesday. That was fun. I want to do it again. We’re out of meetings early today, so I’m going o attempt to have more ddr time. Perhaps I should try for a movie instead? I’ll play it by ear when I get home. It would be nice to cook dinner for a change. Thanks goodness we have no company events tonight. I love it here, but I’m exhausted.