Category Archives: masochism

sleepy airport ramblings

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I’m sitting at the PHX airport waiting to board. I got about three hours sleep last night. This is a good thing – hopefully I’ll sleep well on my Helsinki flight.

As I was walking to security, I saw a plane with a giant “HAWAIIAN” on the side. I should be on that flight. Instead, I’m going someplace chilly, wet, and on an interesting but most likely pretty depressing tour. Can’t we go to Hawaii instead? It’s warm there.

There was a lack of assistance at the ticketing desk. A French man in front of me was completely confused. We did some hand waving over our passports and at the kiosks, but ultimately, he was left stuck in line while I received assistance and got checked in rather quickly after having my identity verified. Apparently, a passport isn’t valid until you sign it. Good thing the ticket agent had a pen I could borrow. I was almost invalid and unverified. What a terrifying prospect.

First class is now boarding. Guess I should put my laptop away.

See ya’ll in Chicago! (Actually, probably not. I’m pretty sure O’Hare doesn’t have free wi-fi.)

On the road again….

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I just a few days I will be on my way to Warsaw. Poland.

Fourteen hours of travel to get there. Airplane, wait, airplane, wait, airplane. And Bam! I’m in Poland. I love seeing new places, but over the years I have lost my love of airplane travel. There are parts of it that I quite enjoy, and I think if I could just fly the plane I’d be fine. Dunno how the other people on the plane would feel about that….

It’ll be a fascinating trip full of history and family and sadness. My mom is meeting me there and among other places, we will visit Sobibor which will be intense.

I thought about creating a different blog site to document this journey, but I decided to post here. I’ll keep updated as often as possible, so visit frequently or sign up for email notifications (also see the “Categories” at bottom of main page for “Poland”).

more noise please

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The view from my porch sucks. I’m sitting in a lawn chair, with a beer and a couplea candles burning down on the ledge. My view is of a parking lot awning and a street light. Oh look, there is a tree. Brilliant.

Where I grew up there was no special ‘view’ (“Oh look, honey! I can see a tree…don’t mind the powerlines and rooftops. We have a view!”).

It was just trees, hills, and sky. I didn’t have to have the world mediated through a porch viewfinder. It just was there. All of it – as Reverend Lovejoy calls it, “the cheap showiness of nature.”

Here, my view is limited by fake adobe and a garage structure and the constant rumble of the freeway. Airplanes fly overhead and cars cruise through the parking area.

I think Steven Jesse Bernstein said it best.