Written while waiting for my flight from Houston to Austin
I love travel because it gives one a chance to experience novel, unpleasant things, which make for good stories, because other people’s suffering is funny, as long as it’s not serious. “A clown falls into a manhole and dies” is comedy as long as it’s a made up story, and “my weekend listening to ready player one and trying not to projectile vomit (again)” is also comedy, as long as I don’t die at the end of it. Though if I did, and it was because I literally vomited to death, there would be a certain inappropriate, dark, Monty-python-esk hilarity to it.
In any case, I have nothing as major as that, thankfully, but I’ll give you what I got.
Houston is a big airport. I wonder if it’s a Texas thing. I’m told they like big things. I haven’t verified this for myself, but the airport would be one check mark in that category. So when I say I wandered through the C terminal looking for food in the two hours until my flight left, understand I was activly walking for at least a full 50 minutes.
I got off at C39, which is right at the very end of one terminal, and the screens told me I was aaaaaall the way down at C1, so I thought I’d walk all the way down, looking for restaurants along the way, and then perhaps backtrack to the best one.
I ended up at Panda Express, partly because a Airlines Pilot made a B-line there, and I figured it was a good idea to follow the regulars
(Skipping around a bit, because I had to stop writing: flight boarding)
I hope I never loose my childlike wonder. I hope I never become so jaded that I don’t want the window seat in the airplane. I hope I never stop striking up fascinating conversations with friendly strangers.
As I look out the plan window, the sun was just glazing the horizon a faint orange to blue, as planes that looked like moving stars traversed the space between upper and lower cloud floors extending as far as I could see. Below me, a phospho-luminescent mold of colorful city-lights glimmer like glowing jewels or stardust. An organism I’ve mentioned befor, but this time, there was a blanked of soft fluffy clouds right above it, diaphanous, allowing peeps of the shimmering ecosystem below, and also lighting from the lights below in a soft glow camera obscura a soft halo seeming to surround the islands of light, and in the distance, flowing patches of clouds, like the glows from flashes of concealed lightning, but frozen in time, always on. What wonder this life is, this world.
Further going’s on: the Panda Express. I think the two Chinese lady’s running the shop thought me and the man in front of me were doing a comedy routine on them. We were a study in opposites. He was bombastic, an athletic, tall, black, social young man, with beautiful long hair that made him seem even bigger. “yeah that… no, not to much, I’m not greedy, just a bit… and that.. And then some of that. And then just a little bit of that” (“Sir, we can’t do just a little bit, it’s by portion, it’s an extra 1.25” “yeah, ok, yeah that.”) He kept up a constant stream of chat as he went down the line. I was short, white bread and mayo nays, and so quiet I had to repeat the brief words I did say. “The noodles and veggies.” “Do you want those as whole portions or half portions?” “Huh?” “Do you… oh, never mind.”
When we finally got to the end of the line, he went to the further register, so I went to the nearby one, but the people had actually been motioning each of us to the opposite registers. I caught a barely contained smile exchanged between the two, and realized a) I was at the wrong register and b) they were going to have a good laugh telling this story after we were gone, there was probably even more to it that I was not aware of. In any case, we ended up handing credit cards and recipients across each other, to the register the other was in front of, and then leaving.
But the adventure doesn’t stop there.
I discovered, to my growing horror and fascination (the two emotions are sometimes so close together.) that some… most really, of my vegetables, were encrusted in a translucent jelly substance. What could it be? I noticed it because a few pieces of broccoli were so encrusted that they looked like they had been dipped in could, colorless jam. It was… fine, I guess. It didn’t tast like much of anything (of courseI had to try it! Mysterious vegetable jelly? Was it some kind of super-tasty sauce that was so good even the fact that it looked gross wasn’t enough to deter people from coming back for more? Or was it some kid of …. Side effect of sitting under a heating dish for too long?)
I tried to scrape it off and eat around.
But it was a really good price for a meal! I think I ate a half-portioned meal or something, because there was nothing that cheep on the menu. Perhaps I was supposed to get something with meet, and they felt bad that I didn’t get anything but vegetable jelly.
In any case, I then went to my gate, only to find that it had been moved, not just back in the completely opposite direction, but, as I discovered upon finally arriving, to the exact gate I had arrived at.
But I was not bitter. No, I had just finished listening to a book on tape called “no sweat” which was all about finding “Opportunities to Move” or OTM’s, in everyday life. Like parking further away from the super market on purpose so you can get some walking in, or traveling around the airport rather than just sitting by your gate. So I prefer it this way. But man, if I wasn’t a very congenial guy, or if I didn’t have so much time, I could have gotten pretty angry. That was probably a good 25 minute walk back.
I switched arms on how I carried the roll-on, so I could work-out both sides. And because my arms started falling asleep if I pulled it with one arm for too long.
I offered a stranger who was sitting next to me at the gate the use of my phone charger, for which he was grateful but declined. And once on the plane, I started up a brief conversation with a lady sitting next to me, but got the distinct sense that she didn’t want to talk to anyone. But then she had to move because she was sitting in the wrong spot, and I got to talk to a Tech consultant who had just gotten the new iPhone X and was happy to talk about it and show me how cool it was. And also a bit about the great school district he lives in, and how he is a reformed Mac user (since somewhat recently. That his, he finally tried a Mac computer and was super impressed and switched to all Mac stuff. And his wife is an educator too! How nice, to meet a stranger and find you have much in common. You don’t have to ever meet again, but for a few minutes, you can sit together and share the excitement of a cool gadget.
It’s now Sunday night. I’m leaving tomorrow.
OK, that’s all. I’ve got a big day tomorrow. Wow. I’m typing this on my iPad, and it is wigging out on me. So much for “it just works.” The page is jumping up and down so it’s distracting and hard to type because half the time it’s not even showing what I’m typing.
Anyhoo, the school I visited was super inspiring, and in general it’s been an educational visit.
Good night all. :-)
-Isaac
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