Sentimental Valium

Merry Christmas everyone. To borrow from Jerry Garcia, "what a long strange trip it's been."

I got to the airport Friday morning, thanks to KK's giving me a ride. Guess I got there around 9:30. I finally sat down at my dad's place, in South Carolina, around 10:30 that night. A two-hour delay in GR, followed by an equal one in Cincinatti, topped off by standing in the Delta Customer Serivce/Baggage Claim line for two and a half more hours to end the trip. Weather wasn't good. I found out today that Comair (who booked my flight) ended up cancelling over 1,600 flights on Saturday alone. I can report of at least 15 Delta flights that were cancelled in the time that I was waiting in OH. I was growing frustrated (mostly tired) at one point when a man asked me how long I had been waiting. "Not long I guess," I told him. He didn't wait for me to ask him back. He just plowed right ahead. "I've been here for 3 days trying to get a flight out of this hole."

I suddenly grew thankful that I had made it as far as I had.

I tried to remain that way through the delay and having to sit next to a fairly larger old man who wanted to use my seat as much as he could as well. The luggage thing though--that made it really hard. Our entire flight didn't get luggage. I'm not sure if there was nothing on the plane or what. I ended up having to stand in that forever-long line to give them my dad's address and all that so they could deliver it to me when they figured out where it was. That was Friday night.

It's Sunday at 4:39 and I still have no luggage and there is no information where it might be.

A guy standing in line said to us "Hey, you know what Delta stands for? Don't Expect Luggage To Arrive."

Anyway, our Christmas was nice actually. My dad and I ate went to his friend Earl's house to have dinner with him and his family. I had my first deep-fried turkey (which was amazing I have to admit) and some of Earl's home-grown sweet potatoes. I've decided I'm not a fan of colored greens though... Some nieces stopped by and there probably ended up being about 15 or so of us at one time. The little girls were cute--they were looking at me and my dad almost as if they hadn't been around white boys too often. It was meaningful for me though. It's hard to not be with the rest of our family, but here was a guy wanting to take care of us. Even his wife mentioned that she wished they could have more people there to feed and host. It was really moving. And I am so glad my dad has a friend like that down here.

As I'm typing this, in the computer/cat room, the little animal came in to "take care of business." It smells like what it is.....

I want to apologize to anyone who reads this and is wondering why I haven't called to say "MC." The cell charger is in my luggage and the battery is dead so I can't get to my address book. Sorry about that....

I was hoping it would be a little nicer down here. So far, it's been kinda chilly (actually in the 30s) and today has been a dreary rain to go with the temp. Supposedly it will keep warming up every day though and get back into the 70s by the weekend when I'm back in Michigan. But c@it was right about the South: great food, some cute girls and genuinely nice people! They really are. It's still really green here--lots of pines and magnolias (which I like a lot, even without the flowers). The state tree is a palmetto palm tree--strange creation but all over the place. Can't wait for the sun to shine so I can get a better idea how nice it is.

Guess I should get back to reading. I've finished a book about Johnny Cash already and I'm getting ready to finish a book called "Weird Like Us: My Bohemian America." Definitely a good read for those of us "artsy-types" who aren't sure where the fit in this world that has values we struggle to even understand, let alone adopt as our own. I'll try to post again a few more times while I'm here. I'm working on a "best of" for the music snob site and want to add some more resolutions to this one. I need some other clothes to help me feel more creative first though....

posted by -tr0y- @ 3:30 PM