Chapter 1-Smooth the Bumps

I would get delayed by 5.5 hours in the nothing happening Newport News airport. It was so slow and boring, I drank a $12 Jack and ginger in the bar at 9:30 am. After arriving at Airport 1 at 6 am, the plane finally left for Charlotte at 1pm, with about half the passengers that initially boarded 6.5 hours earlier. 

One of the most aggravating parts of this is the federal requirement to wear these outdated masks. We're nearly all vaccinated, what is the point anymore? Why can't they just be optional?

We landed around 2:10 and I shuffled through an airport terminal that was so busy it made Times Square look like a winter Iowa cornfield. My gate was located at the end of Terminal B, which means lots of large planes, not lots of room. Right next to our gate were gates that were boarding flights to JFK and LaGuardia. Not only that, 26 standby passengers were trying to get on my plane! Thank God I was confirmed, I only had to wait 20 minutes to board. 

On a brighter note, I did score a $12 meal voucher, which I used in Chicago. I thought about going to Frontera, but with their abbreviated menu, I went to Prairie Tap, a tiny bar that I remembered had a good ribeye sandwich. I took one of those down along with a pile of fries. And I would up sitting next to two random guys, Darren and Andrew, though the latter looked like the twin of Jeff Daniels character from Dumb and Dumber. We drank beer and joked about everything from comedies to sports to beer. My homework is I have to watch Blazing Saddles. It was a great time and the cool thing is I never would've been in that airport if my flights had gone according to plan. 

Fittingly my last plane was delayed another two hours... of course, for me, that's minor. But I did land around 10:30, so that's basically 20 hours when you factor in time zone changes. Lugged my 40 pounds suitcase up the flights of stairs because the Pioneer Square station doesn't have a working escalator. I passed about 15 homeless people in two city blocks. Just filthy. 

Prologue-Further Disaster

Well it's still the 1st morning of my vacation and it's already an unmitigated disaster. I'm sitting here in the Newport News airport lounge wondering when the hell I will ever get out of here. Actually the disaster started last night when I tried to get a ride to the airport from Uber or lyft and nobody would take my claim for 5 days. So I then called a cab company and they agreed to pick me up at 5:45 am. Then at 5:30 this morning, they called me and said they could be there at 6. With my plane leaving at 7, that was just too narrow a window. So I drove myself to the airport and parked my car in the lot. My car will be there for 9 days so it's going to cost me over $60. 

Then I checked in for my flight, we boarded the plane, we taxied back from the terminal and on to the runway. We had to go back to the gate because there's an air valve problem. That led to an hour of standing in line trying to get rebooted. 

As I sit here, we have now been delayed 3 and a 1/2 hours, as another airplane part needed to be flown in from Charlotte. Finally the airline decided to just scrap the flight and replace it with a different aircraft. So now I've been rebooked to Charlotte to Chicago and finally to Seattle and I'm hoping to land in Seattle 9 hours later than I arrived. Of course I'd already brought baseball tickets for tonight that are now worth Jack squat. So the trip is already off to an absolute nightmare of a scenario, now I'm just hoping and praying to get to Seattle tonight and have a full Saturday there tomorrow.

Standing By

As I sit uncomfortably in a hard gray chair by a charging station in the Philadelphia International Airport, I am actually disgusted as I look around. The fact that we have to wear masks regardless of our vaccination status is oppressive, it's senseless, it's illusionary. 

I'm expecting to get bumped at least one time, maybe two. But flying from Charlotte to Pittsburgh would've been darn near impossible. Bigger planes are needed, more flights are needed. Come on American Airlines, open up!

Oh and I had a full tube of toothpaste get confiscated by airport security. Tell me this, how is toothpaste a liquid??? Sunscreen, no problem. Deodorant, no problem. Toothpaste, problem??? What do we have, freaking chemists working at TSA?

I'm doing this weekend trip to Pittsburgh and I'm not even excited about it. The stress of finding an open flight, the threat of rain, not being recognized by other people in the 7 line army and thus feeling totally alone, and of course, the Mets stink right now. The highlights usually become finding a restaurant with some unique grub and getting hammered. 

Work is just another level of insanity. My financial aid team, at its peak, would have 5 people on it, maybe 6. We are down to me and one woman who's been with us for 4 weeks. In the last two months, two women quit, my boss went on medical leave with kidney problems, and then this week, our senior advisor's mom passed away. In essence, I may as well be the director. And the thing is, we have no idea when anyone is coming back. 

I want to go back to church. I haven't been in maybe 2 months now. Seems I usually end up donating plasma or doing grocery deliveries. I don't feel right about it. That said, if I'm going to a church, it has to engage me, whether with music, messages, community, volunteering, etc. I still pray and read the Bible, but in this twisted darkening country, I want that Sunday hope. I need hope. Because I have no hope in this country anymore and the way it's being run by the secular left. 

Ok let me give some good news, I know this has been a downer of a post. I appeared on my first radio show as a featured guest. It was with Long Beach Joe, who hosts an online show about the New York Jets through YouTube and blog talk. He gave me about 10 minutes, we had a great conversation, and all the reviews I've got have been great. Not that anyone would have had the nerve to tell me if they thought it sucked. Some people have told me I should try doing a show or podcast. I'd be open to it, the things to figure out are the technology and my topic. What's going to make me different, what's going to make me stand out? And I don't have a good answer to that question. 

How I Feel Regarding Pride

It's very obvious that I can't be honest with other people and certainly not on social media. Because when somebody expresses an opinion or belief system that is contrary to the ultra-liberal pop culture that has infested the United States of America in the 21st century, you instantly become a pariah and are excommunicated from the regular world. The hateful extreme left simply cannot handle people who have different opinions than them, and for a group that pushes tolerance, they are the absolute most hypocritical group of people on the face of God's green earth today.

That said, Mark and Jack ain't here. So i have some shit to get off my chest. When will America start devoting months for celebrating liars, adulterers, drug addicts, and thieves? It makes absolutely as much sense as celebrating crooked sexual deviants. And the important thing to remember is that it's not about being afraid of a certain group, it's about supporting the people without justifying their action. The word homophobe is so overused to the point that it's embarrassing. The sad part is the word love has become completely overused because most people have no idea what it is. A lot of people think love is just having a strong feeling for somebody or something. Love is sacrificial, it is an action, it is not some flickering, passing emotion. And until people come to that realization, "Love Is Love" Is nothing but garbage.