Adventures in Airports

To expand on this a bit:



Studying lines with a hangover:



A) Stop torturing yourself

B) Just punishment for drinking Pinot Grigio until you can’t pronounce it anymore.

C) All of the above.



FYI - I broke down and finished a Grisham novel purchased in the hotel lobby when I checked in.



I do realize I wasn't supposed to have a novel in my possession. I was going to be very, very good and memorize vast tracts of "Hedda Gabler." Yep.



Then the delays began. I was stuck on runways and in overcrowded terminals with very cranky people all day. Stress makes people weird. Most just sat, eyes vacant and hopeless. Some people got territorial, moving and rearranging their luggage into invisible blockades. If they thought others were getting to close or trying to get ahead of them in some intangible line, they'd rearrange again, pushing slightly against the transgressor and sighing with pointed exasperation. The adult version of "Stop touching me." Just about everyone else had apparently had a cell phone surgically grafted to their ear. The most intimate details of their lives shouted out for everyone's entertainment. You can learn the most interesting stuff that way. People are really weird.



Given the three hour layover in Chicago, I decided to try to separate myself from the masses. I hit the best restaurant/bar I could find, waited forever for a table, and pulled out the lines.



They did help a bit - nothing says "move over and don't talk to me" like running lines in public.



With gestures.



Particularly ones like "I'm burning the child, Thea."



People tend to give you space.



When I finally arrived, I found my dinner plans were understandably canceled. Pretty pointless to meet up at 9:00 at night, I suppose. I didn't feel like venturing down to the hotel bar to sit at a table by myself, so I went down to the lobby store and got the Grisham.



It was either that or a romance novel.



I then ordered room service and ate french fries in my jammies. I even splurged on real Coke rather than the nasty diet stuff. It was a bit of a treat, as there's no fast food within twenty miles of my house, and I got fodder for my next 50-book challenge post.