I must have jinxed my return flight when I told my folks that it was the best one I'd had on American. I said this while simultaneously thinking "Gee, I just love American," which was a totally new concept for me, but I think I ran with it just becuase I was glad to get home. Let me tell you I am cured after last night's flight home.
The plane was supposed to leave McAllen at 540, but we didn't even begin to taxi until 6 and then about 6:15 (after we've been sittin on the runway in a plane that wont cool) the pilot tells us that we no long have enough fuel to get to Dallas because of the wait before take off. Back to the gate we go to refuel. On top of all this the plane isn't cooling while it's at rest. This immeadiately brought to mind my first car that should never have passed inspection, didn't cool at all and ended up over-heating. This is totally what you want to be thinking right before you blast halfway toward space. On top of this, the plane was at capacity and I was stuck next to the Jolly Green Giant whose legs were so long his chin was resting on his knees, and an older woman who kept talking about how we were leaving McAllen just in time because of the storm. She said this to no one in particular and then getting no response kept repeating herself and inserting herself into the conversations around us. And then there was the cherry on top; the douche bad in front of me. I'm not using that term lightly. Picture it, McAllen, 2008, a crowded airplane (RIP Estelle Getty): Seated directly infront of me was a man. Fit maybe mid 30's Hawaiian shirt, blond highlights, hedged in by a visor and to the crowning masterpiece some ridiculous beard he couldn't even get to fill out. As if that didn't make him enough of a target, he also decided to speak. First I get to hear him call the airport (while we're on the runway) so that he can tell them that he forgot his camera battery that he was charging and forgot somewhere in the terminal ("Yea, umm can you go find it, I'm on the runway now"). This was the topic of 2 phone calls on which he repeated ("Can you just run it out to my plane? Just kidding") twice. As if this wasn't enough to make the think he was an evolutionary bottom feeder, he proceeds to turn around and ask me if I see a DVD case under his seat. This i knew was crazy since my carry-on was stuffed full of over flow from my checked bag, and I doubted that even the Holy Ghost could have fit under there too. This is done a total of 3 times until I finally look inbetween his seat and the plane, and there it is. Why he couldn't have thought to stick his effing hand down there I'll never know. Between him, the Giant and Chatty Cathy's Grandma I think had I been some fool with a bomb strapped to my chest I would have done myself a favor and set if off just to put myself out of misery. In any case we landed in Dallas an hour behind and it took me until about 930 just to get home, but thank God I had no flight to catch like most of the other folks on the plane.
It was good to be home. I slept on the couch with the tv on, it's soo much cooler than the bedroom. Yesterday I helped Mom clean up the backyard for Dolly. I have to say I try not to panic too much about natural disaster. I feel like that's just courting misfortune, not to mention that there isn't a whole lot you can do to control it, so why worry about it? Nevertheless my mom is by herself and I'm just worried about my folks in general right now. On top of it, they're predicting 15 inches of rain which could trap my parents in the Valley and they "MUST BE IN SAN ANTONIO" by Friday according to Mom. And they do, but still her urgency just makes me nervous, she's rarely urgent about much so you know she means business.
I didn't really sleep and woke up about 3 to find that Dolly had gotten her shit together and formed a distinct eye and was not only moving more slowly (allowing her to stay over the warm gulf waters long and gain power) but she was also predicted to not go into Mexico but effectively fly over my parents house like the Wicked Witch of the West. There is that impotency feeling again. I know what I can withstand and I hate that I can't be there to give some of that to my folks. So i'm waiting here at work and decided to write a little bit of this and a little bit of that and hopefully it makes a good soup in the end...Gumbo.
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