Chicago Thanksgiving Trip Day 1
I was packed and ready to go at 10:30 AM. 15 minutes before my dad was to come and pick us up Kat wanted to add songs to her iPod. With this slow-ass crappy computer I shut off two minutes earlier. So, she started.
My dad drove up at 10:55. I met him outside and told him, “I’ve been ready for a half hour. She’s adding songs to her iTunes.”
We went inside and waited another 15 minutes or so far Kat to do her thing. (I can be ready with time to spare. Why are women genetically given to always be late?)
Finally she was good to go, and we left. Dad drove fast, but legal. He had other things to do today.
I sat quietly in the back watching the world go by. Dad and Kat talked about speed cameras.
We got to the airport. Driving to the terminal my dad asked which airline. I said, American, and “the image that sticks in my head of American Airlines is a chunk of one of their planes in the remains of the World Trade Center.”
Kat said, “That wasn’t their fault, though.”
And I remember that plane a few years ago fighting wildfires where both wings just dropped right off. Dad told me that was because the pilot ignored the little sign in the cockpit that says don’t fly faster than…
Dad dropped me and Kat at the airport. We said goodbye, and went in. Kat was hungry so we stopped at a Sbaraso, or whatever that pizza joint that’s everywhere is. She ate a slice of pizza, I had apple juice. She spun yarn with her new drop spindle her friend Jen gave her. It’s a wood widget that turns wool into yarn.
KOOL FM was playing, they’ve gone all Christmas. When they played “Feliz Navidad” I jammed my fingers in my ears and quietly hummed to drown out the worst Christmas song ever.
She finished her pizza, we drank, talked, spun. The second a Carpenters Christmas song came on I said, “Ok, we’re done here.” I grabbed my empty bottle and headed to the trash. Kat agreed and got herself together as fast as she could, and we bolted from the Muzak of the Carpenters.
We went through security. I was stopped because I forgot to take the bag of liquids out.
The security guy cheerfully said, “There’s nothing in here that can hurt me, right? Nothing sharp or anything?”
I almost said, “Nope. I left the angry black widows at home,” but thought, no matter how playful an airport security guy may be, don’t joke with them. So I just gave him a friendly, “Nope.”
Met up with Kat, and we sat at our gate. She wanted water, so I went to a nearby deli and bought her a bottle.
I played Tetris on my Gameboy, and she made yarn while listening to The Virgin Suicides on her iPod.
About 30 minutes later it was time for us to get on the plane. Just when the ticket said it would be. No delays. Nice.
Shoved our bags above us, sat in our seats. I looked out the window and saw that someone drew a couple of birds in the stuff on the flaps. That gave me a grin.
I resisted getting out and mowing them.
Our plane took off on time at 1:50 PM. Bright, sunny, and warm out. It was almost 80º when we left Phoenix.
Flyin’
It was drink and food time. Drinks were free, but food cost money. I hated to do it, and I wondered if I could hold out until we got to Kat’s parents house, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to. The only thing I had eaten today was a thing of yogurt at 10. Damn…I’m gonna have to get ripped off buying food on a plane. I went for the $6 roast beef sandwich. Would feel a little less ripped off getting that instead of the $4 bag of chips, or cheese ‘n’ crackers. And I made the right choice. Kat got the cheese ‘n’ crackers. Not much to it.
I remembered the last time I flew American Airlines. It was my first plane trip. Going back to Boston for a visit in July 1978. It was an overnight flight, and in the morning we were served pancakes, syrup, butter, a carton of orange juice, and I think toast. All no extra charge.
30 years later we’re lucky they’re giving us free non-alcoholic beverages. Although, in ’78 there was still smoking on planes and our seats were right on the border of the smoking/non-smoking section. No free food, but also no free emphysema for the children.
This was a smooth flight. Sometimes I played Tetris, but mostly I looked out the window and watched the world fly by.
The steward, a friendly older black man, asked what Kat was doing. She explained to him about drop spindles and making yarn. He seemed curious. Or wanted to check and make sure she wasn’t making a fuse.
Again I flashed back to my 1978 flight. It was me, my sister, and mom. My sister wanted to get the black flight attendant’s attention. My six year-old sister said, “stewardess?” but for once in her life she was too quite to be heard. My mom told her, “Male stewardesses are called stewards.” My sister hollered right out, “HEY, STEWARD!” Cracked us up. Still cracks me up. The nice man came back to see what Diane wanted.
I thought these clouds looked neat.
It was dark when we got to Chicago and I had a really nice view of downtown. I could see the big buildings clearly, there was a spotlight moving around, and they were lit for Christmas. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t think I’d get the camera out and on in time. Should’ve tried, anyway.
It was weird to me. I know we were going 500 miles an hour into the sunset, and there’s time differences and all. But it was still weird that it was 2:00 in full afternoon, and three hours later I’m in street light night time.
We dropped down and landed fast. I love that feeling. It’s like a slow motion rolley coaster. Kat, well, it made her all vertigo-ey.
Kat called her mom, and stopped at a bathroom. O’Hare looked really neat all Christmas lighted up. She came out, and, well, I couldn’t wait anymore and had to suppress my ick about public bathrooms and went to release my Sprite.
We went downstairs looking for her mom. Kat spotted her, but wasn’t entirely sure. Kat’s mom has been jazzercising (yes, it’s still around. I thought it disappeared with Quarterflash.) and she’s thinned out a bit. She hugged Kat, then turned to me. I said, “Here, you can squeeze this instead,” and handed her a travel-size roll of Charmin.
I wrote this in my journal about a month ago…
One other thing about that rotten place I went to for two weeks. They gave us a sexual
harassment thing. The place was so uptight that a hug was considered sexual harassment.
Wow…that’s really taking sexual harassment to the extreme. I like a good hug. I will never turn away a hug. I can understand if during the hug someone squeezes their butt. Although, I wouldn’t be against that, either. Well, with some people I wouldn’t. Be creepy if when I get off the plane Kat’s mom hugs me and, well, squeezes the Charmin.
Kat’s mom sent me an e-mail saying, “Aw, I was looking forward to squeezing the Charmin.” That gave me a good laugh, and I had to complete the bit by getting a travel-size Charmin at Target to give her.
She chuckled and hugged me, and gave us jackets. We didn’t put them on
We went outside and it was 34 fantastic degrees outside. It felt sooooooooooooooooooooooo
nice. I could see my breath. It was such naked weather! Finally I get some cold in November! I still had to run the air conditioner a week before Thanksgiving! Between 7 and midnight it gets warm enough in my apartment to put it on for a little bit.
We met up with Kat’s dad in the car, put our stuff in the trunk.
When we got to her parents house we, except her dad went up to the room. Kat’s dad started
cooking the food. Kat showed her mom her drop spindle. She was unimpressed. Thought it would be easier to go to Michael’s and buy a wad of yarn. Yeah, I can see that. But I also understand the desire, and interest in your hobby that you’d want to make things from absolute scratch. Well, almost absolute. The office has issues with people keeping sheep in the apartments. Even if it is just for the wool.
She showed her mom the iPod transmitter. She was agog that Kat’s iPod could be heard on the radio. Kat played her a couple of Sesame Street songs that have memories for them. “Would You Like To Buy An “O?” and the one about Ernie living on the moon. That one used to make Kat cry when she was an adorable child.
Her mom gave us a quick look at her new iMac, and then we went downstairs to eat. While Kat’s mom was getting things together for supper, Kat showed the iPod transmitter to her dad. He was agog over it, too. I told him sometimes I’m agog by it all, too. I always thought the day I had 10,000 songs I would have to have a room for all those records. Not on a stack of CDs about 2 feet high, or in a widget I could close my fist around.
She was transmitting to a clock radio next to her dad’s recliner. Sounded tinny. I said to play it through my Blaupunkt stereo. I turned it on and found the station her iPod was on. Sounded sooooooo nice!
My Blaupunkt. It was a Christmas present from Kat’s parents last year. I’ve been dying trying to figure how to get it shipped out here to Phoenix.
Supper was ready. Italian sausages, and Italian beef subs, chips, pepperoncini’s. All yum!
We talked about what a nut my sister is, how I could get into radio, my fascination with Jonathon Brandmeier. She asked if Cait was into him. I said she was, but not like she was 25 years ago. “Is she still…,” Kat’s mom said, stammering for the right word that didn’t include the word “aging loser” at me. I said she, “grew out of it.” Kat said she wished the same would happen to me. I cracked back at her about her watching 4-hour blocks of CSI. Ya know, my analogy that me listening to old Brandmeier shows, is like people watching reruns of their favorite TV shows. Explained to her mom that The Loon News was satire and comic strips, not a Brandmeier fanzine.
“Weird Al”s “Pancreas” came on, and I found out that Kat’s dad loves Al. He said he likes his relative Frank, too. I wanted to tell him Al and Frank weren’t related, but I’d feel like a young punk correcting her dad, so I let it slide.
Kat and her dad went upstairs to listen to Chet Atkins, and look at some You Tube stuff. A kid who played a kick ass version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on the ukulele, and someone who does billiard trick shots. Her dad plays billiards a few times a week.
Me and Kat fiddled with the Mac. Sweet jeebus, it’s so nice! Her mom told me I had to show her how to work iTunes sometime during the visit.
Me and Kat went to our room. She gave me a quick lesson in taroting.
I had a bowl of Apple Jacks, and went to sleep.