Friday Quick Takes

Joining Jen at Conversion Diary for Quick Takes Friday.

This week's Quick Takes are some random thoughts from my quick trip to Houston earlier this week. Caution--I was feeling a bit snarkier than usual! :)

~ 1 ~
I’ve lived in the Midwest now for 15 years—long enough to think we have some pretty hot summers. But now I know that my memory of what real hot summers are like has faded. Or maybe it's just impossible to imagine that heat until you’re in it. See, Houston was a whole ‘nother level of hot. Blasting the car’s a/c at all times hot. Wondering whether my deodorant is working hot. Steam coming up off the freeway pavement hot. We don’t have that kind of hot in Wisconsin.

~ 2 ~
So these old women with tattoos liberally sprinkling their arms and legs; I just have to wonder. Did they get the tattoos recently, when they were already in their 60’s? Or did they get them decades ago, with no foresight whatsoever regarding how stupid they’d look when they got older? Either way, what were they thinking?

~ 3 ~
En route to Houston via Chicago via Charlotte (?? Yes, really) I had a last-row seat and listened to the two flight attendants discussing their vehicles of choice to own and to drive. As in, which model Mercedes vs. which model Lexus. Really? Really? Could Bill be in the wrong profession, perhaps?

~ 4 ~
Overheard at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston: “Kashir Mohammed Makeer, please return to baggage claim for a lost item.” Not to sound like a country bumpkin or anything, but “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Wisconsin anymore!”

~ 5 ~
Even though I did quite enough travelling in my younger days to become quite cynical about it and quite happy to stay clear of airports, I do love them. Especially O’Hare, where at one time in my life I was pretty sure I spent more time than at any of the places I actually slept overnight. My imagination just goes hog-wild thinking about where all those airplanes are headed. I love seeing them all lined up circling the gates, headed for every corner of the globe. And the people! I love watching them and trying to guess where they’re going. I love seeing people in flip flops or even sporting leis, obviously just back from tropical vacations, standing right next to businesspeople in overcoats or people carrying ski jackets or people wearing saris or cowboy boots; young people, old people, bored people, excited people, people with little kids, people speaking various languages—talk about a global melting pot! I just love it. I used to think it would be really fun to work at the airport, like in customer service or something. I’m over that, but I do still love airports.

~ 6 ~
Does anyone ever get over being just a teeny bit afraid of flying? I’m a pretty sensible person, and I’ve flown hundreds of times (perhaps hundreds and hundreds—I’m not sure), including through turbulence so bad that I actually thought we had landed when we hadn’t. While coming into Chicago this week, my plane had an aborted landing where we got down just a few feet from the ground, ready to touch down, and then—oops—went quickly back up to retrace our circle out over the lakefront and around back to re-approach the runway. Jaded traveler that I am, I had an almost full-out panic attack over this. Sheer terror. The two chattering magpies sitting next to me weren’t worried; they’d flown many times before, they said. (Ha!) I just wanted them to shut the heck up as I feverishly prayed my Rosary.
Obviously, we made it—turns out it was nothing but an O’Hare traffic jam. But know what I mean? Don’t you just hate that whole sheer terror feeling?

~ 7 ~
It’s amazing how dressing up a little and making some sort of attempt to do something to make my hair resemble something attractive can make me feel happier, friendlier, more confident. Like a whole different person, in a way. Maybe I should try it again sometime.