So I flew out of Burbank on Friday at noon. well, not really flew out at that time. the plane was delayed by about 30 minutes, then in addition to that we sat on the tarmac for about an hour, making sure that i would miss my connection. and i did, as most everyone on our plane did. it wasn't too bad, though. i met a cool girl from LA and we had dinner and then went and complained together about the problems with the plane. through complaining, i was bumped to first class from phoenix to atlanta, then had a plane from atlanta to pensacola that i was assured was going to be okay. i had a seat on it, they told me, they just couldn't print out my ticket. so i spent the night in a hotel in phoenix and flew out at 4pm on saturday first class to atlanta. then i got to atlanta, where i had a seat but no one was able to print out my boarding pass. wait...did something i just say sound absurd? i have a seat on a plane but i don't have a boarding pass? don't these two things go hand in hand? 'well sir, you have a hotel room but unfortunately, we have no key to your room.' i mean, are you people serious? so delta blamed us airways and us airways blamed delta (actually us airways had closed up shop for the night by the time i got to their counter). so there i was, stuck in atlanta without a hope of getting out after 2 days of flying hell. so yeah, i had to get picked up from atlanta at 4am and thank God for heather who did that and secured a bid for a larger christmas present :) anyway, while waiting it atlanta, i decided to check out the baggage claim area just for kicks. so there were basically 2 interesting characters i will talk about now.

WWMB (Woman With Mental Breakdown): upon approaching the baggage claim for us airways, a young woman was on her knees in front of the only person working the us airways baggage claim center. she was going through her purse or something and was obviously distraught. after about 30 minutes of the vaudeville act, people were going around her and such. enter interesting character number 2.

MWGKW (Man With God Knows What): this gentleman was actually in line in front of me. he stepped out of line and went to talk to the people behind me who were from Sydney. when they started talking to him, he started explaining that for 3 days he had been trying to fly to sydney because, and i quote, 'my mother is waiting for me there in baggage claim. she's in an urn, God rest her soul.' his story is that he is going to spread her ashes over his father's grave which is in, incidentally, sydney as well. isn't that some coincidence? i mean, he's been trying to fly to sydney which happens to be the exact spot the people he's talking to are from? eventually, he will meet interesting character number 1 and it will make for an interesting moment. let's talk about their meeting now.

the meeting: so i had made it to the doorway and now MWGKW was beside me, explaining that the government can track me because of the cellphone that i use. he eventually turns his attention to WWMB who is now explaining her situation in full: she's lost a bag with christmas presents and is concerned she will lose her job because of it. MWGKW finally hollers out "young lady what is it you need? how much money do you need? i've got money." he goes through his pocket, eventually pulling out what i would estimate as being 64 dollars, 3 twenties and a few lingering ones. she replies that she doesn't need money, she needs her presents. so MWGKW starts getting into it with the us airways worker, and the worker threatens to call the police and MWGKW says 'go ahead go ahead' and i am giddy with excitement. but nothing happens. i just ultimately get to watch these two characters throughout the night, until i retire to wendy's for a number 1 combo and a frosty and then about an hour and a half nap before i was picked up.

so yes, to sum it up, you can meet some really cool, nice people flying and then you can also witness some out-right insane nuts. just be careful out there kids.

as is the current status in fla, it's christmas eve and i've just finished installing all the necessities to my new macbook pro 2799. there is a crispness in the breeze during the day and at night, it is down-right cold. i sort of miss LA at this point, but that's to be expected, i guess. you don't show an audience a trick like sawwing a man in half and then follow it up with a card trick. granted i still have a lot of love for both sawwing and card tricks, just different types of love. yeah, so anyway, talk to you all soon.