Self-portrait with dinosaur legs.
Don't look now, but you're standing under a Brachiosaurus!
I managed to strand myself during lunchtime... and $11 dollars bought me a cup of squash soup and a latte (liquid lunch :-). But, the sun was streaming through the windows on an extremely bright and crisp Illinoisian afternoon, and I chose to snack in the sun on an artist bench near my gate. My benchmate turned out to be as much of a people person as I am and within seconds of me sitting down, we were deep in conversation. We talked about politics, where we were traveling to and from, what put us in Chicago of all places, jobs, family, the state of the world, education, literature, where to get a good beer, where to get a good wine, where to get the best Cajun food in the French Quarter.... Turns out she was raised in Michigan, but was a long time resident of New Orleans. Even evacuated herself during Katrina. She taught at a charter magnet school and we chatted a lot about the challenges still facing the area. It was a major bummer when they started to board my plane... sadly, she was stranded by a mechanical until 8:3o PM. I hope she made it to her family in time for the ball drop.
About New Years: It was fantastic to greet my parents in St. Lou. We slid right into the familiar roles as we made dinner, ate, chatted, cleaned up the dishes, nearly came to blows in a political conversation, cleared the table, played a game of Shang-hai (a tricky card game that has been in the family since before I was born)... and finally settled down to watch Ghosttown (hilarious!). We decided to go to bed shortly after that, well before midnight. I think we all wanted 2008 to end as soon as possible. Funny thing is, almost every friend I talked to spent New Years at home with closest loved ones and oft went to bed early... Maybe we were all a little tired of 2008.
Welcome 2009!
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