The Great Idea, the Bad Idea: The Universe Evens Itself Out

This is a three-party blog post which I typed throughout the day... enjoy.

The Great Idea came to be after all.

Saw The Shins… loved The Shins… did not love the 7am flight to NY… nor the 6pm flight back to Atlanta… nor the large man seated next to me who snored and couldn’t keep his hands to himself…

It’s 9:29am and I’m back at the airport. This will be my fourth flight and third airport in 36 hours. The Great Idea now seems like the Bad Idea.

I believe that what goes around comes around. So I figured that by doing my coworker Jason a favor (dropping him at North Terminal, though Leila and I were at South Terminal) I would earn some good karma. Wrong. Screw you, Karma… you and your empty promises.... I missed my flight to Houston. Did you know you have to check bags 45 minutes, not 30 minutes, before a flight? Leila and I both thought it was 30 minutes – her mom worked for Delta, for heavens sake… she should know.

Now, I am not a public crier… but I allowed myself a little breakdown today as the unhelpful man at the Delta kiosk smiled at my situation. Even crying couldn’t get my bag onto the flight. I cried while walking through the security line, too. Not for theatrics, but because I was genuinely upset. People looked at me with empathy, probably thinking I had just said goodbye to the love of my life. But truth be told, I just didn’t want to take off my shoes to go through another security line.

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It’s 2:22pm in Texas. I am in a car with Jason, Jared and Leila, driving from Houston airport to downtown Austin. Leila and I made it out of Atlanta just fine, only because we had hard drinks at Chili’s... at 10:05am... because they stopped serving breakfast at 10am and who wants a quesidilla at 10am without a margarita to compliment it?

We are now in the midst of what Jason would like to call “a satanic car wash.” There is so much rain against our windshield that we can’t see where the road stops and the shoulder starts. Thunder is cracking above our heads. The only sites we have seen so far are: an oil ranch, a Diesel factory, Chappell Hill Grille, and Rowdy’s Icehouse and Grill (Leila would go in and ask, “Who’s Rowdy??"... the crowd would say, "We're rowdy!!"). Deep in the heart of Texas, alright.

(PS – my colleagues Joe and Palmer also missed their flights because Delta wouldn’t let them check bags 30 minutes before departure… it’s a conspiracy, I tell you.)

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It's 1:36am. Why am I awake??? I'm not sure... maybe the adrenaline?... or new time zone?... regardless, it's time to put this relatively awful day behind me. Not to say it didn't have its strong points. I did get to see The Rapture again, and it was a cool cool show. Also got dinner with Palmer No. 2 and Andy's friends from Sewanee/Nashville. And my mom and dad were lovely and had "Congratulations!" wine and cheese delivered to our hotel room. (Thanks, Mom and Dad!)

But as a lesson for the day, I will say this: not all Great Ideas are Smart Ideas, but at least the Bad Ideas give us good stories to tell.

More from Austin, TX, tomorrow, including Peter Bjorn & John, GSD&M, Waterloo Records, and Shiner Bock... mmm, Shiner Bock...

CK