Friday, September 17, 2004

planes, trains, and automobiles

OK, right, extraordinary stuff, pinball game of the soul, etc. etc. Right. Stuff like that happens. Maybe more on this later…(referring, of course, to the previous post)...

There was no choice for the title of this little essay, because today I have been on a train, and a bus (the automobile); plus I expect to be on a plane in a little more than an hour or so.

Why do I take the bus to the airport? Why? Guess I don’t want to spend fifty bucks for a car, when I can take the bus and the subway for 2. In addition to the economic benefit, it’s an exercise for me: it keeps me mingling with humanity. It gives me stuff to make noise about.

But there’s not too much happening. I’m not going to pick on the poor guy who’s on oxygen. I don’t want to beat up on the guy on the bus who smelled like he did (and even went so far as to call home and verify that the electricity AND water were back on, what with the storms and all) because he turned out to be a nice fellow. All the more so because my stop came just as he was winding up to give his multi-level-marketing pitch. Even the flight attendant sitting next to me at the gate is a pleasant lady. I guess life is good!

Except the freaking speaker over my head (and also over the seat next to the electrical outlets that power this very computer) which is blasting CNN at a volume calculated to make it be heard. Now here’s something that I need to make noise about. Why is CNN the default channel at every airport and hotel in the USA? What if I don’t like CNN? What if it’s in the same class as, say, CBS News, which is a distant cousin to Pravda? What would George Orwell have to say about this? Can I go over to the nice lady at the counter and ask her to change the channel? “Excuse me, ma’am. Would you please change that TV to Fox News?” I’d have better luck getting a date with that supermodel over there. The one sitting next to that gangster (he doesn't seem to appreciate my curiosity). Now there's an idea for a blog...

More later.

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