New Experiences in the Past Five Days

Things I have learned, seen, or done for the first time since last Thursday:

• I have run from one extreme end of Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport to the other. I'd never even been there before, and it is not an exaggeration to say that that motherfucker is gigantenormous!
• I have done the ecstatic-airport-hello and the tearful-airport-goodbye within the span of five days.
• I have caught and held barking tree frogs. They sound like small dogs when they're in the trees, sonar pings when they're trying to mate. They are squirmy and slippery, and good at evading my capture (but not evading capture by the water snake, as I witnessed firsthand).
• Wolf Spiders are actually less scary in person than in pictures.
• I swam in the Gulf of Mexico. The beaches at St. Joseph State Park were clean and virtually deserted. I can't remember the last time I swam in saltwater that warm.
• Borders kicks Barnes and Noble's ass in the Graphic Novels section.
• There are worse things than having a flight cancelled. One is boarding a plane, sitting on a runway for two hours, then flying to one's destination in such a convoluted manner that it takes twice as long as a normal flight would. Such was my trip from Atlanta to Newark last night, getting us on the ground over four hours later than we were scheduled to.
• Parents kick ass because they pick you up at the airport at 2 AM on a school night.

July 22, 2003 - 12:14 PM