Things To Do At the Airport When You're Not Quite Dead

No, I'm feeling much better.

Austin Airport, 1:42 pm

So far so good. Flights today are far from full, so it looks like I will actually make it to Nashville today (or tonight, at any rate), with a 4-hour layover in Denver.

Frontier, ya know. Gotta go through Denver.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether I actually get there. There have been plenty of gloom-and-doom predictions from friends at work -although I've also gotten some very helpful advice. But alas! No free wireless at the airport. They want $6.95 for me to hook up, or I could buy a Wayport membership (definitely not worth it - I almost never fly). But if I have to pay for internet in Denver, I'll pay. I can't go four hours without checking email and blogging. I'll go mad!

Maybe I'll go to the newsstand and buy a book. Damn my lack of foresight in not setting up solitaire on this computer!

Coming back should be fun. My reunion is Saturday night, and my flight back will be ass-cracking early on Sunday morning. 6am, and I need to get to the airport at least an hour and a half early, since I'm flying standby? Yeah, I think I'm gonna be pulling an all-nighter. I'd better stock up on sleep beforehand.

A big book of crosswords and sudoku puzzles, that's what I need. Oh yeah, and a PENCIL. More later.

Denver Airport, 4:58 pm

No. 3:58 pm. But since I'm not leaving the airport till heading out to Nashville (if! if! There's not yet a gate agent here for me to check in with), the time zone sort of doesn't apply to me. Funny thought. Airports are sort of a no-man's land of half-existence, with only the most tenuous connection to the geographical space they occupy. I have changed planes in so many airports located in cities I've never been to.

Wireless internet connection costs a buck more here than in the Austin airport. Cheap-ass bastards!

I have been reading a book called Little Earthquakes which I got at the newsstand in Austin. Someone once remarked that you should never read anything on which the author's name appears larger than the title, but those are the only kind of books airport newsstands sell.

"The Homeland Security Threat level has been raised to Orange," announces the loudspeaker cheerfully at about 5-minute intervals. "Please be aware of the increased danger and report any unattended bags and suspicious behavior..." and so on. I keep wanting to shush them. Stop it! The terrorists will hear you! Then they will have already won!

And because I feel like getting crazy looks for taking photos inside the airport, here's my current vantage point:

Eh? Eh? Denver, where I have never been before, is very flat. And there's snow on the ground! Who knew? Snow! Land sakes.

Only three more hours of layover to go! There's a Motel 6 with my name on it in Nashville. Hope they have internet.

What? A girl's gotta have a dream.