Raising Arizona

I am woefully behind on posting on my brand-new blog, but I will do my best to catch up. When I was in the airport being harassed about my Ziploc bag, I was headed to Phoenix to visit my good friend Jennifer. She was my first real friend in Chicago, and just moved to Phoenix in January. We had a wonderful few days catching up and hanging out with her new puppy, Jasmina. I also got to see my friends Tiri and Al (also from Chicago) and my Aunt Marie and Uncle Jim.

One day Jennifer took me up to Sedona, where I saw some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever witnessed.

I mean really, how could one place be so beautiful? The impossibly red rocks, the impossibly blue sky, the moon so artfully placed . . .

It almost looks like it could be some other planet.

I don't think I would want to live in Arizona - 115 degrees in the summer is too hot for this girl! But it was great to visit.

Songs of Travel

I don't like that I'm starting this blog off with a rant, but I'm going to anyway.

I work at an opera company, and the spring and summer are our slow times, so I use most of my vacation time between April and July. I have several trips planned for the summer, the first of which has already happened - I'll put a picture or two in another post.

All of my trips involve a journey to, from, and through O'Hare airport, which is generally a harrowing experience. First, there's the trip there. I am a firm believer in taking the train to the airport for several reasons:

1) It costs $1.75, and my time is worth very little (it's about an hour trip)

2) You never know how long it's going to take to drive

3) I hate asking people to take me to the airport and I won't pay to park

My train-taking resolve was sorely tested on this last trip when, on the way there, there was a fire somewhere on the tracks that delayed me so significantly that I came close to missing my flight (OK - really I just came close to not having time to stop and grab something to eat - it's all about your priorities). Then it was tested again on the way back when one of the stops was closed for construction, and everyone on the train had to get off, board shuttle buses, and travel 2 stops away to get back on the train. And this whole thing will probably happen to me again on Saturday.

But really, that was just the start of the O'Hare annoyance. I have to admit that I sort of brought it on myself, but I also sort of didn't. It all started when I foolishly decided not to check a bag. I normally don't enjoy fighting for space in the overhead compartment, but for this short trip decided maybe it would save some time if I carried on. You know how since Sept. 11 there have been all of these different rules about liquids in your carry-on? 2 oz. of this, 3.4 oz. of that, Ziploc bags, it's all very confusing. So confusing, in fact, that I had always just put any liquid in my checked bag, knowing that I would screw something up. This time, I was not going to screw anything up (famous last words). I went to Target and bought all sorts of little teeny bottles and tubes of various potions. I enclosed them lovingly in a single layer in a Ziploc bag. That's when the trouble started.

The very nice TSA man looked from me to my Ziploc of goodies with a pained expression, and then called me over. "Ma'am," he said, "are you travelling with someone?" "No," I said. "Well then, you can't take all of this on the plane."

What? Now aside from the tax advantages, companionship, and help reaching things on the high shelves there's ANOTHER reason to be married? So that I can take my sunscreen and conditioner on a plane?

I don't even think I said anything, but he must have to deal with my domestically challenged type a lot, because he sighed and said, "This is a GALLON bag. You are only allowed to take a QUART bag."

Am I the only one in the world who doesn't know the volumes of the various types of Ziploc bags??? Let's see. There are the really tiny ones, that are good for putting, say, 2 Points worth of something in for a snack. Or really, just a snack appetizer, because since when is 12 almonds a snack? So really what you fill those tiny bags with is longing - longing for a real snack, like a scone, or a few slices of bacon.

There are sandwich bags, appropriately named. Although they don't actually fit the giant bread that I like - I guess if I didn't eat so much giant bread I wouldn't have to fill the tiny bags with longing.

Then there are, well, the big bags. The ones with the fancy slidey zippery tops. The ones you fill with ice cubes and smack repeatedly with your meat tenderizer to create crushed ice for cocktails. Maybe you use your big bags and meat tenderizer for different things, but that is what I use mine for, mainly. But I digress. I didn't know how much they held, and I didn't care. Until now. Until I was faced with throwing away the eye cream that I just spent $16 on. And that's when it happened.

I burst out crying. Really. And I quite literally mean that one moment I was calm and collected, and the next minute my face exploded. It shocked even me - I don't think I have cried like that in a year (thanks Zoloft!). They told me I had several options. I could

1) throw everything away (uh, no.)

2) check my bag, or

3) see if the airline had some quart-sized bags I could use. Well that was a stupid suggestion, as my gallon-sized bag was completely full. What I really loved was that if I had had a travel companion, I could have given him (because really, shouldn't it be a him? it should) a small bag and I could have kept a small bag.

I understand that that would have kept me within the TSA rules. What I don't understand is how it's keeping the skies any safer. If I had some sort of dangerous liquid (which I did not, in case the TSA is reading my blog), how would it be any less dangerous if it was divided into the bags of 2 people sitting right next to each other???? I think that's why I was so frustrated - the letter of the law seemed very important to these people, while the spirit of the law (and the part that keeps people safe!) seemed not to matter in the slightest.

I think my 2 favorite quotes were

1) "There are cameras on us. If I let you through I'll lose my job and my family needs the money." Um, I'm not asking you to break the rules, just wondering what their purpose is. No one's kids are going hungry here.

2) "Don't curse at me. There are kids around." OK, in the spirit of full disclosure, I DID lose it a little, and perhaps I said a word that was better left unsaid, but I did not curse AT anyone, and there were certainly no kids anywhere in sight! In fact, security was strangely empty - there were only about 5 people total in the area.

Well, the upshot of this is that I ran back to the AA counter and was JUST able to check my bag, my voice still shaky and mascara all over my face. I was too embarrassed to go back through the same security line, so I found another one and was on my way.

Let's hope everything from the train onward goes better this weekend. Oh, and I'm definitely checking my bag.

Welcome!

Welcome to my first post on my first blog! I have been encouraged by friends to get this going, so here it is. I'm not sure that anything I have to say will interest anyone, but I'm sure I will entertain myself at the very least.

I am a 35-year-old single working girl - I have lots of friends, a great family, and way too much love for pop culture. My posts will probably be as random as my life - restaurants, travel, work, dating (hey - a girl can dream).

Enjoy!