Dream on.

I just woke up from a dream where Freedman and my mom and I were on this teeny plane. It was 1 and 1 and it was a nasty day and my mom was freaking out. The plane had a weird guard rail on both sides and was painted red. I'm not sure where we were going, but it was supposed to be a short flight. The problem is that the plane kept taking off and landing right away because the flight attendant wasn't sure it was safe to fly. One time we even landed in the water (but never had a problem taking off again). Then the flight attendant (I think she was dating Freedman) made us land again and wanted Freedman to work out a series of equations to make sure that it was safe to fly. The pilot wasn't present at all in any discussions. A subpart of this dream involved me examining the pillow given to me on board. I'm already losing the dream but I think I was trying to decide whether or not I could resell it. It was weird.

That dream came after another dream where I was trying to ride a dog (not sexually). Like, a bunch of people were all riding these dogs much like one rides a horse (not sexually) and I had a dog I was trying to ride. Problem was that my dog seemed a bit nuts (and was royal blue in color) and I kept running after it yelling its name, which fittingly enough was "Blue." Anyway, Blue bit my hand because it was not pleased that I was trying to ride him. I only managed to get up on him one time, but that's when he turned around and bit me and I fell off. Also, I was trying to ride him in traffic. New Jerseyans, I felt like I was on Rt. 46 or maybe Rt. 17. Later in that same dream someone mentioned alpacas and I thought to myself that maybe I should've been trying to ride an alpaca and not a dog. In the dream it sort of struck me like I'd made this huge, obvious mistake. It was weird.

On Location: Albany, NY

I realize that I've been nothing but a whine-o-matic lately but, really, the stupidest, crappy stuff keeps happening. The latest was yesterday. After diverting a small crisis (involving Sarada and keys to my apartment) with some skillful cross-town cabbing, I hopped on my on-time (!!!) train to Albany. I sat next to the most delightful elderly woman and had a great ride up.

Then I spent the next 3 hours sitting in Albany's train station. Why? BECAUSE OF A FRIGGIN' AIRLINE. They get me every time. There is no escaping their touch of pain. My roommate for the next three days, Jaye, was delayed leaving DC. So she was delayed picking me up at the station and taking me to the hotel, which was in her name. When I asked a station attendant for a nearby restaurant, he grunted and gestured at the Coffee Beanery down the hall. That was it.

Sitting at said Coffee Beanery, I decided to try to fire up my laptop to help pass the time. I was greeted with a blank screen. Off. On. Blank screen. Again. Blank screen. One more time. Then I got a message telling me that some file was corrupted and Windows wouldn't start. Terrific. I've spent most of today trying to get it work -- including my favorite method which involved dropping the laptop from a height of 3 feet onto the bed -- to no avail. My laptop seems to be gone for good.

So now I'm at the "business center" of my hotel. And by "business center" I mean a desktop with a slow internet connection and a printer sitting in the lobby. It's awesome. I can't really work from here so I e-mailed a few peeps at PBS to tell them not to expect anything from me. Now I just need to figure out how I'm going to do my CLE assignment that needs to be mailed out by Wednesday.

On the bright side, Jaye and I both sailed through our character and fitness interviews today. It seems like we will be sworn into the NY Bar this Wednesday. Also, we met a few actors in the Albany production of "Take Me Out" so we might go see them tomorrow night. This trip could easily turn out to be quite the fun time. I'll let you know.

My organs have melted due to the fury raging inside me.

Venting....

So I go online about 30 minutes ago to make sure that my flight tonight isn't delayed. It's not. No delay at all. Why? BECAUSE IT WAS CANCELLED. Thank goodness I looked. They insist that they called my home phone. Convenient. Whatever. (I made a point of giving her my cell phone for any other surprises.) All I know is that I was sitting here feeling peachy and suddenly my flight's CANCELLED. Reason? Because it's windy in Newark.

So I'm on the phone with Continental and I'm asking for options. The woman checks my reservation and is like, "Ooh! You've been switched to another flight!" Great! What time? Apparently, some braintrust at Continental thought it would be smart to switch someone traveling at 7pm on a Friday to a 4:50pm flight. Seriously? I'd have to leave right now. And I wouldn't make it. AND, like most Friday evening travelers, I'm still at work. SO, my best option was to be switched to a 9pm flight that apparently isn't cancelled. It's on an Embraer.

Review with me, worthy friend: My original Boeing 737 can't fly at all (not even with a delay) because of the wind in Newark but Continental's willing to send me up there 2 hours later in a 30-pound piece of tin? Sweet.

So now I'm enraged, stuck at work until late (because I'm not lugging this bag all the way back to DC when I can see the airport from my office building), and probably headed toward my death.

Go fuck yourself, Continental. Right in the ear.