Things I Did Today

I usually don't do lists, but today just seemed full of little profound moments that deserve to be listed.

I sat next to two ferrets on a flight from Atlanta, GA, to Reno, NV. This is not something I recommend for anyone else to do. Ferrets smell like piss. At altitude, ferrets smell worse than piss. And shoving your mouth full of sweettarts doesn't help you ignore the stench.

For the second time this year, I got a "bad vibe" from returning to a place that I had recently left.

I read about 400 or so pages of Dan Simmons' Ilium. Simmons is the author of my favorite science fiction novel of all time, Hyperion, and he certainly isn't disappointing this go around.

I saw someone I thought I knew for a split second. It was weird... it was like an electrical shock was sent through my sinuses and my awareness felt almost omniscient... but only for a second. I regret not taking a second look (I would have, but my origin flight was 2 hours late, and I only had 20 minutes to get to my connecting flight) .

I think I finally realized that I'm afraid of flying. Odd thing for a paratrooper to be afraid of.

I like my cats more than I thought I did. Strangely, I starting missing them before I even left Wilmington.

I had to turn in a cigarette lighter at a security checkpoint. Naturally, I didn't object and handed it over. Later, I realized that the particular lighter (a red Bic) had been with me in Arizona, Arkansas, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and probably California, New York, Oklahoma, and Washington. I know it's just a lighter, but throwing away such a loyal travel companion seems wrong somehow.

Money has officially become the most important thing in life to me. This is temporary, of course, but circumstance has prompted money's ascent up the "what matters to me" ladder.

I wrote this silly blog.

I'm going to sleep.

And that's today in a nutshell.