Dave Rat - Roadies in the Midst

Do you ever just wake up with anxiety panic? That sensation that you are forgetting something or that there is so much to do that it is unfinishable? Today I woke up facing a wall of over-whelmation and the realization that I need to cut my losses and trim the workload rather than hit meltdown. Maybe it is just holiday panic. I have a tough time with the whole gift thing en-masse and with so many people I care about, I go through it every year. I want o give everyone a well thought out and caring gift that makes them smile. I then realize that I know too many people so I painfully trim the list. I then begin the cumbersome process and get almost nowhere before time runs out and a mixture of panic, luck and forgetting all fit together to end me up with some form of half satisfaction and a desire to hide far away. I would much prefer an un-regimented life pattern of ongoing generosity to the holiday gift giving blitz but oh well, this happens every year and it always works out fine.

Abandon ship, ratman overboard as the buses leave for a seventeen hour bus ride without me. I could not do it. Too much on my plate to be trapped in a land submarine for nearly a whole day. Instead I will fly a commercial airline for a 2 hour flight. Do you know when you meet someone who is just an angry little person? Well today I met the electronic counterpart who came into my world in the form of a ticket machine. The grumpy little twerp asked me all kinds of questions and then responded with various forms of denying me the ability to answer or ignoring the answers all together. So you can imagine my delight when I arrived at the human version of the ticket machine and the much friendlier blond says "Oh, I am sorry sir, are you aware that you have been downgraded?" Huh? No, how come? "Well, the business section is overbooked and we have no more seats for you, didn't the machine tell you?" I could not believe that nasty little machine was still messing with me. After I told her "I don't want to be downgraded," she looks at me as if I had provided new information and takes off. Only to return and say that I indeed will get to be downgraded. So I turn around to see a wonderful view and felt the holiday spirit take a turn for the better

And as I walked and not far away I found out what what all those presents in red wrappers look like unwrapped

Wow, check out this mullet sighting!

As I boarded the plane a wave depression filled my heart as I gazed down the isle and the true reality of being downgraded became clear. Look if you dare at unbearable contrast between what I thought my future was and my new reality

And I was so looking forward to a blue headrest napkin. Oooooh, darn it and for dinner Scott and I did Moroccan, all good, yumm!

and on the way home, I caught Scotty in a curious fit of repetitive jumping

The loving presents

Dave Rat