The other woman directly in front of me just complimented me on my lap-top and how shiny it is. I thought that was sweet. She just got up to leave. I wish I had complimented her before she left. She probably could have used a compliment. Everyone can use a compliment, but I think she really needed one. A well placed compliment can change someone's mood, which can change someone's day, which can change someone's week which can change someone's year which can change someone's life. I could have changed that woman's life! Lame.
The woman across from me and to the left seems incredibly pleasant. She was eating a sub sandwich and Baked Lays Potato Chips. She was eating them very pleasantly. After she threw away her wrapper she put one of those neck pillows around her neck. it's a deep royal blue and it is actually
a very stunning contrast to her lime green ensemble, obviously purchased together since the flower detail in the pants is echoed in the collar of her sleeveless blouse. The more I think about it, she seems pleasant but I think if she were my mother she might also be a little naggy. Something about the Baked Lays and the neck pillow clue me into this hyper-consciousness. It's a funny combination, Baked Lays and a neck pillow, and I'll tell you why. Everyone says they like Baked Lays. I like Baked Lays. But I definitely don't like them as much as real Lays! I think if people didn't have to make the calorie trade-off, they would choose normal potato chips nearly every time. This shows a consciousness of health. And often, if not always, that consciousness of health and desire to cut calories without cutting that food or dramatically changing eating habits shows a consciousness of figure, and how one is perceived by their shape, how their clothes fit, and whether if they were (in a dream world) eating regular potato chips and someone skinnier, prettier, and with more expensive shoes walked by would secretly think 'she should be eating the baked kind.' People eat Baked Lays to be thinner and escape judgment. I think only those that judge fear judgment. Wait! The lady I neglected to compliment is back! A second chance! Can I do it? I need to look and find something I can compliment without staring...
Behind me I hear ceaseless bells ringing, various beeps, a canned audience with canned enthusiasm shouting "WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!" and the occasional verbally zealous gambler with an almost panicked cry of "Come on, big money, big money, BIG MONEY!!" As if her life depended on it. Maybe it does. Maybe that $4,000 she could win would change her life as much as the compliment I'm trying to think of. If both changes were to occur I bet the life changed by compliment would appear much richer in hindsight.People always say that hindsight is 20/20. This means that,unless it has flat feet, hindsight is eligible to join the military. If hindsight joined the military, I wonder which wars wouldn't have happened and which ones would have been fought with more zeal. There's lots of zeal in the Las Vegas Airport.
The priest has shut down his laptop and left gate B25. Two US Airways employees have made themselves comfortable in his place. They are discussing....I don't know, man stuff. Engines, manifolds, that stuff that every boy is born knowing the inner-workings of. They seem a little aloof. But so did Mother Teresa until her teachers learned she was just shy.
Back to Baked Lays and Neck Pillows. Now, the reason it is an ironic combination is that Baked Lays people are extremely aware of others and conscious of others' views of them. Conscious is not the right word. Concerned is the right word. Baked Lays people are aware of and concerned about how strangers view them. Neck pillow people are not. Let's be honest here, those neck pillows look pretty ridiculous. And, unless my frugal father has once again passed up quality for extra quantity in his wallet, every neck pillow that I have tried is uncomfortable. I'm sure
this can be argued. But in this case functionality can not entirely replace my vanity. This proves one thing. That in my head (and quite possibly in my head only) there is a scale. A scale whereon Baked Lays and Neck Pillows are nearly opposite in polarity. A scale whereon I fall somewhere between too vain for a neck pillow, but not vain enough to sacrifice all of the oils and salts that come with fried Lays. This woman, who was picking at her nails for a while and is now asleep, is an anomaly on my scale. I respect her. I don't 'get' her. I can't label her. I wish I didn't think about the fact that I can't label her. I wish I didn't label anyone. but because I don't get her I like her a lot. I can think of other people I don't get, and those are the people who are worth my time. people who create anomalies in my scales. As Tom Hanks' character Sam says in Sleepless in Seattle, "These are the things that I'm willing to get to the bottom of." Well, it's my time to board! I'm about to take a crack at the compliment lady's shoes. The sleeping woman seems much more peaceful. The Baked Lays/Neck Pillow woman just got called to the desk, and Big Money lady either got big money, lost it all, or boarded her flight. whichever it is, I wish her well. I hope she gets complimented this evening, so that hindsight can bless her life more than big money.
I hope the priest changes someone's life and I hope the US Airways employees keep mine going.
Zone 2 is boarding...on the WHEEL! OF! FORTUNE!!!!
Goodnight!
1 comment:
chaela i love your blog. you jsut offered me the comedic relief i've been craving. Its been a rough semester and yes i willbe home around july 18th and i will be home for like 7 weeks so we will have to hang out. take care.
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