August 19, 2016

My career allows me to travel on a semi-regular basis.  I’m not traveling for work this weekend, but I am on my way to North Carolina to visit friends. I’m currently sitting at DTW Detroit Metro Airport. I’m in the middle of a three hour layover. Normally I’d use this opportunity to get a massage at a place similar to Xpress Spa, but I decided to relax in a different fashion this evening.

I’m sitting in the Delta Sky Club for the first time in my life. Totally worth it.

The open bar is self serve. The cookies are plentiful. There is unsweetened tea with lemon. A woman to my right is doing decoupage. She might be building a piñata. I don’t really know. I’ve had a couple of drinks and she could be really knitting or dancing a jig. How do women get knitting needles onto an airplane but I can’t bring my safety razor in my carry-on? A guy has to look good when he lands.

The kids to my left look like your typical rich kids, however, if they were rich kids they’d be on Daddy’s private jet, not sitting in a Delta lounge. Thusly, logic dictates that they are really well-outfitted suburban kids. They probably play tennis.

On my flight from Syracuse to Detroit the man next to me decided to chat after he realized that there was no seat B in our row. He was flying from Syracuse to Portland, Maine, so naturally he was flying through Detroit. I told him about the guy I sat next to that was flying from Minneapolis to Syracuse and he had flown Minneapolis to Salt Lake City to Atlanta to Syracuse. Because he could.

And so can your luggage.

I felt kind of low rent paying for my admittance to the Sky Club with a debit card but Earl and I are (laughingly) trying to keep our debt low and our accounts high. He’ll love it when he sees this charge in the ledger come Monday. He’s in Chicago. He flew either United or American. My poor husband. At least it wasn’t Spirit or Scooby Doo Airlines.

The suburbanites to my left are all using iPhones. Two have eyeglasses, one with tape. He’s a hipster that can’t grow a beard yet. I enjoy labeling people.

I shall label myself “aging yuppie”.  It fits me best.

So apparently it’s OK to leave your luggage while you go help yourself to the open bar. Ms. Knitting Needles/Decoupage/Piñata just left and came back with a drink. I bet it’s a High Ball. I’ve never had a High Ball. That’s what grown ups always drank when I was a kid. I’ve had some wine and a Guinness tonight. I’ll probably have one more glass of wine before I nap on the flight to Raleigh-Durham.

I don’t feel comfortable napping in here. I snore and I don’t want to suck up a knitting needle/piñata/decoupage project.

It’s the only way to fly.

When I find myself running into a bout of “programmer’s block” during work hours, I take a few moments and search up a Winners’ Circle challenge from “The 10,000 Pyramid” on YouTube.  I usually turn away from the screen to see if I can guess the subject based on the clues quicker than the contestant in the video. I think I’m getting kind of good at it.

Watching the older game shows from the 1980s and earlier on YouTube has made me realize just how much times have changed since then. The contestants are often dressed well: women usually in a lovely dress and men in a suit. Scruffiness is set aside. The whole set and game play of Pyramid gave the viewer an air of respectability. The players were serious, the special guests wanted their partner to win and the play and the rules of the game involved a healthy dose of thinking. You couldn’t just bark out a bawdy answer to fill in the blank.

Earl and I have been watching the summer run of game shows on ABC and have been enjoying them for the most part. I like watching the “$100,000 Pyramid” but after comparing this summer’s run to the shows of the past, I can’t help but notice that they’ve dumbed down the categories and expanded the allowances for clues. The show is fun but seems a little more raucous. While it looks and feels like “Pyramid”, the new show is really a sign of the times in that we just don’t seem to be as sophisticated as we used to be.

It’s often said that we need to be the change that we want to see in the world. I’d like to see the world change toward more respect and sophistication with the celebration of education and being well-read. I really think we’d all be the better for it.