Airport Etiquette

Is there some weird flaw in human nature that causes people to sit unnecessarily close to you if it looks like you want to be left alone?

I'm on my way to Texas to spend a few days in Harlingen with my grandmother and then hit SXSW 2010. Once again, thanks to spending roughly 42 percent of my take home at Harvey's on the Mall, I have a "free" first-class ticket to Austin. However, American is starting to get a little stingier with the mileage flights, and I'm stuck with a very long layover at O'Hare. I knew I'd be dead tired after getting up for the 6 AM flight, so I bought an Admiral's Club pass, hoping to get some sleep. The Admiral's Club at O'Hare is huge and generally pretty empty on weekend mornings, which was the case today. So, I found a quiet corner, covered myself with my jacket and laid my head on my carry-on to rest for a couple hours. And with roughly 500 empty seats, where do you think people choose to sit and have a conversation? Yup. Picture to follow. That, plus the family whose two children are literally shrieking for no good reason, makes me think I wasted fifty bucks. Be sure to watch the news today because if I hear, "William! Inside voice!" one more time, something bad might happen.

I shouldn't be so negative to start my trip; there's so much to be excited about. I'm really looking forward to just spending some time in the sun. The Michigan winters are so long and harsh that it starts to feel like you're the caretaker at the Overlook Hotel. I brought three books to read by the pool, and if I even manage to finish one, that'll be the first since August. I'll be glad to see my grandmother, though she's warned me that I'll be spending some time as tech support. Then there's the food. You can buy tacos in the street! In the street! And everytime I think about going back to Cisco's for breakfast, my mouth starts to water. And of course, there's all the music.

The lineup for SXSW this year isn't quite as stellar as last year. I was very meh about all of the big headliners that were announced. Stone Temple Pilots, Hole, Scissor Sisters, Cheap Trick, Ray Davies...yawn. I might go check out Smokey Robinson or Big Star, but I'm not a rabid fan of either. Of course, the headliners are not the reason to go to SXSW anyway. With over 2,000 bands, it's really more about discovering music and relishing the madness and audacity of a festival with TWO-THOUSAND FUCKING BANDS. There are a few old favorites I'll be checking out (Billy Bragg and Jail Guitar Doors, Man or Astro-man?, Wanda Jackson, The Walkmen, She & Him, Gordon Gano), but mostly I'll be watching bands that I don't know much about or only heard of because of SXSW, like Audra Mae, Band of Skulls, Smith Westerns, the Sandwitches, Surfer Blood and the Dum Dum Girls.

As excited as I am to be headed back to SXSW and just to get away from the dreary winter for a few days, I am sad that Heather and Eli won't be joining me. Jeff warned me that I would have second thoughts about leaving, and though I doubted him at the time, I have to admit he was right. Eli is growing so fast and doing new things every week, so I'm scared I'll miss something momentous. And of course, Heather is the greatest travel partner ever. Sigh. I guess I'll have to drink through the pain.